The Phoenix Rising (47 page)

“
The Phoenix has blocked our
escape vector,” reported Sarah.

“
We will have to adjust
course,” said Cassidy.

“
The Phoenix is hailing us,”
said Sarah.

“
All stop,” said Calvin.
“Cassidy, calculate the best trajectory for escape and forward that
vector to Sarah’s console. Sarah, open the channel. Let’s see what
the Phoenix has to say.” Calvin felt a rush of excitement. A
feeling that only increased when he heard Anand’s voice come over
the speaker.

“
Well, well, look who it
is,” said his former XO, schoolmate, and long-time
friend.

“
Hello, Commander Datar,”
said Calvin. He resisted vocalizing how happy he was to speak with
Anand again—lest he give away any pretense his friend was still
trying to maintain about working for the Fleet—but Calvin couldn’t
resist smiling and suddenly he remembered how much he missed having
Anand aboard the Nighthawk.

“
If it isn’t Calvin
Double-Cross
...” said
Anand.

“
What?” asked Calvin,
confused.

“
I swore I’d hunt you down.
Even if I had to trawl every cubic inch of deep space, I’d have my
revenge on you. And now here you are. Right in my
crosshairs.”

Calvin was genuinely baffled. Was this part
of Anand’s cover? Was this his way of convincing Nimoux and the
rest of the squadron that he was on their side? A dark feeling came
over him. Something was definitely wrong.

“
The Phoenix has locked
weapons on us,” said Miles.

“
What are you talking
about
, Anand?” asked Calvin, anxiety fast
returning.

“
As if you don’t know,” said
Anand, a dark texture in his voice. “My family only ever showed you
kindness, Calvin. And now they’re dead because of you.”

A wave of shock rippled through him, even
stronger than his confusion at the whole situation. Was this some
sort of trick? Or were Anand’s sister and parents actually
deceased? They lived a quaint but happy life on Capital World—what
could possibly have happened to them? And why would Anand think
Calvin was responsible?

“
I don’t know what you’re
talking about,” said Calvin. “But I assure you, I would never hurt
your family.” When he’d visited them from time to time, they’d
treated him like a blood relative, always welcoming. If they were
gone, Calvin would grieve their loss.

“
Liar
,” said Anand. “I’ve seen the proof. I know what happened.
Don’t pretend otherwise. You are a sick, evil human being, Calvin.
And I’m sending you to the gods. You’ll see my family soon. And
then you can explain to their faces why you sold them
out.”

“
Anand, you know me! We’ve
been friends for years. You know I would never—”

“
Correction. I
knew
you. Or thought I
did...”

“
Anand... I haven’t even
been to Capital World since we parted ways on Praxis. I couldn’t
possibly have—”

“
Goodbye
, Calvin.”

The channel closed.

“
What the hell was that?”
asked Miles. He turned and gave Calvin a very confused look. Calvin
didn’t know how to react. He was stunned. Emotionally he felt a
mixture of fear—knowing that danger was all around them—and deep
anguish. How could he have lost such a dear friend? And so
severely? There had to be a way to make it right... to make Anand
realize the truth.

“
The Desert Eagle and the
Rhea are again closing in,” said Cassidy.

“
The Phoenix is firing on
us!” said Miles.

Their shields absorbed a massive charge of
energy that crashed into them. Lighting up the window
momentarily.

“
Incoming
missiles
.” Miles hands flew over his
controls as he fired the Nighthawk’s guns to intercept the newest
threat.

“
Defensive fire only,” said
Calvin. “Sarah, evasive maneuvers. Cassidy, get us a vector out of
here.”

“
I’m trying,” she said. “The
Phoenix isn’t letting us past.”

Both ships accelerated and began an intense
series of maneuvers. The Nighthawk was the more agile ship, but the
Phoenix successfully used its superior firepower to deny the
Nighthawk access to its flanks. Preventing Sarah from getting
around.

Summers ran over to the defense console and
immediately began coaching Miles on the Phoenix’s weak points. Her
time on the ship was proving valuable and, amazingly, Miles didn’t
seem to resent her assistance.

“
Shields at seventy
percent,” said Miles. Another powerful blast of energy slammed into
them. The ships flew parallel and the Phoenix let loose a full
broadside from its main guns. Slowly tearing away at the
Nighthawk’s armor.

“
We can’t take much of
that,” said Sarah.

“
Return fire. See if you can
drive them off,” said Calvin. “But hold the main battery ready for
any incoming missiles.”

“
Aye, aye,” said
Miles.

“
Here,” Summers pointed at
one of Miles’ screens. “The Phoenix’s shields are weakest at the
bow.”

“
The Phoenix is firing all
its weapons,” reported Cassidy. “Including an incoming spread of...
six missiles per fifteen seconds.”

“
They’ve left themselves
open!” said Miles. “If we hit them with all we’ve got, they can’t
intercept our missiles!”

“
It’s true, we can destroy
their bridge. Stand by to fire all missiles,” said
Summers.

“
Belay that
order
,” said Calvin, to everyone’s
surprise. “Defensive fire only.” He knew that destroying the
Phoenix’s bridge was probably their best chance, and it was clear
the Phoenix was pulling no punches with them—and would eventually
overpower them, probably before the Desert Eagle and the Rhea were
in range to assist with the Nighthawk’s demise—but Calvin thought
of Anand burning to death on his own bridge, by Calvin’s hand, and
couldn’t bear it. All he could think about was the times they’d had
together, good and bad. The shared memories. Was it really going to
end like this? He couldn’t kill his best friend... There had to be
a way to fix all of this. To make him see reason.

“
Calvin,” Summers spun to
face him. Her words were stern. “If we don’t fire on the Phoenix
now, we’re not going to get out of this system alive.”

“
I said
no
,” said Calvin. “Defensive fire
only! Sarah, get us the hell around that ship.”

“
I’m
trying
!”

“
Cassidy, I want that escape
vector
now
!”

***

“
Weapons range in thirty
seconds,” reported the defense officer.

Nimoux stood with his hands behind his back
and watched the 3d display as the firefight between the Phoenix and
the Nighthawk raged. It wouldn’t last much longer—the Phoenix was
the far deadlier warship—and the Nighthawk seemed only interested
in self-defense. It intentionally let go of opportunities to fire
heavy ordnance at the Phoenix, even though the larger ship showed
no such restraint.

“
Order the Phoenix to
restrict fire to the Nighthawk’s propulsion systems,” said
Nimoux.

His pilot relayed the order but no one was
surprised when no response came from the Phoenix. “They still do
not acknowledge, sir.”

Nimoux felt himself flush with anger but he
kept his cool. He tried to focus on his center and knew that he had
to keep up supreme discipline. Becoming emotional—like the
Phoenix’s Commander—would help nothing.

They’d all heard the bizarre message
Commander Datar had broadcast to the Nighthawk. And now Nimoux
understood that Datar was emotionally compromised, and seemed
hell-bent on avenging himself upon Calvin, but that was no excuse
for his behavior.

The Nighthawk wasn’t going anywhere, it
couldn’t get past the Phoenix and could easily be captured. It
would be a mistake not to capture it. But Nimoux worried that the
Phoenix would destroy the Nighthawk anyway. Lethal force against
the ship was authorized by the mission, but in this situation
wholly unnecessary. Nimoux knew things were fast spiraling out of
control.

“
The Nighthawk’s shields are
down,” said the ops officer.

“
Open a channel to the
Phoenix,” said Nimoux.

“
Channel open.”

“
Commander
Datar
, desist fire,” said Nimoux in a tone
that was as serious as steel. “I repeat, hold your fire! If you do
not comply, the consequences will be
severe
.”

No response came. And the Phoenix did not
hold its fire.

***

“
Shields are offline,” said
Summers. “Hull integrity diminishing rapidly. Most of our portside
armor has been destroyed.”

“
Divert power to the
shields, take it from life support if you have to!” shouted
Calvin.

“
Unable,” said Cassidy. “The
generators are destroyed.” An alert went off on her screen and she
glanced down. “Incoming seeker missiles. Impact in twenty
seconds.”

“
We’re dead!” said Miles.
“The energy weapon is drained, all our guns are overheated...
there’s nothing I can do. This is the big one...” He looked back at
Calvin with tears streaking his swollen reddened face. Summers made
some adjustments to the defense console—no doubt pleading with the
guns to come back online, but Calvin could tell by the sour look on
her face that it was pointless.

“
Sarah!” said Calvin,
realizing she was their last hope. “Dodge those
missiles!”

“
I can’t,” said Sarah.
“They’re seeker missiles.” She wrestled firmly with the controls
but a look of resignation covered her face. “There’s nothing I can
do.”

“
Cassidy! Escape
vector.
Now
!”
Calvin shouted.

Cassidy looked as flustered as anyone else.
“Calculation failed. The Phoenix’s proximity is preventing any
jump.”

And then Calvin realized he’d killed them
all. He’d held his fire—had been unable to terminate his friend—and
now he and all the souls on his ship were lost. He’d failed in his
most important duty as a commanding officer. It was over. He took
in a deep breath and tried to embrace the inevitable. Perhaps in
death he would see Christine again...

***

“
Sir, the Phoenix has fired
a volley of seeker missiles,” reported the ops officer. “The
Nighthawk is trying to evade.”

“
Evade?” asked Nimoux. That
was the most desperate move Calvin could make.

“
Yes, sir. Its guns have
overheated. Missile interception not possible.”

“
Can they dodge the
missiles?” asked Nimoux.

“
No, sir. The evasive tactic
is futile. Impact in thirty seconds.”

“
The payload is sufficient
to destroy the Nighthawk,” added the defense officer.

“
Well I guess that’s that,”
said the XO, folding his arms. They’d been ordered to either bring
the Nighthawk in or destroy it. Technically this was a success. But
to Nimoux it felt like a bitter failure. He was angry at Datar for
circumventing his orders. And the loss of the Nighthawk seemed like
such a pointless waste—not to mention the unnecessary loss of life.
He thought of the men and women aboard the ship. Imperial officers
and citizens. They’d gotten their hands dirty, possibly even
defected to a foreign government—but surely they didn’t deserve
this fate.

Nimoux’s mind flashed back
to the mission on Korrivan years ago. How, in order to maintain his
cover, he’d been forced to execute three fellow operatives whose
cover had been blown. An action that proved his “loyalty” to the
slave-running organization he’d subsequently taken down. The
mission was hailed as a spectacular success and catapulted his
career to new heights. Because of it, the slave trade had been
expunged from The Corridor and thousands of men and women were
freed from the secret oppressive hell they’d been born into. Had he
not fired those nine bullets, and killed those three innocent
officers, his cover would have been blown and the Korrivan slaver
regime would undoubtedly still be operating today. But the cost had
been high. And the faces of the victims haunted him night and day.
The ends justified the means—that’s what everyone said. And hell,
maybe they did. Nimoux didn’t know. All he was sure of was that, if
he had the choice again, he would
not
kill those people. And what was
happening here—the slaughter of scores of fellow officers on the
Nighthawk—felt no different than Korrivan.

“
All batteries, intercept
those missiles. I don’t want
one
of them to hit the Nighthawk!” said Nimoux, making
a snap decision. He would bring Calvin in yet, that was a promise,
but he wouldn’t have more innocent blood on his hands. Besides, if
there was any truth to Calvin’s wild claims it would prove a
mistake to let him die here.

“
Yes, sir,” said the defense
officer, letting loose all of the Desert Eagle’s guns. No doubt he
was confused by the order—probably everyone was, but they all knew
better than to question a command from Nimoux.