The Phoenix Conspiracy (13 page)

"The infection spread through the
lower half of the ship like lightning and the captain sealed it
off, forced to trap even normal humans in an effort to contain the
threat. And those stuck below didn't have a chance. They screamed
and screamed over the radio pleading for their lives and pounded
against the doors until they succumbed to the contagion or died.
After an hour we didn't hear them anymore. Just silence.

"At six hours out, the shield doors
came unhinged and the creatures started pressing into the upper
decks, their hunger and bloodlust barely abated. The captain
ordered security checkpoints set up in every major corridor and he
sealed off all the vital areas he could, like engineering and the
bridge. Crews were ordered to hold their lines, hand to hand if
necessary. But they had little chance. The fighting moved swiftly
from deck to deck and when arms ran low we all realized we'd be
dead soon.

Calvin stared into the wall, musing.
"It's a strange thing, you know. To look at death face-to-face and
know there's nothing you can do. Like a cold scythe curling around
your neck, pulling you in. And do you know what my thoughts
were?

Summers didn’t say
anything.

“Selfish terror! I thought I
was too young to die. And if I could save my skin I would, even if
it meant leaving everyone else behind. I didn't care about duty or
honor, I just wanted to live. But there was no chance for escape,
and as our thoughts turned from fear of dying to the chance of
becoming one of
them...
it was very tempting to use the last of our shots
on ourselves. One man even did. I didn’t see him, he walked around
the corner—then came the crack of his gun and the thud of his body,
I …”

He paused for a minute, shaking his
mind free from the images. “Anyway, what kept us going was the
communiqué we received from an Intel Wing Cruiser with two
companies of Special Forces soldiers. They told us help was on the
way. We just had to keep it together a little bit
longer.

"I was lucky I didn't see much of the
action. But I could hear the screams echo in the shafts and down
the corridors. And the eerie sound of fangs and claws scratching
against bulkheads. The infection reached us just as we were making
our emergency dock with the cruiser. The last strigoi who came at
us..." Calvin choked. "I'm sure it was Will, or what was left of
him. But the evil eyes glaring at us with prejudice weren't his.
The real William was dead, and this husk that resembled him was a
sick insult. My friend... with those sunken eyes, bloody tattered
clothes, taut pale muscles, and dripping fangs was something
else... and it was my job to shoot him... I was the only one with
ammo left."

"But I hesitated. The others beat and
clubbed him, and the captain took my gun and shot William over and
over. But, before he died, he managed to bite the ops officer."
Calvin’s eyes burned but he masked his emotions. "She was... a
friend." Calvin shut his eyes, trying to block out the terrible
image of dear Christine's face squeezed with agony as he watched
her convulse and drop. And even worse than the crystal-perfect
picture of her agony was the nagging certainty that it’d been his
fault. He’d failed to act. And that had cost her…
everything.

He cleared his throat. "The
uh...
Strigoi
managed to bite the ops officer's wrist and she went
unconscious. We tried to make a tourniquet around her wounded arm
but we weren't doctors and we didn't do it right, or else we didn’t
do it fast enough, either way the venom had spread too far by the
time she could get proper treatment. Special Forces stormed the
ship and took control, killing off every last Strigoi they could
find and everyone turning into one. They cleared us one by one,
checking us over thoroughly, before allowing us on board the other
ship. My bitten friend was allowed aboard, because we believed an
amputation could save her. That the tourniquet had trapped the
venom. She was a fighter and didn't succumb to it, despite being
unconscious. After we were evacuated they swept poison gas through
the Trinity hoping to reclaim it, but new orders came down the line
and they ended up destroying the ship. Shooting it until it was
dust. By the time we got to the nearest medical facility there were
only fifteen of us left from the Trinity, out of a crew of four
hundred."

"And what became of your friend at
Ops?"

"They hooked her up to all kinds of
machines that kept the poison from overcoming her brain, but they
could never manage to rid her systems of it or reverse her
condition. Even with a complete blood transfusion. She spent weeks
unconscious as our very best medicine tried to save her life
against the most savage of toxins ever designed. Because strong
pain medicines hindered the process she had to stay in horrible,
horrible agony. Eventually, when it seemed the stalemate would have
no end, they revived her to ask her what she wanted. She begged the
doctors to end her life. I saw her face just before they did,"
Calvin recalled how gaunt and grey it'd turned. "She looked old,
like the ordeal had aged her decades." His heart was crushed anew
but again he would not show it to Summers. He’d loved Christine,
and it was because of her, more than anything, that he hadn't
seriously pursued any romantic relationship since. "Well... suffice
it to say I'm not going to subject my crew to that."

When Commander Summers spoke, her tone
was respectful and genuine, but still duty-driven. "With respect,
sir, that is a very moving story. And I'm sorry for your loss. But
you're letting your past experiences affect your judgment. You're
too emotionally involved here and you're blurring the lines between
different types of remorii."

"There is no line!" He stood up
angrily. "They're all sick perversions of nature that have no right
to exist!"

"You're saying that one modified human
is exactly the same as another and they're all guilty by
association. I don't believe in that and neither should you.
Besides, the fellow stranded out there is only one
person."

"He's
not
a person."

"He can't help what he is. We have a
duty to do and a chance to save a life here."

"What if saving him means condemning
fifty others to die?"

"Think about this, Calvin, this lycan
is out here in the middle of nowhere, and alone, he might have
valuable information."

Calvin seriously doubted
this one had any information worth even five seconds of his time,
and he really wasn’t interested in her moral argument. He didn’t
consider himself an amoral person, he’d simply decided long ago
that remorii weren’t human beings and didn’t deserve to be treated
like human beings—they didn’t even deserve to exist. But Summers
was right about one thing, he
was
letting his emotions affect his judgment. And he
realized if he didn’t deal with this lycan, someone else would.
Someone who wouldn’t understand the danger. He should destroy the
ship. But, if he did, Summers would report that to the Fleet. And
he didn't want to think of the consequences of that.

"All right, Commander, we'll respond
to that signal. But we'll do it my way, and that means absolutely
no objections from you—is that clear?"

"Yes. As long as you aren't careless I
have no objections."

"Oh trust me," his eyes narrowed,
"Careless is the last thing I’m going to be." He stood up and led
the way back onto the bridge. "Sarah, full about and set a course
for the stranded vessel’s position, and keep monitoring that
distress call. We're going to pick up the remorii bastard after
all."

Miles gave Calvin a look of surprise
and made a whipping motion with his hand but Calvin ignored him and
took his seat at the command position.

"E.T.A. nine minutes," said Sarah from
the helm.

"Good." Calvin tapped the direct line
to Special Forces headquarters at the bottom of the ship. "Major
Jenkins, we'll be docking with a small craft in a little under ten
minutes. There's only one person aboard but he's a remorii so use
every precaution. Incapacitate him first and get him into the lock
up. We'll question him after."

"Affirmative," the Major's deep voice
came over the small speaker. "Just say the word."

"Incapacitate him?" Summers looked
bewildered. "Shouldn't we at least talk to him?"

"Oh yes, absolutely we should," said
Calvin. "But only after he's behind a forcefield."

She opened her mouth to retort but
Calvin was quicker. "No objections," he reminded her. She closed
her mouth and looked frustrated.

Once they were in range, Sarah
answered all stop and connected to the tiny vessel. "Clamps are in
place."

"Okay, Major, execute
breach."

"Affirmative, breach in progress."
They waited and after what felt like the slowest fifty seconds
ever, the Major reported. "We’ve got him and all hands are back
aboard."

"Good work. Lock him up and I'll meet
you in holding." Calvin jumped up. "Sarah, get us back on course to
Aleator, best speed and, Summers, you have the deck."

Chapter 10

"He isn't talking," Major Jenkins said
when Calvin arrived.

"You revived him already?" Calvin saw
the lycan on the other side of the translucent forcefield, in his
current form he looked perfectly human except for glowing red
eyes.

"He came to on his own. Turns out a
standard dose ain't enough to keep him down for more than a few
minutes."

Calvin nodded to the Major and stepped
up to the forcefield, hoping to get a good look at their new
passenger through the blinking haze. He was a few inches taller
than an average man with thick dark hair and smooth brown skin.
Even through the blur, Calvin could see the lycan's twisted smile.
"Hello, Captain."

"So what've we got, Major?" Calvin
didn't take his eyes off the prisoner.

"No idea who he is, just a bogus name.
Scanning his eyes is no good and his fingerprints are next to
worthless. According to the computer his left hand is a sixty-five
percent match with one person and the right is a thirty-percent
match of a completely different person, both of whom are dead from
natural causes."

"OK,
Lycan
, we'll start at the top. What's
your name?"

"Now, now, you don't have to
say it like
that
."
The prisoner said, his voice had a rough, scratchy
texture.

"Shut up and answer his question!" The
Major inched closer and tapped the stunner holstered on his
thigh.

"I'll take it from here, Major,"
Calvin motioned for the Major to step aside, which he did with a
disgruntled look. Calvin had no jurisdiction over Special Forces,
even on his own ship, he couldn't order the Major to stand down. He
just had to hope the man would cooperate.

"OK, Lycan, if you do not
appreciate being called Lycan, you have to give me an alternative.
How about your
real
name?"

"John Johnson." He said.

"Right.... okay,
John Johnson
, maybe you
can tell me what you were doing in a two-person skiff in the middle
of nowhere."

"And maybe you can tell me what I did
to warrant being put behind this forcefield."

"So that's the way it's going to be?"
Calvin paused, not sure where to take this. He was much better with
puzzles than interrogations. "We answered your distress call and
probably saved you from a very slow, painful death by asphyxiation.
But, if you don't tell me who you are and what you were doing, we
could always put you back."

"Is that a threat?"

"Oh you picked up on that?"

"I see this is a classy
establishment." The lycan rolled his fiery eyes.

"If I don't know who you are and what
you're doing here I can't really help you."

"Then it'll be pretty interesting to
see what you decide to do. But I do have one recommendation,
Captain."

"And what is that?"

"There's one thing you should know
about me, " his eyes narrowed. "I don't like being caged. Now why
don't you drop this forcefield and give me quarters while we're
still friends."

"I'll think about it," said Calvin,
even though he had no intention of doing so. The lycan couldn't get
through a forcefield unless someone else turned it off. "But a
little cooperation from you would go a long way in the meantime,
John Johnson."

"I doubt it. I know you've already
made up your mind, Captain; regular humans are too easy to predict.
I have nothing more to say here so, if you don't mind, I'd like
some peace and quiet so I can sleep on this pathetic excuse for a
bed you have in here."

Calvin shook his head in disbelief and
left with the Major at his heels. When the door closed, Calvin said
"I want him under constant camera surveillance with a minimum of
two guards on duty. Let them know they're not even allowed to
blink."

"What are we going to do about him in
the long run?"

"Dump him off on Aleator. I'll let the
port authority know exactly what he is, and they will take him off
our hands. I'm not taking no for an answer. He's a nuisance to our
investigation and we're not designed to keep prisoners long-term
anyway. In half a day, he'll be out of our hands. After that I
don't care. Just keep him under lock and key until
then."