The Phoenix Conspiracy (14 page)

***

Two hours ticked away but it felt like
twenty. Calvin was sure time was going backwards.

To distract himself, he dug into his
mountain of intel. He finished a thorough read-through of the
Harbinger's manifest but it yielded very few leads. Some details
seemed peculiar, and he would check into them—for instance a few
officers had served time for petty crimes like theft or
vandalism—but almost every navy ship had supposedly-reformed crew
members with criminal records. Calvin's information gave him
nothing more to go on and he had no reason to suspect one former
criminal over another, and nothing more than prejudice to suspect
them more than any of the other crew. He returned to the
communications specialist convinced that, if anyone were involved
with Raidan, it had to be that person.

As his computer linked to the vast
universal nets he entered several passcodes to connect to the more
privileged databases.

"OK, Mister Gates, let's see what more
we can learn about you." He waited for the search to complete but,
before it did, the light on his desk started flashing. "What is
it?" he asked, tapping the direct link to the bridge.

"Just letting you know Commander
Presley has ordered a course correction, sir," Sarah's voice filled
the room.

"What for?" He stood up and smoothed
out his uniform.

"There's a major astronomical event
occurring on our previous path."

"What kind of event,
Sarah?"

"From here it seems like the huge
gravitational collapse of the TR-301 star, no planets or bases
around it but a black hole may be forming."

"If it's not one thing, it's another,"
Calvin rubbed his temples. "Let me guess it’s going to delay us
somehow."

"The gravity pull is affecting our
alteredspace stability so we’ve had the navcomputer map a new path,
ETA... sixteen hours."

He sighed.
That's just perfect... a dangerous prisoner and
an even colder trail.
"Thank you, Sarah,
keep me informed if anything changes."

"Will do."

Calvin scratched his head and sat back
down, trying not to stress about this news. A collapsing star was
completely out of his control... but what were the odds? One in a
billion? No, more like one over infinity that a major star would
collapse directly between them and Aleator while they were in a
hurry to get there.

Unless it was forced to collapse...
Could someone destroy a star? And would they do it just to slow him
down?

That was completely absurd and he knew
it. But so was Raidan stealing the Harbinger, and that had
happened. The more he thought about it, the more it bugged him that
this star would choose to die at the most inconvenient time
imaginable.

He saved the results of the Gates
search for review later then sent an inquiry to Intel Wing, asking
what it would take to destroy a star like TR-301. He had no
astrophysicists aboard and that meant Fleet Command would hear his
inquiry too, and they might think it’s a waste of time. But to hell
with them.

He called the bridge. "Hey,
Sarah?"

"Yeah, Cal?"

"Point all our major scanners to the
collapsing star and everything around it within a click. If so much
as a piece of garbage is out there, I want to know about
it."

"Do you mind if I ask why?"

"Just a suspicion, Sarah. That's
all."

"Aye, aye." The intercom clicked off
and he resumed his investigation of Mister Gates.

Unfortunately, information about
Mister Gates was rather sparse. He had medical records, proof of
birth and citizenship, family and next of kin, school reports, a
dissertation, but nothing outstanding. Except for a strange gap in
his education. For one year he was away from school for no apparent
reason.

Finally, after much research, Calvin
pieced together something huge. Gates had been sentenced to "four
years imprisonment followed by three years at the reform center on
Primeva Major." But the sentence was commuted after only one year
and he was returned to school, record wiped clean. Calvin kept
digging.

"For five years Jefferson Aldred Gates
was part of the paramilitary organization CERKO." Calvin knew who
they were. A small group of rebels who claimed responsibility for
the terrorist attack that destroyed the Imperial Ship Lightfalcon
B. For ten years CERKO attacked police stations and bombed
government structures until the Imperial Military cracked down on
them. Apparently, during the government raids, they found evidence
linking Gates to CERKO, as a sympathizer who supplied explosives.
He was captured, tried, and eventually put into prison. Or so
Calvin gathered; the picture wasn't very clear since he was piecing
this together from several—somewhat inconsistent—sources, and
someone had gone through and done a sloppy whitewash of Gates'
files.

"Now we're onto something," Calvin
started a new search, hoping to find out why a former convict and
terrorist had been allowed aboard a major military vessel, and why
Gates' sentence was commuted. But just as he got excited, his
intercom light flashed again.

"What is it?" He asked, unhappy about
the interruption.

"Captain to the bridge," said Sarah,
sounding alarmed.

Calvin jumped up and hustled to the
door without another word. Not much in the galaxy worried Sarah.
"What is it?" he asked, sweeping toward the command
position.

"The Major just apprised us of a
situation below decks," Summers was calm and well collected. But
Miles wore his anxiety on his sleeve.

"The bloody werewolf has escaped!" he
yelled.

Calvin looked back to Summers who
nodded. "He's escaped confinement and both guards are
missing."

"What about the surveillance
tape?"

"The Major's looking it over
now."

"Condition one alert!" said Calvin and
he pressed the intercom. "All hands not on duty must report to
quarters immediately, and stay there until further notice. And keep
them locked at all times. An intruder is aboard, I repeat an
intruder is aboard. Consider him armed and dangerous. Until I say
otherwise, code fifteen is in place. All decks are locked down
effective immediately and all active personnel are on continuous
duty until told otherwise. That is all."

"What does that mean, code fifteen?"
asked Miles.

"It's a mystery to me how you ever
passed the certification exam," said Summers.

Calvin opened a channel to the Major's
office. "What's going on, Major? I need a report."

"Sometime within the last ten minutes
the lycan disappeared along with his guards. The surveillance shows
nothing and we've just proven it's a fake, someone switched the
tapes. And the audio feed we set up on that deck didn't pick up
anything either. We've done a sweep of the five decks surrounding
the confinement area... so far nothing."

"Oh that's just perfect..."
Calvin let go of the comm for a second and looked at Summers. "We
just
had
to bring
him aboard...
duty demanded
it
... well, I hope you're happy!" he pushed
the button again. "I suggest you activate all your units and break
them into teams. I want every inch of this ship searched until
every room has been turned upside down, every panel opened, and
every nook and cranny uncovered.
We're
going to find him
!"

"Agreed. I've already begun organizing
teams."

"And, Major, send your upper-decks
team to the bridge ASAP, I want to go with them."

"Acknowledged, they'll be there soon."
Calvin let go of the comm and headed back toward his
office.

"Go with them?" Summers asked. "What
for?"

"Because I made a mistake that put my
crew in danger and I'll be damned if I don't fix it. You have the
deck."

Once inside his office it was only a
few steps to the weapons locker. He pressed his thumb to the plate
and typed in the code—which took him a second to remember. His ship
had never been boarded before so he'd never needed to use his
firearms until today.

He selected an assault rifle from a
set of five and took an additional pistol with thigh holster. He
inspected the weapons then loaded the magazines making sure to
bring a few extras. The pistol was as simple as they came, but the
rifle was thoroughly upgraded and boasted much more firepower than
what marines packed. The manufacturer bragged this rifle could
"shred steel." And though that claim was certainly exaggerated,
Calvin didn't handle the weapon lightly. He returned to the bridge
with it firmly in hand, aimed at the floor.

The Special Forces unit had already
arrived. Five soldiers in total, a little less than a fourth of
Special Forces. They brandished a variety of guns, all impressive,
and stood rigid, side-by-side, in dark grey camouflage with black
berets. He only knew two of them by name, one was the Major's
second in command, Captain Jason Pellew. His body was every bit the
rugged and tough soldier he was supposed to be, but he had the face
of a movie star and a suaveness about him that made him popular
among the women on the ship. Sarah's eyes were glued to him, and
even Summers seemed slightly distracted.

"Mister Pellew," said Calvin, looking
him in the eyes.

"Yes, sir."

"We'll start at the bridge landings,
split the team in half and work in a circle tossing every deck from
ten to seven."

"Yes, sir," Pellew saluted then turned
to his men. "Staff Sergeant Davis, take Nassar and Uzbeck and
search the landings and the aft sections. Alenko, you’re with me
and the captain in the bow, now let's move out."

They acknowledged and saluted. Calvin
followed behind Pellew down the hatch and ladder while the other
team took the elevator. Once on the steel landing they filed into
the corridor of deck nine. As they passed a few quarters and
offices they began to toss the rooms. Calvin stuck with Pellew and
they overturned every inch of the quartermaster's office before
moving to the adjacent maintenance closet.

"Are your men aware that we're not
searching for a regular human intruder?"

"Sir, yes, sir."

"It's just the three of us,
you can drop the
sir, yes, sir
stuff,” said Calvin. Pellew didn't respond so he
added, "that’s an order."

"All right, then," said Pellew. "I
know we're looking for the lycan we took off the shuttle a few
hours ago. What else can you tell me about him?"

"Not a lot, unfortunately. The Major
and I didn't get anything out of him during our
interrogation."

They finished rummaging through the
maintenance closet and locked it up again. "What I want to know,"
said Calvin. "Is how two Special Forces soldiers, experts, allowed
him to escape in the first place. What can you tell me about
them?"

Before Pellew could answer, one of his
men jogged to them with a report. "All the men report nothing in
this section, sir."

"Inform the sergeant we're moving to
deck eight, then form up at the ladders."

"Sir, yes, sir!" the lance corporal
jogged off.

"What were you saying?" Pellew looked
at him.

Calvin decided he was more interested
in something else. "Where do you keep the surveillance feed? I need
to know who could have replaced the tape."

"HQ, on deck one." Pellew's answer was
exactly as Calvin suspected. The Head Quarters for the Special
Forces staff was a set of small adjoining offices that were
constantly staffed and busy. Penetrating it deep enough to replace
a critical data tape undetected would be a nearly impossible
achievement. Unless the perpetrator were an insider, or had special
talents. Making the mystery of the missing tape another question he
couldn't solve without more information.

They met up with the rest of their
team and climbed down to the next deck, which they spread out and
tossed like before. The soldiers stormed through the corridors and
rooms, keeping the alarmed crewmen in their quarters, and
overturned tables and chairs, searched under beds, etc. But as
Calvin had feared, they turned up nothing. Just as they finished
combing deck eight, the Major gave them a report via Captain
Pellew's radio. Fifty percent of the ship searched so far, and
nothing found.

They continued their deep search to
deck seven, opening every container, scouring every room, but they
still found nothing. The Major's other teams reported no more
success. They were quickly running out of ship to search and Calvin
feared the werewolf's keen senses kept him a step ahead, allowing
him to double back to sections they'd already searched, giving them
the perpetual slip. He wished he could post soldiers in every
corridor on every deck, but he lacked the manpower. And he didn't
want to involve the crew who were neither properly trained nor
equipped to handle a rogue werewolf. He knew he needed outside help
before an incident happened, so he radioed the bridge.