The Phoenix Conspiracy (38 page)

She toyed around with
different configurations, imagining which personnel she'd move
where and what the new shifts would look like. But it wasn't
just
logistics that kept
her awake.

The encounter with Calvin bothered
her. She was certain she'd done the right thing. Or, at least, the
necessary thing. Everything had come to a head. Calvin had to lose
command. And the only way to do that, that she could think of, was
to do what she'd done. It hadn't been her first choice. And it
sickened her to think about it. But it was what she’d had to do.
And now everything was back on track.

So… why did it still upset
her?

After tossing and turning
for some time, she sat up and forced thoughts of Calvin out of her
head. She dressed herself, deciding if she wasn't going to sleep
then her time could be better spent in the CO's office …
h
er
office
.

***

On the way to the elevator, Summers
ran into Calvin.

He didn't make eye contact for more
than a second and when they reached each other he veered away.
Summers couldn't guess where he was going, but since he really had
nowhere to go, she didn't blame him for wandering aimlessly. She
could understand that. He must be dealing with a lot of complex
thoughts and emotions, and she understood how being cooped up in
one's quarters might feel like torture under those
circumstances.

"Calvin," she said.

He didn't stop walking. Simply
acknowledged her with a cold word, "Commander." He didn't even look
at her.

Seeing him reduced to this bothered
her. "Calvin, stop," she'd meant it as a command but it came out as
more of a plea. He stopped but didn't look up.

"What?" There was no edge to his voice
but no softness either. More like apathy.

"About what happened earlier..." she
searched for the right words but couldn't find them. "I hope I
didn't give you the wrong idea or anything." She didn't want him to
think it was personal between them, and didn't want him to think
they had, or ever could have, the romantic spark he seemed to have
wanted. "We will keep things professional from here on
out."

He looked at her finally but said
nothing. And his eyes betrayed no emotion. She didn't see seething
hatred in them but there was no compassion there either.

"What I did was necessary, the ship
was off mission, I had to do it," she couldn't help but explain. He
didn't move or reply. It made her feel even more
uncomfortable.

"No hard feelings?" she
asked.

"No hard feelings," he said. His voice
was quiet, like a ghost's whisper, and carried no more emotion than
a stone. No sarcasm. No bitterness. Not even resentment. Just...
emptiness.

"Well, okay then," she said and
straightened her uniform. She hadn't expected him to be this
cooperative. Perhaps acceptance had set in and he too realized he
was defeated. And now that there was nothing more he could do, his
eyes were distant and thoughts introspective.

She saluted but he didn't salute back.
Instead he turned around and continued on his way. Like a zombie. A
sad, pitiful zombie.

"I hope you get the help you need,"
she whispered, watching him go. "I really do."

***

Calvin entered the observation deck
and saw five people waiting for him, chatting nervously. Some
looked more anxious than others. Only Monte seemed perfectly
calm.

"Thanks for coming," said Calvin,
after the door closed. Everyone clustered around.

"What the
hell
happened?" asked
Shen. "Summers is CO of the Nighthawk?"

"It's a long story—" said Calvin,
hoping to dismiss the question.

"So what's the plan?" asked
Miles.

"I'm not going to lie," said Andre,
the chief engineer. "I'm a bit nervous about this whole thing.
Don't get me wrong, I want to help you if I can. But I'm just not
sure how."

"Same here," said Shen. "But I owe it
to you to hear you out—we all do."

Sarah nodded. "What can we do for
you?”

Calvin looked each of them in the eyes
before responding. "You can help me by retaking the
ship."

Their reaction was about what he’d
expected. Surprise and skepticism. Miles flashed a big toothy
grin.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this,"
said Andre, perhaps the most trepidatious of the bunch.

"I... don't know what to say," said
Shen.

"Then just listen," Calvin
knew he had their complete attention. "Summers only has command as
long as the people aboard this ship think she's been given command.
But since the good doctor here never
officially
declared me unfit," he
waved toward Monte who bowed slightly, looking smug, "then everyone
on this ship is just taking Summers' word for it. We need to
challenge that claim.”

“How?” asked Sarah. “We can’t possibly
fight Special Forces.”

“Sure we can!” bellowed Miles. “We
outnumber them forty-six to twenty-four."

"Actually it's forty-six to
twenty-three,” said Shen. “We lost a soldier on Aleator
One."

"Excellent," said Miles. Then, when he
realized what he'd said, he added. "Um... Bless his
soul."

“Yeah—that’s out of the
question,” said Calvin. “Even if we
could
rally the entire crew, which
is… doubtful, we’d still get our asses kicked. That’s why my plan
is about deception. If we get the crew to go along with us, or at
least not get in our way, we could probably seal off both the
bridge and engineering. After that, Special Forces can beat against
the doors all they want while we take the ship anywhere we want to
go.”

“So how do we
deceive
the crew into not
opposing you?” asked Andre, clearly uncomfortable with the
idea.

“We fake a message. Make the computer
think it recorded a message when it didn’t. It’ll be text only and
state that I do have command. Sent, ostensibly, by Director
Edwards, and we display it on every station and in everyone’s
quarters.”

Shen looked intrigued. “Yes, that
would be possible. With a little work. But once they get that
message someone is going to contact Intel Wing and see if Director
Edwards actually sent it. And he can deny its
authenticity.”

“Which brings me to my second idea,”
said Calvin. “Remember what we did to the Brimm servers? Made them
think they were busier than they really were, causing them to
crash.”

Shen nodded. “Yes, that’s roughly
correct.”

“Can we do the same thing here? Make
the comms system overload because it’s being bombarded by countless
ghost hails that don’t connect to anything?”

Shen sighed. “Theoretically possible
though practically difficult, but I can try.”

“After that we simply take back
command. Hell, if we contain Summers the Major might not even know
any transition happened.”

Shen nodded. “I think this might
work.”

“Everyone good with this?” Calvin
looked at each of them. No one objected.

“Okay, let’s get to it.”

“Wait,” said Andre, now finding his
voice. “What if this doesn’t work?”

“Then I’ll take credit for deceiving
you and anyone who believed our fake message. You were just
following orders as best you understood them. I’ll take the fall
for everyone.”

"Just like Raidan," said
Sarah.

"
Exactly
like Raidan."

***

Vincent Rose sat at the command
position. He'd been on the ship for five months and he still felt
like he was wearing shoes that were too big.

It wasn't bad when he didn't have the
deck. He had full confidence in Calvin and the XO—at least when it
had been Anand—but since Rose had command a third of the time, he
knew he had a one third chance of being in that chair when a major
crisis happened. And, knowing that all life on the ship depended on
him during such a moment, he felt uncomfortable.

It didn’t help that Calvin had been
replaced by someone who was, more or less, a complete stranger. She
wasn't even part of Intel Wing, she was a navy officer! Rose didn't
know Summers well, but he already didn't like her. She was uptight,
rigid, condescending, and dispassionate. Like a machine.

He especially hated how his
eyes would sometimes flick to her. And notice aspects of her
beauty. And she
was
beautiful. Even around other beautiful women she would stand
out like a rose among daisies, and here... in the middle of
space... she contrasted the grey bolts and grim metal of a starship
like light against darkness. He couldn't help noticing that. And he
hated it. So, whenever he realized he was looking at her
that way
, he'd think of
his lovely wife and child back home. That strategy worked most of
the time. But he held it against Summers that he even had to do
it.

And now she was CO! The whole change
in power felt wrong. Everybody sensed it. If a two Silver Star hero
like Calvin could get the ax no one was safe. Which only added to
his anxiety.

"Status?" he asked, wanting to break
the silence.

"Flight controls normal," Jay reported
from the helm.

"Defense Systems operational," said
Patrick, flashing a youthful smile.

"And... all internal systems are
good," Cassidy said from the ops station.

"Good," said Rose.

Several more minutes passed in silence
and he did what he always did. Thought about home. Anne cooking his
favorite meal, pleased to see him after a long deployment. And
little Selene rushing down the apartment steps as fast as her tiny
legs could carry her, screaming ecstatically "Papa, papa!" How cute
she was... he hadn't seen either of them for almost three months,
and wouldn't for at least another three. He'd miss Selene's
birthday again... if only he could explain in small enough words
for her to understand.

"I've got something here, sir," said
Jay with a hand on his headset's speaker. He looked confused.
"Message coming in on all stations and all decks."

"Display it," Rose said
casually.

"I... can't."

"Then on speakers."

"It's text only... for some
reason."

Rose sat forward. "What?"

"Yeah, priority one message from Intel
Wing, Office of the Director."

"I see it too," said Patrick, eyes
fixed on his monitors.

"Something seems... odd about it,"
Cassidy said from operations. Rose agreed that it seemed unusual,
but not unheard of for Intel Wing to broadcast a text-only message.
Its reasons could be any, and probably not worth speculating about.
Orders were orders.

"Can you confirm the message is from
Intel Wing?" Rose asked.

"That's what the computer says..."
Cassidy replied, a whiff of skepticism in her voice.

"Then read it," Rose sat back
again.

Jay cleared his throat. "Attention all
hands of the IWS Nighthawk. This is Director Jack Edwards regarding
an order from Fleet Command to terminate the current mission and
change command. You are to disregard that order. Intel Wing has
command of the Nighthawk, not Fleet Command. Lieutenant Commander
Cross is the active CO of the Nighthawk and his orders stand. End
Message."

"Well that was short and sweet," said
Rose, scratching his head.

"Intel Wing contradicting the Fleet...
and in such an unusual way?” asked Cassidy. "Doesn't that seem odd
to you?"

"A little," Rose agreed.

"Even though the computer said the
message came in with the proper encryption from Intel Wing,"
Cassidy spoke, "that doesn't mean it couldn't be a fabrication. I
suggest we contact Intel Wing, just in case."

Rose nodded. He didn't want to think
of it as a possible fabrication, but it was his job to be sure.
"Very well," he said. "Send a message to Capital World. Hail Intel
Wing, priority one."

"Yes, sir," said Jay and then, a
moment later, he looked dumbfounded. "Something's not right
here."

"What now?"

Jay looked even more flustered. "I'm
not picking up any audio but the computer says we're receiving
sixteen thousand hails. No... twenty-nine million hails increasing
exponentially. Now it's well over a billion."

Rose became alarmed. "What are you
talking about?"

"I don't know," Jay said, looking
completely bewildered as he scrambled over his controls.

"Where are these hails coming
from?"

"Beats the hell out of me,
the system just crashed. It's completely offline. I have no contact
outside the ship
period
," he slapped his computer station, teeth clenched in
frustration.