The Phoenix Conspiracy (39 page)

"Can you bring any of those hails over
the speaker? Patch us through to one of them."

"No, I can't," Jay said. "The
kataspace connector is offline. But before it crashed all I got
from them was white noise. Not sure what to make of it."

Rose nodded, his mind racing to
control the situation. "Patrick, are there any ships or structures
nearby?"

"Negative."

"So outside communication is dead, but
we still have inside communications, right?"

"Correct."

Rose was completely clueless. "We need
to get the CO in here," he said.

"Which one?" asked Jay.

Rose didn't know the answer to that.
He instinctively tapped his line to the CO's office, because of its
proximity. "Commander," he said. "We've got a situation
here."

"On my way," Summers voice crackled
over the speaker. And, not more than five seconds later, she was
there.

"What's the situation, Mister Rose?"
She asked as he relinquished the command position.

"A moment ago the ship received a
message from Intel Wing, broadcast on every deck. Have you seen
it?"

"No."

Cassidy pointed to her screen and
Summers read the message. "This is wrong," she said, ice in her
tone.

Rose continued, "after that, the ship
received billions of hails and now we can't send or receive outside
communication."

"Why not?" Summers looked to Cassidy
who was more than busy at the ops station. "I'm doing a diagnostic
now."

"Try again to contact the Fleet,"
Summers ordered Jay.

"It won't do any good."

"I gave you an order,
mister!"

After an exaggerated display of
trying, he turned back to the center of the bridge and waved his
hands. "Voila, nothing."

Summers looked perplexed. She glanced
at Rose. "What's your opinion?"

She was asking him? He almost laughed.
"I have no idea what's wrong."

"I've restarted the system a few
times," Cassidy said. "But it just times out because it's
overloaded and then crashes again. Oh wait, my diagnostic just
finished."

"What does it say?" Summers again
stared over Cassidy's shoulder.

"It... " Cassidy paused, looking
stunned. "I don't know. All systems operating normally." She
scratched her head. "Maybe... I think I could make this happen if I
wanted to, if someone tampered with—"

The elevator door whisked open and
Calvin, Miles, Sarah, and Shen stormed the bridge looking
pleased.

"Make way," said Miles as they moved
to their stations. Rose looked from them to Summers—whose confusion
had only intensified.

"This isn't White Shift," said
Summers. "And Calvin, you can't be here."

"Not according to the latest message
from Intel Wing," he said as he took the command position and sat
down. Summers was on him like a hawk, standing over him and
glaring. Like an invader had just squatted her nest. Calvin's only
reaction was to look up at her and grin.

"It's true," said Shen. "The official
word is that the Fleet's decision to revoke Calvin's command was
illegitimate and has been reversed by the proper authority, Intel
Wing. Since this is, after all, an Intel Wing ship."

She gave Shen a menacing glare.
"There's no way that message came from Intel Wing."

He shrugged. "Could have fooled me,"
he glanced briefly at Calvin. "Cassidy, did the computer verify the
message’s authenticity stamp?”

“Yes—” she said,
unconvinced.

"There you see!" said Miles. "Now move
over ex-bosslady." He moved closer to Summers and she shifted her
attention from Calvin to him, taking up a defensive posture, as if
thinking Miles would strike her. But Miles stopped a few feet away
and they just glared at each other.

"And we can't call Intel Wing to
confirm this because, conveniently, outside communication is
offline," said Cassidy.

"That's technology for you,” said
Calvin.

"Right, now move over," said Miles
again, inching closer. Summers looked like a cat trapped in an
alleyway full of dogs.

"What I find interesting," said
Summers, refusing to back down, "is that we haven't heard anything
from Special Forces yet," she dared a quick glance at
Calvin.

Calvin ignored her comment. “As CO of
this ship, I order you to go to my office and remain there until I
say otherwise."

"Since you are not
legitimately the CO of this ship and
I
am," said Summers, "I
refuse."

"Well you heard her," said Miles. "You
all heard her."

"For disobeying a direct order from
your superior officer," said Calvin. "I arrest you for
insubordination and you are now a prisoner on this ship until we
make port and you are transferred to the proper authority." He
stood up.

"Insubordination?” she said the word
like she’d never heard it before

"Lock her in my office," he waved to
Miles.

"With pleasure." He closed
in.

She took up a defensive
stance.

He charged her but relied too much on
size and brute strength and Summers used his momentum against him.
She deflected his hands and darted aside as he passed, giving him a
firm shove in the direction he was headed. Unable to stop, he
crashed into the CO's chair. Calvin darted aside in the nick of
time.

Before anyone could stop her, Summers
ran for the elevator.

Miles scrambled to his feet and
charged her way, almost overtaking her, but the door closed before
he could snatch her. He slammed his hands flat against the elevator
door to keep his head from crashing into it.

"That slippery
w
itch
!
" he said, looking more embarrassed
than angry. He turned to face Calvin. "I'm sorry."

Calvin said nothing for a few seconds.
"This does present a problem."

Shen moved to the center of the
bridge, looking nervous. "We needed to keep her here so she
wouldn't contact the Major. I was going to disable the office's
comm and everything."

"I said I was sorry."

"That's not our only problem," said
Calvin. "The beacon."

"Oh right," said Shen.

"Is there anything we can do about
that?" Calvin asked. "Block it somehow?"

"No. Not unless you have a room with
tungsten walls a hundred feet thick. We'd do better to capture it.
If we had it, we could keep it from being turned on."

"What are you talking about?" asked
Miles.

"The emergency beacon. A
silent signal that can only be picked up by Imperial Military
starships," said Shen. "It's a Fleet standard, it came aboard when
Summers did. And she’s the only one here who’s been trained how to
use it. How do you
not
know this stuff?"

Miles shrugged. "I dunno. I'm a
government employee. I don't have to know everything."

“Even when your business is all about
acquiring information?”

While they discussed it, Rose's eyes
moved from them to the other Red Shift members, who seemed equally
confused and quiet. They too weren't sure what to make of it
all.

"So what do we do?" asked
Shen.

"We have to seal off the bridge and
engineering.”

The whole thing felt suspicious to
Rose who saw that feeling in the eyes of his fellow Red Shift
officers. But none of them spoke. Calvin seemed to pick up on
this.

"I have command," Calvin
insisted. "
Legitimately
. But I'm afraid there really is a fight going on between
Intel Wing and Fleet Command. And Summers, an agent of the Fleet,
will try and trick the Major into thinking the Fleet has control of
the ship and not Intel Wing."

"How could they be fighting?" asked
Patrick. "They're on the same side!"

"You have a lot to learn now that
you're in Intel Wing," said Calvin. "But let's just say, it's no
secret the Fleet and Intel Wing don't see eye to eye on this
investigation. Now the Fleet is making a play for control of the
ship, but it isn't going to work. Because we won’t let it. Set a
new heading—Abia System. Let's do a deep jump, maybe ninety-five
percent potential. Miles take your station. Sarah, give engineering
the order to seal themselves off. Red Shift, you're relieved. Shen,
put up those defense walls once Red Shift is gone."

Chapter 23

When Summers explained to him—in
full—everything that'd happened on the bridge, the Major's first
instinct was to try and contact Intel Wing.

It was plausible, he thought, that
Intel Wing—who had jurisdiction over the Nighthawk—might contradict
and override an order from Fleet Command. But what bothered him was
that all communications had gone offline again, somehow, and that
Intel Wing, if they did return Calvin's command, didn't seem very
concerned over his proven equarius habit.

Command Failure: Network
is busy. Try again. If the problem persists please contact the
operations administrator.

He did as the computer asked and tried
again, with the same result. "The Network is busy? I don't
understand." The Major felt he had extensive knowledge of a great
many subjects but computers wasn't one of them.

"Calvin somehow sabotaged
our outside communications, now nothing can get in or out," said
Summers. "That way
we
can't
verify if he has command of the
ship or not." She looked impatient.

The Major frowned; the situation
wasn't as clear to him as that. She might be right. But she might
not be. "So why would he do this? That doesn't sound like
Calvin."

"But it does sound like someone who
wants to get his command back."

He considered this quietly. When he
didn't say anything, Summers leaned forward and looked him in the
eyes. "If someone knew he could have his command revoked again by
just one word from the outside, what do you suppose he might
do?"

Good point. If Calvin
were
going to war to take
back his ship, the obvious first strategy, like in any war, would
be to disrupt communications. Being able to put words in Intel
Wing’s mouth, knowing they couldn’t be reached to refute his claim,
would be an incredible advantage. One anyone might take in his
situation.

The Major opened his internal
comm-line, adjusting it for all decks.

***

A broadcast filtered over the bridge
speakers.

"Attention all hands, this is Major
Jenkins of Special Forces. You are to disregard the message from
Intel Wing restoring command to Mister Cross. That message is
likely a fabrication. Until Intel Wing can be reached, Commander
Presley is the CO of this ship. Her orders are to be followed to
the letter. And she has the full support of Special Forces. Jenkins
out."

Calvin wasn’t surprised by
the ship-wide announcement, but it was still a crushing blow.
Hopefully the crew in engineering wouldn’t be swayed by it. As long
as they stayed loyal, and engineering was sealed off, they could at
least get to Abia.
Probably…

Calvin tapped his direct line to the
Major. "Major, this is Calvin."

"Calvin. I advise you to surrender
yourself and the bridge immediately."

"Major, I have command of the ship.
I've always had it. There is information in Abia," he said, "and
people in the Fleet don't want me to see it. They'll sacrifice me
and you and the whole ship to keep it hidden. But it's there. And
as long as it's there I have a job to do. And so do you. Your job
is to enable me."

"I don't know what you're talking
about, Mister Cross, but I have orders to follow. And I see no
evidence of any kind of conspiracy. Only evidence of your substance
abuse."

"This isn’t about equarius! Give me
time and I’ll prove it to you. I can get you all the evidence you
need," said Calvin. "I guarantee I can make you believe
me."

"Maybe you can, maybe you can't.
Frankly, I don't care. You lied to the ship, you lied to the crew,
and I don't trust you. Surrender or we'll take you down. Jenkins
out." The comm clicked off.

"Well I see he's not a man to be
reasoned with," said Calvin.

"Lied to the ship?" Miles scratched
his head. "That doesn't even make sense.”

"I could have told you he wouldn’t
listen,” said Shen.

Calvin ignored them and set
the comm for a ship-wide broadcast of his own. "Attention all
hands. This is Calvin Cross. And I’m speaking to you not just as
your commander, but as your friend. I’ve had the honor of being
your CO for some time now, I even handpicked many of you because I
knew we could trust each other. I am asking for that trust
now
.