The Phoenix Conspiracy (42 page)

"What are you doing here, Simms?"
Pellew snapped. "You’re supposed to remain outside. Return to your
post now, soldier!"

"I'm unable, sir."

"Why?" Pellew asked.

Simms remained silent. Calvin could
think of only one explanation, someone higher up the chain than
Pellew had given him contrary orders which he had to obey. Probably
he’d reported in that Pellew was secretly visiting Calvin and he’d
been sent, by the Major, to see what it was about. Whatever the
case may be, he had to be dealt with. Calvin made eye contact with
Pellew who seemed to understand.

"Simms," said Pellew. "You're a good
loyal man of the Empire, aren't you?"

"I am, sir."

"Then you want to do the right thing
and defend it?” asked Pellew. "From threats inside and
out?"

"I do."

"Then you must realize that what is
happening on this ship is very wrong, and that Calvin's command
must be restored. And as a good man of the Empire, you have to
support him," Pellew squared his shoulders, preparing for the man's
reaction—whatever it turned out to be.

Simms tensed. "As a good man of the
Empire I must obey my orders."

"I respect that," said Pellew. Then,
in the blink of an eye, Pellew withdrew his stunner and took a
swing at Simms—who blocked it with both arms, knocking it
aside.

Calvin bolted for Simms and exchanged
a series of grapples and blows with the man, keeping him from
drawing his own stunner.

Pellew came up from behind and put
Simms into a chokehold, slowly increasing the pressure until Simms
could no long breath and passed out.

"I
tried
to be reasonable," said Pellew,
bending over to retrieve Simms' stunner and radio. He tossed them
to Calvin then withdrew some thin cables from one of his cargo
pockets.

"There’s no going back now," said
Calvin.

"Had to be done," Pellew said as he
dragged Simms across the floor and began cable-tying him to
Calvin's desk. "The way I see it, we only have two choices: fight
or give up."

Calvin nodded. “Whatever our next move
is, we’d better act quickly.”

"I’ve already given my men orders,
it’s time they execute them.” With that he clicked on the radio and
spoke a command into it.” No reply came but Calvin thought that was
probably deliberate.

“So how do you and I factor into this
plan?” Calvin asked as he followed Pellew out of his quarters at a
brisk jog.

“We’re going to help take
engineering.”

***

Summers was surprised to see two
additional Special Forces soldiers step onto the bridge. She was
going to greet them but they spoke first. There was something…
familiar about them.

“Mitchell and Adams reporting, sir,”
the older-looking one said. “Adams” was stitched to his
lapel.

“I didn’t ask for additional
security,” she said, raising a curious eyebrow.

“We’re reporting here as their
relief,” he motioned toward the other two Special Forces soldiers
who’d been with her since she’d retaken the bridge—not very long
ago. Being inferior in rank to Adams, they saluted when he
addressed and dismissed them.

Summers’ curiosity faded as she
realized what was happening was perfectly routine. Probably the
others were being reassigned to some other task their skills were
better suited to. She turned back to face the front of the
bridge.

“Where would you like us to set up,
sir?” Adams asked from behind.

“Wherever you think is best,” Summers
replied.

At that moment her direct line to the
Major beeped and she answered it. “Bridge.”

“Commander,” the Major’s voice could
be heard. “I’ve lost contact with the soldier standing guard
outside Calvin’s quarters. What is your status up
there?”

“Everything is fine up here, Major,”
she said. “Thank you for sending fresh soldiers to relieve my
guard.”

“I didn’t send any relief
soldiers.”

At that moment she felt a cold hand on
her neck and something hard press against the side of her head. She
screamed, startled, and heard Cassidy gasp.

“Push that button again and tell the
Major everything is fine,” Adams said from behind her. Summers felt
a surge of fear swirling inside her but, as she focused on the
situation at hand, she suppressed it and instead felt only cold,
merciless anger.

She pushed the button. “And one more
thing Major.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Seal off engineering!” Her finger
came off the button as she was thrown forward, crashing to the
ground on hands and knees. She jumped up resiliently and spun
around to see both Mitchell and Adams holding stunners. Mitchell
was forcing Patrick to seal off the bridge while Adams instructed
them all to remain calm and not resist.

Summers saw her chance and sprinted
for the operations console.

Chapter 25

By the time Calvin and Pellew arrived
outside engineering, Pellew could tell it had been sealed off. His
soldiers reported back to him, saying their individual missions had
all been successful, but Calvin was surprised to learn that exactly
none of them had been given the task of breaching engineering. A
veritable fortress that—now that the Major was surely onto
them—would be daunting to tackle because they’d lost the element of
surprise. But it, unlike the bridge, was at least possible to
storm. All they needed now was superior numbers—and
soon.

“My men report they’ve freed Miles,
Sarah, and now Shen. We couldn’t get to Andre because he’s still
locked up in HQ,” said Pellew.

Calvin was both surprised and pleased
by their success. “So where are they now?”

“On their way here. Would you like to
give them any special instructions?”

Calvin thought about it for a minute.
“Keeping two of your men on the bridge leaves us with four
soldiers—including you—and four crew members—including me. I don’t
think that’s a strong enough force to take engineering, do
you?”

Pellew frowned. “It depends how
they’re set up, but if they were warned to prepare for an attack
then the odds aren’t great.”

“So we need more assistance,” Calvin
said. “It’s time we gather up more sympathizers.”

“We’ll have to be careful since we’re
in small groups and there’s an overwhelming hostile force bound to
be patrolling the ship.”

“Agreed,” said Calvin. “But it’s our
only chance.” He then used the radio to relay specific instructions
to Miles, Sarah, and Shen. Giving them orders to scour the crew
quarters decks and appeal to whoever they thought would be
sympathetic to their cause. Then they’d all meet up on the
observation deck where weapons would be distributed. “Most of all,”
Calvin said into the radio. “As you sneak around the ship, take no
unnecessary risks, refrain from engaging the enemy, and follow the
commands of your Special Forces escort.”

***

It had been a process, and there were
small firefights in the corridors—one involving Miles and his
escort, who had to practically drag Miles away from the combat
zone, and a second involving Sarah’s team, though she heeded her
escort’s instructions and they escaped more easily. In total, they
managed to recruit an additional ten sympathizers. Giving them a
standing force of eighteen people able to attack engineering. More
than the seventeen soldiers the Major had at his disposal but his
superiorly armed and trained force more than made up for
that.

Pellew worried that the Major, who
must have known they would be forced to attack engineering, had
placed most of his force there. Without a numbers advantage, Pellew
and Calvin knew it would be impossible for their rag-tag force to
overcome Special Force’s fighting skill and defense advantages.
Which was why Pellew suggested what he did.

“We’re going to assault engineering
and you don’t even want to be there to help?” Miles asked with
genuine surprise.

“I
am
going to help,” said Pellew. “But
I don’t have to be there to do it. Look, I know the Major. He will
defend HQ more than anything else, if he perceives there is a
threat to it. The threat won’t even have to make sense, he’ll
follow his instincts. It’s his training. He will protect HQ and
that means, if we make enough noise down there, he will divert
forces from engineering to HQ. Enough, probably, to let us take
engineering.”

“That’s an interesting idea,” said
Calvin. “But if you don’t make enough noise, or you’re taken down
too quickly, it will be a complete waste. And your command
expertise and fighting skills might be more valuable breaching
engineering.”

“I’m flattered,” said Pellew with a
mock grin. “But if I don’t create this diversion, we probably won’t
be able to take engineering—with or without me.”

“I could do it,” one of the other
soldiers spoke up. “Osbourne” was stitched to his
fatigues.

Pellew didn’t say anything. Osbourne
continued. “I will create the diversion. Give me several flashbangs
and smoke canisters, and that’ll free you up to help take
engineering.” He looked from Pellew to Calvin.

“I’m good with that,” said
Calvin.

Pellew nodded, looking almost
disappointed. “That works too.”

***

Osbourne’s diversion must’ve worked
beautifully since they found engineering abandoned, except for a
few crewmembers who were manning the equipment.

“No one’s here?” Miles shouted and
then he laughed. “The Major doesn’t know anything!”

“He must have wanted to keep his force
together,” Pellew said. “So we don’t pick more of his soldiers off
in small groups. But you can bet his force will return shortly,
maybe with some of the other soldiers we knocked out and cable-tied
earlier. That means we don’t have a moment to spare.”

Pellew and Calvin shouted orders to
their subordinates and began a process of fortifying engineering
and evicting two of the engineers who wouldn’t sympathize with
them. They’d just about finished erecting a barricade—since the
engineering defense wall had already been destroyed—when they got a
message from the bridge.

“Problem, flight controls locked out,
XO protocols in place, need a command override, over.”

“Roger that,” Pellew replied, clicking
off the radio. He looked at Calvin and they both knew what that
meant. Calvin would have to get to the bridge to undo Summers’
lockout—meaning he’d have to sneak his way to the top of the
ship.

Pellew offered him an escort but
Calvin chose to go alone, opting for a stealth approach. He knew
every hand was needed here to defend engineering and, should the
Major retake it, they’d never get it back, and certainly couldn’t
rely on the diversion tactic again.

Calvin knew the Major probably had
soldiers scouring the ship to recover any soldiers Pellew’s men had
previously incapacitated, and he probably had men on their way to
control the corridors around engineering—but Calvin had little
choice. He hoped, with a little luck, he could slip through
unnoticed. But, just in case, he brought a stunner.

***

As Calvin moved through the silent
empty halls, he skirted the corners carefully.

He scrambled up a deck, using the
ladders, but had to cut his ascent short and hide because he heard
voices. He moved down a main corridor but the voices continued to
follow him.

He wondered if they knew he was around
or if this was just a bad coincidence. He hushed his breathing and
moved on. Knowing if he couldn’t get around them, he’d have to
outthink them.

The voices didn’t go away. Making him
more and more certain they knew where he was. Yet they didn’t run,
just kept pace. As Calvin turned another corner, making yet another
attempt to get around, he realized they were corralling him. They
didn’t know where he was exactly, but they were closing the window.
And there must be other Special Forces soldiers coming from the
other side, or perhaps waiting in ambush.

He wasn’t certain what to do for a
moment.

If he stayed, he’d be caught. But if
he kept moving, he’d spring their trap. He had to invent a third
option… If only he could get the incoming men to move past him.
Then he could go back the way he’d come and access the ladders
without a problem.

He looked around. He was in a small
corridor with crew quarters on both sides. His first thought was to
hide in one of them. But they were certainly locked. Maybe someone
would sympathize with him, and hide him?

He sprinted to the nearest
crew quarters and rang the chime. Then he stood out of view of the
small camera that would have identified him to the occupant.
Hopefully the crewman was someone sympathetic to his cause and
would take him in.
If not…

He tightened his grip on his stunner
and waited.