The Phoenix Conspiracy (55 page)

Raidan looked up.

"What do you know about
CERKO?"

"Why?"

"On Aleator One, I was ID'd and
attacked by CERKO agents. Tristan came to my rescue, even though
I'd handed him off to the port authority. Now that I know you're
working together, maybe you can explain what happened to me there.
And how Tristan got aboard my ship, and free, in the first
place."

"We bribed a few choice Aleator
officials when we heard, from some of our feelers, that CERKO was
hired to kill you there. And, by the looks of it, somebody paid a
lot. Outfitting that many rebels, sending them halfway across the
Empire, giving them automatic weapons, and knowing just when you'd
be there. Couldn't have been cheap."

"Why me?"

Raidan shrugged. "You tell me. Who
wants you dead?"

"I really don't know..." Calvin was
completely at a loss. Somehow he'd expected Raidan to know the
answer. Maybe he didn't want to tell him. Or maybe he was as
baffled as Calvin.

"So you made sure Tristan was there,
to protect me from the CERKO agents, is that it?"

Raidan smiled. "We recruited
someone on your ship to make sure Tristan could get free and
collect your, what-would-you-call-it?...
scent
, I guess. So he could find you
on Aleator."

Calvin thought about it for a minute.
"Mister Pellew. You recruited him somehow, and he made sure Tristan
got free and switched out the surveillance footage," Calvin was
rambling more to himself than to Raidan, but this helped explain
why Pellew had been willing to take Calvin's side against Summers
and the Major. He was working for Raidan, or The Organization, or
both...

"Yes," Raidan admitted. "Pellew is
working with us. He's a recent recruit, nabbed him on Praxis, but
we had considerable leverage."

"You coerced him?"

"No. His sister is influential in The
Organization. Blood is thicker than water, as they say, and money
is thicker than blood. Interpret that however you like."

"What about Jacobi?" asked Calvin. "Or
should I say Titus Antony."

"Who?”

"A man in a tattered military uniform.
He was working with the CERKO agents up until the moment they were
going to execute me. He killed them. And then, shortly after, more
CERKO agents killed him. He didn't tell me much. But I'm sure he's
connected to you."

Raidan's face changed from smug to
intrigued. "I know of no such person."

Calvin searched Raidan’s eyes. "Are
you sure?"

"Cross my heart and hope to
die."

"I see..." he wasn't sure if Raidan
was lying or not. If Jacobi hadn't been working for Raidan, why
would he have acted how he did?

"Then tell me about Tristan," said
Calvin.

"He's been my contact with and
information source for a few of the Remorii
settlements."

Of course Calvin knew most remorii
lived in clans, or groups, or herds—whatever they were called, but
he never thought they'd be useful to talk to—if dialogue were even
possible. Too hard to find and too little power to be much of an
asset, or so he'd believed. "Tristan's a remorii— creatures the
Empire would eradicate if it could—so why would he care about
protecting us humans?"

"That's an interesting question,"
Raidan pressed his fingers together. "Why don't you ask him
yourself?"

"When?"

"Whenever you like. He's going with
you," Raidan sat back.

"On the Nighthawk?"

Raidan nodded. "You'll find him to be
a very useful asset, I think. Consider it a fool's apology for
dragging you into all of this."

"No, I don't think so," said
Calvin. "I
don't
want a remorii on my ship."

Raidan shrugged. "Suit yourself. I
guess that means you don't want to keep in contact with me and The
Organization."

"What do you mean?"

"Tristan is my liaison. He knows how
to contact The Organization. You don't."

"You could tell me."

Raidan chuckled quietly. "It
doesn’t work like that. Trust me, you need Tristan. But understand
he's not like remorii you've met in the past—that’s right, I know
what
really
happened on the Trinity," his eyes met Calvin's. "Tristan is
not the same. He's a friend. Take him with you. He'll prove his
worth to you, I promise."

Calvin hesitated. He was very tired,
and felt disadvantaged. His fatigue dulled his edge. It was hard to
put the pieces together, and sort out what was rational and what
wasn't.

In the end, he nodded. Thinking
Tristan might be a source of information at the very least. "All
right. He can come aboard."

"That's wise," said Raidan.

"For now."

"It will be a sign to my other people
on your ship that you are an ally. And should be
followed."

"
Other
people?"

"I understand you lost a great many
people at Abia. Many of them critical personnel. Medics, crewmen,
analysts... soldiers. They will need to be replaced for your ship
to function, will they not?"

Calvin thought of Monte, Rose, the
Major, and all of the others in their final moments, and lowered
his head. Feeling the grief overcome him at last. "Yes. I even lost
my chief physician." It hurt to say that, but he did it as
emotionlessly as he could. "I will need more people."

"It's hard. I understand. But it comes
with the job. You just have to pick yourself up and keep
fighting."

Calvin nodded. He knew he couldn’t
blame Raidan for what’d happened. At least not more than he could
blame himself.

“There is one other thing,” said
Calvin.

Raidan looked curious.

Calvin wasn't sure why he was bringing
this up, except that the thought of returning to the Nighthawk, as
a divided ship, was miserable. He needed cohesion. And that meant
he needed to understand, in order to make peace. "Summers Presley,"
he said. "Tell me... why is she so impassioned when your name comes
up?"

Raidan seemed surprised by the
question. "Is she now?”

Calvin frowned. “Yes. Something
happened, or didn’t happen, between you two and she’s been obsessed
with hunting you down. She wants you to kiss Lady
Justice.”

A tiny, intrigued smile appeared on
Raidan’s lips. “I’m sure she does.”

“Well?”

“If you must know, she and I were
close before all of this happened. How could we not be? She was the
most reliable officer I’ve ever had. And she looked at me with a
kind of respect that, well, very few can show. And, as I’m sure
you’ve found, her advice is always extremely
insightful.”

Calvin said nothing.

“So I came to depend on her more as an
equal than as a subordinate. A partnership was born. But I kept one
thing from her.”

“The Organization.”

“Exactly. And as we both know, in this
game, the more knowledge you have, the less safe you are—I couldn’t
tell her because I wanted to protect her.”

“Meanwhile,” said Calvin, “she
realizes you’ve been keeping secrets from her and misinterprets
it—she thinks you don’t trust her. And now she wants to prove
something to you.”

“No. She had no idea I was
keeping secrets up until the very, very end. It wasn’t until
Harkov’s marines boarded my ship that she realized I’d been lying
to her, and the whole crew, about everything. If she’s still
‘
impassioned
’ when
my name comes up, it’s because she feels betrayed that I deceived
her, no other reason.”

Calvin didn’t push the matter but
believed there was more to the story. “Thanks for your
information,” he said. "I should return to my ship now. My crew and
I need to mourn our dead."

"Yes, indeed," said Raidan. “But don’t
forget to have your defense officer contact me with details about
the engagement in Abia, as agreed."

"I won’t forget," said Calvin, unsure
what Raidan would find useful about it—he already knew the Fifth
Fleet destroyed itself. "Miles will contact you as soon as he’s
able."

"Good," Raidan scribbled a series of
numbers onto his paper, then tore it off and handed it to Calvin.
"Have him use this frequency."

Chapter 32

Its blackness was appropriate. The
vast, deep, ever stretching ocean of space.

Calvin had stood there, gazing out the
window, long before anyone arrived. The tranquil quiet offered a
kind of solace he needed.

Silence. Like death. And, not for the
first time, Calvin wondered about his own mortality, and of those
who'd passed away. Realizing he too would follow that path. Maybe
sooner than later. Would he ever see them again? Or were they, and
all mankind, doomed to be lost forever?

He thought of Monte the most. His old
friend. Yesterday a person but today only a memory. What would he
do without him? And as the scene of Monte's death replayed in
Calvin's mind, over and over, he felt his eyes grow warm. But no
tears flowed. He didn’t let them.

He watched the open-nothingness for
some time before the others came. Shuffling quietly onto the
observation deck—everyone not on duty. Then he put on a mask and
addressed them, the mask of the charismatic captain who could
inspire his crew to soldier on. Even though, deep inside, he felt
empty.

He went through the motions
of a funeral in space, one of the worst duties a captain must do.
He’d already done
the
worst duty, contacting next of kin. He'd spoken to no one,
left only messages, but it was still hard telling someone their
loved one had died, and knowing it had been, at least partially, a
result of decisions he himself had made.

Now here he was.

Speaking words he'd prepared mixed
with words that came to him in the moment. "...we remember our
dead. Our friends. Our colleagues. Our family. They died bravely.
They died nobly. And they died with dignity. Fulfilling their
duties to the final degree. Every one of us here owes them
something, for it was us they died defending. Let us remember them
for not just who they were, but what they were. Heroes…"

He led them in a moment of silence and
many bowed their heads. Calvin closed his own eyes. But instead of
darkness he saw visions of the exploding ship. And thought of his
friends’ souls forever wandering the infinite wilderness of space.
Perhaps freer in death than ever in life.

He again addressed his officers and
their eyes fell on him. They were in pain, but resilient. And
seeing their strength gave him a little more. He found eloquence he
never knew he had, and he spoke about each of their dead in turn,
as individuals, recalling from his own memory what an honor it had
been to serve with them. After each, a shot from the main gun lit
up the windows and darkened again, like the sun of that person’s
life setting for the final time.

Monte was the most difficult to speak
about, because Calvin had been very close to him. And trusted him
more than any other person since Christine had died. But he didn't
linger there. He gave the doctor his proper honors, and continued
down the list. According to order and rank.

The honor of being last went to the
Major, who'd sacrificed himself to save Calvin. And when Calvin
spoke, he made an extra effort to find the right words. The faces
of Special Forces looked up at him, strong but crestfallen. They
had admired their CO. And now he was gone. But seeing them,
desegregated from the crew, camouflage peppered through a room of
black-and-silver, was heartwarming. Showing a kind of unity Calvin
never would’ve thought possible, considering how they’d fought
against each other not long ago. But, he supposed, even more
recently, they’d fought side by side. And died side by
side.

Once he finished honoring the Major,
another shot fired from the main gun, followed by four volleys of
six from the smaller guns. And Calvin gave them a final thought to
ponder.

"I lied to you all
earlier."

His words rippled like a shockwave,
but he continued.

"Intel Wing did not give me back my
command. I seized it, so we could go to Abia. And I dragged you all
with me. Which is why I will not compel any of you to stand, or
hang, beside me...

"But, I am going to keep moving
forward on this road. And I am going to uncover the truth. All of
it. And I invite you all to come with me. But you deserve to know
the cost of doing so. No one you love will be safe. And the
government will hunt us. They will call us criminals. They may even
kill us. But, I believe, history will remember us differently. As
those who took a stand when no one else could. Warriors in an
invisible war."

He told them how he and Raidan had
spoken and how he believed that, together, they could rid the
Empire of the threat so deeply inside it. The same one that had
stolen away twenty-four of their own.