The Phoenix Conspiracy (6 page)

"What can I get you, sir?"

Calvin hesitated—he didn’t drink
alcohol. “I’ll have a glass of water,” he said, adding, “on the
rocks.” He smiled like it was the funniest thing he’d ever
said.

"Okay..." the attendant said, looking
both unamused and disappointed as he left.

"The water's free but I hope you tip
him anyway," said Shen from behind a large mug.

"I'm sure he'll live." Calvin tried to
make himself comfortable, shifting on the stiff furniture. "So what
have you two been gabbing about while I kept you
waiting?"

"Mostly about how slow you
are."

Sarah giggled. "And how you never ask
for directions."

"We made a small wager to see how fast
you'd get here. And you let me down, Cal," Shen folded his
arms.

With a broad grin Sarah said, "if you
want a drink, Captain. It's on me, I stumbled upon 70q somehow."
She spun Shen's moneycard on the table, beneath her long slender
fingers.

"70q, really?” asked Calvin. "That's
almost a day's pay. You sure you haven't been drinking too
much?"

Shen shrugged. "Probably. But what can
I say?" He traced the foamy ring of his mug with one finger. "I'm
on vacation, what's a little betting?"

Calvin shook his head. "I don't think
betting's your thing, Shen. Seems like you're almost as bad as
Miles."

"Actually," said Sarah. "We
called him earlier to come up, but apparently he's
'
on a roll'
. I
guess he's made a pretty good profit so far and doesn't want to
lose ‘
the magic'
,
or whatever he calls it."

Calvin raised an eyebrow. "You're
kidding me. He's actually winning?"

Shen laughed. "First time for
everything."

"That reminds me," said Calvin. "And
don't ask what one has to do with the other," he wagged a finger.
"But we're getting a new first officer."

"What about Anand?"

"Transferred, got his own
command."

"That rat. What a backstabbing
traitor," said Sarah with a smile. "And to think I'd always admired
him."

Calvin knew Sarah had much more than
admired him. The two would flirt shamelessly and yet, they'd still
never managed to hook up.

"Yeah... hard to believe he's going,"
said Shen. "I'm going to miss him." Shen seemed almost
pleased.

"So will I,” said Calvin.

"So who's the new officer?" asked
Shen.

"I honestly don't know."

The server brought Calvin his ice
water and again asked if there was something more he could do.
Calvin had intended to refuse but, remembering what Shen has said
about the tip, decided he'd order a small meal. He was almost
finished looking over the menu when Shen pounded his
shoulder.

"Hey, look at this."

"What?" Calvin glanced down at the
table's viewscreen. Shen had activated the news station and a large
vessel could be seen leaving the dock, flanked by two other
warships.

"A dreadnought with two corvettes. The
Harbinger."

"So what?"

"It's our friend, listen," he handed
Calvin a small ear piece.

He heard an articulate woman over the
feed. She broadcasted from some newsroom off station. "It's unknown
where he's being kept aboard the very large ship you see there. But
former starship captain Asari Raidan is en-route to Capital World
on the ISS Harbinger which is temporarily being used as a penal
ship. It looks like the Imperial Navy has provided some extra
escort as you can see by the presence of the two corvettes. No word
yet on who ordered the extra precaution or how far the escort will
go. But they're about to clear the defense perimeter."

Seeing their shift in attention, the
attendant excused himself and wandered off to some other
table.

Calvin ignored him and let out a sigh,
"I was hoping to get my mind off all of this." He needed to accept
that Raidan's behavior was a mystery that would go unresolved.
Calvin removed the earpiece and began handing it back when flashes
appeared on the viewer, lighting up the hulls of the two
corvettes.

"Wait a second," he snatched the
earpiece back and put it on again. As he did, the station went to
full alert with emergency lights snapping on and a noisy klaxon
filled the air as General Quarters was sounded. Most everyone in
the bar jumped up and started screaming, Calvin had to plug his
other ear to hear the broadcast.

"What's going on?" asked
Shen.

Calvin shushed them and listened.
Unfortunately, the noisy panic made it impossible to catch more
than bits and pieces.

"Both corvettes have experienced
localized explosions and are adrift. No word yet on injuries." The
two escorting warships drifted away from the large Harbinger, which
looked untouched. Calvin knew from the damages that the corvettes’
main thrusters and engines were crippled. Both ships opened fire at
the Harbinger with basic laser arrays but it was pointless. They
couldn't hope to breach the dreadnought's shields, and it was
quickly pulling away. An instant later, the Harbinger changed
direction and vanished.

"The Harbinger has changed heading and
made an unscheduled alteredspace jump. Moments ago, Imperial
Military starships opened fire on the apparently rogue
vessel—carrying the condemned prisoner, Asari Raidan. But the
efforts of the Praxis Squadron did not contain the fleeing ship.
The ISS Harbinger’s current whereabouts and destination are not yet
known. No comment from the Fifth Fleet yet."

The screen went blank and was replaced
by a military officer at a desk. He wore a standard blue-and-black
uniform and on his lapel was the amethyst insignia for Second
Commodore. "This is Second Commodore Miguel Shenkov, commander of
Praxis Station," he said, Calvin looked up to see the message
displaying on all screens and broadcasting over every loudspeaker.
"Everyone on board is ordered to go directly to their quarters and
remain until further notice. I promise you, you'll know more when I
know more. But for now, this station depends on your complete and
orderly cooperation to ensure everyone’s safety. All active crew
will report to their stations and local commanders. This is an
order." The message repeated over and over, drowning out the
nervous chatter and panic.

"What do we do?" asked Shen, looking
at Calvin with earnest eyes.

"We do as he says. Go to your
quarters. And you'll know more when he knows more."

"Just like that?" Sarah
asked.

"Just like that." Calvin nodded. Until
he was given orders otherwise, or activated by Intel Wing, he and
his crew were on shore leave and fell under the jurisdiction of the
local authorities. "However, you might want to hold off on
unpacking your bags. If the threat is serious, which I'm sure it
is, I'm willing to bet every warship within two sectors will be
activated within the hour."

The door burst open and marines filed
in, ordering everyone to systematically evacuate the club. Calvin
lined up with the others and headed for his room. Already trying to
decide whether Raidan had something to do with the attack or if it
was a setup meant to appear that way.

Chapter 6

The light on the comm panel blinked
furiously and Calvin jumped out of bed to activate it. With a
click, Jack Edwards' bearded face appeared. His eyes were alert but
he looked exhausted. Behind him, the bluish-grey walls of his
office held various plaques and honors.

"I was wondering when you'd be giving
me a call, Director," said Calvin while taking a seat at his desk.
"It's been three hours."

"So I take it you know what this is
about," Jack said. He didn't seem surprised.

"The Harbinger, obviously. A condemned
ex-captain disappears along with an alpha class dreadnought. That
sounds like something Intel Wing is going to investigate. And I'm
the closest agent."

"Very astute, as always."

"But it's been hours. Why'd you wait
until now to contact me?"

"It's a logistical disaster." Jack
cleared his throat. "The Fifth Fleet has jurisdiction over both the
area where the Harbinger disappeared and the Harbinger itself.
Because they lost one of their own, they want to hunt it down
themselves."

"That's absurd. They don't have the
resources to conduct an intelligence investigation. That's our job.
Remember how they couldn’t even find the Phoenix without our
help?"

"I know, I know. Intel Wing and Fleet
Command had to reach a compromise on how to continue the pursuit.
And only after three interceptors and an interdictor lost track of
the Harbinger did they start listening and turn their files over to
us."

"So how do we handle this?"

"It's kind of a sensitive balance,
Calvin. And, quite frankly, you wouldn't be my first choice. I mean
you're skilled enough to do the hunt, but there's a diplomatic
aspect here that I need you to be careful about. No offense, of
course."

"None taken."

"But, as you said, you're the closest.
And we have to get after the Harbinger before the trail gets any
colder."

"Say the word, Director." Calvin
nodded. "And we'll power up the Nighthawk and find it."

"That's another thing," Jack sounded
angry. "They have the Nighthawk in lockdown and won't release it.
Like they didn't want us to preempt their jurisdiction and chase
after the Harbinger without their consent. I don't know why they
thought we'd get in the way."

"Yeah, that's very... interesting,"
said Calvin. "Almost like they wanted the Harbinger to have a head
start."

"Now don't get carried away. The Fifth
Fleet managed to attack the Harbinger, but it slipped through their
fingers. They don't want it to get away. Why would
they?"

"No reason I can think of."

"Don't worry, it's being taken care
of," said Jack. "So get your crew and get aboard. We're sending all
the release orders and I think we're mostly on the same page now.
When I give you the go ahead, I want you to launch and get to
work."

"What's the ETA on that?"

"Maybe an hour. Hopefully
less."

"You're killing me. I could get my
crew ready to launch in fifteen minutes."

"It's a bad situation, but we have to
work with it. Remember, it's very important that you don't step on
the toes of the Fifth Fleet. I'll work my angle from here to make
sure they don't hamper the investigation too much. But stay out of
their way, do what they want, and let me worry about it,
okay?"

"Yes, sir," said Calvin. He hated red
tape, especially when it served no purpose but to get in the way.
"In the meantime, Jack, can you send me everything you have on the
Harbinger? I want to look it over? Manifest, personnel files, last
known position and heading, everything."

"Yeah, we'll transfer everything we
have to the Nighthawk's computer. Do you have the latest decryption
software aboard?"

"I'd have to ask Shen, but I think so.
They did some updates when we first made port."

"Good. And Calvin... don't let me
down."

"I never do. But there's another
problem. I'm short an officer; the Fifth Fleet stole my XO. Can I
have him back?"

"No but thanks for reminding me." Jack
cleared his throat again. "As part of our agreement with Fleet
Command you're taking a Navy Officer aboard as your XO."

"
What?
" Calvin didn't even try to hide
his surprise. "That makes no sense. He won't know anything about
the ship or how our operations work."

"There isn’t any available Intel Wing
staff at Praxis to fill the role. And your new officer is a she,
not a he."

"
Whatever
.”

Jack gave him a hard look. "I don’t
think I like your tone."

"Sorry, sir. I only meant that the
more restrictions I have to deal with the harder it will be to
conduct this investigation."

"Would you rather be tracking finance
accounts from behind a desk on Capital World?"

"Point taken, sir."

"I understand your grievances but
you'll just have to deal with them. Get your new XO up to speed so
you can use her. As long as you keep her happy and involved,
that'll make everything easier with the Fifth Fleet."

Calvin resisted the urge to complain
again. The fact that Intel Wing had to cater to Fleet Command just
to do their job was ludicrous. Intel Wing never went to the Fleet
Admirals to demand they deploy their squadrons in different ways.
Why should the Fleet get any say on how an intelligence
investigation is conducted?

"And as the final term of our
compromise, any reports you make will have to be simulcast to both
me and Vice Admiral Harkov of the Fifth Fleet. She will be
following the investigation from Fleet Command's side."

"I have to
report
to Fleet
Command?"