The Phoenix Crisis (14 page)

“
Finish it,” screeched
Hrokki from the side. The other two witnesses joined their voices
to his. “Finish it. Finish the Arahn-Fi. Complete the will of the
Essences!”

Rez’nac glanced at them, then turned back to
Grimka who no longer struggled to break free of his grip. Grimka
nodded. “Do it, father.”

Rez’nac tightened his grip on his dagger and
readied to plunge it into Grimka’s throat. He wanted to give his
son a quick death, if he could. With no more pain than the Essences
deemed necessary.

“
Forgive me,” whispered
Rez’nac. He blamed himself, above all, for failing Grimka as a
father. For allowing Grimka to become the rebellious spirit that
he’d become. That the Essences now demanded be purged from the
galaxy.

“
Complete the Arahn-Fi,” the
witnesses continued to shout.

Rez’nac closed his eyes—the first time he’d
ever closed his eyes to an act of violence he’d committed himself
to—and then thrust the dagger toward Grimka. As he did, their
memories together seemed to flow through his mind. He recalled the
youth as an infant. Remembered caring for him. And in his memory of
Grimka he saw the face of the female that had birthed him.

The dagger’s course did not remain true. It
glanced off the edge of the breastplate, well short of Grimka’s
exposed neck. And Rez’nac knew why. It hadn’t been the dagger that
had failed to be true, nor was Rez’nac so poor a warrior that his
blade could not find its mark—rather it was Rez’nac himself who had
failed to remain true. In the end he lacked the conviction to do as
the Essences demanded and slay his own son. It was he who was
unworthy.

There was a reaction of surprise from the
other Polarians who seemed confused why the fatal blow failed to
reach its target. Rez’nac tossed the blade aside and let go of his
son. “I yield the Arahn-Fi,” he said, knowing his shame.

He looked down, unable to meet the gazes of
the surprised Polarians. This was surely the outcome they’d least
expected.

“
The will of the Essences
has been determined,” declared Grimka. He took both his and
Rez’nac’s fallen daggers and wore them as trophies. “I am the
master here now.”

The three witnesses bowed their heads to
Grimka. Rez’nac looked at them, then looked at Grimka. But he did
not bow his head. Though he accepted the outcome.

“
I hereby declare you,
Rez’nac, formerly my father, and formerly of the Essence of
Khalahar, stripped of all honor and all positions,” said Grimka
without remorse. “You are cursed to wander as a dark spirit. Lost
forever. Free and unjoined. Never to find home in the Essences
again.”

Rez’nac looked at him unblinking. He’d known
this to be the price of his mercy. Of his weakness. But he had no
regrets. And he realized finally that Grimka’s flaws and weaknesses
truly were the fault of his father.

The Polarians each in turn turned their
backs to Rez’nac, and completed the short and brutal ritual of the
unjoining. It was painful seeing them turn away from him, and more
painful still knowing that he would never have a place among the
honored dead, but he accepted that the will of the Essences had
indeed been revealed. They were right, he was unworthy to lead
them. Any Polarian who could not complete an Arahn-Fi was no kind
of leader.

The truth was what it was. Unflinching. And
a respecter of no one.

***

“
So why did you choose to
trust the Nighthawk to get you to Capital World safely?” asked
Calvin. He and Kalila sat on the bed in crew quarters 503, which
had been hastily converted to be made as luxurious as possible for
the princess—unfortunately the Nighthawk had little luxury to
offer.

“
You were the only one I
knew for certain was not working for the corrupt elements inside
our military,” she gave him a candid look. It made him feel warm.
“That and your ship has stealth technology that will be useful. The
Black Swan doesn’t have the ability to go places unseen and
unnoticed like the Nighthawk.”

“
But it could have gotten
you to Capital World,” Calvin pressed. “Surely you don’t think your
enemies would move against you and your ship at Capital World,
within sight of the King, your father. Surely he could have
protected you, and made sure you got a fair hearing to show your
evidence.”

“
Alas, I would never make
it. The Black Swan would certainly be detected on approach and
intercepted. And, for all its armor and firepower, it would still
be overpowered and captured by the forces pursuing it. If not
destroyed… Even now it’s being chased by enough ships to pulverize
it. Let us hope that Captain Adiger is clever enough to keep the
ship and her crew intact, and our enemies distracted, long enough
for me to clear the charges against us and call off the hunt in the
name of the King.”

Calvin nodded. He understood Kalila’s plan,
and knew that there were police, imperial marshals, Intel Wing
operatives, military vessels, and all sorts of people on the
lookout for Kalila. And that protecting her, and her information,
until she could clear her name was of critical importance. Their
enemies, no doubt, would do everything in their power to prevent
Kalila from making it before the Assembly to share her
evidence—which would undoubtedly clear her name. That meant they
had to be careful along the way, and make no mistakes. Calvin
couldn’t help but let it get to his head a little that he’d been
the one entrusted with the assignment of escorting her—even if he
was the logical choice and perhaps the only one available.

“
The Nighthawk can get you
to Capital World, but it won’t be able to dock with any of the
stations or ships there—nor will we be able to deactivate our
stealth system, if we did we would be fired upon ourselves. But if
we remain stealthed we should be all right.” Calvin wondered if
that was even true. Twice now other ships had seemed able to see
through his stealth system—first at Abia when the Rotham squadron
matched his movements, then later Nimoux’s ship seemed able to
track them. If such new advanced detection technology had been
developed, it would surprise him if it
wasn’t
installed into the Capital
World defense grid.

“
I understand that,” she
said. “There is a ship waiting for us, it will meet us in open
space near the Capital System. The Ice Maiden, it’s a civilian ship
owned by friends of my family.
Distantly
connected
, but extremely loyal
friends…”

Calvin thought the name of the ship would be
a perfect fit for Summers if she ever captained a vessel. “Go
on.”

“
That ship will ferry us to
Capital World. There we’ll dock with the station and arrange
transport to the surface.”

“
Us?” asked Calvin. They
hadn’t taken anyone on board from the Black Swan other than Kalila
herself.

“
Yes,” said Kalila. She put
her hand on his wrist and looked him in the eyes. “When I go, I
want you to come with me.”

Calvin’s heart beat inside him like a
machine-gun and his blood quickened, but for all the excitement
this opportunity gave him, there was also hesitation and confusion.
He couldn’t leave the Nighthawk, could he? Of all the places in the
universe this was the only one that was truly his… On the other
hand he couldn’t really abandon the princess to some strangers on
the Ice Maiden and expect her to safely arrive at the Assembly
Floor. That wouldn’t be seeing the job through to completion.

Most of all he relished the chance to spend
more time with the princess, whose commanding presence, aura of
mystery, and rich, elegant beauty were only meager parts of the
great, woven tapestry of her intoxicating allure. He tried not to
let these feelings influence his decision, but hey had a powerful
effect.

“
Don’t you want to come with
me?” she looked into his eyes.

“
Yes, of course, absolutely
I do,” he said, his words nearly stutter. “I just need to figure
out what’s best for the ship, and the crew, and—”

She placed a delicate finger on his lips to
silence him. Then, very quietly and simply she explained, “you will
come with me and see that I arrive safely before the Assembly.
There I will clear my name before the Empire. Once I’ve had my
authority reinstated, I will clear your name as well. And appoint
you to lead an investigation into the corruption on Capital World.
We will scour the planet, dig up the ones responsible, and put them
to justice.” A kind of fire showed in her eyes. “You are the one I
choose to lead that investigation. Don’t you want that?”

“
Yes,” he said immediately,
before even thinking about it. He hated the effect she had on
him—and yet he loved it at the same time. Still, as his mind tried
to beat down the burning feelings of his heart, and take hold of
his senses, there did seem to be a logic to her plan.

“
Good,” she smiled and let
go of him.

He reminded himself that he’d always
intended to go down to the surface of Capital World, if he
could—without being arrested, to find his missing friend Rafael. To
discover what’d happened to him and make sure he was all right.
Once he was leading Kalila’s taskforce to search out the
corruption, looking for Rafael would be a natural part of that
investigation. This was his ticket. He hadn’t planned on leaving
the Nighthawk for an extended period of time—in his mind he’d
wanted to get in, rescue Rafael, and get out—but he knew that
wasn’t very likely. He also knew that the Nighthawk couldn’t be
sitting idle near Capital System. Even with its stealth system it
was bound to be detected eventually. And it was still in dire need
of repair and resupply. He knew that going with Kalila meant
sending the Nighthawk away and not seeing it again for a while.
Which was a decision that gave him considerably more grief than he
would have expected. But he gradually warmed to the reasoning
behind it.

“
When we go aboard the Ice
Maiden, we’ll need proper paperwork and well-designed cover
identities,” he said. “And we can’t use any that have been made by
Intel Wing, those will be flagged for sure.”

“
Yes, I have been thinking
you would see to the details of that. No doubt your ship and crew
are trained and equipped to handle such logistics.”

She was right, they were. That was a good
portion of what Intel Wing did. “It won’t be a problem,” he said.
“We’ll just have to think of our cover story, who we are and why
we’re traveling together, and then I’ll speak to the quartermaster
about—”

“
How about newlyweds
returning from our honeymoon?” she asked. Her voice was innocent
and implied nothing but she did take his hand and hold it as she
made the suggestion.

Again Calvin felt a jolt of energy fire
through his body. Was she serious? He looked at her, seeing all of
her beauty and her mystery, her white perfect smile and raven hair,
and those dark eyes that concealed so much and yet seemed to draw
him in invitingly. “I think that sounds like a perfect idea,” he
said.

“
Good.” She let go of his
hand and stood up. She went to one of her bags that had been
carried there and began rummaging through it. Calvin watched her.
Pretending for a moment, in his mind, that he was a newly married
man and the beautiful young woman before him was, in fact, his
wife. It was a strange feeling. And yet… compelling. He’d never
relished the idea of commitment before—on the contrary it had
always terrified him—and yet, here, with her, it didn’t seem so
bad. Attractive even…

He shook the thought away, reminding himself
that it was all pretend. All part of a grand lie to serve an
ulterior purpose—to get Kalila safely before the Assembly, to clear
her name, and then they could begin the investigation that would
uproot and eliminate the Phoenix Ring forever.

“
I think I’m going to get
some rest now, I’m quite tired,” said Kalila, finding what she was
looking for in her bag. “If you don’t mind seeing that the door
locks on your way out.”

Calvin jumped up and walked to the door. “Of
course, sleep well.”

“
Thanks,
honey
,” she gave him a teasing
look.

It stunned him for a moment until he
realized she was making a joke of their new cover story. He wasn’t
sure what to say so he just smiled, gave her a polite nod, and
left.

Chapter 9

The Harbinger finished its twenty-third
orbit of the Lyra Minor sun before another ship was seen entering
the system. Raidan stood on the dreadnought’s massive bridge, which
was occupied by dozens of crewmen and seemingly countless computer
stations. The bridge lights were off—as were all lights adjacent to
a window—to help the ship remain as stealthy as possible. In
addition, the ship’s weapons were charged and ready and the shields
were on standby—ready to be raised at a second’s notice.

Since arrival, Raidan had been waiting
impatiently, wanting the answers to his questions and ready to
communicate his urgent news to Calvin. He knew the Harbinger could
hold its own in a straight fight against any other single ship, but
there were dozens of warships unaccounted for now, and hundreds
more throughout the galaxy with hostile intentions. Eventually the
Phoenix Ring would try to corner the Harbinger—and when it did its
goal would be to take the ship out, and Raidan, once and for all.
Raidan did not intend to make it easy.

“
Entry signature appearing,”
reported Mister Ivanov, the lead operations officer. The junior
lieutenant assisting him managed several screens—no doubt using the
Harbinger’s vast scopes to track everything within a click, while
the operations chief kept his attention on the arriving
ship.