The Phoenix Crisis (32 page)

He opened his mouth and
raised the pills, reaching for the water bottle with his free hand
to chase them down once he swallowed. A part of him hungered for
this—had
never
stopped wanting this. He shook his head and glanced at himself
one more time in the mirror before swallowing the equarius and
putting the terrible and violent images to rest.

What he saw startled him. In the mirror,
standing behind him, he thought he glimpsed a flowing lock of red
hair. He blinked and it was gone. He even spun to look behind him,
just to be sure no one was there. It had been a trick of the brain,
he knew. His delirious and tired mind seeing things that weren’t
there.

He made a second effort to raise the pills
to his lips but stopped, just shy of dumping them into his mouth.
He wondered what it meant, what he was doing. Yes he’d feel quick
relief, and for a little while he’d feel much better, but for how
long? And at what cost?

He thought of everything
equarius had done to him. How it had made him its slave since the
Trinity Incident. How it had affected his health, worsened his
sleep, given him horrible night terrors, and—most of all—how it’d
nearly lost him the Nighthawk.
And for
what?

He shook away those thoughts, trying to
think of the times when equarius had helped him. How it’d eased his
pains, and lessened his burdens, and put him into a state of mind
where he could embrace the inevitable—the sheer pointlessness of
life and everything in it—and find serenity. He knew he wanted to
take it. He burned to take it.

Calvin pressed the white pills up against
his lips. And then thought of Rain. He thought of what he’d say to
her when he admitted that he’d strayed from her treatment. He
thought of her shame for him, and the guilt she would feel for
trusting him with the drug. When, in all honesty, she probably
shouldn’t have, Calvin knew.

He closed his eyes and shut everything out
of his mind. Needing to decide what he wanted. What was best for
him, no one else. No one else had to deal with his burdens and so
no one else got a vote on whether or not he took equarius.

In an instant he made up his mind. It was
something he should have done a long time ago. He dumped the pills
into the toilet, watching them slowly float their way down to the
bottom of the bowl, and then he poured out the rest. Emptying the
entire orange bottle over the toilet. Without a second thought he
flushed it. Flushed the quickly-dissolving white powder away.
Flushed equarius out of his life forever.

Chapter 22

Mister Cox dropped the Nighthawk out of
alteredspace. Summers watched him, noting how haggard and worn out
he looked, despite the short relief she’d given him and the rest of
the senior staff as they’d traveled from Titan Three back into
Imperial space.

“
We have arrived at the
rendezvous coordinates,” said Jay. “Drifting in open space,
one-thousand mc’s per second.”

“
Thank you, Mister Cox,”
said Summers. “Full stop.”

“
Answering full stop,” said
Jay.

Summers looked to Cassidy. “Midshipman
Dupont, anything on our scopes?”

“
The region is empty,” said
Cassidy. “But there are several alteredspace signatures bearing
down on this position from multiple directions.”

“
ETA?”

“
Varied. Shortest time…
about a minute.”

“
Looks like we won the race
then,” said Midshipman Ford. “By a hair.”

Summers ignored him. “Begin preparations to
dock with the Arcane Storm when it and its support ships
arrive.”

“
Aye, sir,” said Jay. He
relayed her orders to the rest of the crew.

Summers tapped her direct line to SFHQ.

“
Hello, Commander,” came
Pellew’s voice over the speaker. Summers had never been comfortable
around Pellew, his eyes followed her too eagerly and she didn’t
trust him, Summers avoided talking to him except when absolutely
necessary.

“
Mister Pellew,” she said.
“We are making preparations to dock with the Arcane Storm and
support ships for resupply and repair. I trust you understand that
anyone coming aboard this ship will need to be watched.

“
Say no more,” he said.
“I’ll have my people at the airlocks.”

“
Sir, incoming ships,” said
Cassidy.

Summers watched the 3d display as it
adjusted to reveal a supply ship. And then another. And then two
more. A final ship arrived, making it a convoy of five supply
ships. They were long, narrow, boxy, and had limited defense
capabilities. The convoy moved into a group and then adjusted
heading.

“
Supply convoy has changed
course; now bearing on our position,” said Cassidy.

“
We are being hailed by the
lead ship,” said Jay.

“
On speakers.”

“
Well hello there,
Nighthawk,” said an amiable, somewhat scratchy voice over the
speakers. “We were told we’d find you here. Are you prepared to
dock and accept our supplies?”

“
Confirmed Convoy One,” said
Summers. “We are prepared to comply with docking instructions and
begin transfer.” She didn’t like the seedy, less-than-legitimate
feel of this exchange. And she didn’t like accepting charity from
Raidan—especially since anything he gave them was probably
ill-gotten in the first place. But these were Calvin’s orders. And
the Nighthawk was in dire need of supplies and repair, and
certainly in no position to acquire such things legitimately. So,
Summers supposed, this would have to suffice.

“
Now just to remind you,”
said the Convoy Commander who—Summers noted—had yet to identify
himself. “This is kind of an…
off-the-books
exchange. So don’t make
a note of this in your logs or file any official paperwork
regarding these requi—”

Cassidy shouted over him.
“
Sir
, incoming
ship.”

“
The Arcane Storm?” asked
Summers.

Cassidy shook her head. “Too big. Attack
Cruiser class.”

“
Attack Cruiser?” asked
Summers. That certainly hadn’t been anywhere in the rendezvous
instructions they’d been given. Was Raidan providing additional
security? No, he would have told them… but who else could it be?
This was a random point in space, no one could simply stumble upon
it—the odds were astronomically small—Summers knew, she could
calculate them. That left only one likely explanation. One of the
ships had been tracked.

“
General Quarters,” said
Summers. “Alert condition one.”

Midshipman Ford adjusted the alert status
and raised what he could of the shields. Jay activated the sublight
drives and got the ship moving. Angling into a defensive posture
against the incoming alteredspace signature.

“
What’s going on there,
Nighthawk? What are you doing?” asked the Convoy Commander, still
connected to them via hail.

“
Incoming warship,” said
Summers, realizing that the paltry sensor technology on the supply
ships likely couldn’t detect inbound alteredspace signatures.
“Likely hostile.”

The Convoy Commander let loose a string of
panicked curses. Summers winced at the unprofessionalism, nearly
ordering Jay to cut the line. But she didn’t want to increase the
civilian commander’s panic any further. She had to keep him
calm.

“
We’re here to help you,
Nighthawk,” said the Convoy Commander. “You
have
to help us.”

“
And we will,” said Summers.
“I recommend you scatter your vessels and withdraw
immediately.”

“
Copy
that
,” said the Convoy Commander.
“It’ll take us a few minutes to prep for jump.” With that he cut
the line and Summers noted the supply-ships began to change posture
on the 3d display.

“
We don’t have a few minutes
to give them, do we?” asked Summers, almost
rhetorically.

“
Shields at eleven percent,
no armor on the port side, nearly all of the ammo for the main guns
is depleted… but the beam weapon seems to be working at full
capacity,” said Midshipman Ford. Summers sized him up, the newest
acting member of the senior staff. She had no idea what his skills
were manning the defense post and she had half a mind to relieve
him and take the station herself.

“
Mister Cox, notify the
Acting XO to get up here immediately,” said Summers.

“
On it.”

She almost couldn’t believe
she was asking for Miles’ tortuous presence… but she’d seen his
skill at the defense post during the Abia action. And she doubted
anyone was better at that
one
thing—at everything else in life Miles was the
worst, but Summers could concede that he had
one
single use.

“
Cassidy, ETA?”

“
Incoming ship will arrive
in less than a minute.”

“
And the
supply-ships?”

“
They have moved into a
scattered formation and have commenced jump procedures… probably
going to be another four minutes at least.”

“
Dammit
,” Summers cursed under her breath. It didn’t help that she
felt extremely tired and now, with her heart racing and adrenaline
shooting through her, she felt more like an animal than an
officer.

“
Your orders, sir?” asked
Midshipman Ford.

“
The supply-ships are
vulnerable,” said Cassidy. “They can’t take any kind of a
beating.”

“
Neither can we,” added
Midshipman Ford.

“
Move us between the
supply-ships and the attack cruiser’s exit point,” said Summers. As
crooked and shady as the crews of the supply-ships were, they were
likely Imperial citizens, and she wasn’t simply going to watch as
civilians were slaughtered.

“
Aye, sir,” said Jay. He had
the look on his face of someone who’d just signed his own death
warrant.

“
Show them our starboard
side,” said Summers. If they were about to take flak, might as well
take it on the side that still had most of its armor.

“
Ship arriving,” reported
Cassidy.

An instant later the 3d display adjusted,
showing a very familiar-looking attack cruiser. It was in an
aggressive posture, dropping out of alteredspace at a swift
velocity, and moving right toward them.

“
It’s the Phoenix…” said
Summers. The ship she’d once served aboard that now tried to kill
them. It gave her waking nightmares. Haunting her like a dark omen,
it seemed now to represent everything that had gone wrong in her
life and the Empire.

“
Yes, sir, I confirm that,”
said Cassidy. “The Phoenix is rapidly closing on our position.
Weapons range imminent.”

“
Standby to intercept any
incoming missiles,” said Summers. “Restrict fire to
defensive—”

She stopped abruptly when she heard the
elevator door slide open and the sound of heavy footfalls behind
her.

“
Oh
shit
… the Phoenix again?”

“
Take your station, Mister
Brown,” said Summers, without looking at him. “Mister Ford, you are
relieved.”

The younger officer stepped away from the
defense post and Miles took his place. “Okay, what’ve we got…” he
muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

“
The Phoenix is in weapons
range,” said Cassidy. “Missiles incoming.”

Miles used the beam weapon to intercept all
he could before it overheated and needed to be cooled, at which
point he switched to the guns. They took out two more
missiles—fired sparingly—but ran dry after that. Summers watched
him like a hawk, knowing their very lives were in his big clumsy
oafish hands. Yet, despite his general mind-blowing stupidity, he
used their limited weapons as wisely and optimally as possible.
Unfortunately it was not enough.

“
Weapons are dry,” said
Miles.

“
Two more missiles
incoming,” said Cassidy.

“
Tactical withdrawal,” said
Summers. “Mister Cox, fire up those engines. Let’s outrun those
missiles as long as we can. Maybe the beam weapon will have cooled
enough—” Summers knew she was grasping at straws. Still, her crew
complied.

I’m sorry,
Calvin
, she thought as she stared at the
desperate faces around her.
I’ve lost you
your ship
.

“
New alteredspace jump
signature detected!” shouted Cassidy. “Bearing down close on our
position. Entering normal space in five seconds.”

Summers felt a jolt of electricity shoot
through her. It had to be the Arcane Storm! And although it was
true the Arcane Storm was no match for the Phoenix, it might be
enough to keep the Nighthawk and the supply-ships alive. At least
long enough for everybody to jump to safety.

A massive starship filled their window, it
entered normal space so close to their position that only a
fraction of it was visible—dark grey with harsh features. Jay had
to adjust course immediately, and hard, to avoid a collision. The
ship was far more massive than the Arcane Storm. It lit up the
blackness with its countless beams and guns firing practically the
instant it left alteredspace.