Operation Phoenix

by Susan Hayes

  She waved her hands in the air in pure frustration. “My brother told his best friend he wasn’t good enough for me? What kind of friend does that?”

  “The overprotective brother kind.”

  “There’s a lot of that going around. Dax keeps trying to protect me, too.”

  “Guilt will do that to someone. He’d cut off an arm before he let anything happen to you. He feels responsible for enough of the pain in your life, already.”

  She shook her head. “Travis’ death wasn’t his fault. It was an ambush. I know that, now.”

  He was silent for a second, then uttered a grumbling sigh. “He didn’t tell you why they walked into that ambush without a clue?”

  “No.” she braced herself for another emotional blow. “I know you don’t like telling other people’s stories, but I need to hear this one, and you’re the only one who is willing to tell me.”

  “He’s going to owe me after this. He should have told you himself.” Kurt paused before continuing. “They were arguing about where to spend their next leave. Travis wanted to go to one of the R&R stations, and Dax wanted to go home.”

  “Trav died because of an argument about where to party?”

  “They weren’t arguing about where to party. Dax wanted to go home because he knew you’d be there on a break between semesters. Travis didn’t want him anywhere near you.”

  She leaned back against the wall and fought to breathe past the lump in her throat. “My brother died because Dax wanted to see me?”

  “No. He died because he chose to save Dax instead of himself. Don’t you start feeling guilty about Travis’ choices. Dax has done that enough already. We’re not responsible for the choices other people make. I don’t know about you, but I have enough regrets about my own choices, I don’t need to add to them.”

  She managed a weak smile and pushed away from the wall. “Fair point. Anything else I should know before we start this mag-lift again? Or are you all out of life-altering revelations?”

  He started the mag-lift again. “Just one more. Dax has been in love with you for as long as I have known him. There’s never been another woman in his life.”

  That couldn’t be true. “Then how did he end up with that stupid nickname? I thought it was because he was a dog with women?”

  “Fido? He got tagged with that because he followed your brother like a loyal dog. No matter how dangerous the mission or how bad the odds, he was always there, watching Travis’ back.”

  “I really screwed up.”

  “Welcome to the human race. We all make mistakes. What matters is what we do about them.”

  They reached the recreation level, and the doors opened. “I need to think about that. But if you see Dax before I do, tell him I’ll be coming to see him soon.”

  He smiled. “I’ll do that.”

  As the doors started to close, he raised his hands and made several quick gestures with his hands.

  It had been a while since she’d seen tactical hand signs, but it didn’t take her long to translate what he’d said.

  Watch your back. Someone is watching.

  She nodded and walked away as if nothing was wrong, but her thoughts were moving at the speed of light. If he had thought the danger was imminent, he would have found a way to stay together. But what, or who, was the threat?

  If she didn’t proceed with her intended plan to go for a swim, anyone watching would know something was off. She set off down the empty corridor and tried not to jump at every shadow. So much for a few minutes of peace and stress-reduction.

  She changed quickly, tossed her gear into an empty locker, and headed to the pools. V.I.D.A. had been correct, there was no one around. The only sound was the low hum of the pumps circulating the water in both the large, hot spring heated pool and the smaller lap pool. The main pool was open, but the lap pool was still sealed beneath its cover, indicating it hadn’t been used since the overnight cleaning cycle had finished.

  She preferred to use the lap pool for her workouts, the larger pool was too hot to comfortably exercise in for more than a few minutes. “V.I.D.A., roll back the cover of the lap pool and set the jets to medium resistance. I can’t stay for long, so I’ll have to make every minute count.”

  “Yes, Lieutenant West.”

  She checked her comm device one last time, but there was still no message from Dax. “V.I.D.A., has Commander Rossi returned from the Malora, yet?”

  “Commander Rossi is still on board. Shall I notify you when he leaves the ship?”

  “No, that’s fine. I’ll catch up with him soon enough.” If he was still on the ship, then that would explain why he hadn’t replied to her message. He was probably in a meeting and hadn’t seen it yet. That meant she had a few minutes to think about everything Kurt had told her and plan out her apology to Dax. She had let their history lead her to the wrong conclusions. If they had a chance at a future together, then she needed to stop living in the past.

  It only took a few moments to lay out her towel and don one of her favorite bits of tech: a swimmer shield. The slender collar generated a simple force shield that enclosed her head and formed a face mask that protected her eyes but left her nose and mouth exposed so that she could breathe normally.

  “V.I.D.A., alert me to any incoming messages.”

  “Of course, Lieutenant West.”

  Normally, Trinity relished working out alone. After years of hive living, followed by more years at a bustling Martian college campus, solitude was a treasured commodity. Today, though, she wished someone else was present. The empty space made her feel vulnerable and on edge. Kurt’s vague warning was part of that, but so was the ja’kreesh she’d consumed. She needed to burn off some of that energy.

  She entered the water, stretched a few times and then dove into the current created by the jets. It only took a few strokes for her to find her rhythm. The hypnotic repetition of strokes and breathing soon had her feeling more relaxed.

  Then she heard something. A noise that didn’t belong with the turbulent roar of the water rushing past her ears. She stopped swimming and raised her head, only to be hit with a powerful jet of water that sent her tumbling backward. When she clawed her way to the surface again, she only got her eyes above the water before she cracked her head against something hard.

  The turbulent current made it nearly impossible to stay at the surface, but she managed to make her way to the corner furthest from the jets where the water was calmer. That was when she finally understood what was happening. The lap pool’s cover had been deployed, sealing her inside. The only way she could breathe was to lie back so that her mouth and nose were above the waterline, but the gap was only a few inches between the water and the cover. Whatever air she had, it wouldn’t last long.

  “V.I.D.A., open the cover of the lap pool!”

  There was no response.

  “V.I.D.A.!”

  Panic squeezed her heart with steely hands and filled her veins with ice. She slammed her hands against the cover, but even if the water wasn’t stealing most of the force of her blows, she knew she wasn’t strong enough to break through.

  “V.I.D.A., turn off the jets and open the cover in the lap pool, now! Passcode alpha-victor-seven-zero-nine-two. Authorization: Lieutenant Trinity West.”

  “I’m sorry, Trinity. Your passcode is not authorized.”

  Dax left Trinity’s office under a cloud. He couldn’t seem to win. When things were going well with Trinity, the investigation was stalling out. Now they were on the verge of cracking the case, and things with Trinity were falling apart. She didn’t trust him, and worse, she thought he didn’t trust her.

  He was angry, frustrated, and a voice he thought he’d banished years ago was back, whispering from the dark corners of his mind. Travis was right about you. You’re not good enough for her. Never had been, never will be.

  There wasn’t time for regrets or doubts right now. He’d find a way to fix things with Trinity, but only after this case was over
and done with. If he split his focus, he’d risk losing everything.

  He arrived at the door to the team’s workspace and came through at close to full speed. The only two there were Caldwell and Jessop.

  “Where’s everyone else?” he asked.

  “Sabre went to grab something to eat, and Buttercup decided to sack out on the Malora. He said he sleeps better there.” Cris reported.

  Dax knew what that meant. Kurt was going to do a walkthrough of the base to make sure everything was quiet, and Dante was going to rest on the ship, where he could keep an eye on Eric. When Magi was jacked into cyberspace, he wasn’t aware of the passage of time, or what was happening around him. A herd of Nantari rhinos could stampede through the cockpit and he wasn’t likely to notice.

  He slipped the privacy-field generator out of his pocket and walked over to the others before turning it on. “Tell me you’ve found something on Dr. Clarke. He’s just announced his intention to leave Victor Base after the investigation ends. Either he’s completely unaware of how guilty that makes him look, which I doubt, or he’s certain we can’t prove he was involved with either the thefts or the hack on V.I.D.A.” He rapped his knuckles on the desktop. “I want him to hang for something, and right now I don’t care what it is.”

  “Here’s what we know.” Aria grabbed a data tablet from the desk and held it between them. A few taps and swipes, and the air was full of holographic images. She pulled one to the top with a flick of her fingers. It showed a much younger Clarke standing beside a man in his mid-fifties. Both of them were smiling.

  “That’s Dr. Clarke on the right. The man beside him is Dr. Jules Absalom.”

  “And Absalom was the one who designed V.I.D.A., likely with Clarke’s help. One of them is the one fraxxing with V.I.D.A right now. Tell me something we don’t already know.”

  Aria called up another set of files. “I wasn’t getting anywhere with Clarke, so I did as you asked and switched focus to the man who molded him. Absalom was a very vocal proponent of the Phoenix Project. He wrote countless papers about genetic manipulation and enhancement. He believed humanity had reached the end of our evolution and that if we wanted to improve any further, we’d have to take over the process ourselves.”

  “Does Clarke share this view?”

  She nodded. “He does, though he never pushed as hard as his predecessor. He’s made repeated requests to activate the Phoenix Project, citing the creation of the cyborgs as proof the project is viable. Of course, that was before he knew they were one and the same project.”

  “This galaxy does not need any more super soldiers grown in a damned vat. Most of the surviving cyborgs are less than ten years old. Can you imagine waking up as a fully-grown adult, complete with skills and values that were programmed instead of learned?” Cris shook his head, his lip curled in distaste. “No one has the right to do that to another being.”

  Aria snickered. “Even when those beings are about to marry your baby sister?”

  Eric clapped his hands over his ears. “La-la-la-la I’m not listening to you. My sister is not having sex with three vat-grown men, she is pure and chaste and innocent.”

  “You just keep telling yourself that, your lordship.” Aria was smiling slightly as she turned her attention back to the data floating in front of her.

  “What else do we know about Absalom?” Dax prompted.

  “Almost nothing. This is where things get weird. He left his post here for what he told everyone was a lucrative position in a private research lab. Within a month, he was off the grid. He closed his bank account, deactivated all his credit chips, and vanished. I checked in with some his former associates. No one has heard from him in years, and as far as I can tell, Clarke hasn’t had any contact with him, either.”

  “So his mentor disappears, and he never reports that to anyone?”

  Aria nodded. “Which makes me wonder if he knows something we don’t.”

  “I think we can assume he knows a lot we don’t. He told Trinity he was leaving. The bastard even offered her a job. He told her it was something in the private sector. I’ll bet my next paycheck that he’s going to join his mentor. The answers are in those hidden files Erben is working to retrieve.” Dax stared at the floating image of Dr. Clarke and his mentor.

  “When did Absalom leave?”

  “Fifteen years, ten months ago,” Aria replied.

  “And our latest intelligence shows that the first theft happened around sixteen years ago, right?” Dax reached into the holographic display and moved the picture of Absalom to the top. “He’s got to be involved. Clarke, too, but maybe that came later. Aria, track down everything there is to know about Dr. Jules Absalom. I know you already did a deep dive, but go deeper still. Who made the offer that got him to leave? What corporations did he have contact with? Find me anything. Everything. Something we can use to pin these thefts on him.”

  Cris, I need you to go back into the files HQ sent us and see if there is any mention of Absalom in any of them. Your investigation of Lieutenant West can wait.”

  “I wrapped that up a little while ago. She’s been cleared every way I can think of.”

  “Good. I’ll let her know.”

  Both his officers turned to stare at him.

  “Please, tell me you did not tell the woman you’re seeing that you had her investigated,” Aria said then winced. “Sorry, sir. I mean, do you think that was wise, sir?”

  “Relax. I know you were speaking as my friend, not my subordinate. And no, I did not tell her. She came in here looking for something and saw what Caldwell was working on.”

  It was Crispin’s turn to wince. “I must have forgotten to secure my system before I left for breakfast. I’m sorry, sir. It won’t happen again.”

  “See that it doesn’t. And you may want to stay clear of West for now. She wasn’t pleased to discover she was being investigated.”

  “I bet. Does she know why?” Aria asked.

  “I explained, but she’s not happy with me right now.”

  “Do you think flowers would help? The atrium has plenty. Maybe you could pick some as a peace offering? If you don’t, I will,” Cris said.

  Flowers might have worked if she wasn’t also mad at him for watching her with Clarke in the atrium. “You might want to avoid flowers. And no, I’m not going to explain why.”

  Aria groaned. “What else did you do?”

  “That’s classified, Lieutenant. Don’t you have something else to be doing right now?”

  “Right. On it, sir.” Aria cleared away the displays and turned her attention back to her monitor.

  Crispin wisely chose to stay silent.

  Dax deactivated the privacy shield and went to the workstation he’d claimed for himself. He sent a quick message to the rest of his teammates asking for updates, then sat back and started thinking. His gut told him he was close to figuring it all out, but he was still missing a few key pieces.

  Kurt, Dante, and Eric all checked in, but none of them had anything new to report. His frustration mounted. Time ticked past but wasn’t any closer to figuring out the thefts because all he could think about was Trinity. Ever since Travis’ death, he’d always put the mission first. No distractions allowed. This time was different.

  He couldn’t stop replaying their last conversation over in his head. It was on a repeating loop, drowning out everything else.

  After forty-five minutes of sitting and stewing, he got up to pace the length of the room. He was only on his third lap when his comm device chimed, announcing that he had an incoming text message. Half a second later, Aria and Crispin’s did the same.

  Dax checked. The message was from Trinity. He had a brief moment of hope that it was a personal message for him, but that hope was quickly dashed by the others.

  “Mine’s from West,” Aria announced.

  “Mine too,” Cris confirmed.

  “If she sent it to all of us, it must be important.” Dax started reading. Trinity had just given them t
he break they needed.

  “She got Gottfried to talk,” Aria was grinning.

  “And handed us more evidence that points straight to Absalom,” Dax agreed.

  “Uh, sir? Did you see the timestamp on this message?” Cris held up his comms. “There was a delivery delay again. West sent this more than twenty-five minutes ago.”

  Dax swore and contacted Eric. “Any idea how or why someone would be interfering with our communications, Ensign?”

  “Uh, yeah, I think I’ve got a pretty good idea.” Eric sounded distracted, which wasn’t uncommon when he was plugged in.

  “Care to enlighten me?” Dax snapped.

  “I think I know who our suspect is, sir. And if I’m right, then we’re going to have a hard time arresting her.”

  “What are you talking about? Details, now!”

  “Sorry, sir. I’ve almost completed that assignment you gave me, but V.I.D.A.’s not making it easy.”

  “You mean whoever hacked her is blocking you again?”

  “No, sir. I mean she’s fighting back. No one hacked her. V.I.D.A. is doing this all on her own. She’s our thief. That coding she claimed was Abaslom’s doing? There’s more of it than I realized. She’s got entire subroutines that shouldn’t exist, sir. She’s so much more than she’s pretended to be.”

  “She’s sentient?” The last pieces of the puzzle snapped together.

  “And royally pissed off. If she doesn’t kill me in the next five minutes, I should have all the evidence you need.”

  “Don’t die, ensign. That’s an order. Shut down the AI and retrieve that data!” He left the channel with Eric open and turned to his team.

  “Caldwell, relay what you just heard to HQ, and make sure nothing blocks that transmission. Jessop, get Meyer back here, now, then find out where the hell Lieutenant West is and warn her. If Erben is right, then our suspect is the computer system that runs this entire base.”

  “I’ve never been attacked by a building before. This could be fun.”

  “I have. It’s not as much fun as you’d think.”

  History was not going to repeat itself. He wouldn’t let that happen. Where the hell was Trinity?”