“Shen’s condition is stable… but only just.” The hint of a smile that had been on her face faded and Rain showed some of the frustration that was undoubtedly boiling inside her. “I admit the virus is persistent, and unlike anything I’ve ever seen, but… don’t give up on Shen.” Her eyes pleaded with his. “We can beat it, I know we can!”
“I hope you’re right.”
There was silence for a minute and Calvin poured himself another half a glass and drank. Rain set aside the remainder of her glass. “As strange as it sounds, Shen isn’t the one I feel bad for,” said Rain. “It’s Sarah. That girl has come to visit at least ten times, and every single time she leaves in tears. I honestly don’t even know what to say to her.”
Calvin nodded. He’d allowed Sarah to remain on temporary leave of absence because she was so clearly emotionally compromised by what’d happened to Shen. The two had been close, best friends as far as Calvin could tell, and now she was in severe grief. It was the first time Calvin had seen Sarah react in such an emotionally striking way to anything. It worried him. “I’m thinking about sending her along with the crew going aboard the Arcane Storm. Maybe a change in setting will help her get perspective and maybe even closure.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” said Rain. “I know it’ll make my job easier not having Sarah staring over my shoulder. And hopefully, when Sarah returns, Shen will be up and at ‘em, just like old times.”
Calvin couldn’t help but smile at Rain’s optimism. Even if it was simply wishful thinking.
***
Alex waited until 0320 and then made his way to the brig. He gave himself a window of exactly five minutes to get there. And then, right on cue, he saw PFC Tara Larsen setting up to stand guard. Having just replaced the previous special forces soldier that’d been assigned to watch the brig. When he was certain the coast was clear, Alex approached.
“I had a feeling you’d show up,” Tara said, getting a long look at him. There was no approval in her voice but if she’d had any problems with Alex and his offer he would have known by now. Probably because he’d be on the other side of the brig’s force field. Since he wasn’t, he assumed all had gone well.
“You saw your money then?” he asked quietly once he stood about a meter away from her.
“That I did,” she said. “And now that it’s too late to take it back I’ll have you know you paid too much. I would’ve done it for half.”
Alex didn’t say anything. If Tara wanted to believe she’d gotten the better end of the deal, so be it. In truth he would have paid double. So he supposed it averaged out. Just so long as he got what he wanted, all would be well.
“I won’t get in any trouble, will I?” the soldier looked him in the eye. She, like most human females, was smaller than her male counterparts but she was still taller and broader than the average Rotham, including Alex. And she made a show of looking intimidating. He wasn’t afraid of her, despite his size disadvantage he was surprisingly quick and had trained in countless areas of unarmed combat, but he knew it wouldn’t come down to that here. The moment she’d used his passcodes and electronic information to log into one of his slush accounts and accept the bribe, their fates were eternally tied together. Lucky for her, Alex had no intention of letting his actions be discovered. Or hers.
“Nope,” he replied flatly. “So long as you get out of my way and let me do my business.”
Tara nodded. “All right. But be quick about it. You don’t have more than a few minutes. And should any of this fall back on me, I’m taking you down with me. You understand that, lizard?”
Alex ignored the offensive pejorative and forced a smile. An expression that probably looked more devious than friendly on his Rotham face.
“And don’t be gentle,” Tara said. “The bastard deserves worse as far as I’m concerned.” With that she made herself scarce and Alex had some time alone with the prisoner. He walked up to the force field and shut it down.
The prisoner, a foolish young human named Patrick O’Conner, looked up at him with surprise.
“If you try to run I will use it as a chance to kill you,” said Alex.
“Nowhere to go anyway,” Patrick said with a shrug. “So tell me, why am I looking at your ugly face again? Back for more?”
“No, the information you already gave me on Calvin has proven interesting enough. And I’m quite sure that it’s all you have to offer.”
“And the information you gave me about the ship heading to the lycan base on Echo Three proved most accurate as well.”
“Our first and last business together,” said Alex. He’d only exchanged information with the young, foolish human informant because in his assessment of the risk there wasn’t much chance the young human could get word out to his superiors in Intel Wing. Apparently Alex had misjudged the boy’s craftiness. It was almost worthy of a Rotham. Almost.
Unfortunately that meant Patrick had become both a loose end and a liability. A threat to the ship, Alex’s mission, and now Alex himself. Gaining information about Calvin to potentially be used as leverage against him—as a means to protect himself—was only natural, Alex was Advent after all. But the loss of the Nighthawk, especially if it occurred before the isotome weapons were totally destroyed, would have been a tremendous victory for the Rahajiim. And that was unacceptable. Which meant lights out for Patrick, the only one who could implicate Alex in the leaked intelligence.
Alex moved into the cell and climbed up on the bench.
“What are you doing?” asked Patrick. He shifted position, tightening up defensively. Perhaps he expected Alex to attack him. Judging by the bruise on his neck, rumoredly given to him by the ship’s female XO, Alex doubted Patrick was interested in another physical melee. So he ignored the boy and got to work. But he kept his ears alert and would glance down at the young captive every few seconds, just to make sure he wasn’t thinking of doing something stupid—and horribly inconvenient—like escape.
“I said, what are you doing?” asked Patrick a little louder this time. Alex continued to ignore him. He opened the air flow control panel and adjusted some settings. With tools that Tara had furnished him, that fit conveniently into his pockets, and the electric discharge of a common stunner, he sabotaged the alarm, a primary air filter, and one of the small furnaces.
“You know when the Nighthawk is taken into custody, I’ll be free and my name will be clear. And when it is, I’m taking everybody here down,” said Patrick. Alex glanced down at him to see the hot fire in Patrick’s defiant eyes. “Especially you.”
“Well, let me know how that turns out,” said Alex. When he was finished he replaced the cover and stepped down. He gave Patrick a Rotham smirk, an expression that either frightened or disgusted the young human, and then Alex stepped out of the cell. He closed the force field, then went to an air access control panel on the other side of the room. He checked several of the settings, making minor adjustments, and then fried the non-essential components with the stunner.
“I don’t know what you think you’re up to, but I won’t forget that you were here. Next time anyone comes to question me, I’m spilling my guts and telling them everything about you. Everything about our little deal. How’s that?” Patrick said, raising his voice over the hum of the force field. “That’s right you Rotham scum, your days are numbered.”
What a coincidence, your minutes are numbered. And it’s not a big number.
“Guess you got me,” said Alex. He gave the prisoner a wave and then left. On his way out he walked past Tara who’d been guarding the doorway leading to the elevator.
“Is it finished?” she asked. He hadn’t entrusted her with the exact details of his plan, but she understood that Alex was there for some vengeance—not technically true, but he supposed it was true enough.
“It’s finished.”
Chapter 4
Calvin gave his dispatches and final instructions to the crew members being diverted to the Arcane Storm. He’d already sent th
e remaining Polarians over, by now even Rez’nac had made his way onto the other ship.
Crew morale was still broken among the special forces soldiers over the gruesome murder of one of their own, Staff Sergeant Gary Patterson, and now that the Polarian force had been reduced to a meager handful after the devastating losses they’d sustained on Remus Nine, Calvin feared that some of the special forces men would take it upon themselves to avenge themselves upon the surviving Polarians who, as far as Calvin was concerned, had already paid dearly. The murder investigation was ongoing and Calvin intended to get to the bottom of it as fast as he possible could, but in the meantime he decided it would be best to separate the human and Polarian soldiers for the time being. The easiest way to do that was to send the aliens onto the other ship as its security detail. All of the human soldiers, including Pellew, would remain here. Alex would need to stay on the Nighthawk, of course. Since, if he let Raidan and the Organization get that close to the Rotham by sending him with the others aboard the Arcane Storm, it was likely they’d take Alex for themselves and Calvin would lose out on any further intelligence Alex could have given him.
It was Summers’ duty, as the XO, to see that Calvin’s orders were implemented and that the away crew was properly briefed, equipped, and instructed for their mission on the Arcane Storm. All of them had been notified by now and many of them had gone aboard the other ship. All but Sarah, who Calvin intended to speak with in person. He hadn’t seen her since he’d allowed her to be relieved of duty and, although he probably could have made the time to visit her and check up on her, he hadn’t felt comfortable doing so and had made excuses to put it off. Now though, since he intended to send Sarah away for a while, he knew he had to see her. But, before he did, he had one very important errand to complete first.
He reached crew quarters number 407 and rang the chime. The door opened and he saw Second Lieutenant Vargas with a bag under each arm, looking about ready to depart for his new assignment aboard the Arcane Storm. He dropped one of his bags and saluted when he saw Calvin.
Calvin returned the salute and stepped inside.
“Captain.”
“At ease, Vargas,” said Calvin.
“Is there something I can do for you, sir?”
“I have some final instructions for you before you go aboard the Arcane Storm.”
Vargas picked up his dropped bag and then gave Calvin his full attention.
“As you know, you are to take command of the Arcane Storm. Rez’nac and the other Polarians are going with you. I can’t speak for the others, but Rez’nac is someone you can depend on. Use him as needed to maintain order.”
“Understood.”
“Also the crew that is going with you, you can depend on them. But as for Tristan, I want you to be wary of him. He has proven useful but also resourceful. Consider him to be Raidan and the Organization’s eyes and ears. Be careful what you say around him, and how you conduct yourself around him, and don’t give him too many liberties.”
“Aye, sir,” said Vargas. There was a slight look of petrification in his face and Calvin was sure that the man, along with so many others of the crew, was actually quite intimidated by Tristan. Fortunately Calvin didn’t expect any trouble from Tristan, but he wanted to give Vargas fair warning just in case.
“You are to maintain regular contact with the Nighthawk and your primary mission is to coordinate with Raidan and the Organization for the Nighthawk to receive new supplies and repairs. Do not surrender control of the Arcane Storm to Raidan until arrangements have been made for the Nighthawk to receive the resources it needs. You and the others will bring the new supplies, along with yourselves, on the Arcane Storm to rendezvous with the Nighthawk. After that Raidan may take possession of the ship, not before. Make sure that message is clear to him.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And one more thing,” Calvin said. He reached into his pocket and handed Vargas a handwritten note. Vargas picked it up and read it.
“I’m sorry that I’m not here to meet with you in person as we agreed. You must trust me, though, that I have very good reasons. The matter I’m attending to is urgent. Also I’ve discovered Xinocodone if administered to a replicant will kill him. Calvin.”
“See that he gets that message,” said Calvin.
“Sir, if I may, what is the urgent matter you are taking the Nighthawk to address?”
“Need to know basis,” said Calvin.
“I understand.”
With that Vargas saluted and Calvin left. He walked to the elevator and took it to the next deck. He followed the corridor. It seemed eerily quiet and empty with so few crew left aboard the ship, he didn’t run into a single person all the way to Sarah quarters. He rang the chime.
No answer came.
He rang the chime again.
No answer.
Feeling suddenly worried, he banged on the door and shouted, “Sarah it’s Calvin. Open the door please.”
If she could hear him through the door, she ignored him. And the door did not budge.
“Sarah, I’m coming in.”
He tried to open it. It was locked.
Calvin opened a panel and input a command override. The door unlocked with a hiss and slid open. The quarters were dark. He stepped inside. “Lights full,” he said and they snapped on.
Sarah lay on the bed. She was curled up and facing away from him. She didn’t seem to be moving. Calvin felt a jolt of fear and ran to her. He grabbed her arm with one hand and went to feel her vitals with his other.
“Calvin,” Sarah said, turning to face him. Her eyes were red, though she wasn’t crying, and she seemed pale.
“Sarah, are you all right?” he asked.
“I… I don’t know.”
Calvin couldn’t believe the sight of her. Sarah was the one who was always so cool under any kind of pressure. Seeing her like this… it was like she was a different person. And Calvin didn’t like it. He had half a mind to tell her to snap out of it, but he knew that wouldn’t do any good. So instead he helped her to a sitting position.
“This can’t just be about Shen,” said Calvin, wondering if maybe Shen’s demise was more a last straw than an absolute cause for Sarah’s emotional crisis.
She shook her head. “It’s my fault,” she whispered.
“What’s your fault?”
“He… he only went on the mission because of me. Because I rejected him.” She looked up at Calvin with her bloodshot eyes. “I rejected him.”
“What do you mean you rejected him?”
“He made me this nice dinner and he asked me out and… I turned him down. Just like that. I’m afraid he wanted to die…”
“No, no, that’s not fair,” said Calvin. Though in truth he was surprised to learn this. He’d always seen Shen and Sarah as having more of a brother-sister dynamic and somehow he’d glossed over that Shen might have romantic intentions toward Sarah—albeit very patient ones. “You can’t hold yourself responsible for any of this. Shen volunteered for the mission and saved everyone’s life who made it back. When we were trying to escape the surface, the gunship we were on lost power. Shen brought it back. He saved all of us.” He gave Sarah the most tender and sincere look he could.
She seemed to soften a little at this news. But the regret and anguish was still clearly in her eyes.
“And Shen isn’t a goner yet,” said Calvin, searching himself for anything to say to help coax Sarah out of her sorrow. “Rain is sure she can save him.” Calvin couldn’t believe he was saying it. He knew Shen was a goner, there was no use pretending otherwise. It made him feel cheap and dishonest to resort to such platitudes to try and cheer Sarah. But they seemed to help a little.
“I’m sorry,” said Sarah. She sniffled and started brushing out some of the creases in her wrinkled clothing. “I don’t know what got into me—”
She wasn’t better, and she wasn’t happy, but she seemed to have sobered up emotionally. Though the faint scent of alcohol was still
on her breath.
“Come on,” Calvin said, reaching out a hand to lift her to her feet. She accepted it. And he gave her a hug. She pulled him in tight and held him for several seconds longer than expected but he didn’t pull away. If she needed this kind of support it was the least he could do.
Eventually Sarah did break away from him. “Thank you,” she said with a half-broken smile.
“Sarah, I want you to go aboard the Arcane Storm with the others. It’s a short mission but I think it would be good for you. And there’s no one I trust more than you to bring everybody back safely to me.”
She nodded. “All right,” she whispered. Perhaps agreeing that a change of environment would do her good.
Calvin was about to speak again when General Quarters sounded throughout the ship. He felt a jolt of adrenaline shoot through him and he became very alert.
“What’s going on?” asked Sarah, giving him a look of concern.
“I don’t know,” said Calvin. “But I’m going to find out.”
He left Sarah’s quarters and sprinted for the elevator.
***
Calvin stood over the body. The young defense officer’s corpse had been pulled from the brig and was now on the ground just outside of it. Being attended to by a medic and an analyst from the lab. Pellew stood nearby, acting as security.
“Time of death was probably less than an hour ago,” the medic said. She stood up and looked at Calvin. “Appears to have been carbon monoxide poisoning.”
Calvin folded his arms and frowned. The ship had gone to condition one the moment the prisoner had been found dead by his attending guard. Calvin had sprinted to the scene as soon as he’d been made aware of the situation. Now here he was helpless before the scene of another mysterious death on his ship.
“Is there any danger to us being here?” asked Calvin.
“No, the carbon monoxide has since been contained,” said the analyst. “The cause of the leak seems to be damage to the air system and furnace associated with the containment section of the brig. Fortunately the area where prisoners are kept, when contained by force field, has an independent air system. So no one else was breathing it in, not even the attendant guard.”
The Phoenix Crisis Page 4
