The Phoenix Project

by Kris Powers

  Catherine sat down on the couch and patted the space next to her. Nadine obediently took the indicated place. She noticed that even within her apartment the dark habit of Catherine’s office stayed on her person.

  “Are you sure that I’m pregnant?”

  “Let me see,” Catherine said. She placed a wrinkled hand an inch from Nadine’s stomach. She closed her eyes for a moment before the smile returned. “I’m sure. You are with child, my daughter. I can’t tell you how happy I am.”

  “Are you happy because your daughter is pregnant or because you may have a new breed of soldier at hand?”

  “Why, both, of course,” Catherine replied. “Are you unhappy with either side of this?”

  “No, of course not, Catherine. I’m just not sure about bringing some sort of new being into the world.”

  “I know it is quite a change, Nadine. It is your first pregnancy and that alone brings some uncertainty. On top of that, you have the prospect of this incredible new life of unknown capability,” Catherine said.

  “Yes, I suppose so.”

  “We’ll have you see a doctor in the morning. In the meantime you need to rest, it’s getting late. We have quite a surprise for you in the coming hours: a reward for everything you have done for us.”

  “I look forward to it,” Nadine lied.

  “Good. We have arranged for an apartment for you on the first floor. It’s apartment twenty—six. I trust you know your way around?”

  “Yes Catherine, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  As Nadine left Catherine’s apartment she could feel the concerned stare at her back. Nadine knew that Catherine sensed something different in her but at this point she didn’t really care. She already felt as though she had been given a prison sentence within these walls that she had once revered as full of wisdom.

  She walked down the corridor and the narrow stairway to the first floor to find her newly assigned apartment. Brass numbers proclaiming apartment twenty—six were fixed to the door. Nadine found upon her entry that Catherine had decorated the apartment in a manner nearly identical to her own. The only difference was the size of the residence as well as the choice of a forest green for the drapes and couches, rather than the blue of Catherine’s.

  Nadine felt a deep fatigue from the day’s events that threatened to paralyze her body. She didn’t bother to change her clothes and simply fell into bed. It was comfortable, but she found herself awakening to familiar feelings within this building. Before she realized it, she was crying. She couldn’t stop and soon found the timepiece on the wooden night stand marking the passage of the second hour in the morning. For the first time in months, she cried herself to sleep.

  All eighty battle groups of the Alliance and one hundred and twenty of the Coalition battle groups had maintained (with few exceptions) the same positions for nearly seventy years. Soldiers on both sides were astounded to find themselves not only moving to different positions within their home systems but even saw the stars elongating to tiny dashes as many battle groups transited to other star systems.

  One imagines that nearly all of them would have feared the coming days.

  Insights on the Battle of the Inner Sphere

  by Conrad Harrison

  Chapter XVIII

  Nadine received the invitation to the exclusive dinner early in the morning after only a few hours of fitful sleep. The dinner was officially voluntary, but she knew her absence would be noticed and spent much of the afternoon choosing the appropriate eveningwear. If it was another party with Lathiel and Ranik, she would have chosen something comfortable and possibly revealing to tease both Elliot and Ranik, but this event called for something elegant but muted.

  After much indecision, she chose a simple black gown that went past the knees and had a high v—neck. She chose unadorned silver for the earrings and a necklace with a small medallion sporting the MERA coat of arms. It was suitably patriotic for the other attendees who would be members the upper echelons of the Coalition.

  She was punctual for the six o’clock appointment at one of the outer complexes on the MERA headquarters grounds. The ballroom had wooden fittings of a much lighter finish than within the main building. Long tables sat row after row, extending all the way to a raised stage with identical tables for the VIPs that would be in attendance. At least half of the guests for the night had already arrived. She looked at the carefully arranged seating plan at the entrance to the ballroom and found to her disappointment, that she would be sitting at the head table on stage.

  She hid the sense of panic she felt and began her journey to the back of the room to find her seat. To her chagrin a Coalition general recognized her before she managed to get more than ten feet into the crowded room.

  “General Hanover,” the middle—aged man in black said. At least a dozen medals adorned his left breast in showy pretentiousness.

  “General, how may I help you?” she asked, and managed as much of a smile as she could. Nadine was certain that someone here would see through her facade of loyalty and would know what she had done.

  “I just wanted to congratulate you on the completion of that whole Ferine mess. I’m glad those cats are gone. I understand that they have below average intelligence. How did you deal with them?”

  “Who told you that?” Nadine asked in surprise.

  “It’s common knowledge. I understand that you personally relayed that information to the government,” the General replied, smugly.

  “Well if you say so. Excuse me, I’m expected at the head table.”

  “Of course, of course.”

  Nadine shouldered her way past him and through the crowd. She was stopped by at least another five people on her way to the table. Nadine tried her best to give simple yes or no answers to them but found it difficult to hide her shock at the supposed facts that had been dispensed to them concerning the Ferine and the Alliance.

  “How horrible for you to be with those socialists all this time.”

  “I heard those cats were terribly violent.”

  “Weren’t you subjected to constant searches? How awful.”

  “That Ranik and Lathiel: despicable animals. I don’t know how anyone can use the word intelligent life in the same sentence when talking about them.”

  Nadine finally arrived to the back of the room to discover the function of this main table. Here in front of her were half a dozen seats on either side of the podium. Now she was able to match the faces to the names she noticed when she was looking for her seating assignment.

  The other eleven seats were already occupied by the most elite of MERA. They were second only to the members of the Council itself.

  There was Patrick Tate at the far end of the table. He was said to be the most likely successor to Louis. Word was he had already chosen to take the same name once he was a member of the Twelve after Louis had passed on.

  Next to the podium on the other side of the table was Tabitha Rhys, the apprentice to Alexander also said to eventually replace him. It was said she was eyeing the seat of Prime Counsel just as Alexander was. The difference was that Tabitha’s ambition was matched only by her intelligence.

  She looked down the table of people and knew that these honored guests were all on the short list to become members of the Council. There was her reserved space on the other side of the podium from Tabitha. Now she knew the reason for this luncheon: This was to introduce the next generation of Council Members. It would show all of MERA that, on the eve of war, the Coalition would be victorious for here were the people that would allow the Council to propagate into the future.

  This was a rally, one to bring smiles to the faces of children and assure them that the Coalition was a rock that would only grow in its resilience.

  Eventually they would have to reveal Nadine’s true nature, but it would be done slowly over time and by the time she was a councilor, people would have long since forgotten that she had ever served in the military. That fact would be carefully buried and then erased f
rom history.

  But this gave no comfort to Nadine. She felt Elliot’s concern for her even as he tried to transmit confidence to her in order to reinforce her will.

  She thanked him in her mind despite the knowledge that their bond would not allow such a message to be broadcast across the gap that separated them. His emotional reinforcement helped her to calmly radiate the confidence of an heir—apparent while she took her seat.

  Inwardly, she wanted to scream at the thought of how this evening would progress. After a brief round of quiet conversation, a dignified man with the rank pin of an elite MERA operative took the podium. The remaining members of the crowd still standing quickly took their seats and waited for him to begin.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our celebration here tonight. As many of you are unaware of the purpose of this function, I shall inform you,” he stopped and waited for the obligatory polite laughter before continuing. “Tonight, we congratulate the heroes of MERA with this dinner. All of them have been loyal and have demonstrated that loyalty to this organization time and again over the last decade.”

  “Indeed, they have demonstrated such courage that the Council of Twelve has decided to award them the Order of the Coalition.”

  Loud applause followed and the speaker took out a dozen small, black jewel boxes from a shelf in the podium and placed them one by one in front of each of the VIPS at the main table. As was tradition, they each opened the box containing a necklace with a glittering star hanging from it. The twelve pointed star had a small circle at the center symbolic of the never ending status of the council. She took the necklace out of the box and placed it around her neck. The pendant felt as though it weighed fifty pounds.

  Nadine appeared to accept it with solemn pride as did the rest of the honorees. The truth was that she found herself falling into a black hole. Her future was assured but she began to experience the dread of the realization that something she had sought after all her life no longer meant anything to her. All she could think as the rest of the table basked in the light of MERA’s acclaim was: I don’t belong here anymore.

  Nadine sat in her chair for the rest of the evening and numbly listened to speech after speech as she ate a well prepared meal. She barely remembered how the food tasted or even what the meal consisted of. She only knew that she found herself in tears in her bed again that night.

  Aides scurried about the Alliance Parliament near London in a near frenzy. Links that had fallen on the floor in the main lobby were forgotten. The evacuation left no time to go back and retrieve them.

  Fleet Admiral Nelson carefully avoided sprinting aides as he marched to the Prime Minister’s main office. The doors were open with the customary guards at the entrance, but the interior was a different story.

  The normally calm atmosphere of the office with its three couches in a horseshoe arrangement was the only thing that remained the same. The walls were now bare and several people hurried around the room , continuing to remove anything of value.

  The five Prime Ministers sat on the couches and were each attended to by an aide working to settle all necessary matters before they left the main office for the last time. Linda Simon looked up for a moment and saw the Admiral. She smiled warmly and left the comfort of her couch to greet him.

  “Admiral,” Linda said, “how are things going on your side of things?”

  “Just making a final stop on the way to New York. I wanted to see how my bosses are coming along.”

  “Pretty well. We should be on our way within the hour. Is the Achilles still transporting us to Mars?” she asked.

  “Yes, there aren’t any changes to the operation. I just wanted to stop in and see how all of you were doing.”

  “Bucking for a promotion?”

  “Have one in mind beyond Fleet Admiral?”

  “A good man,” she replied and grasped his arm.

  “Thank—you, Ma’am. Is there anything I can do for you?”

  “Get the First Battle Group to Mars,” she replied.

  “I can certainly try.”

  “How is the rest of the Admiralty doing?”

  “About as well as anyone would expect. We leave for Mars at the same time you do. We’ve decided to consolidate the battle group for this venture. The First will leave Earth at nine hundred hours on the dot tomorrow. We should be in Mars orbit by Nine oh five.”

  “Is there any change with the readiness of the enemy fleet?” Linda asked.

  “They’re still scheduled to launch about fifteen minutes after our fleet launches.”

  “Will I see you again before tomorrow?” Linda asked.

  “I’m afraid not, but I will see you on Mars.”

  “I’ll see you then,” she said and returned to the storm of activity surrounding the three couches.

  Admiral “Ronnie” Ronald Nelson smiled, nodded at the group of ministers and retreated to the warm evening air outside the complex. He walked to an awaiting shuttle bound for New York where the rest of the Admiralty waited.

  He boarded the shuttle and felt the disbelief of the body as the craft became airborne. Once in the sky, he took his link from his right breast pocket and opened it. Nelson tapped a few virtual buttons on the display and made a request for an uplink to the Excalibur.

  His high placed priority codes brought him directly to the attention of Maria aboard her flagship. She greeted him with the usual cold look that she seemed to give everyone these days.

  “Fleet Admiral, to what do I owe the pleasure?” she asked.

  “Good to see you too Maria, I just wanted to check in and see if you were ready to leave yet?” Nelson asked.

  “Admiral, I have already voiced my displeasure over this,” she replied.

  “It’s already been decided Maria. Commander Phelps has accepted the promotion to Commodore and will take command of the Second Battle Group.”

  “I volunteered to stay behind,” she said.

  “And he volunteered first. Now I want you off that ship by eight hundred thirty hours tomorrow morning at which time you will join the rest of the Admiralty at New York for evacuation.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “There’s one more thing,” Nelson said.

  “Yes?”

  “I want you to stop in at Phoenix Base on your way and pick up Elliot.”

  “I think Eli can take care of himself,” Maria said.

  “Yes he can, but right now all of our shuttles are being used to capacity. I need you to share yours so that Elliot can be brought to New York once he’s finished his affairs at the base.”

  “Yes, Sir. Is there anything else I can do for you?” she asked, coldly.

  “Yes there is: lighten up. You’re depressing your crew.”

  The comment brought a few hastily covered snickers from her bridge crew before Nelson smiled and deactivated the link.

  He relaxed in the cabin, already homing in on New York, and enjoyed a few minutes of silence. He would soon have to wade through a small crowd of Admiralty gathering to leave the planet for Cartise, where they would continue the fight on another front.

  Eventually, he saw the rising spires of the city and felt the shuttle settle onto the roof of the large Alliance Fleet’s Headquarters in New York. As soon as he exited the shuttle an adjutant shoved a report into his hand after a quick salute.

  “What’s the news, Commander?”

  “We have most of the Admirals assembled now. We’re still expecting a few who have experienced some delays.”

  “How many are still on their way?” Nelson asked.

  “Twenty—three. They will arrive over the next twelve hours.”

  “Twelve hours,” Nelson said and looked at the sun closing in on the horizon. “It’s hard to believe that I’ll be looking at a different sky in just a few days.”

  Admiral Nelson took a moment to watch the setting sun and enjoyed its splendor. He knew he would never witness another one on Earth. After a minute of looking at the horizon, made picturesque by th
e city’s towers climbing up to meet it, Nelson walked to the small box of an entryway to the building. The rest of the Brass was waiting for him on a lower floor. They would spend the night waiting to embark aboard the Hood which would then convey them to Mars along with the rest of the senate.

  “I’ll keep your seat warm,” the recently promoted Commodore Ben Phelps said to Maria in the shuttle bay of the Endeavour.

  “You know that you’ll be keeping it warm for quite some time. Just remember that General Order Thirty—Eight goes for everyone, including you.”

  “Yes Ma’am. Don’t think that I won’t obey that order the moment it’s given,” Phelps replied.

  “I will see you again.”

  “If it was anyone else saying that, I wouldn’t believe them.” Ben’s intention was to give her a handshake, but Maria surprised him by saluting him instead. He returned the salute and watched while she boarded her shuttle in an empty bay. All of the other ship’s shuttles had been commandeered by the fleet for the numerous transfers occurring across the solar system.

  Maria’s shuttle rose off the deck and exited the bay through the open end protected from decompression by a force field. She guided her shuttle just above the silver ring made of the remains of the Moon and then down to the American Sea near the center of the North America. The Phoenix Base stood out as three massive domes connected by long rectangular buildings. She landed her shuttle on one of the many pads occupying the large space inside the interconnected domes.

  Within a minute she was stepping onto a tarmac outside the base. It took her a few minutes to find the command center inside one of the domes. Elliot was in the center seat of the four story situation room directing a massive effort to tie up all of his affairs in the next half—hour.

  “You appear to have your hands full,” Maria said.

  “And then some.”

  “Will you be ready to go in about fifteen minutes?”

  “I think so. Is it already eight—thirty?” Elliot asked.