The Phoenix Project

by Kris Powers

  “Eight thirty—five. The Hood takes off from New York at nine. We need to be onboard or Nelson will have both our heads.”

  “I think I’ll be done in time,” Elliot said. He examined one of the innumerable reports he had to sign.

  “I’ll wait,” Maria said, and sat on a small bench behind the command chair at the back of the large room.

  Nadine was already up and dressed when an attendant rang her doorbell just before eight—thirty in the morning to tell her the Council requested her presence immediately. The beginnings of bags under her eyes were appearing again. Some carefully applied makeup hid the dark patches under each eye, but the fatigue couldn’t be entirely concealed.

  She walked to the large set of double doors guarded by rifle toting soldiers. Nadine entered the dim room and the future she had condemned herself to. Catherine beamed at her entrance and smiled at the other eleven in the circle of chairs evenly spaced within the twelve sided room.

  As was the tradition of an appointed member to the Order of the Coalition, Nadine stood in front of the seat of her sponsor.

  “It wasn’t a great secret was it? I take it you’re ready to receive your new position?” Catherine asked.

  “Yes, Catherine.”

  “Nadine, I am one hundred and ten years old now,” she said with a wistful smile. “No other Prime Counsel has been in office for this long. I will be the first to retire from my office rather than continue on until my death. I will take an apprentice and over the next ten years gradually transfer all of my duties to that person. I want that person to be you.”

  “I,” Nadine began and found that she had fallen short of words. Alexander scowled at her from his chair.

  “I know it’s a lot to take in at once. I wish we had the time to allow you to acclimatize to this news, but I need you to begin taking new duties at once.”

  “Of course.”

  “Excellent. I need to bring you up to date on the current situation.”

  “I’m ready.”

  “We have managed to enable our fleet to launch early. The new fleet launches and the war starts at ten minutes to nine,” Catherine said.

  “I see. What motivated this decision?”

  “We have analyzed the numbers. With an all out attack at the new time we can likely secure the Alliance fleet, but we knew that the long range projections of casualties would be unacceptably high.” Catherine produced a link and handed it to her. Nadine took the link and looked at the numbers herself.

  “Eight billion,” Nadine said once she reviewed the latest series of projections.

  “Yes, and you will notice that includes two billion of our own citizens.”

  “I take it you have a solution to minimize losses,” Nadine said. Catherine smiled again to her council as proof and pride in her future successor.

  “We have decided on a solution, yes. We will use the particle warhead to our advantage.”

  “That is a piece of Alliance technology at the heart of the Phoenix Base. How could you use it to your advantage?” Nadine asked. She reviewed the information on the link and then looked up once the truth hit her. “An agent?”

  “Very insightful, Nadine. Yes, we do have a spy and he will use the particle warhead to devastate the face of the Earth.”

  “How will this help?”

  “The numbers are on page twenty of the report. The intentional detonation of the warhead will spur the Alliance citizens to turn against their own government and side with us. The losses will be cut to five billion instead of eight.”

  “I see,” Nadine said as she brought up the recommended page on the link.

  “You disapprove?”

  “You’re going to kill billions of our own people?” Nadine asked.

  “In order to save billions more. The results can’t be refuted.”

  “And we will be heroes to the entire Human race,” Alexander said.

  “With a fabrication. We will be personally responsible for this act,” Nadine said. “One that approaches genocide.”

  “Only we will know that to preserve the peace. Three billion more people will still be alive. How can you argue against that?” Catherine asked.

  “Five billion people will still die.”

  “People die every day,” Alexander said from behind her. “Why should today be any different?”

  “There must be an alternative to this!”

  “I am open to suggestions,” Catherine said, “but as far as we can see we have only two options: five billion dead or eight billion dead.”

  “We could sue for peace and stop this now,” Nadine said, before placing the report in the breast pocket of her uniform. “If I am to be your successor, it must be for a Council that doesn’t have this destructive lie in its closet.”

  “No one will ever discover this,” Catherine said.

  “You’d build an Empire on the ashes of our home?”

  “What has happened to everything I’ve taught you? The numbers dictate the results. Five billion dead is far more preferable to eight. The decision is simple.”

  “Except that you can’t see a third solution.”

  “Surrender is out of the question.”

  “It’s not surrender! It’s called a peace process. Everyone here and within the Alliance can be happy without any blood being spilt. Why can’t you see this?”

  “Your time with the Alliance has affected you. We will not endure another attempt at peace. We will not have another hundred years of cold war. This will end now!”

  “Then it ends without me!” Nadine looked around the shocked faces of the circle and calmed her voice to a near whisper as she spoke to Catherine. “Whether it’s in a month or a decade, this decision will be our downfall. This sort of foundation for supremacy over the Colonized Sphere can only lead to our destruction. When you build maliciously on death, you will only ever know death.”

  “They have spoiled you,” Catherine said in a voice hoarse with anger. “They have taken my greatest student from me. You are only a shadow of yourself and as transparent as one of them.”

  “Not as much as you may think mother,” Nadine said and ripped the Order of the Coalition medallion from her neck. “Tell me do you sense any deception from me? You who have always known whenever I was lying, can you see any lies now?”

  “No,” Catherine spat out in disgust.

  “I helped the Ferine escape,” Nadine said in a low voice that only Catherine would hear.

  Catherine looked up at her, mouth agape. Nadine threw the medallion to the floor. “I’m done here. Train that whelp over there to follow you and your fragile kingdom,” she said, gesturing to Alexander.

  Nadine walked out of the chambers before anyone could recover. She walked with a speed and ease from having the weight of the Council and a dark future lifted from her shoulders. For the first time in her life, she felt truly free.

  Inside the Council chamber, Catherine leaned forward and picked up the Order of the Coalition medallion.

  “Alexander, she needs to be stopped. With what she knows, she could bring everything down on our heads.”

  The order brought him out of his stupor. He got to his feet and went towards the doors to issue commands to the guards. Alexander stopped just short of the exit and turned towards Catherine.

  “What do we do with her?”

  Catherine stared at the shining medallion in her palm for a moment before she responded in a morose tone. “Nadine Hanover has betrayed the Council. She has shown that she is too much like her father. Have her brought to Detention Room E.”

  “Yes, Prime Counsel.”

  Nadine walked back towards her quarters with the intention of packing her things and moving on to better fortunes. On her way she didn’t think of any reprisal other than the possibility of prison for an untold time. Catherine was after all, her mother. She wasn’t surprised to discover six MERA troops waiting outside her quarters.

  “General Hanover.”

  “You’re here to es
cort me to a holding area, correct?”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” the soldier of the senior most rank responded. All six were armed with PBRs, though their barrels were pointing to the floor. Nadine took note of the informal stances and body language, indicating they believed there was no threat here.

  “Very well, Major,” she said. The Major took her PBP from its holster at Nadine’s side. As the soldiers began to surround her for escort, she thought to ask for specifics. “Which detention cell am I to be escorted to?”

  “Detention Room E.”

  The memories of escorting her father to certain death in that very room flashed across her mind. She instinctively seized all of the soldiers’ minds. They were among the elite of MERA but didn’t have the training and expertise of a person with twenty years of mind probes and interrogations behind her.

  All six of them froze in place and Nadine took her PBP back and aimed it at the first soldier. She checked to make sure the weapon was set to its highest stun setting and discharged the weapon at the first man, sending him to the floor in paralysis. She caught the Major, who was the most experienced of the group, beginning to break free of the paralysis. He began to raise his rifle to disable her as he fought for control of his body.

  Her weapon swung around with a fierce speed. A pulse of energy brought the Major to the ground. Four more dim thuds were heard down the hallway as Nadine quickly dispatched them all to an hour’s enforced rest. She took one of the guard’s rifles and changed the setting to stun. Nadine hefted it across one arm and then sprinted down the hallway.

  Her mind raced for a solution to her conundrum, as death was on her heels. The immobilized bodies of the guards would be discovered within a minute, perhaps two at most, and then the hunt would begin. Nadine’s mind began to reference anything from her experience that would help her in her escape.

  A memory flashed into her mind of her as a young girl accompanying her mother on a tour of the more secret areas within the building. There were several escape passages leading to little known launch bays throughout the complex. Nadine remembered the location of one only a short way away.

  She had to avoid a few patrols but quickly found the hallway she had remembered from her childhood. It was easy to recall this one from the others, as it had a three sided corner with a tall window of colored glass depicting the first Prime Counsel of the Twelve. She walked down the empty corridor to its midway point and felt a wood panel for the soft spot she remembered. A quick search revealed it to be the wrong one. She moved to the next panel and felt again for the soft area in the wood.

  As Nadine searched she heard footsteps approaching the hallway. She counted four pairs of occupied shoes approaching her position. She increased the speed of her search and was rewarded to find an oddly soft circle in the wood that gave way under pressure. The entire panel retracted from the tip of her finger and then slid behind the wall. She jumped into the passage, ignoring the cob webs across the entrance. The door silently slid back into place behind her.

  Nadine froze in the disused corridor and listened intently to the footsteps approaching the spot outside the hidden door. Relief set in once they continued without pause and gradually faded into the distance beyond her hearing range. She carefully felt around in the dark and located an old touch sensitive panel that activated once her fingers brushed across its surface.

  A series of fluorescent lights flickered on one by one down the long concrete corridor. She was relieved to find the cobwebs surrounded only the entrance and, although dusty, the rest of the corridor was unfettered. She walked at a careful gait and finally found the corridor’s end. It led into a room some forty feet square with a small and rather old shuttle waiting at its center. It had not seen any maintenance or cleaning for years but she was certain it would still work. It would have to. Nadine knew its speed was not the same as more modern additions to the large fleet of shuttles, but it would get her where she needed to go.

  The interior of the small vessel was cool and musty. Once she was seated and activated the ignition switch, the shuttle hummed to life. Nadine checked all the systems to ensure they were functional and then activated the short range signal that would trigger the ceiling doors. They emitted a grinding sound at first but then slowly opened, to Nadine’s relief.

  The small ship launched high into the air above the gothic domes of MERA headquarters and then accelerated away towards the horizon. Moments later, the sensor display alerted her to three squadrons of approaching green fighters. The old shuttle was still in good shape, but it could not possibly outrun the state of the art fighters gaining on her with each second.

  Nadine accessed the communications console in the hope that someone within the Alliance would respond.

  “Mayday, mayday. This is an eastbound shuttle in distress. I am General Nadine Hanover seeking political asylum with the Alliance.”

  “When do they launch?” Joshua asked Madison. He scrutinized the enemy battle groups on the main monitor of the Endeavour’s bridge.

  “The new fleet launches in under twenty minutes. We’re still set to launch at the same time.”

  “I hate waiting. I just wish this was over.”

  “Careful what you wish for,” Madison said and looked back to her link.

  “Sir,” his communications officer said from his station, “I’ve got a distress signal.”

  “Where is it coming from?”

  “It’s weak, but it’s coming from a small shuttle out from the east coast of Asia.”

  “Put it through,” Joshua said.

  The speakers scratched out static for a moment before the transmission came in. “I am General Nadine Hanover seeking political asylum with the Alliance.”

  The message brought both of them to attention.

  “Do we have any fighters available?” Joshua asked.

  Madison consulted her link before responding. “No, and there are no other ships available. We have to go.”

  “Into the atmosphere.”

  “It’s your call,” Madison said.

  “No it isn’t. Eli would kill me if I didn’t do something.”

  “So would I.”

  “Let’s go,” Joshua said and stood up from his seat. “Helm, take us down to intercept that shuttle. We’re doing some escort duty.”

  “Aye Sir.”

  The olive colored fighters on Nadine’s tail entered weapons range. A warning shot flew by the cockpit window shortly afterwards. Nadine’s fingers scurried across the controls to raise the shields and arm the obsolete aft Particle Beam Cannon. Pulses of emerald energy flew from the back of her shuttle and struck the fighter’s shields, causing little damage. Nadine knew the weapon wouldn’t stop the fighters, but she hoped the shots would disrupt their targeting abilities for a few seconds while she got away.

  Joshua’s voice sounded throughout the cockpit, startling her. “Got you covered, Nadine.”

  The Endeavour’s hull appeared overhead to provide an umbrella of protection for her shuttle. Solid beams of particle energy slammed into the fighters attacking her. Torpedoes followed them in and the fighters dissolved in a series of fireballs. Burning debris began its long descent towards the ocean.

  “We’ll open the shuttle bay. Prepare to come aboard,” Joshua said across the communications system.

  “Acknowledged,” Nadine replied in relief.

  Deadly cruisers three hundred feet long and a thousand feet wide slid out of their dry—docks. The ships were crimson in color to reflect their lethal abilities. Ten thousand of the new Coalition warships began to converge into formations. Soon afterwards, they were bound for Alliance battle groups and stations. The rest of the Coalition fleet was given the order to begin the conquest of the Colonized Sphere seconds later.

  “Open the shuttle bay doors,” Joshua said.

  “Got it.” Madison’s walk to a nearby station was interrupted when a slight shudder went through the ship. The monitor showed flashes of green and orange from shield impacts coming
from somewhere above them.

  “Ships from the Coalition A—2 Battle Group have opened fire on us,” the weapons officer reported.

  “Request assistance from our battle group!”

  “The rest of Third Battle Group is under attack as well.”

  “It’s started,” Madison whispered.

  “Tell Nadine to nix the docking and tell her we’ll have to provide cover to Phoenix’s outer defenses.”

  “You do know that means we won’t be able to defend ourselves from those destroyers,” Madison said.

  “I know. Do it.”

  “Nadine, this is Madison.”

  “What’s happening?”

  “We’re under attack but don’t worry. We will escort you to Phoenix but we can’t risk a shuttle coming in under battle conditions. Keep under our hull until we’ve reached the base’s defense grid,” Madison said.

  “Madison, are you sure? This is an old shuttle: it isn’t very fast.”

  “If you try to come in now, it’s likely that your shuttle will be hit. We both know that it won’t survive a cannon hit from a destroyer.”

  “I can’t ask you to do this.”

  “You didn’t,” Madison said with a smile, “and you don’t have to.”

  “Acknowledged and thank—you, Madi.”

  “Dorsal shields are at half power,” the weapons officer reported.

  “Divert all power to that shield and return fire from all dorsal batteries,” Joshua said.

  The weapons on the upper side of the ship returned fire, but without being able to bring the full power of its main weapons to bear, the Endeavour was ineffective.

  “The enemy ships have sustained minimal damage. Dorsal shields are weakening. Some of the weapons fire is getting through,” the weapons officer reported.

  “Damage report?”

  A woman in uniform at the appropriate console replied. “The hull has sustained damage, but nothing has gotten through yet.”