The Phoenix Wars: Book I, Reprieve

by C. R. Daems

  Captain Basson moved the Crowned Eagle closer to Anixia and put the ship into orbit. Early the next morning, a shuttle arrived carrying two red-robed Anixians, which Basson and I met and escorted to the captain's meeting room.

  "We understand that the captain's simulator and our new Griffon missiles need updating," said the voice box of a man with the marking of a Peregrine falcon while the other man had the marking of an Osprey. They were both tall, thin, and delicate. I couldn't help but stare at the beautiful feathers which covered them from head to foot.

  "With the introduction of the K-box, I believe the captain should consider his fighters as a deployable weapon like any missile," I said and went on to explain that the cruiser could give the appearance that she was running from the enemy, and at some point, drop K-box fighters with their engines shut off. "The captain would then increase his speed leaving the fighters behind. The enemy ship would eventually close on the fighters, which would then ignite their engines and attack with their Griffon missiles. That is one scenario, but others are possible if the software has the option to deploy fighters in their standard four to a group."

  "What about the Griffon missiles?" the Osprey asked.

  "A timer would be nice and maybe remote activation. Sort of the same scenario as with the fighters. Drop the Griffons, set to ignite when we estimate the enemy would be extremely close. Targeting information would be set prior to dropping them."

  I heard the two Anixia clicking their beaks, not sure if they were laughing at me or my idea or both.

  "Very sneaky, young Kayla. Hunt like falcon. Find prey while out of sight high in sky, then drop silently and so fast the prey is unaware until too late to escape," one voice box said. "We will tell Black Eagle good idea and start work immediately." More clicking. "Of course, Black Eagle already knows whatever you want is smart idea. He smart. Why he selected you."

  They left a short time later, after a few questions to make sure they understood what I was after.

  "I apologize, Captain Trager–" Basson began, but I interrupted.

  "Kayla, please. No need to apologize. You are an ex-military officer and have the knowledge and experience to fight toe-to-toe with the enemy. I couldn't. My strategy will be misdirection, or sneaky, like the Anixian said."

  Basson laughed. "The Anixians may be pacifists, but they are not stupid. Black Eagle knew exactly what he was getting with you. I should have known from my experience with you at our recent battle with the Tullizor. That wasn't a one-time insight as I had assumed. It's intuitive for you to be innovative."

  A week later, the Anixians delivered a new simulator and the first of the new Griffon missiles with very small amounts of explosives to be used for testing.

  "Captain, I think it would be a good idea to test the weapon candidates on the new simulator," I said after a few hours trying it with Basson watching.

  "I agree. In our case, with recruits scarce, it is critical we do anything which minimizes casualties."

  "That was awesome," Hyun said when I joined Hanna and her at dinner several nights later. "I now have fighters available as weapons and Griffons with no heat signature."

  "What do you think, Kayla?" Hanna asked. "The three months are up at the end of the week."

  I was nervous and not in any rush for the three months to end. First, I was worried about how Hyun would take me being made captain, and then there was me having to be the captain. In ten years, I may be ready, but I wasn't prepared today. Unfortunately, the position was one I couldn't decline without feeling I was deserting Anixia. They were at a critical juncture. Moving too fast or too slowly could be equally disastrous. Doing nothing wasn't being considered; that would be like sticking your head in the sand and hoping the lion roaming the area wouldn't see you. So, when the Black Eagle cruiser was considered operational, a choice would have to be made–leave the system or stay. I was now certain that my appointment was Black Eagles commitment to expanding our knowledge and experience.

  A week later, we were told the results would be announced two days hence. The next morning, Hyun and I were invited to the captain's office.

  "Hyun, you are being designated as the XO on the Black Eagle," Basson said when Hyun had closed the door behind her. "Do you have a problem with Kayla being captain? I know you two are close friends."

  To my relief, Hyun gave me an award-winning smile and a hug, ignoring the captain's question. "No, Captain. You would have to be an idiot not to realize she is the best qualified and that she was Black Eagle's pick months ago. She's also my pick."

  "Good, I plan to spend today going over those candidates my team has selected, their shift, and the reasons the others weren't selected," he said as he activated his office monitor, and the primary shift names appeared. For the hours that followed, he discussed each individual, their test scores, simulator results, and performance at their specialty. After a quick lunch, he began on the other positions. We finished late in the evening. "I've been told the Black Eagle has finished its final tests and is ready to board."

  "Thank you, Captain Basson. You and your team have been fantastic. I wish you were coming along. I could sure use a mentor." He laughed.

  "Yes, leave it to the Anixians to kick the youngers out of the nest to see if they can fly."

  "What do you think, Hyun?" I asked as we left the captain's office.

  "We are together and have the positions we wanted. Life is better than good." She did a little dance as she walked and almost crashed into Hanna, who had just exited her room.

  Hyun leaned toward Hanna and whispered, "Come, primary shift navigator. We are off to the mess to eat and celebrate. Within a day or two, we will be boarding the Black Eagle."

  I was surprised Hanna hadn't asked who was appointed captain. Apparently, my friends had deduced that a long time ago.

  Chapter 38

  New Home, New assignment, New challenges

  We had assembled in one of the empty bays awaiting shuttles to return everyone to their previous House to collect their belongings in preparation for their transfer to their new House and to get ready to board the Black Eagle.

  "Your attention, please," Hyun shouted when everyone had entered, then turned to me smiling. I guess she felt that was her first official act as XO.

  "For those of you who don't know me, I am Kayla Trager, the new captain of the Black Eagle. Since we are all survivors in a new land, I would prefer to be addressed as Kayla rather than Trager. Welcome to the Black Eagle, I'm looking forward to meeting each one of you. The Black Eagle and its crew are being assigned to the Saker House. For those of you from another house, you will be assigned permanent quarters on arrival. Find someone originally from the Saker House, and they will give you a tour and answer any of your questions. From here on, we are a family and will succeed only if we work together. Any question concerning the Black Eagle should be addressed to Hyun, who is the XO and second in command." I mentally congratulated myself on giving my first adult speech.

  "I will see you at the Saker House," I said. "I am going to ride the Pitohui with the fighter unit back to their training area. I want to talk to Bradley."

  "Congratulations, Kayla," Bradley said as I exited the Pitohui. "I just heard that you are the new captain of the Black Eagle."

  "Thank you, Bradley. We need to negotiate the number of fighters I'm going to need on the Black Eagle," I said as he, Calum, and I sat in his office. "Ideally, I would like twenty plus a wing leader," I held up my hand to let me finish, "that would be twelve fighters and eight K-box certified, but you are designated the house supporting the Black Eagle, and you only have K-box certified pilots. The other houses have fighter pilots but no K-box certified, and none of the houses has enough fighters to support the current cruisers."

  "That sums it up nicely," Bradley said.

  "Anixia needs fighters in case we are invaded again, and I need them to travel outside of this system." I paused for him to nod in agreement. "I will compromise for twelve K-box pilots and a wi
ng leader. That will leave you with seven, which will be sufficient to train K-box pilots for the houses, including Saker, and I won't ask the other houses for pilots, giving you a pool to begin developing K-box pilots for each cruiser, and Saker House gets the next recruits to support another cruiser. I'll let you select the twelve and the wing leader."

  "Seven should be enough to handle training." Bradley frowned as if thinking. "Since you will probably be in the system for a couple of months, it should give me enough time to train sufficient certified K-box pilots in each house to satisfy minimum requirements." He gave me a wry grin. "It's probably a fair agreement as neither of us is happy with the numbers."

  My Sleeve buzzed, and I saw a message from Black Eagle.

  Come see me.

  A person of few words, I mused as I headed for the lift. The ride felt like only seconds as I contemplated the reason for the summons. When I entered the house, Black Eagle was standing in the foyer waiting.

  "Good day, Kayla," his voice box said. "Now that you are officially an Anixian and the captain of a cruiser, you need a small operation."

  That conjured up all sorts of images, and I felt my whole body react from a surge of adrenaline.

  "Relax, Kayla. It is necessary to fly the cruiser," the voice box said. "You were told that only Anixians could fly one of our cruiser, but many thought that a lie as humans are the captains. It was not a lie. The cruisers have special controls that only those of us in the House of War who have implants can activate. Without someone with the implant, our cruisers will eventually shut down. Consequently, Doug, Carl, and the crew would never have reached Earth. We would eventually find the cruiser as we knew where it was going and could activate its location beacon, but not in time to save the crew." He then led me down a well-lit hallway that looked to be made of glass into a room that smelled of antiseptics like inside a hospital.

  I wanted to object, ask questions, run, but I was committed to Anixia and would do whatever necessary. Besides, Black Eagle was placing a great deal of trust in me. I could now steal a cruiser and fly it to Earth…a seductive thought, if I didn't owe them my very existence. Resigned, I climbed up on the operating table and closed my eyes.

  When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a small room which was dark except for a lamp in the wall behind me. No, not a lamp but the moon shining. I heard clicking and noticed a small woman sitting in the corner, who had the marking of a swift wing bird.

  "Relax, Kayla, you are in a recovery room." I heard the voice and quickly felt for the translation box that must be hanging somewhere. There was none. "The translation box is part of the implant. A secret we do not share. We can understand what you humans are saying without the box. The box is so you can understand us." That was followed by clicking, which my new internal box interpreted as laughing. Another secret, I mused. I couldn't blame the Anixians. They had advanced technology that Earth would pay billions to acquire and many people who were now cured and would love to return to Earth. People who had no honor or morals or conscience and would cheat on their agreement, steal, and kill to return to Earth with that technology. Fortunately, most were willing to honor their agreement, or at least unwilling to actively attempt to break it. Those on the Crowned Eagle would not have tried to stop Doug and Carl from hijacking the ship.

  Except that I didn't have feathers and wings, I was now officially an Anixian. Did that make me an ambassador, and if so, for whom? I hoped I and the others like me were the glue that would make Phoenix a reality. On reflection, the Anixians would need a buffer from humans who inherently needed to control and dominate, as demonstrated by our obsession with war.

  "Kayla, you may leave now," I heard but not with my ears, more like I remembered what was said. What I actually heard was clicking accompanied by a high-pitched squawk. "You were only being detained to allow the anesthesia to wear off and to ensure you had no adverse effects from the surgery.

  "Thank you," I said as I rose. "What is your name?"

  "Gentle Breeze," she replied. She led me to the lift. Lost in my thoughts, the ride felt like only seconds.

  "That was a long conference," Bradley said when he saw me, no doubt wanting an update.

  "How long?" I asked.

  "Six hours."

  "Lots of dos and do nots," I held my head between my hands and shook it like I had a headache. I think he understood that it was exclusively captain business and didn't pursue the issue.

  "We have determined the twelve K-box pilots who will be the permanent fighter wing on the Black Eagle and your wing leader, Simon. He is a good solid man, good at following orders but capable of making the hard calls. Besides, it will be good training for him." He grinned. "You will stretch his thinking. Don't give me that look. You follow orders but can't help improvising them. As a captain working in an unknown environment that will by necessity be a good thing and educational for your crew."

  I wasn't sure, but I suspect it was the same sentiment Black Eagle had about me. Looking at my Sleeve, it was dinner time, and I felt hungry, so I headed for the mess hall where I hoped to find Hyun and Hanna and get updated on the day's activities.

  "Here is our missing captain," Hyun said as I neared the table they were sitting. "We were just discussing our futures."

  "Would you like to share?" I asked. I didn't have a clue, although I probably should not advertise that to the crew.

  "At the speed you are progressing, you are probably several years ahead of us," Hanna said.

  "I'm expecting my XO to run the ship and for my prime shift navigator to give me a tour of the galaxy," I said, only a little in jest. I would need lots of help from everyone. "We are a triad, remember?"

  "Yes, three monkeys," Hyun said. "One covering her eyes, one her ears, and one with her hand over her mouth." We all laughed.

  Chapter 39

  Anixian Secrets

  To my surprise and relief, Black Eagle met me when I arrived to take command of the Black Eagle.

  "Good morning, Captain Kayla. I am here today to welcome you to your new command and transfer control to you." I heard the bird sounds but also knew their meaning as if I had heard him speak them in English. You may now refer to me by my name, Midnight Seer or just M-Seer. Being the head of the House of War, it is my responsibility to see the future, and I see you as a significant contributor to the future of Anixia and the Phoenix concept."

  I didn't know what to say except maybe, I'm not ready. "I'll do my best, M-Seer," I said instead.

  He's laughing, I heard and then, "Follow me. We tell the humans that only the Anixians can fly our cruisers. They think we are lying because they see humans as captains and no Anixian on the Bridge. The reason only Anixians can fly them is that everything on our cruisers is controlled by a very sophisticated artificial-intelligent software that only speaks the Anixian language. Now that you are officially an Anixian, you can command the Black Eagle and any of our other cruisers."

  I couldn't help a laugh. An excellent security system. Humans couldn't understand the Anixian language, although they could eventually make a translator–the Anixians did.

  "You can speak to the AI, Oracle, as it can understand humans, but it only speaks Anixian; however, you can in the captain's chair give commands just by thinking them. We may be miserable at war, but we are excellent at biology, having spent over a thousand years in research." When I nodded, he continued. "Sit and place your hand on the glass ball." When I did, he spoke, "Oracle, I am Midnight Seer. This is Captain Kayla. She is to have absolute control of Oracle."

  Then I understood, without hearing,

  Captain Kayla, I have captured your facial and voice signature and sampled your physical characteristics. You are now authorized full control of Oracle and the Black Eagle.

  What the Earth wouldn't give for these technologies; mind transfer of thought, to cure lethal diseases, space travel, crossed my thoughts.

  Yes, those are God-like technologies.

  I jerked almost out of the captain's chai
r as Oracle responded via my implant–into my thought.

  M-Seer laughed. "Oracle can answer questions, debate issues, solve problems, and read your thoughts while you are touching that glass ball and give unsolicited comments when it wants. That can be disconcerting until you become accustomed to it." He paused, staring at me for an uncomfortable time. "Kayla, I have no specific objective for you. I'm hoping you will expand our knowledge and identify potential dangers so we can be prepared. We will need you to check back periodically to report on what you found and see what we are doing. Let us say a year, plus or minus a month."

  "M-Seer, I'm very young," I said, feeling overwhelmed and suddenly terrified.

  "That is all right. You will get over that in time." He laughed.

  I stayed when he left, put my hand on Oracle's glass ball. "Can you give me a tour of the world you control?"

  "Of course, Captain." I sat mesmerized for the next four hours as Oracle showed me images of each area and my options. After it finished, I stayed hours trying to digest the Black Eagle's hundreds of functions. In the end, I fell asleep in the captain's chair and didn't wake until early the next morning. I decided to stay and had Oracle send a message to have my gear sent up, have the primary Bridge personnel report tomorrow, and the remaining crew the following day. Then I sent another message to Joseph to send up the police contingent along with weapons for me and my prime Bridge crew. I had to assume there could be other "Dougs" and "Carls" who were not only determined to get back to Earth but willing to do anything to hijack a cruiser and others who would be willing to help once there was a chance of succeeding.

  Chapter 40

  Becoming Anixian

  When I walked into my conference room, there were seven persons waiting; they rose, which made me feel ridiculous. At eighteen, which I assumed I was by now, there were many states where I couldn't legally buy an alcoholic drink. I knew from a review of their records everyone was older than me, some by a year or two while others by twenty. Hyun and I had discussed it at length. While none of us had ever been in the military, we were now, and discipline would be essential.