The Phoenix Conspiracy

by Richard L. Sanders

"And how do you know, now, that The Organization isn't the one who produced the fake you, in order to win you over?"

  "I didn't know that then, but I do now. The Organization exists to protect the Empire, trust me."

  "From replicants? How long has this been going on?"

  "No not just from replicants. That's a recent move. They started replacing people about five years ago, the captains and officers in the Fifth Fleet were the easiest targets, close to the DMZ. Far away from most major ports. Mostly they, we, were just tests. They had to be slow, careful, and see if the transition between real persons and fake persons would get noticed. It's only recently that they've been targeting more important people. Like those ships headed for Capital World."

  Calvin instantly thought of his strange visit with Kalila. Had she been replaced? Was this the threat she was hiding from? "More important people meaning nobility?"

  "Perhaps some of the nobility. If not yet then eventually, yes, they will be targeted."

  "What about the royal family?" Calvin pressed him.

  Raidan scratched his chin. "I doubt it. The Akiras keep themselves well-protected. Perhaps eventually, but for now I’m sure they are safe."

  "So you've noticed no strange activity from them whatsoever?"

  Raidan hesitated. "No. Why are you that interested in this?"

  Calvin shrugged, not wanting to give himself away. "No reason. I just want to be sure the monarchy is still intact."

  Raidan raised a curious eyebrow.

  Calvin changed the subject. "So how did your Organization discover the threat?"

  "I don't have the answer to that. It's an invisible war that's been going on for a long time. Decades. Their side building and building up, readying their plans, and us trying to keep up and unravel them before it's too late. This fight has taken many forms.

  "So who is the enemy?"

  "They call themselves The Phoenix Ring. No, not a reference to my old ship. They mean the creature of legend. The firebird that dies and resurrects periodically. We think it's a metaphor for the Empire. They want to destroy it and re-create it. And since our Human empire is the premiere powerhouse of the galaxy, they depend on deception to conquer us."

  "Who are they?"

  "We don't know the ring-leaders yet. They're called The Council. They act through seconds and thirds, like our politicians on Capital World, except in this case anonymously."

  "So what do you know?" Calvin asked. "Are they rotham? human? polarian?"

  Raidan looked surprised. "Why would you guess polarians?"

  "Well... we saw a Polarian ship at Abia."

  Raidan's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure?"

  "Yes."

  "Very interesting..." he paused. "To answer your question, we know that humans and rotham are both involved. As for who is giving orders to whom, no one can be sure." He leaned back and rested his head against the back of his chair, tapping his fingers thoughtfully upon the armrest. Obviously unhappy.

  "It's because we're going to Gemini, isn't it?" asked Calvin.

  "What?"

  "Why this upsets you. It's because we're going into Polarian space. And now you don't know if you can trust them."

  "Yes that is troubling me. But don't read too much into it. Gemini is a safe place."

  "Why are we going there?"

  "It's a safespot for my group. A kind of a haven for The Organization. It's handy to have a few outside the jurisdiction of the Empire."

  "But now it might not be such a safe spot."

  "No, it's safe," said Raidan.

  "So tell me more about Gemini. What can I expect to find when we get there?" asked Calvin.

  Raidan said nothing.

  "Let me guess. This trip, and all your hints and clues you left me, it's all an effort to recruit me into The Organization, isn't it? But it wants me to commit to it before I get to know anything really about it. Isn't that how all these secret combinations work?"

  Raidan leaned forward once more, looking a little less tense. "No. Recruiting you was my idea. There have been... mixed feelings over the matter. There is no formal invitation being extended to you. I'm just hoping we can... make some kind of arrangement."

  "What kind?"

  "That depends on what happens when we get there," he smiled. "Don't worry. I won't compel you to do anything. You are not my prisoner. Make your own choice. Just remember that nowhere is safe for you. They're going to come after you. They'll hunt you from Tarsonis to Polaris, Capital World to The Corridor. Cooperating with me is your best chance of survival."

  Calvin thought that was probably true. He didn't want to die and needed a safe port for the Nighthawk to take supplies. His best path, he guessed, was to infiltrate The Organization and from that vantage point decide whether they were right and worth joining, or if he should betray them to the Empire, perhaps regaining favor.

  "Who's in charge of The Organization?"

  "It's split into groups with group leaders who all report to one person. That person and the group leaders share power and cooperate."

  "Who is that person?"

  "She's called White Rook."

  "So this person is a she, then?"

  "Yes," said Raidan. "But that's hardly a helpful clue."

  "Any clue that can rule out half the population of the galaxy is a helpful clue."

  "Good luck guessing her identity among the other half."

  "So you won't identify her for me."

  "I will not."

  "But you know who she is."

  "Yes."

  "Have you ever spoken with her face-to-face?"

  "Yes."

  Calvin sat forward. "You're a group leader aren't you?"

  "Yes. After the last group leader and his ship, the Arcane Storm, disappeared. I took his place."

  "How large is a group?"

  "Some financial contacts, a few ships, some intelligence agents and analysts, a couple of safe havens. That's about it."

  Calvin got the feeling Raidan wasn't telling him everything.

  "Some, as defined as how many?"

  "A number between one and infinitely many," Raidan shrugged.

  Calvin changed the subject back, thinking this could help him estimate The Organization's reach. "How did you find out replicants were on those Rotham ships? The first ones you attacked, the Beotan convoy.”

  "Insider information," said Raidan. "Though now that particular contact has vanished, presumed dead. But I did the best I could with what she gave me."

  "But you didn’t succeed in taking out the whole convoy."

  "Yes," he sighed. "One ship got away. Maybe I took out all the replicants by destroying the other ships. Or maybe they all escaped on the one ship that evaded me, I don't know. But at least it never made it to Capital World."

  "So then you were arrested and taken to Praxis where The Organization arranged for your escape. How'd you pull it off?"

  Raidan smiled. "I know what you're doing. You're trying to figure out how powerful The Organization is, and how it works. I won't play along. But I'll tell you this much. Not everything in the Harbinger's cargobays was cargo, if you get my meaning."

  "So what did you do with the Harbinger's original crew?"

  "Handed them off somewhere—those who weren't on our side. Can't remember where," he shrugged innocently. Calvin frowned, understanding that Raidan wasn't going to share more.

  "Then you went to Aleator," said Calvin. "But you got there late. Probably because you were 'handing off' the original Harbinger crew, and since there were no bases or planets nearby, you transferred them to another ship," he thought back to Sarah’s findings. "The Liberty Sun."

  Raidan clapped quietly. "You don't disappoint."

  "And then," Calvin continued, "you went and received a huge sum of money from one Yanal Kemmer on Aleator. That's why you went there."

  Raidan smirked. Calvin knew if there had been another reason, Raidan wouldn't share it.

  "Then you went to Brimm and invaded the sta
tion and raided its harddrives. Obviously searching for intel. We got that same data, analyzed it, and found that several Rotham ships—many of which you destroyed—were scheduled to arrive at or bypass Abia System. But you already knew that, didn't you?" Calvin looked into his eyes. "So why did you go to Brimm?"

  "Brimm. Brimm. Brimm... We did go to Brimm to collect information. It is, or was, a hub for Phoenix Ring operatives. A staging point for maneuvering cargo, personnel, weapons, you name it, in that sector. From there we identified many of the ships involved in the conspiracy. Distinguishing the bad Rotham ships from the innocent commercial ones is not easy.

  "Luckily, the Phoenix Ring didn't know we were onto their operation at Brimm and the station wasn't properly defended against a dreadnought."

  "What about the Rotham ships that were there? You destroyed one and left the other intact."

  "The T'orma and the Vim?"

  "Yeah," said Calvin. "One was wiped out but the other you just left there. Though, officially, you boarded it and captured its crew."

  "I did. A key Phoenix agent was on board. He was responsible for coordinating a lot of the activity and stood out like a sore thumb—a human on a Rotham ship. We took him and the crew alive. They're currently in our detention block on this ship."

  "Are they an information source or bargaining chips?" asked Calvin.

  "Information. The Phoenix Ring doesn't value their compromised agents. And, unfortunately, their compromised agent didn't know as much as we'd hoped.

  "Why did you leave that ship intact instead of destroying it and depriving them of that resource?"

  "I wanted you to see it," said Raidan. "Simple as that."

  "Okay…” said Calvin, piecing it together. "Then you went to Iota. Probably because of information you got from Brimm. But what did you find there?"

  "Phoenix ships. They had to be destroyed."

  "Class One Cargo?"

  "No. Class One Cargo is very rare, so far. These were carrying weapons."

  "Small arms?"

  "No, the big kind. Planetary bombardment rounds."

  "Do you know what they were planning with them?"

  Raidan didn't answer.

  Calvin sighed and asked another question. "You left one ship there intact too. Disabled. But intact. And you told me to board it."

  "Didn't you?"

  "No," said Calvin.

  "That's too bad," said Raidan. "I was hoping you could have exposed its cargo to Intel Wing, and hoping too that Phoenix agents inside the government wouldn't have been able to censor your discovery completely."

  "What would I have found?" asked Calvin. "More planetary bombardment rounds?"

  "No. Criminals. Easily identifiable Human fugitives living comfortably under the watch and guard of the Rotham crew. I didn't kill them because they weren't a threat. Their freedom and safe escape into the Rotham Republic is the Phoenix Ring's way of repaying someone for some kind of favor. My killing them wouldn’t have been much of a prize, but your finding them, criminals on a ship that’s supposed to be there for peaceful reasons, well … that would have meant something.”

  "I see," said Calvin. "And then you lured us to Abia to see the Rotham squadron. Why didn't you just go straight there? We would have followed you."

  "We didn't want to alert them. If they figured out we were jumping to Abia, the squadron might have run away. Instead we pretended to go to Zendricun until we were too far out to be seen. Then we turned around, met up with our other ships, and went to Abia."

  "And we took the bait," said Calvin. “And because of that we lost many great people." He kept his voice cool, despite the mixture of feelings boiling inside him, and above all tried not to think of the gruesomest deaths he'd witnessed. Losing officers was part of the job, but that knowledge had never really prepared him for losing friends.

  Raidan's smile faded and his eyes became sober. "I never guessed they could have seen past your stealth system.”

  Calvin didn’t reply.

  After an appropriate pause, Raidan added, "I'm sorry. We've all lost much. And we're going to lose a lot more. That's just the way it is. Eventually we all die and lose everything."

  "Indeed." It made him think of his brush with death on Aleator One, when first Jacobi and then Tristan had saved his life. "Tell me…” said Calvin.

  Raidan looked up.

  "What do you know about CERKO?"

  "Why?"

  "On Aleator One, I was ID'd and attacked by CERKO agents. Tristan came to my rescue, even though I'd handed him off to the port authority. Now that I know you're working together, maybe you can explain what happened to me there. And how Tristan got aboard my ship, and free, in the first place."

  "We bribed a few choice Aleator officials when we heard, from some of our feelers, that CERKO was hired to kill you there. And, by the looks of it, somebody paid a lot. Outfitting that many rebels, sending them halfway across the Empire, giving them automatic weapons, and knowing just when you'd be there. Couldn't have been cheap."

  "Why me?"

  Raidan shrugged. "You tell me. Who wants you dead?"

  "I really don't know..." Calvin was completely at a loss. Somehow he'd expected Raidan to know the answer. Maybe he didn't want to tell him. Or maybe he was as baffled as Calvin.

  "So you made sure Tristan was there, to protect me from the CERKO agents, is that it?"

  Raidan smiled. "We recruited someone on your ship to make sure Tristan could get free and collect your, what-would-you-call-it?... scent, I guess. So he could find you on Aleator."

  Calvin thought about it for a minute. "Mister Pellew. You recruited him somehow, and he made sure Tristan got free and switched out the surveillance footage," Calvin was rambling more to himself than to Raidan, but this helped explain why Pellew had been willing to take Calvin's side against Summers and the Major. He was working for Raidan, or The Organization, or both...

  "Yes," Raidan admitted. "Pellew is working with us. He's a recent recruit, nabbed him on Praxis, but we had considerable leverage."

  "You coerced him?"

  "No. His sister is influential in The Organization. Blood is thicker than water, as they say, and money is thicker than blood. Interpret that however you like."

  "What about Jacobi?" asked Calvin. "Or should I say Titus Antony."

  "Who?”

  "A man in a tattered military uniform. He was working with the CERKO agents up until the moment they were going to execute me. He killed them. And then, shortly after, more CERKO agents killed him. He didn't tell me much. But I'm sure he's connected to you."

  Raidan's face changed from smug to intrigued. "I know of no such person."

  Calvin searched Raidan’s eyes. "Are you sure?"

  "Cross my heart and hope to die."

  "I see..." he wasn't sure if Raidan was lying or not. If Jacobi hadn't been working for Raidan, why would he have acted how he did?

  "Then tell me about Tristan," said Calvin.

  "He's been my contact with and information source for a few of the Remorii settlements."

  Of course Calvin knew most remorii lived in clans, or groups, or herds—whatever they were called, but he never thought they'd be useful to talk to—if dialogue were even possible. Too hard to find and too little power to be much of an asset, or so he'd believed. "Tristan's a remorii— creatures the Empire would eradicate if it could—so why would he care about protecting us humans?"

  "That's an interesting question," Raidan pressed his fingers together. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

  "When?"

  "Whenever you like. He's going with you," Raidan sat back.

  "On the Nighthawk?"

  Raidan nodded. "You'll find him to be a very useful asset, I think. Consider it a fool's apology for dragging you into all of this."

  "No, I don't think so," said Calvin. "I don't want a remorii on my ship."

  Raidan shrugged. "Suit yourself. I guess that means you don't want to keep in contact with me and The Organization."


  "What do you mean?"

  "Tristan is my liaison. He knows how to contact The Organization. You don't."

  "You could tell me."

  Raidan chuckled quietly. "It doesn’t work like that. Trust me, you need Tristan. But understand he's not like remorii you've met in the past—that’s right, I know what really happened on the Trinity," his eyes met Calvin's. "Tristan is not the same. He's a friend. Take him with you. He'll prove his worth to you, I promise."

  Calvin hesitated. He was very tired, and felt disadvantaged. His fatigue dulled his edge. It was hard to put the pieces together, and sort out what was rational and what wasn't.

  In the end, he nodded. Thinking Tristan might be a source of information at the very least. "All right. He can come aboard."

  "That's wise," said Raidan.

  "For now."

  "It will be a sign to my other people on your ship that you are an ally. And should be followed."

  "Other people?"

  "I understand you lost a great many people at Abia. Many of them critical personnel. Medics, crewmen, analysts... soldiers. They will need to be replaced for your ship to function, will they not?"

  Calvin thought of Monte, Rose, the Major, and all of the others in their final moments, and lowered his head. Feeling the grief overcome him at last. "Yes. I even lost my chief physician." It hurt to say that, but he did it as emotionlessly as he could. "I will need more people."

  "It's hard. I understand. But it comes with the job. You just have to pick yourself up and keep fighting."

  Calvin nodded. He knew he couldn’t blame Raidan for what’d happened. At least not more than he could blame himself.

  “There is one other thing,” said Calvin.

  Raidan looked curious.

  Calvin wasn't sure why he was bringing this up, except that the thought of returning to the Nighthawk, as a divided ship, was miserable. He needed cohesion. And that meant he needed to understand, in order to make peace. "Summers Presley," he said. "Tell me... why is she so impassioned when your name comes up?"

  Raidan seemed surprised by the question. "Is she now?”

  Calvin frowned. “Yes. Something happened, or didn’t happen, between you two and she’s been obsessed with hunting you down. She wants you to kiss Lady Justice.”

  A tiny, intrigued smile appeared on Raidan’s lips. “I’m sure she does.”