The Phoenix Project

by Kris Powers

  “But we don’t have any stealth systems large enough to hide a shuttle,” Lathiel said.

  “We do have a few of the fin probes.”

  “It might work,” Lathiel said while he ran the idea through his head.

  “Can you let us in on this folks?” Joshua asked.

  “Lathiel is right,” Ranik replied, “we don’t have any of the regular systems to supply your shuttles with, but we do have the systems on the probes. If we can run them at about three times their normal output we might be able to hide your shuttles from the Coalition sensors.”

  “How long would they stay hidden?” Elliot asked.

  “That’s the problem. The systems would burn out after ten minutes, twenty at the most.”

  “That might be all we need,” Maria said.

  “The shuttles wouldn’t be able to stay. They would have to rush in, drop us off, and head right back to the Excalibur,” Elliot said.

  “You have to take the Ferine ships back anyway. Ranik, when can you get started?” Maria asked.

  “We have to get them delivered here from our ship. That shouldn’t take very long. After that, perhaps an hour or two,” Ranik replied.

  “Get to it right away. The communications station is over there,” Maria said, indicating the proper console. Ranik nodded and got to work. “Now, how are we going to get to those hostages?”

  “If I may?” Elliot asked, with a gesture towards the interactive model.

  “Go ahead.”

  Elliot grabbed the station and then opened his hand and brought it away from the projection. The station became the focus of the display and the computer zoomed in. The representation of the waypoint structure became the size of an inflatable tube, floating in the area between the helm and the main monitor on the front wall. The station was colored red, befitting its status as an enemy facility rather than its true color. The Coalition station resembled a large donut, with spokes sticking out at its equator. A large round ball was at the center of the donut connected to the rest of the station by four thick bridges.

  The representation updated in real time and showed two small Ferine ships colored blue to reflect their status as allies docked between two sets of spokes on the outside edge of the donut.

  With Elliot’s manipulation, the station model’s hull became transparent and the central globe of the station took center stage as a three dimensional representation of its interior. He pointed to a lower deck of the globe. Three large rooms glowed bright red in the lower portion of the globe.

  “Our best intelligence says they will be in these three holding areas.”

  “And if they’re not?” Maria asked.

  “We have their signatures programmed into our scanners. If they’re not there, we’ll find them.”

  “I hope so or you’ll be trapped in a bad situation. Once those shuttles are gone, it’s the Ferine ships you take back or nothing at all.”

  “We’ll get it done.”

  “Cali, turn off 3D tactical,” Maria said. The three dimensional model winked out into oblivion. Maria turned from the area and headed for her command chair.

  “We’ll have to wait for the stealth systems to arrive before we get underway. I’d suggest everyone get ready for what’s coming.”

  Many have said that the Coalition’s use of the UN in an attempt to block Alliance admission of the Ferine Nation was only an excuse to wage war. I will concede this point to my associates of long standing.

  What I believe has been ignored is the larger historical context of this complaint. The Coalition would have protested the admission of the Ferine regardless of the situation and had every right to do so. The standard time period to admit a nation to the Alliance was one year when expedited and would normally take up to five. To admit a nation in one day was not only unusual but unheard of.

  One wonders what the UN’s final decision would have been had events played out the way they should have.

  The Way It Should Have Been

  by Edward Cromwell

  Chapter XV

  The new AWS Excalibur burst from faster—than—light speeds and into normal space at a range of seventy million miles from Waypoint Eleven. At this distant position, the station was merely one more tiny light in the night. Maria swiveled her seat away from the screen and towards the complex tactical station behind her. The weapon’s master was surrounded by overhead monitors and a large console covered in switches and screens. He looked up from his work, as did two other officers behind him at rear support stations, to receive orders from their commanding officer.

  “Let’s not be caught off guard, gentlemen. Shields up, bring weapons to standby,” Maria ordered. The officers nodded and returned their attention to the tactical systems.

  “Shields up, weapon generators at full power,” the head tactical officer reported.

  “Just in case you bring any trouble back with you,” Maria said with a sideways glance to Elliot.

  “I know, Maria. I hope no trouble comes looking for you.”

  “Likewise. Now get to it. The rest of your team is already aboard the shuttles. Was Ranik able to install the stealth systems?”

  “He seems to think so. We’ll find out as soon as we leave the ship.”

  “Good luck,” Maria said. She turned her chair back towards the screen and watched it for anything out of the ordinary.

  “Same to you,” Elliot said and left the bridge. He did his best to restrain his nearly head over foot pace to set a better example for the crewmembers rushing about him. Elliot opened the airlock with a quick depression of the button next to the hatch and walked onto a shuttle occupied by Madison and Ranik, accompanied by nearly a dozen well armed soldiers.

  “Sir!” a military officer exclaimed once Elliot entered into the main cabin. He bore the rank of Major and wore the traditional military fatigues for engagement within an urban landscape. Various colors of gray and black seemed to blend together across his uniform in an effort to conceal him against the hull.

  “At ease,” Elliot said and noticed a small, disk like device fastened to his belt. The Major smiled and nodded once he noticed Elliot’s line of sight.

  “Most people wouldn’t notice that, Sir. It’s new technology we’re testing out. They’re personal shields. These are the prototypes. The eggheads told us to use them for no more than a minute or they’d burn out. We’ve got something else too,” the Major said, and looked over his shoulder to a young officer behind him.

  “Lieutenant, give the Admiral your rifle,” he said to a junior officer holding a large and bulky weapon. The officer stepped forward with a crisp salute and presented his rifle for Elliot’s inspection. He took the large weapon in hand for his examination. Unlike the black, light weight Particle Beam Rifles that had a sleek handle and smooth narrow barrel, this one was wide, fairly heavy and silver in color.

  “A PBR upgrade?”

  “No Sir, it’s a Plasma Rifle,” the Major informed him.

  “I thought plasma weaponry was too unwieldy for use in anything below a capital ship.”

  “So did I, Sir. These models are brand new, right off the assembly line. I’ve been told they can damage a fighter on the higher settings.”

  “Interesting,” Elliot said and handed the rifle back to the young lieutenant who sported a sharp haircut. “Carry on.”

  The military officers went back to the business of getting ready for the mission. Madison got up from the seat at the helm while Ranik sat in the adjacent one.

  “Just making a few last preparations, Eli,” Madison said. “The course is already set and Ranik’s device can be turned on from there.”

  She indicated a button on the right side of the helm that flashed on and off in red as if warning against a potential user from pressing it.

  “Will it work?”

  “Ask him,” Madison said, pointing at Ranik.

  Ranik looked up from a close scrutiny of data displayed on a blue oceanic looking device. The thick blue instrument was
streaming through a large amount of data for its reader.

  “It will work,” Ranik said and looked back to his gadget.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes it will! Now, I’ve got to keep making adjustments for another minute to make sure it’s ready. Do you mind?” Ranik asked, holding up the instrument with raised eyebrows.

  “Go ahead.” Elliot took the helm and disengaged the docking latches. Both shuttles disembarked from the Excalibur and headed for the station. Just outside of sixty million miles, Elliot pressed the flashing red button.

  “Engaging stealth,” Elliot announced to the crew, “I hope.”

  A wave of invisibility traveled across the small ship leaving a strange view of space behind it and a slight distortion of stars where the shuttle should have been.

  The communications station in front of Ranik crackled to life with a transmission from Joshua.

  “You guys are gone! I can see a place where the stars are a little, I don’t know strange, but I only see it because I’m looking right at you!”

  “Acknowledged, Shuttle Two. Go into stealth mode,” Elliot said.

  “Yes, Sir.” A second later a similar wave rippled across his ship, rendering it invisible to all but the most meticulous eye.

  “We’re entering their scanner range,” Elliot said to his crew.

  “Now we’ll see if this works,” Madison said from the front row of benches in the shuttle.

  “Stealth is operating at three hundred percent of normal output. We have about twelve minutes before it burns out,” Ranik informed Elliot.

  “More than enough time,” Elliot said. A tiny point of light grew larger outside the forward window of the troop shuttle. “Arrival at Waypoint Eleven in five minutes.”

  The crews of both shuttles sat straight backed, anxious for arrival at the station. They feared they would hear the sound of an ominous ping from the computer indicating they were being targeted by the powerful station—mounted PBCs.

  Relieved faces appeared among the crew of each ship as they felt a soft metallic clang of docking by especially careful pilots. The soldiers were the first on their feet once the shuttle came to a full stop. Elliot and Madison followed seconds later. Ranik drew a PBD from his holster and rose from his seat more slowly then the rest of the shuttle’s occupants.

  “Keep it on high stun,” Elliot told Ranik, “setting two. No fatalities on either side.”

  Ranik nodded and adjusted the weapon to the recommended setting.

  “Sir,” the Major said, “we’re ready.”

  Elliot straightened his uniform and drew a Particle Beam Pistol from his belt. “Proceed.”

  The Major walked to the rear of the craft where an open hatch revealed the door to the station. An access panel was visible next to the circular doorway.

  “Get us in, Private,” the Major ordered.

  The junior officer already had a small piece of technology in his hand and connected it to the access panel with a single glowing cable. His fingers flew across the pad in his right hand and delivered a flurry of commands to bypass the hatch’s security. The console on the hull of the station beeped acknowledgement and the door slid open. The small force of personnel entered the interior of the airlock. Elliot’s earpiece beeped to him. He placed a thumb on a switch at his earlobe.

  “Go ahead,” Elliot said in a low whisper.

  “We’re in,” Joshua replied in a quiet voice.

  “Meet us outside Room Twenty—Four. Keep your weapons on high stun unless absolutely necessary. Keep this signal open. I need to know what’s happening on your end.”

  “You got it.”

  “Let’s go,” Elliot said to his crew. “Private, open the interior hatch.”

  The interior door opened and revealed a hallway some fifty feet in length. A single Coalition enlisted officer patrolled the hallway with his back to them. Elliot nodded to the Major, who flashed two fingers towards the target. A Private next to him aimed a Particle Beam Rifle towards the soldier. A squeeze of the trigger rendered the target paralyzed from head to foot. He stared at the floor while more than a dozen pairs of feet trod by him in a soft pattering.

  Nadine had woken up from a long needed sleep, having borne a lighter conscience after the decision she had made. After showering in the tiny bathroom of her small quarters aboard the Waypoint Eleven Station, she had enjoyed a particularly good cup of coffee. She dressed in her uniform, for what she imagined would be the last time, and headed for the door.

  A dozen soldiers, two fleet officers, and one Ferine did their best to hide in the scant shadows of bright hallways. Elliot used the map of the station on his link to locate the nearest lift to Deck Seventeen. There was a constant background hum from numerous generators aboard the station covering the sound of their footsteps. Elliot turned a corner and jumped back with the utmost care not to make any noise. The Major focused an intuitive gaze at Elliot.

  Elliot met his stare and held up two fingers, which he then pointed at the corridor. The Major gave him a quick nod of acknowledgement and gave a quick signal to two of his subordinates. One peeked around the corner to the sight of two oncoming men dressed in civilian clothing. They didn’t notice the soldiers as they were busy examining a link they held between them. One soldier nodded to the other and both stepped in the hallway and incapacitated the Coalition men. Elliot took the lead again and found the required entrance to the heavy capacity door.

  “Private, get us in!”

  The technician leapt to the elevator and forced open the panel access to the lift. He stuck his fingers into the open panel and fiddled with small narrow cables, detaching some and attaching others to different ports. After fast work by the technologically inclined member of the Alliance, the door slid open for the group.

  Elliot walked in without a word. Madison and Ranik followed behind him. The soldiers filed in by rank while the next officer in the hallway continued to scan for any enemies that might pop into their sights. Once they were all in, the Private pressed the large round buttons on a numeric keypad for one and seven to bring them to the desired deck. The lift hummed to motion and stopped on Deck Seventeen.

  Elliot and his squad proceeded down a corridor towards rooms Twenty—Two through Twenty—Four. Elliot was relieved to finally see a stretch of hallway with three evenly space doors on one side.

  “This is it.”

  The Major nodded his head towards the Private who had earlier allowed them access to the elevator. He confidently walked to the first door, removed the panel from the wall, and began manipulating the components within.

  The rest of the soldier’s rifles converged on a large group of people invading the space from the opposite end of the corridor. It was only at the recognition of like uniforms that the barrels of said rifles pointed to the floor. Madison immediately recognized the familiar shape of her husband among the small band of fighters.

  “Josh.”

  “Madi, our scanners haven’t been working since we entered the base. What about yours?” Joshua asked.

  “Ours are useless too.”

  “Do you think it means something?”

  “Oh Josh, I really hope not,” Madison replied and looked to the Private busy interfering with Coalition technology. The Private shifted his hand to the right inside the tech forest. The door beeped an encouraging sound and slid out of the way.

  Elliot and his cadre were stunned to see an empty hold.

  He turned around to the group of soldiers and friends whose faces mirrored his surprise. Elliot regained his composure and looked to the Major at his side.

  “Open the others.”

  Both the Major and the Private nodded and walked at a brisk pace to the first of the next two doors. The group waited in heart—pounding silence while the Private manipulated the interior circuits inside another panel identical to the first. They all had a sense of their stomachs dropping into their feet as the second door slid aside to reveal another empty room. Soon afterwards, a third
door opened to a final vacant space. The panels hanging from their places on the wall flashed a red light. A blaring alarm sounded throughout the corridor and echoed from distant places within the station.

  “Shit!” the Major exclaimed. “You were supposed to do your job, Private!”

  The subordinate officer looked lost at the accusation. “I don’t understand Sir. I made sure they were cut off from the rest of the network.”

  “They probably wanted it that way. One cut off from the network no problem, but all three? They must’ve known we would try that,” Madison said.

  “There is a secondary possible set of holding cells,” Elliot announced for the group.

  “Are you sure, Eli? Those alarms must mean they’re sending people here even as we speak,” Ranik asked.

  Joshua nodded solemnly in confirmation. “They’ll have at least a dozen men here in less than a minute. Whatever we do, we’ve got to get going.”

  “We’re not leaving our people behind,” Elliot said raising his voice so the entire group beyond Lathiel and Ranik could hear, “and they are our people.”

  “Absolutely,” Madison said with a proud smile.

  “We go to the secondary rooms our intelligence had indicated,” Elliot said, confidently. “Major, lead the way back to the high capacity lift. From here we go as one group. Captain Hubbard, you’re my second.”

  His two adjutants nodded and placed themselves behind him at each shoulder. Ranik and Lathiel completed the wings behind Joshua and Madison. The combined group padded back the way they came.

  “How much of a chance did intelligence say there was for the prisoners to be in the secondary holds?” Madison asked in a lowered voice.

  “Better than if they weren’t in the first.” Elliot looked over his shoulder for her to better hear him. “But not very high.”

  The alarms stopped their drumming chant once they reached the nearby elevator. The defending squadrons of soldiers could already hear distant movement.