Phoenix Odyssey Book 1 (Battle Beyond Earth)

by Thomas, Nick S.

  “No, it’s precisely what we need. You have gotten accustomed to the easy life. Humanity has become weak because of it, weaker than it ever was. This will make men of us all yet.”

  “You’re crazy, you know that?”

  “No crazier than you are for following me.”

  * * *

  Lysenko was slumped over her desk with her head in her hands. She had failed, and she knew it, and so did everyone else. She kept trying to work it out in her head.

  How could I have done anything differently? Should I have ever let CJ free? My gut tells me no, but my gut also told me the complete opposite just a week ago.

  “What have I done?” she muttered to herself.

  Her door rang, and it made her jump. She knew it wasn’t going to be good news.

  “What is it?”

  “Olivia Boers, the President’s personal advisor.”

  Her eyes shot open, knowing what was coming next. She buttoned up her jacket and slipped the tumbler and bottle of spirits into the drawer of her desk. She coughed to clear her throat and compose herself as best she could.

  “Come in!”

  The doors slid open, and a sharply dressed woman in her mid-forties strode in. She looked confident and powerful, so much so that it was a little condescending. Had it been any other time, Lysenko would have given her the cold shoulder, but she knew she didn’t have much of a leg to stand on. She’d never met the woman, and the fact that she was there now seemed like a terrible indicator of what was to come.

  “Welcome, Ms Boers,” she said as she got up to shake her hand.

  She didn’t return the gesture, took a seat opposite her desk, and sat back comfortably.

  “Let’s move past that, shall we? I have a busy schedule, and with all the security checks in place right now, it takes me an age to get anywhere.”

  “Then say what you have to say.”

  Lysenko slumped back down in her chair.

  “You screwed up, and you know it. You had no authority to release the clone, now known as CJ. No authority at all. Had your little experiment been a success, you may never have heard from the President, except for congratulations for taking the initiative. But you haven’t, and therefore it comes down to this. The only reason the President hasn’t come here himself is because this needs to be kept quiet.”

  “That is really our biggest concern, right now, not letting a scandal get out? Really?”

  “You are damn right it is. It took a great deal for the people and leaders of the Alliance to trust Mitch Taylor, and this little experiment of yours could ruin all of the hard work that we have done to make him what he is.”

  Lysenko smiled.

  “Is something funny in all of this?”

  “Just that you think you made Taylor what he is, or that you really had any input in making him what he is today.”

  “And yet we have a hero who the people respect and is winning battles, and you have a homicidal maniac that has disappeared with a valuable technological prototype; not to mention a number of Alliance personnel as well. CJ could just as easily fight against us as ever work for us, and if you knew anything about what he was, you would have known not to meddle.”

  "I only did what I believed was best for the Alliance."

  "Well, you were wrong, and it's about time you started admitting that. If not publically, at least to yourself."

  "What are you here to do? If the President wanted me fired, he would have just sent the order. So what is it that you want?"

  "Your silence. This was your mistake, but we don't want the Alliance to have to pay for it. You have wasted resources and endangered the Resurrection Programme. That is a grandiose waste of resources."

  "You still haven't told me what it is that you want. Spit it out."

  "Your judgement is clouded. You have had an admirable career up until this stage, and the President is well aware that he needed experienced commanders by his side. The President does not want to bury you. He wants to save you."

  "And what does that mean?"

  "That you have one chance to sort this before the President takes charge."

  She opened her mouth to respond when she noticed a flashing light on the console of her desk. It was an urgent call from the bridge. She pressed a key to answer.

  "Go," she stated sternly, as one of her crew appeared projected between her and Ms Boers.

  "Sir, Captain Allard has returned."

  She could already see in his face that it was not good news.

  "Put me on with the Captain," she replied.

  The signal quickly switched to Allard. She could see wounded and exhausted marines sitting about behind him, and he was not aboard the ship he had been sent on.

  "Where is the Tempest?" she demanded.

  "Lost."

  "Lost? Captain, how did you lose one of the most powerful ships in my fleet?"

  She sounded irate, and she had good reason to be, but she tried to rein herself in, given her present company.

  "I am sorry, Sir. We were ambushed and defeated, and I take full responsibility for the loss of the Tempest and the casualties that we have endured."

  "What are your losses, Captain?"

  "One dead, twenty-three wounded."

  Lysenko frowned as she tried to make sense of it.

  "So few?" she asked.

  Allard didn't look impressed. "Is that not enough for you?"

  "Forgive me, Captain. I wouldn't wish harm on you and your people. Bring them home, and welcome back," she said, terminating the call before he could say another word.

  "Don't you see? Don't you see what is happening here?"

  Olivia said nothing. She just gave a condescending stare that made Lysenko furious and desperate.

  “CJ beat them, but he did not destroy them. He doesn’t want to fight us. He just doesn’t want to be controlled by us.”

  “Then what good is he?”

  “We have many allies in this world, none of which we rule. I just need more time. I can get him on side.”

  “I am sorry, General, but you had your chance to fix this, and now it is being taken out of your hands. You will stay away from CJ. You will make no attempt to reach him, nor contact him, nor anyone who sympathises with him.”

  “We just need…”

  “Nothing!” snapped Olivia, “You are finished here. Don’t let it be the end of your career as well. The President would be well within his rights to have you stripped of your rank and charged for these crimes. Men and women are dead because of you. Resources are lost. I would at least expect you to show some remorse.”

  Lysenko was sick of begging and was infuriated by her words.

  “How dare you! There are tough decisions to make in war, and you don’t have to make any of them. You deliver messages and expect me to respect you. You have no idea what is needed to win this war.”

  She got up to leave, but turned back for one last quip.

  “Apparently, neither do you. Stay away from this, or we will end you.”

  She strode out, and as the door shut, the General picked up an ornament on her desk and launched it at the door. She slumped back down into her chair breathing heavily. She was furious, and yet she could not think of anything she could do to get out of her situation.

  * * *

  “The crew of the Phoenix, what are we to do with them?” Kaner asked.

  “We should have sent them back to Lysenko with the others,” replied Mirov.

  “Do you know how to crew a ship, either of you? One as advanced as the Phoenix, no doubt?”

  CJ could tell by their blank expressions that the answer was most certainly a no.

  “That’s what I thought.”

  “But Lieutenant King. We have no need of her?” asked Kaner.

  “We could kill her?” Rivera joined in with the discussion.

  CJ nodded in agreement as he looked out across the vast forests of Orman. He heard a faint sound in his left ear and turned quickly. He fired a three-shot
burst before any of them realised what was going on. One of the flying creatures that had taken Mirov smashed into the hull below them before tumbling off and crashing to the ground.

  “This place will kill any who are not strong enough to make it through. We don’t need to do anything to the Lieutenant. Disable all communications out, and just leave our ears open for whatever comes at us next.”

  “You think more will come?”

  “I don’t know what, if anything will come for us, and that is why I want to be ready for anything.”

  “And King?”

  “I will deal with her.”

  He stepped back through the air lock as the others peered over the edge at the body of the monster he had killed.

  “Did you hear that coming?” Rivera asked.

  Mirov shook his head.

  “We are all going to have to become stronger and better if we are to survive this place,” said Kaner.

  “And if we don’t?”

  “We’ll die.”

  CJ strode towards the medical bay to find one of Mirov’s team standing on guard outside the door.

  “Standen, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Just call me CJ. I’ll lead you, but those who enslaved us gave this rank to me.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  He smiled in response. “Old habits, I am sorry.”

  CJ stepped through into the medical bay and found King rising up from her bed. She groaned in pain, though it was clear that her wound had been patched over.

  “Are you okay?”

  “What do you care?”

  He shrugged. “Am I not allowed to care?”

  “You are fighting against everything I stand for. You are a murderer and a traitor.”

  “I cannot be a traitor for fighting against a cause that was never mine. I am a soldier.”

  “You really believe that, don’t you?”

  “As much as you believe in your cause.”

  “And what is your cause now? Everything and everyone you used to know is dead. Your orders don’t stand anymore.”

  “Not true. Taylor is alive, and he was my mission.”

  “So what, you’ll kill him to complete a mission that doesn’t matter anymore? You were programmed to hate Taylor. There is no logical reason for it.”

  “You know nothing about me and him, and you never will.”

  “I know that you are lost. Whatever you think you are doing out here, it will never achieve what either of us want. What are you going to do, lurk in the shadows and steal what you need to survive?”

  “If that is what we want to do, we are free now.”

  “No, you are not. Nobody is free, not while Bolormaa still lives and breathes. She is coming for you and me. Just like she is coming for Taylor and everyone else in the Alliance. She will destroy us all.”

  “I don’t even know who she is, so why would she have any care for killing me?”

  She had no answer for him.

  “And your precious Krys Empire, you would see them fall, too, and not lift a finger to help?”

  “If the Krys have the strength to survive, they will do so without me, but they are not what they once were,” he snapped.

  She began to weep.

  “What is it?” he demanded.

  “The whole universe is at war, and you have the skills and ability to make a difference, and you hide here?”

  “I am not hiding!” he yelled, smashing his hand into the table next to her and storming towards the door.

  “You are part of this war whether you like it or not!” she cried as he left.

  He didn’t slow down. Finally, he stopped as he reached a quiet space where he could be alone and collect his thoughts. He hated himself for thinking it, but he knew King had a point.

  What am I even doing in life? I have no direction, and no cause, and I feel more lost now than I did when I first awoke.

  “Where do I go from here?” he asked himself.

  He thought back to his previous life.

  I’ve never known a time when I didn’t know what to do. I had my orders, and I had my mission. But what do I have now? I need to work out what I want in life, and fast.

  His comms light flashed, and he coughed to clear his throat before answering.

  “Sir, we have located the freighter.”

  “Good, send out a transport to recover it, and ensure that it is intact and sealed. We won’t need those supplies for some time, nor have the manpower to recover them. CJ out.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Chapter 12

  CJ was sweating buckets as he ran through the jungle on his morning run. Mirov was not far back trying to keep up with five more of his platoon. Their regular route had cut a path now that they all used.

  “Kaner said a week of this and we’d be dead,” said Mirov, gasping for air.

  There was another cut across his cheek from a more recent attack that was just beginning to heel.

  “Week three, and we’re still here,” replied CJ.

  As he said it, the bushes beside them rustled, and a creature the size of a small gorilla burst out and landed on him. The weight was enough to knock him to the ground. It didn’t have fur, but scales instead, and a barbed tongue that reached for him. He punched it to the head and rolled over, grabbed its head, and snapped its neck in one.

  “This is not a nice place,” said Mirov, helping CJ back onto his feet.

  “I don’t see the problem. Only the tough can survive here. If we can do that, we can survive anything.”

  He kept on running as if nothing had happened. The rest of them leapt over the body and left it to the scavengers. It didn’t take them long. As the last man passed, two smaller creatures leapt out and pulled the carcass off into the scrub.

  They ran on for another hour in the blistering heat and humidity until finally they broke through the undergrowth to see the Tempest again. CJ stopped by the waterside to let them have a breather for just a moment, but he was ever watchful of the surface. All of them wore their side arms and Assegai. No one would dare leave the confines of the ship without them in these savage lands.

  “You know it is a special kind of place,” said Mirov.

  CJ nodded in agreement. “It is beautiful, everything about it, even the beasts that would eat us given the chance. Nature at its finest. Humanity has always been so desperate to box themselves into a safe pace that they have forgotten how to live. They could be strong, just like all of you are, but not while they shy away from the hardships of the universe. The Krys accept this and become stronger because of it.”

  “And when it doesn’t quite go to plan?” Ross asked.

  “Life is dangerous, and it always will be. At least living among those dangers you can grow stronger and be ready when you have to face far worse.”

  His comms unit began to flash, and he answered it quickly.

  “What is it?”

  “We’ve got company,” Rivera replied.

  “I’ll be right there,” he said and ended the call.

  “Let’s move!”

  He ran onwards at an even quicker pace as though he had never truly been exerting himself, the rest desperately tried to keep pace.

  CJ ran onto the bridge dripping with sweat and quickly turned his attention to the display screens all around. He could see three ships in orbit, and they were clearly of Human design.

  “Frigates. It can be no accident that they are here. They are looking for us.”

  “Lysenko? You think she has found us?”

  She shrugged.

  “I don’t know how, but what are the chances that they would ever think to look here?”

  He grunted. She was right.

  “They must have some tracking device on one of these ships that we are not aware of.”

  “But where? We destroyed everything we could find.”

  “Well, we obviously didn’t get everything. Have they found us yet?”

  “It doesn’t look like i
t. The atmospheric conditions here cause all kinds of problems, and the jammers we have activated will keep them busy for a while. But if they know for certain that we are down here, they won’t stop looking, and eventually they will find us.”

  “Yes. They are fools,” he replied.

  “Why would they keep coming? Have they not lost enough already?” Mirov asked.

  “Pride,” said a voice he did not recognise

  Lieutenant King stood beside them. She wasn’t armed, but Standen rushed onto the bridge after her with a bleeding head wound from where she had recently escaped. CJ put his hand up as if to stop the Private and let her speak.

  “Go on.”

  “You have the face of Charlie Jones, and the universe will know that you were brought back by the Alliance, only to turn against it. It would be a humiliation that they could not bear.”

  “So they keep coming after us, what are the alternatives?”

  “There are none. They will never stop looking for you. Not until they no longer have the resources to do so, and that will only happen if we lose the war against Bolormaa.”

  “The Alliance is spread pretty thin already. If we can make them realise it will cost more than they can afford to keep coming after us, that would stop them,” said Mirov.

  CJ nodded in agreement.

  “We’re not going back, and we aren’t going to lay down our weapons and die. All that is left for us is to fight.”

  “But why?”

  “Because we rule ourselves. I thought the Alliance was built on the belief in freedom and self determination.”

  “It was, but this isn’t it. You are criminals.”

  CJ laughed. “That word has no meaning for us anymore.”

  “Why fight this? You are a part of this universe, and if you just opened your eyes to see what Bolormaa is, you would realise how important it is that we stand together against her.”

  “I have no interest in a war that is not mine and an enemy I do not know. What I do care about it those who would come to my home to hunt me down and put me in chains. Ready the Phoenix. It’s time we made our presence known.”

  King looked to be in a state of total despair.

  “Why do you have to keep doing this? These acts of violence against good people?”