The Phoenix Conspiracy

by Richard Sanders

  ***

  Calvin entered the observation deck and saw five people waiting for him, chatting nervously. Some looked more anxious than others. Only Monte seemed perfectly calm.

  “Thanks for coming,” said Calvin, after the door closed. Everyone clustered around.

  “What the hell happened?” asked Shen. “Summers is CO of the Nighthawk?”

  “It’s a long story—” said Calvin, hoping to dismiss the question.

  “So what’s the plan?” asked Miles.

  “I’m not going to lie,” said Andre, the chief engineer. “I’m a bit nervous about this whole thing. Don’t get me wrong. I want to help you, if I can. But I’m just not sure how.”

  “Same here,” said Shen. “But I owe it to you to hear you out—we all do.”

  Sarah nodded. “What can we do for you?”

  Calvin looked each of them in the eyes before responding. “You can help me by retaking the ship.”

  Their reaction was about what he’d expected. Surprise and skepticism. Miles flashed a big toothy grin.

  “I can’t believe I’m hearing this,” said Andre, perhaps the most trepidatious of the bunch.

  “I … don’t know what to say,” said Shen.

  “Then just listen.” Calvin knew he had their complete attention. “Summers only has command as long as the people aboard this ship think she’s been given command. But since the good doctor here never officially declared me unfit”—he waved toward Monte who bowed slightly, looking smug—”then everyone on this ship is just taking Summers’s word for it. We need to challenge that claim.”

  “How?” asked Sarah. “We can’t possibly fight Special Forces.”

  “Sure we can!” bellowed Miles. “We outnumber them forty-six to twenty-four.”

  “Actually it’s forty-six to twenty-three,” said Shen. “We lost a soldier on Aleator One.”

  “Excellent,” said Miles. Then, when he realized what he’d said, he added. “Um … Bless his soul.”

  “Yeah—that’s out of the question,” said Calvin. “Even if we could rally the entire crew, which is … doubtful, we’d still get our asses kicked. That’s why my plan is about deception. If we get the crew to go along with us, or at least not get in our way, we could probably seal off both the bridge and engineering. After that, Special Forces can beat against the doors all they want while we take the ship anywhere we want to go.”

  “So how do we deceive the crew into not opposing you?” asked Andre, clearly uncomfortable with the idea.

  “We fake a message. Make the computer think it recorded a message when it didn’t. It’ll be text only and state that I have command. Sent, ostensibly, by Director Edwards, and we display it on every station and in everyone’s quarters.”

  Shen looked intrigued. “Yes, that would be possible. With a little work. But once they get that message, someone is going to contact Intel Wing and see if Director Edwards actually sent it. And he can deny its authenticity.”

  “Which brings me to my second idea,” said Calvin. “Remember what we did to the Brimm servers? Made them think they were busier than they really were, causing them to crash?”

  Shen nodded. “Yes, that’s roughly correct.”

  “Can we do the same thing here? Make the comms system overload, because it’s being bombarded by countless ghost hails that don’t connect to anything?”

  Shen sighed. “Theoretically possible, though practically difficult, but I can try.”

  “After that we simply take back command. Hell, if we contain Summers, the major might not even know any transition happened.”

  Shen nodded. “I think this might work.”

  “Everyone good with this?” Calvin looked at each of them.

  No one objected.

  “Okay, let’s get to it.”

  “Wait,” said Andre, now finding his voice. “What if this doesn’t work?”

  “Then I’ll take credit for deceiving you, and anyone who believed our fake message. You were just following orders as best you understood them. I’ll take the fall for everyone.”

  “Just like Raidan,” said Sarah.

  “Exactly like Raidan.”