The Phoenix Conspiracy

by Richard Sanders

  ***

  They waited. And when the time felt right, they attacked.

  Osbourne’s diversion must’ve worked beautifully because they found engineering abandoned, except for a few crewmen who were manning the equipment. They didn’t attempt to resist.

  “No one’s here?” Miles shouted and then he laughed. “The major doesn’t know anything!”

  “He must have wanted to keep his force together,” Pellew said. “So we don’t pick off more of his soldiers in small groups. But you can bet his force will return shortly, maybe with some of the other soldiers we knocked out and cable-tied earlier. That means we don’t have a moment to spare.”

  Pellew and Calvin shouted orders to their subordinates, and began a process of fortifying engineering and evicting two of the engineers who wouldn’t sympathize with them. They’d just about finished erecting a barricade—since the engineering defense wall had been destroyed—when they got a message from the bridge.

  “Problem up here. Flight controls locked out. XO protocols in place. Need a command override. Over.”

  “Roger that,” Pellew replied, clicking off the radio. He looked at Calvin, and they both knew what that meant.

  Calvin would have to get to the bridge to undo Summers’s lockout—meaning he’d have to sneak his way to the top of the ship.

  Pellew offered him an escort, but Calvin chose to go alone, opting for a stealth approach. He knew every hand was needed here to defend engineering, and, should the major retake it, they’d never get it back and certainly couldn’t rely on the diversion tactic again.

  Calvin knew the major probably had soldiers scouring the ship to recover any soldiers previously incapacitated by Pellew’s men, and the major probably had men on their way to control the corridors around engineering, so Calvin’s chances weren’t great—but he had little choice. He hoped, with a bit of luck, he could slip through unnoticed. But, just in case, he brought a stunner with him.