The Phoenix Rising Read Online Free

others, pretend to disown me, and then use Intel Wing resources
to feed me information. It’s extremely dangerous and there’s a high
chance that anyone who takes the assignment will be discovered and
executed.”
    “ But,” said Rafael, “the
intelligence that could be recovered would be
invaluable.”
    “ That’s right,” said Calvin.
“Because of the risks involved, I am not ordering you to go. But I
am asking you to consider volunteering. There is no one I trust
more for this assignment than you.”
    “ I’ll do it,” said Rafael
with barely a thought.
    “ Before you commit to this,
make sure you understand one thing. If you run into trouble out
there, and get found out, there is no help coming for you. You’re
on your own.”
    “ I understand,” said Rafael.
“It carries risk. But that comes with the job. Staying with you on
the Nighthawk has its share of risk too. I know this needs to be
done and I’m honored that I’m the one you trust enough to do
it.”
    Calvin gave Rafael a firm handshake and
looked him in the eyes. “Thank you, Rafael. You are a good
friend.”
    “ It’s more out of duty to
the empire than friendship, but I’ll accept the compliment
anyway.”
    “ I will give you a dossier
of information I want you to begin investigating—if possible commit
it to memory and destroy it. If you can’t do that then keep it
closely guarded. I’ll also provide you with coded, restricted
channels you can use to contact me. It would be less safe for me to
contact you, so you will have to contact me.”
    “ Otherwise you’d give me
away.”
    “ Exactly. I can prevent the
comms array from identifying the Nighthawk as the source of the
message, however, it would still be suspicious and someone would
probably put it together.”
    “ What is the subject of the
dossier?”
    “ I want you to begin an
internal investigation of Intel Wing. I want to know who can’t be
trusted and when they became unreliable. We need to dig into the
corruption and root it out. The first step is to identify the
compromised agents.”
    “ Understood, though such an
investigation will take an enormous amount of time. And might not
be possible.”
    “ Do what you can. You also
need to investigate any information that exists inside Intel Wing
archives regarding a group known as ‘The Phoenix Ring.”
    “ Who are they?”
    “ The notes I have on them,
which aren’t many, will be in the dossier. I’d also like you to
find out anything you can about Raidan’s organization.”
    “ I’ll do all I
can.”
    “ Thank you, Rafael. Now we’d
better hurry. The others have started gathering at the terminals
and you have a shuttle to catch.”
     
    ***
     
    He knew their names, all of them. Knew their
faces too, and their stories. Some of them he’d handpicked to be
part of his elite crew. He wasn’t as close to some as he would’ve
liked, but all of them he’d enjoyed serving with. Which made it
hurt all the more to see them go.
    “ You okay, Cal?” asked
Sarah. She stood next to him as he leaned against the wall of the
main terminal. Together they watched the embarking figures of
former crewmembers. Fellow brothers and sisters of the IWS
Nighthawk. Now leaving. Unwilling to take part in Calvin’s fugitive
actions. He understood why. They had families to worry about,
careers they couldn’t risk flushing away, and they didn’t know what
was right anymore. But it still hurt to see them go.
    “ Cal ?”
    Only then did he realize Sarah was talking
to him. “I’m sorry, what?”
    “ Are you okay?”
    “ Oh yeah, I’m fine,” he said
automatically, not even pausing to think about it. He shot Sarah a
fake smile and looked back at the departing figures. The line of
them had split into groups of four, each destined for a different
shuttle and different destination. Sixteen of them in total. So
many. They’d heard his pleas, including his most recent plea today
to stay and join in the fight against the corrosive