The Phoenix Rising Read Online Free Page A

influence that
had seated itself so deeply inside the empire. They’d also seen the
betrayal at Abia, when human ships fired on other human ships, and
had caught a glimpse of an alien battlesquadron illegally
positioned inside Human space. Yet they would not be convinced.
They’d made up their minds to wash their hands of Calvin Cross and
Raidan and everything else. And nothing he could say to them now
would convince them otherwise, so his last words had been
reflective rather than persuasive. He’d thanked them for their
service and wished them a safe journey. All of them. And hoped
secretly that they’d never forget what they’d seen in
Abia.
    “ I can’t believe so many are
leaving,” said Sarah. “But that’s okay, right? We’re getting
reinforcements here aren’t we?”
    “ Yes, we are,” said Calvin,
thinking at least now he had an exact number to ask for. Between
their losses at Abia and the surprisingly large number of
defectors, the new crew would outnumber the original crew. A fact
that was on everybody’s mind but no one seemed to want to talk
about.
    “ Can we trust
them?”
    Sarah kept her voice tender, conscious of
Calvin’s feelings. But her compassion was unnecessary, Calvin found
himself asking her very same question in his head, over and over.
Ultimately realizing that, trustworthy or not, he had no choice.
Not enough of the Nighthawk’s original crew remained to fly the
ship. Not if they ever intended to get any sleep.
    “ If we are careful about who
we bring aboard then yes, we can trust them.” Calvin tried to sound
reassuring but doubted he’d convinced her. Sarah nodded and didn’t
press the issue further. But Calvin guessed he could expect less
grace from Miles who was bound to press him harder on this issue.
Calvin had personally asked Miles not to attend the sendoff, for
fear that he’d start a fight with some of the defectors.
    The last to disappear up the ramp and onto
his shuttle was Rafael. He looked back once, very briefly, and then
ascended the ramp like the others. Calvin was glad to know that at
least one of the sixteen would’ve preferred to stay.
    “ I know you’re depressed
that so many are leaving,” said Sarah. “But I think most of them
wanted to stay. They’re just afraid. If they really didn’t believe
in you, they would have tried to bring the Nighthawk back to Intel
Wing by force.”
    “ Good point.” Although he
suspected that decision had more to do with the fact that Captain
Pellew had somehow convinced a majority of his special forces unit
to stay. Still, Calvin was grateful not to be fighting his own
shipmates again. One mutiny had been more than enough, and had
nearly been the end of him.
    The horn sounded, alerting everyone to clear
the deck so it could be depressurized for shuttle launch. Calvin
looked over the four grey birds one final time, letting out a sigh.
Then he followed Sarah to the gate. Expecting to never see most of
those officers again.
    “ Oh well,” he said, more to
himself than to Sarah. “I suppose all good things end eventually.
We were a good family.”
    “ We still are.”
     
    ***
     
    Back in his quarters, Calvin finished typing
a dispatch and sent it to Tristan. Now that Raidan was gone, the
Remorii was Calvin’s only contact with the Organization. He’d made
repeated requests to meet with the senior member on Gemini, but
either Tristan refused to forward those requests or else he was
being ignored.
    Along with the itemized list of all the
specific supplies and personnel he hoped to requisition, he sent
another request to meet with the head of the Organization on
Gemini—this time more strongly worded. If the Org wanted him to
hunt after the Arcane Storm—like Raidan had asked—they’d better be
willing to play ball. If they ignored him, he threatened to take
the Nighthawk elsewhere and not cooperate further. Truthfully,
there was nowhere else for him to go, but it was important they not
take him for