The Phoenix Darkness (35 page)

“Why that ship?” asked Calvin.

“That ship, it is known, has vital
intelligence within its databanks. The intelligence has been
secured by forms of encryption we have been able to decode.”

“So you want to sneak aboard that ship
pretending to deliver prisoners, and then somehow blitz your way to
the Bridge and take temporary command of the supercruiser so you
can steal the information stored there,” said Calvin, thinking this
plan sounded unlikely to succeed, but he’d himself attempted
crazier things.

“No, of course
not
, the Bridge will be
heavily guarded and reaching it will run us afoul of any number of
patrols. We would need a force of two hundred Teldari to hope to
capture the Bridge of such a supercruiser,” said the centermost
officer. “Now, please, silence from you; allow the Proxitor to
finish his explanation.”

Calvin chose to comply.

“The data we need would be accessible from
the Bridge, of course,” said Alex. “But we need not take the Bridge
to get it. As you can see here,” he pointed to the blueprints on
the table before them. Calvin watched closely. “There are several
hangars on this supercruiser which could receive our vessel. Six,
to be precise. However, it is our belief that, because we are
transferring prisoners, they will order us to dock in either A or
B, the topmost hangars amidships. The reason for this is it allows
the shortest path to the major brig, which is a larger version of
the prison block we both found ourselves incarcerated in on the
Thorpian attack cruiser back in Abia System.” Alex paused for
breath.

Calvin used the pause to study the blueprint,
memorizing as much of it as he could. He saw the hangars, the two
Alex referred to, and he even saw that the fastest path from the
hangars to the prison block seemed to be to escort the prisoners
into the main corridor, head about a hundred meters toward the
center of the shaft, and then use one of a series of elevators
which had access to some hundred-and-ten decks on the starship.
Those elevators could reach as high as the Bridge, but, more
importantly, had access to the deck just two below where the
prisoners were to be kept. Hangars A and B had easy access to those
elevator columns, whereas hangars C through F used a different
column of elevators with primary access mostly downward toward the
bottom of the ship.

“We will send our best trained soldiers off
this ship escorting you and your companions, in shackles, out of
the hangar and to these elevators,” he pointed to the column Calvin
had already correctly identified. “Once there, our soldiers will
eliminate whatever other guards the supercruiser will have sent
with us, and then free you and your team members, provided we have
your word of honor you’ll cooperate with us.” Calvin nearly smirked
at that. He knew the Rotham culture had little trust for promises
and words of honor; those were the kind of things that mattered to
the Polarians, but he supposed the Advent had little other means at
their disposal than to trust Calvin’s people and every reason to
want their cooperation. No doubt their false promise of escape also
hinged upon Calvin’s cooperation, and that was how they hoped to
truly ensure the cooperation of Calvin and his people.

“And if we do cooperate?” asked Calvin.
“What’s the mission then?”

“We’ll arm you with the weapons taken from
the
now deceased
enemy soldiers who had been the remaining
half of your escort. Then, as one unit, we storm the elevators and
send them up two decks, rather than down two.”

“That column of elevators seems like a
central means of transportation for crew and soldiers moving
throughout the ship,” observed Calvin. “How do we know they'll not
be in use by others, or even available, when we want to use them?
We might find ourselves waiting there a long time, long enough to
encounter some
very
undesirable company. If that happens,
it'll mean a loud fight, loud enough that it will probably trigger
an alarm, which will result in the enemy sealing off all critical
areas, including the Action Information Center. And very probably
shutting down the elevators altogether to limit our mobility.”

“You are wise to wonder about such things,”
said the centermost officer, almost sounding impressed. “For a
human, you show an almost Rotham characteristic for thinking.”
Calvin supposed this was a compliment. “Proxitor, explain to him
why this is not a concern.”

“Well,” said Alex. “Because the movement of
prisoners will be anticipated by them, they will have reserved one
or more of the elevators for our use, clearing it temporarily of
any other traffic that might be wanting to use it. Probably they’ll
divert the entire column to us, given the number of prisoners and
guards, which will give us a small window of time to pacify the
other guards, undo the shackles binding your people, and then
rapidly enter the elevators and take them where we want to go.
Instead of going here,” he pointed to the prison block two decks
below. “We will make for here,” his finger slid upward, stopping
four decks above the prison block on what appeared to be some kind
of control room. It reminded Calvin of the Action Information
Centers often found on human warships of battleship class or
greater.

“And that's where we’ll get the data we
need?” asked Calvin.

“Yes. This is the V’Zinian Lattice. In your
terms, you might think of it as the Action Information Center of
the ship. The data will be there and it will be far less defended
than the Bridge. The second in command might be there and we can
expect a number of Teldari guards; we plan on that, but they will
be no match for our combined strength, your people and our Advent
soldiers. We will quickly overcome them and at once unlock the
controls, disable the decryption, and begin to transmit the data
off the ship to the destroyer, which will have moved to a safe
position.”

“A safe position where?” asked Calvin,
knowing the only safe position away from the fleet would be for the
destroyer to have jumped the hell away from it. It would probably
have resumed its alteredspace patrol route, leaving it in no
position to mount a rescue of its deployed personnel and further
proving to Calvin that this mission was not intended to collect
survivors. It was suicide.

“That’s on a need-to-know basis only,” said
the centermost officer, with a slight smile. “But you may trust us;
the destroyer will be safe.”

I’ll bet it will
, thought Calvin.
Safe and the hell away from any danger, and any chance of
helping us get out of there in one piece
.

“And that,” said Alex, “is the mission.”

“What happens once the data is transferred
off the supercruiser?” asked Calvin, knowing they wouldn’t have any
plan for escape.

“Then we all take our chances attempting
escape together,” said Alex, rather vaguely. Calvin knew that meant
the Advent expected to be overwhelmed and killed long before they’d
gotten the entirety of the data offloaded from the ship, and their
duty, therefore, was to continue transmitting all the data and
intel they could until they were physically stopped. Probably they
expected Calvin and his people to hold the door with their arms,
fighting off any counterattack until they were inevitably
overwhelmed.

It was a great mission
for the Advent
,
but Calvin didn’t see exactly how to leverage it to the advantage
of the Empire. The data would be there, more data than his own spy
mission could have dreamed to ascertain, and he would have access
to those databanks. If only there were a way he could offload some
of the data for himself, make a copy of it, and get it to Kalila or
the
Nighthawk
or someone else. Then this mission would
actually be worth doing, even dying for. It was obvious the
Rahajiim fleet was assembling with the express goal of attacking
the Empire. The details of the attack, without question, would be
on that supercruiser, so long as the Advent were right about that
particular ship being the intel hub of the Rahajiim effort. And, if
the Advent lived up to their reputation as a formidable
intelligence network, Calvin had no reason to distrust their
intelligence.

“I see,” said Calvin, after a pause. He
searched the blueprints carefully for all paths away from the
Action Information Center and back to the hangars, and for that
matter access routes which could get him to any of the other four
hangars. Maybe the Advent were willing to die on this mission, but
Calvin wasn’t. He was going to find a way to gather his own
intelligence and then get himself, and his people, the hell off
that ship somehow. Now, if only he could read Rotham, he would be
able to tell which hangar was used for which purpose, indicating
the kinds of ships stored there, and then plan a route that would
take him and the others there using the most evasive and
minimalistic path, no doubt avoiding the elevators as much as
possible and making use of what appeared to be an extensive network
of emergency ladders. Most ships had such ladders; elevators
couldn’t be relied upon when a ship was under fire and needing to
divert power from one system to another. But this supercruiser
seemed to have ladders which could take anyone from any part of the
ship and get them to any other. It was impressive. And a lot to
take in.

“
Well
,” asked the centermost officer
impatiently, perhaps noticing Calvin’s eyes intently flicking about
the blueprints before them.

“I’d like to consult with my team,” said
Calvin, hoping to get these blueprints in front of Rafael, who
could read them.

“A consultation is not necessary,” said the
centermost officer impatiently. “Either you help us and we free you
at the base of those elevators, or you don’t help us and we leave
you in your shackles to take your chances, tied up and unarmed,
aboard a Rahajiim supercruiser. Now, do you see how your other
choice in this matter is to become Rahajiim prisoners?”

“Yes,” admitted Calvin.

“Nau,” said Alex, looking at the centermost
officer. “There is one among the humans who can speak our language.
It is possible the humans will betray us to the Rahajiim if we
abandon them in their shackles.”

Damn you, Alex
, thought Calvin,
wondering how Alex had determined Rafael was fluent in Rotham. That
secret was meant to be leverage over Alex throughout their journey.
Yet somehow, the clever former Advent operative, or now, evidently,
current
Advent operative, had put it together.

“Which one?” asked the centermost officer.
Calvin felt anger. Once Alex identified it was Rafael, the Advent
would no doubt eliminate him to handle the risk. Calvin was about
to make Rafael’s safety a condition of his cooperation, but Alex
spoke first.

“I do not know which one,” said Alex, much to
Calvin’s surprise.
Why would he protect Rafael like
that?

“Unfortunate,” said the centermost officer,
believing him. Then the officer looked back at Calvin. “In that
case, we obviously cannot abandon you in your shackles. So, if you
choose not to cooperate with us, we will have to pacify you along
with whatever Teldari guard is there.” Calvin didn’t have to be
told what that meant. “So whether or not you cooperate,” continued
the officer, “we are bringing you and your team along as bait. Your
arrival has proven rather serendipitous, actually, as now we have a
better plan of gaining access to that ship.”

Calvin wondered what their previous plan had
been, but knew they’d never tell him. Besides, they expected a
swift and firm commitment from him now, or else his trust would be
placed into serious jeopardy. And they might choose to pacify him
and the other humans, and Rez’nac, without giving them the chance
to assist in the plan.

“In that case, you leave me no choice,
clearly,” said Calvin. “We will assist in your plan. And we’ll do
exactly as we’re told to do,” he paused. “But, I have one request
to make first.”

“You’re in no position to be making requests
of any sort,” said the officer. “However, because I am curious, I
shall allow it.” He obviously wanted the absoluteness of his
authority to remain unquestioned here before allowing Calvin to
negotiate for anything.

“I wish to speak with Alex alone,” he said.
Then, when it was instantly obviously none of them knew who Alex
was, besides Alex himself, Calvin pointed. “This one.”

“He means me,” said Alex. “Alex is a term the
humans invented for me when they could not pronounce my name.”

“Is it derogatory?” asked the centermost
officer.

“No, actually I believe it is meant to be
endearing. The humans frequently will give cognomen to one another.
Usually it is done between friends and family members.”

“I see,” said the officer, no doubt thinking
this human custom to be foolish. “I do not think there is any need
to honor this request,” he said. “As the human,” now looking at
Calvin, “has already agreed to assist us and spoken for his
crew.”

“With respect and apology for the
interruption, Great Nau,” said Alex. “I would ask that I be allowed
to honor his request.”

The centermost officer looked surprised,
although it was difficult for Calvin to read the Rotham’s facial
expression with any degree of certainty.

“He may wish to harm you,” said the officer
on the right, speaking up for the first time. Calvin had previously
gathered they, like the soldiers around him, were here for show and
none were supposed to speak without the pleasure or permission of
the highest ranking Rotham here, the one in the center.

“I swear not to harm him,” said Calvin. “You
may even shackle my arms behind my back.”

“That won’t be necessary,” said Alex. “I know
this one well enough to believe him at his word; he will not harm
me. And I wish to know what he would say to me in private.”