The Phoenix Project (47 page)

    
“Oh Lathiel,” Danniack said in a
disheartened voice, “they’ve captured you too.”

    
“No Danniack,” he replied and walked towards
the Captain of the
Explorer
, “we’re here to rescue you. These men are
our friends.”

    
“It was Humans that captured us and took us
here.”

    
“These Humans are different. They’re not
only our friends, they’re our allies now,” Ranik said, entering the room and
standing next to his cousin.

    
“Allies? I don’t understand.”

    
“You’ve missed a few events since the
Coalition took you hostage. These people are from the other organization,
called the Alliance.
Elik and the Assembly have voted to ally with them,” Lathiel said.

    
“Just to rescue us?”

    
“That and a lot more,” Ranik said.

    
“Come on. We’re getting all of you back to
your ships,” Lathiel said.

    
“I’m confused.”
 

    
“We don’t have much time. Trust me. Get
everyone together and organized into the crew for each ship,” Ranik said.

    
“Yes, of course,” Danniack said, shaking a
fog of confusion from his head. He stood straight and turned around to the
Ferine scattered across the hold. “We’re going. These men are here to take us
back to our ships. They’re not with the people who brought us here. They’re
here to rescue us.”

    
At the proclamation, the Ferine in the hold
immediately perked up and moved towards the captain.

    
“Now, all of you: the crew of the
Explorer
on this side and the crew of the
Wanderer
on that side,” Lathiel
said, indicating the left and then the right side of the room. The hope of
escape motivated the Ferine to respond to his directions. Two groups of forty Ferine
formed in less than a minute.

    
“Good. Now this is my friend Eli,” Ranik
said, with a motion of one arm towards the Admiral behind him. “He’s going to
tell you what to do so that we can all get off this station and back to our
ships. Please listen to him and do what he says.”

    
Lathiel and Ranik walked back to the door
and stood on either side of Elliot.

    
“Thank—you, Ranik. Danniack, you and your
group will follow me. The soldiers you see are here to escort you back to your
ships. They are here to protect you.”

    
The Ferine watched as the soldiers divided
into two columns and moved to surround the group. The troops took defensive
positions around the hostages.

    
“Don’t worry,” Ranik said, loud enough to
be heard by the eighty members of his race, “they won’t harm you.”

    
The Ferine looked worried with the soldiers
standing at attention around them but none panicked in the charged atmosphere.

    
“Captain Leck,” Elliot directed to the
second crew, “you will follow my friend Joshua. He is the one with the blue
eyes, blond hair, and goofy smile.”

    
The joke brought a brief chorus of laughter
from the group. Elliot hoped it would serve to relieve some of the tension and
demonstrate that these Humans were indeed different from the ones that had
imprisoned them. It also brought a roll of the eyes from Joshua.

    
“Major?” Elliot asked.

    
“Any time you’re ready, Sir.”

    
“Okay, Danniack and your crew, follow me.
After that, Joshua will have you follow him. You’re all going home,” Elliot
said, and turned for the door. Behind him Madison
took up a position with her PBD drawn. Nadine took a place next to Elliot.

    
“Let’s go,” Nadine said to Elliot with a
smile.

    
“Yes, Ma’am,” Elliot replied. They walked
out of the holding area as a group of over one hundred Ferine and Humans.

    
“The ships are moored at Deck Fourteen on
the outer ring. The elevators can take us within a short distance of them. Your
technician should go with the other group to override the lift controls and
I’ll take your group,” Nadine said. They walked down the corridor and took a
turn to the right down a different passage.

    
“Sounds good. Private, you heard her,”
Elliot said to the technician walking behind them.

    
“Yes Sir,” he said. The Private moved to
the side of the corridor and allowed the people to proceed past him. He then
joined the second group still in the storage bay. Joshua waited until the first
group had disappeared around the corner, before turning back to face the Ferine
captain.

    
“Captain Leck, follow me,” he said and
moved towards the exit. The group obediently followed him out of the area.

    
Nadine led them down a different set of
hallways and into a large assembly area that was also empty, thanks to her
knowledge of the station.

    
“These are the only elevators capable of
transporting large groups. We usually use them for cargo and fighters, but
each group will have to take a different lift,” Nadine said.

    
Elliot nodded, and the group waited as the
second one poured into the room behind them.

    
“Joshua, you’ll take the second elevator.
Call for it as soon as we leave,” Elliot said.

    
“Private, once you’re on the elevator, set
arrival for Deck Seventeen Section Sixty—One,” Nadine said to the junior
officer. The officer didn’t question her authority but simply nodded curtly as
acknowledgement.

    
Nadine walked over to an incredibly wide, tall
door that was large enough to accommodate two fighters, each sixty feet in
length. She input a code into the wall panel, and in a surprisingly short
period of time, the door opened at the ceiling and slid into the deck. The
space was at least sixty feet wide and fifty feet deep.

    
“Anytime you’re ready, Eli.”

    
“Follow me,” Elliot said to his cadre. The
couple walked on to the elevator with the large escaping mass behind them. They
fit in the lift with room to spare, but not enough to accommodate Joshua’s
team.

    
“We’ll see you on the other side,” Joshua
said.

    
The door came back up from the floor and
sealed shut into the ceiling. The open deck elevator whirred into motion. The
exposed steel walls of the shaft whizzed past them at nearly forty miles an
hour.

    
The elevator arrived to a wide, curved
corridor. Elliot and Nadine vacated the elevators with the others close behind.

    
“This is where we have to part ways,”
Nadine said. “The
Explorer
is down the right side of the corridor. Take
your first left and go to the end. That’s where the airlock to the ship is. The
Wanderer
is down the left side. Take a right and the airlock is at the
end of the corridor. There are guards at the airlock to both ships and
scientists are on board, but they shouldn’t pose too much of a problem for you.”

    
“Madison,
take the lead. I’ll catch up,” Elliot said. Madison looked at Nadine with a knowing smile
and then left with her weapon drawn. The rest of the Ferine hostages and
soldiers followed her down the corridor.

    
“Are you going to be okay?”

    
“I’ll be fine.”

    
“You disobeyed orders,” Elliot said.

    
“Don’t worry.”

    
“And now you’ve helped us. I don’t know
what Catherine’s like, and she is your mother, but God knows what she’ll do to
you. Come with us. You can ask for sanctuary.”

    
“I can’t. They’re still my people.”

    
“Please.”

    
“I told you not to worry. It’s because of
you that I’ll be okay. You’ve given me the perfect alibi! How can I possibly
have done any mind probes if the detainees had been taken?” Nadine said and
gave him an improvised look of innocence. “I did all that I could, but those Alliance bastards got to
them before me.”

    
Elliot took her hand in his with the deep
desire not to leave her behind.

    
“I’ll be fine,” Nadine said, squeezing his
hand. She placed the palm of her hand to his cheek and brought his face to
hers. She backed away from his embrace and smiled to him with a trust he had
never seen in her. “Go. I’ll see you at Phoenix.”

    
Nadine turned away and walked down the
curving corridor towards a door that led away from the ships. He watched her
retreating back and spoke softly to her beyond her hearing range.

    
“I’ll see you soon.” Sobering to the
reality of his surroundings, Elliot quickly turned on his heel and ran after
the group, who were surely close to the ship by now. He caught up with the
cautious team of Ferine and soldiers creeping down the corridors towards a
hatch.

    
Elliot caught up to the group and made his
way to the front.

    
“Report,” Elliot whispered to Madison.

    
“Love is in the air.”

    
“Report on
your
situation.”

    
“The airlock is over there. We’re not sure
about the hallway in between us and the hatch.”

    
“Major, advance to the corridor and take a
look. Be careful,” Elliot said to the soldier who grunted a “Yes Sir” and
proceeded to a corner just ten feet short of the airlock. He carefully extended
a small mirror mounted on a metal spine around the impediment to his sight.

    
A shot of energy took the mirror and much
of the spine with it. The Major threw the heated remains away from him and
backed off to the large gathering of Alliance
citizens.

    
“I think they know we’re here.”

    
“You don’t say?” Elliot asked with a raised
eyebrow.

    
“Sorry, Sir.”

    
“What is the best approach for this, Major?
We have to get to that airlock.”

    
“Just ten feet. That’s all we need.”

    
“What of your new shields?” Elliot asked.

    
“Mine’s only got a few seconds left on it
but they’re good for about a minute and the rest of my men have them. I think
I’ve got it, Sir. We’re going to need the Ferine in a line down the centre of
the hallway.”

    
“You’ve got it, Major,” Elliot said, and
whispered the order to Madison who relayed it through the ranks. The Ferine obediently
moved into a narrow line of two abreast down the dim corridor. The Major used a
chain of hand signals, and in short order had the soldiers divided into two
lines along each wall.

    
“We’re ready.”

    
“Wait,” Elliot said and then turned his attention
to the earpiece hanging from his lobe. “What is your situation, Josh?”

    
After a moment of silence, Joshua came
through in a lowered voice. “I think it’s the same as you, Eli. We’ve got
soldiers waiting around a corner. We step out there and they’ll turn our escape
into a shooting gallery.”

    
“The Major over here seems to have come up
with a solution. He’ll brief your military XO right now.”

    
“Captain,” the Major said into his own
piece, “make it the revolving door march like on New Terra. Got it?”

    
The Major listened for an affirmative and
then nodded to the Admiral.

    
“What do you need?” Elliot asked.

    
“Wait for my signal and start sending the
Ferine towards the airlock. You’d better let them know to expect a lot of noise
but not to panic. Just go right up to the airlock and walk in. A few of you
should go ahead of them just to take out anyone inside of the ship. Got it,
Sir?”

    
Elliot nodded and turned back to the group
in a long line behind him. Madison
stood at the front of the group with her PBD at ready.

    
“Madi, as soon as the Major gives you the
signal, you’ll head in behind him and help to secure the ship. The Ferine will
be right behind you. Lathiel?”

    
“Yes?”

    
“As soon as Madi moves, so do you. Follow
her into the ship and pass this back through the line: follow the person in
front of you. Focus on the deck and ignore anything you hear. Just keep moving
until you’re in the ship, okay?”