The Phoenix Project (6 page)

    
“Sir, only an O—9 officer can
administer a project of this level.”

    
“I know that, Eli.
Congratulations. I just wish your promotion was under better circumstances.”

    
“Yes Sir.”

    
“Keep me updated,” the
Admiral’s hand was halfway to the button to deactivate the live feed before he
added: “Oh, and choose a staff. You’ll want people you can trust on this.”

    
Full Admiral Elliot Fredericks
watched the screen go blank. He then opened a new signal to an area of Stockholm, Sweden
and waited as the tone beeped its progress towards contacting the party. Elliot
took the time to remove the contacts from his eyes and placed them in a small
case he carried in his back pocket.
 
His
eyes were now liquid black instead of brown. The screen came to life again a
minute later.

    
“Elliot. I need to talk to
you.” Michael DePietro’s wizened face did not resolve itself into his characteristic
smile as it usually did.

    
“I can tell,” Elliot said.
Michael had been the teacher who had trained him to be a Defensive before
letting him go into the world, as all mentors eventually do.

    
“We sensed something,” Michael’s
face distorted as he concentrated on the memory, “awakening in the dark.”

    
“An extra—terrestrial beam of
energy has exited the anomaly we detected and is headed for Earth.”

    
Michael’s eyebrows rose
underneath his dark hair. “What’s this weapon going to do?”

    
“The most recent information
we have says that it will probably hit the moon,” Elliot paused as he considered
what he had to tell his friend, “and it may also hit Earth.”

    
“What about the lives at
stake?”

    
“We’re beginning evacuations
immediately. We’re pretty sure we can get everyone out in time.”

    
“We have that much to be
thankful for,” Michael said. “I trust you to do what is best for us.”

    
“Thank—you,” Elliot replied.

    
“I’ll tell you this much Eli: there
is something very wrong here. I’ve talked to others and we all agree. The
Coalition is planning something.”

    
“They’re always planning
something,” Elliot said.

    
“This is worse than usual. I
wish I could tell you more, but that’s all I know.”

    
“I’ll keep it in mind.”

    
Michael smiled and turned off
the link.

    
Elliot rose from the seat in
Joshua’s office with the thought of whom to choose for his staff. The answer
came readily a moment later. A mischievous smile was on his face when he
launched himself onto the bridge. He forced the smile away once he reached the
Captain and first officer of the AWS
Endeavour
.

    
“Joshua, Madison, I need to see both of you in private,”
Elliot requested with a solemn expression.

    
Joshua vacated his position at
the captain’s chair and Madison,
the place to its right. The couple converged behind the Admiral on his way from
the command center to Joshua’s office. Once the doors closed on the small teal
setting, Elliot sat on the sectional couch opposite to Joshua’s workstation.

    
“The Horizon Project has been
shelved.”

    
“Why?” Madison asked.

    
“We no longer have the
resources to build the new fleet. Once the moon is destroyed most of the weapon
systems will be destroyed as well.”

    
“So what do we do now?” Joshua
asked. He took a seat on one end of the sectional couch.

    
“We always had a sort of a
Plan B in case something occurred to render Horizon unworkable. It’s called Phoenix and I need people
and resources to make it work.”

    
“What kind of people?” Joshua
asked, suspiciously.

    
“To start off, I need an
adjutant or two.”

    
“You don’t mean,” Joshua said.

    
“I do.”

    
“I didn’t sign up to be an
errand boy Eli,” Joshua said.

    
“You won’t be. You will keep
your command and still be attached to the Third Battle Group. You’ll just have
a little more work. Fair enough?”

    
“I guess so,” Joshua replied.

    
“This is a big project and I
need people I can trust. You two are a good start.”

    
“Okay Eli, but what does the
project do?” Madison
inquired.

    
“No one would willingly tell
you this within the admiralty, but Horizon is already being widely regarded as
a failure.”

    
“Eli, we’ve been in a cold war
for eighty years,” Joshua said.

    
“Not after their fleet
launches. All analyses indicate the Coalition would declare war on us within
six months after that date at the most. We can’t win under those
circumstances.”

    
“So this is what Phoenix is for?” Madison asked.

    
“It’s basically an escape
plan. We take the ships we have and as many civilians we can take with us, then
we leave for a new home.”

    
“The Coalition will be
distracted by the old fleet,” Madison
speculated.

    
“Yes,” Elliot said, nodding to
acknowledge her astute observation.

    
“That can’t be all of it. The
Coalition won’t just stand by and watch us leave,” Joshua said.

    
“No, they won’t. We’ll also
build a Particle Warhead.”

    
“I see,” Madison said. She broke eye—contact with
Elliot and stared at her lap.

    
“It won’t ever be used, but
the Coalition will think twice before attacking us with that in our
possession.”

    
“Elliot, won’t that weapon
level much of the Earth’s surface?” Madison
asked.

    
“It could.” Elliot released a
long exhalation of breath. “We won’t use it, but this weapon would give us the
time we need to get away. The warhead will be purposefully sabotaged in the
event that it is captured by enemy forces.”

    
“That’s Phoenix?” Joshua asked.

    
“In a nutshell. I need people
I can trust on this one. I don’t want to force you on this, Josh. It’s your
choice. If you say no, I’ll respect that. Will you sign on?” Elliot regarded
his two friends, noting they had a mixture of dismay and contempt on their
faces.

    
“Eli.” Madison got up and sat next to him, taking
his hands into hers. “it isn’t for you. I just can’t believe that we would
resort to using scorched Earth tactics.”
  

    
“Madi, I fought this when it
was proposed, believe me I did. I lost and now I have my orders.”

    
“In that case,” Madison said and winked,
“I’m in.”

    
“Well, if Madi’s in then I
don’t have many choices, do I? What do you need?” Joshua asked.

    
Elliot found his shoulders
relaxing at the sign of renewed loyalty from the two. “First we have some
people we need to talk to.”

    
A record fourteen hundred and seventy
—
three ships evacuated the
populations of the Moon and the Central States.
Of this grand number, the Coalition provided a mere thirty—seven. The common
belief is that they were indeed doing everything within their power to sabotage
Alliance
efforts to finish their new fleet. Contrary to that opinion is the evidence
discovered by Frederick Grant which shows a deeper conspiracy by the Twelve to
undermine the Alliance
itself. The evidence is incomplete, however, and doesn’t lend any clue as to
what this higher conspiracy was.

Avoiding Disaster: Large Scale
Evacuations and Their Consequences

by Rodney Giles

Chapter III

Less than a hundred Ferine left Helas. The survivors were piled into a
few shuttles by their rescuers and lifted into the dark sky. They looked
through the windows of the small departing vessels and stared at the massive
blackened maw of the ancient weapon. Lathiel knew that great titan would never
hurl another spear at their enemy. Helas was, once again, a lifeless world.

    
The great chasm on Helas was
visible in the night sky above his childhood home on Cartise. As a youth, he had
spent many nights looking up in wonder at the artificially constructed station
on that orange planet. The shadowed world had always sported that dark eye,
scaring him as a boy. It frightened him more once his parents told him what its
original purpose was.

    
Now the night sky would
forever be altered by that cracked face. The people of Helas had always found a
sombre reminder of their ancient and bloody past in the presence of that
monster. Hopefully in the future, it would remind them that they still had hope
for survival.

    
Lathiel had spent the last day
recuperating from a few cracked ribs caused by the collapsed support beam. The
realization of the possible consequences to his actions had forced him out of
bed to call Elik. Lathiel was invited over at once for an evening of relaxation
at his house.

    
He strode up the walkway
cutting through the lime coloured lawn to the entrance. The bright entry button
sparkled next to a set of elegant stone—grey doors. Lathiel pressed the button
and Elik answered the door shortly thereafter.

    
“Good to see you again.” A
face of grey skin said. Lathiel accepted the invitation with the palm up
welcome and entered into the warm glow of his home.

    
“The same to you.”

    
“Come on in to the game room.
I’ve already set the pieces up,” Elik said, referring to the game of
Scholars
.
They both had affection for the complex game played by their society’s elite.

    
Lathiel kept stride with Elik
into the game room. The
Scholars
table sat in the middle of the many curious pieces of entertainment in the
room. Two glasses of Ruby Brandy glowed on each side of the square table. The
two sat opposite to each other and began the game.

    
As the visitor party, Lathiel
made the first move.

    
He moved his piece through the
north side of a square and into the adjacent place. The Student Piece stood out
in the empty area between the two armies of academia.

    
“I heard what happened.”

    
“Everyone did,” Lathiel said,
while Elik contemplated his first move. The soft light of the study gave
Lathiel’s feral gold features a more bronzed look accentuated by the small
spots of obsidian.

    
“You and your group prevented
the Nevargh from annexing our world and our last colonies as planned.”

    
“I don’t think I’ll ever be
the same after this.”

    
“No, you won’t,” Elik
confirmed as he moved a piece. “I have to ask, Lathiel: will the cannon fire
again?”

    
“You knew the answer to that a
long time ago,” Lathiel replied.

    
He launched an attack on a
Professor.

    
“I hoped that you would find something
that would allow you to preserve the cannon for a second firing should the
Nevargh return.”

    
Elik moved his Doctor.

    
“There are no more miracles.
If the Nevargh return, we’re on our own.”

    
“Our defence is limited to a
few science ships. There are reinforcements that are supposed to arrive from
the other colonies next week. Only half of them have the upgraded weapons,”
Elik said.

    
“What are you going to do?”

    
“Up against the one hundred
and twenty thousand warships the Nevargh still have? We will consolidate the
remains of our fleet and make our stand here.”

    
Elik took a long drink from
his glass.

    
“Do you think that will make
any difference if they return?”

    
“They have to protect their
overextended empire now.”