The Phoenix Rising (45 page)

“
What about Calvin and Shen
and the others?” asked Sarah.

“
We’ll give them as much
time as we reasonably can,” said Summers. “But when we can’t afford
to wait any longer... we’ll take our chances with the
blockade.”

“
Sir,” said Cassidy, “the
Desert Eagle is firing on another mine cluster.”

***

Emerging from the facility into the stormy
outside was brutal, and opened them up to attacks from all sides
once more. But the grey metal gunship perched not far away was a
truly welcome sight. Its pre-launch engines burned and its mounted
guns were spun up, ready to fire.

Calvin and his group dashed
for it—tired and beaten, but fighting on. Calvin found his hopes
rallying.
We’re going to make
it.

The Remorii hadn’t given up on their prey,
however. Massive groups of them were coming in from both sides, and
rapidly overtaking them from behind. Calvin and Pellew each turned
and took a knee—steadying their rifles—and opened fire on their
nearest pursuers. The instant their clips ran dry they about faced
and resumed their retreat toward the gunship. Closing the
distance.

Just as the mobs of Remorii converged on
them from either side—in numbers they couldn’t hope to resist—the
gunship’s enormous batteries roared to life and began shredding
them. Countless Remorii fell, ripped apart by machine-gun fire
designed to puncture metal airships. Calvin averted his eyes from
the pulpish remains of the shredded corpses as best he could, it
was a savagely gruesome enterprise but he was more than grateful
for the gunship’s assistance. He just wanted to get the hell off
Remus Nine and never look back.

They reached the gunship and, one by one,
ascended the ladder to the hatch. At Calvin’s insistence, Rez’nac
was first to go up—carrying Shen. Calvin and Pellew provided
covering fire, shooting apart any Remorii who strayed too close,
while the others went aboard. Meanwhile, Tristan again leaped from
target to target, ferociously clawing through Remorii with
terrifying bloodlust.

“
Come on, Tristan,” yelled
Calvin.

Tristan ignored him and continued fighting.
Blood soaked nearly every inch of him. He let out a cry of pain as
one of the Remorii’s blows connected with his jaw. But he kept
fighting. Ripping the perpetrator apart limb from limb.

“
We have to go,
now
!” yelled
Pellew.

No response from Tristan—who was gradually
becoming surrounded. Calvin reloaded his rifle and fired in
Tristan’s direction, close enough to get his attention but not risk
hitting him. If the lycan noticed, he gave no sign. He continued
struggling with three different Remorii, and his brutal, inhuman
strength was starting to fail him.

“
We don’t have time for
this,” said Pellew. He raised his carbine and shot Tristan in the
back of the arm. The werewolf howled with pain and turned to face
them. His eyes glowed brighter than Calvin had ever seen them, his
face thoughtlessly feral. For a moment it looked like he was going
to leap over and slaughter them, but then recognition came over his
eyes and his senses returned.

Pellew pointed at the ladder. “Go!”

Tristan seemed to understand
and, as he fought his way free and came toward them, ready to
escape this world, Calvin began ascending the ladder. Knowing that
Pellew and Tristan weren’t far behind. Once he was aboard the
gunship, a wave of relief rushed over him. But his heart still beat
like a machine gun in his chest and he was thoroughly
winded.
Once we finally get off this
godforsaken rock I’ll feel a lot better.

“
Seal the hatch as soon as
Pellew and Tristan are aboard,” he instructed the nearest person, a
Polarian who was bandaging his wounds as best he could with the
gunship’s limited medkit. Most of the other survivors were crowded
around him, piecemeal bandages did a poor job of covering all their
injuries. But it would have to be enough. Sadly, not many had
survived. Though the diminished weight would at least help them
escape the planet faster—even in death the Polarians were giving
all they could to help.

Calvin went past the huddled mass of
survivors and into the cockpit where he took the pilot’s seat
immediately.

“
The engines are hot and
ready for launch,” said Miles. The big fellow didn’t look at
Calvin, he was too intently focused on the guns. Which were firing
incessantly at the endless hordes of Remorii—nearly to the point of
overheating. Yet the bastards kept coming. Even now he could see
them out the windows. Leaping onto the ship’s outer hull,
hopelessly clawing away at the armor plating. What drove them to
pursue their quarry so obsessively? Calvin had no idea. And he
wondered if they were attracted to danger—did they want to
die?

Miles ducked involuntarily as a particularly
gruesome Remorii landed on their window, slowly sliding down,
leaving behind a trail of blood.

“
Be glad you weren’t out
there,” said Calvin.

“
Thank god we have these
guns!” Miles fired the gunships weapons some more, no doubt
slaughtering more Remorii. “See, I
knew
this was the right gunship to
take!”

Calvin agreed. The lighter gunship might not
have been able to survive such a beating, and certainly its weapons
wouldn’t have provided as much cover.

“
The hatch is sealed.
Everyone’s aboard who’s coming aboard,” said Rez’nac. He knelt on
the floor of the cockpit next to Shen, who lay unconscious. Rez’nac
seemed to be giving Shen first aid treatment as best he could with
their limited medical supplies.

“
Roger that,” said Calvin.
He began releasing the landing clamps and fired up the ascension
engines. “Brace yourselves, this is going to be a bumpy ride.” With
that, he gave the gunship maximum thrust and catapulted them
skyward with a powerful lurch that slammed everyone back. The
gunship had one inertial damper that protected them from some of
the most severe gravitational forces, but it wasn’t very effective.
Calvin felt nauseous but kept their ascension steep, almost to the
point of stalling, as he re-angled the gunship.

“
Oh god, I’m going to be
sick,” said Miles.

Calvin didn’t dare look back at him and
instead kept his focus on the controls and the view out the window.
They were in a thick of dark clouds. If not for the computer,
Calvin would have had no sense of orientation whatsoever. He heard
a few of the passengers in the back dry-heaving and vomiting. It
wasn’t long before the nasty smell wafted its way into the cockpit.
Calvin himself felt like puking but managed to fight the instinct.
He wanted to put the climate helmet back on but didn’t dare let go
of the controls for even an instant.

The clouds gradually thinned and the gunship
pushed above them. “Entering the stratosphere,” said Calvin.
“ETA... just over seven minutes.”

“
Wha...
Where...?”

Calvin glanced down to see Shen. He seemed
groggy and confused but he was conscious. His torn sleeve was
rolled back and it was clear Rez’nac had injected him with
something.

“
He needs to stay conscious
to fight the infection,” said Rez’nac. “That’s his best
chance.”

“
Shen
!” said Calvin excitedly. He’d feared that he would never see
his friend alive again... though Shen’s gaunt face and several
injuries made it clear he was not out of the woods yet. If recovery
was even possible. “Stay with us, buddy.”

They continued their ascent for another
minute and a half without any problems. Calvin dared a glance at
Shen whenever he could, and tried to keep his injured friend alert
with conversation. But it was clear that unconsciousness was
lurking just around the corner, threatening to overpower him. And
the fighter’s instinct in Shen’s eyes was withdrawn, like a part of
him wanted to just give up and die. End the suffering once and for
all. Calvin couldn’t let that happen.

“
Stay with
me
,” said Calvin, wishing he could go to
his friend. But he knew he had to keep piloting. They’d be on the
Nighthawk soon, he reminded himself; Shen could get help there. He
thought of Christine, how all the medical assistance in the galaxy
hadn’t been enough to save her and... he closed his eyes for a
moment and pushed the awful memories from his mind. Shen was going
to be okay! They all were.

Calvin found himself wishing Sarah was there
as he put the old gunship through some dangerous, highly aggressive
maneuvers to escape the planet. Calvin was a fine pilot, and he had
full confidence in himself, but Sarah was superior.

“
Do you smell that?” asked
Rez’nac.

“
What?” asked Calvin. And
then he did smell it. “It’s like something’s burning.”

“
What
is
that?” asked Miles.

The craft jolted and began to spin. Calvin
cut the second engine, realizing he’d lost one of his main
thrusters. He managed to keep the vessel from flipping upside-down
but their ascent stopped and they began to drop like a stone, back
towards the surface of Remus Nine.

Calvin cursed, trying to restart the lost
thrusters, and Miles threw up about a day’s worth of food. His
vomit sprayed all over his console and Calvin’s uniform.

“
We’re dead... we’re
dead...” Miles began saying over and over.

“
No, we’re not!” said
Calvin, trying to urge the systems back into a functioning state.
Their descent accelerated and they found themselves subject to
intense gravitational forces. Calvin and Miles were held in place
by their straps but Rez’nac and Shen began to float, as if
weightless. The strange experience seemed to jog something in
Shen’s mind and, once again, he seemed coherent.

“
Shen, I could really use
your help about now
,” said Calvin. Their
ship plunged back into the dark, stormy clouds. Fast spiraling them
to their imminent deaths. Calvin adjusted the flaps, trying to slow
their descent, but it was only partially effective.

Bracing himself against the bulkhead,
Rez’nac managed to push Shen over to Calvin, who caught the ops
officer by the wrist and helped him get his grip on the
console.

“
You need to...” Shen looked
strained as he spoke. He began adjusting some of the controls and
Calvin did his best to keep Shen from floating away. “Manual
override...” Shen made several adjustments, but it was clear that
he was fading fast. Falling in and out of consciousness in the
blink of an eye. “Now restart the system.”

Calvin did. He cut all power and restarted
the main computer, saying a little prayer to any god that would
listen—hoping the fifty year old equipment would even turn back
on.

“
I KNEW we should have taken
the other gunship!” shouted Miles.

In the blink of an eye, the system
restarted, all the consoles flickered back to life. Calvin fired
the thrusters and found them responsive. He rapidly stopped their
deadly plunge and angled them back toward the sky.

“
Thank the
Essences
...” said Rez’nac.

No longer in a deadly plunge, the illusion
of zero gravity was gone and Shen and Rez’nac both crumpled to the
floor. The beat up old Polarian still had plenty of fight left in
him, but Shen seemed spent beyond repair. His consciousness faded
and, despite all of Rez’nac’s efforts to rouse him, he would not
awaken.

“
Okay, now our ETA is ten
minutes,” said Calvin. “Miles, contact the Nighthawk. We should be
far enough from the planet’s surface to get a signal out now. Have
them pick us up once we’re clear of the outer atmosphere. We don’t
have time to dock with the orbital station.”

“
You got it, Cal,” said
Miles.

“
And tell them to have
medical assistance standing by at the airlock,” said Calvin. He
looked down at Shen, whose body showed the early signs of Remorii
infection. “
And
security,” he added, regretfully.

“
Hopefully the Nighthawk is
still out there,” said Rez’nac.

“
It’d better be,” said
Calvin. But he knew as well as the others did that they might be
flying right into the jaws of the Rotham fleet instead.

Chapter 26

“
Sir
, message coming in from the planet,” said Sarah. “It’s the
shore party!”

Thank God
. Summers felt a wave of relief pour over her. She’d been
inches from giving the order to attempt to run the blockade, and
leave Calvin and everyone else behind. Believing that she’d lost
him, that young, stupid boy... it surprised her how much anguish
that made her feel. And how stubbornly she’d refused to abandon
him, even to the point of endangering her life, and those of the
crew.
Of course, it’s only natural. I need
Calvin to help me purge the fleet of corruption. Yes, that’s
why.

“
They are in a gunship that
is about to break free from the planet,” Sarah went on. “We’re
ordered to dock with their vessel ASAP. They are sending
coordinates.”

“
Tell them we acknowledge
the order, then set course for those coordinates,” said
Summers.

“
Aye, aye.”

“
You realize that by
approaching the planet we will be withdrawing from the mine field,”
said Cassidy.