The Phoenix Crisis (43 page)

“
Please, make a guess,” said
Nimoux.

“
Months. Four? Maybe five?
Damned if I can remember,” he squinted and looked away for a
second. Perhaps checking to see if any guards were coming to break
them up.

“
Months?” asked Nimoux,
wanting to be sure he’d heard the Director right.

“
Yeah. At least,” said
Edwards, looking back at Nimoux.

“
For me it’s been only
weeks,” said Admiral Harkov. “But like Jack said, it’s hard to
tell. Time stands still here.”

As Nimoux looked around, soaking in the dull
barren emptiness, he believed her. It was as if the universe all
around them, filled with all manner of events and goings-on, aged
and died, while this place was an unchanging timeless wasteland. A
kind of peace existed here in the static constance, and yet it was
also a unique kind of hell.

“
At least they seem to want
us alive,” said Nimoux. Clearly it would have been easier for their
captors to dispose of them then send them here. Which meant each of
them still had some sort of value. He wondered what it could
be.

“
I don’t know why no one has
come looking for us,” said Harkov. “The Commander of the Fifth
Fleet, the Director of Intel Wing, and we’re not the only ones…
there are captains, and commanders, and governors, and all sorts of
leaders here. Even a couple Representatives from the
Assembly.”

“
She’s right,” said Edwards.
“And now the legendary Lafayette Nimoux is here… the whole Empire
should be scrambling to find us, every fleet on high alert,
checking underneath ever rock, inspecting every nook and cranny.
They should have come for us by now. They should be here. And yet…
no one has come.”

Nimoux still couldn’t get past the fact that
he’d spoken with Edwards recently, over kataspace, and yet there
was no possible way—that he could imagine—for that Edwards to be
the same man that stood here before him. Which left him
confused.

“
I may have some idea why
they haven’t come looking for you,” said Nimoux. Both Admiral
Harkov and Director Edwards looked hungry for an explanation, even
if it was just speculation. “Admiral, you are still considered
missing,” said Nimoux looking at her, then his eyes shifted to
Edwards. “But you, Director, are not. In fact, I have been
corresponding with you over kataspace and you’ve been giving me
orders and assignments up until about a week ago.”

“
What?
” the Director looked confused.

“
I don’t know how, but
someone has planted a very convincing look-alike in your office
and, as far as the Empire knows, you’re not missing at all. But
rather hard at work. Fulfilling the interests of…” Nimoux looked
around at the compound. “Well… probably the people who built this
place.”

“
Unbelievable,” said
Edwards. And yet he believed him, Nimoux could tell. Trusted his
every word. But seemed at a loss for an explanation of how it was
possible. Nimoux didn’t blame him. He could hardly speculate
himself how it was possible. And yet it was the truth.

“
And me?” asked Harkov,
looking sick. “They haven’t…
replaced
me yet.”

“
As far as I know,” said
Nimoux. “It could be that they don’t have a convincing-enough look
alike for you, or that that isn’t their plan for you—it’s anyone’s
guess. But if no one has come looking for the people here… it’s
probably because the Empire hasn’t heard that these people are
missing.”

“
This won’t stand,” said
Harkov. “It can’t.”

Nimoux nodded. “I hope you’re right,
Admiral.”

“
So how did they get to you
anyway?” asked Edwards raising a curious eyebrow. “The legendary
Nimoux, how did they trap you and take you away?”

“
My ship was ordered to dock
with the ISS Wolverine,” he said. “I followed orders and went
aboard. There they took me away from my escort and tossed me in
their brig. I gave my XO orders to await my return but for all I
know they replaced me with a copy of myself then and there. Sent a
fake Lafayette Nimoux onto the Desert Eagle. Or maybe the Wolverine
forced the Desert Eagle to withdraw by firing on it. Who
knows…”

“
I see,” said
Edwards.

“
And you?” asked
Nimoux.

“
They came to me at my home.
Broke in, dragged me off in my sleep. Gagged me when I woke up.
Confined me when I kicked and screamed. They threw me into the back
of a black car in the middle of the night. In the garage of my
domicile. I don’t know what happened to my guards—probably paid
off. I woke up in the ass-end of some cell and they shipped me
here. Been here ever since.”

“
Just before they came for
you,” said Nimoux, “did you uncover something?” Nimoux asked
because he wondered if they’d all seen things they shouldn’t have,
and they were each taken to protect some kind of larger secret. It
fit perfectly with Calvin’s claims, which seemed less wild and more
plausible all the time.

“
No I don’t think so,” said
Edwards. “I was giving orders to have some financial accounts
tracked. I was building a case to go after some corporate
connections that were tied a little too closely to some members of
the Assembly.”

Of course Edwards didn’t have to see
something he shouldn’t have in order for the conspirators to have
motive to replace him. Planting a puppet in Edward’s position, one
of the most influential in the Empire, would grant them access to
lots of power and information. “Which corporations and which
Assembly members?” asked Nimoux.

“
A few different ones. The
biggest link I found was MXR and Caerwyn Martel. Nothing too
shocking, his family does own the company and Caerwyn is one of the
shareholders. But it seemed like there were a lot of gifts and
bribes and that sort of thing flowing through the Assembly, all
loosely and distantly connected to MXR. But I doubt that’s why they
dragged me off to this hellhole.”

“
Maybe. Maybe not,” said
Nimoux. “What about you, Admiral?”

“
My ship had just escaped an
action in Abia system. There had been a battle and during it
several of the ships in my own flotilla fired on the Andromeda and
the lead ships. I still can’t make sense of it. There was a fight
and the Andromeda escaped damaged. We were en route to Capital
System, and making repeated attempts to contact the Fleet and warn
them. We suffered systems failures though and our alteredspace
engines couldn’t take us very deep. Thanks to battle damage.
Supposedly our communication troubles were caused by battle damage
too but… I can’t help but wonder if it was sabotage.”

Nimoux found Harkov’s suspicion
intriguing.

“
Anyway,” Harkov continued,
“we were tracked by a Polarian warship. It eventually overtook us
and forced us out of alteredspace. There was a battle and it was a
very even match. The Andromeda is a far more powerful ship than the
Polarian vessel, but we were badly injured from our earlier
engagement and many of our weapons were inoperable. As were our
shields. And much of our armor had been destroyed. Eventually, when
it looked like both vessels would be lost, the commander of the
other ship, a Polarian by the name of Kaisar—I’ll never forget that
name—offered to meet to discuss terms of a cease fire. Both ships
stopped firing and I went to meet him on the flight deck with an
escort of soldiers. He came aboard on a shuttle. It was a trap
though. In the blink of an eye, a small army of Polarians stormed
out of the shuttle and there was a standoff between them and my
small escort. I still thought we had the better position, my men
had come prepared to defend me and there were hundreds of other
marines that could have stormed the flight deck in time. But one of
my own people came up behind me, and pressed a gun to my head. And
forced the rest of my marines to drop their weapons under threat
that she’d kill me.” Harkov stared off into space, reliving the
terrifying moment.

“
They dragged me aboard the
shuttle and locked me up,” she continued. “And took me with them. I
watched from the window as the Andromeda jumped away. I still don’t
know why. Or what would cause them to abandon me, when they knew I
was a prisoner on the Polarian ship. Yet they jumped anyway.
Disappearing into alteredspace. And I never saw my ship again. The
Polarians handed me off to some humans—they seemed like a military
crew and wore military uniforms but they didn’t give a care that I
was a navy Admiral. No one would talk to me. No one offered any
explanation. They just passed me along, from ship to ship, from
cell to cell, until eventually taking me here.”

“
I see,” said Nimoux. “I
remember Abia. Intel Wing sent me there to eliminate the evidence.
It’s been puzzling me ever since I saw the debris, but maybe you
can tell me. Why was there Rotham debris if the action was human
ships firing on human ships? And why were you pursued by a Polarian
ship?”

“
The Rotham were there. A
whole squadron,” said Harkov. “I don’t know how… or why. But they
were there. And so was one Polarian ship. I have no idea what they
were up to, but I think we caught them with their trousers down.
I’d given my ships the order to form up and engage the aliens. And
I’d sent them a general message to stand down and surrender, or be
destroyed. Before our flotillas could engage one another, however,
my own rearguard opened fire on the rest of us. We defended
ourselves and, ultimately, did the work for the Rotham. I don’t
think we fired on a single Rotham ship. So, if you found Rotham
debris, I have no explanation for you. But there were Rotham ships
there,” said Harkov. “I’ll never forget that.”

Very
interesting
, thought Nimoux. So if it
hadn’t been Harkov and the other Imperial ships that had destroyed
the Rotham craft, then who had done it? He wondered. Had they, like
the Imperial flotilla, fired upon themselves? That seemed unlikely.
It made more sense that the Nighthawk, or the Harbinger, or both
working in concert had done the damage.

“
But now that you’re here,”
said Edwards, looking eagerly at Nimoux, “you can help
us.”

“
Help you how?”

“
You’re the most brilliant
mind in Intel Wing. Tell us what to do. What’s the plan?” he
asked.

Nimoux thought about it for
a moment. And while it was true that there was nothing any of them
could do for now, he also felt the urge to get off this rock and
find a way back to Capital World. If, somehow, they could warn the
Empire. Perhaps by appearing before the Assembly. Maybe they could
do
something
to
protect the civilization they held most dear. However, despite the
feeling of urgency, and the strong desire to act, Nimoux knew that
being rash would be counter-productive. Once they had a plan, and
decided to act on it, it needed to be a complete success. No
half-measures. That meant they had to be patient and collect more
information before they could do anything.

“
We keep our heads down and
try not to draw attention to ourselves,” said Nimoux. Both Harkov
and Edwards looked unhappy with this response. “
For now
,” Nimoux added. This seemed to
cheer them some.

“
And then what?” asked
Edwards.

“
Escape, of course,” said
Nimoux.

There was a loud noise and, over a speaker
system set up on poles throughout the courtyard, a general message
was spoken to all prisoners.

“
All prisoners will fall
into line immediately. Take your places or suffer extreme
consequences. All new arrivals will report to the southeast corner.
Any new arrival who fails to report immediately to the southeast
corner will not eat today.”

The message repeated once and Nimoux watched
as the prisoners, quite automatically, went their different ways
and then bunched up into orderly rows and columns.

“
We’d better go,” said
Edwards, glancing nervously at Harkov. They shuffled off toward
their respective places. Nimoux didn’t know which direction was
southeast, but he saw where the other new arrivals were gathering
and headed that way. He wasn’t certain how he was going to escape
this place, or get a message out, but he clung to the hope. Certain
that, with enough focus, and enough cleverness, and enough
planning, he would find a way.
No prison
can hold a truly desperate soul who burns an eternal candle of hope
and never stops searching for that one way out.

He was sorted into a line, along with the
others. As they endured the dry heat of the yellow sun on their
unprotected faces, a high-ranking prison guard inspected them.
Nimoux had to squint as he looked around, trying to learn all he
could about his environment and his captors. Eventually one of the
guards spoke to him.

“
Hero of the Empire,” he
said, clicking his tongue. His eyes met Nimoux’s, challenging him.
“Welcome to hell.”

***

“
Look at them go,” said
Micah, almost lustfully.

Ryker watched through his binoculars as
shuttles and gunships filled the air over the capital city. On the
ground, countless people scrambled to get aboard whatever
transports remained, while a thin line of soldiers bravely held
back the mob of rebels who were quickly taking the city.

“
They say it’s like this
across all of Renora,” said Vulture.