The Phoenix Project (38 page)

    
“No offense, but I hope I never see you or
this courtroom ever again.”

    
“Likewise,” Dixon said, and crossed to the deflated
Bernard Myers still sitting in his chair.

    
“Will you appeal?” he asked. Maria peaked
around his figure to the prosecutor.

    
“No. What’s the point? I don’t have any new
evidence and what I have isn’t enough. I should have had my lackeys dig deeper,
but it’s too late for that now. Congratulations,” Myers mumbled.

    
“Thank—you, Counselor.”

    
He turned back to Maria with a broad grin
on his face.

    
“We’re done. I think the Fleet Admiral is
anxious to talk to you,” the Commander said with a motion of his hand to the man
standing at the back of the room.

    
Maria approached him cautiously. She
wondered if she would be commanding a desk again after this informal meeting.
He shook her hand immediately with a broad smile on his face.

    
“Congratulations.”

    
“Thank—you,” she said with one natural eye
narrowed at her superior. “Tell me, you took time out of your busy schedule
just to see me and tell me what my fate is?”

    
“You are a member of the admiralty. I have
to make a good show for the cause.”

    
“Are you going to tell me to take some
shore leave after my ordeal?”

    
“Ah no. Have you been watching the INN?” Nelson said as he showed her out of the courtroom.

    
“Not really. I’ve been occupied with a
trial. You may have heard about it.”

    
“Cut the sarcasm, Maria. Are you aware of
the Ferine inquiry that’s in progress?”

    
“Yes, I’m aware of it. I just haven’t been
following it very closely. Aren’t they releasing their findings soon?”

    
“You’d better believe it,” Nelson said as
they left the building on the coast. They walked towards a sandy beach a ways
away.

    
“What’s going on?”

    
“We believe the inquiry will find against
the Ferine in one way or another. I’ve convinced the Prime Ministers to refuse
any extradition request made by the Coalition. Everyone is saying that a war is
likely and I need my Second Battle Group Commander back.”

    
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll blow up another
ship?”

    
“Well, it’s good to know some of Maria is
still in there,” he replied.

    
“I’m merely pointing out that the Second
Battle Group is one cruiser short right now,” said Maria.

    
Nelson turned towards the view of the
serene beach visible in the distance. Turquoise waves crashed on white sand
cooling some of the afternoon heat.

    
“I know. We’re short on ships at the
moment, but we are rushing one into service. I intend for you to command it as
the new flagship of the Second Battle Group.”

    
“One of the new battleships?”

    
“No, it’s more of the prototype for them.
It’s smaller and we never thought to use it for actual duty but she is space
worthy.”

    
“Really? Where is it?” Maria asked.

    
“Meet me tonight at eighteen hundred hours
at the Mars Fleet Yards, Dry—Dock Three.”

    
“Yes Sir,” Maria replied in earnest. Nelson
nodded to her and walked off towards the administrative wing of the Honolulu base. Maria
stood looking at the beach, experiencing exhilaration of her absolution at the
trial and the news of her continued command of the Second Battle Group.
Adrenaline pumped through her body at the thought of commanding a new, cutting—edge
warship.

    
Maria wouldn’t need to start her journey to
Mars for at least a couple of hours. A smile crossed her face and she began a
casual walk towards the beach.

    
Dozens of boisterous conversations combined
to make a loud background hum for the Ferine and their assigned delegates
seated at the front of the room. It was five o’clock in the evening and the
panel had recalled them with an announcement that they were ready to release
their findings. The two Ferine looked around the room nervously, feeling like
trapped animals surrounded by hunters.

    
“Don’t worry. Whatever happens I won’t
allow anything to happen to you,” Nadine said.

    
“I’ve received word from my superiors that,
regardless of the findings of this panel, we won’t release you into Coalition
custody. You can stay aboard the
Endeavour
as long as you like,” Elliot
said.

    
“Thank—you,” Lathiel said.

    
“We’ve been talking about a more secure
location for you and Ranik. Our base on Black Hills Island
has been completed and brought online. The place is a fortress. I would
suggest you allow me to transfer you there, but it is your choice.”

    
“I will leave that up to you. I know you
have our best interests in mind, so whichever you believe is safer is fine with
us.”

    
“I’ll bring you to Phoenix Base as soon as
the meeting is over.”

    
“I’m coming,” Nadine said. “I am still
their liaison.”

    
“Restrictions on you will be much harsher
at the base,” Elliot said.

    
“I’ll live with it.”

    
“Then I’ll make sure there’s room on the
shuttle.”

    
“What about my luggage on the
Endeavour
?”
Nadine asked.

    
“We’ll have it brought down with Lathiel
and Ranik’s things.”

    
“There are security concerns, Admiral. I
have equipment that can be moved only by me or other Coalition soldiers.”

    
“I’ll make arrangements for you to return
to
Endeavour
then.”

    
“Thank—you,” Nadine said. The four of them
looked to the twelve empty chairs at the panel’s table and waited for them to
enter. Background conversation dimmed and allowed Lathiel and Ranik a brief
reprieve from the stressful uncertainty of the results.

    
The door at the side of the court finally
swung open on its brass hinges, allowing for the entry of the Coalition and Alliance dignitaries
making up the board of inquiry. The murmuring crowd found their seats while the
panel filed in.

    
“Board of Inquiry, Section Forty—Two, Final
results,” the speaker said. “I turn the findings over to panel member Philip
Bell.”

    
Philip Bell leaned towards the microphone
and spoke into a tiny steel plated device the size of a match.

    
“I will start by saying that all delegates
testimonies and closing statements have been of great influence to this panel.
Specifically, the statements by General Hanover and Admiral Fredericks were
particularly enlightening. Lathiel and Ranik, these hearings have found that
there is no cause to bring the Ferine as a race to trial by a vote of ten to
two.”

    
A great swelling of conversation, both negative
and positive, crackled across the courtroom.

    
“However,” he said, loudly. The
conversation halted as everyone waited for him to continue.

    
“We can, by a vote of seven to five, bring
anyone in the Ferine delegation to trial for crimes against humanity and have
chosen to do so. Ranik we can find no link between you and these deplorable
acts against our race. Lathiel, you have admitted to your role in the repair
and activation of this weapon that was used against our people. We have, in the
interest of cooperation with our Alliance
counterparts, agreed to allow you to remain with their forces while you attend
trial. You will be expected to testify in one month’s time.

    
“We have acted on our own to take necessary
measures to secure testimony from other relevant witnesses.”

    
The captain of the Ferine science ship,
Explorer
ignored the monitor at the front of the bridge showing some forty Coalition
warships. They had been waiting at the edge of the now non—existent wormhole
taking in the regular reports from Lathiel and waited in silence for his
report.

    
He sat on a couch at the side of the
circular bridge nearly identical to Lathiel’s except for the crimson upholstery
on his seat. Captain Danniack didn’t notice three Coalition warships turn on
their axes to face his ship.

    
“Captain,” a colleague asked, “what are
they doing?”

    
“What?” Danniack asked, startled from his
perusal of a copy of one of Lathiel’s historical perspectives on ancient times.
He stood up and saw the ships facing his.

    
“Signal them. Find out what’s going on,”
Danniack said to the head of communications. She pressed several buttons on an
amber pad before shaking her head.

    
“Nothing,” she said. Concern marked her
bronze flecked, slit eyes. Their questions were answered a moment later.

    
“They’re powering weapons,” the science
head said from his console.

    
“All power to shields!” Danniack barked a
split second too late.

    
A series of emerald bolts flew from the
prows of the olive warships and hit both Ferine vessels, scarring their hulls.
The weapons were not set to destroy or puncture the science ships’ protective
skins but to damage its internal systems. The science console on Danniack’s
bridge erupted in a shower of sparks. The head of the department jumped from
the overloaded instrumentation.

    
“God above! What are they doing?”

    
“What is the damage to the ship?” Danniack demanded.

    
The engineer was the only one to reply.

    
“Our sub—light engines are down, so are shields
and weapons.”

    
“What about the fold drives?” Danniack asked.

    
“We’ve still got them.”

    
“We are in the process of taking the other
two Ferine ships outside of the system into our custody. We do not do this to
fly in the face of this inquiry. We do not do this to impugn the Alliance or the Ferine
Assembly, but we do this in the interest of justice. We are merely exercising
our rights and the public’s right for a speedy outcome to trial proceedings. It
is for this reason that the Coalition has unanimously decided to take the
Ferine into our protective custody.”

    
“Plot a course!” Danniack yelled at the
helmsman while more shots shook his ship. The
Explorer’s
sister ship
appeared to be attempting the same maneuver which would allow it to escape into
fold space.

    
“Where?” the helmsman asked.

    
“I don’t care where we go! Just get us away
from here!”
   
Danniack’s helmsman
hurried to use directional jets on the ship to allow their escape. He was
ready to leave the system and began to power the graviton emitters that would
allow the ship to fold space. The pair of emitter lenses mounted on each of the
upper wings shone with a mounting white light. More shots of green energy from
the Coalition warships aborted the effect and punctured them. Flashes of white
light crossed the emitters before they went dark.

    
Both Ferine ships were incapacitated and
floated adrift in space. The Coalition ships stopped their assault. One of them
launched four large troop shuttles from its hangar. They paired off, each
taking an access hatch on either side of the alien ships’ hulls.

    
“The Alliance
still have the crew of the third Ferine ship to do with at they please,” Bell continued while he
read from a prepared statement. “We can assure the public of both nations that
the Ferine in our custody will be treated with all fairness, consideration, and
respect due them.”

    
A small rectangular hatch on the third deck
of the
Explorer
exploded into a coral blue corridor. The flash of light
at the seams caused the few Ferine in the hall to back away reflexively. They
weren’t injured when the hatch dissolved under concentrated fire. Upon seeing a
small crowd of soldiers rush into the corridor, they froze. Shock and fear
overwhelmed their tall bodies when PBRs were leveled in their direction.