The Phoenix Project (45 page)

    
“A PBR upgrade?”

    
“No Sir, it’s a Plasma Rifle,” the Major
informed him.

    
“I thought plasma weaponry was too unwieldy
for use in anything below a capital ship.”

    
“So did I, Sir. These models are brand new,
right off the assembly line. I’ve been told they can damage a fighter on the
higher settings.”

    
“Interesting,” Elliot said and handed the
rifle back to the young lieutenant who sported a sharp haircut. “Carry on.”

    
The military officers went back to the
business of getting ready for the mission. Madison got up from the seat at the helm
while Ranik sat in the adjacent one.

    
“Just making a few last preparations, Eli,”
Madison said.
“The course is already set and Ranik’s device can be turned on from there.”

    
She indicated a button on the right side of
the helm that flashed on and off in red as if warning against a potential user
from pressing it.

    
“Will it work?”

    
“Ask him,” Madison said, pointing at Ranik.

    
Ranik looked up from a close scrutiny of
data displayed on a blue oceanic looking device. The thick blue instrument was
streaming through a large amount of data for its reader.

    
“It will work,” Ranik said and looked back
to his gadget.

    
“Are you sure?”

    
“Yes it will! Now, I’ve got to keep making
adjustments for another minute to make sure it’s ready. Do you mind?” Ranik
asked, holding up the instrument with raised eyebrows.

    
“Go ahead.” Elliot took the helm and
disengaged the docking latches. Both shuttles disembarked from the
Excalibur
and headed for the station. Just outside of sixty million miles, Elliot pressed
the flashing red button.

    
“Engaging stealth,” Elliot announced to the
crew, “I hope.”

    
A wave of invisibility traveled across the
small ship leaving a strange view of space behind it and a slight distortion of
stars where the shuttle should have been.

    
The communications station in front of
Ranik crackled to life with a transmission from Joshua.

    
“You guys are gone! I can see a place where
the stars are a little, I don’t know strange, but I only see it because I’m
looking right at you!”

    
“Acknowledged, Shuttle Two. Go into stealth
mode,” Elliot said.

    
“Yes, Sir.” A second later a similar wave
rippled across his ship, rendering it invisible to all but the most meticulous
eye.

    
“We’re entering their scanner range,”
Elliot said to his crew.

    
“Now we’ll see if this works,” Madison said from the
front row of benches in the shuttle.

    
“Stealth is operating at three hundred
percent of normal output. We have about twelve minutes before it burns out,”
Ranik informed Elliot.

    
“More than enough time,” Elliot said. A
tiny point of light grew larger outside the forward window of the troop
shuttle. “Arrival at Waypoint Eleven in five minutes.”

    
The crews of both shuttles sat straight
backed, anxious for arrival at the station. They feared they would hear the
sound of an ominous ping from the computer indicating they were being targeted
by the powerful station—mounted PBCs.

    
Relieved faces appeared among the crew of
each ship as they felt a soft metallic clang of docking by especially careful
pilots. The soldiers were the first on their feet once the shuttle came to a
full stop. Elliot and Madison followed seconds later. Ranik drew a PBD from his
holster and rose from his seat more slowly then the rest of the shuttle’s
occupants.

    
“Keep it on high stun,” Elliot told Ranik,
“setting two. No fatalities on either side.”

    
Ranik nodded and adjusted the weapon to the
recommended setting.

    
“Sir,” the Major said, “we’re ready.”

    
Elliot straightened his uniform and drew a
Particle Beam Pistol from his belt. “Proceed.”

    
The Major walked to the rear of the craft
where an open hatch revealed the door to the station. An access panel was
visible next to the circular doorway.

    
“Get us in, Private,” the Major ordered.

    
The junior officer already had a small
piece of technology in his hand and connected it to the access panel with a
single glowing cable. His fingers flew across the pad in his right hand and
delivered a flurry of commands to bypass the hatch’s security. The console on
the hull of the station beeped acknowledgement and the door slid open. The
small force of personnel entered the interior of the airlock. Elliot’s earpiece
beeped to him. He placed a thumb on a switch at his earlobe.

    
“Go ahead,” Elliot said in a low whisper.
  

    
“We’re in,” Joshua replied in a quiet
voice.

    
“Meet us outside Room Twenty—Four. Keep
your weapons on high stun unless absolutely necessary. Keep this signal open. I
need to know what’s happening on your end.”

    
“You got it.”

    
“Let’s go,” Elliot said to his crew.
“Private, open the interior hatch.”

    
The interior door opened and revealed a
hallway some fifty feet in length. A single Coalition enlisted officer
patrolled the hallway with his back to them. Elliot nodded to the Major, who
flashed two fingers towards the target. A Private next to him aimed a Particle
Beam Rifle towards the soldier. A squeeze of the trigger rendered the target
paralyzed from head to foot. He stared at the floor while more than a dozen
pairs of feet trod by him in a soft pattering.

    
Nadine had woken up from a long needed
sleep, having borne a lighter conscience after the decision she had made. After
showering in the tiny bathroom of her small quarters aboard the Waypoint Eleven
Station, she had enjoyed a particularly good cup of coffee. She dressed in her
uniform, for what she imagined would be the last time, and headed for the door.

    
A dozen soldiers, two fleet officers, and
one Ferine did their best to hide in the scant shadows of bright hallways.
Elliot used the map of the station on his link to locate the nearest lift to Deck
Seventeen. There was a constant background hum from numerous generators aboard
the station covering the sound of their footsteps. Elliot turned a corner and
jumped back with the utmost care not to make any noise. The Major focused an
intuitive gaze at Elliot.

    
Elliot met his stare and held up two
fingers, which he then pointed at the corridor. The Major gave him a quick nod
of acknowledgement and gave a quick signal to two of his subordinates. One
peeked around the corner to the sight of two oncoming men dressed in civilian
clothing. They didn’t notice the soldiers as they were busy examining a link
they held between them. One soldier nodded to the other and both stepped in the
hallway and incapacitated the Coalition men. Elliot took the lead again and found
the required entrance to the heavy capacity door.

    
“Private, get us in!”

    
The technician leapt to the elevator and
forced open the panel access to the lift. He stuck his fingers into the open
panel and fiddled with small narrow cables, detaching some and attaching others
to different ports. After fast work by the technologically inclined member of
the Alliance,
the door slid open for the group.

    
Elliot walked in without a word. Madison
and Ranik followed behind him. The soldiers filed in by rank while the next
officer in the hallway continued to scan for any enemies that might pop into
their sights. Once they were all in, the Private pressed the large round
buttons on a numeric keypad for one and seven to bring them to the desired
deck. The lift hummed to motion and stopped on Deck Seventeen.

    
Elliot and his squad proceeded down a
corridor towards rooms Twenty—Two through Twenty—Four. Elliot was relieved to finally
see a stretch of hallway with three evenly space doors on one side.

    
“This is it.”

    
The Major nodded his head towards the Private
who had earlier allowed them access to the elevator. He confidently walked to
the first door, removed the panel from the wall, and began manipulating the
components within.

    
The rest of the soldier’s rifles converged
on a large group of people invading the space from the opposite end of the
corridor. It was only at the recognition of like uniforms that the barrels of
said rifles pointed to the floor. Madison
immediately recognized the familiar shape of her husband among the small band
of fighters.

    
“Josh.”

    
“Madi, our scanners haven’t been working
since we entered the base. What about yours?” Joshua asked.

    
“Ours are useless too.”

    
“Do you think it means something?”

    
“Oh Josh, I really hope not,” Madison replied and looked
to the Private busy interfering with Coalition technology. The Private shifted
his hand to the right
 
inside the tech
forest. The door beeped an encouraging sound and slid out of the way.

    
Elliot and his cadre were stunned to see an
empty hold.

    
He turned around to the group of soldiers
and friends whose faces mirrored his surprise. Elliot regained his composure
and looked to the Major at his side.

    
“Open the others.”

    
Both the Major and the Private nodded and
walked at a brisk pace to the first of the next two doors. The group waited in
heart—pounding silence while the Private manipulated the interior circuits
inside another panel identical to the first. They all had a sense of their
stomachs dropping into their feet as the second door slid aside to reveal
another empty room. Soon afterwards, a third door opened to a final vacant
space. The panels hanging from their places on the wall flashed a red light. A blaring
alarm sounded throughout the corridor and echoed from distant places within
the station.

    
“Shit!” the Major exclaimed. “You were
supposed to do your job, Private!”

    
The subordinate officer looked lost at the
accusation. “I don’t understand Sir. I made sure they were cut off from the
rest of the network.”

    
“They probably wanted it that way. One cut
off from the network no problem, but all three? They must’ve known we would try
that,” Madison
said.

    
“There is a secondary possible set of
holding cells,” Elliot announced for the group.

    
“Are you sure, Eli? Those alarms must mean
they’re sending people here even as we speak,” Ranik asked.

    
Joshua nodded solemnly in confirmation.
“They’ll have at least a dozen men here in less than a minute. Whatever we do,
we’ve got to get going.”

    
“We’re not leaving our people behind,”
Elliot said raising his voice so the entire group beyond Lathiel and Ranik
could hear, “and they
are
our people.”
 

    
“Absolutely,” Madison said with a proud smile.

    
“We go to the secondary rooms our
intelligence had indicated,” Elliot said, confidently. “Major, lead the way
back to the high capacity lift. From here we go as one group. Captain Hubbard,
you’re my second.”

    
His two adjutants nodded and placed
themselves behind him at each shoulder. Ranik and Lathiel completed the wings
behind Joshua and Madison. The combined group padded back the way they came.

    
“How much of a chance did intelligence say
there was for the prisoners to be in the secondary holds?” Madison asked in a lowered voice.

    
“Better than if they weren’t in the first.”
Elliot looked over his shoulder for her to better hear him. “But not very
high.”

    
The alarms stopped their drumming chant
once they reached the nearby elevator. The defending squadrons of soldiers
could already hear distant movement.

    
“Get us on that elevator now Private, before
we have a squadron of Connies on our asses,” the Major ordered. The Private
connected a cable to the panel at lighting fast speed and had the door open in
barely five seconds.