The Phoenix Project (52 page)

    
“As is the case with the Alliance ships.”

    
“Yes, but there is no reason why it’s
absolutely necessary for our fleet to launch with them operational,” Henry
said.

    
“A new fleet of ships without FTL to
transfer between systems?”

    
“But they would still have sub—light
speeds,” Henry replied. “There would be a sub—light fleet in ten systems.”

    
“Freeing up resources. Have the old battle
groups concentrate their numbers in the other systems,” Catherine said.

    
“Yes, Catherine.”

    
“We have a great deal of work to do over
the next forty—eight hours,” Catherine said, while she typed orders into a
link. “All of you now have assigned work. Ensure it gets done.”

    
The rest of the Council obediently left the
room. As Catherine rose to leave, Alexander towered over her.

    
“Is there a problem with your assigned duties?”

    
“No one else who sits in these chairs makes
any pretense as to my standing in comparison to Aristotle, and neither will I.
I don’t claim to be the type of man he was,” Alexander began.

    
“Go on,” Catherine allowed.

    
“He was what I have tried to be and cannot.
I know you treasured him in spite of all the arguments and disagreements you
had. I know of the priceless value you placed on him because, after the two of
you were finished arguing, he always maintained his unwavering loyalty to you
and the Council.”

    
“He was a good man,” Catherine said, nearly
lost in reverie.

    
“I am not as wise or even as loyal as he
was, that you know. Also know that it is in his spirit that I speak now,”
Alexander said.

    
“For the sake of his memory, you can speak
freely.”

    
“I knew him well enough to know that he
would have raised a hellfire fight with you over this,” Alexander said.

    
“Yes, he would have. He would have shouted
at me over this until the windows rattled from his anger. I miss those
arguments,” Catherine reflected for a moment before regaining her composure.
“What is your point?”

    
“Listen to his ghost if not to his student.
You know how much of a moral sacrifice this is. Aristotle would have had no
problem telling you that and would have taken the next hour to prove his
point.”

    
“The difference between you and he is that
he would accept my ruling in the end. I always found his advice valuable and he
did sway my opinion from time to time, but the argument is over,” Catherine
said, with rising anger at the deliberate invocation of a treasured friend. “I
have made my decision and like your predecessor, you will follow my orders.”

    
Alexander knew he had made a mistake, which
again, his teacher wouldn’t have. Giving up the fight, he merely nodded and
walked out of the room at a brisk pace.

    
Elliot woke up in bed before the sun rose.
He turned in bed to put his arm around Nadine only to find an empty space next
to him.

    
“Nadine?” he asked aloud in the dark room.
He heard a rustling in the corner and pressed a button on the nearby
nightstand. The bright illumination of the small bedroom made Elliot wince for
a moment before he saw Nadine in the corner of the room pulling on her duty
tunic.

    
“Hi.”

    
“Yeah,” Elliot said in surprise, “early
riser?”

    
“Usually, no, but I’ve got to get back to
my quarters,” Nadine replied.

    
“That’s too bad. I wanted you to stay for
breakfast.”

    
“And what would breakfast involve?”

    
“Well, I figured eggs, strawberries, and
coffee.”

    
“That’d be great, but I do have my duties.”

    
“Duties? Oh, you have to report back to
your owners?” Elliot joked.

    
“Like you don’t have to report to your own?
Catherine expected me to check in half an hour ago.”

    
“Are you going to tell Mommy what
happened?”

    
“I report everything to her,” Nadine began,
and noticed Elliot’s genuine surprise. “I do leave certain details out from
time to time.”

    
“I sure as hell hope so. Are you going to
mention our night?”

    
“No,” Nadine lied.

    
“You’re not being honest.”

    
“Elliot, don’t scan me.”

    
“Your people scan, we pick up on
emanations.”

    
“Tomato,
tomato
.”

    
“You know what I mean,” he said.

    
“Nonetheless, you shouldn’t be doing that
with me.”

    
“It isn’t something either of us can block
now. You should have noticed that by now.”

    
“It doesn’t matter,” Nadine said.

    
“It doesn’t matter that I have a new
connection with you, and know when you’re lying?”

    
“Are you saying that I’m your first?”

    
“No, I just know when you’re lying. You did
it just now. You are going to tell your mother about us.”

    
“No,” Nadine replied.

    
“Now you’re being honest, but that doesn’t
change what you said before.”

    
“What are you talking about?” Nadine
demanded in frustration.

    
“You were lying when you said you wouldn’t
say anything about our night together, but you were honest in saying you
wouldn’t say anything about us,” Elliot replied and sat up in bed.

    
“I won’t tell them about us.”

    
“What will you tell them?”

    
“About the completion of my orders,” Nadine
replied, looking at the floor.

    
“What orders?”

    
“I was ordered to sleep with you. The
Twelve want a baby of Defensive and Aggressive descent.”

    
“Well, do you have your baby?”

    
“I don’t know. Elliot, my orders were given
to me when I didn’t even know you.”

    
“That makes it right?”

    
“I didn’t sleep with you on orders,” Nadine
said and left her chair. She sat next to him on his bed and laid a hand on his
chest. “I did because I wanted to.”

    
“That only makes it worse. You’re lying to
them now. What if they discover what you’re doing?”

    
“What I’m doing?”

    
“Nadine, you’ve gone against your orders.
You’re interested in the enemy. Can you just go back to the Coalition?” Elliot
asked.

    
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m just reporting
in.”

    
“I hope so,” Elliot replied and kissed her.

    
“I’ll be back for lunch.”

    
“Still want strawberries?”

    
“Does your vaunted Alliance have whip cream?”

    
“It’s been rumored.”

    
“Well have some ready. I want you naked
before seven o’clock!”

    
“Yes Ma’am,” Elliot replied and flashed her
with a mischievous smile.

    
“Don’t tease me. I’ll see you in a couple
of hours,” she said and smiled, “boy toy.”

    
“And I’m only forty—eight!” he shot back.
Nadine exited through the main doors of his quarters and left for hers accompanied
by an obligatory guard.

    
Nadine approached her quarters with a
certain afterglow but also felt a tinge of foreboding at the prospect of
reporting in. She entered her dark abode with the soldier remaining at the
door. She noticed the incessant beeping of the Coalition mobile communications
unit even before the door closed behind her. She hurried to the unit sitting on
an end table in the living room. It had been on the dining table when she was
assigned these quarters, but having Elliot over all the time had made her move
the unit and then return it afterwards. Eventually, it had become tiresome and
Nadine had stopped bothering to move it back and forth every time she had
company.

    
She picked up the mobile communications
unit, moved it onto the coffee table and activated it with the DNA scanner to
confirm her identity. Catherine’s image flickered to life on the small screen.

    
“I have been calling for over an hour!”
Catherine exclaimed. “Just what was keeping you so busy that you would choose
to ignore your duties?”

    
Nadine prevented herself from recoiling in
reflexive fear of the head of the Council of Twelve and instead straightened
her back and responded with conviction. “I was doing my duty, Catherine.”

    
“At six o’clock in the morning?”

    
“That sort of thing does happen more often
at night than during the day.”

    
“You mean,” Catherine said and moved closer
to the screen in an almost conspiratorial posture, “you completed your orders?”

    
“That is exactly what I mean.”

    
“So you have conceived?”

    
“I can’t be certain that I am pregnant yet,
but I did feel something unfamiliar.”

    
“What did you feel?”

    
“Something inside me came to life. No that
isn’t it,” Nadine said and sought the correct words, “something independent of
myself came to life inside me.”

    
“Then congratulations are in order.”

    
“That may not mean anything.”

    
“You’ve never been pregnant before so I’m
not surprised you would respond that way. As an Aggressive and a mother I know
what it is you’re feeling,” Catherine said.

    
“You’ve felt this before?”

    
“Yes, my child. It happens whenever an
Aggressive is pregnant. What you felt was the beginning of a new life inside
you. With some additional teachings, you will even be able to determine what
sex it is only moments after it is decided within your womb.”

    
“You’re certain of this?”

    
“It happened every time that I was
pregnant,” Catherine replied.

    
“Well then, your orders have been
completed.”

    
“That is excellent news, especially in
consideration of the new orders I have for you,” Catherine said.

    
“New orders?”

    
“We will go to war in two days. After that,
we have something much better in mind for you, Nadine. In the meantime return
to MERA and take a deserved break from diplomatic affairs.”

    
“Yes, Catherine,” Nadine replied. “I will
gather my belongings and return as soon as I can.”

    
“Excellent, I will see you soon,” Catherine
said and deactivated the communications link.

    
Nadine jumped up from her couch and raced
for the exit of her quarters the moment Catherine’s image disappeared from the
screen.

    
“I need to see Admiral Fredericks
immediately,” she told the guard at her doorway.

    
Elliot had just gotten out of the shower
when he heard the door chime. He took a brief moment to throw on a bathrobe and
hurried for the door. It was easy to see his surprise at the sight of Nadine standing
there after having left his quarters fifteen minutes ago.

    
Once the door closed he couldn’t help but
smile.

    
“Missed me that much?”

    
Her dour complexion cured him of any joviality.

    
“What’s wrong?”

    
“I have to leave right away. All Coalition
ambassadors are being recalled,” Nadine said.