The Phoenix Conspiracy by Richard L. Sanders Read Free Book Online

left.
    "The water's free but I hope you tip
him anyway," said Shen from behind a large mug.
    "I'm sure he'll live." Calvin tried to
make himself comfortable, shifting on the stiff furniture. "So what
have you two been gabbing about while I kept you
waiting?"
    "Mostly about how slow you
are."
    Sarah giggled. "And how you never ask
for directions."
    "We made a small wager to see how fast
you'd get here. And you let me down, Cal," Shen folded his
arms.
    With a broad grin Sarah said, "if you
want a drink, Captain. It's on me, I stumbled upon 70q somehow."
She spun Shen's moneycard on the table, beneath her long slender
fingers.
    "70q, really?” asked Calvin. "That's
almost a day's pay. You sure you haven't been drinking too
much?"
    Shen shrugged. "Probably. But what can
I say?" He traced the foamy ring of his mug with one finger. "I'm
on vacation, what's a little betting?"
    Calvin shook his head. "I don't think
betting's your thing, Shen. Seems like you're almost as bad as
Miles."
    "Actually," said Sarah. "We
called him earlier to come up, but apparently he's
' on a roll' . I
guess he's made a pretty good profit so far and doesn't want to
lose ‘ the magic' ,
or whatever he calls it."
    Calvin raised an eyebrow. "You're
kidding me. He's actually winning?"
    Shen laughed. "First time for
everything."
    "That reminds me," said Calvin. "And
don't ask what one has to do with the other," he wagged a finger.
"But we're getting a new first officer."
    "What about Anand?"
    "Transferred, got his own
command."
    "That rat. What a backstabbing
traitor," said Sarah with a smile. "And to think I'd always admired
him."
    Calvin knew Sarah had much more than
admired him. The two would flirt shamelessly and yet, they'd still
never managed to hook up.
    "Yeah... hard to believe he's going,"
said Shen. "I'm going to miss him." Shen seemed almost
pleased.
    "So will I,” said Calvin.
    "So who's the new officer?" asked
Shen.
    "I honestly don't know."
    The server brought Calvin his ice
water and again asked if there was something more he could do.
Calvin had intended to refuse but, remembering what Shen has said
about the tip, decided he'd order a small meal. He was almost
finished looking over the menu when Shen pounded his
shoulder.
    "Hey, look at this."
    "What?" Calvin glanced down at the
table's viewscreen. Shen had activated the news station and a large
vessel could be seen leaving the dock, flanked by two other
warships.
    "A dreadnought with two corvettes. The
Harbinger."
    "So what?"
    "It's our friend, listen," he handed
Calvin a small ear piece.
    He heard an articulate woman over the
feed. She broadcasted from some newsroom off station. "It's unknown
where he's being kept aboard the very large ship you see there. But
former starship captain Asari Raidan is en-route to Capital World
on the ISS Harbinger which is temporarily being used as a penal
ship. It looks like the Imperial Navy has provided some extra
escort as you can see by the presence of the two corvettes. No word
yet on who ordered the extra precaution or how far the escort will
go. But they're about to clear the defense perimeter."
    Seeing their shift in attention, the
attendant excused himself and wandered off to some other
table.
    Calvin ignored him and let out a sigh,
"I was hoping to get my mind off all of this." He needed to accept
that Raidan's behavior was a mystery that would go unresolved.
Calvin removed the earpiece and began handing it back when flashes
appeared on the viewer, lighting up the hulls of the two
corvettes.
    "Wait a second," he snatched the
earpiece back and put it on again. As he did, the station went to
full alert with emergency lights snapping on and a noisy klaxon
filled the air as General Quarters was sounded. Most everyone in
the bar jumped up and started screaming, Calvin had to plug his
other ear to hear the broadcast.
    "What's going on?" asked
Shen.
    Calvin shushed them and listened.
Unfortunately, the noisy panic made it impossible to catch more
than bits