The Phoenix War Read Free Page B

he
suppressed the instinct. Even though he could see her heartache in
her hauntingly sad eyes.
    “How did he…?” asked Kalila, now looking at
Captain Adiger.
    “He was murdered, Your Grace,” he said.
“Slain on the Assembly Floor, killed by a cowardly sniper.”
    Calvin reeled at the cause of death. Shocked
that he’d lived to see such a day.
    They’d all been watching the King’s address
before the Empire—wondering if he would submit to the Assembly’s
decision to strip him of his throne, or if he’d cling to his powers
and fight the forces that had usurped their government. As Calvin
had listened, it’d proven difficult not think about the Eighth and
Ninth Fleets bearing down on Capital System even now, fifty-two
ships ready for battle. Ships that were likely to capture or
destroy the Black Swan.
    And yet, even though he feared for his own
life, he couldn’t help but feel an intense measure of crushing
guilt. This whole tragic situation was as much his fault as
anyone’s. He’d been the Executor. The duty had fallen on him to
capture the Phoenix Ring conspirators, to shake loose every iota of
information they had and expose them and their treachery before the
Assembly and the Empire, but he’d come too late. And Zane Martel,
the Phoenix Ring leaders, and all of their precious information had
melted away—like snowflakes in the palm of his hand—before he could
raise his angry fist and expose the truth.
    As they’d watched the King’s broadcast on the
Black Swan’s bridge, gripped by every word, waiting to see if he
would fight for his crown, they were shocked when the broadcast
abruptly terminated. The King had been in the middle of a sentence,
and then static. At first Calvin had assumed, along with
most others—he was sure, that the broadcast had been cut off by
someone wanting to silence it. Perhaps by jamming communications.
But it turned out the state-run news organization had been
broadcasting with a seven-second delay, rather than live, and that
delay had spared Kalila the torment of seeing her father collapse
on the Assembly Floor, apparently shot by a sniper.
    “Did they apprehend the coward?” Kalila asked
through clenched teeth. A newfound fire raged in her eyes. Burning
in place of the thousands of tears she somehow held back.
    “Not yet, Princess,” said Adiger. “But I’m
sure it is only a matter of time.”
    With the heir to the throne, Genjiro Akira,
slain, along with the next two in the line of succession, Kanna and
Azumi, and the King himself dead—killed before ever revealing if he
intended to submit to the Assembly or maintain his claim to the
throne—that meant Kalila herself was heir to the Empire. All that
her father was, all that her family had, everything now belonged to
her.
    “The Harbinger reports it can no longer
remain in Capital System and is about to jump to alteredspace,”
said the communication chief, loud enough for Captain Adiger to
take note.
    “Thank you, Lieutenant,” said Captain
Adiger.
    “Captain Asari Raidan sends his condolences,
and strongly advises we leave the system immediately,” added the
communications chief.
    “Duly noted,” replied Captain Adiger. “Ops,
give me the position and heading of the Eighth and Ninth
Fleets.”
    “The Ninth Fleet is two minutes away; the
Eight is two and a half. They are closing in on Capital System.
Containment pattern likely.”
    Calvin knew what that meant, and so did
Captain Adiger—by the grim look that appeared on his face. If the
Black Swan was still in the system when those fleets arrived… it
wouldn’t matter in the slightest that the Black Swan was among the
most powerful ships ever built. It might as well be an unarmed
shuttle for all the good it would do them. Calvin saw Captain
Adiger’s eyes flick to the 3d display where the ISS Victory sat
idle, the fiercest ship in the galaxy, uselessly docked at port. By
rights it belonged to Kalila now, and yet she hadn’t the slightest
chance of