The Phoenix Crisis by Richard L. Sanders Page A

some good news.”
    “ That I do, sir. The
computer has positively ID’d the skin samples and the
hair.”
    “ And?”
    “ They belong to Midshipman
Patrick O’Conner.”
    “ Thank you,” said Calvin and
he closed the line. It made sense for Patrick to be the mole, he
would have known the proper Intel Wing codes that had been used.
And, based on reports of his behavior at Remus, he clearly
sympathized with Nimoux and Intel Wing so he had motive. Now,
finally, there was a method. This new report gave Calvin some idea
of how Patrick knew about Echo Three—which he’d then, apparently,
leaked to Intel Wing. Hopefully establishing this meant Patrick had
been operating solo as the mole and that there were no further
security threats on the Nighthawk. But, just to be sure, Calvin
intended to maintain his restricted communications
policy.
    “ Is that all, sir?” asked
Cassidy.
    “ No it isn’t. I want you to
run a full diagnostic on all critical systems on every deck,
especially all life support systems. If there are any problems
found—and there likely will be from power surges that occurred
during the battle with the Phoenix—do whatever it takes to get them
resolved. I want the ship to be completely safe. Work with Andre
Cowen as needed and if you or the chief engineer need anything, let
me know at once.”
    “ Aye, sir.”
    “ Then, once that’s finished,
I want you to meticulously examine the air systems on the brig
deck. There were some failures there that resulted in the death of
a prisoner.”
    “ Patrick,” she said in a
reverent tone. Patrick had belonged to Cassidy’s same shift and the
two had likely been friends, at least until Patrick had decided to
mutiny.
    “ Yes, Patrick. I want to be
double sure that the systems failures that resulted in his death
were purely coincidental, and not the result of deliberate
sabotage.”
    “ I’ll check them over to the
best of my ability, sir.”
    “ That will be all.” He
dismissed Cassidy and then gave an order to the bridge to stand
down from condition one to condition two. The explanations were all
in place, Patrick had been the mole and he’d died of a systems
failure caused by the firefight with the Phoenix, so there was no
clear and present danger to the ship or his crew. But Calvin still
felt uncomfortable about the whole thing, so he didn’t order the
ship to stand all the way down to condition three. He wanted people
on their guard.
    The ship was finally on its way to meet up
with Kalila—and had been for almost half an hour—they still had
time to spare and Calvin hoped that there would be no new crises in
that time.
     

Chapter 5
     
    The plan was coming
together. Mostly .
    Zane Martel received word from his second
that the other members of the Phoenix Ring were concerned about the
timing of the operation. “Renora should have generated more results
in the Assembly by now,” they said. Zane dismissed their concerns
and sent his second back to the others with a message assuring them
that all was moving forward as it should. The situation on Renora
was a developing chaos that Zane’s people had well under thumb, and
as for the Assembly—they would fall in line eventually. Zane had
assurances from Caerwyn, his brother—who was not a member of the
Phoenix Ring but was nonetheless sympathetic to their goals—that
the mood on the Assembly floor was one of growing anxiety. In time
the moment would be ripe to challenge the Akiras for the throne,
but not yet.
    As a corporate magnate and acting chief
executive of MXR—which his father Brinton no longer took a role
in—Zane had considerable resources at his disposal. Other key
members of the Phoenix Ring had wealth, power, and status that
proved useful, but Zane at the helm of the mighty MXR brought the
lion’s share. And that had given him the opportunity to seize the
role of de facto leader—an opportunity he had not missed. Now,
though, there came certain responsibilities. He had to keep