The Phoenix Crisis (51 page)

He took his seat and the Assembly members
discussed among themselves what he had said. The sounds of chatter
and conversation filled the chamber. Kalila took a deep breath as
she stared up at the balconies of people. So many Representatives
from so many worlds. And yet they were all so easily duped, and led
along by Caerwyn Martel like puppets on a string.

Representative Tate called the Assembly
Floor to order and silence filled the chamber. “Princess Kalila
Akira, you may now address the Assembly. You have three minutes to
make a final statement before voting commences.”

Kalila took the floor and walked to the
center, taking her microphone with her. She had hoped not to be
given a time-limit, so she could ramble and filibuster for as long
as it took—long enough for Calvin and his forces to come sweeping
in, bringing the traitors before the Assembly for all to see. But
she only had three minutes. So all she could do was state her case
to the best of her ability, and pray that somehow she got through
to some of them. Even though the issue was already drawn along
coalition lines, and Martel and his faction had adequate support to
force the issue. Kalila tried to be hopeful anyway.

“
Honored Representatives and
Members of the Assembly,” she said, looking up at the gathered
masses. On their stacked balconies everyone seemed to be awake and
alert. This was the most unique session of the Assembly that had
ever happened. In all of a hundred years, the Assembly had never
voted to challenge the authority of the King. Today was a new day,
a black day.

“
I stand before you today in
my father’s place, as a member of the Royal Akira family,” she
continued. “I have long been a part of this body and have served
with you for years. Yet only weeks ago this body believed I was a
traitor, and that I had attacked Renora. Only to be proven beyond a
doubt that I am innocent. That I had been framed, made to appear as
though I had been behind the tragic slaughter. I am here to tell
you that my father has been similarly framed. And that if we hold
him responsible for these actions, we will be punishing an innocent
man. A man who has had nothing but love and compassion for each and
every world in the Empire.”

Someone snorted. Kalila
ignored him. “The rumors of bombings by the King’s forces and
ruthless violence against the citizens of Renora are merely
that,
rumors
. At
this moment of crisis, let us not act rashly and hastily, to throw
our Imperial government into an even higher level of chaos. We must
rally behind our king, our shepherd and protector, and unite
ourselves—every last one of us—and together we can solve our
problems. But if we fight amongst ourselves, and turn our
government upside down, all while our enemies are gathering
strength both at home and abroad, we cannot hope to prevail. I urge
and beg you, I plead with you all, to truly consider what is being
proposed today. And to make the right decision, to support our
monarch.”

With no more allowance of time to continue
her argument, she returned to her seat without another word. The
crowd of Representatives reacted to her statement with a mixture of
support and dissonance. She could tell from the tone of the room
that the issue was hotly contested. Unfortunately her influence
here had reached an all-time low. And many of those loyal to her
political faction had left it. Even some of the Representatives
here who believed in the King, and believed him innocent of the
bombardment of Renora, they were still most influenced by public
opinion. And in the court of public opinion things seemed
clear—

the people of the Empire
were afraid, distrustful, and eager for a change.
Unfortunately
, thought
Kalila as she regarded them, none of them truly understood what
they were asking for. And the heavy price they would
pay.

“
Order.
Order
on the Assembly Floor,” said
Representative Tate, smacking her gavel. The noise in the chamber
quickly faded. “Having heard the final arguments we will now put
the measure to a vote. On the matter of Assembly Resolution
Five-Five-Oh-Three, a motion to execute the Sovereignty Clause of
Article One of the Imperial Charter and call upon the Great Houses
to decide the monarchy, all in favor so indicate.”

Kalila watched as the Assembly
Representatives pressed buttons on the terminals next to them.

“
And all opposed, so
indicate,” said Representative Tate.

More movement. It was hard for Kalila to
judge as she scanned over the chamber which side held the
majority.

Representative Tate looked down at her own
display and she, along with the other two members of the committee,
examined the results. “With a vote of one-hundred and eighty nine
to one-hundred and seventy nine, with ten abstentions, the Aye’s
have it. The Sovereignty Clause is hereby invoked and the members
representing the Great Houses will assemble to decide the fate of
the monarchy.”

Kalila felt her heart sink, but she wasn’t
surprised by the outcome. The Assembly had just voted to allow the
clause to be invoked, but the Great Houses still had to vote on the
issue of whether or not to pull the plug on the Akiran Monarchy.
She tried to be hopeful, tried to think maybe she could sway a few
of the others. But since the other Great Houses had always hungered
for the chance to claim the throne for themselves, she didn’t think
it likely they’d vote to support the Akiran claim.

It wasn’t over yet. She had a little time.
If only Calvin would arrive and she could expose the conspiracy.
Then she could motion for the Invocation of the Sovereignty Clause
to be annulled. She touched the screen of her terminal and sent a
message to him.

Hurry Up
Calvin
.

***

Calvin read the message from Kalila on his
mobile just as his forces were preparing to blow the door to the
inner sanctum. They’d taken the outer layer of the Phoenix Ring
bunker, suffering one more casualty in the process, and now only
one door stood between him and those responsible for corrupting the
Empire.

“
We have to speed this up,”
he said. Kalila would not have told him to hurry up if the
situation on the Assembly Floor wasn’t dire.

“
Alpha is in position,”
reported Alpha Team leader.

“
The charges are placed,”
said Bravo Team leader. “Bravo is ready.”

“
Charlie, are you go?” asked
Calvin.

“
Roger. Charlie is in
position. We’re ready.”

Calvin pointed his carbine at the door from
a safe distance. Through his night-vision goggles he could somewhat
make out several small charges that had been placed on various
parts of the metal door. Designed to blow it from its track.

“
You should keep your head
down,” whispered Nikolai from his side. He too pointed his firearm
in the direction of the door.

“
I’ll keep that in mind,”
said Calvin. There was no way to tell what they would encounter
once they blew the door aside and stormed the inner sanctum. But
one thing seemed certain, they would meet the fiercest resistance
of all. They’d take losses. Calvin knew it, every soldier on every
team knew it, but it would be worth it, he told himself. It had to.
They’d capture Zane Martel and all of the others. Then race them
back to the Assembly Floor where the conspiracy would be exposed
and the Empire would be saved.
Nearly
finished
, though Calvin.
We’re nearly through
.
“Remember,” he said. “
No civilian
casualties
.” They needed to take the
Phoenix Ring Council alive so they could extract a confession from
at least one of them.

“
Understood,
sir.”

“
All teams are in position
and ready,” said Rafael.

“
Breach
,” ordered Calvin. There was a flash and a crack as several
small explosives popped, breaking the metal door free of its
restraints. It crashed to the ground, surrounded by
smoke.

“
Fire in the hole!” said
Alpha Team leader. He threw a flashbang into the inner sanctum.
Once it went off, and the echo of a sharp ringing could be heard,
Calvin’s men stormed through the smoke, weapons raised.

“
Hands on your heads!” they
called.

After several soldiers had gone through,
Calvin sprinted for the entrance and went through himself. He felt
his heart thundering, and images of past firefights flicked through
his mind, but he narrowed his eyes and kept his focus. Realizing
only as he moved through the smoky green haze that he should have
heard gunfire by now, but the inner sanctum had met them with only
silence.

“
What the hell—” Alpha Team
leader said.

Calvin stepped out of the smoke and into the
inner sanctum. It was a reasonably large room with a conference
table at the center. Corpses sat in the chairs. Men and women in
professional attire. Some slumped back, other leaning over the
table. Most looked as if they’d been taken by surprise. Eyes and
heads had been shot, blood and bone matter were everywhere. Not a
group suicide…they all looked like victims of a swift and brutal
execution.

“
No
,” said Calvin, racing over. He took off his goggles, not
believing what he could see. In the yellowy lights, the scene was
even more sickening. He didn’t want to approach the gruesome sight
but he was desperate to find one of them still alive. He began
checking vitals. Two soldiers from Alpha Team did the
same.

“
They’re dead,” said Alpha
Team leader. “They’re all dead.”

“
One of them has to be
alive!” said Calvin. He felt his heart pounding in his ears and as
he scanned over the macabre sight, counting sixteen corpses—ten
civilians who’d likely been members of the Phoenix Ring Council and
six mercenaries who lay dead by the door, ostensibly shot in the
back. If there had been a fight here, it had ended swiftly. And few
if any of the victims had realized they were under attack until
they were slaughtered.

“
I’m sorry sir,” said Alpha
Team leader as his men finished checking the vitals of the victims.
“They’re all dead.”

“
No, it can’t… how…” Calvin
fumbled for words and felt himself weaken; he would have dropped
his carbine had it not been strapped to him.

“
Looks like gunshot wounds,”
said Bravo Team leader, examining one of the dead soldiers.
“Judging by the entry and exit wounds I’d say five point five six.
This one can’t have been dead for more than a few
minutes.”

“
Then the killer is still
here,” said Calvin. He looked around. There seemed to be nowhere in
the inner sanctum for a person to hide.

“
Unless it was a murder
suicide,” said Rafael who’d finally stepped into the room. He
looked at the gruesome sight, all the blood everywhere, with a kind
of morbid fascination.

“
Charlie, fan out,” said
Calvin. “Find this killer.”

“
Aye sir. Though I don’t see
how anyone could have gotten past us. We’ve had this whole grid
locked down.”

“
Try anyway,” snapped
Calvin. He delicately moved the arm of one of the slain Phoenix
Ring members and tried to I.D. who the woman was. The face was
unrecognizably destroyed. Calvin felt like gagging but resisted the
urge. “There’s got to be something here… is there anything we can
use?
Anything?
” He
had to take something back to Kalila. The whole Empire depended on
him.

“
There is a lot of
intelligence to be gathered from this scene,” said Rafael. “But
nothing that is immediately forthcoming that we could take before
the Assembly. News of this slaughter would probably only implicate
the King. No doubt Kalila’s enemies in the Assembly will try to
twist this into a story about how the King’s soldiers raided
private property without just cause and then proceeded to murder
the occupants. There is no compelling and obvious proof of
conspiracy here. Just proof that some of the wealthiest and most
influential people in the Empire were meeting together.”

Calvin knew he was right.
And it all sank in. They’d failed.
He’d
failed. The king would lose his
throne and the Empire would collapse. “How…” he stared down at the
messy bodies. “Why…?”
Who would have done
this
, he wondered. Who could have possibly
had motive and means to eliminate the Phoenix Ring, and just before
Calvin could get his hands on them. Not Raidan’s Organization… they
were too poorly outfitted on Capital World and too far
away…

“
Well, well, look what we
have here,” said Rafael, lifting up one of the corpse’s heads. This
one had been shot repeatedly in the chest but his head had been
left intact, allowing his face to be recognized. “If it isn’t my
old friend Zane Martel… Interesting how the worm has
turned…”

Calvin looked at the slain billionaire and
felt afraid. Zane had been a bad person, Calvin was sure, and Zane
had been behind much of the dark actions of the Phoenix Ring, but
he’d also been one of the galaxy’s most powerful and influential
billionaires. Yet here he was, slaughtered in his own house. Shot
in the chest repeatedly. Murdered by a friend.

“
This is darker and deeper
than any of us realized,” whispered Calvin. Zane’s blank, lifeless
eyes stared back at him. If only those brown irises could tell him
what they’d last seen...