Operation Phoenix Read online

  Kurt had a point. There were no walls or checkpoints. The entire facility was nestled into the side of a rolling hill with a picturesque lake curving around one side. The buildings were only a few stories high and appeared to be made of glass and steel. The only areas that looked at all military were the landing sites and hangars that contained the base’s small contingent of space vessels, shuttles, and planetary skimmers.

  “To be fair, this is an old crime. Most of them weren’t working this duty when the thefts happened,” Aria pointed out.

  “Yeah, but they didn’t notice it, either,” Kurt replied.

  “How could they?” Eric changed the display to a blueprint of the central building to demonstrate his point. “The vault is underground, and access is limited to a handful of personnel. This entire base is controlled by an advanced AI program. V.I.D.A. oversees everything, including the remote retrieval of genetic samples from the vault.”

  “I knew a V.I.D.A. once. Pretty little brunette with a great set of…” Dante grunted when someone, probably Aria, booted him under the table. “Cool your boosters, Blink. I was going to say pipes. She was a singer at a club I used to hang out at.”

  Aria gave him an angelic smile. “Sure you were, Buttercup.”

  Dax rapped on the battered tabletop again, then looked at Aria. “Jessop, summarize what we know about the theft.”

  “The Resource Wars lasted nearly ten years and ended five years ago. We know that DNA from the Vault of the Fallen appears in cyborg soldiers that were created near the beginning of the conflict. We can’t be sure when the thefts began, but we do know that it started while the corporations were still gearing up for war. According to every corporation currently in operation, they all stopped their cyborg programs when the wars ended and the cyborgs revealed that they were sentient life forms with free will.”

  “Those poor bastards. How many years did they have to hide the truth about themselves? How many friends and batch siblings did they lose along the way?” Eric asked.

  “Too many years. Too many dead.” Dax said, glancing over at Kurt.

  They’d both been part of one of the first Nova Force teams when the cyborgs had stunned the galaxy by refusing to be humanely decommissioned after the wars. No one had any inkling that they were anything more than fighting machines, and some of the corporations had chosen to deny the truth and attempted to destroy their creations despite the cyborgs’ announcement. Dax and his group had rescued as many cyborgs as they could from the slaughter, but they couldn’t be everywhere at once.

  The deaths of the ones he couldn’t save still weighed heavy on his soul. They’d lost a teammate in those days, and his death was the heaviest burden of all. Travis Nikos had sacrificed himself to save his best friend. Years later, Dax still wasn’t sure he was worthy of that sacrifice, but he strived to be every day that he drew breath.

  “Do we have any suspects?” Kurt asked.

  “Too many,” Aria replied. “These thefts continued over a period of years, and it’s highly unlikely that one person would be able to get the material out of the vault, off the base, and then off the planet itself without help. There are too many safeguards in place.”

  She nodded to Magi, who tapped a few buttons on his tablet and called up a long list of names and job descriptions. “This is everyone who works on the base. We can eliminate those who didn’t arrive here until after the wars ended.” Some of the names vanished, but the list was still too damned long for Dax’s liking. It did explain why the in-house investigation hadn’t produced results, though. A base this small simply wouldn’t have the manpower to handle something on this scale.

  Cris sighed and ran a hand through his blond hair. “We’re going to be here for fraxxing ever.”

  “Does his lordship have somewhere else he’d rather be?” Dante drawled, well aware that using that particular nickname was the fastest way to piss off Crispin.

  Born into an old and powerful family on Cassien Alpha, Crispin Charles Caldwell the Fifteenth had walked away from the life that had been laid out for him and joined the IAF to find his own path.

  “I just got word that my baby sister is getting married. The invitations haven’t officially gone out yet, but I’ve already heard from my sister and my parents. Alyson’s afraid our folks will ruin the wedding, and my parents are so distraught that they actually reached out to me, their greatest disappointment, to see if I could check up on her. I was about to take some leave when we got tapped for this mission.”

  Aria frowned. “Why would they be upset she got married? Am I missing something?”

  Cris grimaced. “The grooms’ names are Blade, Lance, and Dirk. Oh, and they’re cyborgs.”

  The table erupted into cheers and whistles.

  “Alright then, we’ve got our deadline. We need to have this investigation wrapped up in time to get Crispin to see his sister and size up his future brothers-in-law before the wedding.”

  Everyone nodded. It was the best motivation he could give them. They’d find the truth eventually, but they’d go above and beyond if it meant helping out one of their own.

  “Anything else we need to cover before we make final approach?”

  Aria raised her hand, manipulating the image so that two names were highlighted. “These two are our main contacts. Dr. Anthony Clarke is the senior scientist on base. He was here before the thefts started, which means he’s also a suspect. Our other contact is the base’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Trinity West. She’s only been at Victor Base for seventeen months.”

  Dax sat up a little higher. He hadn’t heard the name Trinity in years. Travis had a little sister with the same first name. It couldn’t be the same woman, but hearing the name was enough to jostle loose memories he thought he’d buried a long time ago, along with the man he’d considered a brother.

  “So, she’s not a suspect?” Cris asked.

  Dax’s focus snapped back to the present.

  Aria lifted one shoulder in a partial shrug. “She’s an unknown variable.”

  “Want to say that again, but in Galactic Standard for those of us who don’t speak in riddles?” Dante muttered.

  “Want me to use small words, too?”

  Dax interjected. “I want you to explain why an IAF lieutenant is considered an unknown variable instead of an obvious ally. She wasn’t there when the thefts began, so what have you dug up?”

  “Lieutenant West has been actively opposing any outside investigation. She’s the reason we weren’t here weeks ago. Until two days ago, the powers that be were willing to let her have her way. Mostly because she had Dr. Clarke’s support.”

  “So, you think she might be working with Clarke?” Dax asked.

  “Maybe. Or maybe she has her own reasons for wanting things to stay in-house.” Aria glanced over at him. “Did you know that more than half the projects in progress here are classified above top secret? How are we supposed to know what questions to ask, or who to ask them to, if we can’t be told what they’re doing? For all I know, the Lieutenant is just protecting the base’s secrets. We can’t be sure until we have all the facts.”

  “I’ll put in a request to get us access to everything that’s going on down there. Colonel Bahl probably has it in the works already, but it might take a day or so. We’re not even supposed to be arriving until tomorrow morning.”

  “And that means they’re going to be thrilled to see us arriving before we’re expected…again.” Eric sighed and ran a hand through his dark curls, leaving them in a chaotic mess.

  “People make mistakes when they’re off-balance. The more mistakes they make, the faster we’ll close this investigation and get out of here.” He gestured to a wall monitor that showed the planet they were fast approaching. Wide stretches of water dominated the view, while the northern hemisphere contained a dull green and brown continent dotted with lakes and rivers. It was a barren land of rock and tundra, completely uninhabited apart from the men and women who worked at the base.


  An alert sounded in the mess, letting them know that the ship was now approaching their final destination.

  “That’s my cue.” Dante, the ship’s pilot, looked to Dax, waiting for permission to leave the meeting and begin their descent.

  “Dismissed.” He released them to their various duties. Seconds later, only he and Kurt were left.

  “What’s your gut telling you about this mission, Sabre?” he asked his XO. Kurt was a third-generation soldier who was as by the book as they came, but he had an uncanny ability to sense when a mission was going to go spinning out of orbit.

  Kurt raised a brow and gave his head a slow shake. “Nothing good. There’s too much we don’t know. I got a feeling one of those secrets is going to bite us in the ass.”

  Dax looked at his friend and nodded. “I’ll make sure the Colonel gets us access to everything. No secrets. No surprises. Not again.”

  Kurt didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to. The last time they’d gone into a situation without all the information they should have had, they’d both lost a friend. Nothing Dax did would bring Travis back, but he honored his friend’s memory by doing his best to ensure he never lost another teammate.

  He rapped his knuckles on the table three times, then rose to his feet. “I’m going to contact the Colonel and let her know what we need. You get to tell the base commander that we’re on approach and expect to begin our investigation in a matter of hours.”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll have them so off-balance they won’t know what hit them.”

  He clapped Kurt on the shoulder. “Just don’t piss them off so much they threaten to shoot us out of the sky.”

  “That happened one time! And as I recall, it was your fault.”

  “My fault? I believe you’re the one who said that lieutenant had a face only a blind Jeskyran could love.”

  “I’m not the one who left the comm channel open so she heard that remark, though. That was on you.” Kurt got to his feet, snapped off a salute and headed toward the bridge. “See you when we touchdown.”

  Dax stared at the monitor for a few minutes, watching as the planet expanded until it filled the screen. He wasn’t one for getting premonitions, but for once, he agreed with Kurt. Something about this mission had him on edge.

  2

  Trinity stood on the tarmac and watched the Malora descend. It wasn’t common for a ship of her size to make a planetary landing. Normally, the crew would leave the ship in orbit and make the last leg of the journey in a shuttle. Their early arrival and the display of power by landing a fully armed frigate at the base were clearly intended to send a message: Nova Force was here, and they didn’t care about conforming to the usual rules.

  A breeze blew in from the lake, cold enough to nip at her cheeks and numb the tip of her nose. The blush of new growth on the craggy hills that surrounded them suggested spring was on its way, but the temperatures still dropped to near freezing when the sun went down.

  She and Dr. Clarke had chosen to meet the ship together. It would give everyone more time to arrange things for the arrivals, and it allowed the civilians more time to adjust to their new reality. They had resented it when she had been the one asking questions and requesting interviews, but they’d complied because they knew and trusted her.

  Now, they were going to be expected to share their most closely guarded secrets with strangers. Instead of a proper briefing, the scientists and IAF personnel had been given the news in a short communique she and Tony had drafted and delivered on their way to the landing site.

  “I’m still not happy about this. What kind of games are they playing, arriving so early?” Tony grumbled.

  The ear-pounding rumble of the descending ship saved her from having to concoct a diplomatic reply. Whether the scientist liked it or not, a theft had occurred, and because of it, thousands of cyborgs had been created, abused, and sacrificed in a war they never agreed to be part of. Someone had to answer for that.

  The echoes of the engine’s noise were still reverberating through the air when the doorway opened. She came to attention and waited for the team to debark, reminding herself yet again that if she was going to be permitted to be involved in this investigation at all, she was going to have to set aside her disappointment and make herself invaluable. After her time working with the scientists here, she could be a valuable resource. The other IAF personnel didn’t call her the ‘nerd whisperer’ for nothing.

  The first officer to appear was a woman. She was tall and athletic looking, with dark skin and an air of confidence. She scanned the area with a practiced eye before stepping onto the ramp that led to the ground. Her blue and silver uniform bore an insignia Trinity had heard described but never seen, a silver five-pointed star on an all-black background: the symbol of the elite group of soldiers that made up Nova Force.

  Trinity wished there had been time to review their files before they got here. She didn’t even know their names. She was at a disadvantage already, and it bothered her. We’re supposed to be on the same team, dammit.

  She didn’t need to read a file to know the name of the next officer to appear.

  “That son of a bitch,” she muttered in Terran, her accent thickening in her anger. Dax Rossi was here, and according to the shoulder-mark on his uniform, he was a commander, which meant he was the leader of the newly arrived team. Double fraxx.

  “You know him?”

  “I knew him. A long time ago.”

  “Friend?”

  “That’s not the word I’d use, no.” Liar, sure. Jerk, certainly. Lover – once. But the only member of her family he’d been friends with had been her brother. The last time she’d seen Dax, it was at Travis’ funeral, and she’d hoped she would never set eyes on him again.

  As angry as she was at seeing him, it still didn’t stop her heart from doing a triple-beat in her chest. He looked good. The piercing, blue-eyed stare was the same, and his dark hair was still too long for military standards, but there was something different about him: a maturity that hadn’t been there before. He looked every part a confident leader, and it suited him.

  He’s even sexier now. That was the voice of her younger, dumber self. The one that thought she was in love with her brother’s best friend. She wasn’t that girl anymore. She couldn’t be.

  Dax looked her way, and his foot froze mid-stride, nearly sending him tumbling down the ramp. His lips moved, and she could almost hear him speak her name. It gave her some small satisfaction to know she wasn’t the only one that had been blindsided.

  The moment his feet hit solid ground, she pushed aside her personal feelings and became the embodiment of an IAF officer. She snapped off a perfect salute, then stepped forward to greet him. “Welcome to Victor Base, sir. I’m Lieutenant Trinity West.”

  His answering salute was as crisp and perfect as hers had been, but his eyes were stormy, and there was a line between his brows that only appeared when he was unhappy about something.

  There had been a time she would have run her finger down that line and teased him until he smiled again. Despite everything that had happened, part of her still wanted to do that. She hated that he still had that effect on her.

  “Thank you, Lieutenant West.”

  There was a tiny pause before he spoke her last name, and she knew he’d almost called her Lieutenant Nikos. She’d changed her name before joining up. IAF Officer Nikos had been her brother, not her. She didn’t want anyone making that connection, and she had no desire to live in her brother’s shadow.

  “May I introduce the senior scientist in residence? This is Dr. Anthony Clarke. Dr. Clarke, this is Commander Dax Rossi, the commanding officer of Nova Force Team Three.”

  Anthony managed a slight nod, but his arms remained crossed over his chest. “Commander. I’d like to be able to say it’s a pleasure to have you visit our research lab, but the truth is, it’s not. You and your team are a disruption here. I hope you find whatever answers you need and depart as quickly as possible.”

&nb
sp; Dax held out his hand. “I understand your concerns, doctor. We’ll try to keep disruptions to a minimum. You can help us accomplish that by giving my team a list of names and interview times that work with your scientists’ schedules.”

  Anthony still didn’t look happy, but he did shake Dax’s hand. “I’ll have something done up this evening. I assume you’ll only be interested in speaking with the ones who were working here when the theft occurred?”

  “We’ll need to speak to everyone on the base.” Dax glanced back her way. “That includes all IAF personnel.”

  Trinity nodded. “I’ve assigned you and your team accommodations, workspace, and interview rooms. My people will make themselves available whenever you need them.”

  “The soldiers are replaceable cogs in the wheels that run this place, but my scientists are a different matter. Why would you need to speak to the ones who weren’t even here when the theft occurred?”

  Trinity didn’t appreciate Clarke calling her people cogs, but she was more concerned about his attitude toward the newly arrived investigators. If he kept pushing, he wasn’t going to enjoy what happened next.

  Dax’s expression hardened. “Because, Dr. Clarke, that’s how we build a complete picture of what happened here. I understand your concerns, and we will do our best to accommodate them. However, I expect the full and complete cooperation of you and your scientists.”

  The two men were glowering at each other, and Trinity decided it was time to step in. “You’ll have all the cooperation you need, Commander. Dr. Clarke, I already assured you I’d do all I can to ensure your people are not disrupted more than necessary. This investigation is important to everyone.”

  Tony’s expression softened slightly, and he gave her a ghost of a smile. “You’re right, Trin – I mean Lieutenant West.”

  Dax’s lips thinned at the doctor’s slip, which she was certain hadn’t been an accident. She wasn’t interested in being a pawn in their little power play. She had a job to do, and goals of her own she needed to accomplish.