The Phoenix Conspiracy eBook

“If you must know, she and I were close before all of this happened.

How could we not be? She was the most reliable officer I’ve ever had.

And she looked at me with a kind of respect that, well, very few can show.

And, as I’m sure you’ve found, her advice is always extremely insightful.”

Calvin said nothing.

“So I came to depend on her more as an equal than as a subordinate.

A partnership was born. But I kept one thing from her.”

“The Organization.”

“Exactly. And as we both know, in this game, the more knowledge you have, the less safe you are—I couldn’t tell her because I wanted to protect her.”

“Meanwhile,” said Calvin, “she realizes you’ve been keeping secrets from her and misinterprets it—she thinks you don’t trust her. And now she wants to prove something to you.”

“No. She had no idea I was keeping secrets up until the very, very end.

It wasn’t until Harkov’s marines boarded my ship that she realized I’d been lying to her, and the whole crew, about everything. If she’s still ‘impassioned’ when my name comes up, it’s because she feels betrayed that I deceived her, no other reason.”

Calvin didn’t push the matter but believed there was more to the story.

“Thanks for your information,” he said. "I should return to my ship now.

My crew and I need to mourn our dead."

"Yes, indeed," said Raidan. “But don’t forget to have your defense officer contact me with details about the engagement in Abia, as agreed."

"I won’t forget," said Calvin, unsure what Raidan would find useful about it—he already knew the Fifth Fleet destroyed itself. "Miles will contact you as soon as he’s able."

"Good," Raidan scribbled a series of numbers onto his paper, then tore it off and handed it to Calvin. "Have him use this frequency."