The Phoenix Conspiracy Read Online Free PDF

a
fight."
    "So noted," the Judicator said, trying
not to look surprised. "This court gratefully accepts your
forthrightness, adding to the record that the accused surrendered
his vessel voluntarily and that he pled guilty to all charges.
Without further need for deliberation, this court is adjourned for
sentencing." The moment her gavel landed, the room flooded with
conversation and military police swarmed in to usher everyone
outside the chamber, other than those involved in the
sentencing.
    "So that's it? Just like that and it's
over?" Calvin asked, following the Vice Admiral out the
door.
    "What else did you expect? His guilt
was obvious, even Asari Raidan knew he was convicted before he
arrived. Seriously, Lieutenant Commander, did you honestly expect
this trial to go any other way?"
    "Well no, I suppose not," said
Calvin.
    "Even if the evidence
weren't as strong as it is, and it is strong, do you think the Rotham
people would accept anything less than death for what happened to
their ships? If Raidan were somehow acquitted of all charges it
would cause an international outcry." Calvin thought her view, one
of politics trumping investigation, was typical of a Fleet
officer.
    "What's bothering me," Calvin paused,
searching for the right words. "Is that Raidan is in every way the
model captain. Perfect service record, great commission, he has
three Silver Stars, several merit medallions, and even the Medal of
Valor. Why would he throw all of that away to shoot down some
civilian starships for absolutely no reason whatsoever?"
    "It might not have been
about what they
were but who they
were, have you thought about that?"
    It took him a second to figure out
what she meant. "Yes, I'd considered the possibility that it was
some kind of hate crime, that he was attacking the rotham for being
rotham, but that's not consistent with his character and record.
He's worked alongside rotham before without a single note of
contempt. He even helped coordinate a joint action during the Great
War. So that superficial explanation doesn't answer why he’d
targeted these particular ships, and why now? Why, in his mind, was
it okay to open fire on Rotham traffic now when it wasn't before?
And what about all that 'good of the empire' talk? There are
details being missed here."
    "Maybe he wanted to start a
war. Whatever it was, his reasoning was clearly unsound and, like
it or not, he is guilty."
    This kind of obstinacy was why Calvin
hated discussing investigations with personnel outside of Intel
Wing. Regulars didn't think much past what could be seen
immediately and they tended to latch onto the first, shallowest
explanation that came down the line... but their theory felt wrong
to him, Raidan wasn't an alien-hating racist who wanted to start a
war. How could he possibly benefit from one? Certainly not enough
to die for. Calvin also wondered why Raidan made no effort to
explain his actions, except to say they were for the good of the
Empire. His failure to elaborate implied, to Calvin, that he wanted
the superficial explanations to stand. But why?
    The next two hours were spent in the
company of Admiral Harkov and fellow command officers. They went to
an elegant restaurant and ordered an expensive meal, which the
government paid for. They ate as slowly as possible and discussed
everything from the trial to local politics. Calvin didn't know
much about Praxis System and let the others dominate the
conversation, he took it as a chance to learn about his
environment, since he was vacationing here for the next
month.
    Not much distinguished it from a
typical colony outside of geography. The primary station orbited
the only habitable planet, a typical medium blue, and the economy
hinged on tech processing and mineral discoveries. It was smaller
than most Imperial systems with only five-billion people, but saw a
lot of traffic and kept in reserve a disproportionately large
defense force due to its proximity to the DMZ—the Rotham border.
The system,