Cody's War: Flight Of The Phoenix, page 1
CODY’S WAR
Flight Of The Phoenix
Book Three
Todd J. McCaffrey
A Foxxe Frey Book
Cody’s War: Flight of the Hope
Copyright © 2023 Todd J. McCaffrey
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the copyright holder, except where permitted by law. This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination, or, if real, used fictitiously.
Synopsis: Cody Ford discovers how to survive when aliens destroy his world and star system.
Cover: Todd McCaffrey
1
Books by Todd McCaffrey
Science fiction
Ellay
The Jupiter Game
The Steam World Series
The Steam Walker, The Steam Spy, The Steam Crown
Canaris Rift Series
Raw Space, The King’s Ghosts, Witch’s Brew, Pirate Queen, War Maid, War Ring
Collections
The One Tree of Luna (And Other Stories)
Dare To Be Mighty (A collection of F&SF Stories)
Dragonriders of Pern® Series
Dragon’s Kin, Dragon’s Fire, Dragon Harper,
Dragonsblood, Dragonheart, Dragongirl,
Dragon’s Time, Sky Dragons
Nonfiction
Dragonholder: The Life And Times (so far) of Anne McCaffrey
Dragonwriter: A tribute to Anne McCaffrey and Pern
Books by The Winner Twins and Todd McCaffrey
Nonfiction
The Write Path: World Building
Books by McCaffrey-Winner
The Magpie’s War
Twin Soul Series
TS1 - Winter Wyvern
TS2 - Cloud Conqueror
TS3 - Frozen Sky
TS4 - Wyvern’s Fate
TS5 - Wyvern’s Wrath
TS6 - Ophidian’s Oath
TS7 - Snow Serpent
TS8 - Iron Air
TS9 - Ophidian’s Honor
TS10 - Healing Fire
TS11 - Ophidian’s Tears
TS12 - Cloud War
TS13 - Steel Waters
TS14 - Cursed Mage
TS15 - Wyvern’s Creed
TS16 - King’s Challenge
TS17 - King’s Conquest
TS18 - King’s Treasure
TS19 - Wyvern Rider
TS20 - King’s Crown
To see the full list, scan the QR Code
Dedication
For Kevin J. Anderson
Contents
Chapter One 9
Chapter Two 19
Chapter Three 35
Chapter Four 47
Chapter Five 61
Chapter Six 77
Chapter Seven 90
Chapter Eight 110
Chapter Nine 140
Acknowledgments 165
About the Author 166
Chapter One
The survivor was small, not more than thirty kilos in mass. Cody pulled the body out of the pod head first.
It was a girl. Maybe eight, maybe nine. Her hair was matted, her face bruised and cut.
“Steve, eight or nine year old girl, red hair —” Cody reported. The girl’s eyes snapped open. “Ellaz?”
The girl looked up at him and screamed.
“Hey, hey!” Cody soothed. She wasn’t Ellaz, her eyes were brown. But the similarities — they were astounding. “I’m Cody Ford, you’re on my shuttle —”
The girl blinked and shut her mouth. She eyed him — almost exactly the way Ellaz looked at him when she was making up her mind about something — then opened her mouth again but she couldn’t speak.
“Hang on,” Cody said, gently lowering her head to the deck and racing off for an emergency electrolyte drink. He grabbed it, came back, raised her head, opened the drink with his teeth and lowered it to her lips.
She eyed him and the drink with distaste. Cody dribbled a bit of the liquid on her lips and then she sighed, opened her mouth and let him empty the drink into her. When she was done, she sighed again, nodded with her eyes closed, and whispered, “Germs.”
“Yes,” Cody said. “You’re on my shuttle, we’ve got SAR on the way but I think we should go back to Point Midway — that’s a couple of hours. Do you think you can stand?”
She barked a laugh and nodded toward her legs. “No,” she said. Cody followed her gaze and gasped in shock — both her legs were bowed outwards. Then she said, “Computers.”
“What?” he was still trying to grapple with the mess that was the remains of her legs. He started a medical survey, noticed that one of her arms was also bent — a broken arm badly set?
“The computers, the shuttle,” the girl said. “Data.”
“Right, we’re bringing it back, too,” Cody said. “Are you really from the Maru?”
Her head jerked. “Not anymore.” She winced in pain and clenched her jaw tightly.
“Do you need meds?”
“No!” The girl gasped, eyes open in terror. “No, no, no, NO! I’ll be good! Please! PLEASE no more —”
“Okay, okay,” Cody said. He looked around. “I’m going to lower the gravity, get you on a stretcher and set you level, okay?”
“No meds,” the girl repeated in a whisper. “Please…”
The terror in her eyes haunted Cody while he lowered the gravity, grabbed a stretcher, gently moved her onto it — she shrieked in pain when he did — and then he strapped her and the stretcher securely. He raised the gravity to a sixth gee — the same as old Earth’s moon.
Then he pulled out a hand scanner and ran it over her from top to bottom. Her skull had been fractured, her jaw broken, her left and right collar bones, her sternum had been cracked, so had her hip — the list made him nauseous.
“They tortured you?” Cody whispered. “Why?”
“So I would kill,” the girl whispered back, surprising him. Her eyes met his. “Cody Ford? Freighter Hornet, Meath.”
“You know me?”
She shook her head. “I read the roster,” she said. “When I was looking for Whirly.”
Cody’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“I had to kill her,” the girl replied, sighing and closing her eyes. “I had to.”
“You!” Cody cried. “You were in the caterpillar suit!”
The girl opened her eyes again. “Caterpillar suit?”
“It was green, stood up and looked like a caterpillar,” Cody explained.
“Yes,” the girl said. “The warp suit. It was our only chance.”
“Chance?”
“To kill her,” the girl whispered back. “I didn’t want to but… there was no choice.”
“The aliens made you kill her?”
“No,” the girl whispered, “father.”
“Cody?” Steve Ahmet called over his wristcomm.
“Yes,” Cody replied. “I’ve got one survivor, roughly eight or nine —”
“Nine,” the girl breathed, her face pinched in annoyance.
“Nine years old,” Cody continued, nodding toward her. “I think she’s Matilda Mayhew.”
“Tilly,” the girl whispered.
“Tilly?” Cody repeated.
“‘S my name,” the girl said. She turned her head to one side and relaxed.
“I’m going to set us up for a max gee pull back to Midway —”
“Don’t bother, sir!” Steve replied. “The cavalry has arrived!”
“What?”
“Good day, Admiral, we were wondering if you needed a ride?” Percy “Pete” Leyton’s voice came over Cody’s comm.
#
“Don’t worry, sir, we’ve got her,” the doctor said as Cody hovered over the broken body that was Matilda — “Tilly” — Mayhew.
“No meds,” Cody ordered.
“Sir?” the doctor — Lieutenant Noran — said with raised eyebrows.
“She specifically said no meds, lieutenant,” Cody told her.
“Sir,” the lieutenant began in a hectoring tone, “my oath specifically enjoins me to do no harm. This girl is in terrible pain and —”
“She specifically said no meds, lieutenant,” Cody repeated himself, his voice going firmer. “Now, are you going to honor her request or do I need to find another doctor?” He saw her grit her jaw and waved a hand in irritation. Raising his wristcomm. “Pete? You got another doc? Otherwise you can meet me in sickbay, this one’s being an asshole.”
Doctor Noran growled at him. “Listen, sir, you might be some damned hero elsewhere but I will not let you torture someone who has so obviously been abused that even you noticed it!”
“I offered her meds doc, she said no,” Cody told her mildly. “In fact, she screamed at the suggestion. She said, ‘I’ll be good!’”
Dr. Noran’s expression changed and she glanced down at the girl. “They used drugs coercively?” Cody nodded. “Why?”
“To get her to kill,” Cody told her. “Think about that, doc. Think about it on the way up to sickbay and see if you change your mind about drugs.” He motioned to the orderlies to carry the stretcher over to the lift.
#
“Jeez, what did they do to her?” Commander Leyton said as he found Cody in the sick bay. The medtechs had very, very carefully stripped her, hissing in fury at every new discovery on her ruined body and had put her, first, in a soothing bath, and then in a gown in a warming bed.
“Pretty much everything, sir,” Dr. Noran replied, looking down at the girl with a tender expression. “They didn’t quite break every bone in her body but they had a good run.”
“And the skull fracture?”
“We’re going to want to work on that, and her jaw,” Dr. Noran agreed. “But I’d like to reset the leg fractures and her arms — she’s got to be in incredible pain just from those.” She turned to Cody. “The blood work’s back. She’s low on just about everything and her white blood count is high — I’d like to start her on an IV drip with antibiotics.” She raised her left eyebrow as she added, “She still has traces of painkillers in her system. Probably got them anywhere between two to six hours ago.”
“Not me,” Cody said.
“Well, if she had to move, she was walking on two broken legs and a broken hip,” Dr. Noran replied. “She couldn’t have done that without something.”
“Had to,” the girl whispered, opening her eyes and finding Cody’s.
“Had to?” Cody repeated. “To get to the shuttle?”
She shook her head. “To destroy the ship.”
“The ship?” Cody repeated. “The alien?”
The girl nodded. “The shuttle was luck.”
“And determination,” Dr. Noran added. She glanced down at the girl. “You blew up their ship?”
“Tried,” the girl replied. “Father… he died for it.”
“Okay, you need to rest,” Dr. Noran said. “You’re in intense pain right now, that’s going to be hard. You’re fighting off an infection, I want to treat it with antibiotics, you’re low on fluids, I want to give you an IV with vitamins. I could stick in some painkillers to make it easier for you.”
“You won’t kill again,” Cody assured her. Then, “We could strap you to the bed so you don’t move.”
The girl considered that and jerked her head in a nod.
“Okay then,” Dr. Noran said. She smiled at the girl. “I’m Leah.”
“Tilly,” the girl said quietly. She looked up to Cody. “I’m a murderer.”
“We’ll talk about that later,” Cody told her, resting a hand over hers. She flinched and then she looked up at him, opening her hand to his. He squeezed lightly and she squeezed back.
“You know, she looks a lot like —” Percy Leyton began only to stop when he caught sight of Cody’s expression. “Right, well, admiral, if you want, they’re waiting for you back home.”
“Did they send you?” Cody asked. “I thought we were keeping all warships back at Quark in case —”
“Um,” Percy Leyton said with a guilty look, “I might have — um, well, sir, if you could provide me with written orders — back-dated, of course — that might help in the court martial.”
Cody shook his head and laughed. The girl — Tilly — jerked at the sound but then relaxed like she suddenly remembered hearing laughter and wasn’t frightened by it.
Cody shot a look to Dr. Noran. “Her implants? How are they?”
“It’s too early to tell, sir,” Dr. Noran replied. “The scans were clean, no sign of hemorrhaging, so I’d say there’s a good chance they still work.” She frowned. “I’d wait, sir, before I’d —”
Cody cut her off with a wave of his hand. “Thank you,” he said. “Of course. And… Doctor?”
Dr. Noran smiled. “I’m sorry sir, I’m a bit of a hard case when it comes to my patients —”
“Good,” Cody said. “Just remember that they’re human, all right?”
“Yes sir,” Dr. Noran agreed, shooting glances toward her medtechs who were all very busy not looking her way. “I’ll do that.”
“Good,” Cody said. Then his tone went hard, “And I won’t court martial you for insubordination.”
“Yes sir,” Dr. Noran said sheepishly.
#
“Cody,” Pete Leyton said as they walked through the tubes to the command shuttle, “Leah’s really good at her job.”
“Not if she doesn’t follow orders,” Cody snapped back. Then he glanced up to Leyton. “Although I can see where she gets her examples.”
“Those orders?” Leyton asked.
Cody smirked. “Back-dated to when? Or should I just leave the date blank and give you copies?”
Leyton chuckled. “That would be useful!”
#
In the command shuttle, also named Hermes, Cody stayed back in the main cabin, and called in to Point Midway.
“We recovered one survivor from the alien ship,” Cody began, recounting their encounter.
“An alien?” Boris Kelner asked. “How?”
“Not an alien, a hostage,” Cody replied. “Tilly Mayhew, daughter of —”
“Horace Mayhew,” Boris finished. “I met him once. He ran himself out of money working on a project he’d never talk about. The Maru was lost a couple of years back, as I recall.”
“Yes, it was high on our list of possible targets,” Cody said. “There’s a chance that this girl, or her father, sabotaged the alien ship.”
“And the father?”
“He didn’t make it,” Cody replied. “This survivor, she’s got a lot of information we could use. But she’s seriously injured. I think she was systematically tortured.”
“And, sir?” Boris prompted.
“Well, I was thinking that we should get her back to Quark as soon as possible.”
“I agree,” Boris said. “How long will it take Hermes to dock here, sir?”
Cody frowned.
“After all, admiral, there are a lot of details we need to resolve, particularly with the survivors of the other ships,” Boris added. He knew that Cody was itching to get back to Quark and was quietly reminding him of his duties. To Gail. To Nora, to Emma, to everyone who’d fought, bled, and survived.
“Right,” Cody said. “And I suppose she can recover on Midway as well as anywhere else.”
“Probably not,” Boris replied. “From what you’ve described, she needs a major hospital and a good therapist. A very good therapist.” He paused. “I happen to know a few. And I married one.”
Cody had a hard time imagining Boris Kelner married. At least, not for long.
“Once,” Boris added. “Anyway, sir, what are your orders?”
“Keep up with SAR, I’ll return to the base in —” he glanced around “— two hours. Then I’ll send Hermes on with the good news.”
“Have her send a deep space tender and repair ship back,” Boris suggested. “We’ve got four ships to deal with.” I hope, Cody thought to himself.
“Roger,” Cody said. He went to the cockpit and tapped Pete on the shoulder. The acting-captain took off his helmet. “Yes sir?”
“Get us close to Midway,” Cody said. “I’ll jump over.”
Percy Leyton’s jaw dropped before he could school his expression. “Right, admiral, just jump on over in an EVA suit. Safe as houses, sir.”
“And then you’re going to assist with SAR,” Cody told him. “I want every person accounted for.”
“Of course, sir,” Pete told him. “It’ll be our pleasure.” Then, “And our patient?”
“All due courtesy,” Cody replied.
“Sure,” Pete replied. “And, sir? Ellaz wants a chance to talk with you.” He held up his implant helmet to Cody.
“Do we — I mean —”
“Please, sir,” Pete said. “I think she misses you.”
She always misses me! Cody thought to himself fondly. He pulled the helmet down, and looked around in the virtual world. Ellaz Hermes was standing just in front of him, stomping one foot on the foggy ground.
Ellaz?
Ellaz turned to face him. Cody! You survived!
Yes, I was stuck on Midway, Cody told her. It was grim but we stopped them. We lost nineteen ships, Ellaz. He paused. Including Wasp.
Wasp? Is that the ship —?
That’s the ship that had Ellaz Whirly on it, Cody said.
Oh, Cody! This Ellaz cried in sympathy, flinging her arms around him and hugging him tightly. Cody felt someone pat his shoulder and looked up to see Other Cody.
We found a survivor, Ellaz, Cody went on, forcing himself. She’s a human, one of the Mayhews, we think —
Let me see her! Ellaz demanded. Is she awake? Does she know —?
She’s sleeping, she was tortured, Cody replied. But she looks like you.
Like me? How is that — Ellaz broke off. Then she screamed in anger. That’s not me! My genes! They stole my genes!
