The first 3 chapters of the upcoming novel Flames of the Phoenix Cydonia City Blues.

1. FLAMES OF THE PHOENIX
Episode 15
Cydonia City Blues
Written by D. E. Edwards Jr. & D. G. Bigelow

2. Chapter 1
‘Death is not the worst that can happen to men.’ Plato
Cydonia, Mars
Joseph Sciperio, or Old Joe as some called him, though never to his face sat back in his chair
behind his desk. A cigar in one hand, a glass of scotch in the other as Mozart’s ‘The Marriage of
Figaro’ flowed from the speakers, encompassing the large room in the sweet music. His eyes
drifted over the desk and down the long walkway. Shadows cast from the floor to ceiling
aquariums on either side of the office crisscrossed on the floor. Ornate white marble columns
imported from Terra lined the walkway to his desk on the raised dial. The office took up the
entire top floor of the building, a room rival ancient kings.
Taking a pull of the cigar, Joseph blew two nearly perfect rings into the air before him. Gray blue
eyes beneath full gray eyebrows watched as the rings floated into the air and slowly dissipated.
Letting out a sigh Joseph leaned back in his chair, his mind blank and relaxed he closed his eyes
and let himself become enveloped by the music around him. Wrinkled hands drifted in the air
back and forth like he himself was conducting the orchestra, careful as not to spill his scotch.
The music sang to him, the tempos and notes flowed through him as the ensemble reached its
climax.
As the music ran its course Joseph stood sipping his drink and smiled to himself as he walked to
the window and looked out over the city of Cydonia. He occupied the highest building in the
city, situated in the very center of the dome. Before him buildings stretched up beneath the
dome, alive with a million lights and neon’s. The people of Cydonia scampered beneath the
dome free to pursue whatever desire they wished. That was Cydonia’s true wealth. Freedom.
Cydonia. The jewel of Mars. His city. A city of wealth and power and it was all his.
Nights like these were rare and he needed to take a moment to enjoy the simpler things in life.
Running a city as large as Cydonia was taxing, the never ending bureaucratic bullshit of the city
consumed his every waking moment. Never had he thought he would be in such a position,
certainly not when he was a young man fighting to push the Terran government from the face of

3. Mars. For near thirty years now he had run the cities’ government, a gift for his services during
the revolution. Now as times before he questioned whether the gift of the city was truly worth it.
The music cut off suddenly, replaced by the wailing of the buildings security alarms. Before
Sciperio could turn from the window, a whooshing roared up the building and shook the complex
violently. Gray eyebrows rose over gray-blue eyes, heavily lined with age as he griped the railing
to steady himself. The building seemed to groan in pain as the vibrations subsided. Cracks had
appeared across the marble floor and ceiling. His mind raced with possibilities, though deep in
his gut he knew what was happening, it happened ever few years or so. The real question was,
who was it this time?
Turning from the window, Joseph shouted “Computer, Security feeds now!” his voice a deep
baritone was laced anger. The buildings AI projected the security feeds instantly over his desk.
His eyes widen in horror at the sight before him. Most of the security cameras on the ground
level were down, nothing but static, from what little he could see of the lobby was utterly
destroyed. The explosion had ripped everything to pieces, men and woman lay strewed amongst
the rubble of the lobby, as men in high grade black combat armor stormed the hallways. His
security forces were nowhere to be seen.
Joseph Sciperio smashed the control panel on his desk, which connected him to the buildings
security center. “Hello! Hello! Is anyone there?” he paused hearing nothing but static. “Hello!
Can anyone hear me? Hello!” he yelled into the terminal, but there no response from his security
personnel. “Damn it! Computer alert all security forces to the regroup on the second level,
initiate security protocol five throughout the complex.” Joseph roared. They, whoever they were
would not catch him unprepared. Since childhood he had lived within violence and he learned
early on how to using it, bending it to his will. It was a tool that many tried to employ against
him. This was not the first time and those who come before had meet an early end. “Will they
never learned? Who would dare?” he shouted, eyes scanning the holo screens for a clue as to
who would dare challenge him. “Fools!” After all these years none should dare be so foolish to
attack him in his own home. Cydonia was his by right. By conquest. He’d earned it, through
blood, sweat and sacrifice. It was his reward for his service to the cause. If they wanted it they
would have to take it from his cold dead hands.

4. The bookcase on the far side of the office slide open smoothly revealing the escape tunnel.
Zachariah, his head of security burst from the corridor into the office with seven members of his
security forces. They were dressed in battle vests with guns at the ready. “Sir, intruders have
taken the bottom three floors,” Zachariah said. “Our security forces are holding on the fifth level,
for the moment.” His blue eyes were worried but determined.
“Why are you here then? Go fucking stop them!” Joseph’s lips curled back in a snarled at the
younger man.
“Sir, a small force landed on the roof and will be here shortly, I thought it best to- ”.
“So they send assassins after me while they storm the gates. Fuckers. Who are they? Who would
be so foolish?” he interrupted the younger man smashing a ham sized fist onto the desk.
Zachariah shook his head, “I –I don’t know, not that it matters. We need to get you out of here.
We cannot hope to hold off this attack.”
“Bah! After all these years I’ll not tuck tail and run.” Reaching for the pistol grip of the riot
shotgun secured under his desk he ripped it free its holder. “Let them come.” He stood and
pumped the stock loading a shell.
“We should leave sir.” Zachariah pleaded.
“No!” he snapped. “Not this time my friend. No one dares threaten me in my own home. And I
will not run! Cydonia is mine. If I run, my standing amongst the Syndicate is lost and I’ll be dead
anyway. While I’d rather not die here, I will not suffer such shame to my name and die at the
hands of the Syndics.” Joe’s eyes narrowed, “Take your positions and kill everyone who enters
that fucking door." He said pointing down the columned path to the main door of the large office.
As the words left his mouth…
Thunder exploded at the far end of the office. The great ornate doors blew inward in a wave of
flames. Throwing an arm over his face he ducked down instinctively behind the desk. Ears
ringing, gripping the gun in both hands breathing heavily. Gunfire erupted from the door way as
Zachariah and his men scattered, taking cover behind pillars and furniture returning fire.

5. Panting Joseph stood up as a sea of black armored men flooded into the office. Finding the
weapons trigger he squeezed, unleashing his furry on the intruders before him. Dressed in their
black armor they looked like ants swarming an enemy hive. His hive. He fired until the weapon
clicked empty. Ducking for cover, as a wave of blaster fire came flying at him. As he reloaded
the weapon Zachariah came sliding to cover behind the desk.
“We have to go!” Zachariah screamed over the gunfire, pulling on Joseph’s suit jacket.
Joseph pushed the younger man away, “Never!” Turning he raised his gun to the large salt water
fish tank to his right. Firing twice he exploded the glass before firing on the tank to his left. The
glass shattered releasing forty thousand gallons of water rushing down on the ants. He shot them
as they lost their footing in the water. Firing again and again.
Standing he found a target, an ant and fired the gun in his hands killing the ants. Pumping the
action he found another ant, firing again and again. The ants fell before him as a smile crossed
his face. The thrill of battle surged in his veins, strengthening him. He missed the action of the
streets, the thrill of battle. It was lacking following the war and his ascension to the head of the
Cydonia outfit.
A blur of motion caught his eye and he turned the muzzle of the gun to his left and fired again.
He missed the ant and instead blasted chunks out of the white marble pillar. One of his security
detail, the man closest to him, went down in a hail of burner blasts.
Joseph Sciperio dropped low behind the desk to reload as gun fire erupted around him. Grinding
his teeth he stood ready to fight to the bitter end. And take as many of his enemies with him to
the grave.
This is it. The end of it all.
Phoenix inched his way down the dark corridor that lead to Old Joe’s office. His stainless steel
twentieth century replica of the Colt .45 MK IV in his right fist lead the way to the secret door.
The corridor was dark with only small markers along the path to guide one. Not that he need the
guides, having worked for Old Joe for a number of years now, he’d used the passage on more

6. than one occasion. As he neared the entrance to the office, Phoenix could see Zachariah and
several of his security team had taken positions amongst the pillars fighting off the assault team.
The decoys. Valin’s hired goons.
Eyes scanning the scene Phoenix marked the men’s positions in his mind. Old Joe Sciperio, his
target this evening, stood behind his black marble desk yelling and firing an assault shogun at the
advancing decoys. For a moment Phoenix studied his target as he fought the advancing wave of
soldiers. Despite the man’s near ancient age the man bore the strength of a bear.
Withdrawing the twin .45 from beneath his jacket he cocked backed the hammers on both
pistols. Taking a deep breath Phoenix steadied himself then leaped from the secret corridor. Two
steps out of the bookcase door, he fired the twin .45’s twice into Zachariah’s back. The young
security chief pitched forward against the pillar, blood splattering the white marble. Another two
steps Phoenix fired his .45’s again, dropping another of the security detail. Three steps and
Phoenix fired twice more, he missed on the first shot but hit on the second. Phoenix fired again
and dropped the fourth and last of Old Joe’s security forces.
All too easy.
Joseph fired his weapon knocking an ant back against the pillar. The ant groaned as he slump to
the floor. “Ha! Is that all of have?”” he shot the ant again, there were no others to shoot.
He was bleeding from his arm, but he felt no pain. Only anger.
He kicked the ant at his feet. “Who sent you, ya fuckin’ pricks?! Huh?” he shot the ant in the leg.
Blood splattering. "Who sent you? Answer me!”
“Can’t get answers from a dead man.” A voice said from behind him.
Fear struck him and he whirled, or tried too. Fire erupted in his back and he fell to his knees, the
gun falling from his grip. Coughing blood he feel to the floor his arms weak.
So this is it? This is how it ends?

7. Joseph’s vision blurred as he fell to the floor. Turning his head, he saw Death, dressed as a man,
bald, with a thin beard and a long goatee, holding an ancient handgun in his hand. Joseph knew
the man’s face. He’d employed him, that face for several years now. He should have known that
face would be Death in disguise.
“W-why?” he managed through the blood pooling in back of his throat.
Death raised the ancient handgun, “Sorry old boy, it’s only business.” a smile parted the Death’s
bearded face as he pulled the trigger, the weapon spat fire at Old Joe and all went black.
So this is Death.
For a moment Phoenix stood staring at the corpse of Old Joe Sciperio. Unlike some men he had
no issue shooting a man in the back. After all, a man with his back turned to you couldn’t see
you coming. Or shoot you back for the matter. He had worked for the man for three years off and
on. Doing the man’s dirty work, cleaning up his messes, now he was dead by his hand. Not that
he felt any remorse or guilt for the beast of a man. It was business, plain and simple. He himself
merely a tool for hire and he had done his part. If not him, some other gun in the system would
have taken the job. Besides the money was too good to pass up.
Reloading the replica .45’s, Phoenix returned them to their holster beneath his arms. The sound
of footsteps caught his ear and Phoenix turned from Old Joe’s body. From the entrance came
Derrick Valin walking down the pathway leading to Joseph’s desk with ten of his shock troops
behind him. He looked like an ancient victor of old marching to the throne. A smile was wide on
his angular face. The shock troops all wore their black synthetic armor and helmets with blast
screens over their faces, all except for Edmond, Valin’s second in command.
As they approached them he casually unclipped the burner on his hip. Leaning against Old Joe’s
desk he withdrew a cigar from the case in his jacket pocket, placing it in the right corner of his
mouth. From his pants pocket he found the battered Zippo lighter, flicked it open and brought the
flame to the end of the cigar watching Valin across the flame. Valin clapped as he approached
surveying the destruction of the office, “My, my, you are worth every penny aren’t you? That’s

8. was one hell of a show.” Valin said stopping before the steps leading to Old Joe’s desk. Edmond
stood behind him, the other men spread out along the columns checking the dead.
Phoenix offered Valin a slight grin. “It was nothing.”
“Humility, huh? That’s not something I would have expected of you.” Valin said smiling. “Now
that the old bastard’s dead, this little burg is mine. So why not stick ‘round a bit, could use you in
a fight.”
Phoenix exhaled a cloud of smoke. “Nah. Think I’ve outstayed my welcome here, time to move
on.”
Valin clicked his tongue. “That’s a shame. A real fucking shame.” Valin’s left hand flashed
forward with his pistol and fired. Phoenix, caught off guard went for the burner on his hip, too
slow to match Valin’s draw. As Phoenix’s burner cleared the holster, Valin’s first shot hit him in
the left shoulder knocking him off balance as he squeezed the trigger. His aim true Valin
screamed a second after Phoenix took a second blast in the chest. His armor took the blunt of the
blow, though the air rushed from his lungs as he stumbled backward over the desk. Numb fingers
struggling to hold the burner in his right hand.
Crashing to the floor, the world around him spun and his breath came in sharp shallow breaths.
The office was chaos around him. Valin screamed over a roar of gunfire. The desk was being
shredded by blasters. “Fuck me…double crossing son-of-a-bitch.” Pushing himself to his knees
he pulled the twin .45’s from their holsters.
They were going to pay.
Standing he saw Valin his face pale holding the stump of his right arm. Phoenix smiled found a
target and fired the .45’s as he dodged left toward the pillars. Two of Valin’s shock troops fell to
his fire. Pain ripped through his side and Phoenix stumbled to his knees behind a pillar. Grinding
his teeth against the pain Phoenix came around the pillar, firing the pistol empty before taking
cover.
Motion to his left made Phoenix instinctively dodged left firing the pistol in his right hand,
hitting a shock troop in the blast shield. The man stumbled backward, crashing heavily to the
floor. He caught sight of Valin screaming as his men charged forward. “Fuck me.” Phoenix

9. swore as he fired his pistol dry at another shock troop. Triggered the pistol’s release he allowed
the magazine to fall to the floor. Bullets flew around him as he ran the past of the columns. A
shock troop materialized before him and he slammed the empty pistol into the man’s face mask
cracking the blast screen. Letting the man fall to the floor he took up the man’s assault rifle and
rounded the nearest pillar. Firing madly into a knot of men. He rifle clicked dry as three of
Valin’s men fell.
Rolling behind the pillar as bullets flew in return to his fire. Dropping the useless rifle Phoenix
reloaded his twin .45’s as the pillar slowly vaporized around him. Chunks of imported marble
flew past his face, cutting his skin. He’d didn’t feel it, didn’t feel the pain of the bruises Valin’s
gun shots had left on him either. All he felt was rage, cold, seething rage.
Guns lose he flicked back the safeties and rolled out from the pillar. Finding a target he squeezed
the triggers for both pistols simultaneously dropping one of the black armored men. Finding
another target he continued to eliminate Valin’s men one after another. Three men down the
pistol in his left hand clicked dry as he fired out the pistol in his right hand into the stomach of a
black armored trooper.
Taking cover behind a pillar, Valin’s men returned fire. Reloading his pistols he cursed silently
as he noticed he burned through his ammo reserves. Bringing the pistols to bear Phoenix rolled
out from cover, shooting both pistols forward into a knot of shock troops surrounding Valin. He
dropped three of them before the pistol in his left hand clicked dry.
Duking behind the pillar again Phoenix replaced the empty .45 in its holster. A blur to the right
caught his eye a second before a blast slammed into his chest sending him flying backwards.
Landing heavily on the marble floor Phoenix coughed blood before gasping for air. Rolling onto
this stomach he found himself back near the end of the office. Cursing he managed to drag
himself behind the desk. Stars wavered in front of his eyes, but he lived. The new battle armor
was tough, but it would not last forever. His ribs ached and he guessed several were broken as it
hurt to breath. Blood bubbled on his lips.
A blast tore into the floor near his feet. “Double crossing son-of-a-bitch,” he mumbled under his
breath. He would make Valin pay one day for this. Holding the pistol with numb fingers he stood

10. quickly and unloaded the last four shots on the shotgun wielding man as he came out from
behind the pillar. Phoenix turned and dropped low as energy blast ripped chunks from the desk.
“You bastard!” Valin screamed behind him. “You took my fucking hand! Kill him!”
A grim smile crossed Phoenix’s bloody lips at Valin’s cries. Serves him right. Coughing blood
Phoenix wiped it from his lips and replaced the second pistol under his arm.
He found the burner he’d shot Valin with laying at his feet, reaching for it he checked the
weapons charge. Ninety percent. Not bad. Burners had always been unreliable weapons, horrible
aim, accuracy, short battery life, too many components. The list went on and on. Though when a
group of men charged you almost shoulder to shoulder like green cadets, a burner can do a lot of
damage.
Withdrawing three small cylindrical grenades from his bag at his side he flicked the switch at the
top of each. There was little choice in the matter.
The firing around him ceased suddenly, Valin’s men would reload and make a final dash, he
thought. Divide and conquer. They’d come at him from all three sides. They had no choice but to
flank him. “Double crossing son of a bitch.” He cursed. His vision blurred, he wish he had a
cigar. No time.
Would there ever be time for another one?
“Might as well be done with it.” He whispered. Pain unlike any he known before, threaten to
wash over him. What lurked there in the darkness if he surrendered to it, he wondered.
No! He would see this through to the end. His thumb flicked over the small switch on each of the
grenades. A smile crossed his bloody lips. He’d make them pay for this betrayal. Dropping the
cylinders he gripped the burner and forced himself to stand.
Valin’s men charged forward.
Raising the burner Phoenix shot three times at his left before rotating to the right. Pain erupted in
his leg causing him to stumble. He shot the burner into a knot of Valin’s men. Phoenix shot the
burner till the handle grew hot, vaporizing a group of Valin’s men.

11. Turning on his heel he struggled to stand. He didn’t have much time. Bullets flew around him as
he stood. He fired the burner at the window and dropped the useless weapon. It was his only
chance. Limping forward left hand pressed against his side he ran for the windows. Bullets
zipped around him as he silently counted down. He was not the type to pray.
Nine.
Eight.
A blast of energy seared across his left shoulder, burning through armor, jacket and flesh.
Gritting his teeth against the pain he stumbled forward.
Seven.
Six.
Two meters from the windows. “Damn’it!” Phoenix cursed as pain erupted across his left leg.
There was only one way out of the office and that was the window before him.
Five.
Four.
Bloody Fool!
A punch to the back sent him to his knees, blood flying from his mouth. Bullets continued to zip
around him.
Valin’s men were terrible shots. Had to be the damn blast screens they wore, Phoenix thought.
“Bloody hell.” He cursed under his breath and heaved himself up, shuffling forward on unsteady
feet.
Three.
Another hammer blow erupted in his back, pain washing over him, he fought to keep himself
from surrendering to the darkness. Blood bubbled in his throat and he forced it down.
Two.

12. Shit. Not gonna make it.
One
“Fuck!” The world shattered around him. A deafening roar was followed by immense heat. The
force of the explosion propelled him forward through the great bay window. The flames engulfed
him, searing his flesh. The glass shattered and he looked down on the sprawling city of Cydonia
below him as flames leaped up around him, terror gripping him as he fell.
The city of Cydonia beneath the dome, the jewel of the Red planet. It rushed up to him as he fell
wrapped in flames.
And then… then there was nothing, only darkness.
All alone.
Only darkness.
Chapter 2
9 months later
Awareness came with a flash, like being dunked in cold water and electrocuted. With a gasp
Phoenix found himself within a void of endless darkness. No light existed, nothing existed. The
void was just that…a void.
He was without form. Empty. Dark.
Cydonia had been replaced by the black nothingness. Valin was gone, Edmund, Old Joe, even
the office was gone. He could almost hear the explosion in his mind but it too was gone.
Within the darkness… all alone.
Am I dead? His thoughts reverberated across the void, shattering the silence.
He remembered… A death wrapped in flames.
And then...

13. Then there was only darkness.
Darkness and flames.
Where am I?
All alone.
There was nothing, nothing but darkness and unrelenting silence around him. Panic stirred within
him and he quieted the reaction. Focusing his mind to remind calm and clear. He needed to be
calm if he was to escape this place. Panic would only aid in destroying him more.
There was however a strange calming peace to be found in the silence that surrounded him. A
peace he had known before, but only briefly a life time ago. A part of his mind sought to
succumb to the peace. Life for him has always been tough, hard fought and bloody. Before this
place, his life was full of pain and anger. Slowly he surrendered himself to the silence, embraced
it. Even welcomed it after all the long years of fighting.
Always fighting. That was his nature. That was his way. Finally he connected with the calming
peace of the emptiness around him. Quiet. Still. Peaceful. A welcome change to his previous way
of life. Time stretched on, endlessly for him within the void.
Thoughts of his life and past drifted by him. Thoughts that brought pain and with the pain came
anger. Allowing those thoughts to pass through him, he focused on empting his mind. Thinking
on the past would only aid in stirring emotions that would drive him to seek escape.
No, I will stay for a time. His thoughts echoing.
Calming his mind he began his meditation and let time drift for an eternity. Turning his mind
inward he concentrated on his breathing and laughed at the idea.
I am nothing. Having no form he could not breath nor did he need air. His thoughts drifted in his
mediation but focused on nothing in particular. From time to time faces of friends and loved ones
long gone flashed before his eyes.
He recognized a dark haired woman, he felt a feeling one could only describe as love. He could
drift forever into her deep dark brown eyes. His heart melted at the sight of her smile. Another

14. face flashed beside the dark haired woman. Green eyes blazed with a fire that was matched only
but the fiery red hair. Lust grew within him and for a moment he let his mind wander. He knew
these women but he could not place them, though his emotions ran deep for both of them.
FLASH
In an instant the woman’s faces vanished replaced by that of new faces. An old man with a
scruffy beard and kind eyes standing over a pot of brewing beer.
FLASH
A dark skinned man with broad shoulders and a hearty laugh sat at a table surrounded by
beautiful woman.
FLASH
A tall skinny man with brown hair and a cocky smile. The faces came and went and new
thoughts drifted through his mind as time stretched on for how long he could not fathom.
He saw then the battle at the office clear as day. Old Joe was dead by his hands Valin had paid
him well to do so. Valin…the bastard had betrayed him. What was the point? Valin had caught
him off guard and his shock troops had trapped him behind the old man’s desk. He should have
seen it coming, should have expected it.
And then…
Then he died wrapped in flames. He remembered it, could feel the heat on his flesh. The glass
shattering around him. He had died there on Cydonia. He knew it. Felt it to be true.
A tremor across the blankness of the void was his only warning. A great roar rose from the
depths of the darkness, shattered tranquility around him. Before him flames materialized from
nothingness rolling forth like waves crashing on the shore. Panic and terror assaulted him. The
flames rolled toward him, splashing like liquid fire before they engulfed him. He cried out in
anguish, his voice lost to the roar of the flames around him. Pain ravaged his being threatening to
consume him, mind and soul. He sought an escape, a way to flee the flames. As the flames
continued to consume him Phoenix cried out in pain and anger. There was no escape.

15. So within the pool of darkness he floated and burned wrapped in flame. Again time drifted, and
lagged, stretched out into an eternity for him. The pain was a constant reminder that burned
through his being. There was no stopping the flames. There was no escape, there is never an
escape.
You don’t get out alive.
From within his being his anger began to grow. Trapped as he was, he so no reason why he
should not become angry, and disregarded the tranquility he once found before. Within his anger
lay his strength. It had aided him before and perhaps it would do so again. He focused his
thoughts and centered on the great pit of anger that existed within him. His anger grew like a
volcano ready to burst forth like a torrent. Focusing on his anger he drew deep within himself
releasing all the pain of his life that he had suppressed to the recesses of his soul. The lava of his
anger grew and grew, until he felt he may explode from the sheer power. Then he focused his
anger discharging it out in all directions into the great nothingness of the void. Coating the great
blackness with his anger, red hot like molten steel. With the explosion of his anger he shouted
for all he could. Despite his lack of form his voice shattered the stillness of the void and his
anger rolled forth like a shockwave.
Without warning the flames receded like the tide and he gasped for breath. The air cooled around
him as he watched in amazement as the flames vanish evaporating into a thin mist.
Am I dead? Is this hell? His thoughts echoed within the void
The great nothingness stretched out in all directions around him. There was simply nothing, a
vast emptiness in which his essence was trapped. This is hell, and I am dead. That’s it isn’t it?
The void gave way then and he found himself falling. The great blackness remained around him,
but he swore he was falling. His essence was moving within the void. As he fell he felt himself
solidify as his body took shape around his essence. His mind went wild with fear as his arms
formed from nothingness before his eyes that had suddenly taken shape. Air rushed past his ears
and over his smooth surprisingly un-burnt flesh.
The void shattered then before him, sending a cascade of colors and images flashing before him
as he fell. The great blackness faded in flash of brilliant colors. Newly formed eyes recoiled

16. against the brightness of the shattering void. When he opened his eyes again he was surrounded
by a great twisting coil of images. His eyes widened as he took in the images flashing before
him. The images within the coil began to move faster and faster, blurring together. After a time
he realized they were memories of his past, flying by in a surge of color to fast to see clearly.
Within the coil he caught glimpses of battles he had fought in, he could feel the fear and the
excitement of the battle briefly as the images came and went. There were flashes of women he
had bedded and loved. Their passion swelled within his being and then were gone in a flash.
Drunken filled evenings and drug infused rampages flashed by in an instance. As quickly as
images flashed and the emotions came, they were gone replaced by other images and emotions,
all fleeting and surreal, as if he was witnessing another’s life. The emotions came in waves faster
and faster. Love, lust, hatred and malice all the emotions came to him in rapid succession.
Then anger. Finally anger. Something he could embrace. Something he could understand. An
emotion he could control. Unleashing his rage gave him strength. And it swelled suddenly within
him. Before him came the images and snapshots of his past. His most painful memories. Gritting
his teeth he faced the onslaught of his past. He knew each event in turn, remembering the
instance and reasoning that lead up to the events. He had lived through them before and would
face them with strength again. As the images flashed his anger grew great and deep like the
oceans of the Terra.
And then like the other emotions he had experienced the anger faded along with the haunting
images of his past. The coil folded up on itself before him, bending and twisting. Then it flashed
in a brilliant starburst of white before him. Phoenix shielded his eyes against the exploding star.
When at last he opened his eyes the great coil was gone, replaced by the nothingness of the void
once again.
He was falling.
His stomach twisting with the weightlessness and the air rushed past him. As he fell…an image
came into focus, of a fierce battle in a large columned room beneath a dome. Men in faceless
mask stood protectively around a man on his knees starring at the remains of his right arm.
Phoenix watched himself run for cover taking two bullets in the process. Blood flew from his

17. mouth and he could feel the pain in his shoulder. He watched himself falling to the
floor…wounded and bleeding…but rising up to fight on.
Determined.
He stood teeth clenched, lips curled back in a snarl like a cornered wolf. Rage burning within
him. Guns flashing, men fell in droves to his weapons blood flying from their wounds. The one
armed man screamed in pain as another man pulled him toward the exit.
He saw himself…wounded, and smiling a bloody smile as he withdrew three cylinders from his
bag. He knew what he intended. Outnumbered and outgunned, wounded and bleeding, there was
no way out. Only one thing left to do. The men in faceless masks rallied for a final charge, he
stood and fire at them. The cylinders fell to the floor and rolled away from him. The men in the
faceless masks fired their weapons, small explosions popping from the barrels of their weapons.
He saw himself…fighting the onslaught, fearless in battle. The glory of battle surged through
him as he watched. It energized him. He found himself smiling at his own actions. In such a
situation he would have done the same thing time and time again.
He ran then toward the window, at the back of the office. A bullet hit his arm and he stumbled.
Fell. And stood, shuffling onward. An explosion erupting behind him, sending a shockwave
across the room. Flames leapt from where the desk had been, men in faceless mask flying in all
directions. The flames cascading across his vision. He saw himself flying forward crashing
through the window. The flames rolled forth like waves crashing on the beach threatening to
consume his very being. He opened his mouth in a silent scream as the flames crashed into him
and darkness covered everything.
Phoenix opened his eyes with a jolt and looked down at the notched lacquered wooden bar he
been lying his head on. A grey mist hung before his vision clouding the world in drab colors. It
was like looking through deep fog. Blinking his eyes a few times his head began to throb
followed by a piercing ache behind his eyes.
Sitting up in the stool the world suddenly flared with a vibrancy his mind could not comprehend
and then froze. Before his eyes the world crystalized over like ice forming on a window, freezing

18. the world in motion. The world shattered then before him sending a shock wave of pain
reverberating across his skull and down his spin.
Gasping for air he griped the bar with white knuckled fingers. Chest heaving, his heart beat so
fast he thought it would break from of his ribcage. Gulping air he tried desperately to calm
himself the world came slowly into focus. It was then he noticed the glass of brown liquid sitting
before him. Whiskey.
“Where the fuck am I?” he whispered to himself, his voice hoarse, throat dry. Reaching for the
whiskey with unsteady hands he tossed the liquid down his throat. The burn of the liquor was a
comforting feeling. “Bloody hell.” He said softly. “What a crazy ass dream.” Phoenix exhaled
deeply and examined his surroundings.
Chapter 3
He sat at the bar of a dingy, dimly lit, smoke filled tavern. Broken neon signs covered in dust
decorated the rotting wooden plank walls. Small piles of trash were strewed across the dirty
floor. The air was thick with tobac and marijuana smoke with a hint of piss and vomit. Rubbing
the back of his bald head Phoenix let out a sigh. He tended to have a bit more pride in the places
he drank in, though he had woken up in worse places before. Patting the pockets of his battered
leather jacket, he found a wrinkled pack of Craven A Lights and fished out an equally wrinkled
and bent cigarette.
“Ah, ha, so my friend you finally awake!” a rough voice heavy with a deep Slavic accent yelled
from behind the bar. Loud enough to make Phoenix wince, his head throbbing. The voice was
oddly familiar to Phoenix but he could not readily place it. “We were a bit worried there for a
moment, weren’t we Boris? Good to see back among the land of the living my friend, how do
you feel?”
“Like shit pal.” Phoenix said turning back to the bar. The oddly thin barkeep before him leaned
over the bar and produced a silver tube from his pocket. With a flick of dirty cracked thumb nail
the barkeep sparked fire from the end of the tube.

19. “Ah… thanks.” Phoenix leaned forward with the wrinkled cigarette between his lips, when his
eyes caught the flames. Before him the flame seemed to grow, flickering back and forth, this
way and that. His eyes became transfixed on the flame. The air around him began to grow warm,
his skin burn as a shock wave rippled through him and in an instant it was gone. Phoenix blinked
and dipped the cigarette into the flame pulling the smoke deep into his lungs and exhaled.
“Thanks, ah… shit what’s yer name again?”
“Orci, what you no remember me? Well, we did drink all night together, you, me and Boris.”
Orci pointed at a sweaty fat bald man in a dirty yellow jacket on the other end of the bar. “We
had a hell o’ good time, we three, reminded mi of the days of mi youth.” Orci smiled revealing a
mouth of decay and metal work.
Phoenix cringed. What have you been up to old boy? “Right so… Orci, I’m a little lost at the
moment, ah, where am I exactly?”
“Why you’re at Swaney’s of course!” Orci said beaming with pride.
“Right, Swaney’s?”
“Yes! Swaney’s Tiki bar, best damn bar in the Lone Star territories.”
Phoenix’s eyes widen as he looked around the dark smoked filled bar again. Small heaps of trash
sat in piles here and there. There was an old pool table in the corner and besides a couple of
tables, chairs the room was bare. And lacking even worse for patrons, only he and Boris sat at
the bar on opposite ends, while two old men snored at a table in the corner the bar. “Doesn’t look
much like a Tiki Bar to me Orci.” It hardly even looked like a bar, but rather a dilapidated
building.
Orci shrugged, “I like the name.” he admitted with a smile.
“Figures.” Phoenix said exhaling a cloud of smoke. “So Orci, got a question for you. Who’s
Swaney? That a nickname or something?”
Orci shrugged, “No clue who Swaney is. Don’t kno’, don’t care, the name was on the door when
I got the place.” Orci flashed the web work of steel and decay again.

20. “You actually own this place? As in you purchase this building from someone else, right?”
Orci frowned rubbing his hands on his dirty apron. “Of course! A man must do what he can to
survive in this world. A bis’nis such as a bar offers many benefits.” Orci smiled.
“Stop smiling. Orci, look a little advice for you, maybe look into a few tiki masks, a palm tree or
two, and maybe, no defiantly a little paint, a lot of paint.” Phoenix said looking around. “Ya
know help promote the right image.” Phoenix said pulling on his smoke.
“Tee-kee mask? I’m not sure I understand. What is Tee-kee mask?”
“Never mind.” Phoenix said shaking his head. “So Orci, How long have I been here?”
“Here? In the bar?”
“Yeah, here with you, and Boris over there?”
“Three days, maybe four, or so. We partied hard my friend, poor Boris hasn’t said a word today,
his mind is mush from that Martian kush of yours.” Orci said drying a glass with a dirty towel.
“Came in here ah, three days back, ordered a bottle. Boy did we have had a hell o’ good time!”
Three days! Phoenix swore under his breath and grounded his cigarette in the ash tray. He tossed
the contents of his glass down his throat. His head still throbbed; the whiskey would ease the
pain. “I’ll take another, pal.” Orci nodded and turn to grab the bottle.
Why do I feel like I’ve been repeating himself? Phoenix asked himself absently. He was dirtside,
back on Terra, he had spent enough time is space to be gauge the natural gravitational pull on his
body. He had no memory of coming here to Terra, or to Swaney’s, or spending three days of
drinking with Orci and Boris for that matter.
How do I get here?
Orci looked vaguely familiar as did the bar, but nothing existed in his memory of the last few
days. If Orci was correct he’d been drinking hard for three days and prior to that…
Flames.

21. Flames and Mars. Old Joe’s face frozen in death flashed in his mind, he stood over the old man.
Valin was there holding a severed hand, his hand. Edmund was yelling. Pain. Blood. Glass
shattering. Blood. And flames. Flames that engulfing him…
And then…then there was only darkness.
Was I just dreaming or did that really happen?
Shouldn’t I be dead?
How did I get back to Terra?
His head hurt too much to think, let alone focus on his foggy memories. Mars felt like a distant
memory. Almost as if, as if it had happened to someone else. That thought alone was disturbing
enough. “Orci another round please. Fuck it a double.” Orci placed two glasses before him and
filled each. “Orci, yer quite the guy.” Phoenix said proceeding to drink the first shot then the
next. “Ah, that’s the ticket. What I owe you pal?”
“Owe? Ah, nothing, nothing at all, my friend. We are all good, we had a hell o’ good time last
night. Come back anytime and bring some more of that Martian kush with you.” Orci smiled.
Phoenix cringed. “Yeah, well it’s been real. Thanks again, pal. Be seeing ya. Orci. Boris.”
Phoenix nodded to each in turn. He needed to get out of here. Something was wrong. No not
wrong, off.
Or maybe… maybe he was just hung-over and he wasn’t thinking straight. He couldn’t
remember anything of the last three days. Orci did look oddly familiar in a way. Like a long lost
friend, but he couldn’t place him at all. And the man’s horrid dental work was something
Phoenix would never forget.
And Boris!
Can’t forget old Boris there. Shit! What have you been up too Red?
Three days!

22. Three days of drinking and partying with a fat Russian and a skinny Slavic man with horrible
teeth. One would think he would remember such a party. Or perhaps its better he didn’t. His head
spun, he needed to get out of here.
Turning in his stool Phoenix was about to stand up as the bar doors opened revealing the natural
light and glare of the afternoon sun. Pain seared his skull for a moment and he squinted against
the blinding light. His vision crystallized for a moment and his eyes instantly watered. Blinking
his eyes to clear the blurriness and ease the pain in his head, he caught sight a petite woman with
short cropped red hair and green eyes above a mischievous smile. He froze as she wiggled
through the door toward him. Memories tugged at the edge of remembrance.
He knew her.
What was her name?
“Keera.” The name fell off his tongue quicker than his memory could place the name with the
face before him.
“Well, well, hiya Red, long time no see. I heard you might be back.” She said standing before
him, hands planted firmly on her little hips, an easy smile across her face.
Phoenix smiled his best smile “Hey there Keera, what brings you round these parts?”
Green eyes and full red lips smiled at him, “Good to see you still remember little old me.” She
purred. “Buy a girl a drink?” she slipped by him, hand raised to the Orci, who wore his best
smiled plastered on his long angular face.
“But of course. Whatcha’ drinking?”
“Vodka straight three olives and a whiskey for Red here.” She said to Orci, in a tone that even
made Boris looked up from his drink and pay attention. Orci nodded. Phoenix idly wondered if
Orci knew what an olive even was, let alone a martini. Orci went to work and surprisingly a
moment later the drinks appeared on the notched lacquered bar. Keera handed him Phoenix his
drink and looked him up and down. “Fuck, you look like hell. What have you been up too Red?”

23. “Well I certainly feel like it.” He laughed. “Been hanging out with these chaps for a few days
now. Drowning away my sorrows.”
“And how’s that workin’ out for ya?”
“I suppose it’s alright I can’t remember shit at the moment.”
“You don’t have the most reliable memory do you these days. Little too much of that Martian
kush perhaps. Com’on we got to talk shop for a bit.” She said taking her drink and wiggling
away from him.
Phoenix watched her leave, admiring her behind a moment. He’d always had a thing for Keera,
but she had never joined him for a night between the sheets. Still it never stopped him from
trying. One day.
How do I know that? A voice in his mind wondered. If he thought about it his memories were
fractured, clouded in fog. Yet a feeling existed about Keera there beneath the mists. The thought
lingered a moment in his mind until he caught sight of Keera staring at him oddly. Phoenix
crossed the bar, as Keera sat at a small table with only one chair. Phoenix found another chair
and slid it opposite of her.
Sitting he took a small sip of his drink starring at Keera over the rim of the glass. He tried to
focus on Keera as a flood of memories stir in the recesses of his brain. He tried to focus on both
Keera and the input flood of memories.
Since the war on Luna, Keera had been one of the few people he trusted. She feed him jobs
through her contacts on Mars, jobs the syndicate wanted done quick and quiet like. They’d been
at it for years, ever since the revolution. Together they had made a name for him across the
system as a hired gun. He was good at what he did, but he was better at it when Keera was there
to guide him along the way.
“Speaking of chronic, you got any? I think that guy Boris over there smoked all mine.” Phoenix
asked taking a sip of his drink.
“That’s rough. No, sorry hun, fresh out at the moment.” Keera frowned slightly, then smiled
mischievously. “But I do have a nice piece of work for you Red, one that will put you in

24. surroundings a hell of lot better than this dump.” Keera looked around Swaney’s dirty unkempt
bar. “Why do you come here?”
Phoenix shrugged, “No idea really, I guess… I like the fact that is…ah, empty, and quiet.”
“You forgot to mention that is a heap, unsanitary and smells of piss.” Keera said sarcastically.
“Well it is a bar nonetheless.” Phoenix laughed. “A place to escape the realities of the day, to
wash away ones worries and commune with spirits of the dead, as they say.”
“Poetic.” Keera said. Her eyes narrowed. “Are you ready for a little vacation high roller style?”
she purred and Phoenix felt himself melt a bit, his one weakness women…And booze. And
weed. Maybe he had three weaknesses.
Phoenix looked over the rotted wooded structure of Swaney’s. He couldn’t remember coming
here. He couldn’t remember partying with Orci and Boris either. There was really only one
reason why he was here, he was out of work. “Yeah.” He said nodding. Get back out there. Do
what you do best. “I’m in.”
“Great to hear, hun.”
He smiled at Keera, their eyes met and he felt a sensation run through his being, almost as if
there was a connection between them. “So what did you have in mind? The outer rim? Mars?” he
said putting on the charm. “I know this nice place on Titan where you and I could get lost in each
other’s arms and relax under the stars, just you, me and bottle of something old and tasty?”
Keera rolled her eyes. “Dream on Red.” She smiled at him though. A thin smile she tried
desperately to hide. “A tempting thought though, and why you’ve always been my favorite… No
no there would be..ah…”
“I’ll take that as a maybe.” Phoenix said interrupting and gave her his best smile. “So what’s the
job?” he said changing the subject. Keera was blushing and Phoenix knew he was close.
Keera cleared her throat. “You have a little work to do in Luna City, a Terran big shot in deep
with the wrong folks on Mars.” she slid over a small data drive, “Everything you need on the
target is in there, it doesn’t matter how it’s done as long as he is taken out of the equation.”

25. Phoenix took the data drive and slid it into his jacket pocket. “Sounds easy enough.”
“On the drive you’ll find details on the weapons cache already setup and waiting for you in Luna
City. Travel expenses and allowances have been transfer to the account under I.D. Walker,
Lance, D. account 6467890.” Keera said. She sipped her drink before speaking again. “This
should be a walk in the park for you, in and out. Quick and easy.”
“And payment?”
“Two large ones.” Keera smiled. “A good payday Red. The target is, shall we say a special case,
this is important and needs to be resolved immediately.”
“What’s the catch?”
“I was getting to that, there can be no witnesses. Understood?” She smiled at him, green eyes and
lips all at once.
“That’s doable.” Phoenix said. “What’s the time frame?”
“The target will arrive tomorrow at the Luna Grande. See that he does not stay more than two
nights.”
“Understood.” Phoenix took a sip of his drink.
“And he’ll have security with him.” Keera purred.
Security. Bodyguards. That changed things. Killing a man in a public place was hard enough to
do and get away scott free without being seen. Harder still when the target is under the constant
watch of bodyguards. That explained the two million pay day. “That complicates things a bit
now doesn’t it?”
“Nothing we do is every easy Red. But this needs to be done.”
“Why the sense of urgency?”
Keera sat back and shrugged. “Can’t say really. The client didn’t say and I didn’t ask. Posted one
mill up front the other is in holding pending confirmation of the job. Two million. Two days.
One dead prick.” She smiled and batted her green eyes on him.

26. Phoenix smiled wide. “I love it when you talk that way Keera.”
“So? Will you do it?”
“As long as I get to see you after.”
“You’re so funny.”
Phoenix leaned back in his chair and looked around the bar. A thought accord to him then, he
didn’t rightly remember coming here and yet Keera had somehow found him. How had she
known I would be here?
“How did you know I was back?” he asked Keera.
“We keep tabs on all our agents Red, you know that.”
Do I? Come to think about it he wasn’t even sure how many guns Keera serviced jobs too.
“So how have you been Red?” Keera asked abruptly breaking Phoenix from his train of thought.
“I miss seeing you around here. It’s been what two years now? A girl can get awfully lonely you
know.” She said batting her eyelashes at him.
Why did woman deflect his approaches then flirt with him? Phoenix his mind blank as to how to
answer. His memories were foggy, disorganized and fragmented to say the least. “Been busy
what can I say?” Images flashed in his mind eyes, the great deserts of Mars stretched out from
the domed city around him. A gun in his hand, he wore a long dark duster over an armored chest
plate. His head shaved smooth, his beard trimmed with a long goatee under his chin. He’d made
a living doing the Syndicate’s dirty work. He was a reaver, a killer. A hunter of men. “Did some
jobs for the Syndicate then hit up the Belt for a bit. When things went south I headed home.” He
lied. There was no reason he saw to tell her he couldn’t remember how he came to be here on
Terra. Something had happened on Mars and it all fell apart. Something happened with Valin.
“I know all about that Red. I asked about you. How do you feel, right now at this instance?”
“Hungover and fucking fantastic.” Phoenix said avoiding the question. Everything seem
so…familiar yet different in a way he couldn’t explain. It was more of a feeling, an instinct that

27. something was different than anything he could point to. Why can’t I remember anything!? He
screamed silently at himself. It was like he was caught in some dream.
“You could say that. You’ve always been my favorite.” Keera smiled again.
“You said that already.”
“It’s the truth. After all this time, we’ve become like family. When you leave I like to keep my
eyes on you. Look at me Red.” Keera said.
It sounded like an order and Phoenix looked up from his drink. Green eyes smiled at him. The
color had such depth to them Phoenix, imagined himself tumbling within her gaze. Damn she’s
beautiful. His smile faded as a sensation grew within him and suddenly took hold of his being. It
started in his toes like an electric tingle that spread up his legs and through his chest until in
encompassed his being.
It was then he sense a connection growing between Keera and him, a link between their two
consciousness. His blood began to boil as his vision blurred and kaleidoscope which sent his
stomach churning. The glass fell from his fingers and he gripped the table with white knuckles
and gasped for breath as a cold sweat sprang over his skin. His mind throbbed as if stabbed by an
hundred icy knives at once. Phoenix opened his mouth to scream as a roaring thunderous sound
filled his ears threatening to wash away his being. Within his mind’s eye a waterfall of images
impacted him and then everything was flames, burning and searing his flesh, mind and soul.
“Easy Red, try and relax, it will only last a moment. Breath.” Keera’s voice whispered over the
torrent surge that coursed through his being. “Easy there, breath, breath nice and slow Red, it
will be ok.” And it was. Her voice cooled the fires that threaten to burn out his being. The pain
that gripped his mind relaxed and then his vision returned, blurry as if looking through a fog.
“There we go. That wasn’t so bad now was it? The process is getting easier, it’s far from
perfected even at this stage. Can you see me Red? How do you feel?”
He felt terrible. “Fantastic. Fuck me I need a drink. What was that?”

28. “Just an after effect of the process. It’s like a download in a way, too much input at one time is
well... unpleasant. The brain can’t take the process all in one session. It’s much easier to do it in
a series of small connections.” Keera gave him a sly grin and slide a fresh whiskey over to him.
Phoenix sat back in his chair; he hadn’t seen Orci bring over a fresh drink. “What process?”
“That’s unimportant at the moment Red. Trust me everything is fine. How do you feel, really?”
she asked.
Phoenix took a deep breath and exhaled. The pain in his mind was gone and his body no longer
ached. In addition he felt worry free, his mind was clear his concerns and worries had faded
replaced by a desire and a focus on completing the job at hand. There were still holes in his
memories but it didn’t seem to matter anymore. Why was that?
“Not bad really. I could use another whiskey though.” He said and downed the contents of the
glass before him. Keera gestured to Orci behind the bar, who scrambled over quickly with three
drinks on a small cracked round tray. He set the drinks down smiled at Keera and turned away.
“What a guy huh? Now do you understand why I come here, the service is impeccable.” Phoenix
said reaching over for one of the two whiskey’s on the table. Everything made sense now and his
purpose was clear. The past was the past and there was little sense dwelling on it. Things had
gone south on Mars and he made a tactical retreat. Everything else didn’t matter.
Or does it? A voice whispered in his mind.
You still don’t remember coming to Terra or to Swaney’s. The voice said. The image floated
before him in his mind faded as if he was watching someone else’s memories. Keera had met
him here at Swaney’s. Met here. Phoenix suddenly remembered the meeting. He always came
here when on Terra. He knew that. It felt like home. Why did he always come here?
Phoenix could recall sitting at Swaney’s a number of times with Keera. It was routine. She
always met him here before sending him off to end a life.
“Your eyes are the same as before.” He said absently. “But not the rest. Something’s different.
Different than last time. What is it?” he said pointing at her. He wasn’t completely sure what he
was getting at, but he knew something about Keera was different than the last time they’d met.

29. Keera’s eyes widened slightly at the remark. “That’s an odd thing to say, and as much as I have
missed our talks Red you need to drink up. You have a shuttle to catch. There is a car outside
that will take you to New Mex Space Port where you will shuttle to Luna-City.”
“Don’t play with me Keera, I know something is different.”
Keera’s face revealed nothing. “Things change, people change Red. You’re hardly the same
person I knew before.”
Phoenix gave her a level stare, then downed the contents of the glass in one gulp, then reached
over and knocked back the second one. “Ah, whiskey.” Whatever had just happened he felt more
like himself than he had previously. His mind was focused, his pathway clear. Too much
drinking with Orci and Boris he figured. Too much of something. He needed to get out of here.
But there was something off. He couldn’t quiet put his finger on it but there was something
strange going on.
Phoenix thought a moment before pushing his doubts away to back of his mind. A worry for
another day. They stood and made for the door. “Luna, huh seems like a life time since last I
was there. Is there anything else I should know about the job?” he asked.
Keera pushed open the door. They exitied the bar into the middle of the god forsaken dessert.
Phoenix shielded his eyes with his hand against the glare of Sol.
“Everything you need has been setup.” Keera said putting on a pair of dark glasses. She handed
him a black case. “Contact lenses and implants to pass through Luna security. Read over the data
on the way to port, destroy it as always and get the job done. Oh, there is one last thing” She
grinned widely. “I took the liberty and had the Red Star docked at L4 awaiting your return after
the job is done.”
Phoenix smiled, he loved that ship. “Great. Will you also be docking at L4 after the job is done?”
he gave her his best smile. Damn she’s beautiful. His eyes drank her in, the soft curves of her
little hips and breasts and that mischievous smile.
Keera laughed and bit her bottom lip. “Ah... tempting but no. No, I can’t.”
“So where might you be in a few days? Around here?”

30. “Persistent are we today.”
“A few whiskeys will do that to a man. Liquid courage and all. Plus I haven’t seen you in a
while. So what you say?”
“To what?” she smiled.
“To meeting me on L4 when the job is done.”
Keera eyes smiled at him. “Tell you what,” she stopped and turned to him. “When you get back I
guess I could sneak away for a bit.” She purred, bit her lower lip and looked up at him.
Phoenix smiled, “Perfect! Consider it a date.”
“Ok Red, I’ll meet you on L4 in four days.” Keera grinned, her checks blushing.
Phoenix couldn’t help but smile to himself as Keera walked away from him down the dirt lane.
After all these years he was going to get Keera in bed but first he had reservation and a contract
to close at the Luna Grand.
Swaney’s Tiki Bar was as dilapidated on the outside as it was on the inside. The ancient wooden
planks which made up its walls were bleached white under the hot desert sun. The bar itself was
surrounded by a field of rusted out planes and atmospheric cruisers. A museum graveyard that
felt strangely familiar to him.
Near the bar’s entrance stood a pair of ancient relics, rusted old propeller planes and twentieth
century fighter jets. Phoenix lit a smoke as he followed behind Keera. He watched her wiggled
down the path of rusted out old planes lined up in long rows to either side. There was old MK
Falcon single man star planes from mankind’s first space wars. Their long sleek design was
capable of atmospheric and space flight. Numerous air thrusters on the wings and fuselage
allowing for unique maneuverability in space, powered by three engines whose design gathered
gases from the atmosphere to power the ships fission reactor.
Phoenix’s eyes past the curves of Mk Falcon and to a pair of rusted out Vipers, a Starhound
and... Phoenix stopped before an old rusted out Talon RX3. His eyes locked on the plane and he
felt a twinge in his mind of remembrance. He couldn’t explain it but he felt drawn to the old star

31. plane. Its design ridged and hard in comparison to the sleekness of the Falcon’s and Viper’s. The
plane resonated with a feeling of remembrance similar to the feeling he got when looking into
Keera’s eyes.
“Damn, I must have gotten shitty last night, or over the last three days.” He said to himself
quietly. He was thinking too much of days long past. What he needed to do is focus on the
future.
Keera, he found waiting at the end of the line beside a black car. He had the oddest sense of
Dejavu as he approached the car, like he’d done it a million times before. He laughed at himself,
of course he had done this, this is what he did, this was what he was. Only this time it felt
slightly different like as if he was awakening from a dream. The bar, the aero plane graveyard,
even Keera seemed familiar and yet different in a way he could not explain. He felt out of place
and yet everything felt right.
Different yet right.
Keera crushed herself against him before he got into the car. “Take care of yourself Red, I’ll
meet you in L4 and then we can be …alone.” She let the word linger as moment and reached up
and kissed him on the lips. Sparks raced across Phoenix’s skin at the touch of her lips, and he
crushed his lips against hers in response, enjoying the taste of her before she pulled away.
“Be careful Red. And remember, there can be no witnesses.”
“Always am.” Phoenix watched her wiggle away from him and sighed heavily. “Damn, that’s
going to be fun.” A part of him looked forward to her arrival on L4. “Damn Orci, what the hell
did we get into last night?” He felt like himself, yet there were big holes in his memory he could
not place. With a crack of his neck Phoenix sat and closed the car door. The automotive car
speed off at once.
Withdrawing data disk Keera had given him, he inserted the card into his Pad and he began to
scan the dossier. The targets name was Troy Dessler a young and upcoming businessman. 1.6
meters, blue eyes, brown hair. No tattoos. No visible scars. The story was he was in deep with
some Syndic boys out of Red Tokyo. Some business deal had gone sour and Dessler owed the
wrong people large amounts of cash. He was due to vacation on Luna for the next week, living it

32. up in the Luna Grande and his partners in the Syndic wanted retribution. He scanned the rest of
the dossier quickly, he’d never been much of a reader, memorized the man’s face and the
location of Keera’s weapon cache. Ejecting the disk from his Pad, and broke it in two, he tossed
one piece out of the window and waited a few moments before tossing the second.
The dossier had contained other information on the target but he needed no further information.
Further information on the target could be good or bad. Phoenix had learned long ago that
emotions had to be disconnected in this type of work. Details on the target often lead to over
thinking the target’s situation. The key to doing what Phoenix did and doing it well was that he
did not ask questions. He was a weapon that just needed to be pointed in the right direction.
Cydonia, Mars
Sitting behind the dark desk Valin starred off into the darkness of the office, still under
construction from the battle that had taken place nine months back. Many of the columns
remained bullet ridden, though the remains of the large fish tanks had been removed. The long
walkway had been redone in black obsidian marble found in the northern reaches of Mars. The
smooth surface had been polished to a shine despite the current construction. It was slowly
beginning to look more like his office rather than that of Old Joe Sciperio’s.
May the old bastard rest in a pit of shit.
His mind was in disarray as he tried desperately to formulate the final stages of his plan. The
timing was everything. There was so many pieces on the table it was getting hard to decide when
to move which piece. He had to play it cool and calm and not let his emotions get the best of
him. A tough thing these days, all things considered.
The takeover of Joseph Sciperio was phase one in the most ambitious plan Valin had ever
dreamed up. The plan began long ago but it had taken time for him to gain the status he had
within the Sciperio Family. Valin had worked his way up from the alleys of Cydonia, to second
in command of the most power of the Syndic Families. That was no small feat. And with the
death of Old Joe, Derrick Valin became the head Syndic leader in Cydonia. But his aspiration

33. went further than just head of the Syndic Family in one of the many city-states on Mars, and
under direct control of the Executive.
The Executive or Mr. E as he was known by those in the Syndic Families of Mars, was a man
everyone knew, but knew nothing about. He was a ghost of a man who came out of obscurity
during the Luna revolution. Quickly climbing the ranks of the Cydonia families. Who he was
before was lost to legend now. Mr. E had somehow gathered the various gangs and factions
together to kick the UNA off the planet and liberate Mars. It was due to him that the Syndic
Families could conduct their business with a friendly government. And now they paid tribute out
of their yearly operations to the legendary Executive. A man whom, Valin suspected no one had
seen in near two decades.
Taxed. It was appalling to think that illegal operations such as what Valin and the other Syndic
Families conducted could be taxed and governed by a solitary figure. Yet it was and it sickened
Valin to no end. If his plan worked out he would change that.
Anger grew inside him as his thoughts drifted to the bloodied battle that had taken place inside
the room he now sat in. It was a great victory, one to remember but it had also cost him dearly.
The yet un-skinned metal prosthesis of his right arm worked wonderfully, it was fully functional
as his flesh and blood arm had been, but he felt nothing and it silently bother him greatly. It was
unnatural in a way, though it beat being a cripple. And it amazed him that the durasteel limb
connected to what remained of his right arm worked as well as it did. Still it disgusted him.
Although in the grand scheme of things, Valin considered the loss of limb, easily replaced these
days with functional cybernetic prosthesis’s, was well worth the cost of owning the greatest city
on Mars. That bastard assassin had cost him greatly, but he had done his job and done it well. A
limb was an expendable, in exchange for the city.
Cydonia was not an old city in comparison to the centuries old sprawling cities of Terra. In
comparison to the human settlements across the face of Mars, Cydonia rank near the oldest. The
city began as a scientific outpost during man’s first trips to Mars. In the years following colonist
began to make their way to the red planet in waves. It was the promise of a new world, a new
frontier to explore, a world absent of the UNA’s authority and laws. At first the colonist dug

34. underground to escape the harsh atmosphere of Mars, building cities like those found on Terra’s
moon. Shipping the precious metals and minerals back to Terra or out to the belt. The resources
beneath the red sands quickly made Mars a rich planet. More colonists came seeking the riches
hidden below the sands.
Like all human settlements the underground city of Cydonia soon could not contain the growing
number of colonists. The domes were constructed one hundred and thirty five years after the first
human set foot on the plateaus of Cydonia. Now the city of Cydonia stretched up toward the
skies beneath the nine domes. The domes were a marvel of human ingenuity. Strong enough to
withstand the harsh winds and toxic gases of the atmosphere, while maintaining an atmosphere
inside that was conducive to human survival. Similar techniques were used in the massive
underground cities on Terra’s moon and on Mars to equalize the atmospheric pressure for
humans. The domes were the brain child of a Charles Aldridge, a Terran chemical engineer who
perfected the thick poly carbon resin used to create the massive domes that encapsulate the
building and city.
Cydonia was now the greatest city on Mars these days. A thriving metropolis and a seat of power
in this part of the system, and it was all his. Valin smiled at the thought. The most powerful city
on the face of Mars was his. A wide smile split Valin’s face and he stared out the window at his
city. His eyes fell across the tall buildings and the straight avenues that crisscrossed each other.
Unlike the often confusing layouts of Terran cities Cydonia was organized in straight lines
offering easy access and flow of traffic through the city.
The desk comm sounded behind him and he keyed the terminal on the desk with his left hand, he
still was not use to the strength the prosthesis brought him.
“Yes.”
“It’s me.” A voice sounding rough and stressed said.
“Come in.” Valin said and released the key. From his left the door hidden in the bookcase slide
open and Edmond entered carrying a data pad in his right hand. He was tall man with spiked
raven black hair and piercing grey eyes, wide shoulders, and dressed in all black military styled

35. fatigues. After all he was ex-Terran military special forces a good fighter, a loyal man. He had
served Valin for a number of years. “What is it Edmund?”
Edmond frowned. “Sir, we have a problem.” He said handing over a tablet. “We just received
this from our one of our agents on Terra.”
Valin reached out with his left hand and took the tablet. As he rotated the device he saw
immediately the importance of the image and his eyes widened in disbelief. “It’s not possible.”
He said softly, his eyes glued to the image on the tablet. It depicted a stocky bald bearded man in
a battered jacket sitting at a bar, with a short red haired woman. “Are you sure this is accurate?”
he asked his voice flat, and cold. He could hardly believe the image before his eyes. The man
was supposed to be dead, Valin himself had shot the man three months ago during the takeover
of Old Joe. “This can’t. He’s dead. No man could have survived that fall.”
“I triple checked with my agent before bringing it to your attention, sir.” Edmond said. “Even
the facial recognition software confirmed that it’s him. I can’t believe it either, but the pics don’t
lie and I trust my informant.” Edmond said.
Valin looked up from the device at Edmond. The man’s face was tight, lips thin, jaw clenched,
he obviously did not completly believe the man was alive either. “Where was it taken?”
“The Lone Star Republic sir.” Edmund said.
Placing the tablet on the desk Valin leaned back in his chair brining his fingertips together before
him, metal alloyed fingers of his right hand touching the flesh and blood fingers of his left. “Who
else knows about this?”
“No one, other than me and my informant on Terra.” Edmund said. Valin knew he told the truth,
the man was no fool and had always been profession, calm and collective.
“This isn’t good Ed.” It wasn’t good at all. With Phoenix alive it put him in a very serious
predicament. The Syndic families embraced coupes and hostile takeovers amongst themselves. It
was natural amongst the united gangs and mafias. It was in their lifeblood. Though the Executive
was often consulted first prior to any such action. Valin had approached the Executive’s

36. representative, a skinny man named Nelson, in order to be grained approval to remove Old Joe
from office. The Executive had agree to the coupe and given Valin his blessing under one
condition, Old Joe’s favorite assassin the man known as Red Phoenix must die. The first step of
Valin’s plan had snapped into place as he could use the assassin to kill Old Joe. And then by
removing the assassin, Valin did not have to pay the man for his services.
If Phoenix was truly alive, Valin was sure to lose the support of the Executive as well as the
other families. If any of them saw this picture they would know Valin hadn’t delivered on his
promise, and that in the Syndic was bad for business. “If our agents came across him so easily
then we can be certain the Executive’s have too. Which means he already knows.”
“I can’t believe it’s him.”
“You and I both know that bastard is a sneaking fucker. This is bad. The Executive will revoke
my status with the Families immediately, or worse he set the families lose on me.” Valin’s mind
whirled with possibilities. He had a good number of plans in motion, his ambition knew no
bounds. But with Phoenix alive it truly complicating things.
“How could he have survived that fall?” Valin said absently.
“Sir, I cannot believe he could have survived the explosion, let alone the fall from the sixty-fifth
floor. We lost a dozen men and you yourself barely survived the blast. No man could have
survived the fall.” Edmund said.
“Yet our agents on Terra have spotted him alive and well. This does not bode well for us
Edmund.” Valin looked up at him. “Your men checked the rubble did they not?”
Edmund nodded, “Of course sir, but we never found a body in the rumble, we had assumed he
was ash.”
“Then how is it he made it out of the city, Edmund? You assured me that all the exits were
heavily guarded and all passengers in and out of the city were checked?”

37. Edmund swallowed and squared his shoulders. “Yes sir, we did. Following the attack all exits to
the city were immediately sealed and the watch doubled. We took all necessary precautions. He
could not have gotten off this city.”
Valin’s eyes boiled with rage. “Obviously not, seeing as the bastard is not only alive but
managed to slip through your fingers and get all the way back to Terra of all places!” Valin
turned in his chair, his eyes looking down over his new prosthetic limb, a parting gift from the
bloody assassin. Valin wanted the man dead, yesterday.
Edmund swallowed hard, his mouth dry. “Sir I can fix this. Give me some men and a ship and
I’ll see the bastard meets his end.”
“Shut up Edmund, or I swear I’ll kill you where you stand.” He gave Edmund a long level stare.
Breathing deep Valin tried to cool his anger. “Now, I want constant surveillance on Phoenix, if
he goes to the john I want to know where and how many drips he got on his pants, you hear
me?.” Edmund nodded. “And put a bounty on his head, five million large, dead or alive. Same
for the women he was with. I want every Regulator from Terra to the outer rings looking for him.
He will not escape me this time.” Edmund nodded, his jaw clenched. There was no hiding the
fact that the assassin lived, and the Executive had more informants than all the Syndic Families
combined.
Valin grinded his teeth a moment and then his face relaxed. “Mr. E no doubt has already made
his move against me. I must accelerate our plans.” Valin turned off the holo screen. “In our
current state we cannot hope to hold out against the Executive without aid.” Valin turned to
Edmund, “I need you to set meetings for me with Dacamra, Jenkins, and Reinheart.” The three
were heads of other, smaller Syndic families in Cydonia. “I want to meet with them today, no
exceptions.”
“I’m on it sir.”
“Good and send Wylam in here and put a security detail together to accompany the man, he’s
making a trip.”

38. Edmund looked at Valin questionably. “Wylam? Where’s he going?”
“To meet with the leader of Chimera’s along the Belt. Make sure the security detail is made up
of some of your best men. These Chimera’s are ruthless cutthroats, from what I’ve been told.”
The Chimera’s were a legendary paramilitary force that roamed the outer belts, hijacking cargo
vessels and causing the UNA all kinds of troubles and headaches. They were renowned for their
fierceness in battle as well as for their overall hatred of the UNA. Many of the Chimera’s had
embraced the merging of cybernetics and flesh, and few of them could be consider still human.
They were monsters, cold hearted killers and packed enough firepower to even the odds a bit in
Valin’s favor. It would cost him dearly financially anyways but in the end it would be worth it.
Edmund’s mouth twisted into a snarl. “Chimera’s? We don’t need those cyborg mercs! My men
can handle anything the Executive or the other families can throw at us. There’s no need to bring
in those…animals. Give me a few days and I can put an end to Phoenix once and for all.”
“I have no doubt in your men or the training you’ve given them. But the fact of the matter is, the
Executive has armies of loyal families behind him, and we are but one small faction against the
might of the Syndic’s. We need the Chimera’s and their forces to even the odds.”
Edmund opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it and close his mouth
without saying anything. He gave Valin a stiff nod, almost a military salute. “It will be done sir.”
“Excellent, one last thing Edmund.” Valin said moving over to stand before Edmund. “If you fail
me again, in any way. I will kill you.” Valin said poking Edmund chest with his durasteel index
finger hoping the extra pressure of the prosthesis helped to make his point. “You’ve been a good
friend and ally to me over the years. But I cannot abide such failure within my ranks. See that
you do not fail me again Edmund.” Jaw clenched Edmund nodded. Valin knew Edmund was a
smart individual and he knew his words carried weight with the man, he wouldn’t fail him again.