Chapter 6: Request

Phoenix was storming down the hall, on her way to Director Killian's office. She held a file in her hand, and she was determined to give it to him. She was walking towards the glass doors of his office with a fire in her eyes.

"Miss Volante?" the secretary, Mrs. Kelsall, said as she looked up from her work. "Wait," she stood to her feet, reaching out a hand to stop the girl from barging in on her boss, "you can't go in there!" But it seemed that she said it too late. Phoenix had already stormed into the office.

Mrs. Kelsall quickly stood to her feet and ran in after Phoenix.

Killian looked up and saw Phoenix walking towards his desk, which quite surprised him. "Ah, Miss Volante..." he muttered, sitting back in his chair-smiling. "What do I owe the-"

Phoenix slammed the file on his desk and crossed her arms. She then glared at the Director as he cocked an eyebrow at her.

"You can leave, Mrs. Kelsall..." he said. He knew that they both needed this conversation to be private.

Mrs. Kelsall looked at Killian and bowed. She then ran out, closing the doors to his office behind her.

Killian leaned forward and slid the file across the glass desk. He opened it and looked at it, his eyes widening with shock.

"I fully resign as a scientist for Project GENESIS..." Phoenix said with a bitter tone. But the tone she used was not giving the idea of her telling a joke, she was fully serious with her resignation.

Killian quickly looked up at her, a bit surprised by her sudden words. "But, Miss Volante, you can't just-"

"Rule 57 states I can, Director Killian..." she says, with a grin. "The only thing I CAN'T do is leave ExaTek."

"And what do you plan on doing now that quit being a scientist?" Killian said, leaning back again, holding the file in his lap.

Phoenix gave a predatory grin and watched as Killian continued to read the file. His eyes widened even more when he got further down the white page. He then chocked his head up at her. "Are you serious about this?!" he said, practically chocking on his words.

Phoenix’s silence was all he needed for the answer. She was serious, more serious then she’d ever been before. Or, at least as serious as Killian has ever seen her.

Killian threw the file on his desk and crossed his hands, taking a deep breath. “This is crazy, Miss Volante…” he said, shaking his head. “I can’t allow you to-”

“Whether you allow me or not is your decision and yours alone,” Phoenix said. She slammed her hands on his desk and leaned over it. “But I’m fully set on this. And if you turn me down now, then you’ll have to deal with the paperwork.” Phoenix smiled, seeing Killian’s worried expression. “And you wouldn’t want that, now would you?”

Killian looked away from Phoenix. He didn’t want to deal with everything if he turned her down. Plus he knew that if he turned her down, Phoenix would just keep asking until Killian finally caved. But Phoenix knew how to get her way in ExaTek, better then most people working there. It was her ability to plan everything out without a snag.

Killian crossed his legs and sighed, looking sternly back at Phoenix. “Fine,” he said, “but you can’t join GALACTIC that easily, Miss Volante.” Killian sat forward as Phoenix stood straight again, crossing her arms and finally listening to logic. “You can’t just join by showing a slip and saying you’re a new recruit. You need to show our worth, and there’s only one way of doing that.”

“You mean a test of skill?” Phoenix said. She had done research on GALACTIC and she knew the ins and outs of it. Plus, Cole had told her when he first joined that they had to test his skill to see if he could pull his own weight without problems. And after all those years, he finally managed to make Commander.

So, Phoenix figured that getting to the rank in which she could begin searching for her brother would come very quickly, seeing as how she defeated 60% of the men in GALACTIC in hand-to-hand combat. But their defeat was kept a secret, just so they did not get a bad reputation for getting beaten by a woman.

“Yes, Miss Volante,” Killian said, nodding. “A test of skill is just what needs to be done. And I might advise you that-”

“I know, I know,” Phoenix said, shooing his words away with a hand. “So when do have this ‘test of skill’…?”

Killian looked over to the phone and leaned toward it, pressing the front desk.

“Yes, Director?” Mrs. Kelsall said through the phone.

“Bring Cole Chalet to my office,” Killian said, glancing at Phoenix. “Now.”