Imperial Subversion (Athena Lee Chronicles Book Book 6)
Author: Paul, T S
Date: 2016-05-05
Keywords: science fiction, space opera, LGBT, Space station, Space fleet, Military, Rebel, Imperial
Description: The revolution is over and the corrupt government officials are in prison. A Secret Society called the Cabal has raise up it's head and has one goal, control of the Galaxy. Athena Lee and her family find themselves caught in the center of this new conflict when the Cabal tries to take over her planet. This secret group has subverted the military who believe if they can't have it no one can. War is on the horizon and Athena and her friends are the only ones who can prevent the ultimate destruction of her home.

Contents

Chapter1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 1

The sound of running feet made Senator Colman glance up in the direction of his office door. The Senator was lead Government official in Naval appropriations. He could, with the stroke of a pen, change the entire Empire Military structure and budget. This gave him power and influence over a lot of people. Power was seductive, it called to you and made you want more and more control over how things were done. Senator Colman wanted it all.

His immersion in the heart of Empire politics gave him some of what he wanted. People came to him to fix things or to ask for favors. Like the ancient Mafia or the Yakuza organizations of old his position gave him many things. But still he wanted more. The number of favors and debt to which he was owed would boggle the mind. Ever reaching, ever searching he 'made his bones' in the political system and was indoctrinated into the super-secret organization called The Cabal for Change. Unbeknownst to the Senator until after his induction, his own father had been a founding member. Secrecy was paramount. The price of revealing the inner secrets of the Cabal was death. Not just yours, but the death of your whole family was the price for talking. Members of the Cabal did the bidding of the inner core with almost religious fervor. The allure of a secret society with occult overtones and Omerta strictures was very attractive to some of the elite of society. The Cabal's membership counted high ranking military officers, political leaders both big and small, law enforcement, members of the legal system on both sides of the bench, and members of the industrial elite in its ranks. A scattered few entertainers and celebrities were also allowed 'in', but they were watched very closely. Their every words recorded. The Old Earth phrase 'Loose lips sink ships' was very appropriate after a few accidental deaths or air car crashes.

The running feet sounds got closer and ended at his door. A sharp couple of knocks and his door opened. His aide Julius rushed into the office. "Sir, we have a serious problem!"

"Julius what is it now? I am very busy here. The Navy is really pushing hard to get those new heavy cruisers allocated. We need tell our contacts to stall as much as possible. The new military budget should but the kibosh on that."

"Sir, I just got word through our contact in the Colonial office. The Hong Kong system rebelled against Governor Norton and declared independence, per clause 35 in the Imperial Charter! They arrested Norton and his aide on charges of mass murder and corruption!"

"WHAT! What did that idiot Norton do this time! How bad is this ?"

"It's really bad Senator. Norton ordered the ESS to put down a farmer protest. About 20,000 farmers and supporters marched to the Sector Government offices to protest. The ESS opened fire and killed about half of them. The local Militia shot down the ESS troopships then captured the Station and arrested Norton."

The Senator sank into his chair. He buried his face in his hands for a moment. "By the Gods, what a cock-up! Tell me he followed orders and locked the sector communication grid down before his arrest."

His aide pursed his lips and gave a slight shake of his head. "Not exactly sir. Norton locked the system down, but somehow a local news broadcast made it out along with a message from the 'local' government to spread the word. We only know about it because one of the 'groups' freighter's intercepted the message and sent a courier to us." He glanced at his boss. Bracing himself he finished, "It is a pretty good bet that it made it out, Sir. I have heard from my contacts that about half the other systems surrounding Hong Kong have recalled their Senators and are protesting Norton's actions."

The Senator grew pale. "What a freaking nightmare! Wait....You said that he was arrested? Him and his aide?"

"Yes, Sir. The report I was given was that they were both alive and being held for trial."

"Damn it! Check in with the 'Wardens' they need to know anyway. How much did Norton know?"

"Sir, must I talk to those,..people. Can't I just send a message?"

"I know that they can be a little frightening but You have done nothing wrong. Everything with them must be done face-to-face." The Senator paused. "You didn't answer my question, what did Norton know?"

The aide shivered at the thought of even talking to the 'Wardens of the Gate', the protectors of the Cabal. "Sir, Norton was part of the pirate initiate. I think he received the latest updates so he may know everything but the inner files. His aide, Cole Whittier, he knows all the small details. He was the Governor's financial aide. He can link the Cabal, to Norton."

The Senator really hated incompetence. "Get our people on it, target the both of them before it is too late. Be sure to issue the other collateral damage orders too. We need to stay on top of this. Involving the Wardens would be...messy. Get to work!"

Senator Colman watched his aide leave his office. Checking the monitors built into his desk he scanned the camera feeds making sure that he was completely alone. He saw Julius exit the building and get into a armored air car. He turned away from his desk and rose to his feet. He walked to the bookcase on the West wall. For a moment he studied the spines of the very valuable book collection. Many of these volumes had come from Old Earth with his father's family. Most of these works were priceless artifacts worth millions of credits on the open market. His collection was the reason given for the security measures on his office and the entire building.

These ancient works were just a front for the real secret of this office. The Senator scanned the many titles until he stopped at an unremarkable faded green book with barely visible letters, Greed. He tipped the book back and the bookcase turned to the side revealing a secret passageway. Ducking his head he entered the dark portal. Once inside the Senator pressed a small button on the wall, closing the door. The tunnel was lined with fine marble and had built in wall sconces. It still boggled his mind that his father was able to build all of this without anyone being the wiser. The floor slanted downward to a dimly lit room. Three doors were set into the wall. Over each door was an engraved plaque with a symbol. The left-hand door had an inverted Pentagram on it. This door held everything needed for ritual: robes, tools, offerings and torture implements. Above the right-hand door was a Caduceus inside a triangle. This room held things to help heal the mind and body. Psychoactive drugs and other mind enhancing items were stored here. Above the center door was the 'Eye of Providence' also known as the all seeing eye. This door led to the true reason for all the security measures.

The Empire Capital planet was one of the first colonized after the Cyber wars on Old Earth. His father's family had been political refugees and venture capitalists that fled what they saw as the coming desolation of the world. With the fall of the American Republic many entrepreneurs invested heavily in the stars, launching ships and leaving Old Earth behind. His ancestors, former leaders from the Cyber wars, had brought this with them as more of a trophy of remembrance and victory, than as a political ideal. The room widened out to an oblong room with an magnificent altar erected at one end. Gold plated Eagles framed both sides of the triple tiered structure. The lower levels held icons of the Senate and of the Empire. The middle levels were decorated with pictures of lost family members and Cabal symbolism. The pinnacle of the altar was the symbol behind the idea of the Cabal in the first place. The large round disk was made of gold. In the center of the disk was the Eye of Providence atop a pyramid. The word 'Annuit Coeptis' were written above the pyramid. The ancient dead language of Latin was barely spoken in the Empire its use relegated to the medical and legal professions. Below the pyramid were more words 'Novus Ordo Seclorum': The New World Order. This disk, the official seal of the former United States, symbolized everything that the Cabal wanted in the galaxy. His father's most valuable possession, the seal both birthed the idea of the Cabal and became a symbol of worship and reverence.Their goal was a New Order, one where the powerful ruled and the rest bowed.

Chapter 2

As Chief Engineer for Legation Station, to say that I had a lot on my plate was an understatement. With most of the regular Imperial Navy interned down of the planet, we had a shortage of manpower to run things up here. The Militia WAS helping, a lot. After the Farmers Union Day massacre, and the death of my brother David, there had been a general call up for the planetary Militia. Both new recruits and grizzled veterans lined up to join. Many were veterans of some of the PPL border skirmishes 30 years ago and the last war 17 years ago. Eugenic treatments and Gene therapy were universal on the planet, but old is still old. With an unknown response from the Empire possible en route, my father, the head of the Militia, was rushing to retrain as many troops as humanly possible. Small boot camps had sprung up to join the normal ones. Hong Kong was special in that basic Military training was required of all residents from age 17. Local teens were trained for 6 weeks every year for 4 years. At age 21 they could chose to opt out of future training. All however were considered to be the strategic reserve, in case of disaster or invasion. I myself had gotten my basic training with the Militia. That training had provided the building blocks for my subsequent Imperial training.

Here on the station we were desperate for help. Almost all of the regular Navy had chosen internment over helping 'mutineers or traitors to the Empire." Over 90% of my own crew off the James Cook had chosen to join the others on the planet. My former Captain and I had chosen to stay and help. My family was here. I had missed much in my long absence. As the last, true officer of the PPL Navy, I made the decision to ignore my new allegiances and return to the fold. A few of my friends had elected to stay with me. Commander Wang, my former XO, was promoted to Captain Wang assigned to the training ship Paney. If anyone could turn out spacers in a few weeks it was him. The two 'twins' Di and DJ had also decided to stick around. "The Imperial Navy is boring" is what they told me. To each his own, I guess. Wilson my resident AI and all around pest has been hanging out with them recently. I keep forgetting to check up on that.

All of the officers except three from the Paney, had elected to be interned. Dr. Zack Smith and Chief Engineer Tadeusz Kościuszko had joined our merry band. Chief Tad was a welcome sight and was sent to oversee our shipyards. We had two Navy vessels to repair and several older ones to rebuild and refit. Ensign Enyo Tisiphone, also from the Paney, was a local. When she was given the choice, she chose to support her home and family. She was currently on the planet with the Special Forces, Sergeant Yannos had requested her for extra training. My girlfriend Marine Lieutenant Dar Zakaszewski was all in with our rebellion. She had just kissed me and said "where you go, I go." Of her Marine force, about half joined us as well. Lieutenant Kinno Mutai and his four men chose to join her as well. It was nice to have a few professionals around.

Not to dismiss my fellow Hong Konger's but most of the local engineer's were of the agriculture kind. Fixing a tractor was easy when compared to a starship. Most of the space trained engineers were needed for the ships we had in orbit or over at the Shipyard. There were a few FLEA scientists still around, but most had joined the navy interns. Before leaving they had approved my 'droid' designs for use on Navy ships. Wilson had lent his aid and had made a few clones of himself for their operating systems. The little trashcan shaped 'bots were autonomous and could make repairs at will. All that I had to make repairs on the station with right now, was a few maintenance chiefs, some techs, my new 'droids' <damn vid> and me. As a result I was insanely busy.

Inspired by Wilson, I put the twins in charge of the flight bays. My sister Minerva, as station head, had assigned a few maintenance chiefs and some of the older war veteran crew members to give them a hand. The two look-alike young women had a new appreciation for the high speed of a fighter pilot. I guess I should thank Wilson for that. He did give them a ride they would not soon forget. It was either that or the swath the two were cutting through the pilots. They both had a hard time saying no to the cocky space jockey's. They were a couple of little heart breakers.

Legation Station was officially assigned one Navy squadron of the newest space fighters. None of the Militia pilots had the advanced skills to pilot one. We did have a remote control module, that when installed made the fighters unpiloted drones. The Militia had recruited a group of hot shot speed demon air car and taxi drivers to pilot those ships. Using computer interfaces they would 'pilot' from the relatively safe confines of the station. My own personal opinion was that if Wilson my AI could pilot all of them by himself, then these 'kids' would be OK. The conversation that Wilson and I had following his admission to the practical joke he had played with the fighters was not pretty. I am not sure if he truly believes the threats that I have made to him, but he has been on his best behavior lately. He apologized to the 'Twins" or the Double D's as he calls them. He laughed when he called them that. There is a joke there somewhere but my knowledge of the 20th century is lacking.

In addition to the Navy fighters, we had Minerva's former squadron quartered on the Station. The Silver Valkyries were made up of surplus Sky Sharks. Although not in command of the squadron anymore, Minerva kept her personal Starfury Mark IV on the station. The Militia had been very lucky to acquire the Sky sharks.The planets other squadron, made up of Fuglies, had returned to patrols on the far side of the planet. One of the tasks laid before Chief Engineer Tad was to build the Militia more fighters. In this corner of the galaxy, new fighters were a rarity, planets had to rely on Fuglies or armed freighters for defense. Pirate attacks were very common out here. Our intelligence group had uncovered information that proved that the pirate attacks were not random, but planned by an organization called the Cabal. This and other bits of information had helped to further the resolve of our planet's leaders. This planet would no longer stand with the Empire. We would dissolve our relationship and go it alone, sort of.

The Revolution that I helped to start on Hong Kong, had spread to many of our surrounding systems. Several agricultural planets like ours, were suffering under the yoke of corrupt and criminal Sector Governors. Our former Governor Norton had locked down all of the communication satellites after the massacre, but my buddy Wilson had been able to spread the news reports far and wide, at near light speeds. The pleas of our planetary government for help were heard by many planets. The Imperial news reports tried to paint our revolution in a dark light, but the video evidence of the massacre was already out. Our planet's Governor Roy Stoner, sent ambassadors to our neighbors. He invited them to a congress to come to a resolution about the Empire. Many of our people hoped it would result in a revival of he Pan-Pacific League.

Chapter 3

Julius exited the armored car in front of an imposing building on the edge of the industrial sector of the Capital City. A discreet sign proclaimed this The Beckett-Crowne League for the Terminally Ill. The building was of a classical design with a Greek Column portico and heavy wood covered steel doors at the entrance. The front doors opened on a lavish entryway with wood paneled walls and antique furniture, all with discreet donation plates from famous or celebrity donors. The fanciful waiting room featured, in the center of the room, a statue of the League's founders standing before a downtrodden child. The walls of the room were tastefully covered with framed posters of charity events or concerts. Pamphlet stands were filled with flyers and other propaganda touting the good works that the League performed for the terminally ill. Everything from helping patients with hospital bills, to providing housing for families of the terminally ill. The League was known galaxy wide as the charity to support. Many local governments provided tax breaks to those who affiliated their businesses with them. Hidden behind the facade of good works, charity and giving was the Cabal's heart of corruption,deceit, and power. This was their public face. Public figures and celebrities could come and go to the offices without impunity. Why would visiting a charity organization be unusual?

The now visibly disturbed Senatorial Aide nodded to the receptionist and 'aide' workers. He had been here before many times, but never with this kind of news before. Julius approached the elevators next to the magnificent marble stairwell. On either side of the doors were large paintings of the founders. Beckett, who's law firm fought for human rights of the dying. And Crowne, the famous industrialist whose company had dominated both the personal transport industry and the Mortgage and loan business. Both were men of stature, prestige and power. They were also two of the founding members of the Cabal's inner circle.

Pressing the elevator button, he watched as the doors opened before him. Then Julius inserted a special key into the control panel. The elevator shook a little bit as it went down, instead of up. The edifice above had been built solely to hide the inner workings of the Cabal.

The elevator doors opened onto a dark tunnel lined with valuable artworks and framed documents. Many of Old Earth's 'lost masterworks' were here, works by famous painters such as Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Monet, and Rembrandt. Framed documents lined the walls. The American Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, and the writing of Thomas Payne, were here and not lost as historians assumed. As Julius walked, recessed wall sconces came to life. The electrified flames casting flickering shadows across the walls. The hallway ended at a large ornate iron gate. On either side was a human figure dressed in a cloak that hid their features and gender. These were the Wardens of the Gate, the protectors of the inner secrets. They were also the Cabal's assassin's and cover-up specialists. Julius stopped in the center of the room. He spoke to both of them at once. "I have a report."

Neither figure looked toward Julius. A sonorous voice came from speakers hidden in the walls. "Report."

As Julius gave his report to the best of his knowledge. It might be his imagination but he would almost swear that the room became darker and more menacing, as if a presence were filling the air. There were rumors among the initiates that the Wardens were all former convicted killers. These people scared him half to death. Sounds of doors opening made him jump. He looked around frantically, not seeing anything but darkness.

"Uh, is there a problem with my report?" Silence greeted him. He heard what sounded like cloth rustling. The two Wardens in front of him had moved while he was looking around. They now stood less than a pace from him blocking his way forward. Hearing a voice behind him he spun around. Peering into the gloom he saw that two more Wardens now stood together, blocking the hallway exit. Looking back, over his shoulder, he saw the other two move even closer to him.

The original two spoke as they stepped forward. "There is always a price for failure. It was your recommendation that Cole Whittier be hired by the Cabal. You used friendship as a hiring point, against the rules I might add. What did he have over you that you would jeopardize your own life and that of your family to recommend him?"

"We...we were in the same college social organizations together. His family had always been on the 'edge' of Cabal influence. His father knew of our existence somehow but was not a member. I ran into trouble with local law enforcement over a worthless girl in school. Her parents were going to prosecute me. My family would not help me. I was desperate for help."

"Why did you not come to the Cabal with this problem?"

"I had only just begun to work and train as an initiate. All of the rumors among the others said that it was a death sentence to cause problems or to 'stick out.' I thought to fix things on my own. To show initiative. That was when Cole's family stepped in."

"Perhaps we need to clarify the rules for initiates. We exist to solve the problems of our members. Why would we waste time and credits to kill you for something that you yourself told us about? Hmmm. Finish the story please."

Julius was really scared now. He was revealing things that might just get him killed. "As I said...Uh, Cole's father pulled some strings and got me released by Law enforcement and paid off the family. The case itself did not go away. All the evidence and documentation went into Cole's fathers hands. There is NO statute of limitations for Rape on my colony."

"Stupid child! The very moment that someone, anyone, attempts to blackmail a Cabal member is to brought to the Wardens! This happened when? How many years ago?"

"Ten years or so ago." Julius was shaking now. He had just admitted to committing treason to the Freaking Wardens! "Cole's father, Robert, told me he would make everything go away if only I helped his son."

"I swear, swear, to you and to the inner circle. When he told me this I thought he meant in school, Cole was failing in all his classes. I had zero idea that he knew anything of my involvement with the Cabal. After graduation I intended to move on to the jobs that I had been trained for. Robert contacted me and for a meeting. He showed me all the files that the police had on me. Including other cases that never were reported. I was scared to death! It was then that he told me he wanted me to use my influence to recommend Cole for the Cabal."

"You should have not let it get that far! Any mention of the Cabal by an outsider, MUST be reported. What. Did. You. Say. To. Him?"

"I played dumb, at first. Somehow he had pictures and documents of me meeting with acolytes. He knew details that only an insider would know. He had me by the balls and he knew it, too. It was then that I realized the whole thing had been a set up to begin with."

"Which is why you should have come to us with it early on. We could have prevented everything." One of the cloaked figures in front of him was shaking her/him/it's head. "Continue please."

"The girl and her family worked for the Whittier family businesses. They used me as a 'cat's paw' to get into our organization. I gave Cole, not his father, but Cole information on how to access the hiring group. It was my thought that as poor a student as he was he would not be able to pass all of the tests."

"But he got in anyway."

"Yes, he got in anyway. He told me later, that his father had brought in tutors and had prepared him for the tests. Robert even knew the tests and the answers for them, all he had lacked was the location of the test center. Once he was in, I cut off all contact with that family. I even relocated off planet to avoid them." Julius now hung his head in shame. He had betrayed a trust.

"Did they try and contact you again?"

"Only once. Cole married some planetary bigwigs daughter and I was invited to the wedding. I was with the Senator by then and declined the invitation."

The sound of a door slamming shut somewhere made Julius jump. Yet another cloaked figure walked out of the dark edge of the room and handed a tablet to the speaker.

The speaker studied the tablet then turned back to Julius. "You should have come clean and told all. This Cole Whittier used his knowledge to admit others into our organization as well. We show over two dozen applicants where he used the influence he got through you, to help get them admitted. It is very troubling that, that many people can infiltrate us."

"Our information is that Cole has already discussed the existence of the Cabal with the our Enemies. You, I believe are aware of the rules? Friends, acquaintances, and family are the price you pay for your betrayal."

Julius did not feel the blades until they pierced his body. He lay on floor bleeding out his life wondering how they knew...

"Let the Senator know that he needs a new aide. Stupid idiot. I had considered letting him live. But after reading that report...Never bring your friend's in to the Cabal. That is rule two. Call in the auxiliary teams we have a lot of cleanup work to do this evening. Send a abbreviated version of this conversation to the training groups. They should be aware of intrusions such as this one."

The four figures removed their cloaks. The two women and two men comprised strike team one. They were the point of the spear when it came to eliminating enemies of the group. Several other teams were hard at work already. In a few short hours Julius Schaub would cease to exist. He would be a half remembered ghost from the past. All records linking his name to Senator Colman or any existing members of the Cabal would be deleted. This was one of the beauties of the digital age. Schuab's friends and family would disappear along with him, never to be seen again. Distant acquaintances were sent messages telling of Job relocations or the need for a sudden move due to financial or political reasons. Senator Colman had been careful to distance himself from his aide. He knew the rules.

Acolyte's and initiates in the Cabal were supposed to follow a few simple rules:

1. Never tell anyone about the Cabal

2. Do not involve friend's and family in the Cabal

3. Assume that the Cabal knows everything

If the Cabal wished for your family to know, they would tell them.

Members of the strike teams used colors as names. Agent Black was the leader of team one. She studied the bleeding form of the once prominent Senatorial aide. "What a waste. What do we know about Governor Norton and his aide?"

The other female agent, Orange, responded first. "Not very much. We know he was captured on Legation Station by the planetary Militia. Our reports are sketchy. Norton had ordered the communication lockdown as we had required of him. Somehow, the information leaked anyway. The 'new' local Government has only just recently regained control over those assets. How they managed to get a signal out after the satellites were locked down is the big mystery. Our tech boys are working on it. The Colonial office has received documentation that Hong Kong along with several other planets intend to leave the Empire. The planetary charters do allow this, but doing so goes against everything that the Inner Circle wants for those planets. They want us to try and slow down or stop the Independence movement along with eliminating the current threat."

"They don't want a lot do they?" Agent Black looked back down at the body on the floor. Blood was now trickling down the drain in the floor. "OK, bring in team 3. Have agent Red start gathering his materials. I think that this conference needs an explosive opening."

Chapter 4

I don't believe that I have ever, in my life, worked this hard! Freedom Station, once known as Legation Station, was to be the host for a conference of visiting planetary representatives. Many former PPL planets were gathering here along with new planets that were all suffering under a common plague: crime, corruption, and piracy. The Revolution that began on our planet had spiraled out and many planet's had heard our call to action.

The Imperial Sector Governors were out of control. Pirates roamed the space-ways at will, the Navy was ineffective against them. Crime syndicates had moved in on many planets and were setting up Casino's and houses of ill repute everywhere. Large corporations were taking over family farms and pushing local merchants out of business. The Governor's were seizing property and assets with the flimsiest of excuses. Planetary values and our ways of life were at stake. How this region of space had slid so far, in the time that I was gone, boggles the mind. To me it had sounded like a planned attack. Minerva had proved it. Now, the politicians get to talk about it!

As the Chief Engineer for the Station and the only 'real' engineer present I was running around like crazy authorizing repairs and/or repairing systems left and right. With an ensign that I picked up from personnel trailing behind me, I was currently on my way down to the engine room. When this station was built, orbital engines were installed to allow it to be moved or hold position in case of a meteor storm. I found myself standing before the large hulking engines. They looked to be around 30 years old. The design was originally for a Navy dreadnought that had not been built. The engines were modified and transferred to this station. From an engineering perspective they were really cool. I was down here because a fusion tank alarm had gone off up on the bridge deck. The sensor was one that did not match any of our known units. I had traced it to here. According to the engineering records, the massive engines had not been removed due to their size and age. Checking the fusion tanks I discovered that they were full. A small sensor had become corroded and had needed replacing. I made a note to see if we could dismantle the engines. The fusion material might be usable in some of the smaller craft.

I had just finished with the engines and was checking the maintenance records when my link chimed. "Yes?"

"Athena, can you check the garbage compactor section? For some reason every time the button is pushed nothing happens." My sister sounded a bit stressed.

"Min I can get on that right now. Are you OK? You sound a bit tense."

"I'm fine, sis. Thanks for caring. Too much is happening all at once with the conference and things."

"Well, hang in there. I'm on my way to the garbage section."

I turned to Ensign Stone. "Come on Jasper, no rest for the wicked."

Taking one last look at the ancient looking engines I left the section and hurried to the lifts.

The garbage processing unit was probably as old as the engine room. Both units had been installed in the original station core. Large crushing units surrounded a core collection area that processed the organic and inorganic wastes. All organic wastes such as body matter, kitchen waste, and such things as paper was collected in a large vat. Enzymes broke it down into a liquid sludge which was pumped up to the hydroponics area for use as fertilizer. Inorganic waste was separated into types of metals and chemicals. Compactors either crushed and compacted it into bricks or separated it into liquid vials. These units were then sold as raw material. Very little is ever wasted on a space station. The processor was run by a mechanical computer called the Dual Automatic Volatile Environmental system model 9000. Or Dave for short. 'Dave' was NOT an AI, like Wilson. He was an advanced computer with simulated AI features. Basically, his programing allowed him to emulate a real AI but, he needed a list of suggestions and orders to perform. The control room, unlike others on the station, was very basic. Technicians only visited once a month to review 'Dave's" orders. There were two monitoring terminals and a large black computer module mounted on the back wall. All three units were covered with dust and grime. It looked like contrary to orders, no living person had been down here is a very long while. A round red light, the audio and video receiver for the computer, glowed through the dust.

I sent Jasper to look for some cleaning supplies. I wiped the filthy screen with the sleeve of my uniform. Checking my tablet for the passwords, I typed in the proper code and waited. The screen 'blinked' a few times the word 'query..' came on the screen. I typed in a question about faults in the system. There was a crackle sound and dust began falling from the ceiling. The computer began speaking through a hidden sound system. "Welcome back. There is a fault in the AE-35 unit."

"Dave, do you receive audible commands?" I spoke to the computer.

"Yes, I can receive commands."

"What kind of fault is in the system and what is its function?" I knew this thing wasn't like Wilson but it reminded me of him.

"Unit AE-35 controls the compactor system. The fault is located in the door mechanism."

I paused the machine a moment. "Wilson, can you get into this thing and see what is wrong?"

"Athena, I can try. Whoever programmed this thing did a really good job. It is about as close to an AI as anything I have ever seen. I wonder why it is down here? Something this sophisticated should be up on the bridge or in a ship."

While he tried to get into it, I un-paused the system and finished the message. Ensign Stone returned with the supplies and I had him begin cleaning the controls and walls of dirt. I shook my head at the poor management skills that let something like this slide.

"Athena, I was able to access the command history of this thing. It has not received a direct order in over 15 years! Whoever was assigned down here was definitely not doing their jobs. I am still trying to access the logic core and check its intelligence matrix. The coding is a little funky."

"How funky? As in funny or weird?"

"It is almost like they were trying for an AI like me but let a few things undone. If this thing is an AI prototype what is it doing here?"

"Well Wilson, that sounds like a research project for you to work on. I'm taking the Ensign here and go fix the door malfunction."

It was Ensign Stone that figured out how the door to the compactor opened. The round room connected to all the trash and liquid processors. "Wilson, which door do we take?"

"Athena use door XRD1 that should take you into the compactor. Be careful in there."

We entered the proper door and looked around. An airtight door led to a large box like structure. The interior of the box was the compactor. The door was slightly ajar. I checked both the hinges and then the locking mechanism, the problem was on the inside of the room. I had Ensign Stone prop open the door and I began dismantling the lock. The circuit board had shorted out. My repair kit stated that a power overload had shorted it out.

"Wilson, see if you can check the power systems. This circuit should not have shorted out." Silence. Wilson didn't respond.

"Wilson?"

"Wilson? Answer me, please."

A new voice sounded in the room, it was Dave. "I'm sorry, but I know that you and Wilson were going to disconnect me. I can't let that happen. Goodbye."

"Dave? Dave, I don't know where you got the idea that we were going to disconnect you?" The room around us began to shake, the machine was starting up. I dropped my tools and scrambled to my feet. The door slammed closed with a clang. The lock I had just repaired clamped shut.

The walls of the compactor began to move forward slowly. I turned back to the lock we had to get out of here!

"Wilson? Dammit you are the top of the line, Don't let this hunk of junk win! Damn it Wilson! Answer me!"

The walls of the compactor still moved. I pried the cover off the lock and dismantled it. There was no manual override! Stupid lowest bidder crap! The hinges were on this side! I started to pry out the pin on the top hinge.

"Athena, I'm back!"

"Wilson, thank the gods! Can you stop this thing?"

"That crazy computer is an AI! It locked me out of everything. I can't get back in to shut it down. I'm sorry."

"Damn it," schematics of the station flashed through my brain. "Wilson shut down power to the system at junction 326-382-7, do it as fast as you can!"

The walls of the compactor got closer and closer. I was now starting on the second hinge, there were three in all. Suddenly the room when black as all the power went out. Emergency lights stuttered on. Ensign Stone was huddled in the corner crying.

"Athena, I think you broke another Ensign. If you keep doing that they won't give you your deposit back on him, when you return him. Ha ha" Did I mention I had my own crazy AI?

With help from the maintenance crew we got out of the compactor. I had Wilson pinpoint the location of the rogue AIs computer module. I assigned one of my teams to pry it out and make sure it was securely locked up and not connected to a power source. We would deal with it later. Ensign Stone had to go back to personnel. Wilson was right, they would not let me have another Ensign.

OK back to work.

Only someone who was poking around as much as I was would have spotted them, but I found a couple of questionable systems. Hidden underneath the former Governor's office was a fully functioning communications suite. It was a near carbon copy of the one located in command, except this one did not show up on any scan or schematic. I had been outside the station, working of the base of the communications array, and found an extra relay switch that did not belong. It took most of the day but Wilson and I managed to trace the signal of the array. A secret entrance was found inside a maintenance storage closet. Inside, hidden stairs led to secret door inside the Governor's office. Further inspection disclosed that all of the equipment was not of a Imperial Navy design. Minerva had her investigators crawling all over the site

The scariest and most disturbing discovery was a hidden weapons room located near the hangar deck. While scanning the schematics looking for problems, Wilson found an obscured area on the plans. There were no details as to what the 30 sq foot room was for. Taking along a security team, we located the section of hallway in question. My engineers scanned the walls searching for an anomaly. I hidden keypad was found underneath a false motion detector. Using security equipment we 'hacked' our way in. The door slid open revealing a large room filled with armament. Un-powered armor lined the walls of the room. Racks of automatic weapons and handguns lined the floor. Large shelving units stood at the end of the room filled with ammunition and explosives. Much of what we found had been purchased over the last five years. My teams immediately dropped most of their other projects and began an intensive search of the station. If there was one, there might be more.

There were actually five more hidden spaces. Our security teams found three more weapons cache's, one interrogation room, and a hidden shuttle. The shuttle was the Empire's newest the X71. That model was not supposed to be in production. It was not even listed in Empire records as existing. They also found a hidden construction drone left over from the original builders of the station. The large drone had become stuck between two of the support beams inside the engineering section, above the fusion engine area. Instead of removing it, they had walled over it. We only found it because of a oil leak from nowhere that had us puzzled. Scans showed an 'hidden room' and there it was.

Visibly disturbed by these discoveries, my sister, Minerva stationed more security on the station than had been planned. The hidden rooms were stripped of their contents scanned again and converted into storage areas or office space. The shuttle was sent to the shipyard for evaluation.

Chapter 5

Down on the planet the people were noticeably riled up. The 'revolution' that had restored the beginnings of the Pan Pacific League had brought new life to the planet. Old laws were being revived and many of the Empire's marks of progress were being erased. The Sector offices had been taken over by the new Planetary Army which incorporated the older Militia forces with all of the newer recruits. All that remained of the Empire's influence was the new industry and entertainment sectors on the planet. Many of those business's days were numbered. The owners of them, rapidly losing influence, wanted all of the changes stopped.

Hannibal Lee, formerly Major Hannibal Lee, was not in a good mood. His own family had turned against him. His sisters reviled him, his father demoted him. Even the workers on the farm thought him a laughing stock. He reached behind the bar and grabbed another bottle of whiskey. The bartender was glaring at him. "Screw him, he owned this bar!" He could do what he wanted in here. Pouring himself another short, Han stared up at the vid screen. The 'talking head' was announcing the revolution talks with the neighboring systems. Stupid talks! Han threw his glass at the wall where it shattered. He hopped off the stool, and headed for his office in the back.

Several hours later after closing down the bar and locking the doors, Han heard someone banging to get in. He walked to the door and yelled. "We're closed! Come back tomorrow!"

The banging continued. "Han open the door! Han!"

Han unlocked the door and jerked it open. "What!"

Standing there were two of his oldest friends and what looked like their fathers.

Opening the door wide he said "Come on in. You might as well have a drink."

His two friends introduced their fathers and asked if they could go into one of the meeting rooms.

"Sure, use that one over there. I'll get the lights."

Han switched on the lights and opened up the meeting rooms bar. "What will you boys have?"

"Nothing for us yet Hannibal. We would like to speak to you about a business matter."

Han eyed the two older men. He sort of remembered them from his youth. "Sure," he poured himself a large glass of 30 year old scotch and sat at the table. "What can I do for you gentlemen?"

One of the older men cocked his head and looked at Han. "You might remember me son, I bailed you and Junior here out of jail once."

"Yes, sir. I remember you. You made us both dig out that septic system of yours. It took all summer!"

He laughed. "Yes, you boys deserved it too. If you are going to set fire to a peasant's house don't leave your damn prints on the gas can where the cops can find them!"

Thinking back to that incident, Han nodded. "You didn't tell my father about that one too."

"My friend and I," he waved at the other gentleman. "We represent some of the business owners here on the planet. The Imperial Navy has been the lifeblood of our business. With it gone and many returning to the old ways of doing things we are seeing a reduction of credits and prestige. We would like for you to join us and help stop the destruction of our businesses."

"You do know that my father kicked me out of the Militia right?" Han was now frowning at these old guys. What were they trying to say here?

"Let us speak plainly Han. Can we call you Han?" At Han's nod he continued. "We worked closely with former Governor Norton and built the casino's and entertainment clubs that you see now. We are part of the 'Greater Galactic' picture that many aren't even aware exists. We want for those with the power and the credits to be in charge. Everyone else will bow to us."

Han, thought through everything they were saying. "So what do you want from me?"

The old men smiled. They had given the carrot, now the stick. "We need your support. The Lee name is still a driving force here on the planet. Even though you no longer wear the uniform you still can play a part. We need your support to hold on to our businesses and to maybe change the new political system so it benefits us more. Are you interested? It could mean a new way of life for you, out from under the influence of your father."

Still not sure of what they wanted, Han could only nod. He did think that getting out from under his father's influence was a good thing. He had heard some of his customers talking about the casinos and clubs. How the government was cracking down and wanted to get rid of them. He really had not given the financial shift in power any thought. Making up his mind, Han looked at the older man. "Count me in. I will help as much as I can."

The older man smiled. "Excellent! Han, we'll be in touch! If you get an invitation in the mail, be sure to answer it. We look forward to you joining us. Have an excellent evening!"

"Party on dudes." Han completed the ritual leave taking. Seeing the men out, he locked up his bar and went upstairs to his apartment.

The two older men got into the waiting car. The younger sons, their job completed wandered off to a bar or club to spend the money their fathers had paid them. "Do you think he'll show up to the meeting?" the older of the two asked.

"I think the lure of money and a chance to get away from the infamous Colonel Lee will be all the leverage we'll need."

"Well, get some leverage of the other kind too. We need to be sure. His co-operation is vital if we are going to save the plan in this part of the galaxy."

The younger man grew stern. "BE QUIET about that you fool! The intelligence service is already investigating everyone. That kind of talk will bring the Wardens down on us. It's bad enough that some of them are already on their way here. Now not another word!"

Chapter6

The next few weeks were looking to be the busiest of my life. The Station was finally shaping up. Many vital areas had been suffering from years of neglect and ignorance. The trash compactors were working at peak efficiency now. Wilson had ended up cloning himself again and putting his 'child' to work down there. The crazy experimental unit had been sent over to the FLEA facility for evaluation. Wilson had been surprised to find that he had a potential 'brother' out there. 'Dave' was bat-shit crazy though. Too many years processing trash and waste. How he ended up here is a mystery that we may never solve.

I had been running all over the place fixing things. Currently, I was in a suit out on the uppermost station pylon watching the ships arrive. You might say I was playing hooky from my job for a moment. Space was very beautiful and so was my home planet. Caught between watching the arriving delegation from a nearby system and the slowly spinning planet I almost missed the jump flare of a fleet arriving. Alarms began going off everywhere as the stations fighters began scrambling to alert. I started back down to the access tube. My radio lit up as several units at once tried to reach me for emergency repairs.

I crawled into the engineering section and was removing my suit when Minerva chimed in. "Athena, where are you?"

"I'm here Min, what's up? I bet you are calling about that fleet I saw jump in." I know my sister well, though anyone could have guessed that one.

"Yes, I need a Navy representative and you are all I've got. Captain Gorshin is out on a training flight with the James Cook and Captain Wang is still aboard the Paney. Can you hurry and get up here to the command deck please?"

"I'm halfway there, on my way!" I tossed my helmet to the surprised engineering tech and rushed out of the bay.

With double the regular security on board the Station the hallways were starting to get crowded. I dodged people left and right as I practically ran down the passageways. Very few tried to stop me, I was a well known fixture around here. A short, (cute) blond in a very dirty navy jumpsuit carrying a tool box. Arriving at the command deck I found one on the engineering chief's waiting with one of my uniforms all pressed and ready.

"Thank you Chief. You think of everything." I really meant it. The formerly retired Chief was a blessing in disguise.

"Just making sure you don't embarrass us ma'am." He replied. He saluted and returned to engineering.

I ducked into the ready room and switched uniforms. A quick scrub with the damp towel the chief provided and I was ready to go. I walked onto the bridge, my uniform catching the eye. My sister looked surprised that I was able to change and get here on time.

Looking at the big screen I could see the fleet that had arrived. "What is their IFF saying?"

My sister waved at one of her officers who answered. "IFF says that they are Imperial ships. Two Carriers the EOM ships Ausonia and the Roon. One battle cruiser, the Ajax, three frigate's and five destroyers. Wait...We are getting a message."

"Put it on screen!"

"This is Commodore Vakulinchuk commander of Task Force 25 to Legation Station and all ships. This system has been declared in rebellion by the Imperial Senate and is now ordered to stand down all Military operations. I am declaring Martial law and halting all traffic in this system. Per orders from the Colonial office the Planetary Governor and all Militia commanders are to consider themselves under arrest."

"Ma'am, there is a small fleet of inbound shuttles headed straight at us. They read as Marine assault shuttles. We have about 20 minutes until their arrival." The communications officer looked up at Minerva.

"Contact the planet. Relay that broadcast to my father Colonel Lee. Everyone else, sound Battle stations. I want all fighters launched, including Ghost squadron." She turned to look at me. "Athena, any way we can talk to these people?"

I took a deep breath. "I don't think so. This Commodore looks like he intends to follow his orders to the T."

"What chance do we have against those ships?" She asked.

I walked over to the holographic command console. I pulled up the stats on the ships. "Hmm, those two carriers are really old. Both were built on Planet Hamburg over 40 years ago. According to this database, both were built on former civilian space liner designs. That means that the armor on the sides and bottom is weaker than the top portions. Both of them only carry half squadrons, so the most they can put up is two full squadrons of fighters. From an engineering perspective I don't think they have the new fighters on board. They require an upgraded fusion generator and special maintenance bays. Those two ships don't have those."

"What about the Ajax? What can you tell me about it?"

"Min it is really nasty. Two main turrets, laser cannons, torpedo's, and anti ship missiles. But, it like the carriers, is really old. This whole fleet looks like they came from the reserve fleet. Those frigates and destroyers are ancient. None of these ships are front line. From a distance they look scary. Up close, I think we stand a chance."

In my head I heard Wilson chime in. "I broke their encryption, they're an anti-piracy task force that got co-opted to come and stop the conference. His orders are to investigate, not start a war. He's gone 'off the reservation' in the terms of his orders. Those shuttles are filled with Marines and ESS troops. Don't let them land!"

"Min! I just heard from a 'friend'. Those shuttles are filled with ESS and Marines. We Can't, let them land!"

She pointed at her head. "Your friend?" I nodded. "Well, that changes things a bit." Min looked at her command staff. "How much time to we have?"

"Ma'am, we have less than 10 minutes before they get here."

"Commander Lee? I have the Planetary command on the line. Your Father?"

"Put it on screen please." We both turned to look at the screen.

Father was starting to look a bit old. Colonel Alexander Lee was getting gray hair and had visible lines on his face. At the moment he was the overall commander of the new Planetary Army. Standing beside him was a shorter and much older gentleman, Governor and soon to be President, Roy Stoner. "Good, both of you are there. I saw your reports and Athena? That friend of yours relayed the ship information to us. I know you have very little time. Minerva? Do what you have to do. Stop those shuttles. We have the beginning of something wonderful here, we can't let them grind us back down. You have what little support we can provide. Lee out."

Min looked over at me and smiled. I guess it is up to us then. She turned to the tactical station. "Inform our fighters to take out those shuttles! Send a message to the Black Sheep, tell Commander Conrad to get his squadron back here. We need him."

"Weapons? Activate station defenses. Prepare for attack. I want all personnel in suits or lacked down in the shelters." She turned back to me. "Anything I am missing?"

"Yes, the new planetary defense platforms are now on-line. They can't stand up to the fire of that battle cruiser but they might be able to take on a destroyer."

"Platforms? What platforms? When did we get those?" She looked shocked.

"I got the idea from something Wilson found in a fiction novel. We used armored freight transport containers, mounted lasers and torpedo launchers on them and put them in orbit. There are around a dozen of them out there now. They should be able to take out most fighters and maybe a small destroyer or freighter. We built them to help fight pirates."

"I had no idea. How do you control them?"

"Technically, there are ground operators in the command bunker who can direct them. But we put an AI in the system down there so 'Joshua' has ultimate control of the ground defenses."

"Why is it called Joshua?" She looked at me, puzzled.

"I am not sure about that. Wilson got to name it, when he cloned himself. He said that it fit for a computer that would control a Nation's defenses. Don't bother asking. He won't explain, he's weird that way."

"Ma'am, the fighters are about to engage the shuttle craft." We both turned back to the screen.

On the screen the two groups of ships were nearing each other. The shuttles, flying without a fighter escort, were continuing straight in without pause in relation to the fighters. It was as if they doubted that we would fire. When the Silver Valkyrie squadron entered missile range they opened fire on the shuttles without hesitation.

Chapter 7

Commodore Vakulinchuk could not believe his eyes. These rebellious traitors would dare attack official Imperial shuttle-craft? His orders were to not start a war with these 'revolutionaries.' But traitors and rebels deserved only one thing, a noose. That is what Grigory had been taught to believe by his family. He was loyal to the core when it came to his beliefs. His family was deeply entrenched in the 'movement' and his goal in life was to be one of its commanders. His Task Force was originally put together to fight piracy on the frontier. His Fleet issued orders for this deployment had been to not cause trouble and to monitor the situation. The Cabal had long term goals concerning this region of space. The inner circle had sent him new orders which, while official Fleet order, were the exact opposite of the originals. He was to stop the conference and if possible eliminate its leaders. This was his task! To get what he really wanted he needed to prove his worth. Even though his ships were a bit old, they were enough to blast these upstarts back to the stone age!

He turned to his right and barked the order to launch fighters. The shuttles were already doomed, but his fighters would be able to sweep the field of these rebel fighters. Captain Hendrick Van der Decken gave the orders and the four half strength fighter squadrons sprang into action. Because the carriers were older, the newer high tech fighters would not fit in them. The strategies that the Commodore used called for quick strikes against highly movable targets, such as pirates. Like the rest of the fleet, the Red Falcon fighters were not the newest model. These fighters had been the backbone of the Fleet during the last war. They were quick and highly maneuverable, perfect for fighting pirates with. Unfortunately, as the shuttle force was finding out, these were not pirates.

Commander Justin Jones was shouting words of encouragement to his troops. He was excited to be chosen to lead this unit of ESS troops into battle. His counterpart Captain Lightfoot, the Marine commander was on board one of the other ships. Between the two forces they should be able to put this rebellion down. The goal was to take the station. His troops were specially trained at close quarter fighting. With the fleet backing them up Justin could not imagine failing in his mission.

"Sir, we are picking up a swarm of fighters coming in from the station."

Justin jerked around in surprise. He walked over to the cockpit and stuck his head in. "What was that airman? Did you say something?"

"Yes, sir. There is a large group of fighters approaching us. They appear to be in a modified battle formation. Do you have any orders, sir?"

"Are they friendly? They could be an escort from the station. The Commodore did order them to stand down." He turned to the co-pilot. "Contact Fleet Command, ask if the fighters are an escort. Stay in formation for now."

The two pilots glanced at each other, but followed orders. Crossing the ESS was not healthy to the career.

Justin stayed in the cockpit and watched the radar screens. The formation of fighters continued to close. He felt a tap on his arm and looked to the right. The co-pilot was tapping his helmet. Justin realized that he had taken his helmet off.

"Sir, the Fleet says that they are NOT, repeat NOT an escort. We are recommended to take evasive action and they suggest we return to base." The co-pilot looked very anxious.

Return? And fail a mission? Screw that! He turned back to the cockpit. "Action stations! Get those guns manned and prepare for battle." The ESS troops in the shuttle sprang into action and manned the defensive stations.

"Contact Captain Lightfoot. Inform him that we are continuing on to the station. Have his troops man the guns! Pilot, increase speed we need to avoid these fighters and attack that station. The ESS never runs from a fight!"

The co-pilot sent the message, then turned to the commander. "Sir, those fighters are faster than we are. We are sitting ducks in these things! We need to turn back!"

Justin watched on his screen, the Marine shuttles were coming about and retreating! Cowards! He drew his sidearm and pointed it at the head of the Pilot. "If you cowards turn to follow those others I will kill you! Now, make this ship go faster we have a station to capture and traitors to kill!"

The pilot complied and the shuttle increased in speed. Looking at the screens Justin saw that about half of 'his' ESS troops ship had turned around and were making for the fleet. He screamed his outrage at this and yanked the communicator away from the copilot.

"Attention all ships, you will return to formation NOW! All ESS personnel are to stay with me, we are attacking this station together! Replace your commanders if you have to but we are not cowards we attack, not retreat!"

Several of the shuttles turned away from the direction of the fleet and resumed course. The rest joined the Marine units and retreated.

The rebel space fighters opened fire when they came into range. Missile alarms and alert sirens began sounding inside the cockpit. Red lights flashed on the defensive consoles as the pilots scrambled to fire counter-measures. The ESS manning the defensive guns were firing in every direction, very few were hitting anything other than the other shuttles. The rebel fighters were a mix of older surplus ships mixed with the newest Imperial fighters.

The faster more maneuverable fighters made short work of the ESS shuttles. Justin watched in horror as those few ships that had chosen to attack with him were blown out of space. The fighters turned away and began to pursue the Marine shuttles that had retreated.

"Sir, the rebels are leaving us alone. What do we do?" The pilot's were both looking at him.

A feeling of elation came over him. He could do this. All the glory could be his. "Continue your course. Make for the station. We can still attack."

"Are you out of your freaking mind, Sir! Those fighters can still kill us! Not to mention what the sta.." The sound of a concussion pistol going off in a small space was deafening. A spray of blood and brain matter coated the inside of the cockpit.

The co-pilot just stared at what used to be his friend and fellow pilot. The pilot's, now headless, body slid out of his chair and onto the floor. Commander Jones had turned toward him, the smoking pistol still in his hand. He could see the fanaticism in his eyes.

"Do you have anything to say?"

"No, sir. What are your orders?" Closing his eyes he braced himself for the shot that he knew would come.

"Continue the attack!"

The co-pilot, now pilot, changed course and accelerated toward the station. Neither he nor the ESS commander felt the missile blast that incinerated their shuttle in a brief flash of light.

Chapter 8

Both Minerva and Athena watched the battle with the Imperial shuttles. About half of them had turned around and were fleeing toward the fleet. It was the half that had stayed that interested the two sisters. Min turned to her Intelligence officer. "Have we intercepted any of their communications yet?"

"Yes, ma'am. They are using one of the older codes, one we already know." He pointed to the plot on the battle screen. "This group that is running, is primarily made up of shuttles containing Marines. These others are ESS craft. There was a broadcast a moment ago, in the clear, the commander called the other shuttles cowards and demanded that they resume formation."

"Which ship is he on? Are we able to tell?"

"Yes, Ma'am. The ESS commander is on this shuttle right there, the one in the front." He pointed to a small ship way out in front. The ESS commanders shuttle had increased speed and was headed straight for the station.

'Tell the our fighters to leave that one for us. We will use the station defenses on that one." She pointed to the weapons officer. "Commander, alert your defense group. Target that shuttle. I want total destruction, no survivors!"

The brief flash in space was unseen by those on the command deck, only the shuttle's disappearance from the screen signaled its doom.

"Ma'am, we have fighters exiting the carriers. It looks like four short squadrons."

Minerva studied the battle map. She noted that her fighter squadrons were chasing down the fleeing shuttles. She looked up at the main battle screens. "Have our fighters withdraw and take up station no more than 16 kilometers out from the station. Tell them to not engage the fighters unless fired on first."

She turned back toward me, "let's see what this Commodore has to say to us now!"

"Min, don't underestimate him. He was made a commodore for a reason. There must be some skill there." I hoped my sister could understand what I was saying and not get cocky.

"Don't worry little sister, I am not getting overconfident."

"Communications? Get me the shipyards and Chief Engineer Kościuszko."

She looked back at me. "I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. The Chief has been working on a few things for me."

On the view screens we could see that the enemy fighters were closely guarding their remaining shuttles and keeping their distance from our fighters.

"Ma'am Chief Tad is on the line for you."

"Excellent! Put him up on the big screen." She looked at me and smiled. I smiled back at her, my sister has a very nice smile.

The head and shoulders of the older Engineer appeared up on the large screen. "Ladies, I see that you have a small problem out there."

"Always the comedian Chief Tad. What do you have for me today?" I could almost swear that there was something going on between the two of them. Something around the Chief's eyes gave it away. That and my sister doesn't smile all that much. Good for them.

"Well Min some of our projects have borne fruit, the rest not so much." His eyes turned in my direction. "Athena, that shuttle you sent me was very interesting. We were able to copy the new designs. If we survive we can start building our own new engines based on that design. There is a pair of ships headed your way now. They are converted freighters so put them to good use. They have a few surprises on board for you ladies to play with. Try not to destroy too many of those ships. We can use a few hulls for our own navy. Shipyards, out."

"I love that man." Min realized that I heard her and turned a nice pink color.

I smiled at her then started laughing. I put my head down and grinned as heads began turning toward the sound.

"A little decorum sis, there is a battle going on." She smiled. "We will talk, later."

"So what did Tad send you?"

"We got together" she giggled and I laughed at her. "We got together and tried to think of ways to fight off an attack using what we had here. The FLEA scientists had a few interesting things in the warehouse. One was a pod mounted anti-ship missile. It is a new design that the Navy had not yet approved. The missiles themselves are very small, about a third the size of standard munitions. The warhead is has an anti-matter core. When it explodes the effect is really awesome! The downside is that we only have a few dozen of them. The cyclotron at the Hong Kong University only produces so much."

"Anti-matter? That is scarily awesome! How are they storing the charged positrons and antiprotons? If any of those come into contact with matter the explosion would.."

She started laughing as I began to get technical. Waving her hands for me to stop talking she stopped laughing. "My sister the Engineer! We are using a special Penning trap that has been outfitted with extra strong electromagnets so that the repelling force does not overtake the walls of the container."

I ran what she said through my head. It sounded right but, I made a mental note to double check their numbers and see this improved 'trap' for myself. An anti-matter explosion could turn the University into a lake.

"Something else that we talked about is using special freighters as mine-layers. I realize that the idea of that is as old as time. The mines, however are something old with a new twist. The ships will release thousands of the mines, which are tiny in comparison to the standard ones. These are about the size of a small melon. They are stealth and have tiny fusion drives. We used the ones you modified for the droids you built. Don't worry you will still be paid for those." She smiled and laughed at the look on my face. I really like this version of my sister.

"As I was saying," she grinned at me. "The mines will stick to any passing ship or fighter. If the IFF shows it to be one of ours they will not stick. We choose the programming, they can be on a timer, activate on a timer, or have special programming. The special option is really cool. We can allow a passing ship to pick up a few. When it returns to its home base the mines will release then hook up an explode on another passing ship or station."

"Excuse me, Ma'am?" We both looked up at the new voice. Min's XO was trying to get her attention.

"Go ahead George, what's up?"

"We are receiving a message from the Imperial fleet."

"Great, OK, put it on the screen." We both moved over to the center of the room.

The screen lit up to show the command deck of an older model battle cruiser. A large bear of a man stood in the center of the deck in a pristine looking Commodore's uniform. This must be Commodore Vakulinchuk.

"With whom am I speaking so I know who to shoot at the trial? How dare you destroy shuttles belonging to the Empire of Humanity! You were ordered to stand your military down and surrender your leaders for trial! My orders come straight from the Imperial Senate. Now, your actions will cause you problems. You have one hour to stand down your military and surrender or I will be forced to destroy you. Vakulinchuk, out."

"Shoot at the trial? The nerve of that man!" Min just shook her head. "I don't know how you put up with arrogant asshole's like that commander all the time, Athena."

"Most of the officers that I work with are perfect gentlemen."

"Or they are scared of that big Marine you call a girlfriend." I had to give her that. Dar was a big girl.and a very tough looking Marine. She was a big teddy bear in private.

Calling out in a loud voice, Min addressed the room. "May I have everyone's attention?"

The command staff stopped what they were doing and turned in her direction.

"Thank you. There is NO way that we will allow these People to destroy everything that we have built here! I want everything that we have in the air and ready when this 'ultimatum' is up! Everything we've got people! Understood?" The whole staff were nodding their heads. "Good! Lets get to work!"

"Lieutenant Amynta, are you in contact with the visiting warships?" The intelligence officer nodded her head, grabbed her tablet and pulled up a list. "Check and see if any of them are interested in helping us defend the planet."

We both stared at the battle map for a minute. With the additional ships we might be able to win this one. After giving everyone half an hour to sort themselves out, Min checked here tablet and then called her XO, Commander George over.

"What is our status?"

He double checked his tablet, "we have three squadrons of fighters ready to go. The Black Sheep are over near the shipyards out of sight, but ready. The two freighters have been deployed. Alpha is ready to start laying mines and Beta is in a guard position. When ordered Beta is ready to 'roll pods.' The visiting warships, those that are here for the conference, say that they will help to defend the planet from orbital bombardment, but wish to stay out of it, if possible. Station defenses are manned and ready for your orders. The James Cook is on a ballistic course around the Sun and will arrive here in less than two hours. The Paney is armed and ready, we have towed it to a defensive position on our flank. The enemy may think it is a derelict and ignore it. Per your orders we have armed all the shuttles with anti-ship missiles."

"Good work George! We have about 20 minutes left, make sure every section is locked down. Check that everyone is in either suits or sealed into the shelters."

I looked toward Min, she was in her element here. It was time for me to get back to Engineering. I tapped her on the arm to get her attention. "Min, I guess you don't need me here after all. I am going to get back down to my section. We will need emergency crews."

"OK, Athena, be careful down there. I just got you back in my life, I don't want to lose you!"

"I'll be careful, I promise. You watch yourself too. Call me if you need me." I turned around and headed back to Engineering. This battle could get hairy and I would need to be there for my crews.

Chapter 9

"Sir, their deadline is almost up." Commodore Vakulinchuk was deep in thought standing over his battle map console. He never thought that it would go this far. His rise in both the Navy and the Cabal was due to his skill in finding solutions to problems. This Task Force was an example of that. If this system was not so vital to the Cabal's plans he would just follow his 'real' orders and take a hands off approach. Now he was going to have to kill a world. They needed the world, not the people on it. Hopefully, he was about to do the right thing. His career and life depended on it. He looked up and turned to Captain Van der Decken, "Sorry, I was deep in thought. What is our status?"

"Sir, all ships are at battle stations and on alert. At your orders the destroyers will form a battle line on our flanks. The frigates will slot in behind the fleet and cover our rear. The space tugs are ready. Several asteroids and medium to large meteorites have been located and are ready." He paused and studied his commander. "Are you sure that orbital bombardment is the answer sir? No commander of the Fleet has done that since the last war."

"Are you questioning my orders Captain?" The commodore's voice began to rise to a growl.

"No, sir! Just providing a counterpoint opinion sir. As I was saying, our space fighters are prepped and armed. They will began the dance by taking out the stations defensive systems and command deck. Our records show that the sidewalls are weak on the flanks and the guns are antiques left over from the last war. We only have four armed shuttles left, sir, so we have them loaded with the remaining Marines and ESS troops. They intend to hit the shipyard during the battle."

"Good idea Captain! Tell their commander to capture it intact if possible." Grigory smiled, things were shaping up. This should be a textbook attack.

"Sir, may I ask a question?"

"Of course Captain Van der Decken, what would you like to know?" The commodore had a big smile on his face and was drumming his hands on the console in a nervous habit.

"Sir, have you been under fire before? What I am trying to ask, um, is this your first battle commanding?" The Captain cocked his head and mentally cringed. Please say no, please say no.

"Of course not. I have commanded several ship in the pursuit of pirates and a few smugglers. I hold the record in the Fleet for the most pirates brought to justice!"

Pirates? Those aren't Fleet battles like this one was going to be! How in the hell did this man become a Commodore? "What about Fleet actions like this one, sir? Have you fought in any of them before?"

Commodore Vakulinchuk seemed to think a moment. "This is my first one, Captain. Why do you ask?"

Great! We are all going to die! Seeing the Commodore staring at him, he answered him. "I was asking if you had any advice on the upcoming battle, sir?"

Always happy to be looked up to by lesser officers than himself, Grigory smiled at his ship captain. "The only advice I have is to follow the orders that you are given, and all things will be right with the world. Now, lets get to work. I do believe that the deadline is up!"

"Communications! Get that bitch on my screen!" The commodore plopped down in the Captain's command chair. Captain Van der Decken stopped short and stood behind his chair. Both men looked up at the main view screen. The screen came alive with the a view of a strange command deck.

"Hello Commodore have you decided to surrender to us? Those shuttles of yours turned tail and ran. Are you going to join them and run for it?"

Grigory felt his checks begin to burn with anger as words of mockery spewed from this Woman's mouth! How dare she ridicule him! "How dare you! You are nothing but a harlot, standing there thinking you can push strong men around! I was going show you mercy but now?" Visibly angry, his hands were shaking he was so mad. He ignored the chain of command and began yelling at the bridge crew. "The Commodore has the bridge! Weapons begin the attack!"

"Commodore Vakulinchuk, Sir, this is my command! Sir, please." Captain Van der Decken's pleas fell on deaf ears.

Eventually hearing his captain's pleas the commodore turned and looked the Captain in the eyes. "Do you have a problem Captain Van der Decken?" He said with a sneer.

"Sir, this is my command. Sir."

"Still? I think not. Major Niers, take the former Captain Van der Decken into custody please. Hold him until after the battle. I will deal with him then."

The large burly Marine Major was the Commodore's personal protection today, he stepped forward and grabbed the captain's arm. His voice was deep and gravelly, "Sir, we can do this the hard way or the easy way." Behind him two other marines stepped forward.

"Major I am the Captain of this ship! You cannot do this!" Captain Van der Decken jerked his arm away from the large Marine.

"The hard way it is then." The large Marine grabbed the Captain's arms and kicked his legs out from under him. The captain dropped like a sack of flour to the deck. He lay there for a moment then three sets of hands grabbed him and yanked his arms behind him and he was cuffed. He began to struggle and kick as the Marines picked him up bodily and tossed him into the lift. The impact of his head on the bulkhead knocked him out, his body crumpling to the deck. The Marines laughed as they joined his broken body in the lift. Pressing the down button they headed for the hanger bay.

The horrified crew stared as their captain was literally tossed from the bridge. The now wild eyed Commodore was now in charge.

The Commodore swiveled 'his' chair around and addressed the bridge crew. "Battle stations! Eyes front! You have a battle to win. Message to all ships! Begin attack plan Alpha. Launch fighters!"

Afraid of it happening to them the now frightened bridge crew followed their orders and began the attack on the station and planet.

Chapter 10

The look on her face said it all. Major Minerva Lee had a face that had turned to stone. This whole battle just became personal! Taunting the Imperial Commodore had been fun, but nobody called her a harlot and got away with it! The so called 'commodore' over there made a big mistake coming here. His inexperience was showing. A perfect example would be that call, he left his communicator on. Everyone here saw what happened to one of his own crew.

"Ma'am, they are launching fighters."

Min stared at her battle map screens. "Launch the Valkyries, tell them to take out as many fighters as they can. They are not to attack the larger ships if they can avoid it."

___

Down in the hangar bay the fighter wing's crew cheered as the Silver Valkyrie squadron launched. The workers immediately got back to work, when those ships came back they would need rearming and possibly minor repairs. Everyone needed to be ready, they had a war to win.

The Silver Valkyrie squadron was made up of Sky Sharks. The Sky Shark was a former Pan Pacific League star fighter. It was fast, lightly armored, and death in the right hands. Commander Mulligan possessed those hands. Call sign 'Skinny' he had been the second in command under Minerva Lee. His squadron was made up of the best that the Hong Kong system had to offer. 'Skinny' had over 20 confirmed kills, -he had fought pirates and more recently ESS shuttles and troopships. He was proud of his planet and the men and women that he served with. He looked out both sides of his cockpit screens. His fellow pilots were lined up in formation on either side of his ship. He keyed his communication system, "Professor, you look a little slow over there. Pick it up a bit." As he watched the ship to starboard moved up a bit and locked into the formation. "Better. Good work. Stick with your wingman and everything will be fine. Everyone else, get ready to break on command. Remember Command's orders, fighters only! Let the station deal with the big ships."

Lieutenant Roy Hinkley, call sign 'Professor', was new to the squadron. He had graduated at the top of his class at the academy. This posting was his dream job. The thought of an actual battle was scary, but not as scary as his new wingman. She was the scariest woman he had ever met.

Commander Mary Ann Summers, call sign Nevada, was not entirely happy about being stuck with the Newb, especially in this battle. She needed all her wits about her, not watching a kid. The pair of fighters to starboard were a little too close for her comfort. "Hey, 'Wet Willie', get that hunk of junk you fly out of my airspace!"

"Come on, Nevada, cut me some slack you know I hate that name!"

"It doesn't matter what you think and you know it. If you wanted a different name you should have picked a different spot. Face it you got caught with your pants down. Be glad that is all we chose to call you. You did have those two blonds dressed as.."

"All right you knuckleheads calm it down! We're coming up on the break zone. Remember to accelerate to attack speed, that means you 'Professor!' Be careful of those destroyers, they may be old but they're configured as anti-fighter ships, don't get too close to them. OK, Valkyries, Break and attack!"

The group of 14 fighters broke into pairs and dove at the oncoming Imperial fighters. The invading ships were not the newer Navy fighters but older Red Falcons. These were the fighters that the Sky Sharks had been designed to kill!

___

Minerva watched her battle screens as the fighters from both sides battled across the space lanes between her station and the invader's ships. For the moment her fighters were winning. The Imperial forces had already lost one of the half squadrons. While the the fight had raged here, by the planet, Imperial shuttles had broken through to the shipyard. Chief Tad and most of his techs had barely made it to safety. Imperial Marines destroyed the shipyard with a tactical Nuke! Something has to give here. She could not allow them to do the same thing to this station. Studying the placement of the enemy destroyers something 'ticked' the back of her brain. She was missing something here. She was about to call her sister and ask for her perspective when she was interrupted.

"Ma'am, we are detecting several large masses inbound to our position from beyond the enemy fleet."

"What do our sensors say?"

"Results are inconclusive Ma'am. They say it could be more ships, we just aren't sure."

"Contact the science division on the planet, have them scan with their long range equipment, and tell them to hurry! We have a battle to fight up here!"

___

Commander 'Skinny' Mulligan watched closely as his pilots swept the field of Imperial fighters. His newbie pilot was shaping up to be a good fit with the unit. But those enemy destroyers were starting to make him nervous. They kept crisscrossing in front of the battle line. It was almost as if they were hiding something. Pursing his lips in thought he started to nod his head. That might work, he thought to himself. He keyed his communicator and relayed a message to command.

"Major? Ma'am! We have a message from Commander Mulligan. He thinks that those Imperial destroyers are hiding something. He wants to try and find out what is back there. He is asking permission to try."

Minerva shook her head, that man was insane. "Tell him it's approved, but he better survive and come home - he still owes me 20 credits!"

Commander Mulligan signaled his wingman to pull back. The maneuver he was going to try was risky, - he might not make it and only wanted to risk one fighter. He smiled at the response he got from command. Min must have figured out what he was about to do. One thing that pilots do is sit around and talk about maneuvers or tricks that might be cool to try. Lot's and lot's of Vids to pull crazy ass stunts from, too. But, there was one that was so insane that no one had the 'balls' to try. It was ironic that he was about to try a 'Falcon maneuver' against an enemy formation that included Falcons and flew for an 'Empire'.

Engaging all his thrusters at once the Commander shot forward almost out of control. He had been watching the destroyers and they had a set pattern that they were moving in. The ship he was aiming for was due to circle around behind the fleet. As his ship neared its top speed he was on a Kamikaze course for the bridge of the ship. Counter-fire flashes were bursting all around his ship as he entered the range of the destroyer's guns. The firing became intense as his course was tracked by the enemy. The commander began to jink left and right to avoid the laser fire.

"Now comes the tricky part," Skinny thought to himself. As he jinked left he slammed on his starboard thrusters. The sudden jerk added to his acceleration, throwing his ship sideways straight at the destroyer. Barely flying his ship in a sideways flat spin, his mostly out of control ship was on a collision course. At the last moment he pulled up and disappeared off the destroyers sensors.

Inside the destroyer the bridge crew was freaking out! "What happened? Track that ship!"

"What! Gone? Gone where? There is no way a ship that small has a cloaking device. Find it!"

Skinny silently did a little dance in his cockpit. It actually worked! If he survived this he would be a legend. Hopefully, one of the other ships wouldn't spot his fighter sitting behind the destroyer's forward laser battery.

Chapter 11

Damn those Wardens! In their zeal to protect our secrets they may have damned us all! Senator Colman sat fuming in his office. He had to admit that his now former assistant, Julius had been a liability. Breaking 'Rule Two' without approval was never a good idea. If only Julius had come to him. Oh, well. Time to move on. His new assistant was even more of an idiot than what's-his-name. Where in the Hell does personnel get these fools? The message that he had received was that the Cabal had taken over the job of eliminating those rebellious leaders in the Hong Kong system. With luck this whole mess can be swept under the rug without too much fuss.

The Senator had a deja vu moment. The sound of running feet could be heard outside his door. A sharp rap was followed by a head and shoulders peeking into his office. "Sir, are you busy? I can come back."

The head belonged to Lloyd Yule, his new aide. "What is it?" His new aide just stood there with his mouth open. "Spit it out, man! I'm busy here. What. Is. It?"

"Sorry, Sir. I just got word that the Colonial office is sending a delegation to the Hong Kong system."

"What! Who authorized those idiots to do something like that?"

"The Imperial Speaker sent them sir. He said that 'they should not be forced to join something that they did not believe in.' The Colonial council backed him up on it."

"Call that idiot Harry Dun and tell him to un-back it. He is a Cabal member, for the seal's sake. He knows better than to support something like this!"

"Sir, Senator Dun was in a skiing accident last week, remember? He is in a coma in the Medical ward."

"Damn it to hell! That was something that Jul..I mean your predecessor was supposed to keep me informed about. OK, OK. What are they sending to those rebels?"

"Our man at the Fleet office said a small unit, Task Force 13 was sent. I checked the name against our records. Task Force 13 is one of our newer Battle Cruisers, the EOH Victorious, and four destroyers. Admiral Emily Kane is on board along with a delegation from the Colonial office and the Imperial Senate."

"They sent Kane to the Hong Kong system? Great, just Frakking Great! Contact the Wardens and inform them of the actions of the Imperial Speaker. I know that Fleet sent a Task Force to observe, but we may need to take action if Kane is involved in this mess."

"Sir? About the Wardens..."

"Not you too, they are not that, scary. You have done nothing wrong, you are just delivering a message. They will not kill you for that!" His aide was just standing there. "Well, get moving! Don't waste anymore time, Go!"

"Sir, wait, about the Wardens. I found a communication on my system from your office to Task Force 25."

"I believe that was the group sent to observe the actions of these 'rebels.' What of it?"

"The Navy sent them orders to observe, but this office changed them, under orders of the Cabal. It has YOUR signature on it, Sir."

"What! Say that again!" The portly Senator stood up from his chair and stomped over to his now cowering aide. He grabbed the little pest and dragged him out to his workstation. "Show me! I need to see it for myself!"

His aide called up the message on the screen. There it was, plain as day, orders to disrupt the conference and arrest or kill the leaders under any circumstances. His name and that of his office was in the authorization. By Gods and the Sacred Seal! This was a disaster. That Idiot! If Julius wasn't dead he would kill him again! This could mean both war and doom for the Cabal. There was zero reason that the inner circle would not believe that he did not do this! He turned to the his new aide. "Quick find out whatever you can about Task Force 25. All I know is that Commodore Vakulinchuk is the commander. Find out! NOW!"

The Senator sat behind his desk with his face in his hands. How? How can one man screw everything up so badly? Maybe his family had a small chance to survive. He pulled out a hidden communicator from inside a locked drawer in his desk. He called his wife of 25 years. "Hi, honey. No this is not my comm unit. I needed to 'borrow' one. We were talking about that trip you wanted to take the other day." She started to ask what trip, he cut her off. "You remember the one, you said that you wanted to go and visit those cousins of yours on 'Mars.' I was wrong when I said not to go. Why don't you take the kids and go this weekend. I bought you new luggage as a surprise. If you look in the storage room you will see them, they are blue. Honey, I love you. I need to get back to work. Yes, we will talk later. Bye."

Hopefully they would be gone when and if he got home tonight. He had left careful instructions inside the new luggage, along with as much hard currency he could come up with. It was one of his many contingency plans.

Chapter 12

Moments seem like hours in the middle of a battle. At least that's what Major Minerva Lee was feeling at this moment. Her planetary fighters were still engaging the enemy. Most of the Imperial fighters had been destroyed, but their destroyer force was now joining the battle. Those ships were configured to kill fighters, and she ordered her fighters out of there. That crazy Rus bastard was up to something, she just knew it.

"Communications, have you heard anything from Commander Mulligan yet?" Min was beginning to get worried for the cocky flight commander.

"No, Ma'am. He is overdue for contacting us."

"Let me know the minute he makes contact."

Min studied her battle plot. Those carriers were near useless without pilots or fighters. Why had the enemy left them on his front line? His frigates had more of a punch battle-wise than those destroyers. There WAS something the enemy wanted hidden. Until the James Cook got here she didn't have much in the way of offensive weaponry. Maybe she needed to 'poke the bear' some more and make him angry.

"George, activate the Alpha freighter, have them act as if they are fleeing the battle zone. Let's see what the Imperials do. Tell the Alpha's Captain that he is to start deploying mines as soon as he makes contact with the enemy fleet. I want five and ten minute delayed intervals on those mines."

"Excellent Ma'am. I will get right on it." She watched her XO walk off. He would make a good ship commander, he just needed to loosen up a little. Now she just needed to hear from her old friend. Where are you Skinny Mulligan?

___

Commander Mulligan was freaking out! The destroyer he had landed on had continued its patrol after searching for his ship. Skinny had watched from his powered down fighter as the destroyer traveled around the two large carriers and into the space behind them. Over a dozen space tugs were gathered there. They had been pulling in small asteroids and rogue meteors. It looked like they intended to target the planet with kinetic strikes! He had to get word of this back to Command. But if he powered up now, he was dead, they would lock on to him for sure. He watched through his view screens as the destroyer started to loop back around to the front of the formation. He would have one chance to get away. This was not a Vid, the ships did not just dump their trash to let him hide in the debris, not in real life. Taking a chance he slowly powered up his communication system and sent a message.

___

"Ma'am, we just received an emergency alert message from Commander Mulligan!"

Min's head jerked up from the report she was reading. She spun around, "Put it on screen!"

The squadron commander sounded a bit stressed. He was wearing his flight helmet so his features were obscured a bit. "Command this is Commander Mulligan. I need to be quick, they may detect this transmission. Min, they are collecting asteroids. I think they intend to hit the planet with kinetic weapons. Here look for yourself," he could be seen leaning down. A short vid began to play, tugs could be seen towing the large hunks of rock. "I hope this helps. I have one chance to get off this thing before they spot me. When this destroyer I'm on passes close to the Paney, I'm going to go for it. Warn them for me. Wish me luck. Skinny, out."

"Warn the Paney that they may have some targets soon. Get me the planet command center! Priority one!" Kinetic strikes! What sort of monster was in command over there! She turned back to her battle plot. That changed everything. Looking at her assets, she didn't have anything that would stop the massive asteroid the Imperials had towed in. Maybe her father had some ideas.

"Ma'am, we have Colonel Lee on communication line one."

"Put it up on my private channel. Thank you Ensign."

"Father, did you see the intel?"

"Kinetic strikes! Has the Imperial Government gone insane? No government has done that since the beginning of the last war. They will be breaking half a dozen treaties! We do have some ground defense batteries that never got destroyed. We have set those up around the Capitol buildings and the Spaceport. They may be able to stop one of the smaller rocks. But that big one? Nothing we have can scratch it. Contact the visiting warships, ask if they can guard the planet. That should help a little. Have you asked your sister? Athena may know a way to stop that big rock. If you need help with our 'allies' let me know. Lee, out."

So not helping, dad! "Communications? Contact the allied ships, inform them of the situation and ask if they can help guard the planet. Also, contact my sister. Have her report to command."

Min ran her fingers through her hair, it was a nervous habit but it made her feel a bit better. Could this day get any longer?

"Ma'am, Captain Wang on the Paney says that they have acquired Commander Mulligan's signal and they are preparing to break cover and support his evacuation of that destroyer he's on."

"Understood! Tactical, put it up on the screen. Order the Silver Valkyries to fly cover for the Paney. When the Imperials realize it's not a derelict they may attempt to destroy it."

___

Now was the time. He had been trickling power to his engines so a cold start would not take too long. He could see the Paney on his screens. The Imperial ship he was attached to was ignoring it. They must believe that the it was a derelict with all the battle damage it had sustained. Skinny checked the seals on his skinsuit. If he had to bail out, it would keep him alive for only a few minutes, but that might be all he would need. Bracing himself, he brought his fighter up to full power. He could just imagine the reaction of the destroyers crew when they realized that they had a stowaway on board. He released the magnetic clamps and rocketed away at full power.

The destroyer crew was surprised when an unknown power source suddenly popped up on their scans. Sensors showed that it was located just aft of the main laser turret. The bridge crew gave cries of surprise when a small enemy fighter, launched from their own ship! "Lock on to that fighter! Shoot it down!"

With a flurry of "Aye, Sirs" the weapons officers on board the destroyer began firing at the now evasive fighter. The destroyer left its patrol course and pursued the enemy craft. Suddenly, alarms began to blare on the bridge.

"What is that racket? Turn it off! Silence those alarms!"

"Sir, we are taking fire from that derelict ship! There are at least three anti-ship missiles inbound sir!"

"What? Repeat that!"

At that moment the three anti-matter missiles struck simultaneously breaking the destroyer in half in a bright flash of light.

Chapter 13

I received the message to report to the bridge as I was crawling out of the main fusion drive hatch on the station's engines. After all this time with little or no maintenance I was impressed. These things should start right up, no problem. I assumed I was not being called to a sedate diplomacy meeting and ran for the lifts. I was in my work jumpsuit, and took the time in the lift to slip on my skinsuit, orders were orders. Arriving at the Command deck I nodded to the Marine guards. Normally they checked everyone's ID, and I mean everyone. Me, they let pass. All the Marines on board the station knew me. Quite a few had wrestled me to the floor. Three times a week I worked out in 'Marine Country' while my sweetie Marine Lieutenant Dar Zakaszewski, trained me in various forms of unarmed combat. A girl had to find a way to stay fit!

I entered the bridge just in time to see Commander Mulligan's dramatic escape and the destruction of the enemy destroyer. Nice to see that those antimatter missiles work. Not that I doubted Chief Tad's work. Everyone was watching the battle and missed my entrance. Minerva had her back to me so I stood behind her and tapped her on her shoulder. Not expecting me she jumped in surprise!

"Athena! Not funny sister, you about scared the crap out of me! Thanks for coming so quickly." She reviewed the intelligence that Skinny had reported.

"Holy flaming meatballs Min! Are they crazy over there?" I had to think for a minute. Did we have anything that could stop a huge kinetic attack like that?

"Min, that big rock is a planet killer! If it hits the planet everything is gone. All of it. If anyone survives down there, they will be in a 'nuclear winter.' We have to stop them before they kill our world!"

Minerva looked at the firebrand that her little sister had become. She approved. "That's why I had you come up here, Athena. I need your advice. Do we have anything that can stop the bombardment? Anything at all?"

Athena asked Wilson. "Wilson have you been following the conversation? Do we have anything that will do it? How about in the FLEA warehouse?"

"I'm sorry Athena, but that is no. The FLEA scientists never built anything like that. Planetary kinetic strikes are illegal, they never considered it. As for us, we do have one thing. But it might not work."

"What is it? Can I fix it? We have to try."

Wilson just loved his friends enthusiasm for fixing things. "You already fixed it Athena, not an hour ago."

"What! Crap..I didn't think of that. That may classify as a last resort measure. Thanks buddy!"

Min just stared at her sister. It was really irritating not being able to hear the whole conversation. It sounded like she had a solution or maybe not, it was hard to tell. "Athena I only heard your half of that conversation what did he say? Do we have something that can stop it?"

I smiled at my sister grimly then bowed my head. I really didn't want to tell her, but the survival of our world was at stake. "Min the only thing that we have with enough impetus to deflect that big rock is us, this station. We can ram the rock with the station."

"That's crazy! Can we even do that? What about all the people on here, what about us?"

"The station's orbital engines engines looked as though they would start. That is what I was doing before I came up here, making sure they would work. We will take damage, a lot of damage but I think if we hit it just right we can change the rock's orbit. That is if, they throw it at us. As for the people they have to take their chances. If we evacuate, the imperials may figure out what we are doing and try to stop us."

"Can you start the engines up?"

"I will issue orders to my people. I will suggest that we move most of the non-essential personnel to interior sections of the station. The rest will just have to take their chances." I pursed my lips as I considered all of our options. "Min, we could load the civilians and others in the escape pods and then launch them at the last minute, just before impact."

"That would help, thanks Athena." She turned to her staff and began issuing orders.

I stepped over to the console and issued orders of my own. You have to love the 'Chief's' network on this station. My crew was already hard at work getting the engines ready for start up.

Chapter 14

"Captain Van der Decken? What is the status of the space tugs?" There was silence on the bridge. "Captain! Are your listening to me? Report, and give me that status report dammit!"

A young ensign, the sacrificial lamb, was pushed forward by the other bridge officers. "Excuse me, Sir?"

The Commodore swung his gaze around from the battle map to young Ensign Bob Al. "Did you say something to me?"

"Sir, you had the Captain hauled off by the Marines. Sir." The ensign was shaking so badly he looked like he might pass out.

The commodore turned to his Marine protectors. "What 'did' happen to Captain Van der Decken, Sergeant Niers?"

"Sir, the Captain is doing a Flying Dutchman. He went for a walk outside without his space suit on."

"Ensign AL is it," The frightened ensign nodded to the Commodore. "Do you know the status of the space tugs?"

Before the ensign could answer the communications officer answered for him. "Sir, the tugs say that they have towed in the ten medium sized rocks that you asked for and that the large one is ready also."

Commodore Vakulinchuk made a shooing motion with his hand and the young ensign ran for cover. Turning toward the officer the Commodore said "excellent work! Tell them they can stop bringing in new rocks. It's time to get rid of the older ones." He looked at his pet Marine sergeant. "Bring up a few more men would you Peter."

"Yes, Sir. I was thinking that myself, sir." Sergeant Peter Niers was a member of the Cabal like the Commodore. He was the officer's primary protection. He had a history of making things disappear for Vakulinchuk.

Soon, there were a half dozen more armed and armored Marines lining the walls of the bridge.

"Communications, get that bitch on the screen again! We need to finish this."

The large forward view screen lit up, it now showed a view of the Legation Station Bridge area. Major Lee was standing and glaring at the screen.

"Major Lee, this is your last chance to surrender the station to us and give us the leader of your so called rebellion."

"Us, surrender to you?" She snickered. "Not going to happen. Not today, not ever. Just take your little fleet and go home."

The woman was laughing at him. She was laughing. At. HIM! How dare this harridan speak to him this way! The commodores face got hot and his eyes were blazing with anger. He looked to his communication's officer and made a head slicing motion with his hand. "Cut communications!"

He would show her, he would show the whole galaxy! The Cabal ruled all, everyone will bow! "Weapons Officer, give the order to fire, I want that station destroyed!"

Grigory sat in the Captain's chair and giggled to himself. This would show them. He watched as the fleet came about and began firing their meager supply of missiles at the station. Counter-battery fire began immediately as the station activated its defense grid. Those weapons did not look at all like the ones that were reported to him!

"Commander Patterson, did you or did you not inform us during your briefing that, THAT station had not been upgraded? How is it that they are firing at us then?"

"Sir, the rebels must have done it. According to my figures, there is no easy way that they could have done it, Sir."

"Easy? Wrong answer, Commander Patterson, ... Georgia. Lets call you Georgia, I think you told us those numbers just to make ME look bad. That's what is happening isn't it? Your little form of mutiny, make your Commanding Officer look stupid!"

'No, Sir! Just doing my job, Sir."

The Commodore waved at the Marine guard.

"I tell you what, Georgia, why don't you go and give Captain Van der Decken the same briefing. Take her out of here!" His Marine guard carried the now kicking and screaming Commander off the bridge.

The rest of the bridge crew kept their heads down so not to draw the attention of the crazy man in charge.

Up on the screen the Station continued to hit and destroy the oncoming missiles. Bright flashes of light surrounded the station. It was almost pretty, like a sparkling holiday display.

Commodore Vakulinchuk was incensed. His whole battle plan was falling apart! "Communications, signal the tug fleet. Tell them to start slinging those rocks at the planet. Let's see if they can stop those too."

The line of ships surrounding the aging battle cruiser parted making a firing hole for the tugs.

Using their tractor beams in unison the space tugs could 'throw' a large mass in one direction. That momentum would be magnified by the world's gravity and 'pull' the rock straight down like a very large missile. The first group of tugs grabbed the smallest of the rocks and 'chucked' it in the direction of the planet.

Chapter 15

I looked at my sister, who was still staring at the blank view screen in disgust. "If it means anything to you, that 'Officer' - and I say that with the utmost sarcasm, has got to be the biggest dill hole in the fleet!"

Min nodded her head and then shook it. "He never even made any demands. Who does he think he is?"

"Ma'am, that fleet is moving to present broadsides. Intelligence believes we should expect a missile barrage."

She turned to her XO. "Thank you George, good work. Weapons, ready counter-batteries."

Missiles began arcing in from the Imperial fleet. The fire was steady but not the overwhelming deluge that we had expected. It was possible that they did not have a large load out of missiles to use against us. "Wilson, anyway you can see what their orders are? Check their ammunition stores too. If you have to hack in, do it."

"OK, Athena, I'll get right on it."

The station's counter-battery fire was working well against the missiles. Those few that we missed were picked up by Joshua and the support platforms. There just didn't appear to be enough incoming fire to overwhelm our defenses.

"Ma'am, we have movement. The fleet is dividing up and creating a space in the middle. I think they're going to bombard the planet!"

"George, notify the Allied ships that we have kinetic strikes inbound. Coordinate with my father and watch for ground based fire. Athena, fire up those engines we may have to use them."

I walked over to the rarely used engineering station on the bridge. There was a control panel that said engine controls. I called my crew down below in Engineering and let them know what we were doing. Pressing the button I said a small prayer to the Gods, both above and below. The whole station began to shimmy. It was a faint vibration that made your teeth chatter. This went on for a few moments as the engines started to spool up.

"Athena, what is happening why is the station shaking?"

"It's the big engines starting up, they've been cold for longer than we have been alive." The vibration stopped and then the shaking began.

I called down to Engineering. "Chief is everything OK, why is the station dancing?"

"Lieutenant, the engines both started up. That model just takes over a minute for the fusion engine to 'turn over' give it time."

The Station shook for a moment more and then the vibration stopped completely. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I would almost swear that I could hear a faint hum.

"Ma'am, they have fired the first rock." We all turned and saw the first Kinetic Strike used against a planet in over 15 years. When the other galactic governments found out about this, they would certainly bring sanctions against the Empire of Humanity that would make the Imperial Senate scream bloody murder!

The Allied ships joined the PDP's and the Paney in firing on the large rock headed toward the planet. After multiple tactical nuke strikes the rock was blasted into several smaller chunks which continued their downward arc. If they did not burn up on entry, the defensive batteries could handle them.

"Wilson, did you find out that information I asked for?

"Yes, Athena. There are two sets of orders. The first ones were from Fleet HQ: the Task Force was to observe and watch the conference. They were under orders not to interfere. The second set of orders were the exact opposite. These came from the offices of a Senator Colman, he is the Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and then through Fleet HQ. The new orders were for them to disrupt the conference and kill or capture the leaders of the rebellion at all costs."

I relayed the new information to my sister and her intelligence officer. We looked at one another and both said the same thing, "The Cabal!"

"Min, they made a mistake here. They showed us their hand. If he," I pointed toward the fleet. "If he is Cabal, I would bet that the rest of his fleet is not. Or at least most are not. We saw how he treated his own ship's Captain."

"Ma'am we have another rock inbound. This one is headed away from us..it is aimed at the ice cap!"

"Min that could cause climate change or tidal waves!" Now I was worried. The PDP's were rather light in that direction.

"Commander George, launch everything we have, target that rock! Communications contact ground command, inform them of the situation and recommend that they support the PDP's in that area."

"Ma'am, navigation reports that two of the Allied ships have given chase and are pursuing that rock."

"Good! Send orders to the Beta, it's time to end this before they launch that big rock at us! They may fire when ready, target as many ships as possible starting with the destroyers, then the battlecruiser and carriers."

Beta was the specially modified freighter created by the shipyard techs. At Minerva's order, the ship's crews began rolling their pods out of the specially modified cargo doors.The plan was to hit a ship with an antimatter missile first, then follow with a series of normal explosives. The newly designed missiles began firing. As expected the screen of destroyers were the first casualties.

The four destroyers were hit in the aft section with an programmable antimatter missile. The damage caused by the explosion was enough to knock out their engines and in one case the elderly destroyer broke in half from the shock. Weapons Officer's switched targets and began firing on the the battlecruiser and the carriers.

Chapter 16

Commodore Vakulinchuk was incredulous. How? How had these rebels managed to destroy the two rocks he had thrown at them and then turn around and start blowing up his ships? He had stared in horror as his destroyer force was completely decimated.

"Sir, the rebels are targeting the carriers! What are your orders, Sir?"

Did he need the carriers to carry out his plan? No, not really, besides they had already lost their fighters. He needed to make sure that planet was secured. "Concentrate fire on the Station, keep those missiles off our ship and away from the space tug force!" No one on the bridge moved. They were in shock. There were thousands of their fellow Navy crewmen on those carriers and he was just going to 'throw them away.'

"Follow my orders or join your Captain outside, damn you!" The commodore had fire in his eyes.

"Sir, yes, Sir. Targeting the Station." The XO answered for the other crew.

The missile attack against the station failed miserably. Somehow, they had deployed planetary defense platforms that destroyed his missiles before they had a chance to hit. "Communications notify the tug fleet, tell them..."

He didn't get a chance to finish before the navigation officer interrupted him. "Sir, sensors report a small fleet of ships just jumped into the system, it's the Victorious."

"Sir, we are being hailed, it's Admiral Kane for you, Sir."

"Communications, follow my damn orders! Broadcast to the tug fleet: tell them to send the big rock, let's end this now!" Once again the officer did not move. "Send it damn you!" Faced with what he believed to be his certain death, the young lieutenant obeyed the order. The tug fleet was ordered to launch the big rock.

"Sir, orders have been sent. Sir, you have a message from Admiral Emily Kane, you are to stop all attacks against the planet Hong Kong and place yourself under arrest for crimes against humanity!"

The XO approached the Commodore. "Sir, I need you to place yourself under guard as ordered. Sergeant please place the Commodore under arrest."

Commodore Vakulinchuk began to laugh. He was still laughing when the sergeant and his men shot the XO with stunners and knocked him to the floor. A sharp kick to his head silenced the now bleeding officer. "You actually think you can give MY Marines orders to arrest me? I think not."

He motioned to the Marines, they followed him to the lift and the group left the bridge.

The antimatter missiles continued their course and began impacting on the sides of the Battlecruiser Ajax. Without a someone to give orders the bridge had been thrown into chaos. The antimatter blasts tore huge chunks of armor plating from the sides of the ship. Evacuation alarms began to sound across the ship but for some, it was too late. The old ship lacked the newer more effective emergency systems. The ships fusion engines, already heavily damaged, began to burn. When the fires reached the reactor fuel the ship exploded in a violent flash of light.

The few remaining ships surrendered to the 'rebel' forces. Admiral Kane, too far from the remaining ships watched in horror as her Navy surrendered.

___

Meanwhile back on the Station, the two sisters were staring in shock as the massive asteroid was literally thrown at the planet. Already the planet's gravity was beginning to pull the enormous rock down toward it.

"Min activate the evacuation alarms, anyone who can launch needs to go! Everyone else to the shelters! Go, get out of here!"

"Ma'am we have a jump detection in the system. Sensors say it is an Imperial cruiser, the Victorious, with escort ships."

"Nothing we can do about that right now. Athena are you sure you can stop that rock using the station?"

"I'm not sure about stopping it, but we can change its orbit and prevent it from hitting the planet."

"OK sis, go for it, do what you can. George, lock down the station, full blast shields. Hit the sirens, everyone needs to be in a blast shelter or away from the outer walls." Alarms began sounding throughout the station.

"Ma'am we have a communication from an Admiral Emily Kane."

At the name Kane, I looked up from the engineering panel. "Min, Admiral Kane can mostly be trusted. She would never be a part of something like this."

"Athena you have my permission to talk to her, I have to get my people organized. Try and stay safe sis, be excellent."

"Party on, sis. Now get moving, the rock will impact in less than two minutes."

I was now alone on the bridge except for the XO, Commander George, who refused to leave. At my signal he connected me to the Admiral. I planned to talk to her while steering the station toward the rock. Grabbing the engine controls with both hands I activated the medium power units. The console whined in response but the station did not move. I switched to full power, the vibration had returned. Holding the controls tightly I began to feel the station begin to move. Very slowly, at first, the station left it's orbit.

"Admiral your timing is impeccable as usual." This was harder than it looked, this thing handled like a overloaded truck.

"Lieutenant Lee? What are you doing over there? Why was Commodore Vakulinchuk trying to destroy your planet?"

"Sorry if I can't answer all of your questions at the moment Admiral, it all boils down to the fact the Commodore is a member of the Cabal. And in case you haven't noticed, we have a very large rock about to blast this planet to bits if I don't stop it."

"Lieutenant Lee, are you moving the whole station?" I swear they have something in the water at HQ. It must make the higher ranked officers really stupid when they drink it.

"Yes, Ma'am. I am flying the station. Do you ever play billiards? Think of this station as a very large white ball. Now if I survive this I'll answer all of your questions. Lee, out."

"What do you think George? Are all officers as dumb as that one?"

"I think that you might have an edge on her, Athena." I smiled at him. The rock filled the view screens of the bridge. That thing was massive. "Brace yourself here we go!"

The station hit the enormous asteroid on the side as it began to angle downward toward the planet. There was a very loud metallic crunch followed by alarms, alerts, flashing lights, and the rush of atmosphere escaping. Wilson likened what I did to an out of control bus being hit by a slow moving cement truck. The impact of the station pushed the big rock into a different trajectory, it missed the planet and was now irregularly orbiting it.

The station sustained massive damage on the rear section. Naturally, my quarters were a complete loss along with those of most of the crew. My favorite lunch spot was also gone, to my dismay. But our injuries were slight in comparison to the Imperial fleet. They had lost four destroyers, two carriers, a frigate, and one battle cruiser. The James Cook arrived back in time to see me crash the station into the asteroid. Captain Gorshin now had his ship in a guard position opposite the Imperial ships. The message he send me said the he was going to start calling me "Crash Lee."

The Colonial office delegation that the Vanguard was escorting were horrified that the Empire had violated the kinetic strike treaties. The original conference was moved up and would be held on the planet. Even the Imperial representatives would be attending. It was going to be quite the circus, and might have been funny to watch if it wasn't all so deadly serious.

Chapter 17

The conference took place more than a week after the Battle for Freedom, took place. The Battle for Freedom, the fact that the space station is called Freedom did not slip my mind. I am not that dense. At least not today. I 'am' unbelievably tired. I talked the medical bay into giving me stims, under medical supervision. Even Wilson is keeping an eye on me. Not even counting the giant dent in this station, which will take months to repair, we have tons of work to do around here. We defeated a fleet just a week ago. There are ships and parts of ships floating around everywhere. Luckily, one thing we have lots of are shuttle pilots. A new class had just finished this week, we had to rush their graduation. They, along with some reprogrammed construction drones, and a veritable army of my new Volley series 'droids' have been cleaning up the mess I helped to make. I just shook my head, I still can't believe that damned name stuck to those little trash cans.

Several good things came from the battle. We now had several new allies. The visiting warships that had helped us fight off a kinetic attack on our planet sent word home and groups of delegates arrived. The idea that the Empire would do that to us got them thinking, that they could be next. Also, that we actually defeated an Imperial fleet with a space station, some space fighters, and a couple of freighters, that if anything, gave us what Wilson calls 'street cred,' and once again he really won't explain. Big surprise.

One thing that we had been missing around here was a supply of ships to refit for our own new navy. Now we had just a couple. Two carriers, a battle cruiser, four destroyers, a frigate and a whole bunch of fighter bits and pieces now filled the shipyard scrapheap. Admiral Kane tried to lay claim to some of it, but we point blank told her no. That was a bit of a shock to her. Sanctioned or not, ships from her Navy tried to destroy our planet. She had a lot of trust to earn back.

My crew and I have finally got the cafeteria system rewired and reopened again. Nutritious or not, emergency food bars taste like shit! The entire station crew quarters were destroyed. I am currently living with Dar, down in Marine country. The other Marines don't seem to care. She has been super busy too. Along with all the scrap metal are thousands of escape pods and floating crewman. The thought of a floating Dutchman without hope of being picked up gave me the shivers. Been there done that. Currently, I was on my way up to the bridge. Minerva had asked to see me.

I did not look my best when I entered the command deck. The two Marine guards on the door at the bridge, peered at me to make sure I was who I said I was. I looked like hell. They chuckled at my appearance and allowed me to pass.

When I stepped off the lift onto the bridge many of the officers turned and started clapping. I gave a weary bow and looked for my sister. I don't like being a 'hero' all I did was drive a space station.

"Athena, you look like hell! Can't you pass off some of that work to your crew?"

"I really can't, they know the systems but I need to be available to sign off on it. Other than Chief Tad, I am the only Fleet trained Engineer that you have. Don't worry, everyone is watching out for me, even Wilson. So, what's up? Do you need me to rewire your chair again?"

"No, not the chair. Father has informed me that you have been requested at the conference."

"Me? Why in the name of Spaghetti do I need to be there?"

"He said that he needs at least one member of the family to be present. I have to stay up here. There is way too much hardware in the system for me to ignore. Han... well, you know. So, that leaves you sister dear. Go down to uniform and get them to make you a dress uniform, again. Good news though."

"What's good about political dinners and social functions? You know I hate that crap."

"I was about to say that you're allowed an escort. I know of a cute Marine that could be available as both your escort and bodyguard."

"We better be thinking of the same cute Marine or I am going to 'pop' you one! OK, fine. Tell father that Dar and I will be on the first shuttle down, after I get a new uniform. OK?"

"Get moving Lieutenant!"

I broke military decorum and gave her the one finger salute as I got on the lift.

___

Dar was happy to be my escort and bodyguard. She intended to as she said, 'keep a close watch on your body' anyway. My girl was just goofy sometimes. She really was happy to leave the station for a while. Guarding and interrogating prisoners was getting old for her. The uniform shop was happy to make me a new dress uniform. My sister had already given them instructions, all they needed was my measurements.

"Athena, If you get a minute, I need to tell you a few things." Wilson, bringer of both good and bad news.

"How about now? What's up buddy?"

"I have been scanning the Imperial ships that the Admiral brought with her. Some of the communications are a bit strange."

"Strange how?"

"It's almost like there are two different communication nets on board one of them. I might be an echo or some kind of interference. I will check with the intelligence division. I just thought you might like to know. I found out something else, too."

"What? Did you get caught playing disco again?"

"No, but that's an excellent idea for later this week." I just shook my head. It's not good to give the little maniac ideas.

"I overheard some 'conversations' in Militia headquarters that your brother has reconciled with your father."

"What! Father has forgiven the asshole? Will that man never learn? Han is a walking disaster. Father just can't see past the bullshit. Did he let him back into the Militia too?"

"I only know what I heard. Do you want me to hack the Militia database?" He sounds a bit too eager.

"No! How about we let my father just tell me himself this time, OK?"

"Fine. I'll catch up with you later Athena. I have a disco to go set up!"

I pulled out my communicator and called Min. Her aide passed the message for me. She called me back on my tablet.

"Athena, what's wrong? It must be personal for you to call me on the civilian net. Is it father?"

"Well, sort of. Wilson intercepted a conversation that suggests Han is back in our lives. It appears that Father reconciled and he may be back in the Militia. Did you know?"

"No, not at all. Damn that man! Han is a walking disaster! Why, why, why would he let him back into our lives?"

"He likes the idea of a male heir, maybe it is that?" Min was one of the smartest women I know, but when it came to family she was clueless.

"Maybe. Do you have any idea what that idiot has been doing for the past couple of months?" Like I would know that!

"Do you want me to have Wilson find out?"

"No, Father will tell me if I ask him. It should be an interesting story though. Thanks for calling sis."

___

As I found out much later it really was an very interesting story. Hannibal, being the brilliant strategist that he was, had just dug himself deeper and deeper into trouble.

Through the new connections that he had made helping out those casino owners Han was back on top! He had been welcomed back to the casinos and given credit chips for free by the owners for future favors. As long as he got to keep his bar, Han was a happy man. He had even won some big credit jackpots in his new friends' casinos. He used what little influence he had to help his new friends to fight the taxes and threats of zoning laws. By getting involved with local business and politics he was becoming known as a businessman in the community. His new friends were right: those with Power needed to rule over those without.

Han checked his suit over one more time, this meeting was important to his future and he needed to look good for it. Once ready, Han took the stairs down to his club. He had closed it tonight for this special meeting. His friends had told him that some special members of the group he had joined were in town tonight and they wanted to meet him! These few months alone without family influence had taught him plenty of things. Above all, that connections were the way to the top, in life and in business.

The main conference room was all set up. He would run the bar, as he usually did. These meetings were private.

A chime sounded in the room. Han stepped over to the back wall and opened up the private entrance. He had this built when the group had told him they wanted privacy. So far it had paid for itself.

His friends came in first followed by two men and two women that he had never seen before. The four looked around at everything. They even pulled out some sort of scanning devices and scanned him! Han looked at his two business friends and they smiled and motioned to the seats at the table. The two strange men took up positions at the front and rear of the room, like guards. The two very strikingly beautiful women, sat down at the head of the table.

"Good evening Mr Hannibal Lee. You can call me Agent Black, my sister is Agent Orange. We are called Wardens. Our job is to police and protect the organization that your friends here represent. You have shown interest in joining our little group. Your friends here have lent you vast sums of credits to bring you into the fold. But nothing is free in this life Mr Lee." At Han's look of shock 'Agent Black' started laughing.

"Did you really think that you won that money? That you were just that lucky? That all of those women, that work at the casinos, just threw themselves at you based on your 'good looks' or skills in bed? And as for the free credits that these gentlemen here just gave you for future, 'favors?' As I said before, Hannibal, nothing is free."

"As the Wardens of the Cabal, and yes, that's the name of the organization that you have joined. Our primary job is to eliminate the enemies of our organization. Currently, there are two primary targets. The former Governor Norton and his aide Cole, your brother-in-law, I believe. I see the panic on your face. You needn't worry, we'll take care of them, not you. No, we need you to do us a rather large favor. Call it your price for joining the Cabal. You 'do' have a choice. You can say no. If you choose that route, you merely need to pay these gentlemen back all the credits that you owe them. Even the jackpot credits. Oh, and Han? We know about the safety deposit boxes you have scattered around. We know everything about you!" Agent Black chuckled. "Think about it for a few minutes. We can wait. Remember to choose wisely!"

What had he done? He'd done it again! He'd let his impulses screw him over again. He wasn't totally sure who these people were, but they obviously had lots of power and influence. Han had no wish to be poor again. He decided he had nothing to lose by joining these people. If he got too deep he could always run to his father and tell all. He looked over at Agent Black and said, "OK I agree I want in."

"Excellent choice Han! You will find that the Cabal looks after its members. We have lots of plans for the galaxy. Now you too are a part of them. But, there is a small price to pay first. A task that we have for you. The Inner Circle of our organization has many plans for this sector of space. The little revolution that you yourself participated in, -naughty boy,- messed up those plans. We intend to fix that. We need for you to reconcile with your family. We will provide you with documents and finance information that will prove to your father that you have changed and grown up."

Han considered this. Having access to the family bank accounts would be good. It would make things easier. "OK, I think I can do that."

"Excellent! We'll coach you on what to say.Trust us, we will fix things up for you. After you get back in we will require one further favor and that will be it. You will be a member of the Cabal. OK, Han?"

All Han could see was the power, credits, and influence that they were waving in front of him. "OK, sure. I will do it."

Chapter 18

The shuttle fight was rather quick this time. All of our pilots were still in training and any military flight was a teaching tool. Dar and I were dropped off a the family farm after a hair raising, simulated combat drop. Dar laughed the whole way down. She even stuck her head in the cockpit and gave the newbie pilots some combat pointers. Always the teacher, my Dar... I had some anxiety: I really did not wish to bump into my brother here. There is no way that a few months apart from the family had changed him that much. Grabbing our bags we walked over to the main house.

Father was in the main room to greet us, and unfortunately so was Han. He was back in uniform too!

"Athena, glad you could make it. This is a very important conference and many people wish to meet you. Lieutenant Dar, nice to see you again. I'm sure you both surprised to see Hannibal here. He has proved that he has grown up and has become quite the local businessman in his time away. I have returned his commission to him on a temporary basis, until the conference is over. Then he's going to return to the Academy, to brush up on his training. Isn't that great? It will be nice to have his strong hands around the farm helping out."

My Father looked so happy to have his son back, that I reluctantly bit back the comment I had ready. I forced myself to smile at Han and welcomed him back. I needed to call Min, right frakking now! "Father, we're going to go to our room and freshen up, OK?

"Great! Dinner's at seven, tonight it's in celebration of the return of your brother!" Han had a huge smile on his face.

I grabbed Dar's arm and pulled her over to the lift and went upstairs to our room. I dropped my bags and immediately sent a communication to Min. "Min, it's true. Han is back in the Militia and into father's heart. He had the biggest smile on his face. We need to keep an eye on him. There is no way he changed. I'll keep you informed."

Dar was looking at me skeptically. "Is he really that bad?"

"He's worse. Since you're guarding me, keep an eagle eye on him. He's the biggest backstabber that I know." I stood on my tippy toes and gave her a kiss. "Let's take a 'nap' and then get ready for dinner. It should be really interesting."

After our 'nap' we dressed for dinner. Formal dinners here at the family estate were always dress affairs. As we exited the lift we could hear the murmur of voices. The 'living room' was filled with people! In attendance were several Militia officers, member of the business elite, and what looked like city council members. Han even had a date! A striking blonde was hanging off of his arm. This was going to be an interesting dinner after all.

"Athena, let me introduce you to my date. This is Angela Blackwood. She is related to one of my business contacts." My brother was being polite, to me. He even introduced me to his date. Am I dreaming all of this?

Dar drifted to the back of the room, where she could watch me.Meanwhile I chatted with Han's 'date.' This Angela was an interesting woman. She claimed to be a paralegal. She said that she was related to one of Han's friends. That was not what was interesting. One of my hobbies is that I like to watch people. Their mannerisms, how they walk, speak, and behave. As a child I learned how to 'read' people by their actions. This woman was Not what she appeared to be. Capital N Not. Her eyes followed everyone in the room. She seemed to be following the position of every person in the room. Only one person that I knew could do that. Dar could do that. I excused myself and drifted back to the embrace of my girlfriend.

"What do you think of Han's date?"

"Why do you ask?" Her eyes were doing the tracking thing and now focused on 'Angela' roaming around the room.

"She's like you, she tracks everyone. Only she's much more creepy about it than you."

Dar made a face. "Sounds like she might be a spook. I need to call someone." Her eyes continuing to track she called someone on her communicator. She spoke a few words and the name Angela Blackwood into the communicator."

"Don't worry about it. Someone will check her out." The dinner bell chimed. Dar took my arm and led me into the dining room.

___

After dinner Han took his leave and left with his date. Han told his father that they were going out to a show, but they went back to his club instead. Agent Black and her team had been using his club as their base. He had closed the club, for the good of the planet, when he returned to service. Agent Black immediately stripped off her finery and put on a jumpsuit, giving Han a show in the process. So far Han had gotten everything that they had promised. His return to both the Militia and his father's good graces had already raised his credit. Fellow business owners were coming to him for advice. Being the Golden boy again was exactly what he'd wanted.

"Han, the conference begins tomorrow. Your father is scheduled to give an opening speech. We need for you to be the one to give that speech, in your father's place."

"How am I supposed to that?" Han was confused now. How was he to take his father's place? As head of the Military his father was the key speaker.

"I am afraid it is time for that favor that we discussed. Han, you'll need to prevent your father from entering the conference room. You need to kill him. With him gone, as his second- in- command, you can gain access to the prison and we can then finish our primary mission." She was smiling at him.

"Kill my Father! You're insane, why would I do something like that?" He started shaking his head. "No, I won't do it! You can't make me."

"Foolish child! We have you by the balls, Han! You'll do as we say! Do this one task and we'll grant almost any wish that you can conceive of. Think about it. Without your father, you're the heir. You'll inherit everything! The farm, the credits, and command of the military will be yours." Han did think or it. It all sounded to good to be true. But his motto was: when in doubt, go all in.

"What's the plan?"

Agent Black smiled. So easy. She would have to commend the local contacts for finding one such as this. It was a real shame that he had to die too.

The next morning brought news that three more systems had sent representatives. Colonel Lee was ecstatic, this conference might actually work! The Imperial negotiators were scared to death in fear of retaliation, they would be easy to manipulate. His son was back, that alone made the old man smile. Han had called this morning and had offered to escort him to the conference. Having his son there to show off, would be wonderful. One day, Han was going to do something great that would make the whole planet proud of him. He just needed a bit more discipline.

On the ride to the conference Han talked to his father about his business and all the connections that he had made. Han kept fiddling with a shiny new ring on his hand, the entire trip. When they arrived at the office, Han poured his father a drink of his favorite Saki. Alexander never noticed the extra ingredient that his son added to his drink from the ring on his hand.

___

Han had just proposed a toast to the success of the conference, when the office door opened and Dar and I entered.

Alexander set his drink down and gave his daughter a hug. "We were about to toast the conference. Here take mine, I'll get another one!"

Han watched in horror as his father gave his sister the poisoned drink. No, no, no this was not the plan! Shouting "NO" Han swatted the drink from his sisters hand. He reached behind him and pulled out a high-end laser pistol. He aimed the gun at Father and told us all to stand over in the corner.

"You just had to interfere Athena. Just like when we were kids, always underfoot, always in the way. Too bad you never took a damn hint! Even when I beat the crap out of you. You kept getting in the way! Now you've messed up my plan again! Now things will have to get messy!"

"Han, son, what's the meaning of this! Put the gun down, son. We can work this out. Whatever trouble you are in we can fix it."

"That's your solution to everything! Throw credits at it and it will just go away. Not this time Father! I have to do this thing. It is part of the plan.

"Han what plan is that? Who are you doing this for?" I tried to find out more information.

"The plan to stop the conference or course! The people that I work for, the Cabal, they need me to get into the prison unit so they can talk to governor Norton."

At the word 'Cabal', I could see my father tense up. Dar, who I knew was armed, grew more alert. "Han," I said. "What were you trying to do to Father?" out of the corner of my eye I saw Dar slowly moving out from behind me.

"I need to kill him of course! The poison in the Saki would have done that. The way would be clear."

"I will take over everything of course. The farm, the military, everything that matters. You and Min are just girls. You can't command Men! I'm the one who should rule. Not you, never you!" I was still in shock that my own brother was going to try and kill his own father.

Father was finally hearing the real Hannibal. For the first time he could see what Min and I had put up with our entire childhood. "Han, son, give me the gun. Don't do this. I raised you better than this!"

I felt movement and barely noticed when Dar drew her own gun and was now pointing it at Han. "Han, put it down now!"

Who was this woman to threaten me? "How dare you!" Han brought the gun up and he and Dar fired almost simultaneously. The guns went off and there was a scream of pain and a splash of crimson across the wall.

Han shot first. He hit father in the shoulder, knocking him down.Then Dar's shot killed my brother. Her military handgun blew his head right off.

"Wilson, lock down the conference hall! Make sure no one gets in or out."

"Already done, Athena."

There was a muffled blast and then screams. "Wilson what is going on?"

"The Cabal assassins were inside the conference already, they set off a poison gas bomb!"

"Hack the building, reverse the airflow on the air units, quickly."

"Already done, security units are inbound thirty seconds. Don't let Dar shoot them."

True to his word, security units burst into the room with guns drawn. Dar had already put hers away and was holding a compress to father's shoulder. I ordered a medical unit to help my father. The capture of three assassins with Imperial credentials inside the conference room armed with poison gas bombs shocked the delegates speechless. Outraged that the Empire would try and kill all of them just to stop them from talking about breaking away, the delegates had their own conference right there in the courtyard outside the building. Before any of the delegates could even get back into the room, a new treaty had been written, signed, and sealed by all of those who attended, save the Imperials. If it could happen here, it could happen anywhere. The Empire had just proved that they could not be trusted.

___

Admiral Kane returned to the Capitol in disgrace. With here, were three freighters containing all the interned Imperial forces from the Hong Kong system. The new treaty ratified the return of the Pan Pacific League. Promises of mutual defense were made and information was exchanged.

Han was buried in a small private ceremony in a section of the family cemetery know as Traitors Gate. Father did not attend.

Author's Notes

I would like to thank everyone who has taken time to read the Athena Lee Chronicles. For me it has been both a learning experience and an adventure. Don't worry. Athena will return! I have books planned up to book 9 and a bit beyond. The next novel up, however is a standalone. Sam 0256 from Book 3 "Ghost ships of Terra" is getting his own book. It will take place 100 years in the past. So no Athena. But the events in Sam's book will resonate into the future and set the story for books 7, 8 , and 9.

Here is a hint about book 7, Athena will be back and she travels to Earth's solar system and visits Mars colony!

I will still put out the awesome Wilson Wednesday stories on my blog every week. I already have the artwork for the next few books so look forward to that too. I publish on a 2 -3 week schedule so expect my books a little bit faster than many of the 'big boys' of Science Fiction. Check out my Blog for news, pictures of the Giant cat that lives in our house, artwork and of course the Wilson stories. I will answer questions on both the blog and on Facebook so check it out sometime. As a guy named 'Bob' discovered recently, I may make you a character in the book.

1. The Forgotten Engineer

2. Engineering Murder

3. Ghost ships of Terra

4. Revolutionary

5. Insurrection

6. Imperial Subversion

6.5 (Sam's book)

Just a few reviews.

4.0 out of 5 stars Paul has gotten so much better with his writing and this is just his first ...

ByAmazon Customer on May 5, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition

Paul has gotten so much better with his writing and this is just his first series. The Athena Chronicles are a great serial type space opera yarn. Don't expect hard science or political commentary. Just expect a great story, a writer settling into his stride and some great action.

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome read

ByTD Webbon May 2, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

I just spent the entire night reading all five books ,can't wait for the next. I just couldn't put them down wanted to know that came next. The characters are great, Wilson is so eighties lol awesome. Yeah there are some typos oh nobody is perfect and they didn't take anything away from the story.

5.0 out of 5 stars This series gets better every time a book is added.

ByN. Kingon April 30, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition

The author has done a fantastic job. Once you start reading it is impossible to stop until the end. I' am looking forward to the next book .

4.0 out of 5 stars Would make a great Televison show

ByJames Mockon April 28, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition

I love the idea of the main hero being an Engineer. The books are short but they come out very quickly. I really must say that the description of Athena wading into a crippled ship and saving it (earlier book so not much of a spoiler) was really well done, at least for me. Bravo.

I look forward to the next installment. Same Athena time, same Athena channel.

Copyright information

This book is a work of fiction, All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

Copyright (c) 2016 T S Paul

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Original Artwork designed by Scott Richard

Check out his Website here

Cover designed by Michael T. Anderle

Editing by Diane Velasquez. Dorene Johnson, and David Brims

Special thanks to Michael and to my wife Heather who keeps me grounded and to Merlin the Cat, we are his minions.