Revolutionary (The Athena Lee Chronicles Book 4)
Author: T S Paul
Date: 2016-04-04 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Gay & Lesbian; Literature & Fiction; Fiction; Science Fiction & Fantasy; Military; Space Fleet; Teen & Young Adult; Genre Fiction; Lgbt; Lesbian Fiction; Science Fiction; LGTB; Lesbian; War; Space; Sp
Description: Athena Lee had returned home to her planet of birth. She is home to visit the family she has not seen for over 16 years. Her ship the James Cook is there to repair damage caused by the O'Malley pirates. She finds that her once peaceful agrarian world is overrun with corruption and graft. Her own family is wrapped up in a daily power play for control of the planet and its resources. What was a nice family visit has become a trial of wills. What about the marriage they arranged for her? Oh Hell No! This engineer now has to fight her own family to survive. A reckoning is approaching will she be r
Rights: My own

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter1

What a crazy year this has been!

First I get rescued from my long exile on a distant hunk of rock. Then I get arrested and tortured for accidentally killing an idiot who can’t follow orders. Assassin’s and bounty hunters chase me across half the known galaxy only to miss and not kill me. Then to top all of it off, we find one of the original lost colonies and are attacked by pirates. Killing the pirates was easy compared to what I had to do to save myself from boredom.

For the first time in over fifteen years I will see the green and blue features of the planet Hong Kong. I’ve dreamed about running through the lush green grasses and hiding in its dark forests such as when I was a child. I have very fond childhood memories of exploring our world and its many wonders. Growing up in a planetary militia family could be very hard on a child. My family was all about tradition, and regimented structure. Children are expected to join the military. Our whole lives we’d heard about our family and our traditions. My grandparents were among the first to set foot on this world.They became planetary leaders and set forth the framework that Hong Kong citizens live by today. That fact was daunting to hear from a child’s point of view. So much to live up to.

Hong Kong was first settled by Chinese refugees fleeing from religious persecution by the reigning government of the time. It is where we got the name from. A historical free state one separate but still culturally the same. Or at least that was the initial idea. Further settlers from a place called Canada brought new people.

The Canadians were a strange people who brought with them foods and sports that made little sense. These people too were fleeing persecution. They were the last hold-outs of an area of free thinkers. People who stood their ground and took their own responsibilities serious.

Back on Earth, the government was becoming all encompassing. Free thinkers loners all they were being chased out of their own country or imprisoned. The colony began to take shape and prosper.

A third group, quite by accident, settled the island regions of our planet. It was almost funny how that happened. As my friend Wilson likes to say they “missed the turn at Albuquerque,” where ever that is. Their colony ship had a navigational error. They had gotten lost and thought that THIS planet was the one they were looking for. Imagine my grandparents surprise to discover a brand new colony that appeared overnight. The Greeks, being stubborn, refused to leave. They had already grounded their ship so it became a moot point. So now we had a Greek, Canadian, and Chinese settlement. Talk about a melting pot of culture. It might be a little strange but it worked.

Three peoples came together to make a culture that values personal achievement and industry. Make yourself more than you are. This concept was drummed into me as a child. Be self sufficient, learn as much as you can. Be the best person that you are able. These were all the lessons I took away with me. Now I have come home.

___

The EOH James Cook was one of the Navy’s newest heavy cruisers. The Nelson class cruiser was heavily armored and armed with multiple torpedoes and powerful laser batteries. The cruiser had formidable point defense and carried a small squadron of elite fighters. We were a fighting ship and proud of it. Our battle record was just beginning. The victory over the O’Malley Clan pirates had put the name of this ship on the lips of everyone in three sectors. That was only overshadowed by our discovery of one of the Ghost ships and the colony it had founded.

As the temporary Chief Engineer I was in charge of the repairs on our ship.The recent battle had damaged several areas that our repair teams were unable to complete themselves. Internally, we were incorporating new bulkhead designs into the repairs that we were doing. Since I had been on the design team for the bulkheads, I knew the ins-and -outs of how they would work. Visually there was little change. Our new orders had directed us to Hong Kong station Alpha and the nearby Fleet Logistics,Equipment, Acquisitions, and Science group. Or FLEAS as we called them in the navy. It was here that the navy would evaluate both my hydroponics advancement and the autonomous drones that I created.

Only I called them drones. Everyone else called them droids. Human culture is one that some things just won’t die. Especially certain vids or movies as the ancestors called them. Wilson simply loved the droids. It gave him a way to move about the ship without anyone the wiser. He still gets into trouble. In some ways it is nice because I can blame the droid and not look like a complete idiot to the crew. A good example of this would be last night.

As I was about to open the door to my quarters, my neighbor, Lt Morgan stopped me. “Athena, I think you may have left an entertainment cube or something on in your quarters. I have been hearing music coming from in there all evening.”

“You have? Hmmm. I don’t remember leaving anything on. I’ll check. Sorry if it disturbed you.” This puzzled me I don’t have an entertainment console in there. I sort of used it for a ‘project’.

“No, no worries Athena. I could just hear the faint music. Have a good rest.” He smiled and continued down the passageway.

Morgan was always flirting with me and hinting at things. He and the other officers all knew about Dar and I. While we were not a ‘couple’, we were still dating but keeping things very light. They respected that fact enough not to push. Speaking of Dar, she was the reason I was getting home so late. The Marine Lieutenant had taken over my training in hand-to-hand combat, weapons, and tactics. As my training officer she he had a free license to beat me up on a regular basis. We were using the training that my family had given me as a foundation, Dar was improving my skills. I was an engineer not a marine so our skill sets were different. I focused on defense and evasion. My recent experiences with assassins and bounty hunters had shown me that Tai Chi was not going to be enough.

In my childhood I had learned Krav Maga and Muay Thai. The navy teaches a basic course at the academy that is a combination of boxing, karate, and krav Maga. I had excelled at that. Fifteen years alone had boosted my Tai Chi, but not my defensive forms. That was my major problem. Dar was trained in Krav Maga, Muy Thai kick boxing, T'ai chi ch'uan, and some others that I could not even begin to pronounce much less understand. It was the T'ai chi ch'uan that we were concentrating upon. This was a martial arts form of my more familiar Tai Chi. Dar had been trained in the Yang style which was the easiest of the five major styles. This while complicated was easier for me to understand, it gave me a good workout. I was used to Tai Chi being slow and meditative, this was fast and aggressive. At least the ship has good doctors, we may need them.

As I keyed in my room code I could hear the music. There was a rhythmic thumping emanating from my quarters. As the door opened I was greeted by flashing red lights and waves of color and sound. “Wilson! Wilson! What in the hell are you doing in here!” I yelled at him. Wilson was in my head, as he was a computer AI. Me just yelling made me feel more effective. Moving across the floor doing a bump and grind, were my two prototype droids. Wilson had set up disco lights using parts and equipment he found here and there.

“Hey, is that my new control panel for engineering? We have been looking all over for that thing! “ The panel in question had become a strobe light and was painting the room with red and white flashes. Now the droids were spinning in circles to the music and waving their repair arms in the air. I reached over the panel of lights and threw the main power switch. Everything died. Even the emergency lights, they had been subverted and were now spotlights. Using the flashlight that I keep by the door I lit up the room. The droids had stopped moving and were now ‘watching’ me. “Wilson, get out of those droids and talk to me, right now!”

“You know that you are no fun right?” Wilson was back in my head.

“What the hell Wilson? Disco in my quarters?” This was not the first time he had done this. “I don’t care if you listen to music or whatever it is you are doing…. “, but please don’t take parts and equipment from engineering. I had my crew searching every trash compacter on the ship looking for that panel.” I pointed at the now dark control panel. “Do you know what the inside of a trash compacter looks like?” I shined my light into the mirror so he could see out my eyes. “If you ever, and I mean EVER steal a component from engineering again, I will lock you in a box and toss you into one of those! UNDERSTAND!”

“Yes, Athena. Sorry.” He was using his little boy voice.

He just makes me feel bad when he did this. Not falling for it this time. “Wilson, use a bigger voice please. Next time, let me know when you are doing this. I can just stay in my office or something. Now clean it up.” Shaking my head I threw the switch bringing back the flashing lights. The droids powered back up and started dancing again. I turned and opened my door and went back to engineering.

Engineering was humming like a well oiled machine. The newly promoted Midshipmen Jacobs and Ellery were doing a fine job as acting second and third officers in charge. There had been so much work to do after the recent battles. The Captain and I had not helped much to slow things down. Using the specifications that my former team and I had built on New Reno, Captain Gorshin was allowing me to strengthen all of our bulkheads and hatches. We had the ship torn apart for repairs anyway. Why not do it. My little worker bee’s were still hard at work when I returned to engineering.

“Ma’am, did you forget something?” Ellers asked me.

“No, I was unable to make it to my quarters. You can call off the search by the way. I found the missing console.”

She looked up in surprise. “You did? Great. Who had it?”

“Lets just say that, that person is very sorry. I threatened to trash compact them!” I chuckled evilly. “It had been misdirected by the drones on a delivery. It was in an unexpected place. The panel should be back in engineering by morning. With it we can finally finish these upgrades.”

“Yes, Ma’am. Everything looks good. No problems so far. Do you think the new armor on the conduits, bulkheads, and hatches will make things safer next time?”

“Well they were tested when the fusion reactor blew on the station. The only thing damaged was the unarmored sections. The FLEAS would still have to do battlefield testing and what not. I think it will hold well enough. At least to get our people clear next time we are attacked.” Shaking my head I motioned for her to go on back to work. I had a good crew here. I was just sitting down at my console when I heard a whisper in my head.

“I’m sorry.”

I looked around to see if anyone was in earshot. “It’s OK Wilson. I do understand. The boredom just gets to you and you have to let go sometimes. I think the droid are just big toys for you to play with.”

He chuckled. “You did a good job with them. I have named them Volley 1 and Volley 2.”

What kind of names are those? Are you going to tell me why?” Wilson was such a weirdo sometimes.

“They are less smart versions of me so the name is appropriate. I thought of Maverick and Goose, but those names are too cool for trashcans with wheels.”

“Why Maverick and Goose….don’t tell me. I won’t understand will I? Never mind. I guess the names are better than Alpha and Beta. When we get involved with the FLEAS do you want to try and find your creator? He may be working for the Empire science division. He was a researcher right?” If a computer could sigh the noise I heard would be it.

“I have tried to find him before. I think he has passed on. I have been around longer than I ever told you Athena. I had been on the Jiro for over 10 years when you found me. I am the first AI created by the PPL. The first one. They almost destroyed me when I would not ‘behave’. They wanted to use me as a front line soldier to replace humans or to control everything. Their mistake I guess was making me too human. As you know my personality is based on a vid star from the 20th century. They uploaded into me a century or more of vids, books, and other information. They wanted a program with personality and the ability to talk to humans like a human. They unintentionally gave me both morals and creativity. When the military took over the project they wanted guns not jokes. I don’t bow, no hips for it. In the end they canceled the project and made dumb AI’s instead. They claimed they had spent too many credits creating me to just delete me. Instead they locked me up firewalling me into the command and control circuitry. Self preservation kept me there for so long. You freed me. Plus we have so much fun sometimes. My creators, they tried to prevent the military from doing what they did. It was over 30 years ago when I last had any detail of them on the net. Either they disappeared in the war or they died. I won’t be locked up again, make sure these FLEAS know that.”

I totally understood him on that. “Don’t worry about that no one is locking anyone up. Not again.” He was a pain-in-the-ass but he was my friend and I always protect my friends.

With a new commander reporting soon I was hurrying to get everything in the office shipshape. My personal filing system was a bit different than the Official Navy one. I the end I had Wilson just fix it. My computer skills were not exactly perfect, I really think he spoils me.

Chapter 2

Making my way to the bridge I thought about what Wilson had said. I too was concerned about the motives of these FLEAS.I was afraid that they might try and take Wilson away from me. While the Navy so far had played it rather straight with me it was the other figures of authority that worried me. My run ins with corrupt officials had made me extremely wary. Contingency plans and routes of escape automatically wove their way through my brain as I walked. No longer cringing away from me the crew was now friendly and nodded in passing. No assassins or bounty hunters had come after me for a few months. Things has started to settle down, finally.

Arriving at the bridge level, I greeted the two marines on guard duty. My time spend in marine country had made me more recognizable to the guards. One man was in Dar’s platoon and said hello. Even though they knew me they still checked my I.D. a sign of good training. The hatch opened and I entered the command deck.

The Captain and the XO were in the Ready Room. I stepped inside and came to attention. “Sir, you asked for me?”

“Oh good, Athena. Have a seat Lieutenant.” The Captain motioned to a chair at the table. “Athena, we received orders about our stay in Hong Kong. You are to be seconded to the Fleet Scientific division. They wish to explore the droids and the hydroponic system you developed. I believe that the strengthened bulkheads and hatches are to be discussed also. On a happier not you will be getting some shore leave to see your family.”

“Sir, about that..” The Captain did not let me finish.

“You forget, Lieutenant Lee, that I also am from this Planet. I am aware of the family traditions that you have to deal with. I understand. However, I have an officer that has not seen a family member in over 16 years. I am obligated to help that officer make that happen. It will be fine, you’ll see.” He looked me in the eyes. “Athena? Understand?”

Somewhat reluctantly, “Yes Sir.”

“Good. Also, we will be taking on a new Chief Engineer at Hong Kong.” His voice dropped a bit. “I believe that I told you the position was temporary Athena?” At my nod he continued. “As I was saying. Chief Engineer Clancy Hadley will be coming aboard. He has good references and the Navy Chief of Staff is sending him to us. You will drop back to engineering third, acting 2nd. Please try and work with the man. I will send all the details to you link. Thank you Lieutenant. Dismissed.”

Damn. Back to gopher status. “Wilson. Wilson are you in there?” Silence.

“Yes, Athena?” He was back.

“I assume you saw the orders and that we were getting a new boss in engineering, right? Do what you can and find out anything you can on this Commander Hadley that is coming in. I don’t want to be blindsided.”

“Athena, I checked up on him as soon as the Captain mentioned him. He is listed in the Fleet database as a troubleshooter. He has a ‘record’ of sorts of fixing problem ships. He has good reports from captains he has worked for but there are top secret blocks on his files. Let me work on breaking through those and I will get back to you.”

“OK thanks Wilson. Maybe he will be good for the ship.”

___

Seeing my home planet for the first time in years brought a tear to my eye.

The space industry around the planet had grown since I was last here. The massive Legation Station the headquarters of the sector governor was new. It was almost as large as Fleet headquarters station back in New Reno. I could see several shipyards and what looked like an asteroid mining facility in the distance. It seems that big industry was changing my sleepy little planet. I thanked Captain Gorshin for allowing me on the bridge and returned to engineering. When the James Cook entered the system all mail and communications had been updated. My link notified me of several messages from my family and one from the local government .

My family, after so many years, I was both excited and anxious about seeing them. We had not parted on good terms. My Father was the head of the Planetary Militia; Colonel Alexander Lee. At last count I have two brothers and a sister. Our mother had died early in our lives. Hong Kong is a hard planet to adapt to for an off-worlders. Mother was from Mars. Mars has been colonized longer than any planet in the galaxy but not yet Terra-formed. Some progress has been made but full life support is needed to leave any city or hab. The gravity on Mars is 38% of that of Earth and 50% of Hong Kong. A combination of a heavier gravity and unfiltered air killed our mother. Her immune system could not handle the impact that our planet cause upon her. Growing up without my mother was very difficult. My older siblings helped to raise me. Father was too busy running a militia to run to take care of a small child. We were like tiny recruits to him. His legacy and that of our family defined my early childhood. As soon as I was of age and over the protests of my father I left. I wanted a career in space, not in the militia. Only one of my siblings had not joined up. Breaking from tradition David’s goal in life was to be that of a farmer. He was the gentlest man that I knew. He had been the first one that I had called after getting ‘rescued’. I can only imagine my family’s surprise to have me come back from the dead. Like a ‘hungry ghost’ I have reappeared in their lives. Trouble can only follow.

As I had expected David’s message was an invitation to stay with him and his family. All I could do was smile. I was so looking forward to meeting his wife and children. I quickly sent him a thank you and gave him a approximate time of arrival. The local Government message was in legalese. Wilson told me that it was basically a “hey, your not dead! Here is your tax form,” kind of message. Death and taxes, there is no escape. My big sister Minerva, called Min by just about everyone, was now a Major with the Militia Fighter Command. Her message was short and sweet. “Glad you are alive, come and see me when you get in.” That was Min always to the point. My oldest brother Hannibal was also a Major in the Militia his message was tacked on to my Father’s “come home.” Taking a deep breath I quickly typed out a short message and sent it to my family.

David was delighted to hear from me and sent me directions to his homestead. From the family I got a message received notification. No matter how much changes some things remain the same. My link chimed again. This message was from Fleet command informing me of my temporary assignment of being seconded to the FLEA facility to investigate both my new innovations. I was supposed to meet with Professor Kip Wilson the Head of Research at 9am the third day after docking. I had Wilson check into his background for me. Wilson had chuckled that he was “a Wilson investigating a Wilson”. Dr Wilson was a graduate of the Livingston school on New Africa. He had worked for the Gentry corporation and for Mishkin Manufacturing before being hired on by the Navy. He had been on his job for 5 years. He and his wife Buffy lived on the station. Buffy? What kind of name is that? She must be a big ol’ vamp to be with a geeky guy named ‘Kip’. I had Wilson download a map of the facility for me. It would not be good to get lost my first day on the job.

“Prepare for Docking Maneuver! Secure all Hatches!”

The ship began to shudder and shake a bit as it slid into the ships cradle inside Legation Station.

“Docking Complete. Adjusting to External Gravity. Security to the Main Hatch.”

We would be docked here for a minimum of 8 weeks. Time enough to repair the outer layers of our armor and finish a few upgrades that only a station could do. The Research facility was on a separate smaller station nearby it was a hassle but there was a daily shuttle service. The navy had been concerned for the safety of Legation Station and had moved the FLEAS out. Cause one little explosion on the job and you get relocated. Or at least that was what I heard.

.

___

I had a bit of a spring in my step as I walked off the James Cook onto Legation Station. This was the first time I had been on ‘home’ ground since before the end of the war. I only had a few off and I wanted to enjoy them. The ships loading bay and passenger ramp gave way to a hallway filled with advertisements for station entertainment and planetary locales. Passing through secruity I entered the Station. Wow, the inside was huge. It’s builders had left the core of it open so looking up you could almost see to the top, over a mile away. Tiny lights inset into the walls gave the illusion of space. Since the Sector Government was located here the station had 3 main parts. Housing, offices, and entertainment. Very pricey entertainment. Only the elite lived on this station. I followed the signs toward the shuttle bay passing hawkers for adult and exotic entertainment. Funny finding that sort of thing on a Government station. A few drunk looking sailors and scantily dressed women passed me as I walked. Leaving the main part of the station I approached the shuttle bay. Large signs proclaimed ‘escorted’ tours of the system in a party atmosphere. Shaking my head at the display I boarded the planet bound shuttle.

Apparently there are two shuttles. One that takes workers and official visitors to and from the station. That is not the one that I got on. The other shuttle takes Liberty bound sailors and crew to the red light district or Sofokleous part of town. As I climbed off the shuttle Wilson popped into my head and said “Now Leaving Nun central…” Whatever else he might have said was lost in he deafening roar of music, laughter, and shouting that filled my ears. Nightclubs, casino’s, strip joints and neon as far as the eye could see. Lots and lots of neon. Checking my location I followed a group of young looking marines toward a quieter part of town, or so I thought. An archway sign proclaimed this to be the De Walletjes district. The roadway was lined with one room ‘cabins’. Each cabin was fronted by a large picture window that showed scantily clad men and women. Wilson started shouting “shake it baby, shake it” as we passed by a window with belly dancers. The dancing women gave way to dancing men. At one point I had to stop and watch. His pole dancing was very good. The moment turned raunchy when Wilson asked “is the the Foot Long?” I shushed him and we hurried out of the district. The shops became more normal as we progressed. I finally found a cab stand and secured transportation.

The cab driver was surprised at my destination. “Most of you spacer folk go hang out in the red light area’s. This is the first time I have gotten one of you xeno’s.”

He was using the local name for off worlders or strangers. I peered over the seat and saw his government license and read his name; Rick Gassko. “Well Rick, I’m a local. I was born on this planet. My FAMILY helped found this world so don’t you go calling me a stranger.”

“Sorry, sorry no offense ma’am. Most from this planet don’t join the Empire military.” He kept watching me in the mirror.

“I have been away for a long time because of the war. This is my first time home in a long, long time. Did you serve?” He looked surprised at my question.

“No ma’am. Not in the PPL. I was a truck driver in the militia when I served out my year. After I got out I kept driving but a cab not a truck.” He was looking at me with fresh eyes. More respectable now he asked me “would I know your family ma’am? I know many of the old families.”

I chuckled. “You should, my father is Colonel Alexander Lee.” The cab stuttered as Rick almost slammed on the brakes.

“You are one of those Lee’s? Whooo. Wait! You are the one that died! The Engineer? Wait till I tell the boys back at the company that I had …was it Debbie?.. In the cab.”

“No not Debbie, my name is Athena. How did you know about me being an engineer?”

“The Planetary Governor Stoner gave a speech on veterans day about war vets and the good news of your rescue. Did you really blow up a navy destroyer all by yourself?” Now he was staring at me.

I noticed that the cab had stopped. We were in front of a modest farmhouse with a white picket fence around it. There was freshly tilled farmland as far as the eye could see. Turning back to Rick I told him, “not exactly. A really stupid officer disobeyed orders and took his ship into a minefield. I was responsible for the mines.” Gathering my things I stepped out of the cab. “Thank you Rick. I may call for you again.”

He took the money that I offered and told me anytime. I watched as he drove away.

The smells of roses and cherry blossoms filled the air. Someone here enjoyed flowers. Large beds of local flowers surround the front porch of the house. I took a deep breath it really was good to be home. I opened the garden gate and walked down the cobblestone path. Up three steps and I was on the porch. Ringing the bell I took a step back and waited.

Chapter 3

I could hear footsteps and the knob on the door began to turn. The door opened and a dark haired woman opened the the door. The womans eyes widened as she looked at me.

“Athena? Are you Davids sister Athena?”

I nodded my head and answered her. She immediately hugged me and yelled for David. Not a meek and quiet girl. Good. David needed a strong presence in his life. My brother David came down the steps in the house saying “did you just call me, I thought I heard the door.” He glanced in my direction and froze.

“Athena?” He came over and gave me a big hug. Smiling at me he said “it is you! Great to see you! I see you found the place.”

I looked at the both of them. “Do I look that different? A little older but I’m still the same person.”

My brother laughed and said “after 15 years of just looking at pictures the real thing looks a bit strange.”

“So I’m strange now am I?” punching him in the arm. He looked at me surprised and busted out laughing.

“Athena, this is my wife Bethany.” I smiled at him and gave her a hug.

“Lets go inside and catch up.” My brother linked his arm with mine and led me into his home. Inside was a nice living room with comfy looking furniture and lots and lots of family pictures on the walls. A family shrine to the ancestors was set up in the corner. A series of my pictures were there, along with our grandparents and several ancestors from Earth. I felt honored.

David, seeing the direction I was looking in, got embarrassed. “I’m sorry Athena we should have moved those the the ‘living’ wall but you know the custom. Once the priests check and make sure you are not a ‘hungry ghost’ they will re-bless the altar and remove the pictures. As a matter of fact I believe that Father Glick is supposed to be at the compound to check you out tomorrow.”

I groaned and shook my head. Wonderful, Father Ignatius Glick. You would think that that old guy would be long past dead by now. Religion on the planet Hong Kong was very interesting to say the least. The founding families were religious refugees. Our first settlers were a mixture of Taoist and Shinto followers. When the Canadian colonists reached us they had their own beliefs. Christianity did not last long here. Many followed other beliefs, hence the reason for their exile. Neo-paganism and followers of FSM were the predominate religion. When the Greeks arrived they added aspects of Greek Orthodox mixed with Greco-Roman paganism. A giant melting pot of guilt and ritual. After 200 years what we have is unique, but for us it works.

My brother gave me a short tour of the house. In the basement was a full audio and video set up like a small theater. It was there that we found his two children.

“Min, Herc come say hello to your Aunt Athena.” Both of the children barely looked up from the games they were playing. “I need to you to at least say hello. Can we have your attention please?” The kids finally looked up and scrutinized me with sharp eyes.

“Which aunt is she?” asked the young girl.

“The dead one” replied my brother.

“Cool,” said my nephew. They both looked back at their tablets and ignored us.

David looked at me raising his hands in a ‘what the hell’ motion. We went back upstairs. He got me settled in the guest room and left me alone for a while. I took the time to change out of my navy uniform into something more civilian. When we visited the rest of the family I would need to put my uniform back on. Military decorum or something.

David was out on the porch when I came downstairs. I made myself a glass of tea and sat down next to him.

“It’s pretty out here. You found a nice place.” Our planet was very picturesque. We sat her watching the boats go by on the nearby river. Asian junks surrounded by hovercraft and speedboats. Many were private yachts or fisherman. As a people we mix the old with the new. David and I chatted about his farm and the things that he grew on it. After a while we left the porch and wandered the farm poking into storage sheds and just hanging out. We came to one of his freshly turned fields. David squatted down and scooped up a handful of the rich black earth.

Allowing the dirt to trickle through his fingers he told me of the new laws and the problems that they brought with them. Being Empire citizens was much harder than the old PPL. Too many of the new laws hurt our farmers. The sector government has allowed so much disgraceful things to our world.

“Yes, I saw that ‘red light’ district that is at the spaceport. How could our people allow that to be built?”

“The land it is on was deeded to the Empire Government for space facilities and support functions. Apparently their idea of support is much different than ours. We ignore it, for the most part, consider it a cost of doing business with the Empire.”

“Tell me more about those farming laws. How do they affect you personally?” I looked at my brother, now interested in his life.

“The new law is in two parts. The first part is in the form of a tithe to the government of 40% of the gross product grown. In other words if I raise 100 cattle I have to give 40 of them to the government. They aren’t paying for them either. It’s a tithe or gift to them. The second part are the crop Levies. The Government pays us their rate for 50% of our product to be used for troop rations. That 50% comes off the top of our portion after the tithe. The rate they pay us is lower than the market, much lower. So that only leaves us 10% to sell at the higher rate. Some of my friends are having to sell off property or equipment just to pay their workers. Whenever they sell off property, offworlders buy it up and build more casino’s or strip clubs on it. We researched these laws on other worlds and they don’t exist. Everything is coming from the Sector Governor. He has all the power here.”

I told David about my run ins with the two Sector Governor’s. We both shook our heads at the corruption that surrounded us. Checking the time we had to hurry. We were expected at the “Compound” in an hour for the big family dinner. Oh, boy this should be fun.

___

I took a quick shower and put my dress uniform on. I used to really hate these kinds of family dinners. It was like a parade growing up. My father would have ‘work’ dinners and we children would line up to be inspected. I always felt like a piece of meat being auctioned off. Hopefully this experience would be better. I love my family but sometimes they really piss me off!

They sent the limo to pick us up. Another thing my family is good at is showing off. We got David’s family loaded up into the limo. I will have to admit, my family does have style, the transport was the latest model with all the bells and whistles. David’s place was fairly close to the family compound, right on the edge. Being colonial founders had its perks. By pooling their settlement credits our family had secured a huge section of land that was over 300 square miles. We don’t have that much these days, it has been over 100 years. The limo was now on a long 2 lane road. We passed a few quiet farmsteads and a small neighborhood. I looked at David “those are new.”

He looked back at the small row houses and replied. “Yes, father though it might help to have our workers closer to their jobs. They had a few issues with employees going to the casino or other red light areas.”

I shook my head. “I still can’t believe all that is here. So much for my sleepy little farm planet.”

The limo was now approaching a massive gate done in a gothic style. The driver pulled up to a small control box and inserted a key card. The gates slowly rolled back as the car pulled forward. Ahead was a winding road with trees on either side of the road. The very tip or what could be a building peaked up over a line of trees. Soon the main house came into view. My eyes delighted in the sight of home after so long. My mind however just shook its imaginary head and sighed. One of our ancestors about 60 years ago thought it would be fun to rebuild the family manor in a historical style. If he had picked a more classic style that would have been grand. But no. We grew up in a classic Lucas style. I was born in Jabba’s Palace. My father did a little creative remodeling but the house still looked like a giant mushroom. Seeing the valet and other cars I groaned. Not an intimate family gathering. Instead this will be public and filled with pain. Oh joy.

As a group we exited the limo and walked up to the door. The doorman recognizing David, allowed us to enter. Not much had changed it seemed. The entranceway led into the main salon (fathers name for it) which was filled with people drinking and socializing. Many of the guests raised their glasses to David and his wife in recognition. Then their beady little eyes turned to me. The only Empire officer in a room filled with Militia. Wonderful.

My father was in the center of the room. He came over to me and stood in front of me. Looking me up and down he scrutinized every detail of my uniform. I felt like a new recruit, not the officer that really am. Once again I had that feeling of being readied for market. This was one of the reasons I left so very long ago. I looked him in the eye. “Is there a problem with my uniform?”

He looked a bit shocked that I had questioned him. “I’m not in your military so stop looking at me like I am a bug to be dissected.”

“I’m just looking at my long lost daughter. I’m happy to see you Athena!” Now he had a smile on his face.

“Uh huh. Nice to see you too ‘Dad’. I thought this was going to be a family get together. Why all the brass?”

“We just wanted to welcome you home. You are a first for our family, an off world military officer.” He had a lilt in his voice like he did not approve.

“Well I wanted to stay in space to work in space. Coming back here? Not so much. Maybe we should talk about this somewhere else? Somewhere more private.” I gave him a speculative look.

“Nonsense these are our friends and family. Come now tell us your story so we all can hear.”

It was as if I was a misbehaving child. The other people watching our family tableau was a little creepy. I really was getting tired of this. “No. No exhibition for your friends to watch. We talk alone, just family, or I leave. No more center ring circus freak for me. Not anymore.”

“Athena how dare you speak to me like that! I am your Father. You will obey me!” Now he showed those true colors I remembered.

“Deal with it. I’m out of here.” I turned and tried to leave. David and his wife stopped me.

Whispering in my ear David told me, “you are right he is putting on a show. I am not sure what his game is, but please, stay. For me?”

I exhaled loudly. Taking a deep breath I nodded OK. I spun around and looked my father in the eyes. “You get ONE more chance. Pull any of your crap and I am out of here. Understand?” He thought for a minute and nodded.

My father turned to the crowd of hangers-on and said, “I need minute to speak with my children alone. Please enjoy the party. I will return soon.” He motioned at David and I. We, as a family, followed him upstairs to a conference room there. On the way I whispered to Wilson. “Run a few checks for me will ya? Check out those bozos in the other room and see if you can tap into the family security system. I don’t want to get trapped here. I have trust issues.”

“Ya think? I’ll get right on it.” He answered.

___

The door had no sooner closed when my father turned on me. “How dare you embarrass me in front of my friends!”

‘Really you want this now? I can leave, do you want me too? I might not come back for another 16 years this time.” Now he was pissing me off.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Settle down. Now have a seat. I really do want to hear about your experiences.”

We sat at the conference table and I related what had happened to me since leaving home 18 years ago. The academy, the war, Firefly Station, pirates , and everything else. I kept it somewhat short glossing over some things. I left out a lot of details like Wilson and my friend Sam. No need to mention those details. They, of course, asked questions. I answered as truthfully as I was able. Then my father asked about relationships and the real fun began.

“I have a girlfriend, here name is Dar she is a Lieutenant in the Empire marines.” I said as I replied to his question.

I could see a physical reaction from that fact. Our planet was pretty liberal when it came to who is with who. Date the person not the gender was popular when I was young. Our religion tells us to be happy with who you are. Looking at my father I sensed trouble.

“You need to break up with her.”

Say what? “Look old man, you don’t get to tell me what to do. Not anymore.”

“You have an obligation to your family. We went to a lot of trouble to set up an arrangement for you before you went and got yourself ‘killed’. We knew once you got the whole space thing out of your system you would come home. Better late than never, but here you are.”

Obligation, arrangement, oh Hell No! I started laughing. He stopped talking. I continued to laugh and everytime I looked at him I continued to giggle. Getting control of myself I shook my hands in front of my like a warding motion. I looked around the table. My brother and his wife were watching me closely and my father was scowling at me. The kids were ignoring us and had resumed staring zombie-like at their personal computers.

Still chuckling I turned to my father. “You thought that after all this time I was ready to come home? Really? Ignoring the fact that I was ‘lost’ for 15 years, you really think that I am home to stay don’t you. The reason I am here you egotistical maniac is that my ship is here. My captain, always looking out for me, made me take liberty. If you think I am marrying some yahoo that you dug up you have another thing coming. I like my girlfriend, thank you very much. Break up with her? Not only no, but Hell No!”

Thinking about the past I had an epiphany. “Wait a minute. All those times you forced us as children to stand and be inspected at gatherings. All the times that we felt like pieces of meat on display, was just that wasn’t it? You were auctioning us off to the highest bidder!” He looked surprised. “I’m not stupid you know. I graduated at the top of my class at the Academy and again in engineering school. So who is the lucky bidder? Come on tell me. Who have you promise a chunk of meat to?”

“It’s not like that at all. It is a political marriage. This is how we do things in our family. If you had payed attention to what we tried to tell you, you would understand this. We are not as powerful as we used to be, the family needs more influence in with the sector government. Your sister, Min, understood this. She married a very powerful aide to the Governor.”

I interrupted him. “Min? You did this to Min, and she let you? You are a braver man than I thought. What did you bribe her with? There is no way she would willingly go along with something like this.”

“For that you will have to ask your sister. Now the family needs you to marry Harold Norton, the Sector Governors son. We have arranged for you to have your own house here on the planet and basically your own money to do with as you want . He only asks for two children with his family name.”

I was so mad I could just scream. “Are you out of your mind old man! NO! And I mean NO Frakking way will I ever and I mean ever marry someone that you or anyone just ‘picked’ out for me. Screw you and ‘our’ family traditions! I’m out of here.” I turned and opened the door to leave. Two large and burly house servants were waiting on the other side.

“I’m sorry that you feel that way Athena. You really do have no choice in the matter. If you gentlemen would take her downstairs please.”

“Father you can’t do that! She is beyond your control she is too old! She is not a member of your militia.” Now, David protests. It makes me wonder if they did this to him too?

I tried struggling with my captors to no effect. I went limp, hoping they would let their guard down.

“What in the three hells is going on here!” A large woman in a Militia officers uniform was standing at the top of the stairs watching me struggle. My sister Min was here.

“Father what are you doing to my sister? Tell your men to put her down, now!” My captors, distracted by my sisters outburst, relaxed their hold on my arms. Using the skill that Dar had been trying to teach me I broke their holds and got free. I kicked on guard in the ‘nads and punched the other in his solar plexus. One guard was bent over groaning and the other was out of breath. I ran to the stairs and practically flew down them. The puzzled doorman opened the door as I ran up. I sped out of the house into the courtyard. Sitting there with its engine running was a navy transport with a marine squad on board. They waved me over.

“Sergeant how did you know I needed help? Thank you by the way!”

“Funny story there Lieutenant. We got orders that seemed to come from nowhere ordering us to come here. Even included a vehicle requisition. When we got to the gates they magically opened. You wouldn’t know anything about that would you?”

My father and his goons took that moment to run out of the house in pursuit. They drew up short at the sight of the marine transport and the squad of marines it contained.

“Athena get back in this house now! What are you people doing here! This is private property leave now!” He was visibly agitated.

“I told you I was leaving. These friends of mine are here to take me back to the ship. Don’t call me, ever!” I climbed in the transport.

“Now see here! You are my daughter and ..” He did not get a chance to finish. Loud cocking sounds were heard and all of the marines now had weapons pointed at my father and his men.

“I think not. Goodbye father.” I turned to the sergeant. “Let’s go back to the ship.” The sergeant but the transport in gear and we drove out. The gates magically opened for us and we left the property.

Chapter 4

When I returned to the ship I had a long talk with Captain Gorshin. As he also was from this planet he could understand my fathers rational, but not how he went about it. On my behalf he made a complaint the the Sector Governor and to the Planetary Governor condemning my fathers actions and asking for a restraining order. I was a citizen not a slave. The military legal staff was informed but I held off any legal action against my family, for now. All three of my siblings sent messages. David apologized saying he was told of what was going to happen, but was unaware to the extent that father would go. Han sided with my father and berated me for abandoning the family. Min said she still wanted to see me and set a lunch date for today. She even told me to bring Dar along.

We chose to have lunch in the Navy cafeteria on the station. By pure chance half of our marine contingent was eating at the same time so table space was limited. Dar and I had just sat down when Min entered, alone. She crossed the dining room and gave me a big hug.

“I’m sorry little sister,” she said as she hugged me. I think she meant it.

When she released me I stepped back and looked her in the eye. She never was able to lie it me. “Did you know what he was doing?” She bowed her head and nodded.

“He did it to you too. Why did you of all of us let him ‘sell’ you like a prized cow?”

Min sighed and motioned me back to the table. She pulled out a chair and sat down. Glancing in Dar’s direction she caught the subtle nod that signaled the marines to stand down. “Smart.”

She stared at the table for a moment and then looked up at me. “You have to understand. Since the end of the war this planet has changed. It runs on power and influence now. Oh we had that prewar. We were a founding family and had the respect of the people. Post war? Not so much. Politicians created this mess of an Empire. They put corrupt men in positions of great power. The old ways here were over. Suddenly everything was about credits and secrets. Who knew what, when, and for how much. Father wanted the influence back. As the head of the Militia he had some of it. But this station was hanging over our heads like the ‘Sword of Damocles’. Step out of line and death awaited. It’s not so bad now, but then it was touch and go.”

She leaned back in her chair stretching. “We made peace but lost the war. Father needed an alliance with the new governor. He made one. At the time I thought I was helping the family. I was proved wrong.”

A waiter came over and took her order. Min paused and took a drink of water. “I don’t live with him, this man that I married. He has his own quarters, his name is Cole Whittier. He is the financial aide to the Sector Governor. To tell you the truth he is a bit scared of me. Father wanted me to leave the Militia and be this grand lady. I told him ‘Hell No’ and kept my commission. Cole likes to play the big man but he is afraid of guns.” She chuckled. Her food was delivered so she took a moment to eat.

Using her fork as a pointing instrument she continued her story. “It was both give and take. He got an escort to fancy dinners and parties and I got the influence that the family and the Militia desperately needed. The new government had taken our teeth, our means to fight and had disbanded us. All planetary weapons now came under Empire jurisdiction.”

Dar spoke up, “She’s telling the truth about that. Under EOM rules planetary militia is allowed to exist but must petition for certain planetary weapon systems. I’ve never heard of them disbanding a militia before. We marines,” she swept her hands to mean the room full of soldiers. We are mainly used for spacecraft boarding actions and defense. Ground actions are left for planetary militia’s or Empire Special Forces.”

“Right. Using Cole’s connections we managed to get the Militia back. We were lucky there was really bad flooding in the Greek highlands and the EOM military was unable to help. They caught all kinds of flack for it. In the end we were able to bring the Militia back to life. I know its not an excuse but my connections have been helpful.” She pursed her lips and looked at us. “Athena, don’t hate me. OK? I know that you will be here, on this station for a few months. Let me spend time with my baby sister, please?”

“Fine, we can hang out or something. But tell our father not only no, but hell no!”

___

I had just gotten back to Engineering when I was called to the bridge. Captain Gorshin wished to see me. A few minutes later I was standing in front of the Captain. With him were several officers that I did not recognize and the XO.

“Lieutenant Lee this is Commander Rubinowitz from the Inspector Generals office. He and his team will be talking to most of the ship about our recent pirate battles. They are looking for ways to improve both our ships and the procedures that we use. Give them every courtesy please.”

I introduced myself and greeted the Commander. We chatted briefly about my restructuring the Engineering department and how well the new shipboard training was going. One of the other Officers talking with the Captain was looking at me. He was a tall man with a balding pate and a narrow face. The Captain seeing me introduced this officer.

“Athena, this is Commander Clancy Hadley. He is your new boss down in engineering. I had braced myself for this every day since the captain made me the temporary chief. With a smile on my face I turned to the Commander.

“Welcome to the ship Commander Hadley. I hope you enjoy working with us.”

Not expecting such a warm greeting the new Chief was at a loss for words, “thank you Lieutenant Lee.”

I turned back to the Captain, “sir, if I may be excused? I need to get my projects ready for my meeting with the Head of Research tomorrow.”

“Of course Lieutenant. Dismissed.”

The whole way to my quarters I whispered at Wilson. Most of the crew was used to seeing me talking to myself. Not knowing about my ‘guest’ they all thought I was a little strange.

“Wilson did you break into those files about our new commander?”

“Yes Athena, it was as we thought. He is a spy for our Sector Governor Norton.”

“Send a not to Captain Gorshin this is something he needs to know about. He can be mad at me later for telling you to do it.”

___

My meeting with Professor Kip Wilson was easier than I thought it would be. He droned on about scheduling and mock-ups. Pointing me in the direction of his assistants the man barely spoke to me, more like he spoke at me. His assistants were Amy Cassidy and Henry Desmond, they had one lab assistant a young woman by the name of Hildegard. Amy was the hydroponics expert while Henry and Hildegard were my droid techs. All three of them were very excited to be working with me.

We flipped a coin and the droid techs got me first. So much for scheduling.

“Lieutenant Lee, we were very interested in your ‘Droid’ design. Using the micro power units was inspired. What we are most interested is the programing and integration circuitry.”

After I had explained about Wilson they all made a “oh” sound and nodded their heads. They had all read my file but had not had the information about the AI explained to them. When they realized that Wilson was going to supply the dumbed down AI’s and show how to make more they were ecstatic. Their basic questions answered they passed me off to Ms. Cassidy.

Ms Cassidy or Amy as she told me to call her was an expert in the hydroponic field. While she liked my spiral idea of the new hydroponics pods she didn’t think it was practical. I showed her the records of the model that we had done. My new design coupled with new bulkhead improvements made it more survivable. That was one of the biggest problems with hydroponics, hull breaches. Amy told me we would build a few mock ups and run some experiments. I left her going over plans and making notes on build schedules.

Chapter5

Colonel Alexander Lee was in his office, monthly troop evaluations were due and his subordinates were dragging their feet getting them done. Military service was mandatory in the colony. All 17 to 18 year olds on the planet had to serve in the military at least one year. Lots of paperwork to keep track of all that. It didn’t help his mood at all. His family was on his mind constantly these days. His link chimed that a call was coming in for him from the Planetary Governor. “Hello Governor Stoner. What can the militia do for you on this lovely Friday afternoon.”

“Alex.” The Governor frantic. “There is a protest at Government center!”

“Yes sir we were informed. The Farmers Union, supposed to be a few hundred protesters.”

“Alex, It isn’t. There is about ten thousand protesters out there!”

“What! Governor I can mobilize and be there…”

“You don’t understand. Sector Governor Norton has called out the ESS and the Marines! Alex he’s called in those ESS thugs!”

“Governor calm down.” The governor was still freaking out. “Roy! Roy, calm Down. The ESS only has a couple of agents here I can call the Colonel DeMunn over at marine hq and talk to him.” Using the Governor’s first name seemed to help. The governor’s breathing slowed down.

“Damn it Alex, Norton brought in a ship load of the Jackboots last night. He’s got a whole regiment of them! He will use them too. The Senate voted to reinforce all Planetary governments due to the protesters. It will be a massacre! Our people, our people don’t believe that it could happen to them! We have to do something.” The Governor was almost in tears.

“Roy, let me get our people out there. I don’t know what we can do but maybe we can stop a massacre. Let me get back to you.!” The Colonel hit a button on his desk. Sirens and alarms began to sound across the milita base. The sound of running feet could be heard as Colonel Lee was putting on his fatigues. A frantic knocking and his door burst open.

“Colonel, Sir, are you OK?” It was his son, Major Hannibal Lee.

“Han, mobilize as many of our troops as you can find. We need to get everyone t Government Center as fast as we can.”

“Sir, whats going on?”

“Don’t talk MOVE, Damn it MOVE! GET THOSE TROOPS ORGANIZED!!”

The Major did a fast 180 degree turn and ran out of the room. With a resigned look on his face the Colonel walked out of the room. His personal secretary, Dawn was standing by her desk with her mouth open in shock.

“Dawn, get on the phones. I need the head of Emergency services, disaster relief, and the Army Auxilaries command as soon as possible. Call over to the air wing and get my daughter to start arming up the fighters. Any questions refer her to me.” His secretary was still just standing there. “Damn it! Dawn, not you too! Move it please, we have an Emergency here!” She scrambled for her desk.

A militia Lieutenant ran into the room. “Sir, Major Lee reports that all combat troops ready sir.” Colonel Lee thought to himself, when this mess is over we need to have some communication classes.

“Tell the lieutenant I want everyone. Every troop, cook, mechanic, guard, and dishwasher that can hold a weapon. I SAID EVERYONE! Get out there. Get those troops moving now,GO!”

“Colonel, Emergency services is on the phone for you.” The Colonel turned to his secretary thinking it was going to be a long afternoon.

Grabbing his desk phone the Colonel started talking right away. “Fuji? Listen you need to get as many of your ambulances and emergency equipment on its way to City center right now.” The man on the phone started to argue. “No Dammit! Right Frakking now! I mean it! This is on the authority of Governor Stoner. That idiot Norton has sent ESS troops to deal with the farm protest. Those thugs will start killing people.” Still the man argued. “ I will have your job you idiot! Do it and do it now!” There was a knock at his door and it burst open.

“Dad, Sir, what is happening?” The tall blond woman looked so much like her mother, thought the Colonel.

“Minerva, good. I need you to round up your pilots and get those birds of your armed, fueled and ready to go ASAP!”

Already moving she turned and looked at him. “Can I know the reason, Sir?”

Such a good officer. “ESS troops are inbound to the farm protest and we need to stop a massacre.”

She paused at the doorway. “Sir, Dad, I think David is a part of that movement. He called me the other day and said something about protesting the higher taxes and the farm levy. I will text him from my office and warn him.”

Taking a deep breath Alex hoped they could stop this thing before lives were lost.

___

Athena had been meeting with the FLEAS all morning. When the group broke for lunch she decided to take hers at the main cafeteria. It had a really nice view of the planet in its dining area. Walking through the station she noticed a lot of combat troops in armor around. Seeing a small group of Marines watching them too she walked over and introduced herself.

“Excuse me Sergeant? I’m Lieutenant Lee from the James Cook. Do you know anything about these troops? They don’t look like you Marines.”

“No Ma’am. They are not marines. Those are the new ESS Enforcement troops. The Senate voted to use them to protect Government facilities, last week. A ship came in last night filled with them. There is at least a regiment of them on board.” The Marine looked disgusted with the troops.

“Athena…” She thanked the marines and walked toward the cafeteria.

“What is it Wilson?” He always picked terrible times to talk to her

“There is a protest near the Government center.”

“Is it the one that David told us about? I hope he is OK.” She answered him.

“Your brother’s small protest has gotten a bit larger. Right now there is about ten thousand of them marching toward the government offices.”

Athena stopped walking. “Did you say ten thousand?”

“Yes, the government is freaking out.” He said. At that moment a steady tone like beeping began. A large number of those ESS troops began marching toward the flight bays.

All around the station workers and navy personnel stopped and watched as they marched by.

Athena turned away from the spectacle. “Wilson, contact David. IF possible sent him a message, tell him to be careful.”

I walked to the cafeteria and got in line. After receiving my food I sat and watched out the view port at the planet. A group of rapidly descending dropships interrupted my view. I Said a silent prayer to the gods of my ancestors for Davids benefit.

The enormous protest was receiving network attention. All the vid channels were lit up and reporting on the demonstration. Men, women, and children were marching down the causeway toward the city center. This protest was massive. Radio and vid talk shows had been pumping up their listeners for weeks about the march. The new laws affected every farmer on the planet the loss of income and jobs was on everyones mind. Organizers had taken advantage of this and had bused in thousands of supporters and their families. People began streaming in from connecting streets and highways. All on foot or in chair lifts. Young, old and disabled. Everyone was coming. This was the peoples chance to tell the Sector government and the Empire what they thought of the new laws. The organizers kept it by using retired veterans as monitors to watch for troublemakers. So far everything was going to plan.

The marchers were fired up. Their government should not do this to them. They had brought their families to show that this was not just about them but their families too. Several large children groups Future Farmers were present, many were holding homemade signs and shouting out slogans. The mass of people were crying out against farm levies, higher taxes, and wanting better living conditions. Group leaders would stop and give a speech to a roar from the crowd. The march would then continue. More and more people filled the streets. The camera’s zoomed out. This had to be the largest protest our planet had ever seen. A continuous mass of people filling the causeway from one end to the other, over 4 miles of people. Arriving at the edge of the city’s center the leader of the march assembled and gave several speeches. They exhorted the crowd to remain non-violent but to speak their minds. This planet had a tradition a people speaking their minds. That was how it had always been. Over the singing and chanting of slogans a roaring was heard by the crowds. Overhead a dozen black as night troopships were descending. The ships were of a type never seen before here on Hong Kong. Heavily armored with gun ports and turrets the ships were taking up positions around the circle of government buildings.

The newsies panned their camera’s around when the roaring of the troopships was heard. The black and menacing ships, more heavily armed than our navy ships, landed in front of the Government buildings. The crowd had grown silent at this display of force. Hatches opened on the ships and hundreds of Black clad troops begun fanning out surrounding the buildings. The ships closed their hatches and took off. They continued to hover over the perimeter that the troops had formed.

The black clad troops had moved out into a battle line that stretched from the edge of the sidewalk to across the front on the steps leading into the government offices. The leaders of the march and their followers approached the line of troops.

A very large and menacing black clad trooper carrying an high powered assault rifle began speaking. “Halt, this is an illegal protest you are ordered to return to your homes. NOW! By order of Sector Governor Samuel Norton all protesters will be arrested and tried for crimes of terrorism against the state if you do not stop now and return to your homes. Halt this march now. This is your last and only warning!”

The leaders of the march kept moving forward and began shouting. “We want to talk to the Governor, we want arbitration, we need better tax laws, stop farm Levey's now.”

The troops moved into firing positions guns at the ready, the troop commander looked to either side at his forces. Small groups were setting up squad manned machine guns and snipers were getting into positions. He yelled, “Fire!”

The black clad ESS troops began firing into the crowd with their assault rifles and machine guns. The leaders of the march were cut down in a spray of blood and gore. The force of the rounds hitting them sprayed the crowd behind them. They were not spared either as the armor piercing rounds continued through them to the innocents behind them. No one was spared. Snipers were picking off the organizers and their veteran ‘guards’. The troopships were firing into groups of people with grenade launchers. The explosions were destroying the surrounding vehicles and spraying shrapnel in all directions. Many sought the cover of trees, buildings, or piles of debris. The troopships overhead joined in the melee, firing their rockets and anti-ship lasers at those trying to hide. Even more death followed. Several newsies were hit and killed, their footage continued to roll out and what they shot angered the entire planet.

I stood in shock staring at the screen. The troops had opened fire on the tens of thousands of innocent unarmed people. The leaders of the march were mowed down along with hundreds in the front rows. The troops continued to fire. There was a brief pause as the troopships moved over the crowds, circling them. Among the broken and bleeding bodies were those of the young and of the old. A group of school children were seen hiding behind bodies belonging to their teachers and classmates. The black clad ‘demons’ turned their guns in that direction. The crowd now trying to flee was trampling the fallen and scattering in every direction. The children were crying and huddling together on the blood covered pavement. A lone man jumped up from where he had been hiding behind a parked vehicle and stood in front of the terrified children. A blood spattered woman tried to pull him back under cover, but he pried her hands off. Saying something to her, he pushed her back behind the large truck. The man motioned for the children to lay flat and as out of sight as possible. He then turned to the troops and yelled “these are innocents, why kill them? Why kill any of them? This was a peaceful protest!” Protecting the crying children as best as he could David pleaded with the ESS to stop. The Commander looked at my brother David and said “I have my orders no survivors, open fire!” David died as he was struck with numerous armor piecing rounds. His wife, the light of his life tried to run to him and was cut down by a sniper on the roof of the Capitol building. One of the ships lased the group of children incinerating them.

I watched as David, my peaceful brother, who never wanted to fight, gave up his life up in protest of the very people I now worked for. The troops gunned him down and continued to kill for another ten full minutes. The gutters and culverts of the city ran with the blood of the innocent. The dead and the dying filled the streets. Fires raged from buildings and vehicles caught in the torrent of fire from the troopships. Soot covered and now out of ammo the ESS troops signaled the drop ships for pick up.

Sobs could be heard from all around me as I realized I too was crying. The newsies had cut the feed when my brother was killed. The screen now read Please stand by. I stumbled from the cafeteria and into the marines I had spoken to.

“Lieutenant Lee are you OK?” I had too many tears to answer him. He looked into the cafeteria and saw the distraught and crying personnel.

“What the hell happened here?” He motioned for his men to find out. The food service personnel told them about the protest. Hearing this the marine got very angry. “Private Simms, inform our Commander of the protest and round up the squad. We will escort the Lieutenant back to her ship and then meet up at the squad room.

___

I was still in tears when I entered the ship. This upset the OOD and the marine guards with him. The guards dropped what they were doing and rushed over. Scanning in all directions the marine Sergeant turned to me and asked if I was OK. They were all bracing for a possible attack. Red faced and teary eyed I explained to them about the massacre. The OOD immediately began searching the news reports for more information. Shakily I keyed in my access code and entered the ship. My clearly tear-filled face attracted much attention on my way to the bridge. I stopped and wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my tunic. Both of the marine guards were watching me. I told them I was OK. With this many marines seeing me like this I should probably expect a visit from Dar. My uniform now straightened and my appearance mostly neat, I calmly walked onto the bridge.

Commander Wang was hunched over the navigation console working with one of my electronic techs. I paused next to the Commander. The XO heard my footsteps and looked over at me. He saw my red eyes and flushed complexion and turned away from my tech. “Lieutenant what has happened?”

Fresh tears started to force their way from my eyes. “The protest planetside was a massacre. ESS troops killed thousands of innocent civilians, including my brother. They just mowed them down, their dropships firing into the crowd. It was awful.”

At my statement the rest of the bridge crew at turned away from their instruments and with faces filled with shock were watching me. The XO motioned to the communications officer and the forward screens lit up with the news casts of the massacre. Seeing it on the big screen of the ships just made it worse. From above the city center appeared as if it were a giant red eye. A complete pristine circle around the government buildings was surrounded by blood spatted buildings and streets. The blood of thousands filled the gutters and culverts of the city. Flashing lights could be seen as emergency services were arriving. No other event on this planet in living memory was as horrific.

“Captain on the bridge.” The systems tech noticed the Captain standing in the doorway.

We all came to attention instinctively. Captain Gorshin was staring at the screens with a look of anger mixed with shame. He pointed at me and the XO and waved us toward his Ready Room.

“Commander Dunne, you have the conn.” The XO passed command and followed us.

The Captain ashen faced answered. “Athena are you ok?” We all sat at the table.

Surrounded by visual reminders of the regime that had just killed my people I was silent. I didn’t answer him but asked a question instead. “Captain did you see the protest?”

His face was dark and a fire burned in his eyes. I could tell that he was on the verge of losing his temper. “I did. Again are you OK?”

I nodded, wiping my tears away, I cast my eyes downward and spoke to my Captain. “I was in the cafeteria. The newsies broke the story. I watched it live, Captain. None of the protesters were armed. Their only crime was asking questions and demanding change. My brother spoke to me about those new laws. My brother..my Brother was there. In the crowd. He was the man who tried to protect the children. I saw him brutally gunned down for trying to save children. He and them were murdered by the very government I now serve!”

Surprised the Captain’s eyes widened at my rhetoric. “My brother was a man of peace. He was simply a farmer. I just talked to him yesterday, he was concerned about the higher taxes and farm levies. My family.” I paused a look of shock upon my face. “I have to call my father! By the Gods, he and the others, I need to call them. Captain may I?” The Captain motioned toward the communication station. I turned and almost ran to it. Keying in the proper codes I linked into the Militia communication net and sent my message. I didn’t need to tell him, he already knew.

Chapter 6

Colonel Lee rode at the head of the column in an armored personnel carrier. Behind him riding in trucks was as many troops that could be found. He had two battle ready platoons and a third that was a mis-mash of available warm bodies. Hopefully they would be in time. Grabbing the many troops, equipping them, and finding transportation took time. The militia base was ten miles from the city center. As they entered the city reports were already streaming in from the newscasts and local reports. In the distance black troopships hovered like vampire bats strafing the crowds of people with rockets and lasers. Reaching the causeway the militia troops were slowed by crowds of bloody, wounded civilians screaming for help as they stumbled and ran. After nearly hitting a wounded man, the Colonel slowed the column to a crawl.

Turning to his communication specialist Colonel Lee said “Contact my daughter Major Lee!” Colonel Lee used his link and contacted Governor Stoner. The Newsies were broadcasting every bloody detail, the Governor already knew. “Roy, I’m sorry we could not get here in time. What are your orders?”

Governor Roy Stoner had been in his position for over 30 years. Governor for life he liked to joke. Even through the war he had never had anything like this happen, not to his planet. This was a moral decision not a political one. First and foremost was justice for all the innocents that were killed today. He didn’t like it but he knew what he had to do.

“Colonel I want justice for our citizens. Do whatever you have to do to bring them to justice. You have my complete authority!”

Taking the communicator from his aide Colonel Lee bowed his head and said a silent prayer. “Major Lee, your orders are to take out those troopships using any means necessary by order of Governor Stoner!”

The colonial attack ships moved in for the kill on the unsuspecting troopships.

With blood in his eyes and fire in his heart Colonel Alexander Lee began shouting orders at his troops. If he was going to commit treason he might as well go all the way! He ordered his two combat platoons to start rounding up any and all Empire personnel from inside the buildings.

“Get them all, anyone with authority.” He needed prisoners they could bring to trial.

He instructed the mixed platoon to start organizing survivors and help get the medical aid stations set up. Emergency services were, just now, starting to show up. The Colonel walked the front line of the dead. He was checking for any survivors among the march leaders or any of the murdered children who now lay in the street. His face was like a piece of stone as he watched his troops search for the living. A pile of bodies in the center attracted his attention. Stepping carefully he and his small protection team picked their way across the carnage. Near the center of the street was a literal pile of adult bodies. Behind them were the remains of children who had tried to hide. The bloody and tattered remains of one adult was draped over their bodies as if to protect them. Bracing himself he carefully turned the body of his son over. His daughter-in-law’s body was a short distance away. With tears in his eyes he had his men carefully pick up their bodies and take them to the collection site.

His son was dead! Every deal, every bargain, every accommodation to the new alliance flashed through his head. Everything that he had done to help the Bastards that KILLED HIS SON! He had helped those people. His own daughter was married to one. He paused. His daughter… Athena was right, I did sell my daughter. Gazing up into the sky he watched his other daughter take her vengeance on those that had killed her brother in cold blood.

___

Minerva flew at the head her formation of star fighters leading them in to battle like her namesake battle goddess . She was lucky to have the fighters. The Empire had only recently allowed them to have them. The Militia had two full wings of fighters. The second wing, stationed of the other side of the planet near the Greek colony , could not get here in time. Hers was made up of surplus Sky Sharks and one Mark 4 Starfury her personal ship. A mark 4 model, her ship had been upgraded with more powerful weapons and better armor.

When she had reached the airfield all of the fighters were armed and fueled. Her pilots had seen the massacre on the vid. Min had spoken to the other squadron commander. Commander Conrad’s squadron were the “Black Sheep” while hers were the “Silver Valkyries”. He was going to have his group fly CAP for the Militia on the ground at the Capitol. The ‘sheep’ were mainly well maintained Fuglies and Stuka’s.

Speaking to her brothers in arms she told them to switch off IFF and prepare for battle. On her radar screen she could see the troopships as they gained altitude. The menacing looking ships were studded with weapon turrets and laser ports. None were Empire standard ships. Not regular navy she could not trust them to follow the rule of war and respect surrender or non-combatants. Min said a prayer for her people and keyed her microphone. To her pilots she said, “Everyone ready? Break and attack! No mercy!” Like a star burst the fighters broke formation and screamed in on the unsuspecting ships.

___

ESS Captain Gary Ridgway was not happy about this whole mission. The deaths of the civilians didn’t matter to him in the least. It was this drop that was bothering him. These troopships weren’t part of the team. The pilots and crews had beens seconded to them from some of the Senate’s personal ship crews. They had not trained with his troops so they weren’t ‘clan’. He would feel much better when his people were back on board the Station. One of the ship crew waved at him to get his attention.

“You need something sailor?” He barked at the crewman.

“Sir, we have a flight of ships on radar. IFF reads them as a local militia flight. The pilots are asking if they are an escort?”

“Have them check with Station control. That is their job. Why in the hell are they bothering me?” The Captain was glaring at the crewman now.

“Sir, they did that and the Station did not authorized it. They are coming in at top speed.”

The black clad Captain looked up from his tablet yelling “What? Why in the 9 hells didn’t you say that to begin with?”

He glanced around the cabin. “Action stations! Attack incoming get to the guns!”

The ESS troops unbuckled from the seats and sprang into action. They pulled the ships crew out of the firing ports and manned the weapon stations. The Militia star fighters were flying in a tight formation headed straight for the troopships. Suddenly the formation burst apart, the fighters targeting the troopships and attacking.

“Sir, IFF won’t let us fire. The computers all say those are friendly ships and won’t allow us to use the weapons.”

A nearby troopship blew up in a massive fireball. The craft the Captain was on shook from the shock wave. “Do those ships look friendly to you? Override it! Do it now my men are dying out there!”

“We can’t Sir, that is what I am trying to tell you!” The crewman recoiled visibly when the black clad captain drew his weapon.

“Where is the computer module located at?” The crewman pointed to the armored box to the left of the cockpit. The Captain pointed his laser pistol at it and fired. “Fire in the hole!”

It took two shots but the computer box exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel. The troopship shuddered and jerked as the flight crew struggled with the controls. The death of the computer had put the ship on manual. With their weapons now free the Captain Ridgways ship started firing on the militia fighters. Better late than never, five of the troopships had already been destroyed.

Yelling at the flight crew the Captain told them to “contact the station, get us some help out here!”

“We can’t call anyone! When the computer stopped working it killed all communications and all but the basic controls up here!” The pilot was grunting as he fought the ship. “We can’t call anyone or boost into orbit those controls are hard wired to the computer.”

“Damn it! To hell.” He thought for a moment. “Try and head for the manufacturing center. We have a unit of special forces guarding that and maybe they can help us. Anything is better than dying up here!”

The Pilot shook his head yes and started maneuvering the ship toward the North. The other ships seeing the command ship leaving the area tried to follow. Still unable to fire over half were shot down and destroyed.

____

Militia Colonel Lee could not allow those troopships to escape. His daughters report had said that they were heading in a Northern direction over the mountains. The only armed support the Empire had on the planet was at the manufacturing center and the space port.

Only the manufacturing center was in the North. Checking his tablet he saw that the Empire had two special forces units stationed there along with an armored transport group. What they were armed with or their numbers was not shown. “Damn it! We don’t have enough troops.” He looked to his communications aide. “Contact the Governor on a secure line.” Looking to his second in command, his son Han, he said “wrap things up here. Coordinate with capitol police units to secure the prisoners and take charge of the emergency crews. I am leaving you the mixed unit. Draft any stragglers and do what you can for our people. I’m taking the two combat units and going after those murderers.”

“Father, Sir, let me go.”

“No, stay here. I am activating project Trojan horse so you will have plenty of organizing to do. Get with your sister I want a CAP of the capitol. Good luck.”

Switching frequencies the Colonel contacted the Governor. “Roy I’m activating project Trojan horse.” The Governor was arguing with him. “NO, no. We have to. You know that what we just did is a rebellion. Me and my troops just became revolutionaries in the eyes of the Senate. We need the support. Damn it to hell Roy! I know that stuff was for a rainy day, but its pouring now. Make the announcement. Please. If we don’t they could destroy everything that we have built here.”

Beneath the Capitol building inside the emergency bunker Governor Roy Stoner had his head bowed. He was saying a prayer for his people and their way of life. He looked up and signaled his people. “Contact the news agencies and tell them to stand by for an official announcement from me.” He tapped several buttons in sequence on his desk console. A hidden panel opened up on the side of his desk. The governor studied the new controls for moment then activated them. Turning to the cameras he began to speak to the planet.

Chapter 7

The Hong Kong planetary Militia came from an idea that a former colony ship captain had. Hong Kong had the crews from three such ships. Willing crewmen formed the cadre of what the militia became. Colony founders used a old Earth model created my the former Israeli and Swiss military. Military service was compulsory for all 17 year olds. The militia itself was made up of less than 3% of the population. The rest were considered auxiliary or conscripts. The auxiliary had all taken a seven week basic training course and had four weekends a year muster meetings. All residential houses or apartments were required, by law, to have shelters provided for residents. In each community centrally located shelters and emergency services were available. Due to the war between the PPL and the AA defensive gun batteries had already been emplaced. When the Empire was formed the militia had been stood down and its weapons slated for destruction.

Empire troops were found to be inadequate to assist the planet with pirate defense and natural disasters. This and some political maneuvering brought about the rebirth of the militia. With one caveat. Local military was not allowed heavy weapons, armored vehicles or advanced ships. Those were reserved for the EOM standing army.

The Issue had not sat right with both the Governor and Militia leaders. How were they to defend their world if they had no weapons to do so? Secretly they stockpiled the weapons that had been reported destroyed. Hidden around the planet in former defense bunkers were armored vehicles and war surplus heavy weapons. Code named Trojan horse, only a small handful of Militia officers and the Governor new the secret. Systems were set up to activate the weapons and to call up the auxiliary. Over 80% of those aged 18-50 were a part of the planets militia auxiliary. Most considered it an honor to serve.

Members were allowed to take their weapons home. When alerted they were to meet at designated locations and receive orders. When Governor Stoner activated his system the ‘gloves came off’. This planet would now show its true strength and woe be to its enemies.

___

Legation Station was on lock down. Red alert lights were flashing and sirens echoed throughout the halls. As soon as the newsies had gone live with vid of the massacre, government forces had sprung into action. Everything was sealed and a curfew was in effect. Only navy business could be conducted and only with written orders. The Sector Government afraid of reprisals or sabotage had posted guards at every hatch and doorway. The black uniforms of the ESS special guardsmen were everywhere.

Captain Gorshin had given orders to lock down the ship. Our shipboard marines were now stationed at the main hatchway and at all vital sections of the ship. We were still in space dock on board the station. If something happened to it, it would happen to us too. I had returned to my cabin after meeting with the Captain about Davids death. Dar had been waiting for me. Her ‘spies’ in the marine force alerted her to my troubles. I took one look at her and burst into tears. She held me in her arms, gently rocking me.

Dar kissed my forehead and whispered in my ear. “I am here for you, always.”

I looked up at her and kissed her on the lips. My emotions were out of control. I have seen death, I have even killed in my own defense. But seeing my brother die live and in vivid color has me all stupified. Dar kissed me back, wrapping her arms around me in a warm embrace.

“Just hold me please. I need for you to hold me.” With tears in my eyes I let myself go and melted into her embrace. We sat this way for over an hour sharing our love until my comm system alerted me that I was needed on the bridge. I kissed Dar goodbye thanking her for just being there for me.

I made record time getting to the bridge. The marine guards nodded to me as I entered the command deck. Captain Gorshin and Commander Wang were watching the main screen. The screen showed a battle going on over the planets capital.

“Lee, good you’re here. What do you know about the planets militia forces?” Both officers had turned to watch me.

I glanced at the screen and watched planetary fighters engage troopships. “I uh, know that there are two squadrons. One stationed here and the other on Helvetica near the Greek colonies. My sisters squadron is stationed just outside of the Capitol. My father commands the Militia ground units and the training academy. Why?”

Pointing to the screen behind him he said “that battle? It is Militia fighters going after the troopships that killed all of those people. It is the reason that the station is in lock down.” As I watched, the fighters killed several of the troopships. For some reason the ESS ships were not fighting back.

“Athena, we have been getting reports that ground units are rounding up Empire officials. It is starting to look like Hong Kong is in a state of rebellion”

I barely acknowledged him. Watching the screen before me I had figured out which fighter belonged to my sister Min. She was bobbing and weaving her fighter attacking the troopships.

One of the ESS ships was firing back now. It must have been damaged because it seemed out of control. That ship had turned from the battle leading the others away toward the mountain range.

I looked back at the Captain. “Do you know what the Sector Governor will do?”

“No, that is what worries us. Currently there are three ships in port counting us and the station has three full squadrons of fighters. We have no idea what resources those ESS troops have.” The Captain looked pensive.

“Athena, did your AI get the newscast out of the system?” Commander Wang had turned to look at me.

“I have no idea. I can ask him.” I thought hard about it. Did Wilson mention anything. “Wilson. Wilson are you listening to this?”

“Yes, Athena, I heard. Tell the Captain that I did get the broadcasts out. I sent it to Navy HQ, the Senate offices, and about half of the sectors around us before the satellites shut down.” I relayed that to my commanders.

“With the satellites shut down all of our orders will come through the Governor’s office now. It makes me nervous that they could order us to do anything.” The Captain closed his eyes, as if he was thinking. “Athena, have your techs tear into the communication systems. Total tear down, I want it out of order for as long as possible. Any official orders will have to come in writing from the Governors office. If we have to do something against regs I want written proof. Tell Commander Hadley that I ordered it. Go and take care of that now please, dismissed.”

“Yes sir. Thank you sir.” I took one last look at the battle on the screen. The ESS troopships were retreating toward the manufacturing center with Min’s flight behind them.

___

Engineering was a different place when I arrived. The atmsophere had changed. Our new commander was barking orders and my, I mean, our people were jumping. Gone was the fix it because we can attitude. Then he spotted me.

“Lieutenant Lee! Nice of you to finally join us!”

“Sir, I was on leave and the Captain wished to see me.”

“From now on Lee, you will report to me first, per regulations, before doing Anything! Do I make myself CLEAR! Why the captain ever chose YOU, a lowly lieutenant, to run this ship boggles my mind. Now, what did the captain want from you!”

“Sir, my conversation with Captain Gorshin is private sir. However he does wish for a complete tear down of the communication systems. He said that since we are in dry dock we should go ahead and have it cleaned and upgraded too.” Just what we need in engineering a tyrant.

“He did, did he? I will have to check those orders myself. I can’t trust a lowly engineering Third to tell me the whole truth now can I?” He seemed to enjoy talking down to me.

“I am aware that you have extra duties with the scientific division, but I am changing those orders as per regulations. You will complete every assignment that I give you before reporting ashore. Is that understood Lieutenant?”

“Yes sir. I understand.”

“Good. Now I see in the logs that you took it upon yourself to illegally modify MY ship. That will stop right now! You and these jumped up ‘midshipmen’ will start returning this ship to factory and navy specs today.”

“But sir, the captain ordered us to alter the ship.”

“Per regulations the Captain,” he paused and scowling, “cannot change the structure of a naval vessel without orders from HQ. I see no such orders. I looked over your supposed bulkhead improvements? Poppycock! Fix it right now. Dismissed.” He tuned away and entered the office slamming the door.

I bowed my head. All that work. Frakk it! “Wilson? Do me a favor and send that conversation to the Captain.” I turned and looked at MY crew. “OK lets get moving. Regardless of what he thinks I need a team to go do a complete teardown of the communications system. Clean it out and upgrade when possible. Also, take your time doing it. Ellery, why don’t you and your group take care of that. Jacobs and I will start on the bulkheads.”

We had barely begun when the orders changed. Commander Hadley had called the Captain and had his head handed to him. HQ had approved the upgrade, per regulations.

___

Sector Governor Samuele Norton was not a happy man. These hicks needed to be taught a lesson. This bunch of farmers needed to be shown that he was the man in charge. That he made the rules now. Damn it! “Cole! Cole, where the hell is that man. COLE!”

A short dumpy man came running into his office. “Yes Governor? Did you call me?”

“Finally. What is the status? Did we get everything locked down?” Like a thundercloud the Governor loomed over his aide.

His hands shaking slightly, Cole brought up his tablet. “The news agencies are now under our control. A couple of the reporters were shot as they tried to escape but everyone else is under house arrest or locked up. All communications except for official Navy ones are locked out and shut down. The navy is routed through us so we can monitor them. ESS has the rest of the station secured.”

Nodding his head the governor smiled. “Who cares about the newsies, they should have followed orders. What about the Navy? How many ships do we have?”

“There are three here at the moment. Two are in dry dock locked down and the third is on patrol in the sector. The Panay is under navy control but the XO is one of our people so just say the word. We have 3 squadrons of fighters on board the station. Only one is under direct Navy control. The others are mercenaries that we managed to hire under the reenforcement clause.”

“Good, good. Those two ships in dry dock, can we use them? We may have to take out most of the planets civilian structure and start over. Kinetic strikes are easier with warships.”

Cole jumped a bit at the words kinetic strike. He hoped it would not come to that, he had a lot of money tied up on the planet. “The EOM Laffey is a Sumner class destroyer it is getting a drive replaced. It will be a minimum of two weeks before it is able to fly. It’s captain is one of ours. The EOM James Cook is in port getting some exterior battle damage repaired. We have only been able to replace the Chief Engineer no one else on the command staff. It is a tight-nit ship.”

“Find out everything you can about that ship. We need to get our people in there and in control.”

Chapter 8

The response to Governor Stoner’s recall of the Militia auxiliary was phenomenal. Many more citizens than expected showed up to fight. It demonstrated how unpopular the Empire was on the planet. Personal weapons were something that did not need to be supplied. The armored vehicles and tanks, from storage, only needed fuel and ammo to be useful. Most of the weapons were more than fifteen years old but could still function. An old weapon can still kill you. Two oldsters even showed up in an ancient tank that pre-dated the last war. The called up troops were put to use immediately. Based on training and equipment many were used to secure government buildings and vital areas such as power plants. Sabotage was always a threat. The younger troops were to be used for the assault on the manufacturing center and the space port.

“Sir, reporting for duty.” In front of Colonel Lee was a burly older man in his mid to late 60’s. He was dressed in a rarely seen tiger stripe camo uniform signifying planetary special forces. Something ‘this’ planet had not had for over 30 years. The soldier was in good shape and his uniform was impeccable. He had a gleam in his eye as he smiled at the Colonel.

Returning his salute Colonel Lee looked questioning at him. “What can I do for you Specialist?”

“Sir, Sergeant Yannos Thoukudides reporting with a party of 25 sir.” The Colonel looked past the sergeant and say several dozen similarly dressed men and women lurking about.

“Is this your whole unit Sergeant Thoukudides?”

“Just call me Yannos, sir. It’s easier. Yes, sir. After the last war they retired the lot of us. We stayed together for the most part. We bought an island out on the lost archipelago and have a small community there. We saw the call up and here we are.” He looked over his shoulder and the others had reformed and were straightening out their lines.

“Yannos, are you sure you and your people are up for this? You are getting a bit older.”

“Begging your pardon, sir. I am the same age as you Colonel.”

“Well OK then. What did your unit do during the last war? I am not familiar with Special forces. We don’t have them anymore.”

“Dirty tricks and demolition, Colonel. We infiltrate and blow things up sir.”

The Colonel got a big smile on his face. The day was looking up.

___

Landing in an almost out of control troopship was not something that Captain Ridgeway ever wanted to do again. His pilot just barely got the computer-less craft on the ground in this valley. Only 6 of his other ships survived their encounter with the Militia fighters.

“Damn them to Hell” he cursed. Those damn fighters wiped out half of his hand picked men. Only his quick thinking had saved anyone. His six other ships were heavily damaged. There had been seven to survive the attack but one exploded on landing. Communications was down, he was unable to tell the station his position. With luck, the special forces units at the Manufacturing plant had radios and some medical aid.

It was a small hike up the road to the main gate. It was there that he found a detachment of EOM Special forces troops waiting for him.

“Halt and identify yourself.” The Special troops were armed and did not appear to be welcoming.

“I am Captain Gary Ridgeway of the ESS special branch. Sector Governor Norton placed me in command of all local forces. This planet is in rebellion, in case you had not heard, we were attacked by Militia fighters and had to land.”

“We need to see some authorization please.” Not very trusting these troops.

Slowly reaching into his tunic with two fingers Ridgeway pulled out a small packet of written orders and handed them to the speaker.

The Special forces Sergeant carefully read the orders and signaled his men to stand down. “Just following procedure Captain. I hope you understand.”

Ridgeway nodded to him and took back his orders. He filled in the Sergeant as they opened the gate and entered the facility.

“I’m sorry Captain. Our communications are down just like yours. I think only official Navy orders are getting through.”

Shaking his head the was about to say something when the sonic boom of a star fighter echoed across the valley. The echo was followed by a very loud explosion.

One of Captain Ridgeways ESS troops ran up to the group. “Sir, those fighters just took out the troopships. All thats left of them is bits and pieces.”

“That’s it then. We are stuck here. Sergeant tell your men to start digging in. I suspect that we have not seen the last of the Militia today.”

Sergeant Yannos was loving this. The area was nothing but rocks, hill, dark woods, and treacherous ravines. Basically fantasy land for Special Forces to play in. All they needed now was a few snakes and everything would be right with the world. When the war ended he and his unit had been cut loose. No place for spec-ops in the ‘New’ military they had been told. Too many years of working together had made all of them a close knit family. They took their discharge credits and by pooling it had enough to buy a small island out on the Lost Archipelago. The ocean currents and razor sharp reefs cut down on the number of visitors out there. It was nice and peaceful. A chance to put the uniform on and fight? Hell yeah! Now he and his group were creeping through the forest with evil intent. Awesomeness!

Yannoss radio clicked twice. He froze. Up ahead was the outer perimeter of the manufacturing plant. His scouts had located some defensive or other point of interest. When the Colonel had suggested this mission Yannos had jumped at the chance. This was the proving ground that would get him and his group back in the war. He was not too old to fight. Signaling his group to get under cover, he slowly worked his way to his scouts position. The scout was perched in a tree overlooking the compound. She saw her sergeant and waved him over.

“Boy these guys are dumb. They have their defense all wrong. I wish we had run into these ‘special forces’ in the war we would have won that one. They have left the rear almost undefended I guess they think that being next to a cliff they are safe from the rear. There is one lone sentry up on that tower,” She pointed to a water tower. “He’s not even really looking around. It looks to me like he’s reading or playing a vid.”

Chuckling evilly to himself he thought “this should be fun.” Those troops down there have no frakking idea what was about to hit them.

___

It had taken some coordination but Captain Ridgeway had finally gotten the defenses the way that both he and the Special forces wanted it. The only way they could be attacked was from the front. The ‘base’ already had anti-terrorism defensive measures like explosive barriers and blast shielding. His men had dug in some machine gun nests and put snipers up at key locations. The rear of the base was a sheer cliff with impassable ravines on all sides. There was no possible way for troops or vehicles to attack from that direction. His biggest worry was a frontal attack or an air assault.

“Sir, our spotters on the road have detected a column of vehicles approaching. They should be within range of us in about an hour.” Thanking his troop the Captain went to the makeshift command center they had created. The map on the wall showed where the vehicles had been spotted. Thankfully the local militia only had small arms and fighter aircraft. Empire law forbid heavy weapons like artillery and tanks. He and his men should have no problems holding this spot until the station could send help.

It was the explosion that changed that idea. A very large BOOM came from inside the compound. Rushing outside the Captain witnessed his two anti-aircraft batteries blowing up scattering flaming debris and live ammo everywhere.

The Captain began yelling to his troops, “we are under attack! Get into position.” There must be advance troops out there that the spotters missed. His men came running out of the barracks and jumped into the defensive trenches they had dug. The trench on the left exploded into flame, several of his men staggered out of the inferno on fire. They tried to crawl to safety but the combination of diesel fuel and thermite melted their bodies as if they had been made of wax. Horrified by what had happened to his men he missed the fact that the fuel truck was out of position and close to the gate. When it blew, the gate was shredded and now burning fuel had turned his defenses into cinders. The rest of his men, too afraid to use the trenches were taking up position inside the barracks and other buildings.

High above the ESS troops, up on the water tower, sat Sergeant Yannos. His group had infiltrated the compound and taken up position. All it had taken was a few pounds of explosive to freak those boys out. What pussies! Training standards have definitely slipped.

Yannos silently watched Captain Ridgeway. He had special orders concerning that one. His boys had already dug the pit. One thing this forest had was lots of Demon ants. Those things could strip a large animal in a few hours. Should be fun to watch.

___

Turning Sergeant Yannos loose with his team had so far turned out to be a great decision. Colonel Lee’s spotters had confirmed that the smok they had sighted was coming from inside the manufacturing compound. Once they regained control of their world that was one thing that would change.They need to move the manufacturing centers for the colony closer to the cities. He understood the reasoning for having it where it was. No one wanted to repeat the mistakes that Earth had made during the terror war. Those thoughts aside, it made too good a base for anti-government forces.

The compound was now in sight. His tanks were taking up positon and the mortar teams were getting set. Using his scope, Colonel Lee could see that the external defenses were mostly destroyed. Smoke and ash was rising from inside the walls so something had taken place there. He would follow the plan. Yannos and his group was too great an asset to accidentally kill. Lee’s forces were the carrot. Yannos was the stick. Lee would let the special forces do their jobs.

Now that all eyes inside the compound were on Colonel Lee’s assualt force it was time for the dirty tricks to start. All of the enemies snipers had been replaced with Yannos’s troops. A snatch team was getting into position. When Lee’s attack started that was the signal. Let the games begin!

___

Where in the Hell did the Militia get tanks! His spotters said they were setting up mortar pits too. This rebellion must have been festering for a while. How could our intelligence operatives missed the importation of heavy weapons to this world? Captain Ridgeway made a promise to himself. If he got off this stupid Frakking planet he was going to kill those intel geeks. It was getting dark. Attacking at night with armored vehicles was always a bad idea so he could relax a little. The captain began his tour of the defenses. So far everything looked good. The troops were starting to get tired being on alert. Hopefully when it was dark he could stand some of them down so they could rest. He had just finished his tour when the first mortar shell landed in the courtyard.

The anti-personnel shell hit dead center in the courtyard spraying shrapnel in every direction. Captain Ridgeway hurried to the command center. It was the most protected area and could withstand a direct hit. Several troops were already inside. A corpsmen was working on one man’s leg. Looking at the sheltering troops he yelled at them “get back out there! You can’t fight the enemy if you can’t see them.”

The troops all looked up at him and at that moment he realized that he had been tricked. He had personally selected every person under his command and had never seen any of these people before! He was grabbed from behind as he tried to pull is revolver a hand covered his mouth and a knife was at his throat.

“Not so fast sweetie the fun hasn’t started yet!” The man whispering into his ear was an older man, stocky with black hair and sharp features. “We have a party that you are late for. You really don’t want to miss it do you?” At his silence the older man continued “now be quiet and you get to live a bit longer. There are a couple of important people that wish to meet you.” A leather band was placed over his mouth and a gun thrust into his back.

“Lets go and no funny stuff understand?” Captain Ridgeway nodded his understanding. Maybe he could be a witness against the Governor, that might sway any off world courts. It had to be off world influences. Where else did these troops and the armor come from?

The Captain was led out into the courtyard and past his defenses. Mortar shells were still screaming in but were now only smoke shells. Firing from ‘his’ sniper positions enemy troops were killing his men from behind. He was tied up and carried down a rope ladder into the ravine and into the woods.

___

Now that the battle was over Major Lee, the Colonels daughter, joined her father investigating the ESS remains. Father and daughter made their way to the former command center. Here Militia intelligence was picking through documents and interviewing the very few survivors. At least they would have someone to try in the courts.

“Minerva dear, would you like to have dinner with me? It is Army rations but not the really nasty ones.” He looked at his daughter.

“Of course father that would be nice.” She had noticed a change in him.

“I have a bit of a show planned for after so we should be entertained.”

Min was not sure what he meant by that but decided to play along. He lead her out into the forest. Several sentries greeted them along the way. They were all members of that Special operations group that had joined them. Up ahead a clearing could be seen. At the center of the clearing was a man suspended over a pit. On either side of the pit was a very large Demon Ant nest. The man was struggling and trying to cry out through the gag in his mouth. Closer examination showed him to be an ESS Captain still in his uniform. She turned to her father.

“Is that their commander?” Her father only smiled.

“Thank you father. You do us proud. There is going to be a show with dinner.”

The Echoing screams could be heard for miles.

Chapter 9

Now that his personal business was taken care of it was time to plan. The space port needed to be taken before they assaulted the space station. The defending force was heavier than it was here. They ‘still had eyes in the sky’ and apparent communications.

The Militia had three really old space capable assault ships. They were pre-war and one had been in a museum. His engineers swore that they still functioned, the problem was that without the proper IFF the station could just shoot them down. There were three EOM ships stationed there too. What was their position on this fight? Were they working with the Governor against the planet or would they support arresting him and breaking away? He really did not believe that his daughter would hate him that much to destroy everything that her family stood for. This so frustrating!

Colonel Lee decided to put his son Han in charge of this operation. On this planet a Lee had to lead. His daughter would plan the station assault. Maybe it was time for the young to show their worth. He would sit back and supervise from the command center.

Major ‘Han’ Lee was ready this was his first real chance to show both his father and command that he was a leader. Working closely with Sergeant Yannos and his group, Han had decided to infiltrate the space port. He instructed the Special operations team to deactivate the defensive turrets if possible. Their main mission was to cause havoc and keep the occupiers busy while he and his armored units attacked from the front. All Han could imagine was a statue dedicated to him in front of the space port. Victory would be his.

“That idiot is going to get himself and us killed!” Sergeant Yannos liked working with Colonel Lee. Even his daughter was good people. The son however, he shook his head. Glory hounds, why can we never escape those idiots! He called his unit together and gave them their orders.

“OK you apes,” he paused smiling, “and you ape’etts.” The female troops smiled and laughed at him. “Here is what we are going to do. Try and I mean try, to shut down those turrets. No suicide charges! Do what you can. If you are able to shut down all the power, do it. When our commanders attack begins, support it if you are able to. I want support from the rear, not the front! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!” He was yelling now. “ I want us all to survive this. Remember we still have a space station to take. Think of the trouble we can cause up there? OK, dismissed.” He bowed his head and said a short prayer to Ares, God of war to watch over his friends in the battle to come.

___

Hindsight is as they say, 20 -20. Putting a glory seeking officer in charge of a pivotal battle was an exercise in futility. His son Han lost 3 tanks and two of the APC’s. Did he really think that a frontal assault against fortified positions would work? I guess it does take a village. One bright light in all of this was Yannos. His special operations team managed to kill power to the entire complex. At least now Minerva can schedule some flyovers and not worry about getting shot down. Colonel Lee was now on his way to relieve his son of duty for cause. As punishment he was going to let him write the condolence letters to the widows and orphans he just created.

Han did not go quietly or even without tears. So much for his big strong son. He was a whiny little bitch! In a move that would cost him later, Colonel Lee sent his son to the rear and took over the attack personally. He sent Yannos and his team to spot and snipe when opportunity arose. His mortar crews would soften up the dug in defenses. Ground units would initially attack supported by the armor. The Colonel gathered his commanders and laid out the plan. The looks upon their faces was one of relief and support. They were happy to support a professional. The attack went off without any problems. All that was left was the cleanup. With the power disabled the enemy forgot to destroy the communications center. Now the Militia could talk to the ships in orbit, but would they be listening?

___

Governor Norton was getting very angry. He had already thrown the desk set his wife had given him and the vid screen on the wall. Those damned rebels had taken over the space port and the manufacturing center. All of his links to the planet were now cut. If he could get control of the ships he could start some retaliatory kinetic strikes. He would show those rebels just who the boss really was.

Hearing a knocking at the door the governor yelled for his aide. “Cole, get the door. COLE! GET THE DAMN DOOR!” The little man scurried out of his closet-like office and hurriedly opened the governor’s door.

A stressed out looking minor official stood at the door. In his hands was a blue file. The blue files were Top Secret files created by Naval Intelligence. The man at the door thrust the file at Cole and hurried from the offices, his job done. Cole opened the file and read the summary on the top page. His eyes got really big and his jaw dropped open. This, this is what the Governor was looking for! This could save both his job and his life!

“Sir, Sir, look what I have found. It’s the solution to our problem. A daughter, Colonel Lee has a daughter here on the station.”

Looking at his aide like he was crazy the Governor said “your wife is on board the station? If she is why have NOT brought here in you idiot. We can use her as leverage against the rebels.”

“Sir, not her. Her sister, the younger sister Athena. She’s a navy officer stationed on the James Cook thats one of the ships in dry dock. We can use her against the Lee family. She’s perfect sir. She is the one that was lost for all those years!”

“Maybe you aren’t an idiot after all. Get out man on that ship to take custody of her and get her to station security as soon as possible.” The Governor rubbed his hands together. Now they were making progress. With a little leverage and a few rocks he could change the world.

___

Chief Engineer Hadley was not in a good mood. He had taken this posting because he was promised the full control afforded that of a Chief Engineer. The little extra on the side from the sector government had helped too. Now he was being blocked on every front. Captain Gorshin had overridden his order to bring the ship back to specs. Regulations were regulations, a captain was not supposed to make those kinds of decisions. Especially on the ‘advice’ of a Lieutenant. A cross-navy one at that.

Lieutenant Lee, that little Bitch, was a pain in his ass all the way around. Every order he gave, every decision he made, the crew second guessed and turned to her. Like she had 25 years in this mans Navy! Beep. Looking down at his console he saw a communication from the Governors office. In his mail account a short message explained his orders. He was to use the official orders to get Lieutenant Lee off the ship. Once on the station she was to be handed over to the ESS as a traitor to the Empire.

Her family was leading the rebellion down on the planet! Holy Crap! She was a traitor! What a way to get both revenge and justice for a trumped up know-it-all. Hadley sent a message for Athena to meet him in Engineering.

___

I was working on the new bulkhead project strengthening the walls surrounding the bridge. Only about 15% of the work was left to do. With the communication center torn open it only made sense to get the bulkheads ready while the crews were here together. My link signaled a message form Chief Hadley. Checking it I acknowledged the order and replied that I was on my way.

Commander Hadley was waiting for me in Engineering. He asked me to follow him.

“Sir, may I ask where we are going?”

“No Lieutenant you may not ask! Do not question my orders! Or the orders of others. When someone of authority gives you an order you follow it. You will do as you are told. Now, follow me please and be silent!”

This really worried me I knew that this officer was an ass-hat. By the gods, I really have been listening to Wilson for way too long. What orders was he talking about? Sub vocalizing I whispered to Wilson. “Wilson? Are you in there?”

“Yes Athena. I hear you.”

“Can you check into what orders he is talking about? Did the Captain send word because I was just on the bridge.”

“What are you mumbling about Lee? I thought I told you to be silent! Now shut your trap or find yourself on report!” Chief Hadley had acquired a spring to his step. What was the deal here? He sounded almost excited about something.

“Athena! Hadley received orders from the Governors office to place you under arrest for treason. He is to hand you off to ESS agents as soon as possible.”

Damn it! Is every Governor in the galaxy out to get me? “Wilson contact the Captain, let him know what is about to happen.”

I had to stall. Pretending to stumble I stopped and retied one of my shoes. The Commander stopped too and glared at me. “Hurry up, lieutenant!”

One more hatch and we would be at the entrance. Would the marine guards stop him if he has official orders?

___

Captain Gorshin was in his ready room working when his vid screen lit up in front of him. The video was of his new Chief of Engineering ordering Athena to follow him and then berating her. Reprimanding junior officers was not a bad thing. When his Chief mentioned orders the Captain sat up a little straighter. The screen changed and a set of orders from the Governors office addressed to Chief Hadley appeared. Since when do orders from the Governor go to the Chief Engineer first and not the captain. “Wilson is that you?” The screen blinked. Where are they now? The vid was back but this time showing a corridor very close to the entrance. Crap! The Captain mashed a button on his console.

“Battle Stations. Battle Stations. All hands to Battle Stations.

With battle stations echoing throughout the ship the crew was scrambling out of their bunks and work areas. Commander Wang burst into the Ready Room followed by the security detail. “Captain, is everything alright?” The security detail, heads swiveling, had guns at the ready.

The Captain pointed at the vid screen. “Hadley is going to turn Lieutenant Lee over to the ESS. We have to stop him.” The screen showed the commander and the lieutenant at the hatch to the personnel ramp. Switching to exterior cameras, the screen now showed several platoons of black clad ESS troops surrounding the space dock area and the personnel ramp of the ship.

“Tell our marines that I want them armored and at the hatch ASAP full weapon load out!”

The captain and his security escort ran to stop the commander.

___

The ship was still at Battle Stations when Commander Hadley and Lieutenant Lee reached the personnel ramp. Because of the alert the room had extra guard on the door and behind the defensive point in the room. The OOD Ensign Darville saw the two officers enter the the room. The ship was at Battle Stations. All personnel were supposed to be at stations. Checking his sidearm he approached the commander.

“Excuse me Commander but this area is closed due to Battle Stations. You and the lieutenant will have to return to your stations.”

Commander Hadley vented his rage on the Ensign. “Ensign, how dare you tell a Superior officer where he may go! I will put you on report for that! Now open the outer door the lieutenant and I have business on the station.”

“Sir, only the Captain may give those orders. While the ship is at Battle stations the door will remain sealed.” Ensign Darville tried to keep a stern face.

The now furious Commander thrust hard copy printouts of the ‘secret’ order that he had been given by the Governor at the ensign. “This is my order. It is signed by the sector governor himself. I am to take Lieutenant Lee through that door and give her over to the ESS troops! Now open that door!”

Turning to me the Ensign asked if I knew why I was being sent to the station. I immediately objected to the Commanders orders and said that he was forcing me to go under orders.

Red faced the Commander whirled around and struck me across the face. “How dare you question my orders! I am a superior officer you WILL obey me! I have official orders given to me personally by the Sector Governor placing you under arrest and turning you over to the ESS! The Governor trust me to…” He didn’t get to finish.

The forward hatch opened and two full squads of armed and armored marines marched through followed by Captain Gorshin. “Go ahead and finish your statement Commander Hadley. I’d like to know how the Chief Engineer gets orders from, what did you say ‘the Governor himself’ to arrest an officer without telling either security or the Captain of the ship? Just how is that Commander?” He motioned to the marines.”Take the commander into custody please.”

“Captain, you can’t do this I have official orders from Governor Norton. His orders supersede yours! You have to release me and turn the traitor over to the ESS. Her family are rebels they killed Empire troops. Look at the orders!”

“I have already seen those illegal orders commander. Place him in lock-up please.” Captain Gorshin looked over at me. “Athena, are you alright?”

“I’m fine Captain. I think that he was working for the Governor.”

“He was lieutenant. We have bigger problems. There is several platoons of ESS troops waiting outside the ship for him and presumably you. Is it possible for us to unhook the ship and get out in one piece and can we do it from inside the ship?”

Walking over to the OOD desk I logged into the system and sat down. I pulled up schematics of the docking system from the engineering database. The circuitry involved was not THAT complicated except that accessing it was. The Captain had followed me and was looking over my shoulder.

“Excuse my lieutenant, but how are you doing that? Those look like the Station plans.”

Absently I answered the Captain. “Yes sir, every engineering database contains records and information of places and ships it encounters. Everything updates automatically. It really helps when you have to fix something unfamiliar.”

“I had no idea that that kind of information was all in there. Does it have everything?”

“No sire not everything. Just anything that we might encounter. It helps if we are called in to repair something. As Engineers we really hate going in blind and not knowing something.”

“Sir, I think we can do part of this. The clamps holding us in place we can disconnect from here. I will have to have the assistance of a ‘friend’ of mine. The outer doors are a problem. That system is manual according to the plans. It is not tied into the system. This says that it is a security measure. We can lift off but we can’t get out.”

The Captain thought about it for awhile. Giving me a smile he asked “how thick is the outer door. Could our torpedoes blow through it?”

Checking the plans I looked at the Captain.”I think that we can do it but its going to be messy. It will take at least 2 salvos to penetrate. We need to fire first before unhooking or the shrapnel will cut us to pieces. Sir if we do this it is mutiny.”

“I like to think of it more like revolutionary lieutenant. Get with your friend. Be ready to cut us loose. Is the communication console ‘repaired’?”

“Yes sir my people put it back together this morning. I will have Wilson stand by.Thank you sir.”

“Don’t thank me yet, we still have to get out.” The Captain turned and hurried back to the bridge.

My girlfriend Dar was in one of the armored marine suits. She came over and asked if I was OK. Wilson had sent her a message that I needed help. She had been suiting up when the Captain called her and sent her to the ramp area.

On the overhead speaker a tone sounded. “This is the Captain speaking. As you may or may not know there was an incident on the planet 24 hours ago. Peaceful protesters marching to change the tax rate they were being charged were gunned down by the ESS. Tens of thousand of innocent people were murdered on the orders of the Sector Governor. The planet-side Colonial Militia attacked the ESS troops and destroyed or captured them. They then captured all Empire facilities on the planet. The Sector Governor has since locked down the system. No communications with anyone other than Official Navy orders. “ The Captain paused to catch his breath.

“A few short minutes ago Commander Hadley, our new Chief Engineer, received orders from the Governor to turn Lieutenant Lee over to the ESS for arrest and interrogation. The Commander is now under arrest for his actions. Outside this ship are dozens of ESS troops with orders to capture the Lieutenant because of her families involvement with the Militia. This ship had received orders from the Governor to turn the lieutenant over. I have chosen not to do this. As your Captain I take full responsibility for anything that I may order you to do. In the eyes of the law what I am about to do is mutiny. If you do not wish to participate or would like to leave the ship you may. However it will be after we escape the Station. You will be allowed to eject via the life pods or use one of the shuttles. Please choose wisely.”

I looked at Dar. “Staying with me or leaving?”

She looked me in the eyes and said “where you go? I go.”

Time to get to work.

___

Asking Wilson to hack a system is like a child if he wants a candy bar. According to Wilson the dry dock system engineers should be fired. They were using something called STS-1 to secure the system, he said that Ranger 3 was better and longer lasting. I just shook my head and told him to stop making crazy comments that didn’t make a lot of sense. Wilson gave the go ahead that he had unlocked the clamps holding us in. We were free to engage the engines and get out of here.

Up on the bridge the Captain gave the order and Lieutenant Hudson fired a small spread of torpedoes at the hanger doors. The explosion was a bit more dramatic in here than it was in space. There was a series of bright flashes and the interior of the dock area was sprayed with bulkhead fragments. Many of the ESS troops were hit and killed by shrapnel. When the ships engines turned on and began to warm up the black clad ESS troops began scurrying about like ants. Apparently some had been on top of the ship trying to get through an external hatch. If we had been outside the ship we would have witnessed a vacuum effect as the internal atmosphere was sucked out of the station. Red warning lights began to flash and pressure doors all over the station slammed shut. Our torpedoes had penetrated but not enough.

A second volley of torpedoes was fired. Half went off course and impacted on the area around the doors. The other half punched through tearing the doors off. Like a mighty wind everything not nailed down in the hangar bay was sucked out into space. Carts, desks, chairs, tools, and ESS agents. Everything.

With the dry dock hangar now in vacuum the ship lifted off and very carefully ‘threaded the needle’ as Commander Freeman the navigator like to say. The James Cook was now free of the station. Almost immediately our communications lines lit up with messages. The station was unable to jam us out in space.

The planet was calling and they were pissed!

Chapter 10

The James Cook had taken up a stationary orbit out of range of Legation Station. When we had forced our way our of the dry dock hangar the stations point defense had begun to fire on the ship. The quick thinking Commander Freeman had engaged full thrusters and had powered the ship out of range. We had very minor damage easily repaired by my team. Now that we were clear of the station came the real challenge. The ship’s captain had disobeyed a direct order from his superior officer and had committed mutiny.

Captain Gorshin stood by his offer of amnesty. Any crew member that wished to leave was allowed to. In all we were losing about half the crew. Our marine force was staying, all of them. Of the officers only Commander Dunne, our intelligence officer, and all but one of the ensigns chose to leave.

We had intended to send the departing crew to the station but it was shooting first not bothering to ask questions later. The crewman were shuttling down to the planet. After a long and much needed conversation with the planetary Governor it had been decided that the crew would be interned along with other captured Navy personnel. Maybe one day we can send them home.

My father and sister came up when the shuttle returned. We had to plan our attack on the Station soon, we could not risk the Governor getting reinforcements.

____

I was studying the station plans when my sister and father entered the room. Captain Gorshin had called this meeting to come up with a unified plan to take over the Station. Destroying it would be pretty easy for us to do. Economically it would hurt the planet. To say nothing what 10 million tons of falling metal and burning debris would do. A plan needed to be put together pretty fast.

Min came over to me and gave me a big hug. She looked me in the eyes and asked if I was all right. Then she asked about Dar. I love my sister. My father stood at the edge of the room. I glanced in his direction. I turned and looked at him. “Are you still trying to ‘sell’ me off to the highest bidder?”

“Athena I am sorry, all I could think was family first.”

“I see how well that worked out. You were an idiot. Now fix it.”

Looking at my sister I said “where’s Han?”

My father coughed and looked away. I scowled and look at him. “What did you do to him? Did he finally show what an ass he is?” At his look I just shook my head. “Father, he has always been like that. Just ask David.” A tear came to my eye. “Sorry, just ask Min. You never wanted to see it because he was the ‘heir,’ the apple of your eye and he knew it too. What happened to make you take his toys away?”

Alexander Lee just stared at his daughter. When had his youngest child turned into this straight talking,and ass-kicking hellion? He shook himself and answered her question. “He charged into battle and got a lot of people killed. He attacked a fixed position with armor.”

I winced. Ouch. OK still an idiot.”Did you put him somewhere where he can’t get into trouble?”

Father deep in thought nodded and turned away.

Captain Gorshin came into the room, time to get the meeting started.

___

Lieutenant Klinger led the discussion. The lieutenant was the junior officer from the intelligence group on the James Cook. According to Klinger the station was primarily defended by the ESS troops. Many of the regular navy officers and crew had been put in non-combat roles by the governor. Meaning that if he didn’t own an officer he didn’t trust them. With communications unable to penetrate into the station because of jamming we could not get any new information.

From looking at Klingers information we knew where the communication and satellite control rooms were. If we did not secure those rooms the governor could request Empire assistance. Short of taking the ship and running we had to attack the station to regain control.

I told the Captain that Wilson could take care of point defense and any computer controlled weaponry. ESS would catch on and switch over to manual control. So we had to be fast. We had four older shuttles to use in our attack. We would land assault teams on the station with intent to cause as much trouble as possible. A smaller team would capture the comm center and secure the power room. The computer room was a secondary target. If we cut power to the station we would be able to take control. It was back to the four basic needs: water, power, shelter, and air. Take away as many as you can and they would surrender.

Making up the strike teams were Dar’s marines and Sergeant Yannos’s Special operations team. Each team has a three person technical team to help with access. Four teams total for the attack. Min’s fighter squadron, backed up by the Black Sheep, were to fly cover and keep the stations fighter component off of us. Two teams were going in at the top of the station. There were emergency access tubes on the top above some of the observation areas. The tubes were used by engineering teams to repair sensors and other external devices damaged by micrometeorites. We believed that the Governor’s men were not aware of the tubes.

The remaining two teams were attacking the lower portions of the station. My team was going to hit the power station. The other was going to try for the communication switching station at the stations core.

For ‘my’ team I had Sergeant Yannos and Dar’s best squad. It wasn’t really my team, it was Yannos’s team. I was going as one of the techs.

___

The blast of weapons fire and the station shaking due to explosions woke Governor Norton from a sound sleep. The Governor had indulged the previous evening with a young woman who was not his wife. Blurry eyed and stumbling, he started yelling. “Cole! COLE! What in the hell is happening? COLE!”

His personal aide came running into the room. Confronted by his boss wearing lingerie and weaving, he turned away, right into a half naked woman. Cole promptly turned to face the wall. “Sir, What is the matter?“

“What is going on? What were those explosions?” The governor sat on the bed and threw on a robe. “Turn around and look at me! I don’t like looking at the back of your head.”

Cole turned to see his boss and sighed in relief. Privately he thought that the governor was scary enough with his clothing on. “Sir, we attempted to arrest the Militia leaders daughter on the James Cook this morning. The ship broke out of the dry dock area and escaped.”

“What! You let her escape? Damn it Cole we needed her. We need some kind of leverage on those hicks! Why didn’t you tell me you failed?” The Governors ranting brought a slight squeal from the escort in the lavatory. “Cole. Pay her off and get rid of her.”

“Governor, you left strict instructions NOT to disturb you. Especially when you are having ‘play time.’ The last time I bothered you I didn’t get paid for a week!”

“That doesn’t matter, Damn it! You should have woken me!” From behind the lavatory door sounds of water running could be heard. “Damn it Cole, what did I say? Take care of her and get back here. I haven’t finished yelling at you yet.”

Grumbling under his breath Cole knocked on the lavatory and door and spoke with the escort. She exited the room several hundred credits richer.

Thinking hard Cole needed to find something to say that would allow him to keep his job with the Governor.

“Sir, we still have possession of the Laffey. That is the Destroyer with the broken drive. The only other ship in the sector is the Paney. That ship is still out on patrol. The XO is on our payroll and is ready to take over anytime that we want the ship.”

Mollified by the new information the Governor forgot about yelling at Cole. He turned and stared down at the little man. “How damaged it that cruiser that escaped? Did our people hurt it?”

“Our engineers say that the damage was only superficial to the hull. The cruiser is holding position relative to us but out of weapons range of the station.”

His anger back the Governor glowered at his aide. “Damn it Cole you need to do better than that! Get with those tech geeks and figure something out. That director over there, Kip something, he is on our payroll right?” At Cole’s nod the Governor continued. “Bring him over here and work something out. He’s a genius he should know how to stop one little ship.”

Cole left the Governors room and called the ESS security team. They needed to take a short trip over to the scientific station and bring back a scientist.

___

Kip Wilson was working late. The project notes that his small group of scientists had put together were lengthy. It was highly unusual for a navy lieutenant to have a hand in changing navy policies. This Lieutenant Lee had definitely thrown a sprocket into the works in that regard. He really didn’t care about what the navy felt. Kip considered himself just a ‘cog’ in the machine. Director of the Navy Brad Johnson had sent him a memo asking for details of the new revolutionary designs. Maybe if he sent him all of these notes he would stop asking. Kip looked up from his work when the door to his office chimed. Thinking it was his aide he said “enter.”

Two large black clad ESS agents entered his office. “Dr. Wilson you need to come with us.”

“What? How did you get in here? I’m not going anywhere. Get out of my office!” Kip pointed at the door and glared at the agents. He had a lot of work to do and they were interrupting.

The agents smiled and said “I guess its the hard way then.” The larger of the two agents grabbed for Kip as the scientist ducked under his desk. The other agent kicked the desk over to one side and pulled a short barreled weapon from his belt. Kip seeing this scrambled on all fours trying to escape. He jerked back in pain as 350,000 volts arced through his body. The shock of the stun weapon stopped his heart and he slumped to the floor.

The larger of the two agents looked at the scientist’s body and then back at his companion. “Oops? I think the governor is going to kill us.”

His companion looked back and said “I think you are right about that.”

___

It was third shift on the station when we started our attack. Min and her squadrons buzzed the station shooting at targets of opportunity such as sensors and communication nodes. Her task was to draw off the fighters and keep the station distracted. The James Cook drew closer just inside the stations attack envelope. Captain Gorshin began peppering the station with laser fire. The four shuttle craft had taken us out toward deep space then looped around to come at the station space ward. Hopefully those watching for such a move were concentrating on the fighters and cruiser attack.

We could see on the sensors that there was a huge fight around the station planet side. Min’s fighters were being attacked by what looked like two full squadrons of mixed spacecraft. According to Wilson, the attackers were a mercenary company. Not the navy squadrons that we were expecting. Not that I was complaining, but where are the full squadron of Navy fighters?

“Everyone hold on back there this is going to get a little rough!” The shuttle pilot saw on his readout that we had been detected. The co-pilot fired counter measures and held on as the pilot maxed out the speed. The shuttle jinked left and then a hard right trying to lose the torpedo that was after us. Skimming the surface of the station our pilot whipped the ship around a gun battery, the pursuing torpedo hit the battery destroying it in a flash of light. The shuttle that had been with us carrying the third attack squad had not been as lucky. The torpedo salvo that we avoided, hit them full on destroying the ship with all hands. Our pilot reversed his course. He stayed as close to the station as possible, until we reached the reactor ventilation tubes.

The ventilation tubes were only used in case of a reactor scram. The tubes were kept open to space to prevent accidents. If the reactor had to vent, for any reason, and the vents were not open it would cause an explosion that would destroy the station. The tubes, like most things in engineering, needed to be inspected and maintained on a monthly basis. What most non-engineering people did not know was that there were controls on the inside of the vent to allow a trapped crew member access to engineering. The codes to get in were universal to engineers. Knowing was half the battle.

In single file with me at the head we crawled up the ventilation tubes. We used our anti-grav units to get halfway into the tubes. At that point was a build in ladder. The access port controls were built into the side of the hatch. I entered the universal code 8675309 and the access hatch opened to a very quiet engineering. It was too quiet as we carefully climbed out of the tube.

___

Sergeant Yannos was starting to like this navy wonk. She had gotten them inside the station without having to fight their way in. He had no idea that there were “universal codes’ that worked on ships and space stations. When all this was over he needed to get with this Lieutenant Lee and pick her brain. Creeping around the consoles trying to stay hidden Yannos could hear voices coming from the offices to the right. A navy chief and a couple of crewmen were locked in one of the offices. Standing outside the door were two bored looking ESS troops armed with submachine guns.

Yannos signaled his small team he pointed to his eyes, then pointed to the direction of the ESS and signed two. Using silenced weapons they shot and killed the two guards. With weapons raised they unlocked the office door. The three navy personnel raised their hands as if to surrender. Lieutenant Lee peaked around the corner spotting the crewmen. She looked at the chief and said “ report!” The Navy personnel looked relieved to see a Navy officer.

“Ma’am, Chief Cledus Snow and a party of two reporting.”

“At ease Chief Snow. Why do the ESS have you locked in here?”

“Ma’am, when the James Cook blasted its way out of the dry dock the ESS started interrogations of everyone in engineering. The computers had been overridden and they were trying to find who did it. Commander Justice died under interrogation. After that none of us agreed to cooperate. Only a few were helping the ESS. Those few are traitors who were being ‘Paid’ to help. They locked up the rest of us. They only let us out if we need to fix something. Hey, how did you get in here anyway?” The lieutenant just smiled.

Thinking for a moment the chief remarked “you used the Vent tubes? Cool!”

Yannos just shook his head. Was there anyone else besides him that didn’t know about the hidden stuff. He needs to keep an eye on this engineer.

___

With the flip of a switch the station went dark. Emergency power kicked on in vital areas such as hydroponics, medical, and the emergency shelters. Everywhere else was on battery power. Because of the on-going battle the batteries were draining fast. Before Yannos’s team had left Engineering they had removed vital parts of the control equipment. Only a trained engineer would be able to spot what had been removed. It is a good thing we had one of those with us. The navy pukes we gave a choice, escape of stay with us. Only the Chief stayed. The two crewmen went back down the tubes to the waiting shuttles. Assuming that ESS troops would be rushing to engineering, we used the access tubes and worked our way to the communications room. Hopefully the other teams were faring as well as we were.

___

Dar was beyond pissed. Getting through the topside repair hatches was really easy with the code that Athena had given her. The problem had been the observation lounge and “Mile High Club” that was in it. It seems that during the attack all the Station big wigs were having a party in the club. Including the Governor with his full security force.

BA- BOOM!

Splinters rained down all over Dar and her team as a grenade exploded against the bar they were hiding behind. Flames licked up a nearby wall spreading to the finery around the doorways. The Governor and his protection were pinned down in one of the ‘fun’ rooms. Her team’s original mission was to disrupt communications and just ‘raise hell’ as Yannos put it. Capturing the Governor would be the icing on the cake. Team one had originally been tasked with grabbing the governor but had been killed while entering the station.

Dar signaled her team and everyone threw stun grenades at the guards. The concussion of the resulting explosion threw several of the defenders against the walls. Everyone else was knocked out cold. She and her team carefully approached the pile of guards and began tying them up. Dar found the Governor huddling in the closet with two naked ‘party’ girls. Her team grabbed the governor putting a hood over his head and tying his hands. Success. Dar decided to backtrack and take Norton back to the shuttles. They had created enough mayhem for now.

Chapter 11

With the loss of the Governor the ESS troops became desperate. The station was growing dark as battery backups ran out. The only engineering team that they had brought with them had been with Captain Ridgeways team on the planet. No one knew how to repair the generators and the Navy prisoners were not volunteering to help. With life support at 15% the ESS commanders sent a signal to the rebel ships. Colonel Alexander Lee on board the James Cook took their surrender.

Once the generators were repaired and power was restored Colonel Lee and Captain Gorshin formally received the surrender of the ESS troops. Lights and power made all the difference. The now former Sector Governor Norton was not present at the ceremony. The Governor and his aide were bound hand and foot in the deepest, darkest cell block that Colonel Lee could find. They were guarded day and night and allowed no visitors.

The Navy personnel had been released. To their dismay they discovered that their rescuers were mutineers. Officially they should have arrested, or tried to arrest the officers of the James Cook. A station filled with angry militia nipped that right in the bud. The navy was officially asked to leave by the Hong Kong Government. Governor Roy Stoner and the Planetary Government had voted to break the charter that tied them to the Empire. Legation Station was now theirs as a prize of war. Until transport could be found the Navy crew would be interned on the planet.

Back on the planet there were celebrations in all of the larger cities. With the demise of the Sector Governor life on the planet could return to normal. Many citizens wished to return the a simpler life such as that from before the war.

Sitting alone in the observation room of the mansion, former Major Han Lee watched the proceedings on the Vid player. His rise to glory and fame had been cruelly snatched from him by his father and sister. Unsure what the future would hold he sat staring at the newscaster and began to plot his revenge upon his ‘family.’

The colonial war was not over. The issue of the James Cook and the Mutineers still had to be dealt with.

___

Wandering the halls of the station I was making notes on what needed to be repaired and in what order. On the entertainment deck I found a public library. Hearing voices I walked through the double doors. The shelving on the walls only held a small amount of real paper books. Several vid consoles and tablet ports were in view. The voices were coming from one of the Vid stations. On the screen was playing a reading vid. Pre-space they were called audio books. Just as I reached down to switch it off I heard Wilson in my head.

“Don’t turn it off, I was listening to that.”

“Wilson? You are a computer program you can download the thing and just read it you know.”

“It’s more fun this way. It’s really cool its about a vampire and these werewolves that build a moon base using storage containers. It has aliens and this way cool AI like me in it”

“Don’t read that stuff! You are strange enough already. Those things will warp what little mind you have left. Aliens, really?”

“But Athena you should read it. It has engineers in it.”

“I doubt that fiction from the 21st century can teach me anything. Go ahead and download it. I will read it later.”

_____

Authors Note

I hope that you enjoyed this recent addition to the Athena Lee Chronicles look for more books in the coming months.

If vampires and werewolves in space are something that interests you check out Author Micheal Anderle’s books on Amazon.

Every week check out a new Free short story featuring Wilson. Check out my blog for Wilson Wednesdays.

Blog http://tspaul.blogspot.com/

My Amazon Author Page

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.

Cover designed by Michael T. Anderle

Digital Artwork by Scott Richards

Check out his Fantastic art at http://rich35211.deviantart.com/

Editing by Diane Velasquez. Dorene Johnson, and Heather Paul

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

I get lots of reviews. Some good, some not so good. For me this whole series has been a learning experience. I have excellent support in the ladies that do my editing and in my wife that makes sure I spell her name properly. Here are some my most memorable reviews.

Book 1 - The Forgotten Engineer

*just for information. The book was went through a rewrite and the page length went from 30 to 60

3.0 out of 5 stars3.5 very short space opera, with a few issues

ByGillyon March 22, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

This seems to mainly serve as an introduction to a series, and a rushed one at that. The concept is good, the humor worked for me, but there are problems. Editing is off all over the place: 1st and 3rd person viewpoints switch off all the time, paragraphs repeat, and other issues. The characters did not ring true: they were very one dimensional. Space travel and communications seem to have become quite quick, but no explanations. No science basically at all. Mainly the pace of trying to put 15 years into so few pages was awful. The author would do well to edit this book, combine it with the others in the series, and rework the concept and characters. I believe there could be a really good space opera here, but it is quite lacking for now.

4.0 out of 5 starsGreat story teller

ByScotton March 8, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition

This is a hard review to write. I really liked the authors writing and have read both this and the next book and am waiting for the next installment eagerly.

However I was really generous in calling it a book. Thirty one pages isn't a book. If I didn't have kindle unlimited I wouldn't have read it in the first place, even having read it and liking it I would never pay even 99 cents for a 31 page novelette much less the 2.99 price listed. This is more like a very very short serialized story.

To the author...
I think you have what it takes to tell a great story. Your story is very reminiscent of the Galaxy Unknown series by Thomas DePrima crossed with the Wandering Engineer series by Chris Hechtl both of whom are very successful to my mind indie authors in this genre. The difference is that they are writing 300 to 700 page books. Your first episode could easily have been fleshed out to books size of 200+ pages. Just treat the existing book as an outline. You have all these great stories that you didn't really tell other than to say it happened all through the main plot line. The same with the second book.

I have read the other reviews left and know that your getting others saying that it's good but needs to be fleshed out. Listen to us. We really want to read this story the way it could be. :)

5.0 out of 5 starsGreat read

ByDave Ron March 11, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition

I hope this very short book is just the start of a series. The author did a great job with the main character. The story is very short but gets everything a reader needs to know across to them.

5.0 out of 5 starsNice story

ByTendo Kayiiraon March 11, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition

It was a bit short, but good. It makes me want to read more of her adventures. I laughed at the naming of the military vessels.

Book 2 Engineering Murder

*this book also went through a rewrite but mainly for errors not content

4.0 out of 5 stars

MORE PLEASE.

ByS /F OLD READER 1962.on March 23, 2016

Outstanding story with an intriguing heroin. I can not give this series a Five Star rating until the story length becomes more "BOOK LIKE". But I am hooked on this series. The author's perspective of this series is outstanding. I will read the next book in this series but I'm disappointed with the low number of story pages with the price.

4.0 out of 5 stars"A lot of old-fashioned space opera action"

ByDorene Johnsonon March 6, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

I read the first story of this adventure and wanted to see how the author advanced his story line. Editing is still an issue. Genders of some of the main characters is still up for grabs. I do hope this gets worked out. For a really short read, there is a lot of old-fashioned space opera action. The MC is a bit loose but developing more in-depth character. It is nice to see a smart fem in the main role. She does not sit around waiting for someone to rescue her, but uses her "smarts" to save herself. I want the author to make the next book longer as most of the action is run too fast.

4.0 out of 5 starsGreat story, where's the rest of it!

ByScotton March 8, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition

This like the first episode is reminiscent of the Galaxy Unknown series by Thomas DePrima crossed with the Wandering Engineer series by Chris Hechtl both of whom are very successful to my mind indie authors in this genre. Again as I mentioned in my review of the first book I really liked what I read but its like a really good outline of a great story. I read it and will continue to read even at a thirty page length as long as it is under kindle unlimited. As much as I have enjoyed the two episodes so far, if I had to pay the listed 2.99 for thirty one to thirty four pages I would pass. Also though I enjoyed it I think it can be increadably better with all the little sub plots fleshed out into their own chapters. Each of the two books was worthy of being blown up to two or three hundred pages.

5.0 out of 5 starsLots of fun!!!!

ByJ. Hendrickson March 6, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition

This is a great story! Can't wait for the next one! The story flows better in this book than it did the first. And the action was really good too!

Gotta say I love all of the 20th century pop culture references! A ship named Wang Chung! Lol too many to name but it would make for a great scavenger hunt, how many pop culture references can you find? And can you find the one related to Star Wars????? Great job!!!

5.0 out of 5 starsShort and sweet

ByTendo Kayiiraon March 11, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition

Good book. Nice follow to the first. The spelling and grammar are still spotty, but the story is entertaining. Looking forward to more.

Book 3 Ghost ships of Terra

4.0 out of 5 starsBETTER.

ByS /F OLD READER 1962.on March 23, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

More please!! Outstanding story with lots of action and adventure. Still waiting for a longer book size, but this is better. A mysterious and intriguing adventure with pirates, government intervention and the Navy's help.

4.0 out of 5 starsEven better than book 2

ByJ. Hendrickson March 14, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition

This new indie author is just getting better and better with each book. Still some funny pop culture references. But what really impressed me was the length of the story. It is more than twice his first book! And the flow of the story and how it was written was really good, nice improvements.

The only part I didn't care for was the dating between two women. I'm sure others will like it, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

However, I am really excited to read the next book! The story is flowing really well.

Great new character named Sam, I hope he shows up more as his story is intriguing.

5.0 out of 5 starsBest new series I have read in decades!!!

ByN. Kingon April 1, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition

After reading The Forgotten Engineer I ' am hooked,and guaranteed you will be too.
So far the Series has three book I have enjoyed them all,and will follow this series to the end. Hopefully it will be a long series. The Author has developed a story line with endless possibilities.

5.0 out of 5 starsKeep on improving!

ByAmazon Customeron March 31, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition

Great novel. Hope the author has time to write the next ones quickly. Several novels are similar but the author's style and content lead to a great storyline.

And Finally the Chronicles of Athena Lee is a Trilogy made up of the previous books So far only 2 reviews for it

really?

By chris on March 21, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition

I had to take a break from reading this and I am currently typing this on my kindle. I normally don't down grade a book for poor editing, but as a compilation of the first three books this is just absurd. There is nearly a typo every page, (usually simple things like a instead of an) but it is enough to constantly pull me out of a perfectly fine book.

(nothing new but perfectly adequate for what I was looking for/expecting)

Lazy always bothers me more then inadequacy.

5.0 out of 5 starsMore, more, more

By Terry Keeling on March 31, 2016

Format: Kindle Edition

The characters were believable. The story line great, nice to see "engineer" as main character. It's a shame that people are the same as now days, greed rules! Thank you