Athena Lee Chronicles 7: The Martian Inheritance (16 page)

“OK folks we are about twenty minutes from the very edge of the inclusion zone. What that means is the stations will give a warning and then destroy anything that crosses that line. When we reach the zone we will fire off a drone so you can watch the expolsion.”

“Boss!”

“Johnny I’m working here! Can’t it wait?”

“No! It can’t! Listen..”

“Attention vessel you have entered a secure zone. You have exactly four minutes, thirty seconds to exit the secure zone. If you fail to do so you will be destroyed. Attention vessel you have entered a secure zone. You have exactly four minutes to exit…”

“Get us the hell out of here Johnny!”

Frank was enjoying letting someone else do the driving when the ship suddenly lurched to starboard suddenly. “Folks, hold on to something we have to get out of here as fast as we can. For some reason the inclusion zone has moved. It is now twenty minutes closer to Martian space than it was before.”

Frank left his seat as the ship lurched again. He ran up the steps to the observation deck. That deck was the highlight of this vessel. Windows lined the entire upper level guaranteeing an excellent view of Earth and the defense stations. Grabbing one of the telescopes Frank scanned the area of space behind them. There sat one of the Earth Defense Stations. It was two million miles closer than it had been before. And that was not all. Silhouetted in front of the sun was a ship, an impossible ship. He could see small craft flitting between it and the defense stations.

“Hey what are you doing up here? It’s too dangerous to be up here. Sir, you need to go back to your seat.” The owner of the tour ship tried to pull him down the stairs.

“Stop! You need to call the Navy out here, and you need to call them now.”

“Not for this. It must be a navigational error. Our pilot is new and …”

“Look!” Frank grabbed the telescope and forced the man to look through it. He too, saw the massive ship in orbit around the sun.

“But Earth is dead!”

“Who says Earth is dead?”

“Everyone. But, but I don’t understand.”

“Just notify the Navy. Let them worry about it. Are we out of the zone?”

“Yes, the broadcasts stopped.”

The Martian Navy was called and the pictures were shared. The Primus declared a temporary end to the tours and set up patrols around Mars. By the time the Navy ships reached the new inclusion zone point the mystery ship was gone. News of strange ships in Earth orbit flashed across the galaxy with lightning speed.

A courier ship arrived from Hong Kong space carrying orders for the James Cook. They were to do an officer exchange with the Martian Navy and cross train their forces. They were then to travel home and continue to train as many new officers as possible. No one knew what ships in Earth’s orbit meant but everyone remember the past wars.

Commander Lee was now the new Ambassador to Mars by order of General Lee and the Revolutionary council. She now had access to one of the most powerful women in the galaxy. They wanted her to take advantage of that. They really did not know her that well.

Billions of miles away on the Empire Capital planet a signal was acquired. The broadcast was on a never used frequency that very few of those living today even knew existed. Standing orders were to monitor and report daily. Generations of communications techs had sat monitoring a frequency that never worked. So when a signal finally
was
received, the Communications tech did not know what to do.

The never used unit sat alone on a special static, dust , and dirt free cabinet. Not one tech in living memory had ever seen the unit turn on, much less work. Communications tech Sam Don hated this shift and he hated that box. Who had a radio that no one ever used, that they monitored, 24/7 for a century? The Cabal that’s who. Tradition and power were the catch words around here. At least he got to take a nap. Once a week Sam sat here. And once a week he took a nap against orders. Who would know?

“Bzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzup…testing testing …testing …testing…testing…” A man’s voice is what woke Sam up. Who was speaking? He sat upright instantly and looked around the room. Nobody was here. He must have dreamed it. Putting his head back down he heard it again. ‘Testing..testing..the message will begin in five seconds.”

The voice was coming from the mystery box! What was he supposed to do? He did the only thing he could think of he grabbed his tablet and recorded the message. Doing so saved his life.

“Message begins … alpha… delta… epsilon… eta… lambda… alpha… eta… eta… eta… psi… tau…sigma…omega… omega… omega… epsilon. Message ends.” The mystery box went silent all the lights were now dark.

What to do? Sam broke protocol and left the room. He found his supervisor at his desk at the end of the hall. “Mr Don this action will put you on report and may terminate you employment and your life.”

“Sir, the box. The box!”

“What are you blathering about?”

“The mystery box. It spoke, it turned on and spoke a bunch of strange words then turned off.”

“Have you been drinking? That box as you call it is a very sensitive instrument. It never talks.”

“I recorded it, sir. Here listen to the recording.”

The supervisor listened to the recording his eyes growing big. “This needs to be reported. Go back to the room and listen for more. Take a recording device from my desk if you have to.”

He took the tablet and went straight to the Wardens of the Gate. Sam may not remember his protocol but the supervisor did. Painfully so. Entering the access room the supervisor punched in his access code and waited. A loud voice came over the speakers. “Report!”

“Sir. The communication tech assigned to room 0001 received a message. Forgetting protocol he recorded it on his personal tablet.”

There was silence from the speaker. Time seemed to stand still and then the voice returned. “Exit the room a Warden will meet you outside. Give the recording to him.”

“As you say, Sir.” The supervisor stepped out of the access room. A large warden in a hooded robe stood in the entranceway. With his hands shaking the man handed the tablet over. The hooded being accepted the tablet and left the room.

Deep in the bowels of the Cabals lair a meeting was happening. The destruction of the Mars base and the revelation that the Beckett-Crowne league was a front was only just now echoing through the halls of power. The Inner Circle of the Cabal was in session. These twelve men and women represented the might and power of the Cabal. The leader paused his tirade against the Martian governments actions when a Warden stepped to his side. “Yes?”

“Sir, a message from room one has been received.”

“What is it?” The Warden presented Sam’s tablet.

Activating the message the leader listened carefully. “Good. See that Sam Don is rewarded. We need forward thinkers who are prepared in the organization.”

The leader of the Inner Circle removed his hooded cloak. “My friends it is time. Room one has sent forth a message and we have received it. We need to cease this constant struggling and fighting. We must prepare and marshal our forces. A great change is coming. A force that will shape the galaxy. A crusade that will sweep all before It and leave us as the victors.”

“Sir, what was the message?”

“Johan 009, the message was one of change and renewal.”

“Sir, you did not answer Johan’s question.”

“Did I not Jacob 479?”

“No, Miguel 009. You did not.” The hooded figures were one by one removing their cloaks.

“Then I apologize to you my brothers and sisters. For the message that I received is simple. At long last they are coming!”

Copyrights

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 Marcus Vogt Check
out his artwork

Editing by Diane Velasquez, Dorene Johnson, David Brims

 All writing was done on Scrivener and Google Docs

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

Authors Notes

Whew! Another book done in the Athena Lee Series! This one was a long time coming. The book the Lost Pilot, is the prequel to the series. I primarily wrote it to give the Sam 0256 character, from Ghost Ships of Terra, more depth and to explain his long life. Having Athena find out her family was related to that was just a bonus. It all ties together. Wilson’s origin story and some of his adventures will be released Next week.

In two weeks you will get to find out more about the Cabal and what Earth has planned for the galaxy with Book 8. Book 9 will follow. So this month you get to read all three of the next books!

Coming up in July we are taking another left turn. A new spin-off series will begin spotlighting Ensign Tisephone from book 5 Insurrection. Don’t worry though, Athena and Wilson will still be around. Both in the ensign’s books and in the upcoming Book 10 of Athena Lee. Here’s a hint for that one. Buckley is back and so are the Irish pirate clan!

So lots more to watch out for. The Wilson Wednesday Shorts will still continue and look for other friends to drop by from time to time.
Check the Blog
and my
FaceBook
page for updates, snippets, and more.

Thanks

Scott