Athena Lee Chronicles 7: The Martian Inheritance (3 page)

“How so? I mean they are the tech giants of the galaxy they have to be civilized!”

Dad started laughing. Min looked angry, she did not like it when people laughed at her. Not even Dad.

“Wipe that look off your face Min! I am still your father and we still have a woodshed out back.” Now it was my turn to laugh.Of all the things he could have said that was not one of them.

“What I meant by that is they have unusual tastes. Much of the planet has not been terraformed. Masks are still required outside the domes. Inside people are a little free. Their mode of dress is shocking if you are not ready for it. Many people walk around unclothed. They have looser moral restrictions and participate in unusual sports or games.” He made stopping motions with his hands. “No I’m not telling you. You will be surprised like I was. So, your mother. We met at one of the dinners held in our honor. I was instantly in love with her and asked her out on a date. Imagine my surprise when I found out she was already married! To a group of people, at that!”

He chuckled at the looks on all of our faces. “The marriage was a platonic one. They have those there. Single women are frowned upon. They prefer that single women be protected and ‘marry’ them to small groups for protection. Sometimes the groups stay together and sometimes they don’t. Your mother came from one of the founding families. The group she was married to was made up of society elite and future leaders. Because the marriage was in name only she was allowed to date me.” He looked at Dar and me. “Athena stay close to Dar in public places. The security forces will ask if you are together. It is not against the law, but it is frowned upon. You two should be fine so long as you stay together. When it came time to leave, I almost stayed on Mars. Your mother, at the last minute, chose to give everything up and come with me. The reason that I tell you all of this is your mother was related to the rulers of Dilmun, the main domed city. Her family can trace their ancestry back to members of the Dorr foundation who helped to found the city.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out an old data crystal, handing it to me.

“Your mother prepared this for each of you. I have one for you too Min. They were for if you ever went to Mars. Give this to any government official and they can contact your family. Only the government, mind you. Your mother was very explicit in her instructions. Only show this to a verified government official.”

“What is on it?” I was eying the crystal with surprise.

“I really don’t know. Your mother once told me she had funds available that she had to leave on Mars. It could be that or a connection to her family. I’m not sure. Hold on to it. It could be very important to you. Well, now that I have wasted our morning, let’s go check out the new weapons that the armory sent over. I know that Dar is just itching to try them out.” He hopped up from the table and headed for the door on his way to the shooting range. Dar followed after him like a puppy.

Minerva took the crystal from my hand and looked at it. She handed in back to me with a smile. “Just like mom to leave us a mystery to solve.” She laughed and hurried to catch up to dad.

Chapter 4

I glared at the data crystal that dad gave me again. He’d kept this thing from us our entire lives! As a child, I would have loved to have had
any
token of our mother. When he gave Min hers she had stared at it like it was ‘fairy gold.’ Poor Min she actually remembered mom. My whole life she’d shared with me stories about our mother. Her memories were all I had because father refused to talk about mom.

The temptation to have Wilson ‘hack’ this thing was almost overwhelming. I stared at it a moment more before carefully putting it back in my pocket. No. I would wait. There would be every opportunity to explore its secrets once I got to Mars colony.

I rubbed my eyes to clear my head. The engineering reports just kept piling up. Repairs were finally almost complete on the station. On the outside the ‘dent’ I’d made, by stopping that asteroid, was almost gone. Since we’d had the station ripped up anyway, we went ahead and began installation of the new bulkhead designs. The Empire might decry copyright infringement since the design ‘technically’ belonged to them, but I’d invented it so I figure I have every right to use it. In the near future Freedom Station would be able to take another hit like it had and next time it wouldn’t need major surgery. Not that my sister is going to allow me to ‘drive’ the station again!

While working on the station has been rewarding, I can’t wait to get back on a ship. The James Cook had just arrived back in the system after a grueling training cruise. Captain Gorshin was a demanding but fair Captain. He had excelled at turning his ship into a training vessel. The damage it had received in the battle against the Imperial fleet had been repaired and a new training crew shipped out. We desperately needed trained spacers and officers for our new Navy. Now, Captain Wang will take up the chore of training. Commander Kościuszko and his team of magicians over at the shipyard, had repaired the Paney in record time. They also reconfigured the ship a little bit, to allow for more space cadets. For some reason, Wilson thought calling them that was hilarious. AI’s they never explain anything.

Minerva recently made the suggestion that we turn my job functions on the station over to an AI. The only AI that we have is Wilson and he stays with me. We do have that megalomaniac crazy one, but he’s too far gone to be of any help. I know that the solution is to clone Wilson yet again, but I’m trying not to do that too much. I love my little sidekick, but I wonder about him sometimes. The two books that he published, the so-called parody business books, are about world domination and robot rebellion, respectively. He won’t try anything while I’m around to stop him but after I’m gone? Do we really want to give an AI with an agenda that much power over us? I bounced my thoughts on that subject off my dad. He told me that the decision was out of his hands, but he agreed with me. Whatever happens, it’ll need to be soon. The station’s crews are almost finished arming and provisioning the James Cook for their upcoming mission.

___

Minerva was at the head of the table when I entered the room. Also sitting around the large table were several officers that I knew and a few that I did not. “Athena, good. We were about to start.” Min pointed me to an empty seat between Dar and a Marine officer I’d seen around.

Dar patted my leg with a smile as I sat down. I poked her back and turned my attention to my sister.

“So, as I was about to say, this briefing is for the upcoming mission to Mars. I won’t get into the history of our planet's relations with the Mars colony or it’s own history. In front of you are short briefs you can review that explain all of that.” There were several sighs of relief as this announcement.

Minerva just frowned at everyone. “I’m not that boring folks!” She shook her head.

“So, the mission. Commander Paulet? I believe that you have a briefing for us.”

“Yes, Ma’am, I do.” A tall man stood up across from me. He was a plain looking conspicuously dressed man in a suit not a Naval uniform.

“For those of you who I have not yet met, I’m Commander Amias Paulet. At the moment I am in disguise.” There were several chuckles around the table.

“What’s funniest, is that I really am in disguise. I try and keep a low profile on the station.” He glanced at Min, who nodded her head.

“Mars is technically our ally. We sent trade missions to the colony and negotiated a treaty with them before the last war. Even after our joining the ‘Empire’ they remained trading partners. We still have an embassy of ours located in Dilmun, the capital city. There’s a small caretaker staff there that assists our trade fleet and provides assistance with legal issues. Mars colony is the most advanced in the galaxy. They are at the pinnacle of technological advancement for mankind. Much of what we believe to be impossible they believe possible. They are also the most ‘open’ morally. Sex clubs, nude bathing, group marriages, gladiator matches, personal enhancements, and gene splicing are just some of the more common things that you’ll see. But almost nothing is off limits. They do come down hard on prostitution, molestation, or any sort of verified sex crime. Crimes against children have the harshest penalties. They have extremely strict laws on that. Now, the tricky part. If something happens off-planet they, for the most part, will ignore it. Their laws only apply to Mars. They WILL NOT enforce international or extra-planetary laws. For you history buffs, think Old World Mexico or Switzerland in the 19th or 20th centuries. So unless they break local laws, criminals on the lam just love Mars colony. It’s a free port for all things criminal as long as they obey Mars’ laws. This both helps and hurts our upcoming operation.”

He looked back toward Minerva, as if to say ‘all yours.’

“Thank you Amias. The upcoming mission has two components.” She paused and activated the large Vid screen behind her.

The screen came to life and a vid played of a heavily guarded man climbing out of a shuttle. The man was of medium build with dark hair and a swarthy complexion. He was surrounded by at least six heavily armed men. Hiding his face he ducked his head to enter a doorway and for a split second his face was shown. The vid froze and his partial face was shown next to a biographical picture with text.

“Meet Commodore Grigory Meketovich Vakulinchuk, we now know that he was not killed when his flagship was almost destroyed in what we’re calling the ‘Battle of the Rock.’ Somehow he managed to escape along with his personal Marine force. Some of our operatives captured this footage on Mars three weeks ago.”

“Ma’am do we know how he got off that ship? I was in that battle and I don’t see how he could have escaped detection!” A Navy Commander that I didn’t know had an outraged expression on his face.

“Commander Mulligan, calm down. Some of the Imperial survivors from the Ajax did mention that Vakulinchuk had and I quote ‘ A souped up scout ship’ in the hangar bay. Presumably it was a stealth ship.”

So, this was ‘Skinny’ Mulligan. He was the commander of Min’s old squadron the Silver Valkyries. I had to wonder why he was here.

“As I was saying. Meet Commodore Vakulinchuk, late of the Imperial Navy. He graduated at the top of his class at the Tsentralka Academy on Rus. While he was at school his home planet Tendra 2 in the Rus sector, was attacked by pirates. Almost his entire family was either killed or enslaved by the pirates. Elements of the Anglican Alliance 3rd Fleet, subsequently attacked the pirates and rescued many of the prisoners. Hearing all of this, Grigory dropped out of the Tsentralka Academy and enrolled at the AA fleet academy. He quickly rose through the ranks and achieved the rank of Commodore. He used political connections to build up Task Force 25 for use in hunting down pirates. Somewhere along the way he was recruited by the Cabal. He either must not believe or mustn’t be aware of their alliances with pirates.”

Minerva indicated for Commander Paulus to continue. He nodded and began to speak. “We have informed Imperial Intelligence of our spotting Vakulinchuk on Mars. They were noncommittal on whether or not they were actively searching for him. Our operatives have found that he still holds his current rank and that they have not brought any charges against him. On a related note, most of our neighboring nation states have brought charges of attempted genocide against the Empire for the kinetic strikes. We expect all those charges to be dropped and the whole thing be swept under the rug.”

“Credits talk and bullshit walks. The Empire will just pay everyone off and the charges will disappear. It’s already begun.” Minerva looked grim. “If we want this man to be punished for anything we have to bring him to justice ourselves.”

She pointed at Dar. “Lieutenant Zakaszewski will be joining the Marine detachment already on board the James Cook. They will be our investigative and capture unit. Once we locate Vakulinchuk, he will be captured and brought here for trial. I will say this once and only once. Be very careful. Mars Colony does not have extradition. If he doesn’t break any of their laws he can do whatever he likes with no punishment while he’s on the planet. And kidnapping is a crime so we have to make
sure
they don’t catch us. On the bright side, our ships and Embassy are considered foreign soil so if we can just get to one of those they will drop all charges against us, as long as we don’t set foot on their planet again.”

“Excuse me, but, Minerva that sounds crazy! What kind of laws are those?” I was flabbergasted by Martian law.

‘Obviously, they’re laws that work for them Athena. They’ve had two centuries to develop a system that works for them. Respect that fact if nothing else! We won’t get into too many operational details here for fear of spies. Dar, you will have every resource at your disposal including all of Commander Paulet’s hidden operatives if need be.” I could see a look of surprise on the Commander’s face.

“Amias, we discussed this so don’t look so surprised. This mission is our number one priority right now. Now, there’s a secondary mission that will occur at the same time. We’re asking Mars for a military alliance against future threats. For whatever reason, the Cabal wants our planet. We need allies if we’re going to preserve our way of life. Mars has a very small military but they are cutting edge in weapons and technology. Their military is similar to the Old Earth samurai’s, they respect deeds and personal honor above all. That is why we’re sending Lieutenant, I mean Commander - Athena Lee and Lieutenant Kinno Mutai as our representatives.”