Athena Lee Chronicles 8: Infiltration (11 page)

“… expect fleet diversions and possible reorganizations due to the growing threat. We have received word that some of our former allies…” She felt a hand on her arm and looked down.

She looked at her team and mouthed. “What?” Her tablet made a soft ping, and she looked at it. “Ma’am, I figured out what is wrong. This room has been modified. There are now gun turrets located behind the main doors. They were hidden until they closed them. All the troops are out of the main line of fire. Ma’am this is a trap!” Admiral Kane considered what her man was saying but refused to believe it.

“Now to the meat of the problem. A new Empire will rise soon. One that will change the galaxy forever as it returns us to our roots. Unfortunately none of you will be there to see it. For you are the Enemy of which I speak.”

As if from a daze many of the attending Admirals and their officers perked up and stared at the Grand Admiral in shock. “Sir, what did you just say? We are the enemy?”

“Why yes Admiral Emment. You and those like you are the real enemy here. A great Empire is about to be born one that has been hiding in the shadows waiting for a momentous occasion to arrive. That time is now and the shadows are moving. Too bad none of you will be around to see it.” He signaled his men who drew weapons and began firing!

John was right thought Admiral Kane as she ducked under the table and behind her chair to avoid the onslaught of fire. Her security team was firing back. “John! We need to get out of here!”

Two members of her three-man team crawled over to her, shielding her with their bodies. Fire from the various security forces was faltering as many were wounded and killed. Off to the side of the room was the catering door, a hole in the surrounding troops opened up and her team took it. John grabbed his Admiral, and they carried her toward the door. One of the other Admirals aides jumped up and tried to join but was shot in arm. John grabbed him and used him as a human shield, dropping his body as they neared the door. Over the individual guns firing Emily could hear the sound of chain guns as the turrets let go and began firing.

The kitchen was empty of help. Her team rushed through it and ran straight into several naval aides hiding in the hallway. She grabbed them, telling them to follow her group. They refused and stayed huddled under some of the furniture. “Ma’am, leave them! We have to go or we are all dead!”

With John leading the way, they dashed for the hangar bay. With luck from the Gods, the shuttle was still there. Emily barely remembered the rest of the fight to the bay. Numerous attacks and assaults killed all but John. Her aide died in her arms protecting her from a sniper's bullet. The shuttle bay was empty of troops and the ships were still there. The pilots, seeing their blood covered Admiral rushed to help. She waved them back telling the other pilots to man their ships. Most refused, this blood covered Admiral was not their Admiral and they would still wait.

The flight back to flagship was fraught with peril. Confusing orders were going out to all ships that the Admirals were traitors to the Empire and should be shot on sight. Emily’s pilots got her back to the ship only to be met by a security team led by Commander Joshua Buckley her security head. “Welcome back Admiral. I have orders to take you into custody for high treason against the Empire.” He and the Marines with him pulled weapons and aimed them at her.

“Treason Commander? That would be the Grand Admiral who is the traitor. It was he that opened fire of a room full of officers with chain guns. I think not. Or would you like to kill me here in cold blood? Finish what the Cobb failed to do.” She pushed through the stunned looking Marines and headed for the main door.

“Stop! I will shoot you!”

“Going to add high treason to that wall of honor that your family has? Go ahead and shoot me Commander.”

Buckley never had time to pull the trigger. He had ignored her lone security and the pilots. John punched him in the back of the head knocking to the ground. “Idiot” Was all John had to say.

Admiral Kane took the lift to the command deck and entered the bridge. Gasps of surprise echoed throughout the room. She looked down at herself and nodded. Her uniform was covered in dried blood and other bits of things. “Report!”

“Ma’am, we have mixed orders to stand down, arrest any of the Admirals, break formation, or drop shields and prepare to be boarded.” The ship’s Captain, John Langston could not help but stare at her uniform. Space battles were ‘clean’ most Naval officers never saw the blood of the enemy.

“Interesting, who gave the order to break formation?”

“Admiral Johnson, Ma’am. She reported that she was in a shuttle heading for her flagship. She told everyone in the fleet to break orbit and prepare to flee.”

“Have there been any further orders from her? Connect me to her.”

“We can’t Admiral. Her shuttle was destroyed by the combat air patrol circling the station. We watched it happen. Admiral what is going on?”

“Poor Rae, she was a good officer and a friend. Long story short is that the Grand Admiral put all of us in a room and began firing on us. He claims that a new Empire was being formed, and we were the real enemies.” She looked down at the ship plot. “How many of our fleet are responding to orders?”

“So far only about half. Many ships from the other fleets have moved away and are preparing to leave orbit.”

She had to decide. Remembering the sacrifices that her people made for her she came to a decision. “Communications, give me Fleet channel one and prepare to broadcast to all ships.”

At the Communication stations signal she began to speak. “This is Admiral Emily Kane. The Grand Admiral of the Fleet is calling every Admiral under him a traitor to the Empire and is having us arrested and killed.” She pressed a button on her console. Vid footage from the meeting began to play. “His security forces opened fire on us with chain guns and sniper rifles. No warning, no terms of arrest nothing to indicate what crime we committed to deserve death. It is his claim that we stand in the way of those who wish to make a better Empire, to change the way of life we all treasure and make it better. The only traitor I see is the man who spoke those words. As the only surviving Admiral I give these order to those that would listen. We are leaving. You have a choice to make. Join us. We are true to the Empire. I only wish for us to discover who and what is happening and do whatever we can to fix it. We are your comrades in arms. We fight together not apart.”

“Break orbit and make for the jump point. Battle stations!”

The flagship of the third fleet was the Vindex. Her ship was one of the oldest and smallest carriers in the fleet. What it lacked in fighters it made up for in firepower. The ship mounted graser turrets both fore and aft. Point defense batteries surrounded every weak spot on the ship. A holdover from the last interstellar war, the hangar deck could be converted into a troop transport section if need be. On board was two short squadrons of the Navy’s most advanced fighters. The rest of her assigned fleet was heavy in the way of scout ships and destroyers. For the past few years her assignments had her battling pirates throughout the Empire.

“Ma’am, several of our destroyers have failed to break orbit.”

“Which ones?”

“The Jethro Gibbs, Asuncion, Missouri, and the Elvis.”

“Get me Captain Richards on the Gibbs.”

The head and shoulders of an older man appeared on the screen. “Captain Richards you need to break orbit and catch up to us.”

He smiled briefly at her. “Sorry Admiral, but I have my orders and they did not come from you. Surrender now so I don’t have to shoot you down. We have worked together too long for me not to give you one chance to surrender.”

“Why Rich? What sort of hold does Cobb have over you?”

He began to laugh. “Cobb? You think this is Cobb’s play? Ah, Emily. You really do not understand. We are bringing order out of chaos. My family has been working toward this moment for over a hundred years. It is time for the old to become new again.” He cut transmission.

“Ma’am, the Gibbs is coming about and locking on.”

Sorry Rich she murmured to herself. “Lock on with the aft turrets and kill that ship!”

The destruction of the Jethro Gibbs signaled the end of maneuvering. Ship Captains were given little choice, join or die by both sides. The entire area around the supply depot was a massive battle. Ship against ship, fleet against fleet.

Admiral Kane watched Captain Langston as he fought his ship.

“Launch fighters, tell those hotshot pilots to stick close to us and only attack if fired upon first. Alert gunners fore and aft to attack any ship that appears threatening. Everyone look alive!”

Of third fleet only the flagship, three destroyers, two frigates, and four of the supply freighters broke orbit together. Various ships from other commands tried to stop them and join them. IFF was useless so Captain Langston ordered it shut down.

A massive explosion to starboard lit up the space around the flagship as one of the orbital defense stations fired on and destroyed a fuel tanker attempting to join the third fleet. The jump point was just beyond two of the stations.

“Captain! Order the lighter ships to draw their fire! We will hit them with everything we have and try to break through.”

“Yes, Admiral sounds good. Communications, order our destroyer force to attack the ODP’s and point us towards the jump point. Get those fighters back on board!”

The lighter units continued to shoot at the ODP’s and began to take loses. The Vindex and the Manxman, Admiral Johnson’s former flagship was halfway there. Other ships began streaming after the two flagships. Fire from the ODP’s stopped when both friend and foe massed between them.

“Weapons, tell them to open fire on that battleship to starboard! It fired on the Manxman. Communications, send these coordinates to any ship that has joined the net. All hands prepare to jump!”

“Jump.”

Jumping a ship in normal times takes a certain amount of precision on the part of a navigator. To do so while under fire and in a chaotic environment took skill. The Vindex appeared on the edge of the Diablo system two hours after the massive battle. The Manxman and various other ships were waiting for them.

The Diablo system. Admiral Kane never thought she would be returning here. It was the only fleet outpost she could think of that might not contain any of the traitorous ships. Ever since Ensign now Commander Lee had been discovered here, fleet had been using her Firefly station as a science station and exploration base.

“Communications, contact Firefly station and order them to prepare for visitors. Captain Langston, prepare a landing party. We need to board the station.”

Firefly Station looked different than the last time she was here. The jaggedness of the construction was gone. Navy engineers covered over the frigate that Commander Lee used as a central section. Most of the weaponry was removed but the basic design was still there. Hopefully fleet engineers removed the battle turret from the hangar bay or this would be a very short visit.

The Marines led the way into the tiny hangar deck. Everything still looked the same to Emily. Thankfully the weaponry had been removed.

“Welcome aboard Admiral Kane.” The voice came from all around the boarding party.

“Wilson, is that you?” That was another thing that fleet left in place out here.

“Got it in one. What brings you and the boys in blue out to the ass end of nowhere?” Commander Lee was supposed to leave her AI in place as the station’s computer when after she was arrested. Admiral Kane assumed that this was a clone of the original.

“Wilson what orders has this station received from fleet?”

“Lots of orders Admiral. I assume you are trying to find out if the shoot on sight orders came through? They did. The three really boring navy officers that were assigned here took off in their scout ship as soon as your little fleet popped in at the edge of the system. Remember we upgraded the sensors a bit. I’m happy they’re gone. They had no taste in good music or vids. How can anyone not have seen Footloose? I mean really. We have many great ones in the world but the Kevin was one of the greatest…”

“Wilson! Please stop. Can you repeat what happened to the crew here?” She knew from experience that if you gave him a foot, he would take a mile.

“What? Oh, yeah. Those guys. There were two officers and a communication tech. They intercepted the footage from the Capital and were extremely tense. A wide variety of orders came in. Some called for the arrest of all officers, one from the Imperial Senate, another six requesting information on fleet movements, and one really strange one that must have been sent to us by mistake. I swear those dumbo AI’s that your Navy uses are the worst. How they never figured out how to make them smarter is beyond me. I mean come on I know those scientists are smart but really? Look at me I’m the product of lots of them and I turned out….”