Chronicles of Athena Lee (3 page)

I used the salvage drones and cleared a path to the enemy ships. I lost a few. Un-exploded ordinance was everywhere. A bomb disposal tech I was not. Once upon a time in school I had dated a ‘Jack’. For some reason all bomb techs were called Jacks. He had never told me how to not set them off! I programmed the drones to gather and place all of the explosives in an area to the rear of the asteroid base. I wanted them out of my way but also as a deterrent from a possible attack from that direction.

It seems that when they had evacuated the AA ships, they had shut down or stripped out all of the computers. As far as I could see all of the reactors were stone cold. I guess they didn’t intend to return and were worried about information being compromised. However, engineers and the same everywhere. Hard copies still existed. Either they forgot or did not know about them. Some engineering ‘secrets’ are universal.

I had gotten excited in one of the AA ships, the communication room had been intact. Someone had wiped the computers and set off fusion grenades on the broadcast equipment.

Something else that I am not, a computer tech. Yes, I can hum a tune and dance to it, but singing is another matter. I can use them but not fix them. I can and did rewired a few things, without electrocuting myself, so that I had short ranged communications. I could not reach the fleet to tell them I was here and alive. But, if someone entered the system I could talk to them.

Chapter 6

The Present

A massive fireball erupted into space lighting up the station. The Redcoat was just gone, vaporized. No trace was left of either the crew or this ship.

“BATTLE STATIONS, BATTLE STATIONS, THIS IS NOT A DRILL” echoed through the ship.

Captain Carver stood looking at the screen in shock. He had never seen destruction like that before. “Sensors! What caused that explosion? Did the station just attack the Redcoat?”

“Sir, the Redcoat attempted to flank the station the sailed right into the minefield. Either Captain Buckley disregarded your orders or it was an accident. We show no weapons trace from the station.”

“Connect me with that ensign!” Carver was angry now.

“That ship of yours just tried to attack this station! Hold your positions. If another ship enters my airspace I will open fire this time.”

Captain Carver just stared at the now blank screen. He turned to his intelligence officer. “Do we have anything about that station or that Ensign?”

“Sir, scans show that the station is based on a asteroid. A frigate, a former AA Anzac class frigate makes up the core of that station. The weapons are a mix of torpedoes and laser batteries.” The intelligence officer paused. “Our database shows that there was an Ensign Athena Lee in the PPL navy. She was born in 2267 on the planet Hong Kong, assigned to the PPL support ship Tesla. Nothing else except that she was listed as KIA in 2285 in the Battle of Diablo sector.”

The Captain nodded his head. “The briefing that I received said that there were no survivors of that battle and that this station was not here at the time.”

“Sir, that information is not entirely true.” Typical bureaucracy thought the intelligence officer. “At the end of the battle there was one AA ship not destroyed. The AAN Winston Churchill. That ship had only taken light damage. The crew of the Churchill searched the area for survivors. Intelligence records show that they scanned all surviving ships and any life pods they retrieved. Survivor count, from both fleets, was less than 100. SAR was not dispatched, from either fleet, due to survivors accounts of the Churchill’s efforts. The horror of the Churchill’s after action report is what shocked the delegates at the peace conference.”

The Captain was not really surprised by this. Orders from HQ sometimes were lacking in their intellegence briefing portion of the orders. “The Churchill must have missed a survivor then. Send everything that we have back to fleet HQ. With any luck we will still be here when they respond.”

Chapter 7

The Past

Staying busy make the time go by faster. Using the salvage drones I cleaned up the area of debris. I stripped the wrecks of all usable parts and weapons. I have three things to help me with the super boredom, Lots of scrap, construction drones and time. Lots and lots of time. Take all of those things add them together with an engineer. It’s time to build a space station!

OK, this is harder than it looks. Looking at the original plans for this base I saw that it was supposed to be camouflaged so it was secret. For me, secrecy is not really an issue. I went for a more classic approach. A central core with weapon pods and drone bays. Using the ship wreckage I think I may be able to do this. It’s going to be so much fun.

I almost broke a construction drone, but I managed to stand a wrecked frigate on its keel. I placed the ship atop the asteroid base. It looks a bit funky but using scrap framework I bolted it onto the rock surface. Once the engines were removed, the drones cut them off, the empty space was perfect for big hydroponics bay. I really need one of those. Canned food only lasts for so long. In the books I found there was a way to grow yeast in a carbon matrix as a way to give myself a protein source. It looks a bit complicated so I will add it to the work on later pile.

Reconfiguring the inside of the former frigate took over a year. I had to use the repair drones to do most of the actual work. Leaving the hatches and bulkheads in place gave me doorways in the floor and ceiling. At half gravity, achieved from the spin of the station, floating from room to room was easy.

Salvaged weapons pods and drone bays surrounded the core of the station. As my daddy use the say “you can never have TOO much firepower.”

Did I have accidents during construction? Oh boy did I. Only about half the construction drones survived the work I put them through. We won’t discuss the falling kitchen incident. Or what happens when you get confused about which connector is the waste collection or the fresh water tank. Yuck!

I almost killed myself too. Did you know that the tiniest drop of ‘unconstrained ‘ anti-matter can blow a cargo container 300 yards? Neither did I.

It almost seems that there should be an easier way to do all of this. Something to think about.

Several years in the making but I built a home for myself. Its an ugly, colorful, crazy, wonderful home. The inside is far from finished. I have so many plans.

I have to wonder after all this time if anyone will ever venture out this way again?

Chapter 8

Present day

“I repeat, if any ship comes closer I will open fire.”

Captain Carver was at an impasse. One of his ship had been destroyed and the other two were threatened. There was an irate ensign on an impossible space station in a hard to reach region of space. The whole situation was like a bad vid show.

Looking to tactical, the captain asked “Do we have any readings on the station?”

“Yes captain, we do. Scans show that there is only one life source aboard. We have detected missile lock from numerous sources surrounding the station on those pylons. Total estimate of weapons is inconclusive at this time.”

The intelligence officer caught his captain’s eye. “Sir? There can’t be that many weapons. With only one person she can’t operate them all at once. We could send in the marines.”

The Captain scowled at his officer. “What marines? This is an exploration ship not a line ship. Our marine force, including the destroyer, is less then ten. I don’t think that an assault is prudent at this time.”

Deep in thought, Captain Carver looked up. “We must assume that the ensign is expecting to be rescued by her navy. We just have to convince her that WE, are that navy.

Chapter 9

The past

“Get in there you little SHIT!”

Here I was wedged under the solar maintenance console trying, trying to attach the cable runs. Some Idiot had made the wires too short. Since I WAS that idiot, I have only myself to blame.

Fifteen years, I have been on this station fifteen years!

If I had not been an engineer I think I should not have survived this long out here. I still have lots of little projects that I am working on but......

“Wilson!

What is that loud beeping noise!”

“Ensign, that is the early warning system alarm. Three unknown ships have just entered the Nebula.”

“What! ...Ouch, that frakking hurt. “

Surprised, I jerked forward and whacked my head on the console, that some idiot made way too low!

“Bring the system up to full readiness and figure out who those ships belong to. “

Wilson, I thought to myself, is one reason I have not gone completely crazy.

He was a prototype, an experimental A.I. unit I found on one of the frigates.

He had been functioning as a command and control entity, helping to keep many of the on-board systems operational.

When I finally got around to stripping his frigate, the PPLN Jiro, I discovered him still “alive” in the central computer.

He had explained his name to me, saying his personality was based on a 20th century entertainer named Hank or Hankie. Something like that. I had stopped listening about half way through. He made a good companion, if a little pushy and annoying sometimes.

.

I floated down to the asteroid section of the station. This was my war room. All the sensitive equipment was here; weapons controls, the armory, power station, and my living quarters. It was the strongest part of the base since it was encased in rock

“Seal all bulkheads and vent all compartments except hydroponics.”

A hull breach at the wrong time would just suck.

“What do your sensors say about those ships?”

“Ensign, there are three of them. Two destroyers and one cruiser. Their IFF says that they are ships belonging to the Empire of Humanity. Ensign, there is no known entity in my data banks that matches that name.”

“So, do you think these are pirates?”

“There is only a 20% chance of them being pirates. They may be a new political entity not in my data banks.” He replied.

“Well, we will have to see won't we. Start scanning them and carefully fire up Huey, Dewie, and Lewie. Keep them stealthed though. They are our ace-in-the-hole if these ships are enemies. Let me know when they are in communication range. I need to go put on a uniform.”

One thing I had lots of were uniforms. Salvage was salvage and cloth was just food for the cloth extruded. I tried to keep up my military appearance, rescue might be any day away, I would say to myself.

My scans of the intruders gave me basic information about them. None of the ships matched anything that was in our databases. The ship designs were similar to both the PPL and the AA. Almost a fusion style. It made me wonder if they were allies of the League.

When the ships were within Communication range I sent them a message.

“Identify yourselves or be destroyed!”

Chapter 10

The Present.

War is never an easy thing.

Apparently getting idiots to obey orders isn't either. A whole ship was just vaporized for not listening.

“I'm sorry Captain Carver, but war is hell. That ship of yours was warned about the minefield.” Why does this idiot keep asking me the same questions over and over?

“Ensign, there is NO war! Your war was over 15 years ago! Your enemy is gone, your nation is gone. Only the Empire remains now. “

Maybe this will shut him up. “Captain Carver, can you send me data and records of this Empire you say you represent?”