Chronicles of Athena Lee

by T S Paul

  Space is dangerous accidents do happen.

  This one looked like a real accident. A power conduit was not aligned properly and when turned on it overloaded and blew. It destroyed part of the main security panel. Camera's, sensors, and alarms were affected by the explosion. Repair crews began work almost immediately to repair things. Extra crews had to be brought in to check for hull integrity and look for possible cracks. My section was unaffected by this. My whole concept was working, and it was working well. All of the plants were alive. Oxygen levels, at least in hydroponics, were up 25% compared to normal. The whole crew was excited about the upcoming demo for the navy. Our designs might make a difference and help to save lives.

  Working alone, on a malfunctioning pod high up near the exhaust ports, I never saw who struck me from behind.

  At the last second I heard what I thought was Wilson yelling at me in my ear.

  I awoke, I was in one of the grow pods. I felt a painful lump behind my ear.

  “Wilson, what's going on?”

  “Athena you were attacked. I think they left you to die. The pod controls are sealed and someone has initiated an overload in the fusion engines. There is a design flaw or something and they can't be shut down. They sound as if they are going to explode.”

  Something was really wrong, those were the brand new Merlin engines that were the same ones on our front line ships. No way it was a design flaw.

  “Wilson, can you access the emergency communications?”

  “No we are being jammed. Somewhere on this deck is a frequency jammer.”

  My mind was working at what seemed like light speed. This station was built with all of the newest hatches and bulkheads. Were they strong enough to survive a fusion explosion?

  When we lose power, no more life support. At my workstation I had a portable power source and a large box of power system equipment.

  I got to work. Praying to all the space gods, I used my portable power module to reroute the system routines, to power the back-up life support equipment. This was a navy station. Redundancy was the name of the game with us.

  Nothing makes time crawl by, like waiting for a large explosion. When it finally happened the station jumped and bumped like it was a carnival ride at a cheap circus.

  The core of the station blew out like a volcano. Bursting out of the top of the station. The armored bulkhead shielding and hatches held!

  Life support was out everywhere, except in hydroponics. What little air I had was minimal, but it was life sustaining.

  Wilson, jabbering in my ear, said that he could now talk to security.

  I contacted my team and told them I was still here and alive. It took several hours for them to cut the doors open. The explosion had welded them shut. My injuries were light, but I ended up in the med-bay anyway. Not really hurt I was sitting on the bed reading my tablet. It was here that chief Eversole found me.

  “Lieutenant, are you OK? I thought for SURE that you would have killed.” Eversole looked away from me toward the main entrance.

  “Chief, the bulkheads held. The navy will be so excited! Plus my hydroponic layout increased output by over 25%....”

  “I'm sorry Athena, but just how DID you survive? Life support should have failed in the explosion. I don't understand it!”

  “Well, chief” not really getting his point here, “the navy always builds redundancy into everything that they use. I was able to power the back-up life support system.”

  Chief Eversole had a sad look on his face when he turned back to me. “I'm sorry about this Athena, but you were not meant to survive that explosion.” At that he pulled out a short barreled fragmentation gun. “It's too late to make this an accident, sorry.”

  I threw my tablet at him as I dove under the bed.

  He bent down, trying to shoot me. I kicked him in the head.

  Stunned, he fell backward, accidentally firing his gun. The sound of the gun going off was very loud, sparks flew as the medical equipment around us shorted out from the shot.

  I yelled for help, as I scrambled on all fours to get away from him. He rose to his knees and fired another shot at me, hitting another medical equipment station. I ducked behind the desk and tapped my link trying to contact my support team.

  Eversole fired once more into the desk. I then heard shouts and loud sounds of a struggle. I peaked over the desk. A security officer was on the floor cuffing the now stunned chief engineer. Shakily I stood up. The officer reacted as if to a threat, gun coming up. When he saw my uniform he relaxed.

  “Are you OK, lieutenant?” He asked me. “I'm fine, thank you officer.” At that point my ever late security protection team showed up and took over.

  Chapter 11

  “Why would Eversole risk his entire career and billions in construction contracts to try and kill me?” That was the question I asked Admiral Anders, the shipyard commander. “I just don't understand that. His design was successful, he would have been set for life.”

  “He's not talking, but we dug into his background and uncovered a few things. His mother's maiden name is Buckley. His direct uncle is the now former Governor Buckley. The majority of the stockholders in his engineering company were his mothers family. He really didn't have a choice in his actions. If he decides to talk, we will at least know for sure. One good thing out of all of this. Eversole was a perfectionist. He kept records of everything.”

  At my look, the Admiral smiled. “Yes, even the recordings of his 'family' telling him to kill you and make it look like and accident. We finally have proof that we need. The former Governor is on a vid recording hiring a killer. An arrest warrant was issued a short while ago.”

  “That's great! Finally I can relax.”

  “Don't let your guard down just yet lieutenant. Wait until the bounty is dropped.”

  When ESS and NCIS officers attempted to serve their warrants of arrest, they found the house empty. The leader of the family had left the planet on a hidden ship.

  Still on medical leave, I took a much needed break.

  The shipyard asteroid base had a very large civilian area.

  I went to the mall. Window shopping was therapeutic. I ended the day by sitting in a casual bar. A pretty good house band was playing and I enjoyed their music. A nice looking man sat down next to me. I looked closer at him and saw that he was the bands main singer.

  “Did you enjoy our music?” Telling him I did, he relaxed.

  “What's your bands name? I came in too late to catch that part.”

  “We call ourselves the Cavaliers.”

  “Where are you from?”

  Saying he was from Hong Kong, we sat and talked a bit. It was nice to talk to someone non-military about home and of regular things. His band mates came up from time to time to introduce themselves and get drinks.

  They all had very strange musician names like: Pinky, Rawhide, and Perfect Tom.

  My new friend said his name was Buck.

  After a little while I excused myself and got up to leave.

  As I left, I turned to the group and said “ Nice talking with you, I'll come back another time, maybe you should change the name of your band to the Hong Kong Cavaliers. It has a better ring to it.”

  I returned to my quarters.

  My new orders arrived the next day. With the killers caught, I was being transferred to a third officer position aboard one of the new heavy cruisers.

  The mini-station we had worked so hard on had been mostly destroyed, but the navy was very interested in it's design . The newly strengthened bulkheads were to be incorporated into existing ship designs. I hope that they will save lives. My hydroponics design was sent to the fleet scientific station for more testing.

  The Buckley family was on the run. Somehow I suspect that I will hear from them again.

  Ghost Ships of Terra

  T S Paul

  Chapter 1

  In the Beginning…

  Throughout the course of history humanity has reached for the
stars. Interstellar travel was a dream of mankind. The invention of the Doohan drive or fusion engine in the 21st century made achieving that dream a reality. We now had the ability to leave our solar system and travel …anywhere.

  Suddenly, everyone wanted to go out there, out, into space. Colony ship construction began almost immediately. Those individuals or groups that had enough funds or resources, built themselves a ship. Political groups, extremist groups, paranoid collectives and religious cults all built or purchased ships to leave Earth. Many of Earth's religious minorities left in search of freedom. Following them into space were, profit seekers, those who looked for the last great score. The corporate world embraced the movement sending out their own colony ships. These were different in that its colonists were wage slaves or those in financial bondage. Those that could leave, did.

  The remaining world governments looked to use colonization as a way to help with population control. Large swaths of “undesirables”, criminals, illegals, or unwanted found themselves scooped up. Colonization by force. Pack them up and ship them out, often never to be seen again. Cryogenics were in their infancy, mostly they were just fantasy, not science. Drugs could only extend sleep periods and enhance calm aboard ship.

  The colony ships became generational. A colonists entire life could be spent traveling to a new world. Many people had families aboard ship and it was they that began the new colony. My own ancestors were such travelers. Exiles because of being different, of having a non-standard religion or belief. The lists of missing or overdue ships was as long as it was famous. Space is vast. Many of Earth’s historical figures and political movements disappeared to be swallowed up by the dark. Many of the earliest colony ships just simply vanished into the depths of space.

  It was these ships that history began to call the Ghost Ships of Terra.

  Chapter 2

  I was running! Running as fast as I was able. I could feel my heart beating like it was trying to escape my chest. Panting, I slumped over a bench next to the exercise track.

  “ I swear that doctor, is trying to kill me!”

  I was speaking to others working out, who were ignoring me as usual. I had failed my yearly physical. The doctor had put me on a diet and exercise program. Who needs exercise? I spent all day crawling around the ship lifting heavy engine components. OK, my people did that. But I at least watched them do it! Stupid orders. I suppose that it did make me look good in my shiny new uniform. I was no longer a lieutenant (jg). I was promoted to a full lieutenant shortly after starting my new job; the engineering third on the James Cook, one of the newer navy cruisers. I was in charge of repairs and upgrades. It was fun. I got to play with new equipment and do a little tinkering on my own. I have a famous, or is it infamous, reputation to live up to. After my workout, 'friggin' doctor, I cleaned up and having some free time went to my quarters. So nice to have my own space. Definitely a perk of being an officer.

  The door to my cabin chimed. Absently, I said “enter”, I was trying to re-calibrate a drone module. The door opened and Commander Todd stepped inside. Rising to attention, I tried removing my arm from the machine only to have it get stuck. I wasn't quite at attention when the commander turned to me.

  “At ease, lieutenant. Uh, Lee? What is it that you are doing?” he paused looking, a little wild eyed around the room. “Is there anything still in engineering? Because it looks like it's all in here!”

  Inside my quarters I had spent a small fortune building my own personal, small scale machine shop. The chief engineer really didn't want me to work on my own projects in “his” space, so I did from here. Heaven help the next officer they try and stick in here with me. The small room was simply filled with half built machinery that sparked and sputtered. In the area where a second officer would sleep was several more half built repair drones and a butler drone. Strange, almost alien-like, specialized tools covered one wall just inside the door. The other wall was a floor to ceiling white board covered with mechanical scribbling and mathematical equations. A small, very expensive looking, 3d printer sat on the table printing a complex circuit board . Hard-copy blueprints and tech manuals littered the floor. Basically it was fantasyland for an engineer.

  Eyes still on the room looking for danger in every corner, the commander resumed speaking to me. “The uh, reason I came to see you is to inquire into your training.”

  The drone I had been working on jerked and moved, releasing my hand, making the commander jump.

  ”I received a schedule from Admiral Kane this morning. She wishes for you to resume the non-engineering training that was laid out for you 2 years ago.”

  Groaning I looked down at my feet.

  “I see that you remember that list. After your shuttle craft adventure we will be skipping flight training. We marked you down as completed for that assignment. Next on the list is weapons and gunnery. You will be seconded to Lt Commander Ney for basic weapons history and technology.” At that the commander left, nearly tripping over a broken coffee maker.

  Gods above and below! As if I don't have enough work to do. “Athena, I do not see a problem with this assignment. You have me. I can help with aiming and weapons tech research.”

  “Duh.” I had completely forgotten all about Wilson! My own personal cheat sheet.

  Focus Athena, focus, I keep telling myself. Wilson had been keeping a low profile since we came aboard the James Cook. I'm not sure if the records of his existence were shared with my current captain or not. I could ask the admiral, but, I won't. I have kept the ball of mischief that is Wilson, out of trouble so far. He has been helping me to build my new maintenance droids. The navy uses piloted drones for that function. My idea was to use autonomous 'droids' (stupid movie night) to effect repairs without any human oversight. Wilson has been doing all the programming for me. I just can't, quite, get the power source to work properly though. The droid starts up, moves forward a foot, then catches on fire! I think I need to fire-proof my quarters, again. It’s a work in progress.

  The next morning I reported to the chief engineer Commander Arthur. I informed the commander of my secondary job assignment.

  “Lee! What secondary assignment? You are needed HERE! You still have to re-calibrate Fusion Reactor One and put the maintenance drones you took apart back together.”

  “Sir, the orders came from the Captain! I have to report to the weapons deck every morning at 1000 hours for training. I put those stupid drones back together last night, after I repaired the mini-fusion reactors on them. That was why they kept detonating every time they went into stand-by mode. There was a factory installed cross-connection that was causing it. We still have to repair the storage bay where the first two exploded. I started work on your coffee machine, but the circuit board is fried, what did you try and brew in it anyway?”

  Goggle-eyed the commander was just staring at me. “Lieutenant. Stop talking! Get with Commander Ney, have him work out a schedule that I can agree with. Tell him that I really need you in engineering. Get back with me. Now, go!”

  Chapter 3

  After a late night of tinkering and working on my projects, morning could not come soon enough. I think that I have the power situation figured out for my droids. The one I'm working on didn’t catch on fire this time. Still needs work though. While I'm out today I need to find a power supply, something that I can't make myself. Liberty was at 0900 hours. About a third of the crew, except those with early duty, were lined up like race horses, waiting for the door to open.

  “Slow down you crazies! The station will still be there later!” The Officer of the Deck yelled as we ran off the ship when the door opened.

  Liberty!

  The James Cook had been at the New Reno Station for over a month. Repair and resupply has been the official reason. Unofficially we were here to deter piracy and keep order. The station was huge, it was the closest resupply point for 3 sectors. Many independent freighter companies used New Reno as a home base. The station had a mini
-shipyard capable of repairing even our new cruiser. The mall boasted that they had over 200 stores to choose from, including what I was looking for. Grandpa Sam's Junk Emporium was located in one of the oldest parts of the station. It was a warehouse just chock full of space junk. It wasn’t all just junk. He specialized in hard-to-find parts and equipment.

  “Athena, welcome back! How can I help you today?”

  Sam was an older man with gray hair and a slight limp. He claimed to be a colony ship pilot from one of the last waves of ships from Earth. If he was, that would make him a lot older than he looked by about 100 years! Regardless, he was THE expert when it came to early Earth tech or spacecraft. There was an early Doohan drive from one of the original colony ships sitting in his showroom! Too bad it wouldn't fit in my quarters. He of course was happy to see me. I have spent quite a bit of credits in his establishment.