Athena Lee Chronicles 8: Infiltration

by T S Paul

  The message astounded her. After Wilson’s last foray into her computer system she had her computer wonks update the system with experimental technology. She shook her head, the power that her granddaughter possessed with friends such as these amazed her. Accessing her console she send out a message to her courier service. That damn fool Alexander needed this information.

  Ambassador Arthur Phillip’s family had been on Mars for more than fifty years. One of his ancestors was the first ship captain from Hong Kong to return to Old Earth’s solar system. His family founded the Basilisk trading company here on Mars. When Hong Kong needed an ambassador to Mars, his family was the first they came to. Jacob Phillip, Arthur’s father was the first Martian Ambassador. That his son would follow in his footsteps was a given fact. At the end of the Second Interstellar War, his home planet joined their former enemies and founded the Empire. The Phillip family continued to be Ambassadors in name only, they were cut off from financial support and assistance. Only the family trading empire kept them solvent. One ship remained to do business, the Bennelong. By the time of the revolution it had become a floating junkyard without funds to repair it. Recalled to service Arthur vowed to not be ousted from his position ever again, especially by some chit of a girl. Just thinking about his family caused Arthur to smile. His second wife Isabella was the light of his life. She had stepped into their lives after Margaret died in an air car accident. She understood him and advised him in all things. The power behind the throne, so to speak. The sound of someone pounding on his door woke him from his remembrances.

  “Enter!” The door opened and Chief Kirkland entered in a rush.

  “Sir, we have a problem!”

  “What is it Sam? A problem with the guards?” The man was too excitable he said to himself.

  “No, Sir. What did intel tell you about Commander Lee?”

  “I already told you that! She is just a spoiled little rich girl. Her father appointed her here, I just know it. He must still be mad over that last trade deal I suckered him on. He is just trying to get even. Those orders have to be illegal. There is no way that our Government would put someone like that girl in charge here.” He pointed off to the side. “She stays locked up until we hear back from home-world.”

  “Sir, were you aware that she was extensively tortured by Empire forces under former Governor Buckley?”

  “Even you must know of that propaganda. Things like that do not happen to young girls! My own intelligence service discounted that whole incident. Colonel Lee and the Militia are behind all of it.”

  “Sir, I have seen the official Top Secret reports. She really did do everything that was reported! Sir, her orders may be real.”

  The Ambassador stared at his ranking Marine. With a wave of his hand he disregarded what he said. “Nonsense! Follow your orders. I want her interrogated! Use the special chemicals, we need to know how deep the rot goes. Let the Intel specialists do it if you are too squeamish. That will be all.” Arthur did not look up as the Marine stormed away. Stupid man. A soft knock at his door caught his attention. He looked toward the door and caught sight of his beautiful wife. “Isabella!”

  “Arthur, did I hear shouting? I came to check up on you.” She smiled at him.

  “I’m sorry if we disturbed you, my dear. The Master at Arms and I had a minor disagreement. Nothing to worry about.”

  “Is there something I can do?”

  “No, my dear. The Marine feels that we were are wrong about Ms. Lee, that her orders are not forgeries. I was instructing him to speed up her interrogation. Nothing for you to worry about.” He really loved his wife, somehow she always knew when he needed her.

  “Arthur, don’t let him sway you. You know that she is a traitor don’t you?” Arthur was almost mesmerized by her words and her eyes. She had such beautiful eyes. It was how they met or so she told him. He really did not remember that weekend. Everything was a blur.

  “You always give me the best advice. Thanks for your support Isabella.” He leaned over and kissed her.

  “How about a toast to our future, Arthur?” Isabella stepped over to the side bar and prepared his favorite cocktail. Arthur was too distracted watching her body move to see her slip something into his drink. She crossed back to his desk. She looked into his lust filled face. “Silly boy, there will be time for that later, here have a nice drink.” She handed him the drink and watched as he drank it all. Taking control was too easy. The grand plan was almost ready, and they needed this embassy to be under the Cabal’s control.

  Chapter 4

  Dar stared up at the inside of the massive dome that enclosed the city. Artificial lights helped simulate night and day in a city based upon the rotation of the planet. Nightfall was approaching and so was her assault. The last report from Wilson told her that Athena was fighting them. She loved that woman with all her heart. If anything were to happen to her… Dar did not want to think about what might happen. Save Athena or die trying was her only goal.

  “Alright I need status reports from all teams.” Dar was standing atop the clock tower looking down on the Embassy. On her back was one the newest in personal glider technology. Having friends in high places payed off here on Mars.

  “Team One, in place and ready.” The three man team was on the rooftops on three sides of the embassy grounds.

  “Team Two, in place and ready.” Their job was to engage the gate drawing attention away from the walls. A secondary objective was to make spotting the guards easier for Team One.

  “My team, Team Three is also ready and in place. Team Two you kick off the party. We are dependent upon you to draw the guards away. Good luck everyone and I will see you on the other side.” Dar and her two teammates checked and rechecked the gliders. Down on the ground Team Two sprang into action.

  Private Hutchins was still a bit shaken from the interview that he witnessed earlier in the day. He felt green just thinking about what that prisoner had accused them of. The thought of torture sickened him. It had made him think though about those restricted rooms that only Intel had access to. Hearing a loud screech and crunching sound drew his eyes to the main gates. Two air cars had impacted the gateway. From appearances one had hit the other rebounding into the gates. It was not the first time this had happened. “Hey you need to move! You are blocking the gate!”

  The two drivers climbed out of their cars and began yelling at each other. “Why the hell did you hit me?”

  “Me? Hit you? You hit me, you moron!” The shouting continued to get louder and louder.

  Private Hutchins yelled at the two again. “You need to move those cars, they are blocking the gates!” The two civilians had given up yelling and were now wrestling each other.

  “Hey Chow! Give the Chief a call will ya and let him know about the accident. I’m going to call the locals to deal with that mess.” Chow was the other Marine on duty in the gatehouse.

  Master Chief Kirkland received the message about the air car wreck just as he was about to head down to interrogation. He reversed his course and headed for the gate. He exited the front doors in time to see his Marines about to open the front gate to break up the fight between civilians. “Hutchins! Don’t open the gates!”

  Just as the gates began to open, all the lights went out. Strangely the gates were still opening. The Master Chief looked around him in surprise, the back up power should have kicked in. He stomped over to the now opening gates. “Hutchins, what the hell are you doing? Get those gates closed.”

  The Private turned to the Master Chief, “Chief, the civilians they were…”

  Chief Kirkland watched in horror as the two fighting civilians rose from the ground with guns and began firing at his gate guards! “It’s a trap! Infiltrators! Everyone to your posts!”

  One of his guards was already down and Hutchins fell at his feet moaning. The Chief ran for the gun emplacement on the left wall just in time to see his wall guard slap his shoulder and fall over. “Snipers!”

  All around him
his Marines were dropping, falling over at their posts. He quickly ducked behind a large decorative planter. The two Embassy rooftop snipers began returning fire, giving Sam a chance to run for it. The Marine was feeling his age as he ran for the front doors. A lot slower than most of the younger Marines, the old Chief zig-zagged his way to the front doors. He burst through the doors and sealed them behind him. The two guards behind the desk gaped at him as he gasped for breath.

  “Bar the doors!…. Attack… We are under attack!… Sound the alarm.” Sam leaned against the desk still gasping for breath as the general alarm began sounding throughout the darkened building.

  Outside, Dar’s men were cleaning up the area. “Team leader, all subjects secure, targets have been neutralized.”

  Dar and Team Three glided down and took stock of the situation. She was proud of her men. They had accomplished the first part of the mission without her.

  “Is everyone ready? You have your assignments. Let’s go!” She approached the door and entered a code into the system.

  Inside the embassy the Master Chief looked on in horror as the leader of the Assault force was revealed. So much for not being prepared.

  “Sir, with the power out the doors will stay locked. They can’t get in easily.”

  “I hope you’re right Corporal Hicks. Alert the rest of our men, have them lock down the embassy. We need to prevent any incursion.”

  The three Marines watched as the special operations team all approached the now locked front doors.

  “Corporal? What is she doing?” The door vids showed that Dar punching in a code.

  “Sir, she seems to be entering a code into the system. With power out she should be as stuck as we are.” The code the Lieutenant used seemed to work as the doors powered up and began to open. “Sir, I don’t understand it. There isn’t any power!”

  Wilson was having the time of his life. Cutting power then restoring it in places was really screwing with these guys. They really deserved it for arresting his big sister!

  Chapter 5

  When the cell door clanged open Athena was expecting to see either Dar or that Marine Chief Kirkland. The man staring at her had beady little eyes that took in the whole room with a glance. He a skinny with red hair, something that was unusual for our home planet, and not wearing a uniform. This must be one of the civilian workers here. “By your expression I can tell that you have no idea who I am. Good. That will make things a bit easier.” Another two men came through the door, they were armed with stunners and tranq guns.

  “My boys here are going to take you on a small trip.” The red headed stranger motioned to the armed men who approached me.

  “Keep away from me!” They grabbed at me trying to take my arms. I used every trick that the military had taught me. The man on the left reached for me trying to grab my arm. Without getting closer to him I kicked him in his knee as hard as I could. Screaming in pain the big man went down to floor as his knee gave out on him. As he bowed his head in pain, I kicked again catching him across the face breaking his nose. The other man raised his stunner and fired. I dodged to the left almost escaping. The beam him my leg rendering it useless. I collapsed to the floor.

  Still trying to escape I dragged my now useless leg behind me. The man with the stunner ran forward and grabbed me by the hair trying to pull me up. I grimaced in pain as my head was jerked back the nerves in my scalp screaming in pain. I felt my head being jerked backwards and remembered something that Dar had always stressed. Aim for the weak spots. With all my might I threw punch forward into the man’s groin area. As he doubled over in pain, he dropped his hold on my hair. I punched again this time hitting his head. As I tried to stand I heard the red-headed man speak.

  “Enough of this.” He pointed a tranq gun at me and fired. My last conscious thought was for Dar to hurry.

  All I could feel was pain as I woke up. I opened my eyes, my arms were bound behind me and I was hanging from the ceiling by my feet. Directly below me was a vat of water. Waterboarding it was then.

  “Commander Lee? Are you awake?” I began swaying back and forth as I struggled to get free. “Oh, good. You are awake. I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself. I am Major Shirō Ishii. Disregard the red hair. My father’s family came from New Belfast this was the entirety of my inheritance from the man. Here in the Embassy I am in charge of Intelligence and political reliability. You Ms. Lee have failed in that aspect of your job. A closeness with Mars is not something that can be allowed. It is my job to find out everything that you know or suspect about us. You and your little friends have intruded upon our plans a bit too much lately.”

  “Your plans?… The Cabal! Is that who truly employs you?”

  “Oh, very good Commander Lee. Excellent. This will make my job easier. Secrets really are no fun.” He held up a remote control. “This controls the winch above you. This is an upgrade to the procedure that most commonly use.”

  Suddenly the winch above me engaged, and I fell into the vat of water head first. I was down no more than twenty seconds before I was drawn out. Spitting and sputtering I could feel the water in my nose and throat. “That was just a sample Ms. Lee. Now, what does the Primus know of the Cabal? What exactly have you told her?”

  My mind was all a-whirl. My senses were still clogged with water and everything I saw was inverted. “The Cabal? Is that what this whole ordeal was about?”

  “Let’s try another dunking to clear your head.” Down into the water I went again. This time was much longer, at least thirty seconds. I coughed and gagged as the winch brought me to the surface. Water was streaming down my face as I gasped for a breath. This crazy man I going to kill me for worthless information.

  “I don’t have anything to say to you.”

  “Ah, you can speak. How about you tell me what I want to know? How much have you told them? We know that you spoke to Sam 0256. He tells a good story. Tell me, did he describe his role in the conquest of Earth? He was one of our very best commanders. His skill is what got him the position of flight commander in the colony program. What did he tell you?”

  Sam? He is Cabal? I remembered that sweet old man as a junk dealer and friend. I couldn’t imagine one of my friends being a monster. “Sam told me a story of a colony world gone bad.”

  “Did he really? Interesting. What else did he say?”

  I shook my head no. As a result I went down into the water again. I was down for even longer this time. When you are drowning time seems to stop. As if in slow motion I could see the lights of the room flashing through the water as I stared upward. The winch pulled me out again. This time to the sound of loud voices.

  “You can’t do this! She is an officer in our service, we don’t torture our own people!”

  “Master Chief, this is my duty now. Ms. Lee is under the auspices of intelligence now. Please leave or my men will toss you out.”

  “You didn’t hear the alarm did you? Her special forces Marines are attacking the Embassy as I speak. I barely survived to reach the doors. She needs to survive or they will kill us all!?”

  The redheaded man smiled at the Marine. It was a rather sickly smile. “That may be, but she must answer my questions first. The fate of the galaxy is at stake.” He looked back in my direction. “Ready to talk Commander Lee?”

  “Screw you!” I have had about enough of this man.

  “Last chance Commander Lee.” Down into the water I went again. I would answer his questions but it would mean the lives of innocent people. I cannot in good conscience allow that to happen.

  “Sir, I protest this.”

  “Chief I have had enough of you today.” The intel commander pulled a pistol from behind his back and shot the Marine point blank in the chest.

  As Dar punched the code into the door, she could see the guard inside scrambling around. The code activated the outer doors, and he rushed forward to the inner doors. These were not as armoured as the outer if the code did not work they could blow them if need be. As she rea
ched for the keypad it lit up. Wilson must be having too much fun playing with the electricity. He was like a little demon that way. Dar readied her guns as the door opened.

  “Halt, or we will fire!” The Embassy door guards did not have the experience when dealing with an invasion such as this. The doors opened and four heavily armed and armored Marines burst in. They ducked behind the desk as the black-clad Marines began firing on them. The lightweight desk could not hold up to the weight of fire and began to break apart. One of the guards cried out in pain as a foot long shard of desk pierced his arm. Clutching his arm he fell to the ground. The other guard grabbed his companions gun and began firing with both weapons over the top of the disintegrating desk.