Athena Lee Chronicles 8: Infiltration (15 page)

The ship had barely begun to move when the mass driver on Deimos activated. The largest weapon system ever built. It rivaled even the Gustav railway gun from Old Earth’s distant past. Massive doors slid open and William Tell fired its first shot. The titanium encased plasma ball weighed over 2000 tons. Each shot took the power units over an hour to charge up. No control system ever built could control something like this shot. It could not miss. Colossus was still parked directly above it.

The ship exploded like a high power bullet hitting a watermelon. It literally exploded in all directions. The explosion took most of the Earth fleet with it. They were too slow to get out of the way fast enough. Chunks of burning ship began to fall downward toward Mars and Deimos. The second part of Mars defense was its civil defense shield. Mars covered its most vital cities and structures with the most powerful planetary shields ever built. The damage was minimal.

The remnants of the Earth fleet scattered. Many headed toward Earth fleeing to the protection of the space defense wall. Those that could not return home went elsewhere. We would see them again I was sure of it.

Chapter 20

The destruction of the Earth ship changed things for Mars. The galaxy now knew that they were a planet to be reckoned with. Many revelations came from the attack. Earth was the enemy of everyone. Natural born humans were a threat, and they intended to wipe us from the galaxy. The Cabal was ignorant of this fact. Those few agents who witnessed the destruction of the Colossus reported back and were ignored. Their reports were called propaganda and useless.

A new Earth Empire rose from the ashes of the old one. The Cabal now controlled over seventy percent of the former Empire. They ruled not from the shadows, but in the light. No longer would they hide. Earth and the UN once again ruled the galaxy. Or at least their small part of it. The Cabal was still plotting and planning. Earth was mighty. The loss of one ship was nothing to her. On Mars we knew better.

Wilson’s report shocked the Martian Assembly. The war they had long feared had come and Mars was victorious in the first battle. But there was more to come, and they needed allies in the fight. I got to play my part and as Ambassador to Mars signed a treaty joining the fate of millions to them. Mars was now a part of the PPL and at war with Earth and the former Empire. Hopefully the Gods would be on our side this time. Ramen.

Authors Notes

Wow! Another book in the series is done. The Story in my head is progressing really well. Expect that the current loop will end in book 9 with the new Earth Empire facing off with the Pan Pacific League. Our heroes will be right in the thick of all. Looks to be lots of fun to write too. Next up is the start of something new. A new series bursting from the middle of the old one. Lots of familiar faces including Athena Lee and Wilson. This will be about Ensign Tisiphone. We met her back in Insurrection (book 6). Most recently she popped up in one the Wilson’s Wednesday stories on the Blog in a very short Cameo.
Check that out Here!
This series will be about her as she learns how to fight and survive in the galaxy.

Never fear though, there will be a new Athena Lee book at least once a month. And more Wilson’s ever Wednesday.
Check out those and more on the Blog.

This book took a bit longer that the others. Too many real world happening intruded upon my fantasy life. Here in Missouri it is really hot in the summertime and when your AC stops working…well you get the picture. Life throws lots of challenges at you and you have to overcome them. So far this has been a good year and I want the rest of it to be even greater.

Here is where to follow me at and maybe drop me a line every now and then.

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I
get lots of review both good and bad. The biggest compliant that I receive is book length. I am a new author and while I can write very fast I still have a real world life outside of my computer. The stories that come to me are short, sweet, and to the point. No frills. Many have called them serial novels. Not me. I think of them as a series and each one a complete story. The page counts are listed by Amazon on the page, you have but to look to see. I am sorry if you are not a fan of short fiction but I won’t apologize for my work. Writing is a lot harder than it looks. I also hear complaints about editing issues. I do hear you and the books are improving. I have a small team of 3 editors that double as my Beta readers. They read and correct each chapter as I write it. These are hard working people who help me out of the kindness of their hearts and because they are fans of the books. I thank them every chance I get they are the best. Thanks to the Double D’s and to David from Down Under. I also use Pro Writer Aid in combination with Google Docs as an editing tool.

Just a few of the newest Reviews

Pamela reviewed Wilson's War: Tales from the Athena Lee Universe

Fun stories about Wilson June 17, 2016

I always wondered why Wilson wanted a cat. Now I know why. :) If you like the character (which I do), then check out this book.

Amazon Customer reviewed The Martian Inheritance (Athena Lee Chronicles Book 7)

Athena is a wonderful character maintaining her sanity and since of humor while ... June 15, 2016

I am loving this series more and more. Athena is a wonderful character maintaining her sanity and since of humor while being distracted with engineering problems, crazy cabals and a mad AI. I look forward to the next adventure.

D.B. Hull reviewed Imperial Subversion (Athena Lee Chronicles Book 6)

Great June 12, 2016

Simple fact this series has become one of the best I have Read in the past few years. The combination of old and new technology along with well fleshed out characters makes this a series to read over and over again. Lt. Lee's solutions to the challengers presented to her endears her as a character to enjoy trying to figure out the solution..

John Fryer reviewed The Martian Inheritance (Athena Lee Chronicles Book 7)

I really like the main character in this series June 10, 2016

I really like the main character in this series. Although I would prefer for the stories to be longer. Shorter is okay, so long as the wait time between each novel is short. John

Copyrights

This book is a work of fiction, All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

Copyright (c) 2016 T S Paul

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Cover designed by
Michael T. Anderle

Artwork is by Digital Artist Scott Richards
Check out his work here.

Editing by Diane Velasquez, Dorene Johnson, David Brims

And ProWriter Aid.

All writing was done on Scrivener and Google Docs

Special thanks to Michael and to my wife Heather who keeps me grounded and to Merlin the Cat, we are his minions.

The Series until now.

This is the Prequel for the Athena Lee Chronicles.

Before Athena Lee and the worlds that she knew there was an embattled Earth.

Earth was in turmoil before the first colony ship was launched. The Cyber Wars raged across the planet as country battled country. The war was fought until only the Major Powers were victorious. In the aftermath, the United Nations came into it's own. Warriors, trained and bred to be the best the world had ever seen emerged from the shadows, bringing order and control out of the chaos of the Cyber Wars. Sam was one such warrior. Born and bred to serve he followed his orders and became one of the best pilots in the service. The future of man lay in the stars. Colonization was a good way to rid society of the undesirables of Earth. He volunteered to start a new colony and spread Earth's power.

Now newly revised and re-edited!
Ensign Athena Lee was on her first engineering assignment. She was helping to build a secret space station. There was a war on and this new station was vital. When the engineering fleet was attacked and destroyed she was left lost and alone. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. She was going to have to Engineer her way home.

Ensign Athena Lee has finally been rescued. The galaxy has changed over the last fifteen years. She finds herself arrested, her rights taken away, and tortured. Political corruption has taken over. Now someone is out to kill her. With assassins and bounty hunters at every corner what is an Engineer to do? Use the right tool for the right job and Fix it!

Athena Lee was is back in the Navy. Her own military forget about her, assassins tried to kill her, her government locked her up and treated her as if she were a terrorist. She is just trying to what she does best. Be the best Engineer in the Galaxy. Now pirates are a threat to her while she searches for the Ghost ships of Terra!