Chronicles of Athena Lee Book 3

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I deliberately took the shuttle in past the shipyard, taking a long look at the five shells floating in the work bays. These five, we’d been told, would be the last colony ships. Earth was not completely under the authority of the United Nations Assembly.

Over the last year, military forces led by many of my cadet brothers had swept the battlefields free of rebel forces. Much of what had once been the United States and the Russian Federation was in ruins. My squadron, the 186th, had spearheaded the assault on Washington, DC. In our X-50 fighters, we had easily taken out the American resistance starfighters.

I was an “ace” several times over by the old standards of battle. We shot down three squadrons of US Air Force Starfuries to prevent the American president from escaping by air. We also destroyed the Washington, DC. Spaceport. My performance on the battlefield led to my being given a choice of future assignments: Colony ship duty or combat patrol leader.

With America’s air power destroyed, all that was left was mopping up the scattered enemy combatants. The rebel forces, led by a variety of American officers, resisted fiercely with the limited resources they had available. Our troops had better intelligence, or so we had been told. Many of the American Military’s secret hidden reserves were captured or confiscated by our ground forces. There were a few holdouts high up in the mountains or hidden in swamps. They would soon be located and eliminated. Control and order were our most important goals.

I considered my choices carefully. Since taking control of Earth’s nations, the UN had been shipping out any undesirable people or groups to the colony worlds. Using population control as an excuse, whole neighborhoods were swept up and shipped out. As I looked out at the floating ships, I knew that the rumors were true. Five more ships and the colony program would be put on hold indefinitely. If I wanted to go into outer space, those five ships were my last chance.

Staying on Earth would have its perks too. Combat patrol leader would allow me to fly the best that Earth had to offer in terms of fighters and other ships. I knew that there were plans on the books for bigger, faster, and stronger spacecraft. The UN was preparing to build several more space stations and defensive platforms. They would need protection and combat space patrols to defend the planet. Flying a colony ship though that would be a real challenge. I think I knew my answer.

Several hours later I stood in General Gerard’s office. The general was in charge of the air wing and was my direct supervisor in the military.

“General Gerard, Sir. I’ve made my choice.”

“Captain, sit please.” I sat down in the chair in front of his desk. While I had been in his office many times over the past few years, I had never really looked around, much less sat. The walls of the office were covered with awards and pictures of the general with various dignitaries and politicians. The bookcases on either side of his desk were filled with fancy leather-bound editions of great works of military strategy and history. I could tell that they were only for show by the line of dust surrounding them. His desk was made of teak wood and rare Italian marble. It was a surprise to find such rare items on a space station.

“So, Captain, what’s your choice?” He gazed into my eyes.

I stared back at him. I began to wonder about the general. His eyes, something about his eyes.

“Captain? Did you hear me?”

I shook my head to clear it. “Sorry, Sir. My choice, Sir is Colony ship duty. I wish to go to space, Sir.”

The General nodded his head. “The lure of space. I can see that. I once had that desire myself, back in the old days. Are you absolutely sure of your choice? There’ll be no coming back.”

Old eyes are what the general had. Old eyes that have seen all the world’s wonders, as well as its horrors. “Yes, Sir. I understand the ramifications of my choice.”

“Good, report to Major Stanley in the morning. Now your training really starts!”

I thanked the general and returned to the hangar bay. As I thought about it, I wondered if General Gerard had been one of the earlier Program’s successes. His young body and old eyes could prove that.

The training I received over the next two years only hardened my resolve to travel into space. The colony ships’ controls were complicated, and the simulators were extremely effective and efficient. The UN simulators covered many of the situations that we could encounter.

So much to learn about these ships! I would not be alone. I would have a co-pilot, crew, and a small marine force on board the ship as well. We worked as a team with the trainers to get a feel for what shipboard life would be like. Outer space was still something of a mystery though.

Several dozen colony ships, at least, had just vanished over the past century since ships had begun leaving Earth. Current theories were that they had been destroyed or malfunctioned in some way. Other than the Mars colony, the UN council was in contact with only two other colonies. They knew the location of more than fifty others but had no contact with them.

Many of the early ships contained government representatives who were tasked with setting up colonies under Earth’s control. What little information Earth Gov had learned about the other colony planets was that once they were out of Earth’s influence, they intended to stay that way.

This was something that we hoped to change. Our leaders were sending administrators along with military forces to help found colonies. The last gasp chance at expanding Earth’s influence among the far-flung colony worlds.

As the ship’s Captain, I was the ultimate authority over everyone once we left Earth. I received specialized training in hand-to-hand combat and shipboard warfare. Weapon caches had been secreted throughout the ship with access limited to only the crew. Earth Gov was taking no chances.

The ships were almost finished. They were five of the largest ever constructed in space. By comparison, the largest earth ships ever built were supertankers used for oil production. The longest of those was just over 1500 feet long. My ship, the Precious Jewel, was over 3,000 feet long and would carry more than 20,000 colonists.

It was a generational ship. Cryogenics was still in its infancy. Getting the science of how that works right was a lot harder than science-fiction writers had envisioned. It would take about twenty years for the ship to reach our destination. Many of the colonists might die before reaching their new homes. This was one of the reasons that my brothers and I had been created. We would survive the trip and be the leaders of the new colony.

As a future world leader, I was to be privy to certain secrets which would reveal the true power behind the throne.