Chronicles of Athena Lee Book 1

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The past, 10 years ago

I was bored.

The last time I was this bored I built a space station! Thinking back five years ago I wondered why I did it.

The asteroid base had been easy to finish setting up. It had a small hydroponics lab that was super easy to put together.

“I need something to do, and I really need to stop talking to myself. Before I know it inanimate objects will be talking back to me!”

I suited up and went to the hanger bay. Using the runabout, I made my way back to the Tesla. Even after a few weeks, the ship was still a mess inside. Very carefully, I picked my way in and around the wreckage. The room that contained the technical library had been damaged but not any of the media resources inside.

Engineers like hard copy records. Nothing is left to chance in case a ship loses power.

Talking to myself again, “How do I get all this back to the asteroid?”

Staring at the piles and boxes of books I pondered the question. A light lit over my head. The Tesla, like many of the other support ships, used piloted drones for a variety of jobs. I’d seen quite a few of those drones as I explored what was left of this ship. The very next day my boredom was gone, and I now had boxes of books to devour.

Having my own library was great. I spent the next couple of weeks boning up on how space stations were built and maintenance procedures for bases. The tech manuals I found on weapon systems were extremely interesting. All this reading made me think of something I had missed. The floating debris of two fleets surrounded me. The enemy ships along with what was left of the others from my fleet might have information I could use or a system I could exploit.

Exploration time.

First things first.

PPL ships first. Exploring what remained of my peoples fleet was both heartbreaking and informative. Our ships had been supporting ships, not battle wagons. After the nuclear explosions, there really wasn’t much left. I did find a few broken or damaged drones. I also found lots of drifting supplies in fancy shipping containers.

I used the salvage drones and cleared a path to the enemy ships. I lost a few. The unexploded ordnance 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 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 seemed when they had evacuated the AA ships, they’d shut down or stripped out all the computers. As far as I could tell the reactors were all stone cold. I guess they didn’t intend to return and were worried about information being compromised. However, engineers are the same everywhere. Hard copies still existed. Either they forgot or didn’t know about them. A few engineering secrets are universal.

I got excited in one of the AA ships. The communication room was still intact. Someone had wiped the computers and set off fusion grenades on the broadcast equipment.

Something else I am not is 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 rewire a few things, without electrocuting myself, so now I had short-range communications. I couldn’t reach the fleet to tell them I was here and alive. But, if someone entered the system I could talk to them.