Chronicles of Athena Lee by T S Paul Read Free Book Online

a POW. They would have to convene a military tribunal in order to bring accusations of war crimes against me.
     
    I awoke from my sleep, when the ship shuddered.
     
    We were docking.
     
    Rising, I glared at the camera taking care of my morning rituals. I decided to put on a dress uniform. No reason not to look as neat and as military as possible. I gathered my things and prepared to leave.
     
    Station security had sent a full detachment for me.
     
    “Prisoner Lee, stand away from the door!” shouted the large security officer.
     
    I stepped back and resumed standing at attention. The door burst open, two large burly goons grabbed me, and manhandled me out of the cell. I heard cries of “hey, treat her with respect” and “shes not a criminal” coming from Turner and Hooch. Wow, they can speak!
     
    “I have my orders, she is my prisoner now, move out of the way!”
     
    The station security chief was very curt with ships security. His goon squad pushed the shipboard guards out of the way and put me their version of 'irons'. Security bracelets over my wrists, anklets secured with high voltage cables to a belt at my waist. You would think that I was a serial killer or something.
     
    The goons smashed my tablet on the ground and kicked it along with my things into the corner. “You get nothing like this in our cells prisoner” they said.
     
    Sub-vocalizing, I said “ Wilson, make sure you keep copies of all surveillance on me from now on, especially on this station.”
     
    Two of the guards grabbed me and physically carried me out into the corridor. I could hear the shipboard military again protesting my treatment as they escorted me off the ship. At the end of the access way the guards tossed me, literally, into a security transport. I slammed into the transports interior wall, hearing my shoulder pop. I braced myself, this was not going to be fun.
     
    My experience with station security was not memorable. It was dehumanizing and very embarrassing. I was scanned, stripped and searched. Not with a female guard and not gently either. I think my jailers got off on it. They threw a very thin shirt and a pair of shorts at me.
     
    Once dressed I was dragged into a cell and dumped in the middle of the room. The cell was similar to the shipboard one, only not. Just an empty room with a bucket. Delightful. I sat in the corner and tried not to cry.
     
    “Hey, there's no crying in baseball!”
     
    “Wilson, not now. This is really serious. I think these people intend to kill me.”
     
    “Athena, I transmitted video records of everything. What was done to you is NOT procedure. Higher authorities have been informed; I made sure of it.”
     
     
    When I was younger my father trained me in several of the martial art forms. Everyone in my family was. It was a tradition.
     
    Tai Chi and the meditation that came with it was what has been the most useful to me through the years. It has helped me to stay sane. I sat in the corner of the cell, positioning myself so I could see the door. I meditated while resting.
     
    Soon the door to my cell opened. “Shower time!” yelled the guard.
     
    He then sprayed me with a large high pressure fire hose. The freezing cold water chilled me to the bone. The pressure pounding on my already sore body until I was left, in my now wet clothing lying in a puddle on the floor. That night I did not sleep at all. Prisoner interrogation techniques and torture was used against me. I was almost drowned several times when they water boarded me. The absolute worst was what they called the ‘confinement’. My hands were handcuffed to steel rod that was also attached to my feet. I was unable to sit, walk, or use the ‘bucket’ for hours at a time. It was sheer hell.
     
    Loud noise was piped into my cell every few hours to prevent me from sleeping.
     
    Food was withheld. I ate only the barest of rations. Starvation rations that are reserved for survival packs. The guards performed bed