Revolutionary (The Athena Lee Chronicles Book 4) by T S Paul Read Free Book Online Page A

the dying filled the streets. Fires raged from buildings and vehicles caught in the torrent of fire from the troopships. Soot covered and now out of ammo the ESS troops signaled the drop ships for pick up.
     
    Sobs could be heard from all around me as I realized I too was crying. The newsies had cut the feed when my brother was killed. The screen now read Please stand by . I stumbled from the cafeteria and into the marines I had spoken to.
     
    “Lieutenant Lee are you OK?” I had too many tears to answer him. He looked into the cafeteria and saw the distraught and crying personnel.
     
    “What the hell happened here?” He motioned for his men to find out. The food service personnel told them about the protest. Hearing this the marine got very angry. “Private Simms, inform our Commander of the protest and round up the squad. We will escort the Lieutenant back to her ship and then meet up at the squad room.
     
     
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    I was still in tears when I entered the ship. This upset the OOD and the marine guards with him. The guards dropped what they were doing and rushed over. Scanning in all directions the marine Sergeant turned to me and asked if I was OK. They were all bracing for a possible attack. Red faced and teary eyed I explained to them about the massacre. The OOD immediately began searching the news reports for more information. Shakily I keyed in my access code and entered the ship. My clearly tear-filled face attracted much attention on my way to the bridge. I stopped and wiped my eyes with the sleeve of my tunic. Both of the marine guards were watching me. I told them I was OK. With this many marines seeing me like this I should probably expect a visit from Dar. My uniform now straightened and my appearance mostly neat, I calmly walked onto the bridge.
     
    Commander Wang was hunched over the navigation console working with one of my electronic techs. I paused next to the Commander. The XO heard my footsteps and looked over at me. He saw my red eyes and flushed complexion and turned away from my tech. “Lieutenant what has happened?”
    Fresh tears started to force their way from my eyes. “The protest planetside was a massacre. ESS troops killed thousands of innocent civilians, including my brother. They just mowed them down, their dropships firing into the crowd. It was awful.”
    At my statement the rest of the bridge crew at turned away from their instruments and with faces filled with shock were watching me. The XO motioned to the communications officer and the forward screens lit up with the news casts of the massacre. Seeing it on the big screen of the ships just made it worse. From above the city center appeared as if it were a giant red eye. A complete pristine circle around the government buildings was surrounded by blood spatted buildings and streets. The blood of thousands filled the gutters and culverts of the city. Flashing lights could be seen as emergency services were arriving. No other event on this planet in living memory was as horrific.
    “Captain on the bridge.” The systems tech noticed the Captain standing in the doorway.
    We all came to attention instinctively. Captain Gorshin was staring at the screens with a look of anger mixed with shame. He pointed at me and the XO and waved us toward his Ready Room.
    “Commander Dunne, you have the conn.” The XO passed command and followed us.
    The Captain ashen faced answered. “Athena are you ok?” We all sat at the table.
    Surrounded by visual reminders of the regime that had just killed my people I was silent. I didn’t answer him but asked a question instead. “Captain did you see the protest?”
    His face was dark and a fire burned in his eyes. I could tell that he was on the verge of losing his temper. “I did. Again are you OK?”
    I nodded, wiping my tears away, I cast my eyes downward and spoke to my Captain. “I was in the cafeteria. The newsies broke the story. I watched it live, Captain. None of the protesters were