Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Prelude to War (Athena Lee Chronicles, Book 9) by T.S. Paul

Release date: July 28, 2016
Subgenre: Space opera

About Prelude to War

 

With the destruction of the Earth ship Colossus the 3rd interstellar war is about to begin. The Cabal plan to reveal their political intentions to the Galaxy, but before they can, they have to eliminate their enemies first. Athena and her whole family are in their sights along with anyone that stands in the way of progress and control. Who will survive the onslaught and who will die? Only time will tell.

Join Athena, Wilson and the CATTs as they set out to prove that might does not equal right!

Excerpt:



The light fixture hit the ground with a crash. The former President’s office was starting to look a little worse for wear. Miguel 009 was extremely pissed off and was destroying things left and right. “The whole ship? How much of the fleet survived?”

“We aren’t sure, Sir. Mars had some kind of super weapon hidden beneath Deimos. Our science group thinks it was a mass driver or particle cannon. Whatever it was, it came as a complete surprise to both the Earth ship and our forces. That’s not even considering the large fleet of ships that came out of nowhere. It appears that Mars has been stockpiling a whole fleet in case of emergency. None of our informers knew anything about it.”

“Damn them to hell! Have we heard anything from Johann or from Earth itself?”

“No, Sir. We believe that he was on the flagship when it exploded. There have been a few survivors found but all but one group  committed suicide before being questioned. Martian Intelligence has that group. So far they’re still alive. As for the fleet, it was broken into three sections during the battle. One part was destroyed with all hands. Another fled back into Earth space. The third vanished. It may be on its way here at this very moment.”

“What else have you heard?” This day just kept getting worse and worse. Miguel needed to get a handle on things before any Earth forces showed up.

“Not very much. Mars has deployed the same sort of anti-spy system that Hong Kong is using. All of our intel sources are rapidly drying up and many of our agents have been captured. Incidentally, Sam 0256 has shown up on Mars. He was spotted in the company of the Primus’s security forces.”

“There is a prime example for you, Roger. Never show any sort of weakness because it will come back and bite you in the ass every time. I should have killed him like I was ordered to. Instead, I reprogrammed his systems and put all the worst troublemakers on board his ship. Once upon a time he was my friend, my brother, and my commander. Now he is just my enemy. Enough. Add his name to the hit list. Tell our operatives on Mars to take out the command group whatever the cost. Send a similar message to Hong Kong. We need to cut the head off these snakes or we will all be doomed.”

“Yes, Sir. I will send the word right now!” The man ran from the room.

Miguel’s lip curled. “Good help is so hard to find these days!” He pressed a button on his console. “Send in Jeremiah!”

Jeremiah 117 was a tall man with bushy eyebrows. “Sir!”

“Sit down, Jeremiah. Now, what’s our Fleet’s status.”

“We control about eighty-eight percent of the Fleet at this time. Admiral Kane escaped with a scratch squadron build from three fleets. Other than her forces, there is a small scattering of random ships here and there. Mostly they are supply ships or anti-piracy patrols. We are accounting for as many as we can. All of our shipyards are in full swing building the next generation ships from our ship designers.”

“Did the shipyard guilds give you any trouble?”

“Not after we sent the first group of protesters and the guild leaders for a walk outside. I have a vid of the second meeting as they drifted past the office windows. So far there have been no further issues.”

“Good. Try to keep it that way. Do we know where Admiral Kane’s fleet went?”

“We think they went either out to the rim or to one of the unpopulated systems. We’re checking now.”

“Tell your scouts to keep an eye out for unknown ships. Roger just reported to me that some of Earth’s fleet may have survived the Martian ambush and may travel straight to us. Make sure our ships are informed. How goes the rest of the Empire?”

“Most of the Imperial Senate has joined us. Any that didn’t have been retired. So far the Maskirovka is holding.”

Finally something good. “Excellent work, Jeremiah. Track down as many dissidents as you can before the announcement.  We suspect that many of the rebels will show their hands at that time. We need our troops to be able to put them down.”

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About T.S. Paul:

A first time Novelist, I have experience in many things unrealated to writing. I've worked as a DJ, a Cook, Retail Book manager, and many other careers. My Telecommunication and Culinary degree did not prepare me for a future as an Author. Science Fiction has always been my passion. Now I can bring my love of the genre to more readers and share the stories from inside my Head.

 

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