Here is the first Snippet of Book 8

Here is a snippet from the upcoming book 8 of the Athena Lee Chronicles. Enjoy!


“Mr Ambassador, John. Are you sure we are doing the right thing? I mean, she is Colonel Lee’s daughter.” The Marine Master at arms was getting along in years. Mars was supposed to be a retirement post. Active combat and arresting people was something new to him.

“Master Chief, she is too young for this position! Not too mention her political unreliability. She is already in cahoots with the Martian government. No, I’m right. Those orders have to be forgeries. I and my family have served our planet for over fifty years in this position through two government changes. Hell, we weren’t even recalled when the Empire took over. We just kept low profiles and kept doing our jobs. She stays under house arrest until I receive new orders.”

“If you say so sir. You are the man in charge. However, there is at least one team of Marines assigned to her still unaccounted for. My boys have a Marine uniform outside the perimeter watching us.”

“Are you sure there is a team out there?”

“Pretty sure. The James Cook landed two teams of Marines. The first were shipboard Marines that took possession of that Imperial Commodore. The returned to the ship. The other team was the Special Forces one that performed the actual snatch-and-grab. They were led by that big woman  Marine Lieutenant Dar. They are still out there. That message we received placed them at the disposal of Commander Lee.”

“They have no support or supplies and are on a strange planet, what trouble could they be?”  The Ambassador  looked rather smug. He was in charge here! Not some thirty something Chicky that got the position because of who daddy was.

“They are Marines. We need to be careful, Sir.” The Ambassador waved the older man away.

Master Chief Sam Kirkland was no fool. He, unlike the old ambassador kept up with the news from home. Commander Athena Lee was a big deal in the Navy and on the planet. Now she had contacts here on Mars, the Primus herself if the vid was to be believed. He needed to pick a side and do it quickly.

The embassy was built like a fortress. Walls on all sides were topped with concertina wire and each corner of contained a gun turret. The defenses dated back to just before the last interstellar war. Mars was never attacked but everything was build just-in-case. Inside the walls the main building was a hardened shell of titanium with steel belts over granite blocks. In theory it would survive a small tac-nuke explosion. There was three squads of Marines under Kirkland’s orders: one unit guarded the civilians, one manned the guns, and the third was the back-up force. Each man was armed with assault rifles and personal armored skinsuits. If the Special forces wanted in they would have to shoot there way in.

Sergeant Vince Carter was watching the Mardis Gras floats drift by with a huge smile on his face. They sure had nothing like this back home. He had one eye on the topless girls and one eye on the Hong Kong Embassy. He was so distracted that he failed to notice his commander directly behind him, until she smacked him in the back of his head. In the Corp that was called a ‘Gibbs’ by most of the old timers.

 “The girl’s are very nice looking sergeant, but that is not what you are here for! Later on you can chase them all you like. Eyes on the prized please.” Dar was very annoyed that the embassy had arrested Athena. The idiots even ignored a direct order from home too. Stupid. Such a pain the ass. All the galactic governments were up in arms over pictures of ships in Old Earth orbit. Only Mars was not freaking out.