The Grey Chronicles Part One: New Declaration of An Old War

Chapter 32: The Blood Forge.

Phantom drop ship, capital city of Athena Nine, July of 8096 AL.

Salem sat in the passenger area of the drop ship, with Alex and Soluna sitting next to him while Briarios and Korana sat across from him. Augustus and Aela were piloting the craft.

They had arrived at and docked with the drydock station above Athena Nine, an agricultural colony, and were proceeding to meet in the city center. The Jarl in charge of the colony had offered to let them use his office; the room was soundproof, blast proof, and impossible to bug. It was in a mid-sized business complex where the administrators of the planet worked. A small apartment building only a few blocks up the road housed all of them, and besides increased security, it looked just like any one of the thousands of upper middle-class apartment buildings on the planet. It had no luxuries that the administrators hadn't bought for themselves, with their own income.

They passed the apartments on their way up the road. The highways were both aerial and blacktop; a paved road on the ground for cars and trucks, then the airspace above the road was marked for cargo ships. They flew through a lane reserved for military and police craft with an entourage of six Wolverine fighters, seventeen hundred feet above the ground, staying high above all but the tallest of buildings. Thirty thousand feet above them, a Predator gunship provided overwatch. It was armed to the teeth with heavy cannons and a smaller version of the Daisychains. A quarter of a mile to either side flew squadrons of Dagger strike fighters, and Wolverines patrolled the skies. Nothing and no one would get anywhere near the entourage from the sky. At least, not in one piece.

The Phantom flew over the road, where drivers looked up at the airborne convoy with interest. It was rare to see anything but cargo ships and police helicopters. Seeing fully armed military aircraft was a treat, and the drivers couldn't help but wonder what was happening.

Salem looked out of the window as they came in to land on a helipad platform on the top of the town hall. The roads around the hall were barricaded, with tanks and APCs forming a blockade around the building. Scattered around the roof tops of the nearby buildings were snipers, and armed guards patrolled the streets. Security was at a maximum.

The Phantom touched down softly, Aela was an expert pilot. The back of the drop ship opened, a ramp lowered to the flat roof of the building. A large glass tunnel slid up to the ramp, extending from the back of the Phantom to the door of the stairwell. As Salem expected, the glass was tinted and bullet proof. Several guards stood by the doorway, and Salem was none too happy to see the level of security. He had hoped that the end of the Colonial Wars with the Stonehaaryns would bring an end to the ridiculous security measures; apparently, he was wrong.

He strode down the ramp, followed by his family. Aela stayed inside the cockpit, keeping the engines running in case they needed to make a fast escape. The glass tube protected them in case of sniper fire, and even served to deaden some of the noise from the Phantom's rotors. The Phantom was quiet in comparison to other aircraft, but the engines were still deafening up close.

Salem nodded to the security detail that escorted them down the stairwell. An armed guard stood on every landing, and two walked with them down the stairs. They descended to the fourth floor of the five-story building and walked up a heavily guarded hallway to the Jarl's office. All of the windows were covered by thick black sheets, preventing anyone from seeing inside the building.

The office was essentially a thick metal box bolted into a room, with a vault door and a single window made of shock proof plexiglas reinforced with wire mesh and steel bars. A large wooden table sat in the middle of the room, with a dozen chairs seated around it. This was where the city council would convene to discuss private affairs. Several of the seats were already filled.