GALAXY AT WAR - Book 4 - A Dark Time

CHAPTER ONE - December 2172 - Moon / Earth / Anthera

CHAPTER ONE

December 2172

Moon / Earth / Anthera

...Moon...

The party had already been going for several hours when Suzanne, Steve and Ben entered the 'Artificial Park'. The 'Artificial Park' was a room full of sensors which could recreate any park from around the world. Today, General Bolgon had had the room programmed to represent a large nightclub for the Christmas party.

There were people dancing everywhere. The music was loud and the drinks were flowing. A smile crept across Suzanne's face as the scene before her triggered a memory of the last time she and Steve had partied. He had a tendency to overindulge with the drink. She normally let it go as he rarely got drunk anymore.

"You enjoying this?" asked Steve.

Suzanne looked at him, "I'd prefer being home but this is a pretty good second choice."

Steve extended an arm behind her and gently squeezed before kissing her lightly on her cheek, "It won't be long - hopefully." He looked towards the agent whose job it was to protect them, "How does he do it?"

Suzanne looked away from a couple that had caught her attention. They looked as though they'd had a little too much to drink and the female was trying to remove her blouse, "Sorry Steve - what did you say?"

Steve pointed towards triple ess, "I said - how does he do it?"

Suzanne looked at triple ess. He was straight-faced and scanning the room, no doubt using all his senses, "He takes his work very seriously - thank god."

"Double ess would be stupid to try anything here - surely," said Steve.

Ben Baines, who felt like a third wheel around Suzanne and Steve, said, "He's crazy remember. He could come for us anywhere."

"Yeah - well I'm not going to worry about him at the moment. If he does come then our bodyguard will handle it I'm sure," Suzanne pulled at Steve's arm. "Let's dance."

Ben watched them move onto the dancefloor and felt all the familiar feelings of sadness. That could have been him and Roxanne walking onto the dancefloor arm in arm. It could have been except for that Space Federation agent (Double Ess) that had killed her. Roxanne had been raped and murdered by him and the bastard was still running around free despite triple ess's best efforts to capture him. In the end, double ess had been presumed dead when General Bolgon's latest bunch of heavy-handed super soldiers (the ECS team) had brought down half a bungalow on top of him. He had escaped that as well. Now they had to stay up here on the moon, within Sentry One, for protection.

Ben walked over to triple ess, "How's it going?"

Triple ess responded without stopping his constant vigilance, "It would be better if you would all stay in your rooms. There are too many possible options for attack here. Double ess could manage to kill all three of you without anyone here knowing who had done it."

"You won't hear me argue with you on that point triple ess. I'd prefer to be in my room," Ben sighed as he watched everyone enjoying themselves.

"Unfortunately I can't separate you. If double ess is here I would find you dead in your room when we got back."

"What's to stop him here?"

Triple ess looked directly at Ben for the first time, "Nothing."

"Nothing. Just great. So what do we need you for?"