Free Athena Lee Chronicles 8: Infiltration by T S Paul Page B

destroy enemy communications. So far it has found what’s in those three buckets over over there.” She signaled her men and they poured the contents of the buckets out on the table. Thousands of listening and surveillance devices covered the table. “All of these came from inside the Capitol building.”
     
    Alexander poked at the bits of electronics in front of him. “Minerva some of these are older than I am. Where were these located?”
     
    “Sir, I can answer that. Merlin located the majority of the devices in and around government offices and inside the assembly room.”
     
    “Merlin? Who is Merlin?”
     
    “That is the name of the cat, father. I have ordered more CATT units to be built. I intend to use them to scour our cities and infrastructure looking for more bugs and hidden Cabal units. We don’t need another Sarah incident.”
     
    “Who is paying for all of this? Your position as head of Freedom station does not give you a discretionary spending budget. Something like this needs to be reviewed by the Council!”
     
    “Really Father? All you think about now is the bottom line and who is going to pay for our salvation. I paid for these robots with my own credits. I am beginning to think that Athena was right about you. Inform the Council that I will be cleaning up Freedom Station next. The safety of our world is at stake not politics.”
     
     
     
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    Hidden deep underground on the Imperial Capital Planet the Cabal’s leadership was moving. The great plan was finally coming to fruition after a hundred years of planning and plotting. Miguel 009 surveyed the master control room. His brothers and sisters were hard at work coordinating the takeover of the Imperial Senate and all capital cities key infrastructure points. Signals had already been sent to countless other colony worlds to begin operations. It was troubling that both Mars and Hong Kong had gone dark. The good news was that Johan 009 and his crew were already at the rendezvous point to meet with the ship from home. Home. Miguel longed to see his home again. It had been far too long since he and his brothers had walked upon the Earth.
     
    Miguel pressed a key on his command console. Large screens lit with news vid from across the planet. One report caught his eye, turning up the volume he heard. “Large forces of armed troops are moving into the city. We caught them coming around the corner from us. They seem to be taking control of Senate buildings and our fellow Vid broadcasters.” Sounds of gunfire could be heard along with an explosion. “Whoa! That was the security post for the Government center! Flames are now shooting into the sky. If you are on the streets, now would be a good time to get under cover. Our unit on the roof…” Footage began to play showing armored vehicles attacking government positions. “This may be our last transmission, unknown troops have entered the building and are…” More shots could be heard as the screen went blank. Miguel changed the channel and stepped away from his console.
     
    “Status report please.”
     
    “Sir, we are in control of most of the key government locations. One of our infiltration units slipped up and gave the wrong password touching off an attack by security forces. The broadcast center is on fire but we command the area now.”
     
    “Has the unit been reprimanded?” Mistakes were not acceptable.
     
    “Yes, Sir. The Warden team took care of it.”
     
    “Thank you John, good work. Make sure that everyone on the lists are rounded up. Judging by that report, have them start with the journalists.”
     
    “Yes, Sir. We have reports from New Reno of fighting on the station. Our units were not in as complete control there as they said they were. The assassination of the New Texas governor failed. Local troops have expelled our people there. Hong Kong has our embassy surrounded with armed troops and are not allowing anyone to exit.”
     
    “What of the