Chapter 3. Valkyrie

Lucian sat with Galen in his private quarters considering

the schematics of the ship laid out in front of him.

"That doesn't look like one of ours."

"It's not." Galen said, pouring himself a drink.

"She's the Valkyrie, her home port was on Hades."

"Then she burned," Lucian said, "like the all the other ships

did, in the first wave of our attack."

"The Valkyrie wasn't at Hades when we went in."

"I thought the entire fleet was accounted for."

"So did I."

Lucian swirled the ice cubes in his glass. "Is this conversation

going somewhere?"

"Perhaps...maybe all the way to a populate of Senators putting me

forward as Emperor."

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"Emperor? Whatever you have in mind Galen, I hope it doesn't involve

me spending any more time on Mars - what a shit hole."

Galen smiled, and spoke to the ship.

"Helena."

"Yes, Senator Galen."

"Can you ask Ithaniel to join us?"

"Of course."

"Ithaniel?" Lucian said. "Legate August's son, I haven't seen him since

he was boy."

Galen nodded. "Try not to say how much he looks like August."

"Why's that?"

"He didn't know he was a clone, until his Father died."

*

Lucian couldn't help smiling when Ithaniel entered.

"Your Father and I served in the Praetorian guard. We did our

basic training together.... and I have to say...."

Ithaniel stifled a groan.

"He was one of the hardest bastard's that I ever met."

Ithaniel smiled . "He used to say that about you, Tribune Lucian."

"No need for formalities, we're all friends here. How are you

involved in all of this?"

"Helena can you bring up a display of Hades."

"Will this do Senator Galen?"

"That will be fine thank you."

Galen stood before the display with his back to Lucian and Ithaniel..

"Ithaniel is a telemetry specialist. It was his team that uncovered the

signals appearing to be coming from Hades."

"Appearing to be coming from?" said Lucian

Ithaniel nodded. "The frequency widths were surprisingly shallow,

and the signals themselves were weak - eventually we realised the

signals weren't being sent from Hades at all. They were being sent to

Hades and bouncing flat and unreceived back into space."

"What was the source then?" Lucian asked.

Galen turned around, "That's the interesting part - it's a ghost ship."

Lucian wasn't sure if he'd heard correctly. "A what?"

"A ghost ship."

Lucian scowled. "That's what I thought you said. "

"Let me explain." Ithaniel said.

*

Authors Note. I will add to this chapter in the next few weeks.

Any feedback you may have about the story would be welcome.

Please read the earlier books in the series to get a grounding

in the story line.

Book 1. Sleep now in the fire

Book 2. Wake now in the fire

Book 3. Breathe now in the fire