by Dan Kelly
This gets the attention of the rest of the Pack and Mickey Meteor asks, “What about Emperor Eclipse?”, so he tells the rest of the Pack what he saw.
“When I turned around to make sure I saw what I thought I saw, I lost him in the crowd.”
“Could it have been someone that just looked like the Emperor, Pulsar?’ asks Artie Asteroid.
“Come on, get real, Artie. You’ve seen his picture. The chances of someone else looking like him are slim to none. I wonder why he’s here on Croag. Whatever the reason, I’m certain it’s going to bring big trouble to someone, knowing what we know about him.” Pulsar wonders if he should tell Commander Roozag about what he saw and decides against it. Telling him would only lead to other questions and Queen Quasar has instructed them to keep hush-hush about what happened back on Proton.
A few minutes later, the Commander rounds them up and says it’s time to leave. As they are boarding the troop carrier, Pulsar, takes one last look around, hoping that he will never forget what he has experienced tonight. As he’s scanning the parking lot, he sees a small line of life forms waiting to board one of the shuttle transports that takes guests of the local hotels to and from the downtown area. For the second time tonight, he is shocked to see the Emperor. This time, however, the Emperor senses someone staring at him and turns to see who it is. For just a few seconds they lock onto each other, but to Pulsar it seems like time has stood still. This guy is really scary. They both turn away when it’s their turn to board their vehicles. He must tell Queen Quasar what he has seen as soon as he gets back to Proton. Maybe she can find out at the diplomatic level, talking with the ruler of Croag or his security advisors, what the Emperor is up to.
As for the Emperor, he is more than a little intrigued with the youngster he caught staring at him with what he deemed more than idle curiosity. There was something out of kilter with that group of kids and especially one of the adults that was with them. The kids were much more orderly and acted much more mature than other kids their age and one of the two adults had a military bearing about him. There were no external markings on the carrier, but it could be from a military base somewhere close by. The Emperor wishes he could follow the carrier to see where it goes, but he doesn’t at this moment have the means to do so.
Early the next morning, as the Pack’s spaceship leaves for Proton, Emperor Eclipse is leaving for his meeting with Croag’s Chief of Planet Security, Verak Audon. The Emperor is well prepared for this meeting and eagerly awaits site of the huge glass-like dome that sits atop the planet’s security headquarters building. As the dome comes into view, his thoughts suddenly drift back to the kid in the parking lot. He just can’t shake the idea that there is something going on with those
kids that he should know about. As quickly as these thoughts surface, they again recess into his subconscious as they pull up to the main entrance of the security building.
The meeting with Chief Audon is going well and according to plan. They have discussed a variety of topics of mutual interest and the Emperor is getting ready to ask his question regarding the “rumors” he’s been hearing when the meeting is interrupted by Chief Audon’s assistant’s voice coming across an intercom on the Chief’s desk. “I’m sorry for the interruption, Chief Audon, but something has come up that requires your immediate attention.”
“I’ll be right out. Please excuse me, Emperor, this must be something very important or my assistant would never have interrupted us. Please help yourself to some refreshments while you’re waiting.”
While the Emperor is waiting, he spots an unmarked folder on the Chief’s desk with a piece of paper slightly sticking out of the top with the words “the Power Pack’s accomplishments at Camp Chameleon”. Without hesitation, he stands up and turns the folder around and opens it to find a three page memo from a Commander Roozag summarizing a training program at Camp Chameleon involving a group of kids referred to as the Power Pack who have special abilities. He hears footsteps approaching, so he quickly closes the folder and turns it back around to its original position. He just gets back into his chair when the Chief walks back into his office. He really cut it close.
His mind is going a mile a minute and he wishes he had had the chance to read the entire memo. His mind was also flashing back to the incident with that kid in the parking lot and wondering if there was any connection between those kids and this memo. In any event, he decides not to proceed with asking his prepared questions regarding the “rumors”. If the Chief puts the Emperor’s accessibility to the folder he left on his desk while he was out of the office together with the Emperor’s questions, he might become suspicious and those suspicions could seriously affect the relationship between the two planets. This is something that the Emperor definitely does not want to happen. It would make it much more difficult for him to gather the needed intelligence to develop his plan to take over the rule of Croag.
As it turns out, Chief Audon has to conclude their meeting as the matter that has come up is going to take a considerable amount of time to resolve. “I’m so sorry, Emperor. Perhaps we can reschedule another visit to or even a conference call to resume our discussion. I believe we can be of great help to each other.”
“I understand, Chief Audon, and am very glad to hear that you feel this way. When I return, I will contact you to schedule a conference call so that our key advisors may also participate in our discussion. Thank you so much for your time and consideration this morning.” With that, the Emperor is escorted out to the Chief’s private limousine and driven back to his hotel.
Chapter 16
During the ride back to his hotel, the Emperor is deep in thought concerning what he read in the memo addressed to Chief Audon. “Who are these brats, what are their special powers and where can they be found? How and why are they receiving special training and do they pose a threat to me? I have lots of questions and no answers. I must increase my espionage efforts on Croag to see if I can learn anything else about this Power Pack.”
As soon as he returns to Erebus, he puts out an order for more field agents to be sent to Croag with instructions to report immediately any new findings relating to Camp Chameleon or the Power Pack no matter how insignificant they may seem. Several months go by without anything new being reported and the Emperor is now thinking about resorting to his original plan of asking Chief Audon the “rumors” question. “The conference call I scheduled with the Chief is coming up next week and that would be a good time to pop the question. Enough time has gone by since my visit to Croag and my seeing that memo for there to be any likely connection made with my questions. Yes, I’ll do it.”
When Pulsar returns to Proton, he immediately tells Queen Quasar who he saw on Croag. Like Pulsar, the Queen also would like to know why the Emperor was there and is going to follow Pulsar’s suggestion that she make inquiries at the diplomatic level. The Queen didn’t know that any relationship had been established between Erebus and Croag.
Because of all the security problems she’s had to deal with involving Emperor Eclipse, she decides to hold off calling King Kordol, the ruler of Croag, and instead calls Chief Audon to see if he knows or can find out why the Emperor paid a visit to Croag. Of course, she’ll have to tell the Chief all about the problems she’s been having with the Emperor, but the Queen feels comfortable about doing this as the two planets are very strong allies and have faced many crises together. She’s concerned that the Emperor might somehow have found out about the Pack and the purpose of its visit to Croag. The Chief would be the logical person for the Queen to call since he was the one who set up the Pack’s trip to Croag.
The Emperor is as ignorant about the relationship between Proton and Croag as the Queen is about the relationship between Erebus and Croag, so there’s a lot of nescience to go around. As soon as the Chief picks up his communicator and the social amenities have been addressed, the Queen gets right to the point. She states the purpose of her call and the reasons for her concern. For several moments there
is nothing but silence on the Chief’s end and then a soft sardonic laugh comes rumbling across the secured channel. This is followed by a loud noise as though something was slammed down on something. In fact, the Chief made this sound when he slammed his pocket computer on his desk top.
This is followed by the Chief screaming repeatedly, “I blew it! I blew it! I blew it! I blew it”
“What are you talking about, Chief?” the Queen asks excitedly.
“The Emperor came to Croag to discuss trade matters and other ways to improve relations between our two planets with King Kordol and to discuss security issues with me. During our conversation, I had to leave my office briefly to address an urgent matter with my assistant. When I returned, I had to terminate our meeting due to the seriousness of the issue raised by my assistant and we agreed that another meeting should be scheduled to resume our discussion. We agreed to scheduling a conference call so that our advisors could actively participate. The conference call is to take place next week.
“After the Emperor had left, I noticed that something was amiss with a folder I had left on my desk when I left my office to talk with my assistant. I had become so engrossed in our conversation that I had forgotten all about the folder and what was in it. I thought that when I left the office the folder was a little askew and a piece of paper was slightly protruding from the top of the folder. When I returned, the folder was in the center of the desk, no paper was showing and it was perfectly aligned with the desk’s edges. On opening the file, I quickly realized what was in it and filed it away in our vault, with only a shadow of a thought that the Emperor might have stolen a glance at its contents. This only half registered with me and I quickly forgot about it until now. He must have gotten nosy and taken a look. I don’t think he had time to read the entire memo, probably just part of the first page, but there is enough on that page to give the reader a sense of something special happening with a group of special kids with a reference made to Camp Chameleon.
“If I had been on the ball, I could have apprehended him before he even left the building and accused him of spying. I really blew it! It’s anyone’s guess what this scoundrel will do with what he learned from this memo. I have committed a serious breach of security and will do everything possible to limit or eradicate the damage this knowledge could cause. Please accept my apology, Queen Quasar.”
“Chief Audon, your apology is accepted. This could have happened to me just as easily as it happened to you. It is imperative, however, that we now focus on how to mitigate or eliminate the chances of his building on the knowledge he has obtained and prevent him from revealing the existence of both Camp Chameleon and the Power Pack. What goes on at Camp Chameleon is vital to your planet’s security and the Power Pack is and in the future will be playing a vital role in Proton’s global security. I definitely believe the Pack would be in extreme danger if the Emperor had all the details concerning them. I must avoid this at all cost.”
“Understood, Queen Quasar, and I think the first thing we should do is inform the King about what has transpired and bring him into the loop regarding any counter measures we devise.”
“I agree, Chief. Hopefully, the three of us can come up with something that will discourage the Emperor from pursuing actions that could result in serious consequences for both of our planets.”
When King Kordol first hears about all of this, he is surprised. This surprise, however, soon evolves into disappointment and then anger. The Emperor led him to believe that he was a peace loving ruler who was seeking nothing more than better relations with a host of other planets in the universe. He does not like being duped, especially by the likes of Emperor Eclipse and promises to do all he can to help the Queen and the Chief steer the Emperor down a road to nowhere.
The next day the Chief calls Queen Quasar and tells her that they found a maintenance man working at Camp Chameleon hanging around a place he wasn’t authorized to be in trying to look into some files in one of the offices. After some tough interrogation, he told the Chief’s security people everything regarding what he was instructed to look for and the chain of communication to the Emperor. “Under threat of imprisonment, he has agreed to continue to transmit reports, but now these reports will be put together by Croagan security personnel. Using this development and next week’s conference call might be the ideal tools for us to plant the seeds of doubt in the Emperor’s mind. This assumes, of course, that we can come up with the right seeds to plant.”
“Ok, Chief. Great work. Let’s see what we can come up with.”
Chapter 17
It doesn’t take long for Queen Quasar and Chief Audon to realize that there are only three courses of action they can take regarding Camp Chameleon and the Power Pack, denial, confirmation or smoke screen. Denial won’t work because the Emperor’s spy has confirmed the existence of Camp Chameleon and the memo confirms the existence of the Power Pack. Confirmation of the observations made by the Emperor’s spy is out of the question because by doing so it would put the security programs of Croag and Proton in jeopardy. Confirmation would lead to other questions whose answers could expose other secrets to public scrutiny. The only course left is a smoke screen.
The trick here is to come up with a scenario that is crafty enough to deceive the Emperor into concluding that something other than what he has been led to believe has been going on at Camp Chameleon. After a great deal of contemplation, much pacing, the consumption of gallons of energy drinks, and the rejection of dozens of ideas, they come up with a plan that they think will do the trick.
They strongly believe that Emperor Eclipse will bring the subject of Camp Chameleon and the Power Pack up during the scheduled conference call. They don’t know how much of the memo the Emperor had a chance to read, but they’re convinced that he has a keen interest in pursuing the matter. “We can add fuel to the fire by doing something that will make him even more inquisitive than he is already.” says Chief Audon. “We can disband Camp Chameleon, leaving nothing but empty buildings, and temporarily reassign the troops to other outfits. We will have his spy report this via his normal channel and this news should make the Emperor more determined than ever to broach the subject during the conference call.
“When the subject comes up, my response will be that the Camp was established to have a place out of the public eye where children mentally gifted in the sciences could engage in pre-planned experiments aimed at strengthening our global defense system. Military personnel were stationed there for security, protection and to assist in the experiments when needed. I will confirm the report he has received from his field agent by telling him that the experiments have been completed and the Camp disbanded. If the term “Power Pack” comes up, my response will be that it is a nickname derived from a comment made by one of the troops regarding the combined intellectual power of these kids. I doubt that this will come up, however, as the only way he could have come across this term is by reading the memo and he’s too smart to open that can of worms.
“Disbanding the Camp is something we’ll have to do anyway because its existence has been exposed. We will secretly relocate it and resume operations at the appropriate time. Fortunately, the Emperor’s spy hasn’t been working at the Camp for very long and has no idea about the other things going on there. Well, how does this sound to you, Your Highness?”
“I like it, Chief. It has a ring of truth to it and I think the chances are good that the Emperor will buy it. We better run this by King Kordol and get his approval before we do anything though.”
“Agreed. I’ll do it right now.”
On the same day that the dismantling of Camp Chameleon begins, the maintenance man and the head of Croag’s largest mining operation mysteriously disappear, never to be heard from again. This definitely puts a crimp in the Emperor’s espionage network on Croag. Apparently, this mining big shot has been serving as a message screener and relay guy for a half dozen of the Emperor’s field agents. Chief Audon’s people have been monitoring all of th
e executive’s communications and when they were convinced that they had identified all of the members of this guy’s cell, they took him out of circulation. They left the other cell members alone, figuring that they might lead them to other players in the Emperor’s espionage operation if and when they are reassigned. It will take a while for the Emperor to realize something is wrong because reports have only been submitted when there was something significant to report.
On the day of the conference call, fifteen minutes before all of the connections are made and the call begins, Queen Quasar receives a call on her private and secure line from Chief Audon. Without preamble he says, “I think the kids have been made, at least partially so.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I just transmitted a photo to you which will explain everything.”
