Empty Casket Conspiracy (Terran Patrol Book 1)

by Lewis Dually

  “Yes Sir. Nothing to it.”

  I flipped the flight transfer switch to his chair and said. “Have at it.”

  Joydeus took over the controls and turned us toward Earth. He had no hesitation and worked the sticks like a seasoned vet. Not surprising sense the controls on the ship he built were nearly an exact copy of these.

  “How’s your father doing?” I asked.

  “He’s nervous. I don’t know what’s eating at him but ever since the battle he’s been cranky.”

  “What does he think about you helping us?”

  “Oh we had a good go around about that. I told him I wanted to join the Navy and he had a fit.”

  “Really? You want to join up?” I asked.

  “Yes! Absolutely. Do you think they will take me?”

  “I will do my very best to get you in.” I assured him.

  I watched nervously as he took us into Earth orbit and made his calculations for entry. I had forgotten how the young and eager liked to operate on the edge and was surprised when Joydeus turned us down and dove into the atmosphere. Our speed was much higher than I was comfortable with but he did have the angles perfect so as not to bounce off the atmosphere or burn us to a crisp. Outside the cockpit window the heat shields began to glow white hot and I bit my tongue as we streaked across the Pacific Ocean like one of the old NASA shuttles coming in hot and fast. Just as we passed over Hawaii our speed dropped off enough for our sonic boom to catch up. The folks at Pearl would be calling flight command to complain and I wasn’t sure how I was going to answer their inquiries. “Oh it wasn’t me.” I’d say. “My Alien ward was flying.” Yeah that would go over well. Joydeus leveled out and turned us toward San Francisco.

  “How well do you know Ohven?” I asked.

  “Well I don’t actually know him.” He answered. “I know of him but we’ve never met.”

  “I was under the impression you and he were friends. That’s the reason I brought you along.”

  Joydeus adjusted the heads-up display as he said. “Sorry about that. I have communicated with him in emails but we’ve never met and I don’t even know what he looks like. He doesn’t know what I look like either.”

  “Speaking of looks.” I said. “You should put your eye lenses in. People down here have never seen an extraterrestrial and I don’t want to cause a panic on the landing pads. The fleet is on high alert after our run-in with the Krueg and seeing you just won’t do right now.”

  Joydeus pulled the little black case out of his shirt pocket and opened the lid. “What color, Blue, Brown, or Hazel? He asked.

  I looked at his dark features and almost black hair and said. “Brown.”

  “I was thinking Blue.” He replied.

  “Not a good idea.” I objected. “We’re trying to keep a low profile and seeing a person of Hispanic descent with blue eyes will defeat the purpose.”

  Joydeus frowned at me. “Why would that cause a problem?”

  “If you’re trying to keep a low profile you don’t do anything to draw attention to yourself. Nothing out of the ordinary. If a Mexican walks out with blue eyes people will notice and when they look you over they will start to see other features that are unusual. Next thing you know some security officer will start asking questions. I can answer any questions he may ask and my security clearance will get us clear but it’s a hassle we don’t have time for. Use the brown ones for now. You can change to blue on date night.”

  Joydeus pulled out one lens and pressed the edge between his fingers. As he did the color of the lens changed from blue to brown. He leaned forward and slipped the lens into his eye. After repeating the process on the other eye he blinked a couple of times and looked at me.

  “I like to think of myself as Inuit, not Hispanic.” He corrected me. “I do speak Inuit after all.”

  “Works for me.” I said.

  Seven minutes later we landed at the Navy yard in Alameda and signed out a car for the ride to Berkeley where the dossier said Ohven Brown worked for Trinity Propulsion Systems. Trinity was a development and testing company with Navy contracts so I was sure my Delta Level clearance would gain me access. It did, but I had to leave Joydeus behind in the visitor’s lounge. A well dressed and well-muscled security guard escorted me to the Office of Special Projects and I wondered if he were part of the PDA surveillance team Albright told me about. We walked past the copy room and a water cooler and found the door to the third office standing open.

  “Mr. Brown you have a visitor.” The security guard said as he stopped me at the door.

  A voice from inside answered. “Fine, fine. Show him in.”

  The guard moved aside and I entered as Ohven stepped forward to greet me.

  “Ohven Brown, How can I be of service Commander?”

  “Commander Allen Paul of the UES Dawn Rising.” I replied. “Can we speak in private?”

  “Certainly. Gerald, could you close the door please?”

  Gerald closed the door and took a post in the corridor.

  “Have a seat.” Ohven said. “What can I do for you?”

  I sat down in front of his desk and waited for him to do the same. As he took his seat I studied his features. He was definitely Croiddan. Now that I knew what to look for it was getting easier to spot them. Looking around his office it was obvious that he was into some serious electrical engineering design. On every wall and on every surface there was a diagram or model or in some cases the actual part of some electrical device or system. Looking back at Ohven I studied his eyes for a moment.

  “For starters,” I said “be it known that everything I’m about to discuss with you is classified. I’ve looked over your file and know you have a Delta Level Two clearance and you have already signed confidentiality agreements with the Navy. Second, you can take out your eye lenses and drop the act. I know what you are.”

  Ohven acted confused and insulted at the same time. “I beg your pardon? What is it that you think I am?”

  “You’re Ohven, a Croiddan from the planet Croid and a refugee here on Earth hiding from the Krueg. You are a graduate of MIT and according to my Croiddan contacts you are an expert on Krueg weapons and ships.”

  Ohven stopped pretending and asked. “It’s true then? You took on three Krueg Destroyers in the battle of Neptune and survived?”

  “Yes.” I replied as I wondered how he got the information.

  “You don’t know how lucky you are.” He said. “If they had hit you with their EMP gun you wouldn’t be here now.”

  “They did hit us with the EMP gun.” I said. “And then we blew them out of orbit and took their EMP gun. We also recovered a computer from their medical bay. We need your help to access its files. Can you help us?”

  “How did you survive the EMP?” He asked.

  “That’s classified. I came here with Joydeus Adolphus. Do you know him?”

  “Yes. I know who he is. We’ve never met but we have communicated. His father is on the council.”

  “His father is on United Earth One station right now and Joydeus is waiting in the lobby. I’m here because Joydeus says you will help us. There are two Krueg Battle Carriers and nine Destroyers headed for Earth and we need your help. Will you help?”

  “Yes!” Came his immediate response. “What do you need me to do?”

  He reminded me of Joydeus. A third generation immigrant who thought of Earth as home and wanted to protect it rather than run to another strange world and start over.

  “Come with me to the station.” I said.

  Ohven switched off his computer, picked up his briefcase and said. “Let’s go.”

  The whole event went much smoother than I had anticipated. In less than fifteen minutes we were back in the car and headed for Alameda. We entered the base and turned down Admiralty Drive to the OCS school where the newest batch of recruits were just about to graduate. As I left Joydeus and Ohven in the car and headed to the office of the commandant, I found myself wondered if leaving two Aliens in a parked
car would have the same consequences as leaving a pet in one. It was a dumb thought but it was there. An orderly ushered me into the office and I found Captain Sandra Kind sitting behind her desk perusing the latest batch of test scores.

  “What’s a rocket jockey doing polishing a desk chair?” I asked.

  She looked up from her work and flashed a broad smile as she recognized me.

  “The hero of Neptune! Well to what do I owe the pleasure? Let me guess. You’re here to steal two of my best and brightest!”

  “You bet. Just don’t give me any egg heads. At this point in the game I need fighters out there.”

  Sandra smiled again and replied. “I’ve got you covered. Albright gave me a heads up so I pulled a few files for you to look at. These are my ten best.” She slid a pile of folders across the desk to me and I picked them up as I sat down.

  “How’s your hip?” I asked. Three years ago Sandra broke her hip in an accident on the Jackson and took the position as commandant of the Navy Officer Cadet School while she recovered from hip replacement. She was not able to return to flight opps because of some ignorant Navy regulation about artificial limbs in high G-force conditions or some such.

  “It’s great.” She replied. “As a matter of fact I may be going back to flight command soon. If I can pass the physical next week. How’s your nose. It looks painful.”

  “Good!” I said. “We need competent commanders out there and my nose is fine as long as I don’t sneeze.” As I flipped through the files I asked. “Did you hear about Scott?”

  “Yes I did. That’s why they’re waving the medical requirements for me to return to flight opps again. He’ll make a good Admiral. It’s about time we have one who knows the rigors of space travel.”

  Sandra continued talking but I wasn’t listening anymore. One of the cadet files she gave me had captivated my attention. Cadet trainee Basil Blain. She was twenty years old and came from Holmes, Wyoming. Third in her class, her hobbies included body building and power weight lifting and she was six feet two inches tall. All of that was impressive but what caught my eye were her eyes. I held up her photo and examined her features closely. It dawned on me that I had never seen a female Croiddan. I had assumed they would be a smaller, lighter, feminine version of the men. The Cadet I was looking at was female and, unless I was mistaken, she was Croiddan. Smaller, lighter and feminine she was not. I reached in my pocket and pulled out my coms unit. Opening the flip screen I took a picture of cadet Blain’s photo and sent it to the coms unit I left with Joydeus.

  “What are you doing?” Sandra asked.

  “I’m testing a theory.” I said. Then I called Joydeus on the coms.

  “Did you get the picture I just sent you?”

  “Yes. She’s hot.” Joydeus replied.

  “Then you’re saying she’s one of you?”

  “Oh yes. She’s one of us alright. Can I switch to my blues now?” Apparently blue was the preferred eye color for young Croiddan men who were in the rut.

  “Not till we get on the shuttle.” I said.

  Sandra was waiting for an explanation but I wasn’t ready to reveal my suspicions just yet.

  “I’d like to meet Cadet Blain and Cadet Hollister. What’s your take on them?” I asked her.

  “Hollister is his Wing leader and a darn good one. He is also a hot dog pilot. He takes a few risks behind the stick but he’s good enough to pull it off. Blain is… well she’s an amazon warrior is the best way to explain it. She’s broken every record in the book and none of the male cadets can take her in hand to hand combat but she’s a little hot headed. I’ve never encountered anyone like her. I think she has command potential but she needs to control her aggression issues. In some ways she makes me proud to be a woman and in other ways she’s a pain in my back side. The only reason I included her in your stack are her test scores. She knows warp drive principle like no other. What are you thinking?”

  I looked across at Sandra for a moment and then asked. “How much did Albright tell you about my mission and the battle at Neptune?”

  “Not much. He said you made contact with the Black and we now know they are called Croiddan and that you uncovered an invasion plot by the Croiddan enemy who are called the Krueg. Then you got into a shooting match with a Krueg ship and disabled it.”

  “It was three ships.” I said. “And we blew them out of orbit. This Cadet Blain. Has she ever undergone a full medical scan? Like an MRI or something like that?”

  “No. I wouldn’t think so. Just the normal physical required for new recruits. Why?”

  I looked back down at the picture for a second. “I want to talk with her. Here in your office. Can you call her in?”

  “Sure. Give me a minute.” Sandra picked up the phone and called the duty officer. Ten minutes later Cadet Basil Blain entered the office and saluted.

  “Cadet Trainee Blain reporting as ordered Sir!”

  “At ease Blain. This is Commander Allen Paul of the UES Dawn Rising. He would like to speak with you.”

  Blain turned to me and said. “Yes Sir, Commander Sir!”

  I closed the door to the office and said. “Sit down Blain. We need to talk.”

  She took a seat in one of the strait back chairs Sandra had in front of her desk but she managed to look as if she were still at attention while waiting for me to continue. Leaning forward I peered into her completely normal looking hazel eyes.

  “Would you take those out please?” I asked.

  “Sir?”

  “Your eye lenses, take them out so I can see the black of your eyes.”

  Blain looked at Captain Kind and then back to me. “I don’t understand Sir. Take what out?”

  She was convincing enough to fool most people but most people hadn’t seen the things I had witnessed this week.

  “They do come out, don’t they? The contact lenses that cover your black eyes. If you press the corners of them between your fingers they change colors. I’m guessing Hazel is your favorite color.”

  Blain looked me dead in the eye and very slowly and deliberately said. “I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT SIR!” It wasn’t fear that I saw in her. It was defiance and maybe a bit of anger. She definitely had a combative mentality.

  I stepped back from her and sat on the arm of my chair. Sandra was leaning across her desk unsure of what I was doing. “Allen, what’s this about?” She asked.

  I looked at Sandra for a second and then said. “Cadet Blain, do you want to serve on the Dawn Rising as a bridge officer under my command? Think hard before you answer that. The Dawn Rising is a marked ship. Two days ago she fought it out with three Krueg Destroyers and we destroyed all three of them. The other nine Destroyers and the two Battle Carriers heading for Earth will no doubt want retribution for what we did to their comrades. Keep that in mind when you answer my question.”

  Blain looked up at me in utter amazement. “YES SIR! I want to serve on the Dawn Rising!”

  “Ok, then take out your eye lenses.” I insisted.

  Blain leaned forward and pulled her eye lid open with one hand and slipped the lens out with her finger. She repeated the process on the other eye and then looked up at me with her glistening coal black shark eyes.

  Sandra stood up behind her desk. “I’ll be damned!” She exclaimed.

  CHAPTER 17: J. T. Has Left The Building!

  “Captain Sandra Kind, meet Basil of Croid.” I said.

  Sandra walked around her desk and stood in front of Cadet Blain. She stooped down and examined Blain’s eyes for a moment and then straighten up and looked at me.

  “What do I do with her?” She asked.

  Blain stood up, saluted and said. “Cadet Trainee Blain reporting for duty, Sir. I am a natural born US citizen and wish to continue serving my country through service in the Navy. Please don’t send me away Sir.”

  I looked at Blain for a moment and then turned to face Sandra and said. “Albright said to give me two of your best for my crew replacements
and I choose her and Hollister. It’s as simple as that.”

  “But she’s an Alien?” Sandra whispered.

  “I’m an American!” Blain interrupted.

  I turned to Blain and opened up on her with my best drill instructor butt chewing voice. “Cadet Blain, stand at attention! When speaking to a superior officer you will address that officer as Sir. That’s the Navy way and the Navy way is the only way. If you want to continue your career in the Navy then you better learn to do things the Navy way and that means you will speak only when spoken to. Do you understand me Cadet Blain?”

  “Yes Sir, Commander Sir!” She shouted.

  “Good, now put your contacts back in and go wait in the hall while we discuss your continued service in this man’s Navy!”

  Blain saluted, did an about face and marched to the hall while putting in her eye lenses. I closed the door behind her and looked at Sandra.

  “Holy crap!” Sandra blurted out. “You really want her on your ship?”

  “Yes I do. I think it’s a perfect opportunity to forge a relationship between us and the Croiddan. And we have a common enemy. Remember, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

  “But she’s an Alien!” Sandra insisted.

  “You heard her. She’s an American. I know I’m splitting hairs here but any child born in the United States is a citizen. There’s no law that distinguishes between human and nonhuman Aliens. I’m sure there will be some new laws enacted to address this situation but until there are I’m going to use anything at my disposal to defeat the Krueg invaders. Alien or otherwise.”

  “So what do we do now?” Sandra asked.

  “For the time being I’d like to keep this quiet. I need to talk to Albright about this in person. He’s talking with the Croiddan delegation on the U E One right now so I need to get up there. As far as Blain is concerned we’ll keep her identity safe for now and I’ll take her to Albright and see what he says.”

  Sandra sat down behind her desk and glared at me. “You’re giving me orders now? I outrank you don’t forget.”

  “Project Shade gives me authority over anything that pertains to my mission so yes, I guess I am giving you orders. This matter is classified and you will not discuss it with anyone other than me or Admiral Albright, or Dr. Shaw if he survives his comma.”