by Dan Kelly
“That’s terrific, Captain. How many kidnappers are there?”
“We don’t know. My men can’t get any closer without being seen as there’s nothing but concrete from the building’s foundation out for a distance of fifty yards. The warehouse has windows on each of its sides and its sliding metal doors , but we can’t get close enough to peek in.”
The Commander turns to Pulsar and says, “Ok, Pulsar, you know the situation. Give me your ideas.”
“Commander, before we can do anything you’re going to have to let the Pack move up behind the assault troops positioned around the warehouse. We’ve got to be able to see the effect our powers are having on the selected targets in order to make required adjustments and some of us have to be within a certain distance of a target to be effective.
“Chester can use his X-ray vision to see inside the warehouse, so we’ll know what we’re up against. Artie can use his strength to force open any window that is locked, providing easy access to the warehouse for the assault troops. Gracie can generate light so bright that the kidnappers will be blinded if they look outside. This will allow Artie to get to the windows unseen and provide cover for the assault troops when they advance to the building. The assault troops can wear their combat eye shields so they won’t be blinded and one of the troops guarding the perimeter can lend Artie his. I can use my power to generate lightening and the attendant thunder to create a distraction and cover for the noise Artie will make forcing open any of the windows. Under cover of Gracie’s light, Sally can sneak up and use her power to make the metal doors too hot to touch, cutting off the only escape route. She’ll need eye shields too.
“Once the assault troops are inside the warehouse and have taken positions to confront the kidnappers, Belinda can make herself invisible, crawl through a window, locate the Queen and lead her to safety. Once the Queen is out of harm’s way, Norman can interfere with the kidnappers thought processes, so they will be unable to function properly. With the Queen out of harm’s way and the troops having taken cover behind packing crates, barrels or whatever, any danger resulting from the erratic behavior of the kidnappers will be greatly reduced. Then the assault troops can make their presence known. The rest of the Pack will remain in the positions they take behind the assault troops and serve as back up if needed.”
“I can’t find fault with anything you’ve said, Pulsar, except for the fact that this storm appears to be letting up. The kidnappers might decide to take the Queen’s helicopter up again and try to get away. If they do that, we’re going to have to deal with an entirely different situation with new risks and challenges. I sure would like to end this nightmare now.”
“I think I have a solution, Commander. Tommy can generate winds of 75 miles an hour with no trouble at all and Casey can empty the pools over by the athletic filed and keep water pouring over the warehouse for as long as we’ll need to execute the plan.”
“Ok, Pulsar, that works for me. Prepare to move out. Captain Kardok will lead and I’ll bring up the rear.”
As for Queen Quasar, she’s beginning to wonder if anyone will find her. “I’ve got to do something before this weather clears and they come back here to haul me away with them to who knows where. I could call out to them and say I’ve got to go the bathroom. This might work and probably only one would come back to untie me and let me use the bathroom wherever that is.”
As she’s about to call out, there’s a long bright flash of light, followed by the crackling of lightening and the sound of thunder and then the back of the warehouse is quietly swarming with men in camouflage uniforms. Seconds later her bindings are cut away, but when she turns around to see who released her no one is there. Suddenly, what feels like a hand grabs her arm and guides her to an open window in the back wall. She climbs through it and then the hand takes hold of her arm again and leads her to a wooded area behind the warehouse. It’s not until now that she realizes who has hold of her arm. “Belinda, if this is a prank, I’ll see that you’re grounded for the rest of your life.” she says jokingly.
“Oh come on, Your Highness. I’m good, but not this good.” They take cover behind some tall trees lining the edge of the concrete and Belinda makes herself visible again. Before Belinda has a chance to fill the Queen in on what’s going on, several rounds of gunfire erupt from inside the warehouse. When this happens, Artie, Pulsar, Tommy, Casey, Gracie, Norman and Sally stop what they’re doing and run for cover in the wooded area around the warehouse. Moments later, they hear a yelp and some cursing near the sliding doors. Someone must have tried to open them and got burned.
Soon after this, the leader of the assault troops sticks his head out the window with the partially drawn shade and yells, “They’ve thrown down their weapons and surrendered. They fired at us, so we had to return fire. We wounded a couple of them, but they’ll live with appropriate medical attention.”
Captain Kardok yells back, “Do you have any casualties?”
“No, sir.”
A greatly relieved Commander Caitlin expresses his gratitude to the Captain and requests that he tell his men how pleased he is with their performance. “I will personally see to it that all who participated in this operation today receive appropriate commendations.”
“Thank you, sir, but, and I’m sure I speak for my men as well, please don’t do that. Queen Quasar is a very special lady and no one could love and respect her more than we do. Accepting a medal for doing what we did today would be like accepting a medal for rescuing a member of our own family. Her appreciation is all we want.”
“As you wish, Captain. I’ll collect the Queen and the Pack and meet you in the warehouse.” As the Captain turns and walks away, the Commander is thinking, “I’ve got to be the luckiest guy in the universe to have men such as him under my command.”
The storm stopped over an hour ago, but the kidnappers didn’t know it. They were fooled into believing that it was still raging as strong as it was when they were forced to land. The Pack came through with flying colors and the kidnappers will never know the part they played in their capture.
A short time later, the Queen, the Pack and the Commander join Captain Kardok in the warehouse where he is standing before the kidnappers who have been lined up against the back wall. Four are standing and tightly bound and the two wounded are lying on the floor, but are also tightly bound. All of them still have their helmets on. The Commander assumes the reason for this is so the Queen wouldn’t be able to identify them if something were to go wrong. “Well, you idiots, something has gone wrong and those helmets aren’t going to help you one bit.” This he says to himself, but to the leader of the assault troops he says, “Starting with the wounded, remove their helmets one at a time. Let us get a look at these geniuses.”
To say that what the Queen sees when the helmets are removed is unexpected would be the understatement of the year, probably the century. All six of her abductors are Erubian, but the biggest surprise is that one of them is the infamous Emperor Eclipse himself.
Even in captivity, the Emperor is a mean, threatening looking individual and, judging by his outbursts, he’s firmly convinced that he will manage to get away once again. The Queen is quietly thinking to herself, “Not this time. You’re going away to Yanzorg for a long, long time.”
Several hours later, the dean of the university has been notified that normal campus life can resume, the warships, one with Commander Caitlin onboard, and the assault troops with their prisoners are heading back to base and the Queen and the Pack are waiting for the assault vehicle that’s been assigned to take them back to Castle Capella. “Aunt Cue, something’s bothering me. How did the kidnappers get control of your helicopter? The security around Castle Capella is very tight.” “
“Tight it is, Pulsar, but, as I now know, not impenetrable. Captain Kardok told me just before he left that after some intense interrogation by Commander Caitlin one of the prisoners spilled the beans about how they managed that.
“As you know,
my office is on the top floor in the central tower of Castle Capella and my helipad is adjacent to my office for quick and easy access. In the corner of the helipad is a trailer that is used mainly for pilot shift changes, briefing and debriefing the pilots and co-pilots, flight scheduling and to store supplies and parts for minor repairs. This is also where guests of mine frequently wait to be flown to their desired destinations. It can hold 15 individuals comfortably, but normally there’s no more than seven or eight at any one time and it’s manned 24/7.
“The manager of the trailer’s operations has been with me for many years and I have never had any reason to doubt his loyalty. Apparently, this man’s wife has been very sick for quite some time and the man has become desperate for money to continue treatment for her. Emperor Eclipse has many undercover agents working in the area of the castle and one of them overheard the manager telling some of his friends at one of the sidewalk eateries that he was falling behind on his wife’s medical bills and was looking for ways to make some extra money. The first opportunity the agent got to speak with the manager alone, he approached him with an offer of a lot of money to help with my kidnapping and the manager couldn’t resist.
“Access to the trailer from ground level is gained by an elevator attached to the outside wall of the castle. This has been done for security purposes. If you don’t work or live in the castle or you haven’t been invited or granted access to conduct business, you don’t belong in the castle.
“There’s a guard stationed at the door to the elevator on the ground level and no one gets on it without showing appropriate identification. This obstacle was overcome by the manager coming down and asking the guard to run over to the castle’s northern gate, the one closest to the elevator, to ask for some, I couldn’t help laughing when I heard this, toilet paper! He said it was
urgently needed by one of the pilots in the trailer and they had run out. The manager said he couldn’t do it because he wasn’t allowed to leave the trailer until his replacement reported in. The manager said he would take the elevator back up to the helipad and keep it there until the guard called to let him know he was back.
“The guard has known the manager for years, so he readily agrees to go get some toilet paper. While the guard is gone, the manager softly whistles to the kidnappers who are hiding in some bushes not far from the elevator entrance. They all take the elevator to the trailer where the kidnappers, dressed in their flight gear sit and wait for my helicopter to arrive. If anyone sees them, they’ll be taken as a group of royal pilots waiting for their schedules and flights. The guard returned with the toilet paper and the manager went back down to retrieve it with the guard none the wiser as to what had happened. All of this took place about 6:30 in the morning, so none of the normal crew had arrived yet and all of my pilots were elsewhere. The manager lied about the pilot needing the toilet paper, but the guard had no way of knowing that because he just came on duty at six. It was perfectly logical for the guard to think the pilot was already in the trailer when he came on duty.
“The kidnappers knew the daily routine of the helipad. They knew that one of my helicopters arrives every morning at about 8:00 a.m. to be briefed on my flight needs for the day. When you arrived at 7:45 they didn’t think twice about it. You went your way and they prepared to pounce on the pilot and co-pilot that flew you here from Stellar. The pilots walked into the trailer, were subdued and then all but one of the kidnappers boarded the helicopter. The other came into my office through the door that opens onto the helipad and ordered me to come with him. He said if I did anything to cause my assistant to come into the office he would kill her. Pulsar, you missed him by mere seconds for which I will be eternally grateful.”
As Pulsar is digesting all that the Queen has related, the assault vehicle they’ve been waiting for comes zipping around the bend and screeches to a halt in front of them. The driver says, “I’m sorry to keep you waiting, but I had to go back and get something.” Holding his open hand out he adds, “I believe this belongs to you.” It’s her signet ring. She had forgotten all abut it.
“Thank you so much. This has been in my family for generations, but I bet this is the first time it’s been used to seal a tyrant’s fate.” They all laugh, the Queen and the Pack climb aboard and the trooper must have set a speed record in getting them back to the castle. They were glad he did because they were all beat and felt that they could sleep for a week.
Chapter 35
This time around, special precautions were taken to ensure that the Emperor didn’t manage to escape again. He was kept sedated, so he couldn’t get angry enough to use his special power, he was not allowed any visitors except for his attorney who’s briefcase and body were subjected to a thorough search every time he entered or left the jail, his food was checked before it was given to him and again after he had finished eating. Nothing was left to chance.
The Emporer was brought before the court on charges of space piracy, kidnapping, and assault with a deadly weapon. Conviction on any one of these charges meant the emperor would spend the rest of his life in prison. He was convicted on all three.
The Emperor’s trial before the tribunal, along with those of his accomplices, was short and sweet. The evidence and testimony against all of them was so overwhelming that very little time was needed for deliberation. Three weeks after their capture, yesterday, they were on their way to Yanzorg’s top security prison.
Queen Quasar and the Pack are out in the courtyard on the west side of Castle Capella enjoying the sunshine and the gentle warm breeze blowing in off the ocean. Queen Quasar has just hung up from talking with her sister, Queen Quester. She filled her sister in on all that has happened since they left Cygnus and urged her to warn her husband, King Kudos, that space pirates are expanding their area of operations and are heading in the direction of Cygnus.
As the Pack dives into heaping plates of goodies that Head Butler Barker has prepared for their voracious appetites, Queen Quasar, looking at them with a great deal of admiration, affection and respect, clears her throat to get their attention and begins to speak. “When the idea of Stellar first crossed my mind, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it would produce such wonderful young men and women, even with your penchant for getting into all kinds of trouble. I am so very proud of all of you and want to formally thank you for the part you played in my rescue. The general public will never know of your heroics, but I will cherish the thoughts of what you did for the rest of my life. To serve as a reminder of my appreciation, I’ve had the royal jeweler prepare these lockets that I hope you will treasure always.” She hands each member of the Pack a locket, giving them a big affectionate hug in the process.
The circular lockets are made of highly polished deep gray Zynthium and edged with 12 small deep blue cergets. The center of the face of the locket is engraved with a copy of the Queen’s signet ring. The back is engraved with “To:” and the Pack member’s name, and beneath this “From your grateful queen”, and beneath this “Queen Quasar” and beneath this the date of the Queen’s rescue. Inside the locket is a picture of a smiling Queen Quasar in her royal attire.
When everyone has received their locket the Queen says, “I had a very special reason for selecting zynthium and cergets for the lockets. They exemplify how I view all of you. Zynthium
is the hardest metal known in the universe and the cerget is the hardest jewel known in the universe. To me, this hardness represents your toughness, your determination in the face of anything that comes at you. Their incomparable brilliance represents to me your intelligence and the combination of their beauty, brilliance, durability and rarity makes them the most precious metal and gemstone in the known universe. This represents how precious all of you are to me. The twelve cergets, of course, represent the twelve members of the Pack.” Having finished her explanation, she asks Belinda to pass the salad.
Belinda doesn’t move. She and her pack mates have been made spellbound by the Queen’s emotional description of th
e symbolism embedded in the lockets. The Pack has stopped eating and become speechless. At first, the Queen is oblivious to the effect her explanation has had on the group, but when Belinda doesn’t make a move to pass the salad she then notices that no one is eating or talking or even moving. Chuckling to herself the Queen’s thinking, “Talk about rarity, if I had known two years ago that all I had to do to rein these kids in was to give a speech, I could have saved myself a lot of headaches.”
Finally, Belinda snaps out of it and passes the salad. Gradually, things return to normal with the kids stuffing themselves and talking with their mouths full. The kids really like the lockets and are in deep discussion over the thought the Queen put into their creation. Pulsar is taking this all in and in doing so sees that Belinda has moved away from the table and is sitting by herself over by the fire pit. She’s being unusually quiet and appears a little sad. Pulsar goes over to her and asks, “What’s the matter, Belinda? It’s not like you to go off by yourself.”