Empty Casket Conspiracy (Terran Patrol Book 1)

by Lewis Dually

“Commander Paul! Wake up. You have a visitor.”

  I sat up and stretched as I asked “Who?”

  “Don’t know Sir. They just called down and said to get you ready. Apparently you’re being moved.”

  “What time is it?”

  The guard looked at her watch as she said. “Eleven thirty four hours Sir.”

  “Crap! Twenty five hours in the brig and I think I’ve slept almost the entire time. Is this what they mean by easy time?”

  “In my experience it’s the guilty ones who can sleep in here Sir. The innocent are too worried to sleep.”

  “Well that makes sense seeing as how I’m technically guilty. I did just exactly what I’ve been charged with.”

  “Well then it’s your lucky day Sir. The charges have been dropped. You too, Lieutenant Walters, you’re both being released.”

  Walters sprang to her feet and nearly danced her way to the door of her cell. I maintained a more somber demeanor as I waited for my door to be opened. It did and we were both escorted down the hall and out through the processing center. There, waiting for us was a hollow eyed unshaven man in a wheel chair and Captain Sandra Kind.

  “What took you so long? We thought we had been abandoned in there.”

  Sandra smiled as she replied. “Hardly. I spent the night on a shuttle flying from San Francisco to DC to Arlington and finally the station but we got you cleared. Albright has been removed from duty and is being held by the Provost Marshal pending charges and the PDA has been suspended as well.”

  “Which division of the PDA?”

  “All of them!” Shaw replied. “Except me that is. I had no idea what they were into. Believe me I would never go along with this. I resigned my post this morning but the President called and talked me into staying. I am now the only active PDA agent in the known universe. The rest of the agency is suspended pending a full United Earth Alliance hearing.”

  The booking officer handed over a small box with our personal effects and I signed the release form and reached in for my coms unit as Sandra started filling us in on the details of the last twenty five hours.

  “Scott took the Constellation out last night and is in the Kuiper Belt with the rest of the fleet looking for the vaccine transport and the missing persons. Antwon and his party escaped somehow and we have no idea where they are.”

  “What about Joydeus?” I interrupted.

  “He’s apparently with them. Sorry, but I think you misjudged him.”

  As she said that I powered on my coms unit and found three messages waiting for me. The first was from my niece and it simply read “Go gettim Uncle Allen, Love you.” The second was from my sister and I didn’t open it knowing I wouldn’t have time to read the five to ten pages she usually sent. The third message was from a Dawn Rising coms unit I had recently given to a friend. I opened it and read the short message as Sandra continued briefing us.

  “The Chinese and Russian fleets have set up a perimeter around Earth in case the Krueg attack. The Dawn Rising is the only ship in dock and her repairs and upgrades will be done by the time we get you there. I have been assigned as station chief and will coordinate the defense of Earth if need be. Your orders are to go help find the missing persons and vaccine. The sense I get from the Joint Chiefs is that this Trojan Horse vaccine is a terrible thing but if the Krueg do get it they won’t be too upset. Kind of a halfhearted effort to stop it is what I’m seeing. I think about half of them would just let it go if they weren’t worried about the press making a big deal out of the violation of human rights by genocide.”

  “The press? How did they find out about it?”

  “I couldn’t say but had it not been for the press calling the White House about your charges you would probably still be in jail.”

  “You couldn’t say?”

  “No. I couldn’t!” Sandra replied. Sandra was a terrible poker player and I knew exactly who called the press.

  “Well regardless of what the Joint Chiefs think we have to stop the vaccine from reaching the Krueg home world. One way or another it cannot be allowed to get there.”

  “Why not?” Shaw asked.

  “Because it won’t work!” Walters replied.

  “What do you mean it won’t work? If its defective then who cares if it gets there?”

  “I don’t think the Krueg got where they are by being foolish. If their people were dying from the bird flu right now, then they would have to take the vaccine and hope it’s not a trap. But they’re not dying right now. They have time, time to study the vaccine, time to reverse engineer it, time to discover the death trap hidden in its complex little molecules. And when they find it?”

  “When they find it they’re going to become extremely hostile.” Shaw finished for me.

  “Exactly. And after spending all that time figuring out the trap, what’s the chances they will figure out a way to reverse it back on us, send us some deadly disease. So we cannot let that vaccine fall into their hands.”

  “So how do we find it?”

  “We find the one man who knows where it is. Antwon!”

  “But Albright said Antwon doesn’t know where it is either. His brother Liam made off with it.”

  “I don’t believe that. One thing I’ve figured out about Antwon is that he’s a liar. If his lips are moving a lie is being told. We need to find Antwon.”

  “Yeah.” Sandra groaned. “And just how do we do that?”

  I held up my coms unit for Sandra to see the third message displayed on its screen. She squinted and read it aloud.

  “Transport vaccine dad 168 mark 302 mark 55. Who sent that?”

  “Joydeus! Guess I pegged him right after all.”

  CHAPTER 23: Watching the Krueg.

  “Chaffey, you got a copy on me?”

  “Yes Sir.” Came his reply over the coms.

  We’re heading your way. Fire up the reactor and make ready to leave port. Are the repairs and upgrades done?”

  “Almost Sir. A few little things to button up but we can do them while we’re under way. I’m assuming you’re out of the slammer then?”

  “That would be correct. ETA to the gangway in fifteen minutes.”

  “Aye aye skipper.” Chaffey replied and the coms when silent. Fifteen minutes was probably a bit presumptuous on my part. The Dawn Rising was in repair dock number one at the very top of the station, deck number five hundred. The brig was on deck six almost two miles down. We would take five different express elevators to reach the top because no one elevator or passageway extended the full length of the station. The design was so that if some catastrophic failure occurred it wouldn’t take out the entire station. Only the section in which the failure happened. In theory it was a good idea. Of course the Titanic had a similar design and that didn’t work out so well. Leaving the detention center, we made our way to the deck six commons and took a command elevator down to deck one. There we exited the elevator and walked the fifty feet across the commons to the section one express elevator for a straight shot up to section two deck one hundred.

  “This is ridicules. This musical elevator crap is for the birds!” I griped.

  “Can’t be helped.” Sandra replied. “Can’t have any one passageway running the full length of the station. You know that.”

  “I know but I still don’t like it. They could have run one long express elevator on the outside of the station. That would protect it from any internal explosions.”

  Shaw spun his wheel chair around and looked up at me. “That’s a great idea. Wonder why no one came up with that before? It’s just common sense. Put the shaft on the outside and you take away the pathway of destruction if something goes bad.”

  “Yeah, well, if you haven’t noticed, common sense ain’t all that common.” I scoffed.

  “Getting back to the crisis at hand,” Sandra interrupted “after you filled us in on Admiral Albright’s involvement in this, I did a little digging around into his background. Did you know Albright owns a gold claim in the
Klondike?”

  “I did not.”

  “Apparently it’s a small claim. It produces about twenty pounds of gold per year and has been doing so for twelve years now. I find it hard to picture Albright squatting in a muddy creek with a gold pan in his hand.”

  “You and me both.” I agreed.

  “Sir, look at this.” I heard Walters say from behind me. Turning, I saw her watching the news monitor above the elevator control console. On the screen was a picture of me!”

  “Turn that up.” I said. The caption under my picture read controversy surrounds the arrest of Battle Neptune’s Hero Commander. We were passing through the British section of the station so the news channel was tuned to the BBC and the news anchor was Amanda Coleville. She was one of my favorite anchors mostly because of her accent. Walters turned up the volume on the monitor and Amanda’s British nuance poured into the elevator.

  “Sources close to Commander Paul report that his incarceration is a direct result of his defiance of a PDA led plan of genocide against the Alien race known as the Krueg. Scores of protesters have gathered outside the White House in Washington DC as well as the United Earth Alliance headquarters in New York. They are demanding the release of Commander Paul and a full explanation of the alleged planned genocide in violation of International Law. Meanwhile the American Navy’s Space fleet has been dispatched to the Kuiper belt where sources on the United Earth One space station tell us two Krueg Battle groups are poised for attack. The Russian and Chinese fleets have taken a defensive stance around the planet and according to one senior Chinese diplomat, stand ready to protect Earth from any attack that the American Violation of International Law may have spurred. Russian defense minister Peter Brontovich, is calling for a full investigation into the alleged planned genocide and has called Commander Paul a Hero of the people.”

  “Well crap! There goes my career.” I blurted out.

  “Yep! You’ll be branded a socialist before long and you can kiss the Navy goodbye.” Sandra agreed. “The number one way for a military leader to get canned is to run afoul of politics. Once that happens you better start making a resume.”

  Sandra’s coms unit buzzed and interrupted the comments about my future prospects. She answered it and turned to face the wall as she carried on a brief but intense conversation. As she talked I looked back to the news broadcast. A picture of Admiral Albright was now shown and I listened as Amanda Coleville continued her report.

  “We now have reports that a second American Navy Officer has been detained in connection with the controversial move by the United States. Admiral Albright, Commander of the United Earth Space fleet has been taken into custody and transported to an unknown location…”

  Sandra turned back to the group as she finished her coms call. “We got movement in the Kuiper Belt. The Krueg fleet is starting to mass in sector four. They seem to be getting ready to intercept the Constellation which is heading for that sector. The Shasta, Texas, Armstrong and Reagan are going to back them up. The Crimson Moon is not responding to hails and we don’t know where they are. We need to get the Dawn Rising out there now. They will probably make contact with the Krueg before we get to the top deck.”

  “Time for plan B.” I announced.

  “What is plan B, Sir?” Walters asked.

  “Stop us on the next shuttle access deck.” I said as I pulled out my coms unit and hailed Chaffey.

  “That will be deck twenty five.” Sandra informed me just as Chaffey answered.

  “Chaffey. Take the ship out of space dock and head for the deck twenty five Earth side shuttle hatch. The Krueg fleet is moving to attack and we don’t have time to wait on these dang elevators.”

  “Aye aye Skipper. ETA, four minutes.”

  I looked at my watch and made a mental note of the time as the elevator slowed to a stop on deck twenty five and the doors opened to reveal a cargo corridor crammed with cold storage containers. Walters and I started making our way by the first of a dozen or so of the forty foot long containers. They were parked so close together that we had to suck in our guts and walk sideways to pass through.

  “This is where I leave you!” Shaw yelled out as we side stepped between the Containers. I started to yell something back but quickly realized he was talking to Walters, not me. Sandra stayed with him and a few seconds later I heard the elevator doors close as we made our way to the docking bay. The cargo corridor was about a hundred yards long but cluttered as it was with the containers we weren’t making good time. Finally we reached the docking hatch and I checked my watch.

  “Chaffey will be here in one minute. Suit up.”

  Walters stared at me for a few seconds as she wrapped her head around the situation. Finally she asked.

  “We’re making a spacewalk to the ship?”

  “Yes. Hurry up.” I insisted as I opened one of the emergency pressure suit lockers and pulled out an extra-large unit. Walters reached in and grabbed a women’s petite and unrolled and unzipped the bright Orange emergency life units. We both climbed into our respective suits, pulled the head and shoulder hood over our heads and then zipped each other’s suits closed. Then I hit the emergency escape control release on the wall and the alarms sounded as the inner hatch doors closed. As the atmosphere was sucked out of the port, our suits ballooned up with internal pressure and the emergency air supply started to flow in around my face. We now had three minutes of air but we wouldn’t need it. As the outer hatch door opened a shadow fell across us and I looked up to see the silhouette of the Dawn Rising back lit by the rising sun just rising over the blue Atlantic Ocean.”

  Chaffey’s voice came through my coms unit. “So that’s what you’re doing. I’m lining up the port side cargo hatch. Let me know when you’re in.”

  “Ten four. Get the Constellation on a secure channel and patch it through to the cargo bay.”

  “Yes Sir. Once you’re in do I head for the rest of the fleet?”

  “Negative. I want to see what’s happening out there before we join them.”

  The coms channel fell silent as the ship rotated clockwise and the cargo bay door started to slide open and line up with our position.

  “Are you good with this?” I asked Walters as I placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “I think so Sir.”

  “Just push off from the hatch plate and aim for the light. Chaffey will have the gravity turned on in there so it will pull you in like a magnet. Don’t open your suit until we have the all green. Got it?”

  “Yes Sir.”

  The Dawn Rising came to a static position about twenty yards in front of us. The open cargo bay was well lit and made a good target in the middle of the black mass that was the new look for the ship. The new EM shielding was made of molded panels that incased the ship like a second hull. It didn’t have the lumpy rock like look of the test shuttle’s sprayed on foam. Instead it just looked like a black ship. Not quite as camouflaged as the turd had been but still hard to see in the darkness of space without the aid of navigation lights.

  I stepped out of the doorway and felt the stations gravity lose its pull on me. As it did, my feet left the deck and I grabbed the hand rail on my right side. Straightening my body out, I pulled myself forward with the hand rail and then let go as I shot out into the void between the station and the Dawn Rising’s open cargo bay. Covering the twenty yards in about ten seconds, I felt a brief surge of adrenalin when I realized my trajectory was a little off.

  “Oh crap.” I muttered. Reaching down to my boots I felt for the slide lever that would reveal the boots magnetic soul. I found it and slid it forward just in time to straighten up and plant my feet on the hull of the ship. I had missed the cargo hold by three feet but to make matters worse the foam shielding was preventing the mag boots from getting a good attraction to the steal plating beneath. Both of my boots came loose and I kicked hard propelling myself away from the ship and back to the stations cargo port. Bending my body and twisting at the same time I realigned myself to l
and feet first on the side of the Station.

  “Woops. Let’s try that again. Apparently mag boots don’t stick to space foam. You better not miss!”

  “Well that’s encouraging.” Walters replied.

  This time I crouched down on the station’s hull, turned off the mag boots and kicked off, propelling myself straight into the open cargo hatch of the Dawn Rising where I felt the ship’s gravity suck me down to the floor and I skidded to a stop against the inner wall.

  Climbing to my feet I watched while Walters took her shot at the open cargo bay. She didn’t miss. As she crossed into the bright light of the open door she let out a triumphant yell followed by a grunt and heavy thumping sound as the bay’s gravity grabbed hold and jerked her body down to the floor.

  “Ouch!”

  “We’re in Chaffey. Close the door.”

  “Yes Sir. Captain Scott is waiting for you on the monitor Sir.”

  Getting to my feet, I made my way to the monitor while fighting the urge to unzip the survival suit before the bay pressurized.

  “Don’t unzip your suit until we get a green light.” I reminded Walters.

  Scott was looking at me on the monitor and I heard his voice come through my suit’s coms unit. “Yeah that would be a bad thing to do! What exactly are you doing?”

  “Expedited transfer Sir, station to ship. What’s your status?”

  “We’re all here except for you and the Crimson Moon. They haven’t responded to hails and no one knows where they are. The Krueg are here too, although I’m not sure what they’re up to. They’ve made a couple high speed passes and we’ve traded a few volleys but they don’t seem to be ready for an all-out fight.”

  “How many of them showed up?”

  “One battle carrier and eight destroyers. They’re missing one battle carrier so they might be waiting for it before they really attack.”

  As the atmospheric pressure in the cargo hold rose I began to hear Scott’s voice coming from the bay’s view monitor which meant the pressurization was nearly complete. Finally the green light on the wall lit up indicating full atmosphere so I unzipped my suit and pulled the hood back over my head.