The lift came to a stop when it reached the floor of the area. The work crew then began moving with their load toward one of the large corridors leaving this central area. The procession stopped at the end of the corridor in front of a large door. The work crew left the cargo and the anti-gravity lift at the end of the corridor and turned and left. Only Lakeisha and Harmond were left after their departure.
"The lab staff will handle everything from here on," Harmond informed her guest as she entered a code on the panel beside the large door. It slid open, and Lakeisha could see several people in protective suits working on various projects.
One of them approached where Lakeisha and Harmond were standing in the corridor. The man removed his suit's head covering. He was a Sciurine. Lakeisha had never met one in person before but had seen enough pictures to recognize what he was. Their race resembled the small, bushy-tailed, rodents called squirrels that were once prevalent on Earth. Now there were only a handful remaining, and those were in zoos. He twitched his nose and long whiskers.
"I'm Dr. Haspla," the furry man introduced himself. "I'm the lead scientist here. I've been told that you have something remarkable that I need to see?"
Lakeisha noticed that the other scientist and technicians in the lab were now looking their way. " I do, but only for you and the General. Everyone else will need to leave for now."
Haspla nodded. He turned to the others in the lab. "I need everyone to clear out! Now!" The others in the lab calmly stopped what the were working on, and exited the room. As they passed by the large tarped object in the corridor, many of them gave it lingering glances. Their curiosity heightened by the new object, but mostly due to Haspla's announcement that they were excused from being part of this new item's study. After the last of his staff had left, Haspla maneuvered the covered object into the lab. Lakeisha and Harmond followed him in, and Harmond closed the door behind them.
"Alright, let's get down to business," Haspla said, lowering the cargo to the floor and moving the anti-gravity lift out of the way. "Would you be so kind, my dear, as to remove the tarp?"
Lakeisha unfastened the edges of the tarp that had been covering the large cylinder. She slid it off to the side away from Harmond and Haspla so as not to block their view.
"Amazing indeed," Haspla said drawing closer to the cylinder. "A perfectly preserved Morgalan! This burial container is most unusual based on my knowledge of Morgalan burial rituals. They typically mummified their corpses, yet this one has been stored whole in some fluid to prevent its decay. Astounding! There is so much we will be able to learn as we study him."
Harmond placed her hand on the end of the cylinder. "This thing is vibrating. There is something mechanical inside it somewhere."
"Yeah, I noticed that too," Lakeisha agreed. "I'm not a scientist, but I think this is some kind of stasis chamber. The leader of the expedition that found it thought the same thing."
Haspla's eyes got wide. "It might be at that. Oh, this is so exciting! If we could revive whoever is inside, just think of what we might learn!"
"I've seen these types of garments before," Harmond said looking into the cylinder. "Our priest wears something similar, but not nearly as ornate. Do you think this is one of the high priests of the Morgalan Empire? That would explain why Gaelon was so cautious in wanting you to deliver it personally."
No," Lakeisha shook her head, "it's not a high priest." The two others turned to look at her. She had a slight smile on her face.
"My dear, you think you know who this is don't you?" Haspla asked.
"No, I don't 'think' I know who it is," Lakeisha answered. "I know exactly who it is. He was found in a sealed chamber deep beneath the ruins of the old Morgalan palace. The glyph sealing the chamber was only used by one person. Gentlemen, you are looking at Kamseth, King-Priest of the Morgalans!"
***
When Detective Darren Chen arrived at his desk, his partner was already at her desk. This is unusual. I'm usually sitting here waiting for her to drag in. She had a look on her face like she was going to a funeral. He could tell that it was going to be a bad day.
"Why so glum?" He asked.
She got up from her chair. "Let's take a walk."
"Um. Okay." Chen followed Peterson outside to the park area adjacent to the police building. She walked over to a bench and sat down, and he joined her. Chen was starting to worry about his partner. She was acting very nervous, as though someone was spying on her.
"Sandra, you're worrying me," Chen began the conversation. "Why did we have to walk out here? Why couldn't we talk at our desk like we normally do?"
"I don't know who might be listening in on us," she replied.
"Listening in? Are you serious?" Chen was beginning to think that maybe she was having a joke at his expense, but the grave look on her face made him dismiss that idea quickly. "You're serious, aren't you? What do you want to tell me that you feel is so secretive, that you couldn't tell me inside?"
"We found a hidden comms device after you left the raid last night," Peterson began to explain. "I had one of the techs attempt to track down the last few calls that were made on it."
"That's a good idea," Chen agreed. "So, where you able to find out who Harrison was calling?"
"Yes," Peterson nodded. "I believe he was in contact with Itsuki Tatsuda, Regent Zhi's personal aide."
Chen's eyes went wide. "Are you certain? That is a very big bear to poke without a lot of hard evidence." His partner nodded again.
"That's not the really disturbing part," she continued. "Tatsuda received a call from a different person just after the raid."
"More disturbing than the Regent's personal aide being involved in this mess?" Chen asked. "What could be more upsetting than that?"
"The other caller we identified as having called Tatsuda was Cordell," Peterson answered. "That's why I couldn't tell you inside. I don't know if anyone else is involved, and I didn't want to risk it by speaking about it openly."
Chen's world was crashing down around him. What had started off as a suicide, was now a conspiracy with ties to the palace, and at least one corrupt cop. His head felt like it was going to explode with all the thoughts that were racing through it.
"We've got to tell the Chief," Chen finally managed to respond. "Unless you think he is part of it too?"
Peterson shrugged. "Honestly, I have no clue. I don't want to believe that the old man could be part of it, but at this point, I don't know who to trust."
"I don't see that we have a choice unless we take it to the palace," Chen thought aloud. "Do you think we should take it to the palace? Just in case?"
"I don't know who to trust there either," Peterson sighed. "Harrison was a Sovereign Angel. Tatsuda is the personal aide to the Regent. If the Regent himself is somehow involved..." She couldn't even complete the sentence. The very thought of the Commonwealth's ruler being involved in a conspiracy was just too much to process.
"So, we risk it and take it to Clawson?" Chen waited for confirmation from Peterson that they were on the same page.
"Yeah, it's got to be the Chief," Peterson nodded. "Let's just hope we're not wrong. We've already seen that this group has no problems with killing anyone that gets in their way." She pulled her comm device out of her pocket and placed it in her ear. She tapped it. "Chief Clawson's office." The automated switchboard of the capital police routed the call to the Chief's office.
A voice answered. "Office of the Chief of Police, how can I help you?"
"This is Detective Sandra Peterson, badge number 9021," She informed the Chief's administrative assistant. "I need to speak to the Chief immediately concerning a priority case."
"Chief Clawson is busy right now, but I can slot you in for later this afternoon," the assistant replied. "Would two o'clock work?"
Peterson gritted her teeth. She hated bureaucracy, now more than ever. "This is a priority case with time-sensitive information. No, two will not work. I need to speak to him now!"
The
voice on the other end left out an indignant huff. "Hold please." A few moments later the line was picked up again.
"This is Chief Clawson," a masculine voice boomed. "This had better be life and death, Peterson. I have two members of the Council of Barons in my outer office waiting while I take this call."
"I promise I wouldn't have bothered you if it wasn't of the utmost urgency and importance," Peterson replied. "Detective Chen and I have put together some of the pieces involving the deaths of Baxby, Philmore, and Roscoe Harrison from last night's raid. It's bad Chief, real bad."
Okay, Peterson," Clawson's voice had lowered in volume realizing that this call wasn't a waste of his time. "Come to my office immediately. I'll buzz Cordell and have him meet you here."
"Don't do that Chief," Peterson contradicted her boss. "We are outside in the park area next door. Please come out here and talk to us, and we will explain everything."
There was a long pause on the line. "Alright, I'll be down in ten minutes. Let me handle the barons first, then I'll be there." Then the line went dead.
Chen had only heard Peterson's half of the conversation. "So, do we still have our jobs?" Chen asked only half-joking.
"He'll be here in about ten minutes," Peterson relayed their boss' last statement to her partner.
The two detectives used the time to get the facts organized into a coherent narrative. Soon they saw Chief Clawson exit the building, and start walked toward them.
"Okay you two," Clawson said crossing his arms over his chest, "I'm here. Now, what is so important and secretive that we couldn't use my office."
"There is at least one dirty cop involved, maybe more," Chen responded. "That is why we wanted to discuss this outside the building. We didn't want to run the risk of tipping off anyone that might be involved."
"That's a pretty serious accusation," Clawson replied gravely. "I'm assuming that you have proof?"
"Let me tell you what we know, Chief," Peterson answered. "Then you can decide for yourself. We already told you the background and events leading up to Philmore's death. After that, Cordell offered to assist us. One of his guys in CTD gave us the location of Roscoe Harrison, a former Sovereign Angel, and the man that we think created the data chip that we found on Baxby. We teamed up with CTD and the Research City Police and raided Harrison's location. I found Harrison working at his console, and ordered him to stop. He didn't comply, and Cordell killed him. When I asked about it, Cordell's response was that he could have been setting a bomb, and it wasn't a risk worth taking. Cordell removed the data core from Harrison's console and said he was taking it back here to have in analyzed, but he didn't. We don't know what happened to it. Also, we gave Cordell a hat to analyze that we found at Baxby's apartment building that may have had DNA from the Harrison on it, but never heard anything back on it either."
That is troubling," Clawson agreed with his detective. He pulled out his tablet console and checked the evidence logs. Neither the hat nor the data core had been logged in as evidence. He searched the log again and scowled. "I can't think of any reason why he wouldn't have logged those in yet."
"We found something more troubling than that," Chen jumped in. "After Cordell left the raid location, Detective Peterson continued searching and found a hidden comms device. She had Leann Stakowski, one of the crime techs, pull the call memory and we found out that Harrison had called Itsuki Tatsuda, Regent Zhi's personal aide."
"While Leann was sniffing the comms device that we would later find out was Tatsuda's, she detected another call being made to Tatsuda," Peterson resumed the briefing. "A call made from the Cordell's assigned shuttlecraft. That's why we wanted to meet outside. We can't trust Cordell, and we aren't sure who else we could trust in the building. We didn't want to tip off Tatsuda, Cordell, and anyone else that has been working with them."
Chief Clawson wasn't saying anything. Peterson could see that he was thinking hard about what he had just heard. She wanted him to say something. To tell them that they were right, or to tell them that they are insane. Just tell us something!
"Thank you for bringing this to my attention. You both did the right thing in coming directly to me," Clawson finally responded. "I hate to think that any of my officers would violate their oaths of service, but based on what you have found I understand your course of action. I'm going to ask Detective Cordell to join us, and when he gets here I'm going to place him under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder. We can't risk him warning Tatsuda or any of his co-conspirators." Peterson and Chen nodded.
Clawson tapped the comms device that was in his left ear. He called his assistant. "Chloe, I'm in the park next door. Can you have Detective Cordell join me?"
A few moments later, Detective Owen Cordell walked over to the park and joined the three of them. "Hey, Chief. They said you wanted to see me? Since Chen and Peterson are here, I'm assuming it's concerning Roscoe Harrison?"
"We were trying to find the evidence log on a hat they brought in for DNA sequencing," Clawson told him. "They said that you offered to run it for them with CTD's lab, but there is no trace of it in the system."
Cordell looked surprised. "That's odd. I logged it in right after I left the tech area after Bobby was killed. You think the same guy stole it too?"
"Doubtful," Peterson answered. "The data chip that was stolen had been logged in as evidence because we logged it in. It was stolen afterward. In fact, it seems the only missing evidence in the case are the items that you were supposed to log in. Things like the hat we gave you, and the data core from Harrison's console. I talked the Reggie Schultz already, and he said that no one in CTD is aware of those items. Pretty strange don't you think? It's as though they were never logged in."
Cordell looked irritated. "There's got to be some kind of mistake here, guys. You've known me for years. You know that I am a good cop with a solid record." He crossed his arms in defiance.
Clawson shook his head. "That's not the story the facts are telling right now. Owen Cordell, you're under arrest for the murder of Roscoe Harrison, and conspiracy to murder Simon Baxby. Put your hands on top head and interlock your fingers." Clawson reached for his cuffs.
Cordell quickly grabbed his sidearm from inside his jacket and leveled it at Clawson. Peterson and Chen drew their weapons and pointed them at Cordell.
"Come on, Owen. Drop the gun. You know how this will end if you don't," Chen tried to reason him. "No one needs to get hurt. Even if you shoot the Chief, you know that we will drop you a second later. Is that how you want this to end? Put the gun down, and we can work this out. You could help us stop this mess. You know the Prosecutor will go a lot easier on you if you help us."
"There is no way out, Darren," Cordell replied, his defiant look now replaced by one of fear. "If you arrest me, I'll be dead in a few hours. Tatsuda isn't going to let me live to testify against him. He might even go after my family. No, you either kill me now, or I'm walking away."
Clawson lowered his gun. "Cordell, you've been a good cop. If Tatsuda has something on you or is threatening your family, then you acted under duress. We can help you. Don't end it like this. We're not going to shoot you, and I don't think you're going to shoot any of us." The Chief looked over his shoulder at the two other officers. "Lower your weapons. Owen isn't going to hurt us."
Peterson and Chen slowly lowered their weapons, but kept a steady watch on Cordell. At the first sign of hostile action, they would respond with deadly force.
"I wish that were the case, Chief," Cordell responded. "I needed the money they offered me. Before I knew it, I was in too deep to walk away. I'm sorry I let all of you down." He quickly moved from pointing the gun at Clawson to putting it under his own chin. He pulled the trigger. His face and the upper portion of his head vaporized from the close contact pulse blaster of his firearm. His body crumpled to the ground.
"Shots fired! Shots fired! Park area beside main building!" Clawson screamed into his comms device. "We need a med team now!"
Pete
rson and Chen had drawn their weapons the moment that Cordell moved. They now returned them to their holsters. Cordell was gone. There wasn't going to be anything the med team could do about that.
Clawson looked down at the body of the man that had been the head of the Counter Terrorism Division. His jaw tensed and then he turned to look at Peterson and Chen. "I want this finished. I want everyone connected to this group in jail or in a body bag. Starting with Itsuki Tatsuda. I don't care if he is close to the Regent. If we cut the head off the snake, the rest of it will die."
"Who do you think we can trust, Chief? Chen asked. "If Tatsuda has more ears in the department, he'll know we are coming."
"I'll hand-pick some people that I know I can count on," Clawson replied. "I've got friends outside the department that can help."
"We can't rush this," Peterson interjected. "We'll only get one shot at it. So, we've got to have a game plan. He only leaves his estate to go to the palace, then immediately back home. We'll have to hit him while he's in transit."
"Right," Clawson agreed. "Let me get some people together. When I've got a team ready, we'll meet somewhere offsite to plan our attack. Until then, nobody mentions this inside the building. If it comes up, the case is stalled. We asked Cordell about the missing evidence and he ate his gun. Now there are no leads. Understood?"
Roger, Chief," answered Chen.
"Got it," replied Peterson. "If the Creator is willing, we can end this once and for all."
CHAPTER 16
Danielle stood on top of the front steps of the V'drellian imperial palace under its great porch. She was standing in the shadows looking at the immense crowd of people standing in the courtyard below. To the left was a huge group of Commonwealth Fleet officers and enlisted personnel. Hawthorne was standing in the front of their group. She looked to her right and saw a sizable group of Imperial Fleet personnel. Commanders Br'dar and Ti'chak in the front row. Overall, there were over five hundred people all waiting for she and K'oron to give them orders. The Emperor was standing beside her. K'oron and Paige were speaking near the palace doors just out of hearing range.
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