Moons of Jupiter Read online

  Star Marshals

  Moons of Jupiter

  Star Marshals

  Moons of Jupiter

  Dave Lemel

  Star Marshals

  Moons of Jupiter

  © 2016 David Lemel

  All Rights Reserved

  ISBN: 978-1537782751

  CoverDesign: SelfPubBookCovers.com/thrillerauthor

  [email protected]

  This book is dedicated to my beautiful wife Sarah and our two amazing daughters Sophie and Hattie.

  Chapter 1

  Todd Jordan and Simon Cain were star marshals. For as long as Todd could remember, it was the only thing he had ever wanted to be. In 2037, when construction on Star Marshal Base had begun, Todd’s grandfather Abe had been chosen to oversee the construction project. In 2040, when the first class of star marshals was selected and sworn in, Todd’s father Doug was among them. In Todd Jordan’s mind, the one way to live life was as a star marshal.

  Winter 2037

  In February of the year 2037, a species of alien calling themselves Bopecans had made their existence known to the citizens of Earth. They had attempted to soften the blow by sending a message to the S.E.T.I. program. One week prior to their arrival, a message had arrived indicating that they would be coming in peace and had information that would be vital to Earth’s future.

  The debate raged all over Earth for the duration of that week. Should we trust them? Wait patiently and hear what they have to say? Should we prepare for battle and strike the moment we have something to shoot at? When the Bopecans finally arrived, it was immediately evident that the debate had been utterly pointless. The Bopecans were millions of years more evolved and advanced than humanity.

  Their main transport ship appeared seemingly out of nowhere just inside the Oort cloud. It was massive. Nearly three quarters the size of the moon, it had the appearance of an upside-down cruise ship. The ship made the transit from the edge of the Oort cloud to Mars at an astonishing speed. Less than a week. On its way, it jettisoned dozens of smaller ships as it passed the outer planets and their moons. Once it settled into orbit around Mars, it jettisoned one more ship, which headed for Earth.

  The occupants of the ship that headed to Earth appeared to have evolved from a creature resembling an octopus. They were purplish in color with large, black eyes and small mouths. They stood about six feet tall on four legs and had four arms. At the end of each arm was a “hand” with three long, tentacle-like fingers and a thumb. They had indeed come in peace. They informed the citizens of Earth that they would be sharing their advanced knowledge with us and would like to work in tandem with us to protect our solar system.

  They explained that in the last century or so, humans had become very noisy. The rest of the galaxy had finally started hearing the buzz. It was made clear that the solar system we inhabited was soon to have more visitors, and that not all species of alien were as benevolent as the Bopecans. Construction of an agency to police the solar system and apprehend fugitives of it was to begin immediately. This agency was to become known as the star marshals.

  Chapter 2

  Fall 2074

  It was October of the year 2074. Todd Jordan sat in the back of his home with a cup of coffee. Todd lived in a beautiful, sprawling home overlooking Lake Michigan, located in a suburb north of Milwaukee called Fox Point. Todd’s grandfather Abe had built this home with some of the fortune he had amassed when his company had won the contract to construct Star Marshal Base. The view out the back of the home was always spectacular, but in fall, when the leaves exploded in color, it was breathtaking.

  Todd had seen his fair share of tragedy since his twentieth birthday. On this day four years earlier, October 22, he had received the call about his grandparents. He knew it was bad the moment he heard his mother Marie’s voice on the other end of the phone. She asked where he was and if he could come over right away. Todd recognized the shaky tone in her voice and told her as much, and that she needed to just tell him whatever it was.

  His grandparents had both been killed in a car accident on the way home from dinner. A shipping blimp had fallen out of the sky and into a busy intersection, killing dozens. Shipping blimps had taken over for trucks decades earlier in an attempt to cut down on truck-related accident fatalities. It had worked exceedingly well overall, but on the rare occasion when something did go wrong with one of the blimps, it often ended tragically. It was the night before Todd’s twenty-third birthday, and the second huge blow he had suffered in three years’ time.

  Todd had been extremely close to his grandparents. The suddenness with which they were both taken from him was something he still struggled with. They had left him their home and a considerable amount of their fortune. In the nearly four years he had lived here, Todd had not changed a thing about this room. It was decorated with the many souvenirs his grandparents had brought back from their frequent trips to their beloved ancestral British Isles. Todd always sat with a cup of coffee and looked out this particular window, reflecting before heading out on an Off Earth Assignment (O.E.A.).

  His excitement level for this O.E.A. was even higher than normal. This would be his best friend and partner Simon Cain’s first assignment since coming back after his six months’ paternity leave. Todd was very happy for Simon and his wife, Sasha, but he terribly missed working with him. He had been anxiously awaiting this day for months.

  Forty years earlier, when the need for Star Marshal Base had been made clear by the Bopecans, a location needed to be picked. The Bopecans had developed many techniques to control a planet’s climate, but they took time to implement. Due to the uncertainty of how much more ocean coastline would be lost to already rising sea levels, it was determined that a location on one of the Great Lakes would be optimal. This would still provide a large, uninhabited body of water to crash into if need be while also avoiding the threat of earthquakes and, in particular, hurricanes, which had been increasing in frequency and ferocity for years. As an added bonus, it would be centrally located within a large, relatively stable country for defensive purposes if the need arose.

  After expedited but careful consideration, a large plot of land on Lake Michigan was chosen. It sat between Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Milwaukee, just south of a little town called Sheboygan. Construction by Abraham Jordan’s company began shortly thereafter. The newly formed star marshals immediately struck up a relationship with the University of Wisconsin to form a star marshal feeder program for field marshals. Young men and women from all over the world, interested in applying for entry into Star Marshal Academy to be field marshals, would need the marshal degree from the University of Wisconsin to be considered for acceptance.

  When Todd showed up at the University of Wisconsin in the fall of 2066 to pursue his marshal degree, he met a young man named Simon Cain. They became fast friends. Simon was the grandson of a World Series–winning centerfielder. He had ended up at Wisconsin because it was the only major university willing to offer him even a partial scholarship to play baseball. The Badger baseball team was not very good, and neither was Simon. He mostly pinch hit for two years on a last-place team.

  When Simon finally accepted that his dream of following in his grandfather’s footsteps was unrealistic, he needed to find a new direction for his life. One night, in a dive bar off campus over shots of whiskey and cheap beer, his now best friend Todd Jordan convinced him that he, too, should pursue a career as a star marshal. It wasn’t major league ballplayer, but he had to admit it did sound like an exciting and rewarding life.

  Todd and Simon remained at each other’s side all the way through school and continuing right through Star Marshal Academy. When it was over and the graduates from the field marshal program were assigned partners, they wasted no ti
me in pairing up Todd and Simon. Even alien beings from thousands of light years away could see how well they worked together. Now, after the six long months that Todd had been forced to work with temporary partners, they would finally be working together again.

  Chapter 3

  Todd slid a brown coat over the broad shoulders of his six-foot, two-inch frame. He decided against putting a hat on his freshly cut, short brown hair and exited his house. He pulled out of his garage driving his silver 2057 Corvette. Todd had been obsessed with this car since childhood and had finally purchased one a few months earlier. As he turned out of his driveway to head up I-43 towards Simon’s home, Simon sat in a chair staring down at an adorable six-month-old baby girl.

  Simon and Sasha had named their daughter Penelope. Just seconds after birth, the moment Simon had seen her stick out her bottom lip and start crying, he knew his life would never be the same. This gorgeous, perfect little girl and her mother were all that mattered now. This little family of his. Not space travel and hunting down fugitives.

  Simon Cain was born and raised in the highlands neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. His mother was a short, slightly pudgy Jewish woman named Regina, his father a tall, lanky black gentleman named Derek. Simon settled right in between at about six feet tall, two hundred pounds, with a light brown complexion and green eyes.

  Sasha had grown up two blocks up and one over from Simon. She was the daughter of a well-liked couple who owned a small bakery on 32nd Avenue. Her mother was a tall, athletic woman of Caribbean decent, her father an Italian man of average height. She had grown into a beautiful woman; she stood just over five and a half feet tall with long, brown hair, an easy smile, and big, light brown eyes possessing a warmth that Simon never wanted to stop staring into.

  Simon and Sasha had known each other growing up but did not start dating until their senior year of high school. After senior year, Simon went to Wisconsin to play baseball and Sasha went to UCLA on a track scholarship. They had tried to make it work for a couple of months but finally threw in the towel after a fight they had while both were home for winter break. Five years later, while Simon was home on leave from Star Marshal Academy, they ran into each other outside the bakery on 32nd Ave. That night they went out for drinks to catch up. They stayed in touch after that, and just short of one year later, Sasha moved to Milwaukee.

  Sasha had gone to UCLA on a track scholarship but she had no shortage of brains to spare. She had been a favorite to make the 2068 U.S. Olympic team as a sprinter. One night after returning from winter break freshman year, she was playing “muggle quidditch” with friends outside her dorm. In a freak accident while playing, she tore two ligaments in her left knee. When she finally accepted that her Olympic dreams were over, she poured herself into her studies. She graduated four years later, a double major in electrical engineering and astronomy.

  A natural for star marshal ground control, Sasha was hired almost immediately after moving to Milwaukee to be with Simon. A born leader, four years later she became the youngest star marshal ever to ascend to the rank of chief mission officer. For the most part, Simon and Sasha worked together as husband and wife nearly seamlessly. Every now and then, though, Sasha felt the need to remind Simon that she outranked him.

  Chapter 4

  Todd steered his Corvette down the exit ramp and off I-43 toward the Cain household. Soon after marrying, Simon and Sasha had purchased a lovely home complete with white picket fence three blocks from Lake Michigan in Sheboygan. They knew they wanted children and did not want a long commute, and Sheboygan was a Rockwellian place to raise a family.

  Todd slowly drove down the sleepy street and up the Cain driveway. Knowing the garage door had been left open in anticipation of his arrival, he walked in and entered the house through the mudroom door. A bouncing ball of golden fur failing miserably to contain its excitement tore around the corner from the kitchen and nearly knocked Todd through the closet door. “Hey, Buddy!” said Todd. “Who’s a good boy? Did ya miss me, Buddy boy? Did ya miss me?” he asked as he knelt down to pet the Cain family Golden Retriever.

  “Good morning, Todd,” said Sasha from the kitchen. “How was your drive up?”

  “Very nice, actually. Almost no traffic, and the trees turning color make for great scenery,” replied Todd.

  “Well, when you and Buddy are done saying hello, come have a muffin,” said Sasha.

  For all of Sasha’s considerable talents, she had not inherited any baking skills from her parents. These muffins were from a small bakery around the corner called Lori’s. They were a favorite of Todd’s ever since Simon had introduced him to them a couple of years prior.

  Todd entered the kitchen and carefully selected a pumpkin cream cheese from among the half dozen remaining choices. He popped the top of the muffin off and set it on a plate on the snack ledge overlooking the family room. He then peeled the paper off the bottom half and asked, “So, where’s Daddy?” As Todd took a rather large bite out of the base of his muffin, Sasha replied, “He’s upstairs feeding Penny a bottle. I’ll tell him you’re here.”

  “Fank ooooo,” Todd replied through a mouthful of muffin as Sasha headed around the corner and up the stairs.

  Todd finished the bottom half of his muffin at the snack ledge and then took the top half for a walk around the family room with Buddy glued to his hip. As he ate, he looked at the pictures on the shelves of the built-in cabinet. The frames were all set to slideshow, and the pictures had all been taken in 3-D. Pictures from Simon and Sasha’s wedding in Tulum, Mexico, cycled in one frame. Pictures from their honeymoon up the Riviera coast cycled on another. All four remaining frames cycled through pictures of Penny at different stages of her six months of life.

  “How is it possible you got even uglier?” asked Simon as he entered the family room and pulled Todd in for a hug. Simon walked to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee as he continued, “Can’t believe it’s been six months already. Having a baby is kind of like a strange time warp. Sometimes it feels like she was born yesterday, other times it’s like she’s been around forever.” He shook his head as he flopped down on the corner seat of the couch next to Buddy. “I’ll tell you one thing for sure, though. I cannot imagine life without her anymore.”

  “Well, you certainly have enough pictures of her,” replied Todd.

  Simon chuckled. “That’s nothing. We have at least a thousand more. We’re aware that we may have a problem, but we just can’t help ourselves. She’s just so damn cute!”

  Simon leaned back, put his mug down on a small table beside the couch, and asked, “Any idea who we’re after or where we’re headed on this one?”

  Todd finished the sip of coffee he was taking and responded, “Now, Simon, you know if anyone in this house has that information, she’s upstairs with your daughter.”

  “Yeah, I know, but she never breaks protocol,” replied Simon. “The only thing she’s let me know is she’s not lead at ground control for us.” Simon took a sip of his coffee and added, “Which wasn’t a big shocker since she’s taking another month off to be with Penelope.”

  “But don’t you worry your pretty little head, Todd,” said Sasha as she entered the room carrying Penny. “I will be checking in over at headquarters daily.”

  “Doesn’t sound like much of a month off,” replied Todd.

  “Well, my folks are going to come and stay to help out until you and my husband return. I figure it may be good for me to slowly re-acclimate myself over at H.Q. while I have the live-in babysitters.”

  “You could just admit you love your husband and want to check up on him…” Simon said, smiling. “But that may possibly be construed as a tiny shred of weakness, so we could never allow that, could we dear?”

  “Never!” replied Sasha playfully.

  Sasha walked over to Todd and gently handed Penny to him. A wide-eyed and frightened-looking Todd Jordan made his arms into a basket and said in protest, “Sasha, I don’t really know how to—”

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p; Sasha cut him off and firmly stated, “Todd, I have seen you handle much scarier situations than holding your best friend’s baby for a couple of minutes while his wife says good-bye to him!” Todd couldn’t help but notice that Simon seemed to be getting quite a bit of enjoyment out of this whole scene.

  “Now, sit next to Buddy over on the couch, and I’ll be back with your partner in five minutes.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Todd replied as he carefully walked over to the couch and sat down.

  As Simon and Sasha said their good-byes in the living room, Todd stared down into the large, hazel doe eyes of the baby looking up at him. What is so great about this? he wondered to himself. “Just a few years ago, your dad and I were living together down in Milwaukee, going out almost every night. Well, when we weren’t chasing fugitives around the solar system, that is. Then, boom! ‘Hey, I’m talking to my high school sweetheart again. How funny is that?’ Then back and forth for as many visits as possible. Then she’s moving here and ‘we’re getting a place together…we’re engaged…moving to Sheboygan after the wedding…’ And now, you. I never want to give up the single life, but your dad seems so happy now. I do have to admit, though…you are pretty damn cute.” Penny smiled up at him for the first time.

  Simon walked back into the room and over to Todd. He gently took Penny back from him. “Okay, peanut, Daddy just needs to kiss those cheeks a few more times, and then he has to go.” Simon’s eyes slowly welled up with tears. He walked over to Sasha, and they had a family hug. “I love you both more than you could ever know. I’ll be back soon.”

  “We love you, too, Simon,” said Sasha, and she kissed him on the cheek as they ended the hug.

  Simon turned towards Todd and waved him over as he said, “C’mon, let’s go quick before I lose control of these tears.” Todd got up from the couch and walked toward the door to the garage. “I’ll go out to the car, and you take a few more minutes. We have plenty of time.”