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  “No,” replied Simon. “I spent most of last night in the chair in Penny’s room, staring at her, and all of this morning saying good-bye. I’m as ready as I’m gonna get.” Simon followed Todd out through the door and took one more look back over his shoulder through teary eyes as he mouthed “I love you” to Sasha.

  Chapter 5

  The ride along Lake Michigan from the Cain home to Star Marshal Base was barely ten minutes. Todd had known Simon a long time and could tell silence was what he wanted on this drive. As they made the final turn towards the outer walls of the sprawling star marshal property, Simon turned to Todd and said, “It’s good to see you, buddy, and you know I really am looking forward to one other thing about being back.”

  “Oh, yeah? What’s that?” asked Todd.

  “A good night’s sleep. In six months, Penny’s only slept through the night once, and it freaked us out so bad we were up half the night anyway.” They both laughed as Todd showed the guard at the entrance his credentials and pulled into the base.

  The star marshal grounds covered nearly ten thousand acres and housed everything Earth-based for the star marshals in one location. The first buildings they passed as they made their way down the main road through the base were the Star Marshal Academy classrooms and dormitories for students currently in the program. Built as quickly as possible out of concrete and glass with function far outweighing style on the list of priorities, they were quite sterile and unattractive to look at.

  After passing the academy buildings, they drove through the many hangars, manufacturing buildings, and repair facilities required for the base. Finally, at the end of the road, right on the lake, were the runways, launchpad, and Star Marshal Headquarters building.

  The headquarters building was very large. With only three stories above ground and five more below, it covered nearly thirty-five acres of the grounds by itself. Constructed of granite blocks with a greenish hue and black glass, it was imposing while managing to possess an elegant beauty at the same time.

  Todd pulled his Corvette into the parking lot on the west side of the building. He drove down the row of spots designated for field marshals and into the spot with his name on it. “You know,” said Todd as they exited the car and made their way up the steps to the entrance, “I’ve been having dreams lately that this is the assignment we finally catch up to him.”

  Simon groaned and replied, “Todd, you’ve been saying that every assignment I’ve gone on with you for over two years.”

  “I know,” Todd said with a smile. “But this time it’s different…I can feel it.”

  Nearly seven years earlier, not long after Todd had turned twenty, his mother and grandfather had driven up to Madison to deliver the worst news Todd had ever received. While out on assignment for the star marshals, Todd’s father had been killed. Even more devastating was the news he had been the victim of murder at the hands of his longtime partner, Jay Gibson. Jay had been like an uncle to Todd. When he finally got over the initial shock, Todd swore that once he became a marshal, he would not stop looking for Jay until he avenged his father. Seven years later, and he still had nothing but the occasional whispers and rumors that always crumbled with even the tiniest bit of follow up.

  As they entered the large black glass doors to headquarters, a Bopecan approximately the same size as Simon was waiting for them. He nodded to Todd while he moved towards Simon and hugged him with his four long arms. “So good to see you, Simon,” he said.

  “It’s great to see you, too, Pritzley,” replied Simon. As they walked down the long marble halls towards the briefing room, Pritzley inquired how Sasha and Penelope were, and Todd drifted off into thought of where in the solar system this assignment would be taking them.

  The trio rounded the last corner and made their way down the final hall to the briefing room. They passed a long open shelf built into the wall on their left about head high. On this shelf sat ten life-size, three-dimensional heads. These were the star marshals’ ten most wanted. The heads slowly rotated from the left side of their face back to the right, and once in a while they did a full 360-degree rotation. There were five different species represented among the ten heads, but only one was human. Todd didn’t have to look to know that with its black wavy hair, dark brown eyes, and black mustache, the last head in the line was his father’s ex-partner and killer, Jay Gibson.

  They entered the briefing room through a set of heavy metallic doors. The inside of the heptagonal-shaped room was well lit, but everything contained within the room was dark. Dark carpet, dark walls, dark leather chairs, and a large dark U-shaped table. The ceiling was twenty feet above them and tapered up another two feet to a smaller matching heptagon in the center. The wall at the open end of the U-shaped table had five, ten-foot screens on it. In the center of the U was a large hologram of Jupiter’s second-largest moon, Callisto.

  As they made their way toward the table, the only person in the room rose from his seat at the base of the U. Standing at least two inches taller than Todd, he was the tallest Bopecan either Todd or Simon had ever met. He also seemed to be one of the oldest. While the Bopecans had shared that they lived for hundreds of Earth years, they had not shared precisely how long that tended to be or exactly how old any of the ones working at star marshals were. This particular tall, and presumably older, Bopecan was the first to have made contact in person with humans on Earth nearly thirty-seven years earlier. He was the leader of the group of Bopecans that had come to Earth, and had been head of star marshals since its inception. His name was Lombargnor.

  “It is very good to see you once again, Simon,” began Lombargnor. “I trust that Sasha and baby Penelope are doing well?”

  “Thank you, sir,” responded Simon. “Other than a little sleep deprivation, everyone is doing great. Even with all the incredible things I’ve seen in my years as a star marshal, the last six months have been the most amazing of my life.”

  “How wonderfully put, Simon,” said Lombargnor. “I am so happy for you all. I would not trade any of the wonders I have witnessed in my centuries traveling the galaxy for the years I had with my children when they were young.” Lombargnor took a step closer to Simon, put two of his four hands on his shoulders, and added, “I envy you these memories you and your family will be making over the coming years.” He turned and gestured back towards the table. “Now, sit everyone. We have much to discuss for your upcoming assignment.”

  Chapter 6

  Lombargnor and Pritzley sat next to each other at the base of the U. Todd and Simon took seats across from each other on opposite arms of it. The five screens on the wall ahead of Lombargnor in an X pattern, like the five side of a die, sat idle, with the star marshal crest in the middle of each of them. Lombargnor swung his front right arm in front of himself. On the forearm was a device nine inches long that wrapped around the arm from wrist to elbow. The top of this device was a screen, and when he started manipulating the images on it, the five screens at the front of the room came to life. The four outer screens showed maps while on the center screen a face very much resembling a goat appeared.

  “Benjo!” exclaimed Todd. “What did that old goat do? Skip out on his check at a diner?” He laughed as he nodded across the table at a chuckling Simon. Lombargnor glanced back and forth between the two, and when he was satisfied they were through with their little laugh, he said, “Unfortunately, the ‘old goat,’ as you called him, has apparently graduated to murder.”

  A look of utter bewilderment came over Todd’s face as Lombargnor continued. “It seems our friend Benjo was playing cards with some miners on Callisto, and he accused them of cheating.” Todd raised one eyebrow in a “well, that sounds more like Benjo,” sort of way. Lombargnor went on, “The miners did not take to his accusation well. One thing led to another, and one of the miners was killed. ”

  “Did anyone other than the miners see this happen?” asked Simon.

  “There are conflicting descriptions of the event from other people
at the bar that night,” replied Pritzley before adding, “but the dagger that they found in the dead miner was definitely of Gleeban origin.”

  Simon leaned forward and said, “Well, there are quite a few Gleeban scavengers out there other than Benjo, and from what I’ve seen, they all carry daggers.”

  “That is true,” said Lombargnor. “As you know the star marshal station on Callisto is woefully understaffed and overworked. The recent robbery and double homicide of tourists on Ganymeade that has been all over the news has them stretched to the limit. Because of the relationship you and Todd have built with Benjo the last couple of years while he has provided you with information, I thought it best that you two be the ones to track him down and hear his side of the story.”

  Simon leaned back in his chair, looking relieved at the relative ease of the assignment. “So,” said Todd, “where are we headed first?”

  When the Bopecans’ main ship first arrived and made its way from the Oort cloud in towards its eventual orbit around Mars, it had jettisoned dozens of smaller ships. These ships had landed on various moons of Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter. Once on the ground, the occupants of the ships got to work setting up mining colonies. The Bopecans employed many different alien species in their mining operations.

  Soon after arriving on Earth, the Bopecans had shared much of their space flight technology with humans. Once this knowledge was dispersed, the United States, European Union, Russia, China, and a handful of wealthy private companies also set out to establish various mining settlements throughout the solar system. By 2074, there were many such settlements scattered over the many moons—some thriving, some abandoned, and almost everything in between.

  Pritzley rose from his seat and made his way around to the inner part of the table. Once alongside the hologram of Callisto, he pointed a long purple finger at a building inside a large dome located near the north pole of the moon. “This is the main entertainment building for the settlement on Callisto.”

  “We may have heard of it,” said Todd as he winked across the table at Simon. Simon smiled as Pritzley continued. “Yes, well, there is a bar in the underground levels of this building. The altercation took place in that establishment. The accused has not been seen since.”

  “So head to the scene of the crime, sniff around, and take it from there?” asked Todd.

  “Yes, Marshal Jordan, we feel that would be the most sensible starting point for your investigation,” replied Pritzley.

  Simon looked relieved and asked, “So is that all?”

  Pritzley glanced at Lombargnor.

  “Well, there is one more thing,” said Lombargnor before unfolding two of his arms and leaning forward. “As you are both aware, we have periodically been receiving cryptic messages from an unknown source. These messages have been arriving for years from all over the galaxy. Recently, the source of these messages has claimed to be embedded with the Vikards.”

  Todd sat up much straighter, obviously intrigued. “Yes, but you have always said you were reluctant to believe it was anything more than a ruse to waste our time and lead us down dead ends.”

  “That is true,” replied Lombargnor. “However, on the slight chance that the source was legitimate, we felt it was worth following up on the information that was being provided. So far, everything has checked out. I would like you two to follow up on the latest message.”

  Simon interjected at this point. “You appear to think this latest message is potentially quite serious.”

  “I do,” replied Lombargnor. “The message indicates that the Vikards are planning a full-scale assault on this solar system and have already set up a base of operation on Io, the moon of Jupiter. The message indicates that the facility has been constructed underground beneath an abandoned Chinese mining operation.”

  “What exactly do you need us to do?” asked a wide eyed, unblinking, Todd.

  “We need you to determine whether this facility actually exists, and if it does, we need to know the scale and capabilities of what is there,” replied Lombargnor .

  “Sounds simple enough,” said Todd.

  “Exercise extreme caution on this assignment, marshals,” said Lombargnor. “If this turns out to be correct information, the Vikards will not want it to be known yet. They will most certainly attempt to exterminate anyone who may expose this base.”

  “I’ll keep him under control,” said Simon. “Despite how excited he looks over there about this part of the assignment.”

  “Hey, I just love what I do, baby!” exclaimed Todd. “Now, let’s suit up and get out there!”

  Chapter 7

  The locker room was located by the hangars in a building across the main road from headquarters. Inside the locker room, large oak lockers were set on emerald green carpet. At the center of the room was a large open area with circular tables set around a silver star marshal crest woven into a circular patch of black carpet. Todd and Simon made their way through the empty table and to the back corner row where their lockers were located.

  “Benjo, stab someone? I don’t know,” said Simon.

  As they sat down to take their shoes off, Todd replied, “Yeah, I’m having a hard time accepting that as a possibility myself. Benjo is a lot of things, but violent is not one of them.” Todd pulled his uniform out of his locker and added, “I gotta be honest, though. Until you just mentioned it, I hadn’t been thinking about that part of our assignment at all.”

  “I figured,” responded Simon. “You’ve been downright giddy since Lombargnor told us about the Io portion of our assignment.”

  “Dude, you cannot tell me you’re not way more fired up for that than questioning people about Benjo playing cards!” exclaimed Todd.

  Simon chuckled. “It sounds like it turned into a little more than a simple card game. But yes. Following up on a message from the mysterious source sounds a bit more interesting.” Simon stood up and retrieved his uniform from the back of his locker.

  The uniform worn by star marshals on assignment was a space suit. This was not the bulky version of space suit worn by original astronauts. Human and Bopecan technological advances had combined to create a much thinner, more flexible, yet stronger and more durable suit. The suits were baby blue on top, gray on the bottom, with a gold stipe down the outside of the legs and a gold shoulder patch to match on the shoulders. A silver star marshal crest sat on the left breast to identify them each with a unique badge number woven into the bottom of the crest.

  On the back, at the base of the neck, was a small black circle approximately two inches in diameter. When needed, a hood would emerge from this circle and envelope the wearer’s head. It would then inflate slightly and harden to form an airtight helmet. The sleeve on the arm of the marshal’s dominant arm stopped just after the elbow. Below that, every agent on assignment wore a marshal link.

  The device wrapped around the forearm from the elbow down to the wrist. When a full seal of the suit was necessary, much like the helmet, a piece of material would emerge from the upper wrist area. This material would envelope the hand, but instead of inflating, it formed a glove and sealed itself to complete the airtight suit.

  The marshal link was mostly a flexible screen. The marshal used this for communication, tracking, and to help with other miscellaneous items as needed. The marshal link was biometrically linked to its owner and could not be used by anyone else. Down the inner part of the forearm was the only part of the device that was not screen. It was a thin chamber that contained the stick-like object that was the marshal’s most important piece of equipment. The marshal wand.

  Once activated, either by voice or by pressing a tiny button on the inner wrist, the marshal wand ejected from the chamber and into the marshal’s hand. The wand was approximately seven and a half inches in length, and like the marshal link, it too was biometrically linked to its owner. Slightly thicker at the base, it tapered up to the tip. The end of the base was a dial that switched the wand through its three settings.

&nb
sp; On one it could be used as a welding tool to fix or seal things and could even be used to cauterize a wound if the need arose. On the second it was a Bopecan plasma-cutting tool. On this setting it could cut through nearly any known substance in the galaxy. On the third setting, it became the marshal’s weapon. In this mode, when squeezed deliberately and firmly, the wand would fire a golden pulse. This pulse would completely incapacitate the creature it hit for anywhere from a minute to a few hours, depending on the size of the victim, armor worn, and where exactly the pulse struck.

  Todd smiled as he sealed his link over his forearm. “I still get tingly every time we suit up and head out,” he said.

  “Me too,” replied Simon halfheartedly while looking down at a picture of Penny on his phone. This time Simon knew it was a different feeling. He had been discussing it with Sasha for months, and thinking about it since the day after Penny was born. Right now he knew for sure. He could not handle the thought of not coming home to his baby girl. This would be Simon Cain’s final O.E.A.

  Chapter 8

  For transport up from and down to planets or moons, and for transport or pursuit while on them, the marshals used vehicles known as cruisers. Todd loved walking into the cruiser hangar. It always reminded him of the classic car shows his grandfather would take him to as a kid. Most things star marshal were function first with style an afterthought. Not the cruisers. The cruisers were cool.

  The Bopecans collaborated with a team of humans when the cruisers were designed and built. The human chosen to head the design team was a famous car designer named Paul Gantner. Paul’s style had been heavily influenced by a love for mid-twentieth-century car design, and it showed. Fifties and sixties Camaros, Mustangs, GTOs, and Eldorados had clearly and beautifully been woven into the look of the star marshal cruisers.