Star Crew: Battle of Noctuu

By Crane Whitmore

A nuclear war, the war of all wars, desolated Earth the way we once knew it. The few lone people that had survived the catastrophic event sought out refuge at the bottom of canyons to avoid the toxicity and radiation above. Every day, many prayed for some sort of sign, some ray of hope that would come save them from their dire situation. Food was scarce and staying alive was even tougher. Help would come from unexpected sources.

Nobody ever truly believes in extraterrestrials until they're standing right in front of you. And even then, it is not totally believable.

A misfit group of people that survived the war, are kidnapped to help a much larger universal cause. One that none of them ever knew existed. A few of the surviving earthlings are carefully selected due to each one of the skills that they possessed prior to the big war. An ex-navy seal, a former showgirl, a doctor, an escaped prison inmate, a former Olympic champion, and a biker gang member, despite their differences, are forced to come together quickly as they are abducted one by one and thrust into a world of unknown.

They come to meet an alien general, short in stature and skin the color of night, who is the leader of a galactic army assembled of beings from many different planets. It doesn't take long to realize the mysterious general is full of deceit, espionage, and lies ... It's difficult for them to know whether to trust the small alien since he treats them well initially or to flee and figure things out for themselves. They travel to many different planets to gather information and skillsets that they will need to defeat a much larger threat than they had originally thought that looms in their future.

Will the humans be able to come together in these foreign predicaments, or will adversity and the weight of these unique situations destroy them? Only time will tell...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886544756

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Star Crew

Battle of Noctuu

Crane Whitmore

Copyright © 2023 Crane Whitmore

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

ISBN 979-8-88654-474-9 (pbk)

ISBN 979-8-88654-475-6 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Family, friends, and love are all you need in life.

Nothing else matters.

Prelude

The Selected Few

Dreaming

Awakening

Caneen

Finding Light, Part 1

Finding Light, Part 2

Finding Light, Part 3

Mission to Karteez

Battle of Karteez

Onward

Kepler

Battlefield Arena

The Supper Before

Destroy the Ships

Noctuu Recon

Betrayal

Escape from Ross

Noctuu Recon Mission

Return to Kepler

Abandoned City

Műr's Plan

The Rescue

Going Home

About the Author

This is Crane Whitmore's debut novel.

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I want to thank my very patient and loving partner, Jenn. Without her encouragement and support, it would have taken three times as long, if not more, to complete this project. I might have lost motivation if it weren't for you pushing me to get this done. I love and adore you so much! You mean more to me than you know. Thank you!

Next, I would like to thank all the boys at Station 17, Avin P., Jer B., and Sean W. Without your creative input and inspiration, this would not have turned out the same. Your questions and suggestions really made me think deeper. You all are going to do great things in this world. Thank you!

To my loving family. While none of you know I wrote this book up until this point, you all have been there for me throughout my life. You have been supportive in times that I have doubted myself in anything that I did not think I could accomplish. Mom and Dad, I appreciate everything you have done to get me to this point in life. It takes dedication to finish a novel, and your dedication to me has taught me that you can do anything you set your mind to. Tom, Tali, Mahala, Aaron, Taylor, Eric, Alyssa, Charlize, Madi, Nathan, Sophia, Gracie, and Jacob, I love you guys.

Lastly, to my grandma Miriam, who turned one hundred years old in April of 2019. Congratulations on making it a century! You were such an inspiration. You taught me how to respect in many ways. I value all the time we spent together, and I miss you very much.

Family, friends, and love are all you need in life.

Nothing else matters.

Prelude

World War III was just the beginning of the end for mankind. It always seemed like destiny for the United States of America to be the country that would ignite the deadliest war to take place involving the rest of the world.

The year was 2032 when a nuclear holocaust erupted, and 85 percent of the global population was destroyed. Only small pockets of people remained. The intelligent ones sought out underground shelter or hid in caves at the bottom of vast canyons to ensure their survival. The US, China, and Russia were hit the hardest, and among the smoking ruins of the most populated major cities remained nobody. There were no more politicians, no more militaries, and no more rule over any place on the planet. Humans were forced into being more humane and kinder to one another and had to work as teams once they came out of hiding. Most of the food and vegetation were contaminated, but people did what they could in trying to grow new vegetation near rivers at the bottom of some of the canyons that they now called home.

Some of the leftover radiation affected the human race's ability to reproduce. Some of the younger and elderly survivors became very ill and began dying off at a rapid pace. Anyone that made it but had pre-existing medical conditions died off rapidly as well. The saying survival of the fittest was now a reality.

People were as lost as ever, with no sense of direction or feeling of purpose. Many had no family remaining or will to live anymore. Suicide became common, which dwindled the population even more. It was a grim reality. Too dark for most.

Chapter 1

The Selected Few

Hells Canyon, Oregon

It was the summer month of June when twelve survivors of the Lightning Klan began noticing streaking lights and strange, glowing hovering lights above their haven in the canyon. Rhett Castle and Luna Rose, the unspoken leaders of the group, laid on a soft bank next to the river, gazing up at the stars, when they first noticed a low-frequency humming sound coming from a glowing orb that moved left to right slowly, like a drone or a satellite. However, the existence of this light and this noise would have been impossible, considering the devastation of the war and the complete destruction of the controls and technology that would have made either the light or the noise a possibility.

Rhett was a tall, dark-haired, well-built Navy SEAL before the war. The finely tuned assassin had been on several special missions prior to his military career ending in an injury in the Middle East. His eventual departure back home to the States with an honorable discharge came in 2026, six years before the war. He had been shot four times in the shoulder and chest by a new cell of terrorists that had emerged around that time. The only reason Rhett managed to survive was due to the sacrifice of his best friend, Galen Marshall, who gave his own life as he was able to grab on and pull Rhett to safety.

Luna, a curvy blonde and ex-Vegas showgirl, had fled her life in Nevada to Oregon to expand on the martial arts knowledge she had learned from her father growing up, in hopes of turning that into an MMA career. She didn't feel any reward or gratification from taking her clothes off in Las Vegas at the Crazy Horse, even though it was good money and, initially, an adrenaline rush. She had always dreamed of becoming a fighter and was still young enough to chase that dream. However, mass destruction of the war put her dream to rest forever.

A few years had gone by, and the Lightning Klan inherited more survivors little by little. Rhett had found a seemingly malnourished, pale, and sick Luna wandering aimlessly in search of food. Upon finding her, he brought her back to their shelter and nursed her back to a healthy state, not only of the mind, but also of the body. They eventually became extremely fond of each other and fell deeply in love. Both were fighters in not only a mental capacity but of a physical nature too. They seemed to be a perfect match, to see each other through to the end in a world that was destined to die.

*****

Luna snapped up to the sound of crunching rocks and running footsteps that approached them at an alarming rate, which triggered Rhett to pop to his feet with haste.

Come quick, Rhett. You need to check this out. You're not gonna believe it! exclaimed Kaleb Sabol, the lone teenager of the Klan.

Both Rhett and Luna darted after the sprite young man and began their ascent up a trail that led to a small plateau. As they approached, a dim light about halfway up began to illuminate brighter and brighter, and a low-frequency humming got louder and louder.

It's over here! Kaleb shouted as he continued sprinting to the threshold of the small plateau.

Rhett and Luna stood in disbelief behind the young man as they stared at an unearthly spacecraft of some sort. However, it didn't appear to be as what had been projected throughout the history of documented incidents concerning unidentified flying objects. It looked more like a US military stealth bomber, only there were no jets that would have propelled it the same. Just a singular bright blue glow from the undercarriage of the vessel which the low-frequency hum was emanating from.

Whatever this is, I don't want any part of it. We need to leave, now, Luna proclaimed as she started to walk away and continued, Now, Rhett! She grabbed for his arm to yank him away.

Rhett pulled away. Just a minute. Just give me one minute. Kaleb, go get the others.

Kaleb took off down the trail, taking Rhett's order like an obedient soldier.

Once he was out of sight, the glowing light subsided to nothing, making everything virtually pitch-black. That is, until a small bridge about the size of a sidewalk began extending from the side of the craft that gave off a slight glow of light. Once it reached out far enough, it started to open and drop to the ground like a large mouth opening. Two slender but significantly taller than human-size beings scurried back down the ramp as if climbing down a ladder.

Grand Canyon, Arizona

As a nomad and someone who was not fond of people, Matteo Cruz was a master at hiding and sneaking around to steal food for his own survival. Before the war, Matteo had been in and out of the prison system, from when he was a teenage boy to adulthood, and was heavily involved in gang activity. The inmate gangbanger was heavily tattooed and was built like a person who had spent a majority of their life behind bars, pumping iron. But with the war came loss. There were not many people of Latin descent left on the planet. Especially criminals like him. But his life had taught him how to get what he wanted, whenever he wanted.

As dusk settled in, Matteo walked the bank next to the Colorado River, looking for new farming growth that he could pluck from. He tried to not take from the same places too many times, to avoid any conflict or being seen by anyone.

The sun was beating down extremely hot. Matteo was sporting his dirty, torn shirt tied around his bald head to help from the sun beating down and causing severe burns. As he reached down to the river to scoop some water in his hands, he noticed smoke rising off in the distance. A fire. Life. Food, potentially. It had been two full days since Matteo had last robbed a small survival group of their crops.

There was still roughly a couple of hours left of daylight before dusk, and Matteo knew he had enough time to get to some high ground to better plot his mission of stealing more food. Upon finding a nice area to perch upon and spy, about a quarter mile away from the fire, he saw no signs of life surrounding it. He waited and waited until dusk settled in, and the gorgeous Arizona sunset painted itself in the sky. It seemed relatively safe, so he began his descent. As he got close, he heard the voices of a man and a woman, so he paused and hid behind some bushes. He had a large hunting knife he slowly drew from its case. A Black man and woman dressed in dirty, worn clothes walked out from within a small hole of a cave. The Black man had a large fish at the end of the spear he was holding as he walked over to the fire. If Matteo was to eat tonight, he decided, he was going to have to either wait until the couple left the food unattended or fight and kill them. His experiences in prison and on the streets running with his gang had conditioned him to fight to the death if need be.

As his stomach grumbled with hunger, he decided to move a little closer in position to attack the couple. In that process, he wasn't as careful as he should have been and wound up stepping on a large twig. Once it snapped, the couple immediately spotted Matteo. He was caught. It was do or die. He emerged from the bushes with his knife tightly gripped in his fist.

The Black man removed the fish from his spear and handed it to the woman.

Give me the fish and I won't kill you! Matteo yelled at the man.

Come and get it, the Black man challenged.

No problem. And Matteo started walking toward him.

The Black woman moved in front of her partner and interjected, Men, please…there's no need for any of this. She pointed to the river. There's enough in there for all of us. We'll let you use the spear in the morning light so you can have all you want, and you can share this fish with us tonight.

The Black man gave her a look of disgust but also understood that it would be the only chance to avoid conflict and death.

I don't work well with others, Matteo stated.

She's right, the Black man agreed. Neither one of us wants to die, and we are both hungry. You can leave in the morning with a full stomach.

The woman gestured the fish out in front of her, inviting him one last time. Matteo was tired and had been worn by the sun, and the only thing he cared about right then was eating. The energy he would spend fighting or trying to kill them both would have been more trouble than it was worth for a single fish, even though it was rather large. He slowly placed his knife back in his case as a gesture of peace and walked toward the couple.

The Black man extended his hand and introduced himself. Dax. The woman followed suit and extended her hand as well. Sheila.

Matteo moved past them to a large boulder without saying a word and sat down. He looked over at them and motioned them to carry on with what they were doing. The Black man placed the fish back on the stick and began cooking it over the fire they had built. It was an awkward silence until the fish was ready to eat.

Do you want to cut this thing up? Dax asked Matteo.

Matteo got off the rock and walked over and started cutting and divvying up equal portions of the fish.

So…you got a name? Sheila asked.

My name isn't important. I'll be gone after I eat. I told you I don't do well with others. Leave it at that.

Just as he finished his sentence, they all three looked up at the sky simultaneously due to a strange noise that seemed to be coming from around the bend in the canyon downstream. A glowing light shone around the corner. Suddenly, a large mass connected to the bright light revealed itself. Matteo looked over at the couple as their eyes popped out of their head in disbelief of what they were witnessing.

What th…what the h…what is that? Sheila's voice trembled.

As she finished her sentence, a high-frequency, thunderous gong sound pierced through the atmosphere. The light shone even brighter than it already was. Matteo saw the couple fall to the ground as they passed out, then his own vision began to fade. And then, total and complete darkness.

Kings Canyon, California

Julius Washington, for his entire life, had been a creature of habit. Though the world seemed to be coming to an end, he continued to try to keep his daily routines in as much tact as he could. Jules, as his close friends called him, had won three Olympic gold medals in track and field back-to-back, one in his first games in 2016, and two more four years later, in 2020. He was mostly a sprinter, and though he did well in other events while performing, the former athlete continued his running habits at the bottom of Kings Canyon postwar. Since he was recognized by many globally, it was easy for him to step into a leadership role with the group he joined that anointed themselves as the Founding Fathers. Though they didn't know it, this was the largest commune that had formed since the end of the war; there were over fifty people that had come to this spot in California to seek refuge from the vast majority of the radiation.

Jules loved to take his runs in the early evening around dusk. Sometimes a small group would run with him but usually wound up on their own as Jules scouted his way ahead of them. He was always on the lookout for items they could use to build up their community at the bottom of the canyon, as well as possible food sources, such as seeds from edible plants, and items of that nature.

On this specific night, and on this particular run, Jules decided he wanted to venture out alone. There were still some wild animals, such as mountain lions and coyotes, that remained predators and a threat to humans if they were alone.

Jules was tall, fit, and lanky. So it would take a desperate and ravenous animal to try to make a run at him. During the quick-paced jog, Jules enjoyed the serenity and peace that came with the sound of rushing water, coupled with the stars starting to form in the sky. Sometimes when he went running, he would get caught up in the beauty of the sky and forget to look ahead or down at potential obstacles. This was one of those times.

Jules had neglected to see a large piece of wood from a dead bush that protruded from the ground. His foot locked with the branch, and he flew about eight feet forward. Trying to brace his fall, he landed directly on his arm and heard a snap. There was little question that it had broken. He laid in agony, moaning and yelling in pain for a couple of minutes, before he decided to peel himself up from the settling dust cloud and brush himself off. He was losing daylight, quickly, and needed to put himself together if he wanted to make it back before all the nocturnal predators started hunting.

He tried ripping his shirt with one arm but had little success. He needed to create a sling and get jogging. The ripping didn't work, so he took