STAR BLAZERS: A VOYAGE TO REMEMBER
A fanfic recapitulation of Series One “The Quest for Iscandar” by
Frederick P. Kopetz
EPISODE SEVENTEEN: A PRISONER…AND A REDEMPTION…
(Big Thanks to “DTill359”)
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“The phrase ‘passive resistance’ often gives the false impression that this is a sort of ‘do-nothing method’ in which the resister quietly and passively accepts evil. But nothing is further from the truth. For while the nonviolent resister is passive in the sense that he is not physically aggressive toward his opponent, his mind and emotions are always active, constantly seeking to persuade his opponent that he is wrong…A second basic fact that characterizes nonviolence is that it does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent, but to win his friendship and understanding.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr-1958
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NOVEMBER 29, 2199
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On Planet Gamilon, at the moment, Leader Desslok was enjoying a
decadent pleasure no longer possible on Earth; he was taking a bath in his
ultra-luxurious hot spring bath.
Gold, he thought as he found a few small gold nuggets in the water. How kind of my underlings to provide me with…gold.
He was getting a little drowsy, so he grabbed a small dish nearby and ate some of the sweet substance.
Royal Bee Jelly from Beemira, he thought. What a lovely stimulant this is. It helps me concentrate when I get too sleepy. What does it matter, how it is made? The creatures we refine it from…are worse than barbarians.
Then, an underling of Desslok’s came into the bath.
“Leader Desslok!” he said. “General Lysis has just returned from the Diamond Front Line!”
“Very good. I shall see him shortly,” Desslok said as he stood, and another servant brought him a bathrobe and towel.
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In the Capital City of Gamilstadt, there was a great procession going on for General Erich Lysis, who had just returned from a great battle fighting forces from a rival Empire that appeared to be located in the Andromeda Galaxy that identified themselves variously as either the forces of Gatlantis, the Cometine Race, or the Comet Empire.
Recently, a Cometine Fleet had made an incursion into Gamilon Imperial Space guarded by Lysis.
After refusing to give ground, Lysis had been forced to destroy a large enemy fleet of this vicious race of conquerors. It was for that great victory that Lysis was now being recognized in his own Triumph on Gamilon.
After receiving his own chant of “Lysis, Lysis, LYSIS,” the tall, beefy and honored General strode up to Desslok and saluted.
Lysis looked at Desslok and said, “Leader Desslok, I have heard that a Terron ship known as the Argo has left the Sol System and is heading towards the edge of the Milky Way. Did they truly kill Welke Ganz?”
“They did,” Desslok replied. “You missed the fun that Talan and I had with them recently. I am planning another trap for them, but if they escape that trap…”
“Sir, should this Argo remain a threat, I request the honor of crushing them,” said Lysis as Desslok pinned the Imperial Seal, Gamilon’s highest award, to his chest. Of course, had Desslok known that in a few decades, he would be awarding the very same medal to some Terrons, he would have had a stroke right then and there.
Desslok chuckled. “Looking for another medal? Why not? You deserve some sport for a change.”
“Why, thank you, sir,” Lysis said. He saluted and left.
Desslok thought, I may not need to involve Erich at all. I have a plan of my own by which I should be destroying the Argo within a few days. Both with an invention of mine and by other means…
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Doctor Sane was tired, sad, and looked honestly depressed in spite of a smile today as he poured some sake’ in his cabin.
He was talking with IQ-9. “Can you tell me why you were acting so
strangely the other day?”
“I was practicing my new human characteristic of hiccups in the event you ever pour your swill on me and want to get me drunk,” said the little robot as he turned his dome around.
“We know that is a physical impossibility,” snorted Doctor Sane. “You don’t have the equipment to ingest liquids.”
“Then why do you drink so much?” said IQ-9 as the door to the cabin hissed open and Nova and Michelle Sakamoto came in wearing scrub dresses. “Konnichi wa, Sensei,” they both said together in Japanese before they kicked their shoes off to sit down on the tatami.
“Nova, what are you doing here so early?” said Sane.
“You must have forgotten the duty schedule. I was Officer of the Deck in the wee hours of the morning, so I’m off today on the Bridge. Yuria has my spot at the radar. What’s the clinical report from last night?” Nova said.
“Not much to report. A guy slipped in the engine room; sprained knee; back to work off sick call with pain meds, and a young lady in the Galley burned her hand making scrambled eggs at 0500. Also treated and released.”
Nova nodded and Michelle said, “Doctor, why do you drink so much? It’s 1030 Hours, and there you are again with the bottle.”
“Thinking of the family I don’t have,” Sane said sadly. “My dead daughter Aiko. Behind me, holding a bottle, is a painting I did of my ex-wife Fujiko before the divorce and before she died. Then, there was my oldest daughter, Yuriko.”
“You always told me you had one daughter who died, Doctor Sane,” Nova said with surprise in her eyes. “You never mentioned Yuriko before. Did she die, too?”
“No, she’s alive. She and I have not spoken for years, though.”
“What happened, Doctor?” said Michelle.
Doctor Sane sighed and began to cry. “Fujiko and I divorced in 2191 right around the time the planet bombings really kicked in. She and I had been married since 2174, for seventeen years. Aiko and Yuriko were fraternal twins born in 2176, just a little older than you two, and they were both sixteen at the time of the divorce, just starting University; they started college early like you did, Nova. Aiko and I kept in touch and we worked together until she died at twenty-two in 2196, a second-year Med student who worked with me, wearing a wig up until she died because she had no hair left,” Sane said as he took a drink and sobbed a bit.
Nova touched his hand. “I’m so sorry, Doctor Sane. What happened with Yuriko?”
Doctor Sane sighed. “Aiko went to college and Medical School here in Japan. Yuriko was admitted to Duke in the United States, and during her freshman year, she and I argued over a video phone call, and she hung up on me. I have not seen nor spoken to Yuriko for eight years now. No postcards, no Father’s Day cards…nothing. She didn’t even come to her mother’s funeral. I don’t know if Yuriko is even alive or dead, honestly. She always had a fiery temper, and was difficult. Aiko was a lot like you, Nova…kind, great sense of humor…she would have made a great doctor,” sobbed Sane.
“Did you bury her on Earth?” Nova said.
“No. I kept her ashes. They’re in a safe here in Medical with Astra’s. Aiko loved the sea so much…if Queen Starsha allows it, I think she should be buried on Iscandar, near Astra. Just like Astra, she gave her life helping people out. Now, you two know why I drink,” said Doctor Sane. “The grief never leaves me.”
“Let’s pray quietly for him, Nova,” said Michelle.”
Nova, Michelle, and Sane held hands, and they prayed silently for a bit, and Doctor Sane began to recite a Buddhist sutra for the repose of the souls of Aiko and Fujiko. “Om Mani Peme Hung.”
Sane repeated the sutra seven times, while Nova and Michelle prayed silently in their fashion that those two women had found God’s Grace.
Nova then stood. “Doctor, we have some routine work to do. May we be excused?”
“Of course,” he said.
Luckily, IQ-9 remained silent during this painful moment of reminiscence for Doctor Sane.
Nova and Michelle bowed, kicked on their sandals, and left.
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At about the same time, Derek Wildstar and Peter Conroy were flying a patrol to scout space that the Argo would soon be passing through.
“Object spotted on radar!” Wildstar said from his Cosmo-Zero.
“What’s the coordinates?” Conroy said.
“RQ-25, speed, twenty space knots,” said Derek. “IFF shows it’s not friendly!”
“Two Gamilon planes,” said Conroy. “That’s all we need today.”
The Gamilons flew towards Wildstar and Conroy and attacked.
Conroy brought down one plane straightaway with a massive explosion.
Derek jinked around and fired at the second dark-green plane, which attempted to evade, but which was hit a glancing blow in its engines by Wildstar’s cannon.
The Gamilon plane was smoking, and his radio was out. Meines Gott! The enemy pilot thought in Gamilon. Bashuk Vulalga Terronische? (“My God, what sort of Terron planes are these?”)
“Hey! That plane that’s smoking! Let’s capture it!” said Wildstar.
“A Gamilon prisoner?” Conroy said. “That’s if he’s alive…I think we should blow him away. That’s one less we’ll have to fight tomorrow if he’s alive.”
“We need the intel on those monsters,” said Derek. “Like it or not!”
“Okay, let’s see if we can drag this fish in,” grunted Conroy.
“Let’s try the capture cables,” said Derek. “Remember, we only get one shot.”
Wildstar’s Super Starfighter fired a cable, followed by Conroy’s plane.
The plane was captured.
The Gamilon pilot tried to pull a control in his cockpit that would self-destruct his plane; and hopefully kill the Terrons, as well.
It didn’t work.
The system is damaged, he thought. What are they going to do to me? I’m told that the Terrons are very cruel. I might be dissected alive or made into a human sacrifice to their gods!
“We got a live one,” said Conroy as he saw the enemy pilot’s head moving around inside his or her helmet.
“You know what this means?” said Derek. “This is the first live Gamilon ever captured! Maybe he’ll talk?”
“We may have to electrocute him a few times to get him to talk,” Conroy said. “Even though I don’t like that protocol…”
“I don’t care what we have to do to him!” snapped Derek. “He’ll talk…or else! What a victory! The first live Gamilon!”
Both pilots laughed as they towed the enemy plane back to the Argo.
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A while later, the enemy plane had been hauled into the Argo’s
lower landing bay after it was scanned to make certain there were no live
explosives in the ship. Since the self-destruct mechanism was out and it depended
upon the reaction of two inert compounds, Sandor pronounced the enemy bird
clean.
“I wish I had been out there,” said Dana Starion as she saw the Gamilon pilot being handcuffed and placed in a transport capsule.
“Damn! What a victory for the Star Force!” said Grant as he watched the transfer.
“Conroy, it looks like the damn Gamilon is getting all the attention,” barked Wildstar.
“So, that’s a Gamilon?” said Jefferson Hardy as he looked on at the flight-suited pilot with heavy helmet. “We should rip ‘im from limb t’ limb, starting now!” he said as he lunged for the Gamilon.
Toru Hoshina stopped him. “Hardy! He’s a prisoner! We can’t mess up a helpless person, even if he is a Gamilon!”
“You’re being very hateful!” barked Yuria. “We have to see what he knows first!”
“Watch it, people,” said Doctor Sane. “He may be carrying unknown organisms!” Indeed, Sane was already in a containment suit, along with Nova, Janilla, and Paul Rosstowski, who was armed. “I don’t want anyone getting in the way; this is VERY important!” he screeched.
“Yeah, where’s the red carpet for this guy?” said Derek.
“If the pilot is a guy,” Nova said inside her containment suit. “The flight suit looks loose. The pilot could be a woman for all we know. We also don’t know if they understand our language, even though the one who captured us on Titan spoke Terranglish under that mirrored visor, Derek!”
“Yeah, remind me not to ask her out if it’s a female,” snorted Derek.
“Even if it’s a girl, they’ll probably just as soon kill you as look at you,” said Dash.
“Ah still wanna execute ‘im,” said Hardy.
Sane, Nova, Janilla and Rosstowski hauled the pilot off to Sickbay as Sandor said, “I can’t wait to examine his plane. See you later.”
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The pilot, IQ-9, Dr. Sane, Nova, Janilla and Rosstowski were in Sickbay with the door closed. The light above the hatch was red, but a crowd had gathered at the observation theatre.
“So, how intelligent do you think the pilot is?” said Conroy to Wildstar.
“Judging from their technology, they must be very advanced creatures,” said Eager.
“It goes back to that message from their Leader,” said Homer. “Why are they attacking us? What’s their motive?”
“They must be very cruel if they’re dropping bombs on us,” said Yuria Misaki. “Maybe they think we’re like insects?”
“Maybe they’re really robots,” said Homer.
“I wonder if the enemy looks grotesque,” said Eager.
“Maybe they look laike demons,” said Hardy, ”They sure act laike demons.”
“Maybe they have faces like bugs,” stammered Royster. “And big bug eyes!”
“We never got a live one before,” said Grant. “Captain Avatar once told me that if they’re about to be captured, they blow themselves to bits.”
“I heard they eat humans,” said Dash. “Maybe they’re some kind of hive-mind, like ants or bees, with antennae coming out of their heads!”
“Maybe they’re green like lobsters,” said Dana Starion.
“They’re monsters,” said Derek as he gritted his teeth and made fists, “They’re nothing but rotten Monsters! I’m with Hardy! I wish I could give this guy the third degree, then kill him! Or her. Or IT.”
“Derek, take a chill pill,” said Venture. “We can’t kill him, her or it!”
“They killed my parents and Alex!” Derek hissed.
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IQ-9 took a scan. “No contaminants or unknown organisms found after decontamination.”
“Squares with what I have on my scanners,” said Doctor Sane. “Nova?”
“The same,” she said.
“Janilla?”
“Precisely the same, Doctor,” said the Jamaican nurse.
“Okay, we can get rid of the containment gear,” said Doctor Sane as he shed his space suit to reveal his medical clothes. Nova and Janilla did the same, revealing their scrub dresses and sandals. Rosstowski took off his gear but kept his rifle at the ready.
“Open the capsule, Nova,” said Doctor Sane.
“Roger that,” she said. She hit a button, and the capsule slid open.
“Let’s begin the exam,” said Sane as he readied scanners and an otoscope. “Nova, remove the helmet.”
“Right,” she said. Nova took off the Gamilon’s rebreather
mask, and then lifted his visor and removed the helmet.
She was looking at a young, male humanoid face with greenish hair, and blue skin.
His eyes looked apprehensive.
“We’re going to undress you,” Nova said very slowly and carefully. “No harm will come to you. After we finish the basic exam, we have these slacks to put on you,” Nova said, holding a pair of striped slacks and miming putting them on while Rosstowski stood by. “Do you understand?”
“Zar belk,” he said, with downcast eyes.
Rosstowski’s eyebrows went up. “What did he say?”
“He said ‘I understand’,” Nova said. “I’ve picked up a small amount of their language. Cover Janilla and I while we get his suit and boots off…”
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In the operating theatre, Derek stood there sweating while Conroy said. “They look like US?”
“Except for the blue skin, yes,” said Hardy. “Look at his chest. The musculature…”
“They look just like humans,” said Yuria.
“Well, he’s male,” said Derek. “We can all see that. Same equipment as us. Really,” he snorted as the medical personnel scanned the pilot before Nova and Janilla helped him into his prisoners’ striped pants.
“Would you have asked that pilot out if she was female?” teased Eager.
“Hell, no, I would’ve cut her damn throat,” Derek said as his mind went back to the past…”Not after what they did to my Mom and Dad…”
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A SUMMER’S DAY; JULY SIXTH, 2191, AD…
OVER EIGHT YEARS AGO…
A young Derek Wildstar, about to turn thirteen, waited for the bus to pull up at a bus stop in his hometown, a small region on the outskirts of Miura City in Japan, or “Great Island” as the official UN Government preferred to call it.
The red bus pulled up.
His mother, Angelica Aikiko Wildstar, saw a young man in EDF uniform coming off the bus. He had the tousled dark hair of Derek, but his face was a bit older.
Alex, carrying a suitcase, saluted. “Mom, Derek, you didn’t have to come all the way out here to greet me.”
“You didn’t think we were going to sit around at home and wait for you, did you?” said Angelica. Now, it just so happened that Derek’s mother was very loving but also had a sharp wit and bright, active eyes and didn’t readily take “no” for an answer. An old theory, not always true, say that men marry women with personalities somewhat like their mothers. If that is true, Derek Wildstar would end up marrying a quick-witted woman who would have gotten on quite well with his mother Angelica.
“No, but I see you’ve got more freckles, Derek,” teased Alex. “Or are those pimples?”
There was laughter. Derek crossed his eyes and didn’t look.
Later, at home, one of Derek’s uncles said to his father, Theodore Kodai Wildstar, “The planet bombing is picking up world-wide. They just hit Rio De Janiero, Bremen, Germany, and Nashville in the USA last week.”
Theodore ran a trade and import company; thus, he owned a large house. He was chubby with a heavy moustache. “I’ve heard the same from a lawyer I know in Colorado who’s been all over the world. They hit Long Beach, California last week, too. But, so far, we’ve been lucky here in Japan. For some reason, the enemy hasn’t dropped any bombs here, yet.”
“I’m a Midshipman First Class at the Academy,” Alex said. “They had us on alert a month ago. They were afraid the enemy was going to try to land in Japan.”
“Do they know who they are or what they want?” said one of Derek’s uncles.
“No. They’re mysterious,” Alex said. “We don’t even know if they’re human or not…”
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They can’t be human like us, Derek thought in anger. I have to do something about this.
“Hey, Wildstar, where are you goin?” said Eager, not liking the look in his eyes.
“To do something,” snapped Derek.
“What?”
“NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!” he barked back as his mind cut back to the past again…
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JULY SEVENTH, 2191
Derek woke up, hearing Alex snoring in the bunk bed above.
He was still jealous. He remembered the argument he had experienced earlier with his mother while holding his butterfly collection. “ALEX IS ALL YOU CARE ABOUT!” he had yelled. The next day would have been his birthday. He felt very neglected.
His mother, pretty, with dark eyes and her dark hair in a bun, held him and made him feel better.
Then, there was an impact. It knocked Alex and Derek out of bed.
“What’s that?” Alex said…looking out a window.
It was a planet bomb that had landed on the edge of town.
Luckily, for them, it was a dud.
But more were coming.
That night, bombing of Japan began in earnest, along with bombing in the rest of the world. Every major city was bombed. London. Paris. Beijing. Moscow, New York, Tokyo, Sydney, Australia, Manila in the Philippines….
Mount Fuji was hit. It erupted while Alex was staying with his parents and Derek.
His father watched the TV. “Oh, no, this is terrible!”
The phone rang.
“Alex!” called Angelica. “It’s your commander at the Academy, Captain Draco Gideon! He wants you on the phone right away!”
Alex took the phone and spoke. “Yes. Yessir, I see.” Then, he shouted out, “I’ve just been graduated a year early. I’m now an Ensign! They’re calling up our entire squadron!”
“It was good to have you here,” said Theodore as he hugged his elder son.
“It was,” Alex said. “I’ll miss you, Derek. Take care of Mom and Dad, okay?”
“I’ll try,” he said. “Even though I hate fighting…”
Nevertheless, Derek’s thirteenth birthday party, which should have been later that day, was forgotten about in the confusion.
The war got worse.
So did the bombings.
And, a great project began to build cities underground to shelter from the mysterious alien enemy. Word had finally come out they were known as the Gamilons.
What they wanted; what they looked like, was still unknown…
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Derek came out of the past, and he rode a one-man conveyor belt down to Sickbay.
He burst in and grabbed the Gamilon’s combat knife.
“DEREK!” yelled Doctor Sane. “Have you gone mad?”
“I have my reasons,” he sneered.
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Derek remembered the last time he had met with Alex for a while at Kanto Space Station.
He and Alex had shared a bento box of sushi, while Alex said, “You’ll be old enough to become a cadet soon. Your grades are good. Are you applying to the Academy, soon? They’re really desperate.”
“I know,” Derek said. “Mom and I have been taking care of radiation casualties at our school. But I don’t like fighting! Never did, never will! Dad is talking about moving underground soon.”
“It’s that bad?” Alex said.
Young Derek nodded.
He and Alex parted. Soon, he was on a train on his way home.
In the meantime, his parents were walking to the bus stop. “Good news, Angel,” his father said to his mother. “I have the papers for an underground apartment. We can move underground any time.”
“I’m encouraged,” Angelica said. She had on a brown blouse and red skirt. They walked to the bus stop. “I bet you don’t remember that tree, Ted?”
“The one you stood under when I proposed to you?” he said. “It’s a beautiful place.”
“And it won’t be here much longer,” sighed Angelica. The bus came. Derek was not on it.
“I wonder why he was delayed?” said Theodore.
“He’ll be on the next bus, I’m sure…” said Angelica. She heard a noise. “My God, Theodore, that noise!”
Theodore looked up.
A planet bomb was on its way in.
“RUN!” he yelled.
But they were too late.
Much too late.
The bomb hit.
And their bodies dissolved.
Derek’s train had been knocked off the tracks. He was surrounded by the moaning, the wounded, the dying.
He got out and looked south.
“MY HOME!” he cried. “MOM! DAD!”
He walked home from Yokohama to Miura.
It took several hours.
He finally got to the bus stop.
His parents were gone.
Except for a scrap of the charred blouse his mother had been wearing.
He screamed, cursed, and cried.
And he determined he had to have his revenge on the Gamilons…right then and there, even as he took in enough radiation that would soon make him sick….
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“You killed my parents and my brother, you Gamilon bastard!” Derek yelled at the prisoner. “And, for that, I’m gonna cut your heart out!”
Derek came out of his dark reverie about his parents’ death to find that he was still holding the knife, but that he was in a circle of shipmates.
He looked around with wild eyes to see Doctor Sane off to one side, IQ-9 behind him, and Venture at his right.
However, what shocked him the most was that someone was standing between him and the prisoner with wild hair and a very determined look on her face.
It was Nova.
And, Derek’s eyes went wide as she slowly drew
Rosstowski’s astro-automatic…and then threw it off to the side against the
bulkhead. “No one is going to be hurt here today,” Nova said firmly.
Then, she looked at Derek and said in a very even voice as she faced her
knife-wielding Combat Chief and friend unarmed, “Derek. Give me that
knife. Now.”
“I…I…” said Derek.
Venture said, “You know what’s going to happen to you if you harm a prisoner of war, don’t you?”
Nova walked closer to the knife-wielding Derek armed with nothing but her own will, convictions and courage as a peacemaker. She did not make a single aggressive move towards Derek, even though she easily could have. “Please, Derek. Hand. It. Over. I will not report this to the captain if you just chill out. Please. Think of yourself. Think of your respect for me.”
Wildstar looked at the Gamilon, and then at Nova, and he shut his eyes and very reluctantly gave Nova his combat knife, with the hilt towards her. I could never harm you, he thought as he looked down at the deck.
Nova nodded at him, and she threw the knife on the deck and snapped the blade under her shoe.
The Gamilon looked at Nova in fear, and looked hard into her eyes.
Then, he said, clearly, “Prinzesa. Danks. Heilige Vada…Danks.” (“Princess, Thank You. Heavenly Father, Thank You”)
Nova could make out a few words of Gamilon, and she thought, Why the heck did he just call me Princess? Then, the memory hit her like a ton of bricks. He thinks I’m Princess Astra of Iscandar. That has to be it!
Nova looked hard at the Gamilon pilot and said, “Heilige Vada?” (Heavenly Father?) in some of the few Gamilon words she had picked up in the Physics Section, but never in that combination.
“Ja, madcha! Seins’Kreuz!” (“Yes, Miss. Your Cross”) said the Gamilon as he pointed to a necklace of Nova’s that had come exposed as her scrub dress collar had opened slightly in the struggle to subdue Derek.
To the pilot’s surprise, and Derek’s, Nova was wearing a small cross on a chain. Nova looked at her necklace, at the pilot, and at Derek, and she reached out to Derek with one hand, and to the Gamilon with the other. Both of them looked totally gob-smacked. Nova noticed that both the Gamilon and Derek had tears running down their cheeks.
“Derek, they aren’t as different from us as we thought,” Nova said. “He believes in the Almighty, too, believe it or not. Now, you two shake hands…and forget this ever happened.”
Wildstar nodded, and he extended a hand of friendship to the Gamilon pilot.
The pilot returned it.
They shook hands, refusing to look each other in the eye, granted, but now, no longer intending harm to each other.
Everyone around them applauded.
Then, Nova looked at Derek. “I’m very proud of you, Derek. And, you too, Meine Freund,” Nova said as she smiled at the Gamilon pilot who bowed his head in reverence and obedience to the woman whom he believed had to be the Living Crown Princess of Iscandar.
“Ja…Meine Freund,” the pilot said to Nova.
The pilot waited with his head bowed as he allowed Nova and Derek to walk him out of the operating theatre to the captain, with the young man and woman joining hands on the Gamilon’s sweaty back as they guided him.
A while later, the Gamilon pilot was clad in a grey jumpsuit and seated in a polygraph chair.
Nova and Doctor Sane monitored the pilot’s vital signs from a pair of connected laptops as they assisted Wildstar and Captain Avatar in an interrogation of the Gamilon pilot.
“I’ll gladly give you…my name and my rank,” said the Gamilon in halting Terranglish. “My name is Heinz Mergis. I am a Sub-Lieutenant in the ranks of the Empire and I am about twenty-four of your years old. Our…year…is slightly longer than your Terran…years.”
“His responses check out as truthful,” said Doctor Sane.
“His vitals aren’t changing very much,” Nova added.
“May I ask what you were doing near our vessel?” asked Captain Avatar.
“Certainly. I was on patrol. We have a base on a small planet at the edge of this star system. It is…a picket base guarding trade routes. We encountered you by chance…if one can indeed call it that.”
“Mister…Mergis,” said Derek. “We noticed you…you were wearing a Cross, and you referred to…the “Heavenly Father”. Do you share a Terran faith?”
“Some of us…yes. Not all of us.”
“How is it you know of a faith which many Terrans share?” Nova said.
“Tradition…going back…in deeps of time. Many of us…believe all human…as you put it…races…have a common ancestry. I need to keep my faith…secret from the secret police. Is not the faith of all of us…”
“What do most Gamilons believe in?” Avatar asked.
“Different…faiths. The State faith is one in which many…gods are venerated. Those of us of the Way…believe in One…and in a Savior,” said Mergis.
Derek’s eyebrows shot up at that. “Could you give us evidence?”
“Please forgive me…need to switch to…Gamilon. Memories are hazy. They take our memories from us…store them in databanks. There are holes in my memory. But this I recall. “Am Anfangs...war das Wort...uns dass Wort war bei deinz Gott, und das Wort warz Gott...Krize’Maze Belk!”
Nova’s eyes went very wide at that. “I’d…like to attempt a translation,” she said as her eyes filled with tears. “In the beginning…was the Word…and the Word…”
Avatar looked as Mergis. “Is she on the right track?”
“JA!” said Mergis with a wide smile.
“May I finish?” said Avatar. “and…the Word was with God, and the Word…was God. Hail to the Mosiach!”
“How YOU know this?” said Mergis, who looked very excited.
“You answered it yourself,” Derek said. “You said Gamilons and Terrans have a common ancestry?”
“It goes back…I think…ages…but…we do. Is your Faith in Him?”
“I’m getting there,” Derek admitted. “Miss Nova there and our Captain…their faith is in Him.”
“Thanks…for honesty,” said Mergis.
“Where is your home world and what do your leaders want from us?” said Captain Avatar.
“They…believe with a fervor that you occupy our original homeland and are as an infestation…not fit to be there on Original Homeland. Ours is dying. Where ours is…that is a gap in my memories. I think the reason they took it from me…so I cannot reveal where the current homeland is…forgive me, please,” Mergis said. “We are sent out with basic knowledge…your words…to deal with you, either as slaves…or archaeology if you all be dead…They take our memories…store them in machines. Give them back when we return.”
“You want to kill us all?” Derek snapped.
“Leadership…does. I do not,” said Mergis. “But…I am like cog in machine. Sorry. You people…nicer than we have been told…Captain…your name?”
“Avatar,” said Captain Avatar. “I am Captain Abraham Avatar. My young officer here is Derek Wildstar. The woman…”
“Princess Nova Astra,” he said, bowing to Nova. “Iscandarian noble…First Princess, maybe? Rud Iscandar is ancient race…we…revere them. Maybe…you even something more…”
“What and who do you think I am?” Nova said.
“Old…old legend…hidden Queen…of great race…related to Iscandar. Fighting great evil. Legend says tender but strong Queen will arise from shadows to fight great Evil. Maybe with words…not weapons we know of! You know of the story? You remind me of what legend says she be like.”
“Barely,” Nova said. “There are gaps…even in our knowledge,” she said, play-acting a little.
“Story says you will learn…or she will learn. I think maybe we meet again someday, yes?”
“Perhaps,” Nova said, not sure of what she was saying or why she said it…it just seemed…right, somehow.
“Mergis…do you want to remain with us?” Derek said, surprising them all.
“Wildstar…that’s a little out of our mandate,” Avatar snapped.
“And we don’t have much extra food to keep a prisoner,” Doctor Sane.
“Mergis, if you stay, we would offer you asylum,” Wildstar insisted. “You could tell us much…”
“I have told you just about all I can,” Mergis said. “My duty is with my people, although I shall, believe it or not…pray that not all of you die. You are good people. Someday we meet again…share the Love Feast…in His Sight…”
“In His Sight,” said Captain Avatar as he took Mergis’ hand and squeezed it. “Doctor Sane?”
“Everything he told us squares with being truthful,” said Sane. Nova nodded.
“Very good,” said Avatar. “I release you to Doctor Sane’s custody. When your plane is repaired, we will release you to your people. Will you be safe?”
“I will be honest and advise that you captured me…and also thus released me. Let my officers know…you people is not demons. Let them know…Princess of Iscandar lives and is with you.”
“Why?” Derek snapped.
“Perhaps that give you some safety?” said Mergis. “We revere Iscandar…honor it. If a Royal be on board…may give you safe passage to wherever you go…is it Iscandar? Like your old tale Journey to the West…escorting a sage…searching for something sacred?”
Avatar nodded. “Our mission is one of peace, not war. We actually do not intend to threaten your people.”
“I will let my officers know. Maybe…they will take it into account. Maybe…not,” Mergis sighed. “Still…pray for your journey. Princess…maybe…someday…maybe someday…you may even be High Queen of legends.”
“How and why do you say that?” Nova said.
“She comes from nowhere, legend says, even as you are Iscandar Crown Princess? Is said to be wise, and have great faith and strength of conviction. Iscandarians…have been High Queens before…story says…may be again. Hail, my friend,” said Mergis, saluting Nova.
“Hail, Mergis,” Nova said, returning the same salute.
“Hail to you, my friends,” said Mergis to everyone else. “I pray that someday we meet again in better circumstances.”
At that, Doctor Sane led Mergis away.
“So, what do you two think?” Avatar said.
“He’s…different…and he sure seems to revere you, Nova,” said Derek.
“Interesting that the Gamilons revere the Iscandarians,” said Avatar thoughtfully. “Of course, Nova…you just resemble royalty.”
Derek smiled at both of them. “Nova, what if you are…?”
Nova laughed. “Derek, that’s a very cute and romantic notion, but you know I’m from Earth…just my little city in Colorado!”
“You hide your royal background well, Your Majesty,” Derek said with a laugh. He bowed slightly. “May I do thee homage, milady?”
“You’re being totally absurd!” Nova laughed.
“Mergis…didn’t think so,” said Avatar thoughtfully. “We might be able to use that to…our advantage.”
“Hope it doesn’t get us into worse trouble,” Nova said. “Interesting legend they believe in. I wonder if it has a real origin?”
“Real?” said Derek.
“Most folklore tends to come from a real event somewhere down the road, Derek,” Nova said as she chewed on the tip of a finger. “It would be nice to see him again someday and ask him more about that…legend. We can’t stay at war with the Gamilons forever, you know. There has to be peace…someday. Mergis told us that. They’re not cold-blooded monsters with huge heads. They’re like…us…”
“That’s good for our side, Nova,” said Derek, surprising her a little. “But do they feel that way?”
“Mergis appears to,” said Captain Avatar. “But, as for their military leaders…even though their Leader Desslok offered us congratulations the other day…maybe they do have a noble warrior code. Just something to think about.”
Derek and Nova nodded at that.
-------------------------------------------------
Nova was sitting in the mess hall nursing a cup of tea, somewhat mentally exhausted by the day’s events. It was late, but she’d have to serve a four-hour watch in about an hour in Sickbay as Officer in Charge of that section tonight. Doctor Sane had to get some sleep, so this schedule had been arranged a while ago.
It was 2230, sort of late. As Nova sipped at her tea, she heard the doors whirring open.
It was Derek. “Mind if I share some tea with you?” he asked as he come over. “I’m serving watch as Officer of the Deck tonight up on the bridge.”
“Oh…yes…I know what those late watches are like,”
she said. “I’m due to be Officer of the Deck two nights from now myself.”
“Yeah, I remember the schedule,” Derek said as he got a cup of hot water and put his tea bag in to steep. He only had a single sugar packet and a lemon.
“You don’t take creamer?” Nova said.
“No…I like it bitter…like my life…”
“Ha ha, very funny,” Nova said. “You’re looking at me funny. Did I grow a second head?”
“Nope,” Derek said. “After today in the messhall, I’ve decided to ask you…how and where do you get that amazing courage of your convictions from? I thought I was stone-cold cool, Nova…but…what you did today with that pilot…that was even cooler.”
“It wasn’t me; it was the Lord,” said Nova.
“The Lord?”
“My personal relationship with Christ. It began when I was fourteen, right before the bombings hit. I was raised Roman Catholic, and then, after my parents had a quarrel with the Church…I think, around the time my baby sister Ariel was born, they skipped denominations to the newer and more progressive American Catholic branch. I was one of those “good girls”…so-called, sent to Parochial School and the like. But I had a lot of sins that bothered me. Envy, vanity, anger…being covetous. I went through the First Holy Communion and Confirmation thing, but I seemed to be missing something. Then, one day, I read a book by a favorite author of mine…C.S. Lewis. It was called Mere Christianity. He spoke about being a follower of Christ. I wanted to really commit, but I didn’t know how. Then, later, I read a book by a writer named Chuck Swindoll. I don’t remember the title…oh…it was The Grace Awakening. He spoke about a concept I later learned in Hebrew under the words Chesed Adonai…the “Grace of God” His Grace is open to everyone, Derek. You were converted to Catholicism in the orphanage, right?”
Derek nodded. “Yeah. I said the right things, prayed the right prayers…”
“But do you know Jesus as your friend?”
“No. He seems…real distant to me.”
“God’s closer than you think, Derek. Jesus saved two remarkable people in the New Testament, Derek. A criminal, or terrorist, dying beside Him on the Cross. This criminal had been mocking Him, but then he saw that Jesus was being kind, even in the agony of being crucified, and he was forgiving His Enemies, even the very priests and Pharisees who had Him found guilty on trumped-up charges. The thief must have been touched by the Holy Spirit…because he got the idea Jesus was the promised Messiah, and that He could forgive him for his sins. Those were the very sins that Jesus was suffering for at that moment. Without help, that thief would’ve died and gone into eternal torment. He took a leap of faith, and he said, “Lord, please remember me when You come into Your Kingdom.” Jesus answered him and said, “I tell you, in all truth, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” Jesus forgave him, right then and there, as an unmerited favor as a gift.”
“So…that’s?”
“Yes. That’s what grace really is. He did the same thing after He died, rose again, and ascended into Heaven for Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who had been a terrible, horrible man, arresting early believers and sending them off to be stoned. He approved of the stoning of a believer named Stephen. But Jesus forgave him, too, and he turned that sinner into Paul the Apostle, or Saint Paul. This mercy of Jesus, because of what He did on the cross dying for everyone’s sins, is available to everyone and anyone who asks for it placing faith in that provision. When you accept that mercy by whatever means, a thought, a prayer, whatever, He hears, and answers your faith in His provision by making you into one of his spiritual children.”
“Anyone at all?” Derek said.
“He didn’t exclude anyone,” Nova said. “He paid for the sins of that thief, Saul of Tarsus, the Gamilon pilot, Captain Avatar, Nova Forrester…and you, Derek Wildstar.”
Derek sat quietly in thought.
Then, Nova said, “I hope you don’t think I’m crazy…”
“No, after what we’ve been through, I think I’m beginning to believe there is really…a God Who cares. I wasn’t sure, honestly, after losing my parents…after losing Alex…Okay. The summer of the bombings, I knew this girl named Kyoko. I knew she was a Christian, but she never made a big thing of it. Kyoko and I had a talk before the bombings, and she told me about…well…the same stuff you just told me about. I couldn’t go through with it then, even after she kissed me on the nose. I never saw her again. The bombings started then for Japan, and I found out her house was destroyed. Does God give second chances, Nova?”
“He sure does,” Nova said. “But you know how it is out here. You know what the Gamilons are up to. They could attack us in the next ten minutes. I could be killed then. You could be killed then. I don’t worry that much about being killed, because I’m sure when I die, it will be in God’s timing, when He decides. I’m not perfect. I’m still growing up, but...”
“Nova, how the heck do you do this? I think I’m starting to believe…okay…I do believe it.”
“Good for you,” Nova said. “You believe…?”
“That He died for me and that He cares for me…and that this is true and I believe this…I feel like I want to tell Him in a prayer, but I’m not quite sure how to express this!”
So, Nova took his hands, and Derek fumbled through a prayer as they prayed together for what would be the first of many times over. When they were done, Nova smiled, quite sure that Derek had really believed…because she had believed in just the same way.
A long moment of silence passed. “So, what do you feel now, Derek?” Nova said.
“Relief. And I meant every word, Nova. This is no joke. I just want to tell the Lord…Thank you!”
“You don’t know how happy I am for you,” Nova said with a wide smile on her face. “When we finish this tea, come to my cabin for a moment. I have something I want to give you…you’ll find His Plan for your life in that book…”
“A Bible? I never had one…just a New Testament…lost it in the orphanage…”
“Well, now you get a new one,” Nova said. “C’mon.”
A few minutes later, Nova led Derek into her cabin. He had never been there before.
It was a standard arrangement; two bunks, upper and lower.
Derek noticed that the small access ladder for the upper bunk was folded up and that the mattress up there was bare.
“That upper’s not made. Nova, don’t you have you have a room-mate?”
“I used to,” Nova said. “Doctor Carroway roomed with me. Up until Pluto when she was killed, that is,” Nova said as Derek sat down on a small chair by Nova’s desk nook while she sat carefully on her own bunk. “I have Denise’s things…she left them to me. A lot of Medical books and tapes, a guitar, a few more books, and a few more clothes and lab coats to expand my small wardrobe a little.” Nova was rooting in her locker as she talked, and she pulled out a sea bag. “Here it is,” Nova said.
She pulled out a small black Ryrie Study Bible, NIV Version. “I have a Bible. You need one. Start reading this, and start with the Gospel of John…we can discuss it more when we have time. Be sure, please, to read one chapter every day. Can you do that?”
“I intend to,” Derek said.
Nova opened the Bible, and she wrote quickly on the presentation page in her handwriting, which Derek saw was neat, a little swoopy, and sort of girlish, as he thought. When Nova was done, the page read:
PRESENTED TO: Derek Michael Wildstar, my Prince.
ON THE OCCASION OF: Your Spiritual Birthday!
BY: Nova Dawn Yukiko Forrester, your Princess! God Bless you!
Derek took the Bible and read the page. “Okay, Nova…this
is neat…I’m your…Prince?”
“You sure are,” Nova said with a smile in her glistening eyes.
“Since when?”
“Ever since you defended me from Sparks, ever since you saved my life on Titan…and since you let me begin to work on the pain in your heart,” she said as she tapped his chest softly.
Derek and Nova stared at each other a moment.
“Thanks,” he replied. “Good night, Derek. Have a good watch,” she said as she took off, blushing a little.
“Yeah…good night…Nova,” Derek said with a slow smile coming to his face. “I wonder if I’m blushing, Lord?” he said out loud as he laughed, and suddenly he had the certainty in his heart he had a definite connection with Him. “Thank You, O Lord…for…saving a wretch like me,” he said as he wiped away his tears.
And, after Derek left, Nova prayed.
She finally prayed, out loud, “God, forgive me…but I think I’m falling in love with Derek…we’re of the same faith now, so…why not?”
Nova smiled to herself.
She liked the idea.
---------------------------------------------------
TO BE CONTINUED…