STAR BLAZERS: A VOYAGE TO REMEMBER
A fanfic recapitulation of Series One “The Quest for Iscandar” by
Frederick P. Kopetz
EPISODE NINETEEN: STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU…
(Big Thanks to “DTill359”)
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…Clowns to the left of
me
Jokers to the right
Here I am
Stuck in the middle with you….
Stealers Wheel
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Space Battleship Argo
After Dinner….
The Argo, after a few more warps, had just left the Milky Way Galaxy behind and was now in intergalactic space…
It was after dinner, and the crew was kibitzing, trying to forget the literal Hell they had been through the previous day at Betelgeuse.
The conversation was somewhat interesting, but was also somewhat…stupid.
“What I’d like to ask ya,” said Eager. “Is this?”
“Yeah, what?” said Derek as he sipped at some juice. Venture, Nova, and Homer were at the table with him.
“How’d ya ever get a last name like Wildstar if you’re Japanese or part-Japanese?” Eager said.
“I knew this’d come up at some point,” said Mark. “I know, but you tell them, Derek.”
“This should be interesting,” Nova said as she worked on some lo mein noodles with a pair of chopsticks.
Derek noticed two things about Nova in the past day.
One: She was smiling at him a lot more (when they weren’t doing serious things together like ship’s business or discussing Scripture.)
Two: She had a pet name for him now. She called him…Mophead.
“Go ahead,” Homer said.
“Well, I’m Japanese-American,” Derek said. “My grandfather was actually named Mamoru Kodai. He started a business and ended up in Oregon during the Unification Wars. He married an American girl named Sophia Walsh. Things between the United States and Japan were a little tense then, and in the place that they settled, Tillamook, Oregon, they had some…difficulties because he was Japanese and because he was married to a Western woman. Both the Japanese and the Americans gave them a hard time.”
“I’m so sorry,” Nova said. “I hate racism.”
“Thank you,” Derek said as he paused to eat some lo mein noodles himself. “My grandfather on my dad’s side was a Star Wars geek. He had like every Star Wars toy you could think of. One day, he had enough of the hate mail and he changed his name from Mamoru Kodai to Alexander Wildstar. Wildstar, he coined himself. Sort of like ‘Skywalker’, but not quite. He named himself Alexander because he was married to a woman named Sophia. You know…Alexandria, the library…Sophia…the name of wisdom? He thought they went together. I met my grandfather a bit when I was small, and he died when I was five. But my parents named their first son, my brother Alex, after him…his full name is Alexander Wildstar II. When I have a son someday, if we survive this…I’d love to name him Alexander Wildstar the Third, after my grandfather and my brother.”
“I will have to make a note of that,” Nova said with a wink as everyone else around the table went “woooooo” at them, making them blush. Nova ignored that, and then said, to Derek, “What are you named in the Buddhist register in Japan? Was your family still connected?”
“Yes…there were other Kodais running around, before the bombings,” Derek said. “I had a cousin I was close with when I was small before he joined the EDF, got thrown out of the family, and was later declared missing, assumed dead. He’s probably dead someplace,” Derek said, totally unaware that this cousin was still alive, and was a space pirate, under the assumed name of Harlock. Derek continued with, “I was named “Kodai Susumu” in the Buddhist register, and my brother was named “Kodai Mamoru” again after his grandfather, twice over.”
“Interesting,” Nova said. “I was baptized Catholic but my dad had me recorded in the family register around Osaka under the family name “Mori”; my grandfather changed his name to “Forrester” from “Mori” for the same reason your grandfather did. My full name is Nova Dawn Yukiko Forrester, and I’m recorded in the register as “Mori Yuki”. I actually used that name when I was living in Japan as a little girl and going to school around Osaka and speaking Japanese, but at home speaking Terranglish and Japanese, I was also called Nova. Interesting story…Kodai-kun,” Nova said to Derek in her higher Japanese-language voice with a wink.
“Very cute…Yuki-chan,” Derek teased her back with. There was more applause at the table, and then Natalie showed up, holding hands with her fiancee’, Robert Turner from Combat. Her pregnancy was not showing…yet. But it soon would be.
Natalie looked at Derek and Nova and said, “I hear all sorts of noise, Nova, dear. Are you and Derek a couple yet?”
Derek’s mouth just fell open, and he went “uh…uhhh…uhhh…uhhh” until Nova tapped her boot against his under the table and whispered, “Say yes…C’mon…you know all our adventures together! We might as well be!”
“Yeah!” Derek blurted out.
There was more applause, and Robert began to sing, “Derek and Nova sittin’ in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love! Then comes marriage! Then comes Nova with a baby carriage!”
Nova blushed and held Derek’s hand and laughed. Then, she said to Derek, “I’m asking you out for a date.”
“When?” Derek said, utterly shocked.
“Whenever we find time,” Nova teased.
Natalie then said, “If you two want to make out, I know a great place!”
“NATALIE!” Nova squeaked as they again laughed.
Then, Homer looked at Nova. “Nova, mind if I ask you something?”
“What?” she said.
“You said that you’re part Japanese, right? You have blond hair. Is that your real color, or do you dye it?”
“Well, Homer, it’s my real hair color,” she replied. “Hair dye is a little hard to get your hands on aboard a space battleship out beyond the edge of the Milky Way, y’know. It’s not like I can go around the corner in a little pink aircar to pick it up. Does that answer your question? My genetics, I guess, are all over the place.”
“Sure does,” he said.
Not far away, Captain Avatar overheard, and he thought to himself, Nova, your genetics are a bit more than “all over the place”. But I have the feeling that you’ll learn that in time…in your own fashion. Probably long after I’m gone, that is.
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As the Star Force enjoyed their talk, far away, on Gamilon, a man’s sleep was disturbed by a truly twisted and nightmarish dream.
Desslok, in his sleep, encountered a vengeful, evil spirit in his dream; a being known in the Gamilon tongue as a Malenka, or foul spirit.
“Who are you?” Desslok demanded of the grotesque spirit in his dream.
“I am
one of an endless host who chose freedom before time began,” hissed the spirit.
“I have been called Metzler by many. I wish to bargain with you for the future
of Gamilon.”
“What is your demand?” Desslok said. “Let it be known that I do not readily bargain with those who would control my future. As long as I live…Gamilon lives.”
“But I would give you a victory that you savor, Desslok,” Metzler hissed.
“What sort of victory?”
“Give me the Terron ship once known as Yamato and I shall destroy it for you,” Metzler said with a dark laugh. “Do you not desire its destruction?”
“I will defeat this ship, but by Gamilon force of arms or our own ingenuity,” Desslok hissed. “Begone, you Malenka. I control Gamilon’s destiny. Gamilon’s destiny is not controlled by spirits from primeval times! Leave me!”
“What if I bring you…a sacrifice from that vessel?” hissed Metzler. “One of pure spirit who is a virgin? It does not matter to me if it is male or female. Will you treat with me if I bring you a sacrifice for you and Iroze to torment? Especially since I have been cheated of what I desired?”
“I don’t want anything from you, Malenka!” Desslok snapped. “LEAVE!”
Metzler left amused with cold, twisted laughter.
Desslok then awoke in a cold sweat.
His first thought was a strange one; I must inform Avatar of this threat. This duel I play is between myself and him. I don’t want some third party cheating me of a victory that is ours by right.
He picked up a phone to call Krypt, to demand that, of all things, a warning should be sent to the Argo.
Then, Desslok sat back. Would they believe me? Most likely, they would not. They would think it is a trap I am drawing them into. Trapped they may be…but I am the one who sets the trap. The only battle that counts is the last battle. And I control this game. If Avatar is worthy…he and his crew can deal with Metzler alone. Provided, that is, I did not merely have a strange nightmare. Besides…what are the Malenka but mythical creatures we scare naughty children with?
Desslok laughed aloud. “Star Force. If this is real, which I do not believe it is…I wish you luck.”
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DECEMBER 2, 2199
Space Battleship Argo
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The Argo just emerged from warp, over one thousand lightyears past the edge of the Milky Way.
“Warp completed,” said Venture.
“That one was worse than usual,” Wildstar said. “I saw some pretty weird stuff.”
“You’re supposed to close your eyes, Derek,” Mark chided.
“My eyes were closed, Venture,” Derek snapped.
“I’m cold,” Nova said from her post.
“What’cha mean you’re cold, Nova?” Eager said.
“The strangest thing is that I was warm before we made this warp,” Nova said. She checked some readouts. “This makes no sense. The internal temperature of the ship is steady at seventy-one Fahrenheit.”
“Maybe you’re getting sick?” joked Dash. “Wildstar, you’d better check her to see if she has a fever. Kiss the top of her forehead or something.”
“I’m feeling it, too,” said Homer.
“What? It’s catching?” Dash said. “Don’t get near me, bud.”
“You people are making no sense,” said Captain Avatar from his post. “Does anyone else feel an unusual sense of cold?”
“Now I do, sir,” said Eager.
“So do I,” said Sandor. “And it makes no rational sense whatsoever. We were warm a moment ago, Captain.”
“This may not be a natural change in temperature,” said Avatar.
“Sir, would you explain that?” said Wildstar.
“I have studied the paranormal…to a small extent,” said Captain Avatar. “Those who investigated this field observed that when supernatural activity was happening, or about to happen…the temperature in a space suddenly dropped.” Avatar then cleared his throat. “I happen to know that Homer, Eager, Sandor, and Nova are all very spiritually committed to the Most High and that all four of you also share high Blanchford scores.”
“Sir, what’s a Blanchford score?” said Venture.
“ESP or psi-potential,” Nova said. “It’s a branch of physics that is just beginning to be explored. It means some people have a high sensitivity to…”
“Yeah! Something feels really weird about this,” Derek said. “I don’t feel cold like you, Nova…but the hairs are standing up on the back of my neck.”
“Prepare to make an emergency warp,” barked Captain Avatar. “Nova. Calculate a warp seven hundred lightyears away. Fast.”
“Can our equipment handle that?” said Orion.
“I’m calculating,” Nova said, as she held back the desire to let her teeth chatter. It felt as if she was in a deep freeze.
Then, Homer said, “Captain! I’m picking up a strong signal!”
“Could this be some damn Gamilon trick?” muttered Dash.
“Negative,” said Homer as he shivered. “It’s not on…any of their frequencies,” he said as he began to recite Psalm 91:5 in his head. “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day…”
He tuned in to the frequency and put it on the speakers.
The bridge crew immediately heard the most cold, inhuman laughter they had ever heard in their lives. “You shall bargain with me!” said the cold voice. “I say that because you are in My power!”
“Who or what are you?” snapped Captain Avatar. “Are you a Gamilon commander?”
“I attempted to treat with Desslok, behold. But he is too proud, too boastful to heed my counsel,” said the cold voice as everyone on the whole ship felt the temperature dropping. “I existed before Time and walked on the Stones of Fire with my Master,” hissed the strange being. “I am called…Metzler…the Great!”
Then, the whole Bridge Crew saw a truly grotesque face materializing before the Argo.
“I
desire one thing from you,” he hissed. “A sacrifice! This sacrifice must be
pure of heart, acquainted with the Great Enemy, and he or she must be a virgin
who has never before defiled himself or herself with either woman or man. Give
me a believing virginal heart to torment, and I shall let you idiots
pass!”
Nova said, “Captain! Calculations completed!” Then, she glared at Metzler as she felt her ring glowing. “As for you, I know that it is not for me to revile you, but, listen to these words! Behold the Word of the Highest!” Nova said. “Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety!”
Sandor then began to recite, “He is my God, and I trust Him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers; He will shelter you with His wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection!”
Derek then stood up as Mark instinctively left his seat, motioning Eager over to the helm. Derek said, “As Homer has been thinking, you Thing, Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday. Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you because of He Who Reigns forever!”
“Course laid in,” Nova said. “Derek…good job! Been reading on your own?” Nova said.
Wildstar nodded as
Eager took the helm, shouting, “Just open your eyes, and see how the wicked
get punished! If you make the Lord yo’ refuge, if you make the Most
High yo’ shelter, no evil will conquer you;
no plague will come near your home! Ready to warp at your command, Cap’n!”
he said.
“YOU IDIOTS!” Metzler sneered.
Captain Avatar then
said, “For He will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. They
will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone!
You will trample upon lions and cobras;
you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet! The Lord says,
“I will rescue those who love me…” And, after Captain Avatar said those
words, he felt an additional surge of strength, and he sat up and stared
defiantly at the demon.
“You’re dying, old man!” hissed Metzler.
“I will stay alive with the aid and prayers of my crew for as long as needed to accomplish this mission, by God’s Grace!” Avatar barked back.
Nova added, her voice sounding very strong, almost regal for a moment, “I will protect those who trust in My Name!”
After Nova said that, Avatar thought I have a very good crew. Thanks to all of you and Adonai, I have the strength to go on!
Metzler looked right at Nova. “Woman! Hear me well! Someday you and I shall have a great reckoning! I will meet you face to face, virgin of the New Snowy Forest! Then we will see who is the stronger!”
“In the Name above all Names, leave her and the rest of my crew alone, Demon! WARP!” barked Captain Avatar.
“Warp!” said Eager.
He pulled back the control…
…and the Argo warped out, disappearing from an enraged Metzler in a flash of multi-colored light.
She reappeared a moment
later, seven hundred light years away, facing a strange sight. 
A massive group of stars, swirling like twisted octopi.
It was a truly ugly, weird sight.
“What?” said Venture as he looked at the weird formation while the Argo was buffeted by stellar winds and gasses. “Did we just warp from the frying pan into the fire?”
“This was not on our charts,” Captain Avatar said. “I take full responsibility for this…myself. Thank you, Nova…Eager…for obeying my orders. And for your prayers.”
Then, Homer picked up a message.
“Another weird message…audio-only…coming from somewhere in the Great Magellenic Cloud!”
“Switch it to speakers!” snapped Captain Avatar.
There was a lot of static, and then, there came a calm, almost mellow voice…that sounded like that of a very cultured, intelligent dragon. “Star Force,” said the mysterious voice. “You will soon learn that the only battle that counts is the last one. No one shall cheat me of a victory over you…not even that Malenka that my gut tells me you have just escaped from. We shall meet again. You may not believe it, but even **I** prayed for your victory over Metzler. You must have the favor of the very gods.”
“Who the heck are you?” Homer demanded.
“Your honored enemy…a samurai who awaits you in the flames, Avatar. I compliment you again on your victory. Your faith must be very great. For a barbarian.”
“Who are you?” demanded Captain Avatar. “Tell me your name!”
But the line went dead.
And, on Gamilon, a powerfully-built blond in his bath smiled.
“Thank you, Denkler,
for disconnecting the call,” said Leader Desslok.
“Lordship?”
“It was my desire,” Desslok said as he handed his bath attendant his receiver. “How nice to know that all of us cheated the Malenka Metzler,” Desslok purred. “Even though I barely even believe in Adonai, maybe my own prayers worked? You see, my friend, no demon is going to cheat me of my victory over Avatar and his ship. Gamilon shall deal with them. Not some demon from beyond time and space. I shall not be cheated of my victory by some anonymous monster who haunts my dreams. Inform Lysis I want to see him. I want to find out where the Argo went…so we can toy with them ourselves. I am the cat. They are becoming my favorite mouse.”
“Yessir,” said Denkler.
“I wonder what Starsha will think of this?” Desslok said. “If I can reach her, that is. It is almost amusing!”
Then, Desslok began to laugh his typical arrogant laugh.
If only Desslok had known where the Argo had ended up…
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DECEMBER 22, 2199
Space Battleship Argo
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The Argo, once
the Imperial Japanese Navy Battleship Yamato, nonetheless shared many
parallels with her ancient sea-going brethren.
One was that she could also end up becalmed, stuck, like a sailing ship of old in the horse latitudes with no winds.
And, becalmed, indeed, the Argo had been, for almost three weeks now, caught in the solar winds and turbulence of the primitive Octopus Star Group.
She had, indeed, gone from the frying pan into the fire of space, trapped in this strange place, with inflatable domes over her decks, waiting for the storm to subside as the clock steadily ticked towards oblivion for Planet Earth.
The crew, for lack of a better word…was beginning to go…bonkers.
Much of the crew was just sitting around the port side observation deck early in the morning, doing plenty of nothing.
At the moment, Wildstar and Venture were playing Shogi, or Japanese Chess.
Mark moved a piece and put Derek’s King in check. “Checkmate,” he said triumphantly.
“I was just getting ready to make a move!” snapped Wildstar.
“You know the rules of the game, Wildstar. If you don’t move in two minutes, it’s my turn,” Venture said.
“Boy, some friend you are!” Derek said in a more heated voice.
“You’re a sore loser and a jerk, as well!” Mark snapped.
“That’s not true!” Derek yelled as he slammed the chess board across the room.
“YOU IDIOT!” Mark snapped.
He and Venture were on
the deck fist-fighting a moment later.
“Who do you bet on?” said some crewman.
“I’ll bet on Venture!” said one guy.
“I’ll bet on Wildstar! He’s not pulling hair like Venture; he’s punching!”
Soon, they were back up, and Derek punched at Mark while Mark tried to break his jaw.
“Jackass!” snarled Derek.
“ASSHOLE!” Mark snarled in return. “I should break your friggin’ neck!”
“Try it, wise guy!” Derek snarled.
Then, an announcement came up over the speakers. It was Captain Avatar’s voice. “All Command Team members report to the Central Briefing Room at 1100, sharp!”
“You’re lucky, jerkass!” said Derek.
“This isn’t over yet, Wildstar!” Mark snapped back.
As they stomped off, a random crewmember said, “We need a little excitement around here!”
“This isn’t enough for you?” said Natalie Fisher as she sat with her legs crossed. “Boys!”
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A FEW MINUTES LATER….
Captain Avatar stood near a graphic of the star formation as Venture stood in the middle of the graphic, on the deck screen, with a pointer.
“Venture, let’s review our current situation,” said Captain Avatar.
“Yessir,” said Mark. “This is the Octopus Star Group, a formation of eight proto-stars with connecting solar winds, radiation, gasses and prominences. It has more ways to stop us than an octopus has arms. It’s a real mess.”
“Yeah, and you got us into it,” said Dash.
“Would you be quiet?” snapped Captain Avatar.
Mark continued. “So, the formation is holding us up here. It would take us forty days to circumnavigate this whole formation and the black gas nebula holding it all together, and we’ve already been stuck here for nineteen days, since that encounter with that thing known as Metzler. But, take a look at the center of it. That little section right here between the four largest stars. I think there might be a way out here…a channel that goes all the way out between them. We might be able to escape if we go there.”
“Are you sure it exists?” said Captain Avatar.
“It’s an educated guess,” he replied, almost sheepishly.
“I have an idea,” Nova said. “Sandor, do we still have those inflatable drone ships that we used in the minefield? If we retrofitted one with a long-range radio transmitter, we might be able to send it through the cloud, right? If it comes out the other side, that would prove Mark’s theory.”
“I’m afraid not, Nova,” Sandor said almost apologetically. “The transceivers on those drones only have a two-megameter range. We’d lose touch with it in the middle of the formation. But that was a good recommendation, Nova.”
“Yeah, from a stupid girl,” snorted Dash.
“Would you shut the heck up, Dash?” snapped Venture. “Nova has more jobs on this ship than you do, you moron, and she handles them all well!”
“You try her schedule sometime, Dash,” barked Derek. “See if you can keep up with her!”
“Thanks, guys,” Nova said almost meekly before Avatar said, “Dash…everyone, that’s enough! We don’t need to start snapping at each other like children!”
“Yeah, but what about Venture’s channel?” barked Wildstar. “Venture, we’re sitting here in space while you can’t make up your stupid mind! And what you called a channel-how do we know it exists? Or is it just in your head?”
“I’m pretty sure it’s there,” retorted Mark.
“You’re sure?” said Derek. “This isn’t a damn shogi game where you push pieces around on a board! This is the Star Force! One mistake and we’ve had it!”
“Couldn’t we build a better transceiver for our drone, Captain?” Nova said. “Then we’d have the evidence we’d need!”
“The nebula could interfere with transmission, Nova,” Sandor said.
“Well, what about if we send a manned ship through there?” Derek said. “Like a fighter?”
“That’s suicidal,” snapped Captain Avatar. “Permission denied.”
“Sir, he has a good idea,” Nova said. “Let’s try it!”
“Oh, now you’re on his side, Nova?” sneered Mark.
“Venture, stop it,” said Avatar. “Nova, your drone idea won’t work. Wildstar, your manned flight idea is crazy,” said Avatar. “This briefing is adjourned before we all start snapping at each other! Let’s sleep on it, and go back to the issue tomorrow. Dismissed!”
As they broke up, Nova found Derek and said, “Derek, I’m convinced my idea would work.”
“You heard what they said,” Derek replied as he gave her hand a pat. “But you are bright. It was a good idea…if we can find a way to execute it…”
“Derek, don’t! It’s suicide!” Nova said. “And Captain Avatar denied you permission!”
“If I don’t consider it, who would?” Derek said. He walked off.
Nova shook her head and sighed. She thought, I know that look of his. He’s going to try it. Lord, keep Derek safe if he tries it. I hope I can catch up with him to stop him before he gets to his plane…
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More time passed, with the Argo still caught in the Octopus Star Storm.
A few hours after their argument during the briefing, Wildstar was running towards the upper flight bay carrying a helmet.
Wildstar suited up in his space suit and was beginning to taxi his plane out of its landing space when Conroy noticed him.
“Wildstar, what are you trying to do?” Peter Conroy yelled.
“We have to know if there’s a channel out there, Conroy, and I’m going to find it!”
“You can’t take off in this storm!” snapped Conroy. “You don’t have clearance, and you’ll never make it in this wind!”
Wildstar continued to taxi his Zero towards one of the catapults. “If we find it; name it after me! We’ll call it the Wildstar channel!”
“You’ll never make it!” yelled Conroy as he pulled on a space suit and followed Wildstar out into the catapult deck.
“Here we go,” said
Wildstar, “I’m taking off!”
The Zero took off…for all of a few seconds.
Then, the wind threw it back like a toy and the plane was wrecked against the deck.
“Wildstar!” Conroy yelled.
The cockpit was fairly intact as Peter helped Derek crawl out of the ruined plane.
And, Wildstar was fairly uninjured…except for his pride.
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A few minutes later, Dash and Conroy brought Wildstar up to the First Bridge.
“Captain, here’s Lieutenant Derek Wildstar,” said Dash.
“What did you think you were going to do, taking off without permission like that?” said Captain Avatar.
“Sir…I was doing what I thought was best for the ship in this situation,” Derek said.
“That’s not an excuse, and you know it!” Avatar relied. “As punishment, you’re going to scrub down the hangar deck.”
“Hahahahaha….that’s great!” said Conroy.
“You’ll be scrubbing with him; you were an accomplice!” said Avatar. “As flight bay commander, it’s your job to prevent unauthorized takeoffs!” Avatar said as he ascended into his cabin on his chair lift.
“What lousy luck!”
Derek said as he and Conroy left together.
From her post, Nova looked on sadly, and thought, If I had been able to talk to him before he encountered Conroy on the flight deck, maybe I could have stopped him. Poor Derek. If only he wasn’t so impulsive…
A FEW MINUTES LATER….
Wildstar and Conroy, carrying power mops, ran into a crewman in the red and white of the Combat Group and he said, “Hold on, Wildstar, you and Conroy will get your turn!”
“Conroy and I have to do this job first; it’s wall-to-wall punishment!” snapped Derek.
“And we all got it for allowing you and Venture to fight!” said another crewman.
“No kidding?” said Conroy.
“Yeah. All of us who were present got blamed; me included,” said Natalie Fisher as she scrubbed a bulkhead.
“You’re kidding, right?” Derek said.
“Boy, Wildstar, when you get into trouble, you sure take a lot of people with you!” said Conroy.
“One thing’s for sure; that Venture sure got off scott-free!” Derek snapped.
“Oh, let’s get at it and get done with everything, huh?” said Conroy.
“Yeah,” said Derek.
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A while later, after a late evening chow, Wildstar was on the aft observation deck, looking out at the storm and cursing it.
That stupid storm, he thought. I hope that we don’t get to Iscandar too late because of that danged thing…
The hatch whizzed open, and he noticed Nova walking in. “I hope we’re not fatally delayed by that storm, either, Derek. That’s why everyone’s on edge like that…frustration.”
“You heard me thinking out loud?”
“Sure did,” she said, smiling her soft smile.
“I hope you don’t yell at me, Nova,” Derek said. “I was just trying to find a way out of this trap…”
“I know, but you were a little...impulsive about it. If you had waited a day or two for the storm to ease off, conditions would have been safer, Conroy would have given you clearance, and we would be on our way out soon,” Nova said. “I have a hunch it’ll subside somewhat soon, and we can get out. We just have to wait for the right time. In the meantime, I have to see the Captain. I have a little surprise planned that might cheer us up a bit,” Nova said as she gave Derek’s cheek a pat. “See you later,” she said.
He smiled a little after Nova left. Nova, I like your faith and optimism, he thought. I just pray it’s not misplaced. God, we’re trusting You. Please don’t let us sit stuck against this stupid brick wall in space forever, huh?
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“What is that? You want a holiday party?” said Captain Avatar as he met with Nova in his cabin.
“Yes, I know there’s not that much to celebrate, but it’ll be Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s soon,” Nova said. “We’re all on edge because of how we’re stuck here, but everyone’s trying to do something to help; even Wildstar. A Holiday party would take everyone’s mind off this stress for a few hours, sir.”
Captain Avatar squeezed his side; a burst of pain was coming back. “No…I don’t think so, Nova.”
“Why not, sir?” she asked.
“We’ve got a good crew; a fine crew. But I’m worried about our food supply. Right now, I’d rather have the crew snapping at each other instead of wondering where their next meal is coming from; at least until we get away from this storm, Nova.”
“I understand, sir,” Nova said as she came to attention.
Avatar dismissed Nova. She has a good idea, he thought. But how much longer are we going to be here in this mess? We lost food when some of the freezers overheated when we were escaping from Betelgeuse. Food will be critical soon. I can’t make it worse…
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The twenty-second became the twenty-third as many crew members could not sleep.
Sparks was among them.
He got up, got dressed, and began to wander the ship, eventually ending up in the engine room.
Sparks saw Orion up on a platform, polishing down the wave engine with a rag.
“Orion?” he said.
“Oh, it’s you, Sparks?” he said. “Polishing up the engines. Some fine day, we’re gonna need ‘em.”
“Sir, how long can we drift along like this, doing nothing?”
Orion just paused and let Sparks go on. “I mean, we’re so far behind schedule now, that even if we were to get to Iscandar to get the Cosmo-DNA, we wouldn’t get back in time to save Earth. Maybe if we turned back now, we could save a few people and find a new planet to live on.”
“You really think so, Sparks?” Orion said.
“Do you think the Captain would listen to you if you spoke about it, Orion?”
Orion shook his head. “No. Doubt it!”
----------------------------------------------------
The time on the Argo was now 0237 Hours.
Mark Venture was alone, standing on the aft observation deck. Unable to sleep, he had gotten up and had come here, to try to clear his head.
Is there a channel out there? Mark thought. Or, am I just making the rest of us waste time while I try to make up my mind?
He heard footsteps
behind him, and turned, to find Nova carrying a sheath of papers. “Are you
having trouble sleeping, too, Mark?”
“Yes, I am…I keep on wondering…is a channel really out there?”
“But you were so sure yesterday at the briefing, Mark,” Nova said with a soft smile.
“I know…but there are so many variables, Nova.”
“That’s what I’ve been up studying. I was running scans while most of the crew was asleep. Natalie let me have the radar for a bit. These figures are inconclusive. The gasses are still blocking our sonar. But, tell me something?”
“Yes?”
“If you’re not sure, Mark, why are we just sitting here? We could have been halfway around that black cloud.”
Nova looked hard yet gently at Mark.
“No. There’s a channel. I’m sure of it.”
“Then we can both get some sleep,” Nova said. “Good night.”
As Nova walked off, Mark smiled. He thought, Thanks, Nova, for clearing my head. You’re such a good friend. You’ve helped us all with so much so far on this voyage.
------------------------------------------------------
In the meantime, Derek Wildstar was sleeping…
…or, to put it more succinctly, trying to sleep as he again dreamed a nightmare that would haunt him for many decades, even after he married Nova and had children of his own. Nova would find herself up in the night often years later, hugging both Derek and their children, who tried to understand why Dad was yelling, thrashing, and cursing in his sleep.
It was, of course, the
death of his parents by way of a Gamilon planet bomb.
The dream was always the same; Derek, like a spectator, was trying to warn his parents that a planet bomb was coming.
They never heard him.
They just ran in terror. The bomb came in.
His parents were caught in the blast; cremated down to skeletons and ashes first.
Then, there came the infernal winds that blew their remains apart.
Derek woke up screaming “MOTHER!” with his pajamas soaked with sweat.
“It was just that…dream…that nightmare…” he muttered to himself.
He got up, hearing the red alert alarm. The time was 0412. He changed his clothes for a fresh uniform and ran out into the passage, running up to the bridge.
“Look!” he said when he sat down. “The storm’s cleared!”
Natalie did some scans. “There’s a vessel at GW-212, speed, five space knots. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Nova ran onto the bridge and took her station. “Getting a visual on it…it looks strange….”
“Is it a Gamilon vessel?” Captain Avatar said as his chair whirred down.
“Negative,” Nova said. “It’s black, and it looks like it was built from both Gamilon and Terran parts. And it’s displaying the skull and crossbones near its stern.”
“I’m getting a signal
from it…in old-style Morse, via a signal light on its bridge tower,” Homer
said. “Translating the message now,” he said as he recorded and wrote on a pad.
“We have no love for the Gamilons, Argo. We are the free pirate
vessel Deathshadow. Follow us through the channel. Regards, Captain
Harlock.”
“Who the heck is that?” Derek said.
“Whoever they are, they found a way out,” said Sandor as the Deathshadow turned about hard and began to head off…through the channel that Mark and the others suspected was there.
“They must have been waiting there like us for the storm to subside,” said Captain Avatar. “Wildstar, go take your fighter and go check it out!”
“YESSIR!” Derek said with a salute. He ran off.
Sandor laughed. “Just what he’s been waiting for…”
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Wildstar took off in his Super Starfighter/Cosmo Zero a few minutes later.
He flew in, saying, “That has to be it…it looks like an opening, or a channel of some sort. And it looks like the Deathshadow went the same way I’m going. It has to go through.”
He continued flying, reaching what he believed was the end of the channel, since Derek thought he saw open space beyond through the clouds.
“This has to be it,” Derek said. “From now on, it will be called the Wildstar Channel. Argo, respond. Over, respond! Darn, I lost contact. I’d better get back to the ship with the good news.”
Derek turned around and began to return to the Argo.
“Where is he? We’ve lost contact!” said Sandor.
“There he is…he’s heading back,” said Venture.
When he landed safely, he saluted Captain Avatar and said, “The channel exists, sir. We can get through safely.”
“Good work, Wildstar,” said Avatar.
“How long is the channel?” said Venture.
“How long? What do you mean?” Derek said.
“Well, didn’t you go through all the way and take readings on the length of the channel?” Venture snapped.
“I…uh…well, I lost contact with the ship but I did see open space,” Derek said.
“Then we’re not sure it’s a channel or not, are we?” Mark demanded.
Homer was among those who had gathered to see Derek back in. He said, “There may not be any way back.”
“Could be a dead end,” said Dash.
“Thanks a LOT, Wildstar,” snapped Mark.
“Venture, forget it,” barked Captain Avatar. “We may not have one hundred percent intelligence, but we’ve got to act now. All hands, take your stations. We’re going through now!”
They began to leave. Avatar smiled as he looked at Nova. “Do you still want to have that party?”
“Yessir!” she said.
“After we get through the channel, we can celebrate!”
“Great!” Nova said with a happy grin.
----------------------------------------------------
In the meantime, Wildstar looked hard at Venture as they walked onto the aft gun deck, still covered with its plastic cover. “You and I have to have a talk. I think I can read your mind, Venture. Because I didn’t get all the way through the channel, we’ll meet with disaster in the channel. Isn’t that what you’re thinking?”
“I’ll get us through,” said Mark.
“Well, before you get too busy being a big hero, I want to settle something with you!” Derek hissed.
“What’s your hurry, Wildstar? I’ll get us though all right! Because I have a darn good reason to get through. As soon as we get through the channel, I am going to knock some sense into your arrogant, egotistical head! You’ve had it coming for a long time and you’re gonna get it!”
Derek gritted his teeth and said, “Well, how about NOW, space jockey?”
And he punched Mark square in the face.
Soon, both young men
were doing their absolute best to beat the tar out of each other.
Venture returned Derek’s blow with a kick to his face that split his lip.
Derek punched him again, only to take a punch in the gut from Mark.
Wildstar kicked Mark in the gut and flipped him over, judo-style.
Both men were on the deck, punching, kicking, and smashing at each other.
Mark’s nose was bleeding, but so was Derek’s as a hit from Mark connected with a crunch.
The fight continued as Nova ran onto the gun deck.
What she saw did not make her happy, to say the least.
They were supposed to be up on the bridge, and here they were acting like juvenile delinquents!
“WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK YOU’RE DOING?” Nova yelled.
They stopped when they saw her standing there with righteous anger in every pore of her face.
“AT A TIME LIKE THIS,
YOU TWO STOP TO HAVE A FISTFIGHT?” Nova said.
“Uh…sorry, Nova….” Derek said.
“We…let our tempers get away from us, Nova,” Mark said.
“You two get to the bridge. I’ll see you in a while. I’m making you two some gyoza dumplings to celebrate, and I’m also getting Sickbay ready for you two to repair the damage! You look like rejects from the cast of West Side Story, I swear!”
“Are you going to write us up?” Derek said.
“Far as I’m concerned, you guys fell down a set of stairs. You two are awfully clumsy. And stupid,” Nova said as she took off.
“She’s right,” Derek said. “I am pretty…”
“Let’s get to work getting though your channel, Wildstar,” Venture said.
“Affirmative,” Derek said.
------------------------------------------
A few minutes later, on the first bridge, Yuria was at Nova’s usual post. “The way ahead is clear, Captain.”
Mark and Derek sat down at their posts. The damage to their faces was pretty obvious. Captain Avatar didn’t question it, and neither did anyone else.
“Venture, ahead full speed,” said Avatar.
“Aye, ahead full,” said Mark as he began to cruise towards the channel. The bubbles that had covered the decks for so long were down, and the Argo was finally moving again after three weeks’ worth of delay.
The storm finally kicked in again. Assorted bits of rock and debris bounced against the Argo’s hull as she cruised on.
“I can’t depend on the auto-pilot in this,” Mark said. “I have to switch to manual control.”
“Do your best, Venture; our fate is in your hands…and God’s,” said Captain Avatar.
The Argo continued to roar through the channel.
Soon, Mark had extended the Argo’s wings to keep her on an even keel in this environment.
He was working as hard as he could to keep the space battleship on an even keel as asteroids and junk roared past them.
An asteroid almost hit them head on.
Mark struggled to keep
going, but he felt another hand on top of his own tugging at the control yoke.
It was Wildstar, who just glanced at Mark.
Mark nodded, and both Derek and Mark pulled hard at the yoke to hang on.
Their struggle continued as the Argo shook like a bronco at a rodeo.
Finally, after several tense minutes, open space loomed ahead.
They were out.
“We did it!” laughed Derek.
“We did it!” laughed Mark.
“We made it! We made it!” yelled Derek as the two foes, again friends, embraced and laughed at the Argo’s escape from the Star Storm.
Nova then came in with the promised tray of gyoza.
“Just look at them!” she chuckled.
“I bet now they can’t remember what they were…why they fell down the stairs,” Nova said, correcting herself.
“You say they suffered a fall?” said Captain Avatar as Nova knelt on the deck to begin dipping the gyoza into sauce and feeding Derek and Mark with chopsticks.
“I saw them took a tumble down the stairs by the aft gun deck, sir,” Nova said. “It was an awful mess. These two can be so clumsy at times, don’t you agree?” Nova said as she took some gyoza herself and did a halfway decent en pointe ballet move in her boots.
“Well, I’d think they had a fight,” said Captain Avatar. “But, Nova, I know you are very, very honest and hardly ever lie, so let’s let it go at that, okay?” Avatar said with a chuckle as he came forward and squeezed the three of them together in an embrace while IQ-9 took a picture. She’s covering for them, and we all know that, but we’re out of that storm and it’ll soon be Christmas, so who cares? Avatar thought with a chuckle. They’re all really good kids. I can’t be rough on them all the time….
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AN HOUR LATER…
Doctor Sane was stewing with anger as he and Nova worked together to patch up Derek and Mark. “Fell down the stairs. Yeah. They fell down the stairs, Nova. Tell me another sailors’ story, dear,” he said in a crusty, annoyed voice.
Nova sat on a nearby bed, stretching out her legs in her scrub dress and sandals. “As I told you, Doctor, a hundred times over, these guys took a tumble down the stairs near the aft main gunnery deck. While we had the dome up. The lighting down there is terrible.”
“Yeah. We need to write some people up in Maintenance,” said Derek as Nova shoved a swab up his nose. “OWWW! That hurts!”
“Have to do it if I want to fix your nose, Derek,” Nova said as Sane used some surgical glue to fix a bad cut on Mark’s face. “It’d be a shame if we don’t fix that cute nose,” Nova said as she mussed up Derek’s hair.
“Isn’t my nose cute?” said Mark.
“It will be as soon as I fix it up, Mark. Come to my any time for advice. Except if I’m sleeping. Then I might throw a bedroom slipper at your head!” Nova giggled.
“You know what I think?” snorted Doctor Sane.
“What?” said Derek.
“I think you three are in cahoots to cover up the fact that these two were fighting, Nova. I didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday! I know how protective you are of both of them. Derek and Mark. Your two best friends on this command, Nova. I have some other ideas but I’m not going to say anything…yet…” said Sane as he winked at Nova. “Suffice it to say I’ve heard stories about you and Wildstar.”
She blushed while Derek mussed up Nova’s hair.
“Well, now what’s up?” Mark said.
“Have to fix your lip before it starts bleeding all over the place again. Oh, you two,” Nova teased. “If we ever get boarded by the Gamilons, we all know who to send after them first, guys,” Nova said as she squeezed Mark’s and Derek’s hands.
IQ-9 came in. “Nova is a very strange woman. She does ballet moves up on Bridge Number One to show off. Ha ha ha…” he said.
“Now, listen up, you weird little collection of clinking bolts!” Nova chided.
“Admit it, Nova. You are a frustrated actress. You are also a dangerous sociopath who reminds me of a Black Widow Spider. Attractive, but sneaky…”
“Get out of here while I’m helping the Doc with these guys, all right?” Nova said.
“I’ll go because all females are weird,” said IQ-9. “Especially you, Nova.”
He burbled off.
“So what do you want to do with him, Nova?” Derek asked.
Nova shrugged. “Dunno. Put a bag over his head?”
------------------------------------------
Later that day, after lunch, Nova was back on the bridge in her shipboard uniform; all of the usual crew members were also at their stations.
“I’m receiving a hail from a ship five megameters off our starboard bow,” said Homer. “It’s audio.”
“Put it on the speakers,” said Avatar.
A moment later, an unknown, rough voice was saying, “Am I speaking to Captain Abraham Avatar of the Terran space battleship Argo?”
“You are,” said Avatar. “What is your name?”
“I am called Harlock,” said the rough voice. “I am the one who helped guide you out of that stellar storm, if you recall. We are both fighting the Gamilons, Avatar, but one good turn deserves another. I am in need of medical supplies and food concentrates from your vessel, Captain. It is not a great favor to ask of you in return, Avatar.”
“Our supplies are limited, and we need enough to last for a long voyage and return,” said Avatar.
“I will give you a choice, Avatar,” said Harlock. “You will either give us the minimal supplies that we need, or I will attack your vessel and board her. You will note that I said before we were a pirate vessel, Captain. We mostly prey upon the Gamilons. My crew is a mixture of Terrans and men and women from other races who have been harmed by the Gamilons. We do not need bloodshed, Captain, but I have allegiance to no one and nothing. Therefore, it would be to your benefit to aid us. Who knows? We may aid you again in the future?”
“What do you need?” said Avatar.
“Their ship…it’s odd…” said Sandor. “It is a mixture of Terran and Gamilon parts, with an Iscandarian wave motion engine.”
“My ship is an enigma. Permit me to read from a standardized catalogue list,” said Harlock. “P-77, Z-66, BF-22, HF-6, R-22. The quantities we need can be sent over with one pilot; ten packets of each item, please, along with a bag of food concentrates until we either make our next port of call; or raid our next Gamilon ship.”
“What is he referring to?” said Captain Avatar.
“Medical supplies,” Nova said. “They’re all drugs and compounds used to treat cosmic radiation diseases and cancer induced by excessive exposure to background radiation, such as in pulse laser turrets or fighter cockpits. These would be standard issue on any space warship, and they can fit into one medkit. Captain, he’s right. They aided us; so let’s help them. We can spare these drugs and we can synthesize more in the medical lab.”
“Wildstar, you and IQ-9 take over the drugs,” said Avatar. “See what you can find out about this strange man. There’s something…”
“Sir?” said Derek.
“Nothing. I may have heard that voice before; years ago,” said Avatar. “Wildstar, see to it!”
“Yessir,” he said.
As he took off, Nova wondered out loud, “Mark, will Derek be all right around those men? They said they were pirates.”
“For both of us…I hope he’ll be all right,” said Mark. Then, he looked gently at Nova and said, “You’re falling for him…aren’t you?”
Nova’s eyes filled with tears and she nodded. “Yes,” she whispered. “I love him.”
“I guessed that a while ago,” Mark said. “Derek couldn’t have found a better woman. Other women…they treated him like garbage.”
“I would never do that to him, Mark,” Nova said.
“I know…”
------------------------------------------------------
Wildstar and IQ-9
approached the Deathshadow from her stern.
“Matte black,” Derek said. “What a creepy looking ship.”
“Look at that huge skull
and crossbones insignia; he certainly makes no secret of the fact that he is a
pirate,” said IQ-9.
A hatch opened in the rear the ship.
The Cosmo-Zero flew in and landed.
“It’s very dark in here; like they have on only emergency lights,” said Derek.
“I think they’re conserving power,” said IQ-9.
Derek and the robot left the Zero and they heard footsteps and clinking spurs.
A shadowy figure in dark green and red showed up. “I introduce myself. I am Captain Harlock,” he said to Derek, who was carrying two bags. “I see that you have brought what we requested. It is all we need from you. That, and a look at other humans from Earth,” said Harlock in a grim voice, but with a slight smile. “What is your name, young man?”
“My name?” Derek said. “Lieutenant Derek Wildstar, Captain.”
Harlock nodded. “I thought so. You look like a walking host from the past…Buggy…” Harlock said with a smile. “You have a brother, Alex, right?”
“I did, Captain. Until he was killed near Pluto. I searched the wreckage of his ship, the Paladin. No survivors found.”
“I see,” said Harlock. “It would have been nice to see to him again. It looks as if it may never be…but never say never. Tell Captain Avatar this. A message from a member of my crew. A message written long ago by a very wise man.” Harlock paused and said, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
“First Corinthians,” said Derek.
“I see you are learning and growing. Do you still collect insects?”
Derek finally realized who he was speaking to and his eyes filled with tears. “Kazuo? Cousin Kazuo Kodai?”
“One and the same, Derek,” said Harlock, who gave him a rough embrace. “Go now. Be sure you tell Captain Avatar what I told you, Derek.”
“I shall,” Derek said. “I’m amazed…”
“Where the Sea of Stars takes people?” Harlock said. “I never thought I’d see you again.”
“And I never thought…I’d see you again,” Derek said.
“Someday, who knows? Someday, you may see me again. Take care.”
Harlock left.
Derek and IQ-9 flew back to the Argo in silence.
Finally, they arrived back aboard the ship, and Derek was called to report to Captain Avatar.
“So, what did you think of this man Harlock?” said Avatar.
“I found out something about him that is very striking. But he had a message for you, first.”
“Which is?”
“He said a member of his crew always quoted this,” said Derek. Derek shut his eyes and began to say, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now…”
Avatar raised his hand. “Did he say this crewman is still alive?”
“Yes,” said Derek. “And, you see, that man Harlock, he is my cousin…”
“I thought I recognized his voice,” said Avatar.
Avatar stood and saluted the Deathshadow as she pulled away. He thought, Adam, if you are alive and with those men and women, I have received a gift of hope beyond all reckoning. May it be, Adam. May we meet again…in the next life, if not in this one…my son…
-----------------------------------------------------------------
CODA- O, HOLY NIGHT
Log Entry: Captain Abraham Avatar: Commander, SBB Argo
25 December 2199
As noted, two days ago in this log, we escaped from the Octopus Star Storm two days ago, on December the 23rd.
Last night, as it was Christmas Eve, Divine services at Midnight were held for those who share the Christian Faith (a goodly part of my crew) but those not of that Faith were also invited to attend. Some did. I note that Cody Tiriganiaq did not attend. I believe that he is still upset about the events of 30 November 2199, when, after escaping from Betelgeuse, we made a warp and we encountered a creature not of this known Universe. Our prayers and faith turned away this being, known as Metzler.
Father Likanski celebrated Midnight Mass, and we were awed by the occasion and the stars of Heaven, which seem closer to us out here in deep space.
Now, as she had previously requested, we are about to begin a Christmas Party; the very party which I gave Lieutenant Nova Forrester permission to set up. I do hope that she has delegated much of the work, as I have repeatedly suggested to her. Miss Forrester does so much at times that I worry about her health; when I should be worrying about my own.
It is getting harder for me to command. The pain grows worse daily. Doctor Sane and Nova do all they can for me, but I fear that they cannot keep me from the arms of the Angel of Death. I pray to see Earth one more time before I die. In the meantime, I must choose someone to succeed me; I fear…the question is…who?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A huge party spread was set up on the Argo’s starboard side observation deck; the place where most mass occasions took place aboard ship.
In the morning, at 0813 Hours, a Gamilon vessel was spotted on radar just as Yuria Misaki was giving up the radar to Nova.
In what appeared to be a Christmas gift from Heaven itself, the Gamilon vessel, a lone destroyer, made a jump away from the Argo ten minutes later.
At 1100, the Argo made the first of two scheduled warp jumps that day as her journey towards Iscandar duly continued.
At 1300, the First Bridge crew was spelled by a crew of volunteers who would keep watch during the Holiday Party until 1800.
Uniform regulations were waived for the officers and enlisted who would gather on the Observation Deck that day.
As a result, Michelle Sakamoto was one of the first women to appear on the Observation Deck, in a blue dress, pumps, and with a sprig of holly in her hair.
Mark Venture showed up
wearing a fawn-colored suit and slightly open dress shirt, minus a necktie. (He
didn’t have one).
Michelle walked up to him, smiled, and said, “Would you mind being my escort this evening, Lieutenant?”
Mark smiled. “I guess not, Michelle. Here’s the funny thing.”
“What?”
“I asked Miss Holly Parsons if she would do me the honor of her presence earlier.”
“What did she say?”
“She blew me off.”
“Why, sir?”
“Well, you remember when we were caught in the Octopus Cluster? She and I had a pretty nasty argument whether there was a channel or not. I thought there was. Holly thought we should go around that black nebula. We got into it so much that Nova broke us up. Lady’s been doing that a lot, lately, breaking up arguments.” Mark bowed his head, thinking of the fistfight he and Derek had gotten into two days ago. Again, Nova had showed up to break up the fight.
“Tell me about it. We’ve had argument after argument in Sickbay. If Nova’s there…she’s always the peacemaker.” Then, Michelle lowered her voice. “Is it true she’s following Wildstar all over the place like a lovesick calf? I never thought those two would hit it off. Real opposites. She’s so…nice. Wildstar is one of the biggest jerks on this ship, right?”
“He’s only a jerk forty percent of the time now,” Mark said with a whisper.
“Really?” chuckled Michelle.
“Yeah. I think the guy is getting…civilized,” Mark said.
Natalie Fisher showed up a moment later, wearing a blue sweater, jeans, and boots. She was holding hands with Robert Turner. Her pregnancy was not showing yet, and was not yet common knowledge aboard the Argo, but with time, it soon would be. They had plans to marry…on Iscandar.
“You guys look happy,” said Eager.
“Oh, we are,” Natalie said.
“Uhh…yes…we’re engaged,” stammered Robert.
“So, the scuttlebutt’s true?” Eager said.
“Nice to hear that some things come true for Christmas,” said Dana Starion as she showed up; in uniform but wearing a Santa Claus hat.
“Anyone know where the heck Wildstar and Nova are?” Eager said.
“I heard they were rehearsing,” said Conroy.
“Rehearsing? For what?” Eager said.
Dana shrugged.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Off in a side room, Derek and Nova were, indeed, rehearsing, on a small electronic keyboard, playing a four-handed version of “O, Holy Night” combined with Rachmaninoff’s Suite Number Two.
It was not that long ago since Nova had learned that Derek not only knew how to play piano; it was a skill he had repressed for some time since his hard upbringing in Saint Anselm’s Orphanage after his parents had been killed by a Gamilon planet bomb.
Through practice, Derek was picking it up again. Nova had given him the easier part to play.
“How am I doing?” he said.
“You’re hitting a bad note or two,” she said. “But I think I can cover for you. Let’s try one more time, and sing to it this time…then, we’ll be ready to go out and sing together; okay?”
He sat next to Nova in his dress blues and peacoat. Nova had managed to find a glittery strapless mini and heels from somewhere (she told him that Denise Carroway had brought them), and they looked gorgeous together. Nova also wore a Santa Claus hat with a sprig of holly in it.
“Okay, let’s sing,” he said.
“You’re a baritone, and I’m an alto, but I can hit mezzo soprano if I try hard enough,” Nova said. “Let’s run through it.”
And they did.
---------------------------------------------------------------
A few minutes later, they just appeared. Quite a few crewmembers almost gasped when they saw Nova dolled up in her minidress and glittery sandals. Derek followed along beside her.
She spoke with Orion, and he said, “He’ll be down any minute.”
Nova gave a thumbs-up and took the mike.
“Sorry I’m late; I was rehearsing a hymn on the piano,” she said as Derek stood there, almost looking like a penguin in his dress peacoat. She tapped the mike and said, “Welcome to the Star Force’s first-ever Christmas Party. By God’s Grace, we’ve gotten this far, and we got out of the Octopus Star Group and we are again trying to make our way to Iscandar. God willing, we’ll be there soon.”
“Where’s the Captain!” someone yelled. “Is he too sick to attend?”
“Please,” Nova said. “He’ll be here soon. IQ-9 is helping him get changed. Father Likanski, please open with prayer.”
The Chaplain came up and bowed his head. “Heavenly Father, we again gather today to celebrate Your Greatest ever gift to us: Your One and Only Son, who came today clothed in flesh to provide Your Grace and hope for all mankind. We thank You, again, Father, for Him, Your Mercy which has gotten us this far; for Queen Starsha and her message, and, finally, for this ship and our fellowship as shipmates. Bless this day and our continued voyage, and deliver us from the evil of the Gamilon Empire’s policies and warlike designs; this we ask in the Name of Christ, Our Lord, Mary’s Son; Amen.”
“Amen!” everyone said.
“Can we eat yet?” said Dash.
Then, there came a noise.
“Ho, Ho, Ho, HO! Merry Christmas!” yelled a familiar gravelly voice as Captain Avatar appeared in a full Santa Claus suit, followed by IQ-9 carrying a bag of presents.
There was mass applause.
Nova blew a kiss to Derek (that she hoped was inconspicuous) and walked over to the black Steinway Concert Grand Piano set up near the Christmas tree, where she began to play “Joy to the World” in a sprightly jazz style that she knew would fit a party. Captain Avatar sat down in a chair with IQ-9 to one side and Sandor to the other side. Steve had been busy in his shop with his Group making the gifts in the Dynamic Replicator. Crewmembers began to be called up, and they soon found that the gifts were small, but beautifully made; pen sets and rings for the males, and various necklaces, rings, and even ankle bracelets for the ladies.
As Nova quietly played “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus,” on her piano, Holly Parsons came up and received her gift from the Captain; a pretty ring with a simulated pearl. She accepted it graciously, and then went off to talk with Eager. She was still, sadly, not comfortable talking to Mark Venture yet, pretty in her ponytail worn with her usual crew uniform.
Instead, Mark came to her after receiving his gift; a ring with a star on it.
He said to her, “Holly, I’m sorry we argued that day. I know you’ve been avoiding me ever since. Can’t we bury the hatchet…and be friends again?”
Holly looked hard at
his pro-offered hand. “I’ll accept your apology, Mark, just as long as you
understand it can’t happen again. Okay?”
“Okay,” he said.
“I like your ring,” she said.
“Yours, too,” Mark said.
“Synthesized Pearl,” said Holloway as he came up. “We had quite a time making that one up. Guess what we used for metal?”
“What?” said Holly.
“Debris from Gamilon ships we had on hand that we picked up after that last battle with Ganz’s Fleet out at the edge of the solar system,” he said. “Great how we can repurpose weapons of war into beautiful things, isn’t it?”
“The Gamilons stink,” said Paul Rosstowski. “They wrecked my life.”
“They killed my parents,” Derek yelled.
“My brother might be sick because of them,” Mark Venture said.
“They killed my baby sister,” Nova added.
“Let’s make up a nasty song about the Gamilons!” yelled Dash. “It’s to the tune of “Deck the Halls!”
Go ahead and bomb us, Desslok!
Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah!
We think Planet Gamilon's a big crock!
Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah!
Watch us fire our wave-motion gun!
Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah!
Gee, trashing your world will be fun!
Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah, Nyeah!
Dash repeated the song. Most of the younger members of the crew, to Avatar’s minor displeasure, were joining in singing the bloody epic; even Nova was joining in, banging out the beat on a table with Derek’s help.
Then, she went to the piano, and played a demented boogie-woogie version of “Deck the Halls/Go Ahead and Bomb us, Desslok!” while the crew joined in on the third go of the song. A lot of the officers and men and women had been hitting the sake’ and egg nog, and their voices reflected that fact.
“Should we be so bloody?” whispered Avatar to Orion.
“They’re young, an’ they’re blowin’ off steam,” he replied. “This has been a hard voyage so far. And we still don’ know if we’re gonna make it on time or not. Let them sing!”
Captain Abraham Avatar nodded, while he wondered what sort of people this war was turning them into.
Were they becoming just as bad as the Gamilons?
---------------------------------------------
Time passed.
The party continued, but the militant mood of the crew appeared to have calmed down somewhat.
At the moment, Nova was on “Santa’s” lap, about to receive her gift.
“So, what do you want for Christmas, little girl?” he said.
“Two things,” Nova said. “For the mission to succeed…”
“And?”
Nova whispered the second thing. “For Derek Wildstar to fall head over heels in love with me, please.”
“I think both wishes can be arranged,” Avatar said. “Sandor, her gift, please.”
“Of course,” Steve said.
Nova opened the small box. It was a beautiful cross necklace…meant to replace the one that the demon Metzler had torn from her neck in their confrontation when Dexter had volunteered to be taken by the creature from the Pit of Hell.
“Thank you both,” Nova said as she put it on, shivering as she again thought of the confrontation with the monstrosity known as Metzler…the confrontation where Derek had proven the reality of his young faith in the Highest by protecting her by saying the Name above all Names.
Nova left; and she called Derek over. His gift was the next one to be given.
A reluctant Wildstar stood glowering near Avatar as Sandor handed him his gift.
Derek opened the small box, and he found a ring therein.
It seemed to be made of
white gold or some other silvery metal. It had a blue jewel, and on top of the
blue jewel, the symbols of Freemasonry were laid out in gold; the Square, which
taught Masons to square their actions by the Square of Virtue as represented in
Scripture; the open Compass, which reminded one to encompass their passions and
desires within due bounds; and the letter “G”, which reminded a Mason of God,
and of their Faith and Trust in Him.
Derek smiled, and said, “Thank you, Captain Avatar.”
“You need to remember the principles of the Fraternity, as an adjunct to your new Faith in the Lord Above,” Captain Avatar said. “Your bravery is unquestioned, Wildstar. Now you need to place that bravery under due discipline, and to, when needed, always keep Hope in your heart. For my heart forebodes that before this voyage ends, you shall have great need of this Hope. May God bless you, Wildstar. And your friends…especially Mark and Nova. About her…she is more than a friend to you…isn’t she?”
Derek blushed. “I think she is becoming that, sir. I am very confused, and…”
“That young lady would jump into the mouth of Hell for you, Derek Wildstar. You need to be very serious with her where something like this is concerned.”
Wildstar nodded. “What do you see for us?”
“It is hard to foretell. But, if we survive this mission, I think you two shall be together for a very long time…long, long after I breathe my last.”
“Sir…you can’t die on us…we need you!” Wildstar said.
“All things have an end. You know I am ill. Keep that in mind,” Avatar said.
Derek left his presence with a salute, and Avatar stared into space for a moment.
“Sir, are you all right?” Sandor said.
“I am,” Avatar said. “I am thinking of the future, the far future.”
“When?” Sandor said.
“When the day comes when I will walk again on a New Earth, under a New Heaven, with Clarisse and Adam at my side as I introduce them to Derek, Nova…and their children. This mission must succeed. For, how can there be a New Earth if He allows our current Earth to die? That will not happen. It cannot happen!”
_____________________________________________
Time passed again. Several hours passed by.
Derek and Nova were sitting beside each other on the piano bench, singing and playing carols together.
While they sang, Derek couldn’t help but notice Robert and Natalie dancing close together. They’re really in love, he thought. You can really tell they’ll be a couple if we survive this…
Nova got done playing, and she motioned Derek over to the piano bench. “I think I need to wrap this up, Derek,” she said. “I’m starting to get tired. After we play, I have two requests…”
“And what are they?” Derek said.
“I’ll tell you when we get done playing,” Nova said as she sidled up beside Derek.
Then, Derek whispered to Nova, and he made an announcement. “Ladies and gentlemen. Our esteemed hostess is starting to get tired. She’s done a lot today, huh?”
The crew applauded.
“We’re going to end by remembering the reason we are celebrating today,” Nova said. “A baby, born in a manger two thousand years ago. That baby; Whom many of us believe is the spiritual hope of humanity. Wise men, I feel, still seek Him. Derek and I will be playing…O, Holy Night. Please sing along on the second verse.”
Nova and Derek began to play the piano together, and they harmonized into the mike, and sang:
O, Holy Night,
The Stars are Brightly Shining,
This is the night of our Dear Savior’s birth…
The song continued.
The crew was spellbound by their evident love…for Him, for humanity, and for each other.
Mark Venture looked at Eager and shook his head quietly. “You can see it. They’re definitely a couple,” he said.
“Yeah…even if they don’t quite see it yet,” said Eager.
Natalie came over with Robert and said, “There might be a double wedding on Iscandar…us…and them. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?” she said.
“You need to ask them first,” Robert said as he kissed Natalie.
Then, Derek and Nova continued playing, and Nova called out. “Second verse! Everyone sing along, now! One, two…”
And then, everyone, even Cody, sang the third verse which followed….
Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace,
Chains He shall break,
For the slave is our brother,
And in His Name,
All oppression shall cease…
The hymn continued to the end. Then, they yelled for an encore, and Nova played and sang “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
Tears filled Homer’s eyes as he heard that song…the song which applied to his people, Captive Israel.
Finally, Derek and Nova were done playing, and they stood and took a bow together.
Then, Nova whispered her first request in Derek’s ear. “Derek?”
“Yeah?”
“Would you kiss me…under the mistletoe?”
“Uhh…sure,” he said.
They walked as awkwardly as two teenagers to under the mistletoe, and they shared a magnificent kiss.
The crew cheered, and some shouted out rather…lewd…suggestions that made both of them blush.
“What’s your second request?” Derek said as he began to leave the party, holding hands with Nova.
“Walk me home to my cabin?” Nova said shyly.
“Sure…anything for you…”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THREE YEARS LATER:
DECEMBER 25, 2202….
So much had happened in the past three years; two quiet weddings on Iscandar, and the end of the mission to Iscandar, Nova’s coming near to Death’s Door at the end of the mission and awakening in Derek’s arms. Then later, like a whirlwind, the Argo landing on an Earth partially devastated by the madness of Prince Zordar of Gatlantis, a man that Derek and Nova prayed was dead. Then, arranging a large wedding ceremony in the midst of flight training, and Christmas 2201, with their big public wedding the day afterwards.
And then, the Rikashan War, as the Rikashans, and Ekogaru the Great, an enemy more deadly than any they had met before, menaced Planet Pellias, which they learned of when it appeared in the Milky Way before its destruction. Then, the vicious war that had covered early 2202, this time, with Desslok as a formal ally, as he had been during the end of the war with Gatlantis. Then, a strange victory as Derek, Nova, and the presumptive High Queen of the Pellians, Aliscea, had fought Ekogaru to his death.
Now, Derek and Nova were again alone. The Wildstars sat at the bench of the very piano they had played together on in 2199. Thanks to Derek and his ability to negotiate with the EDF, Nova now owned that Steinway; Derek had purchased it and had given it to her as her Christmas Gift for 2202.
She was, needless to say, overjoyed.
They again played “O, Holy Night” again, cuddling next to each other, closer than ever, especially since there were physical signs that Nova might be expecting.
Maybe.
They did not know for sure yet; they would see Doctor Sane the next week.
They watched the snow falling, and Nova said, “I love your gift, Derek. I never thought I’d own this piano…but…”
“What did I say three years ago, Nova?” Derek said. “Anything for you…”
“Anything?” Nova said.
“Anything.”
“Then, Derek…please kiss me under the mistletoe again?” Nova said.
So, he did.
It was a long, searching kiss. They even wore the same clothing they had worn at that party in 2199; Derek wore his dress peacoat as the Captain of the Argo with his EDF blues (they had appeared together at Central Hospital earlier that day and had cheered up many sick children there). Nova wore the same glittery strapless mini; neither of them had shoes on in their house, of course, as it was at the edge of the Tokyo Megalopolis.
They finally stopped
kissing, and Derek whispered, “Mrs. Wildstar, what is your second request?”
Nova blushed and whispered, “Derek…would you…make love to me under the tree? No one will see us.”
“I most assuredly will,” he said with a smile.
They kissed again.
More joy followed…
TO BE CONTINUED…