SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO: A VOYAGE TO REMEMBER
A fanfic recapitulation of Series One “The Quest for Iscandar” by
Frederick P. Kopetz
EPISODE FIVE: SAUCERFULS OF SECRETS
September 29, 2199
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On Planet Gamilas, Desslar was meeting with several of the generals in his Staff: Hiss, Geru, and a third officer known as Hairm Kelzart.
“You are three of my brightest Generals, I am told,” Desslar said. “Explain to me what happened to that spacecraft carrier we sent to bomb Earth. Why did they suddenly go off my screen? They were saying something about fighting a new Earth battleship?”
“Leader Desslar,” said Kelzart. “We believed that the target was an underground city. We wanted the ventilation tower for that city destroyed. Schultz told me that.”
“Yes, so you thought that it was a target that couldn’t fight back?” Desslar said with a sneer in his voice.
“Now, Lord, we have a huge new space battleship as a target!” said Geru. “The telemetry confirms it!”
Desslar shook his head and openly sneered in something that sounded like a demented laugh. “So, the Terrans are still fighting on even after losing at Pluto? Don’t they know that they’re defeated? What utter fools! Hiss, prepare me some video of the loss of that carrier captured from one of our planes before that…Terran…thing shot it down? I need to shove it into Colonel Schultz’s worthless face so that I will give that idiot some incentive to finish off that pile of scrap.”
Desslar motioned with his hand and a still of the Yamato came up on his screen. “Look at this, gentlemen. The Terrans are going against us with a pile of reclaimed scrap that looks like an obsolete Naval warship. More evidence, gentlemen, that we are dealing with barbarians that have to be wiped off the sacred soil of what I am sure is Galmania, our mother world. When we reclaim Terra, I will build a paradise…on the rotting bones of those Terrans. Remember our need, my Generals. And remember, we must not show them an iota of quarter nor pity. No matter how suicidally and futilely brave those idiots are.”
Desslar left with a dramatic flip of his cape.
“He asks too much of us,” said Geru.
“Never let him hear you saying that,” rejoined Kelzart. “I will have to report this to Admiral Dietz. I’m sure he will not be happy.”
“The man we must fear…is Desslar,” said Hiss.
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TWO DAYS LATER…
It was now October 1st, 2199: at 1100 Hours.
Captain Okita had called a meeting of his primary Group Leaders in the Yamato’s messhall.
At the head of the table, to Captain Okita’s right, sat Lieutenant Commander Shiro Sanada, whom Okita had selected as the Technical Group Leader and First Officer of the ship.
To Okita’s left sat Lieutenant Susumu Kodai, who was the Combat/Tactical Section Leader. Beside him sat an officer who had recently boarded the Yamato, a Junior Lieutenant known as Yasuo Nanbu, who would be in charge of Gunnery Systems under Kodai.
Okita called the meeting to order and said, “Sanada, are these are department heads?”
“Yes, all of them, with the exception of Lieutenants Kato, Yamamoto, and Grant, who are picking up their planes at the moment. We don’t have a man assigned to the Fourth Squadron as leader yet, I’m entrusting to Kato.”
“Okay, we can fill those men in later in about a day or so,” said Okita. “I’ve called all of you here so that you can all become familiar with each other and take the measure of each other. Of course, I know that Kodai, Shima, Mori. Doctor Sado, and ANALYZER already know each other due to your performance in our first battle. We are now five days away from X-Day; October the sixth, when we are scheduled to take off. I want each of you to introduce yourselves to the crew, starting with Lieutenant Kodai and his row, followed by Lieutenant Commander Sanada and his row. Kodai, you lead us off. Stand up when you address everyone. Consider this practice for your command voices.”
“Yessir,” said Susumu after he cleared his throat. “My name is Lieutenant Susumu Kodai. I am twenty years old, going on twenty-one. I was born near the Miura Peninsula near Yokohama. I have had, naturally, parents, aunts and uncles, a cousin whom we haven’t seen for years, and, of course, my brother, Captain Mamoru Kodai of the Yukikaze, who died in the Battle of Pluto. I am a trained fighter pilot and tactician, was in the top Twenty of the Class of 2199 at the Earth Defense Academy, and I play a musical instrument or two and played some intramural soccer and basketball at the Academy. I wanted to go varsity for soccer, but my studies didn’t allow for it. I feel, if you’re going to do a job, go and do it. No hesitation. NONE. I also hate the Gamilas with a hatred that is utterly visceral!”
“Don’t we all, lad,” sighed Lieutenant Commander Hikozaemon Tokugawa from his end of the table as his beard bristled.
“That’s all I have to say,” said Susumu as he sat down, glaring at everyone.
“Good introduction,” said Okita. “Next?”
Next, Lieutenant Nanbu stood up. “I’m Junior Lieutenant Yasuo Nanbu. My life was a long story. I ended up at the Academy, where I ended up on the rifle marksmanship team. I’m twenty-one years old, I’m a Leo, and if any of you lovely ladies want to have a date with me, you know where to find me,” he said with a bow while Yuki, Natalie, and Dr. Carroway rolled up their eyes at him.
“Player,” muttered Kodai as Dash sat down.
Dash chuckled and turned to the young man in red and white next to him. “Mister Hoshina?”
The young dark-haired Japanese officer came to his feet. “I’m Ensign Toru Hoshina; I’m twenty, and I’m from the Kanto region of Japan. I’ll be the security chief during this mission. My sport at the Academy was fencing; I’m very good at it,” he said. “I’m…looking forward to serving on this cruise. For those who may have been aboard the ship, I’m brand-new to this position, like only a week. I was appointed after the security chief originally chosen for the cruise…he got into trouble. He was court-martialed…and executed. It was not a good situation.”
Hoshina sat down, and the table buzzed a bit, wondering what had happened to cause this change in officers…and to cause an officer to be executed.
Kodai bent over and asked Hoshina, “Okay…what the heck happened to Lieutenant Shinya Ito? Wasn’t he the guy with that smile on his face?”
Hoshina nodded and said, “Yes, it was him, all right. Doctor Carroway and I apprehended him. He was found doing something quite vile to a woman who since quit the crew. Shame, too. The nurse in question would have been Lieutenant Mori’s second in the Medical Group.”
“Damn, no wonder he was executed,” whispered Kodai.
Beside Hoshina sat Lieutenant Daisuke Shima, who was in charge of Navigation. Next to him sat a freckled man who had recently been released from the hospital as his second-in-command; Lieutenant Kenjiro Ota, the late helmsman of the Kirishima at the Battle of Pluto. Two other officers, younger, sat next to Ota: a man named Ensign Travis Ryder, and a young red-headed woman known as Ensign Holly Parsons.
Shima stood up next and began to speak after Okita cleared his throat and Kodai sat down. Daisuke stammered a little as he said, “I’m Lieutenant Daisuke Shima, Navigation Group Leader. I’m twenty, I don’t play any musical instruments, and I’m from the Kanto region; Tokyo. I still have my parents and a little brother named Jiro, who idolizes me like you wouldn’t believe. I played intramural soccer at the Earth Defense Academy, too, sometimes with, and sometimes against Kodai here. He’s not half bad, but I think he took the ball off his head one too many times.”
“Watch it, Shima!” Susumu snapped as most of the people around the table chuckled.
“Mister Ota,” Okita said. “You’re next.”
Ota stood up. “Chris Ota; Navigation Officer. I’m twenty-three; I hail from the Kanto region, as well. I play some dobro guitar; brought it with me. Also wrote a book on space navigation and natural phenomena in space. I was on the Kirishima with Captain Okita at Pluto. We got our royal butts kicked out there. I’ve got this on and off relationship with a girl named Lisa, who’s a teacher. I’m also hoping to write and produce a children’s video series about a cartoon snail someday if Earth ever survives this mess. And that’s the story of me,” he said as he sat down.
Ryder then stood up. “Ensign Travis Ryder. I’m nineteen, and I’m from Georgia, United States. I kinda grew up around one of our pilots, Akira Yamamoto. I’m good at Astro-Navigation; played soccer at the Academy, and I’ve got a sister, but she’s too young for you guys to date; she’s just ten,” he said as a few people chuckled.
He sat down, and Holly Parsons then got up. “My name’s Ensign Holly Parsons, I’m twenty, and I’m from Australia, originally. My mother, Tonya, is a widow…Dad got killed years ago in the bombings. I was seeing this guy from the Academy, but we just broke up. I used to sing in my church choir and I used to like to sing until this craziness hit. I…I don’t have that much more to say. Thanks!”
At the other side of the table, two men sat next to Sanada; a man with somewhat long hair almost like Kodai’s named Lieutenant Neil Holloway. Next to him sat a very nervous-looking individual, a very slight man with a mop of hair and glasses known as Ensign Neville Royster.
Beside Royster sat Lieutenant Yuki Mori of the Operations/Living Conditions Group, who was wearing a gold and black blouse, skirt and boots today rather than the jumpsuit she had frequently been seen in. Next to her, in a gold and black jumpsuit, was her friend and second-in-command Junior Lieutenant Natalie Fisher, who was trying to keep her flip of brown hair from falling into her left eye. Next to Fisher sat a young brown-haired Japanese Ensign known as Yuria Misaki, who wore her hair in two interesting-looking pigtails at the back of her head.
Okita nodded at Sanada next, and he stood up. “I’m Lieutenant Commander Shiro Sanada. I was born in Russia. I have doctorates in Engineering and Astrophysics, and I was a partner in an aerospace corporation and I also taught at two different universities. I’ll be the ship’s Technical Group Leader, and I’ve designed a lot of the tech on this ship, including something I call the Dynamic Replicator, which I hope to demonstrate later. I was a graduate of the Earth Defense Academy, but that was years ago. I was always in the lab and I had a good friend who was heavily into sports, and…well…I think that’s enough,” said Sanada. He sat down.
Sanada’s second stood up next. “I’m Lieutenant Neil Holloway; I was born in Britain but raised in the West Indies. Came here early when the bombing began when my father, also an EDF Officer, was reassigned here to the Kanto Space Station. I’m twenty-two, graduate of the Academy, and I play drums and have a small folding set of drum pads on the ship if we ever have occasion to have a band.”
Ota then said, “Well, you know I play guitar. I know that Yuki plays both keyboards and guitar, so ah think we have the core of a ship’s band here, Neil.”
Holloway smiled back; he had worked with Ota before, and he said, “Sounds good…if we ever find time, we’ll rehearse if the young lady is willing.”
Yuki nodded as, next to her, Royster, who was shorter than she was and who wore glasses, began to sweat. “Not sure I want to…talk…” he said.
“Royster, it’s okay,” Yuki said. “No one here is going to make fun of you!”
Royster stood up. “I’m Ensign Neville Dana Royster; graduate of the ROTC program from Cornell University; I came from Scranton, PA in the United States before this craziness started. My specialities are Cosmic Engineering, Astrophysics, and I have an Astrophysics Doctorate, and I’m…thirty. I had a long educational deferment and I just got called up…”
“Tell them what you designed,” said Sanada.
“I largely designed the basic airframe of the Black Tiger, a new fighter/bomber we’ll be flying,” he said as he saw the pilots coming in; there were four Squadron Leaders; a tall man with a crewcut, a slightly shorter man with a crazy mop of hair hanging in one eye, a tall African-American man with a short haircut, and a man slightly shorter than him with another short crewcut. The four pilots wore black uniforms with gold markings.
“You sound smart,” said the leader of the pilots who had come in.
“Guess I am,” Royster said. “Captain, sir, may I sit down?”
“Yes,” said Okita. “Lieutenant Yuki Mori, you take over.”
“Yessir,” Yuki said. “Hi! I’m Lieutenant Yuki Dawn Yukiko Mori, and I’m twenty-one,” she said as she stood up. “I’m in charge of the Shipboard Operations and Living Conditions Group, and I’m also third in command of the Medical Group just behind the ship’s doctors. I graduated from the ROTC program at University of Tokyo, and my majors were biochemistry and physics. As Ota said, I play guitar and keyboards, and my college sports were gymnastics and swimming in different years, and I was also a cheerleader! I like people, coffee, and I used to love the beach before Earth got ruined,” Yuki said. “I also have a Master’s Degree as a Certified Nurse-Practitioner and when we succeed in this mission and restore Earth, I’d love to go to Medical School.”
“Sounds great,” said the strange little man who sat near Tokugawa. “Could you give me a physical, ma’am? I bet you have nice, soft hands.”
Yuki gritted her teeth and shut her mouth while Tokugawa said, “Sparks, that was tacky! She’s yer superior officer, lad. Apologize!”
“I’m sorry, Lieutenant, ma’am,” he said. “Thought she’d realize I was kidding. Yuki and I go waaay back,” said Sparks.
“I know other people in this crew far longer than I know you, Sparks,” Yuki rejoined. “And, I hate to bring this up, but you and I are not friends!”
Next to Shima, Kodai whispered, “That Sparks guy is weird!”
“Yeah, what’s he got against Yuki? She’s real nice and everybody likes her!” said Daisuke.
“Some guys are just creeps, I guess,” Susumu muttered.
“I heard that, Kodai,” sneered Sparks from across the table.
“Mister Sparks, enough!” barked Okita. “Miss Fisher, you’re next.”
Natalie stood up and said, “I’m Junior Lieutenant Natalie Fisher, Lieutenant Mori’s second in command. I’m a little younger than Yuki, but I’m twenty-one, too. I was born in Boulder, Colorado, and I’ve known Yuki since I was eight when we met in Japan. My parents worked for her dad’s law firm. I am also an ROTC graduate of the University of Tokyo. My major was Biochemistry, but while I will be assisting at times as a nurse myself, I will be assisting Yuki in the operation of her Living Conditions Group, particularly in charge of life support, food stores, and growing of food in the hydroponic garden Yuki created aboard ship. I was a cheerleader for a time, too, and also on the college swim team with Yuki. And, that’s my resume’.”
Okita nodded and said, “Ensign Misaki?”
Yuria stood up. “Sir, I’m Ensign Yuria Misaki; I’m nineteen, but I was pushed through the Academy quickly. My primary skills are radar and inter-ship communications ops and I will also be assisting Lieutenant Mori in electronics repair. I’m also psychic. I can see ghosts and sense weird things of all sorts.”
“How do we know you can see ghosts?” said Shima.
“Because I’ve seen men from the sunken Yamato around the ship, that’s why,” said Misaki with a tone of voice as if she was speaking to a two-year old. “I had a long conversation with Captain Kosaku Aruga, the Yamato’s last Captain a while back. Captain Okita, he wishes you luck, along with the young officer who will eventually succeed you as Skipper. He didn’t tell me who this officer would be.”
Ensign Ryder began to laugh out loud at that. “That sounds creepy,” he said. “Ensign, once we bury the dead, they stay dead, either in Heaven or Hell.”
“How do we know that?” Yuki retorted. “I’ve seen…interesting…things aboard this ship at night, too. Oh, by the way, Yuria, I’ve seen Captain Aruga too. Interesting, even though I only chatted with him for a moment.”
“Well, Yuria, Yuki, kindly give Captain Aruga my regards and tell him that I appreciate his good wishes,” said Okita. “We may experience strange things on this cruise, gentlemen and ladies. It would be a good idea if you could keep…open minds. Doctor Sado, you…next…”
Next, there were the officers in charge of the Medical Group. Doctor Sakezo Sado sat next to Misaki, peering at the group through his small glasses. Beside him sat a woman in young middle age with reddish blonde hair and glasses known as Doctor Denise Carroway; Doctor Sado’s second-in-command of Medical. Yuki, sitting at her own place, was of course herself Sado’s third-in-command of Medical.
Doctor Sado stood up and said, “I’m Lieutenant Commander Sakezo Sado, MD. I’m from Japan, and I’m fifty-four years old, a skilled surgeon; I detest false and phony attitudes, can easily tell when someone is lying to me,” he said as he stared hard at Captain Okita. “I’ve had people in my life I’ve lost. My wife died six years ago because of the radiation sickness…and I just lost my daughter two years ago…same cause of death. The only person left who’s close to me is my cat, Mimi. But I want to do what I can on this mission to try to make sure people stop, and I mean stop, dying from these bombs. Doctor Carroway, you’re up next.”
Sado sat down, and Doctor Denise Carroway stood up. “I’m Doctor Denise Catrina Carroway, a civilian employee of the Defense Forces; I’m twenty-six, and I was born in France. I just finished my Residency not long ago, and when Doctor Sado asked me to come on the mission, I came. I brought my own nurse, who, has, unfortunately, left the crew due to a regrettable incident. I will be backing Doctor Sado up, and if anything happens to him, I will be the ship’s surgeon. I look forward oui, to working with you all,” she said.
“Thank you,” said Captain Okita. He looked next to Carroway. Next to Doctor Carroway sat another young man in the gold and black of Operations: Ensign Giirchi Aihara. Aihara wasa young man with sandy blonde hair. Yuki was his section chief, but he would be assigned to work with Shima assisting him with Navigation as well as Communications. Homer’s Communications Group was almost a Group unto itself. Beside Homer sat a young Enlisted man, Master Sergeant David Sorin, a man from Tel Aviv who had just joined the crew the previous day.
“Mister Aihara, introduce yourself,” said Okita.
“Yessir,” he said. “I am Ensign Giichi Aihara; I will be working Communications under Lieutenant Mori and Lieutenant Shima. I’m twenty-one, and I’m from northern Hokkaido. I worry about some things, but I am looking forward to doing a great job. Sergeant Sorin?”
Sorin got up as Glitchman sat down. “David Sorin, ladies and gentlemen,” said the dark-haired young man. “I’m from Tel Aviv, Israel; I’ve been in Japan for some years, and I’m twenty. I was out in space twice in battles before Pluto, and I know that this is not a business for the ill-informed or the weak. Captain Okita knows me and he chose me. We…we served together once. I can never forget it!”
“Of course,” said Okita. “Now, the Engineering staff…then…our pilots.”
Finally, there was the Engineering staff; Lieutenant Commander Hikozaemon Tokugawa, also late of the Kirishima, was the Group Leader. Beside him sat his second-in-command, a heavyset Japanese man known as Senior Lieutenant Sho (or sometimes “Joe”) Yamazaki. Finally, at the table’s end sat Ensign Sam Sparks, a portly little man with hair hanging into one eye. Sparks was the third-in-command of Engineering, and Susumu Kodai had heard rumors which he saw conformed earlier that he had a rather obnoxious, strange personality.
Tokugawa quickly introduced himself as he stood by saying, “Hullo. I’m Lieutenant Commander Hikozaemon Tokugawa, also from Japan and Dublin, Ireland. I’ve been Captain Okita’s chief engineer for a number of years; a long time, matter of fact. I helped construct our ship’s engine based on Queen Starsha of Iscandar’s plans, and I’m sure she’ll do all we call upon her to do.”
He sat, and then Senior Lieutenant Sho Yamazaki stood up. “Sho Yamazaki, from Osaka, Japan; I’ve also been out with Captain Okita and Tokugawa on a few campaigns. If anyone here has any doubts that we will make it back and forth between here and Iscandar,” he said as he looked hard at Sparks. “Then, I suggest you leave them at home. Sparks, introduce yourself!”
“Sir,” said Sparks. “Ensign Samuel Travis Sparks, from the United States, Phoenix, Arizona, to be exact. I’m going to give my best on this cruise. That’s all.”
Last of all, the pilots stood.
The first pilot stood up. “I am Lieutenant Saburo Kato, spent some time in Japan, and some time in California, United States, in command of our Black Tiger fighter group and commander of Alpha Squadron, Black Tigers. Pardon the brief introduction, but I asked my men to make this quick.”
He sat down, and Yamamoto stood up. “Ensign Akira Yamamoto, from Kyushu, United States, in command of Beta Squadron, Black Tigers.”
Then, the third man stood up. “Ensign Kyle Grant, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, commanding Charlie Squadron, the first Interceptor Squadron, flying the Super Starfighter.”
He sat, and the fourth man stood up and said, “Ensign Jose’ “Buzz” Taylor, from Argentina, sir, commanding Delta squadron, second interceptor squadron of Super Starfighters.”
“And you, my friend?” Okita said to ANALYZER.
“ANALYZER, genius robot, trained in all aspects of the mission,” said the small red robot.
“Sir, do you think you can be a professional on this cruise?” asked Natalie.
Yuki tapped her arm and said, “Natalie…hush! Please!”
“Oh, I’ve got my reasons for asking, Yuki…believe me,” said Natalie with an evil grin.
“What happened between us before was an accident, Natalie,” said ANALYZER.
“Yeah, I BET,” she said.
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A while later, Commanding General Todo and General Serizawa boarded the Yamato for a brief ceremony, at exactly 1300 Hours.
The officers who had been at the meeting earlier were grouped on the Yamato’s massive main, upper deck by the bow for a ceremony that, due to the radiation, had to be brief. All of them had dress jackets on over their uniforms.
Okita and Mori stood on a platform near the bow, before the forward hawse hole.
Captain Okita spoke into a microphone and speakers set up earlier by ANALYZER, as he said, “We will be taking off for Iscandar in this vessel, as scheduled, in five days. However, to send the Yamato off properly, she must be christened by a woman, as tradition states, who will also sponsor the ship. Lieutenant Yuki Mori has agreed to act as the Yamato’s sponsor and to christen her under ancient tradition. Lieutenant, do your duty!”
“Yessir!” Yuki said, looking very pretty in her blue dress jacket, gold skirt, and white boots. “Today, in accordance with tradition, with one of the last remaining bottles of champagne on Earth, I christen thee, our newest space battleship, Yamato!” Yuki said as she smashed a bottle of champagne against the bow; the champagne was wrapped in ribbons.
The bottle smashed and the fizzy flowed down the bow as the group applauded and Yuki gave a small bow before Okita and Singleton helped her jump off the platform to the deck.
“Dismissed!” said Okita. “All hands, continue preparations! We will see the rest of the crew aboard the Yamato tomorrow, at exactly 1400 after the parade to the ship. Then, the final preparations will begin, since we are set to take off on Sunday morning, the sixth. Tomorrow morning will be the second, which will be Wednesday. We will need to work hard to ready her for launch. Are we clear?”
“YESSIR!” said all of the officers as they saluted Okita. None of those present knew yet that some of those who survived the mission to Iscandar and other wars would be aboard the same ship again thirty-four years later when this same vessel, heavily rebuilt, would again be re-christened by Yuki, who would, by then, be acting in a far different role.
THE NEXT DAY
October 2, 2199
0630 Hours
All of the members of the crew of the Yamato, for the very first time, were now assembled in a large assembly hall at the edge of the underground Tokyo Megalopolis as Captain Okita addressed three hundred and thirteen men and women on a large stage as he explained what the mission to Iscandar would entail and how their mighty space battleship had been renamed the Yamato.
“Our objective, as I said, is Planet Iscandar,” said Captain Abraham Okita. “On the way there, we are sure to meet the Gamilas many times.”
He paused as he looked out at the crowd. “If some of you do not wish to go, it will be no disgrace. I will be waiting for you aboard the Yamato. Thank you for your attention!”
The crew saluted as one, and Okita returned the salute.
A few minutes later, the crew was marching in a large parade through a major street of the underground Tokyo Megalopolis to the Earth Defense Forces March while most people applauded.
Some people yelled insults and they were shouted down.
Daisuke Shima heard some people yelling, “What, are you idiots running from Earth?
“Shut up!”
“Please, please make it back safely!” yelled a woman up on a balcony.
Confetti and flowers showered down on the ship’s company occasionally as they marched.
As Shima marched along, he thought, I wonder if we’re all a bunch of fools. How do we know the Yamato can really make it? I hope to God we can make it here and back in a year, or…
In the meantime, a young boy, maybe eight years of age, ran up to Daisuke Shima holding a lei of pink flowers.
“That’s my brother!” he yelled.
“Jiro!” called Daisuke as he got out of ranks to talk to his little brother Nanbu.
Jiro put the lei over Daisuke’s neck as Lieutenant Shima bent down. “This is for you, Daisuke! It’ll bring you good luck!”
“Thanks, Jiro,” said Daisuke as he hugged his brother.
“Bye, now!” called Jiro as he ran off.
Daisuke looked on at him and then got back into ranks.
Another heckler, up in a balcony, yelled, “Hey! You jerks! Who’s gonna take care of your families while you’re gone?”
Another man grabbed him by his shirt and shook him. “Listen, buddy…I didn’t see you volunteering for anything! Someone’s gotta do this job and it doesn’t look like it’s gonna be YOU!”
“Aaaaa…you dummy,” the other man said.
In the meantime, a woman in a green blouse with white slacks and boots with her dark hair up in a bun was looking at the crowd and yelling, “Yuki! Yuki, YUKI!” she cried out as she saw her daughter marching past.
Yuki Mori, in her regular jumpsuit, also came out of ranks and ran towards her parents. “Mother! Dad!”
Yuki’s mother, an artist and art professor named Dr. Teri Mori, ran up to her daughter and hugged her hard…not wanting to let go.
“Oh, Yuki…do you really have to leave us for a whole year?” she said as she sobbed.
Yuki smiled and said, “Look, you two! A year goes by fast! We’re going on a great adventure, and I wouldn’t miss it for anything! Oh, Mom, Dad, I’m going to miss you both!” Yuki hugged and kissed her parents and then took off, sobbing a little for a moment as her father cried, “YUKI!”
“Oh, my Baby, NO!!!” sobbed Miyuki Mori, Yuki’s mother.
As Yuki disappeared into the ranks of her shipmates marching down the street, Karl said, “Yuki told me she always wanted to take off on an adventure. Remember when she was five and she read the Narnia books? She was crawling into every cupboard possible for a whole month looking for Aslan and Lucy. Well, she’s finally getting her wish.”
“How can you say that, Karl? She’s joined this crew of…hooligans and weirdoes…and she’s probably going to go off into space and get herself killed!”
Karl said, “Our girl has her faith, the Good Lord is with her, and she’s always had a knack for taking care of herself. She’ll probably come back home with a medal or two; might even find a boy she really likes; unlike those guys you try to set her up with.”
“They were perfectly good men,” sniffed Miyuki.
“What about Scott Foley?” said Karl rhetorically. “I would have punched him for what he tried to pull with our daughter, but Yuki slugged him first!” Karl said with a smile of fatherly pride.
Teri just ground her teeth at that. She had her own ideas.
PLUTO: GAMILAS BASE
“Colonel Schultz, we’re getting video from Gamilas!” screeched Major Ganz, the XO of the balding Colonel who ran the base on Gamilas.
“What the heck?” said Colonel Schultz as he was working on some live Baldonian Octopus. Baldonia, one of the planets of the Empire, had some rather tasty small species of octopus. However, to best savor the flavor, one had to eat them while they were still alive. “My food will not be fresh anymore if I stop to look at this message!”
“Sir, you can finish your lunch later; Desslar is commanding your presence!”
“Leader Desslar?” said Schultz. “By the gods…”
Schultz ate a few more bites of his live octopus and he went to the base Situation Room with a tentacle still squirming in his mouth as he chewed it.
A few moments later, Schultz was watching the video of the destruction of their carrier from the other day.
“That old Earth battleship is firing back at us!” he cried.
There was a bas-relief of Desslar below the main screen. The eyes lit up, signifying that a transmission was coming in from the Throne. “What are you so excited about, Schultz?” said Desslar’s voice from the bas-relief.
“Leader Desslar! That old Earth battleship was firing back at our carrier!” Schultz said, sweating after he snapped a salute.
“And the carrier is finished,” purred Desslar. “You should know the laws of physics, Schultz. Our Gamilas Base on Pluto is not threatened by that…Terran contraption. They will never get that antiquated wreck to fly!”
“Lord, I request permission to test our new Ultra-Fusion missile on that ship.”
Desslar’s eyes went bright and faded. “A missile target? Hmmm? All right, Schultz…you can do that!”
“Thank you, Leader Desslar!” snapped Schultz as the eyes on the image flashed and then went out.
“Missile Number One, prepare launch sequence,” snapped Schultz after he hit a switch that began to raise the missile as klaxons began to blow all over the base. “Aim at…and destroy…that Terran battleship!”
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On Earth, it was now 0700.
In the meantime, Kodai sat next to Shima in an air-bus that was sweeping them towards the Yamato through a travel tube.
“What kept you, Shima?” Susumu sneered.
“Oh, you mean why did I have to run to get back in ranks in the parade?” said Daisuke. “This lei I have on…my little brother gave it to me. He kind of waylaid me in the crowd.”
“Oh, lovely,” Susumu said sarcastically. “You had to say goodbye to your little brother. Spot the man three points in a volleyball game!”
“You know, Kodai, sometimes you act like a real jerk!”
“I’ve got my reasons,” Susumu sneered.
They heard a hatch slamming in the back of the air-bus, which had been going through the tube system for the past forty minutes or so.
Susumu and Daisuke looked back and they saw Yuki emerging from the hatch, brushing her hair out of her eyes. She looked a little flustered.
“Wonder how long she’s been in the head,” Susumu sneered.
“Long enough to freshen up, Kodai,” Yuki said. “I had to run a bit to catch up, too. My parents showed up to see me off. My Mom’s a real trip sometimes,” Yuki said with a chuckle as she sat down in an empty seat behind Kodai and Shima.
“Yeah, parents can be funny at times,” said Daisuke with a grin.
“Yeah…families,” Susumu snorted. “Looks like everybody’s got one!”
“Where were your folks, Susumu?” Yuki asked in all innocence. “Would have been interesting to see if you look more like your mother or your father.”
“My parents sleep in my mind,” Susumu snapped. “Excuse me, Daisuke, Yuki. I’ve got to go use the head, too. Must be motion sickness. Feel like I wanna puke.”
Susumu stalked off and slammed the hatch.
“What’s his problem?” Yuki said, perplexed. “Looks like I hit his nasty button! Kodai can be awfully insulting at times!”
“Oh, he’s got issues, Yuki,” sighed Daisuke.
“Too bad,” Yuki sighed. “I heard you guys discussing volleyball. I used to be halfway good at it once. I wonder if they have beaches on Iscandar? Based on that image Starsha sent us, it looks like an aquatic planet.”
“What’s your obsession with beaches, Yuki?” said Daisuke.
“I always liked the sea,” Yuki replied. “And the beach is the perfect place to play volleyball. Hope Susumu excretes his nasty pills by the time we get to Iscandar. You two might be fun to hang out with on Iscandar.”
“Yeah, I hope he gets rid of his nasty pills, too, Yuki. He’s been murder to live with lately…”
“Yeah,” Yuki said softly as she sprawled her long legs out on the empty seat next to her and turned to looking out the bus window, her thoughts unreadable to Daisuke.
Shima thought that if Susumu was an enigma, then Yuki was an enigma wrapped in a riddle. There were times he just could not figure out what was going on in that blond head of hers.
A FEW MINUTES LATER…
The crew of the Yamato, bus after bus, arrived at the Yamato and marched aboard the ship through the maintenance hatch at the aft part of Bridge Number Three as the civilian workers aboard the battleship stood saluting them.
Sanada was keeping count, quickly checking in officer after officer, enlisted man after enlisted man. He soon had the help of ANALYZER once he was finished with some other shipboard tasks, and he had further assistance soon afterwards from Yuki once her bus arrived and she began checking in crewmen and crewwomen and assigning them quarters with the help of Natalie Fisher.
This task took nearly three hours. It was exactly 1400 by the time Captain Okita came below to check the crew list as Yuki and Natalie folded up their laptops to get busy with some other business. Yuki handed Sanada the final crew manifest with a smile and a thumbs-up before she took off with Natalie for her other business.
“Captain, with the exception of Makoto Harada, who left a few days ago after that business with Ito, and Ito himself, the crew manifest is complete,” Sanada said. “No one stayed behind.”
Okita nodded with a grunt. “Yuki, before you leave, when are you and the Medical staff going to give the crew their physicals and shots?”
“During the voyage,” Yuki said. “No time now. Natalie and I just barely got all these people assigned quarters, and the last of the supplies and food just got delivered via truck. We were about to help the enlisted people in our Group inventory the food.”
“Good, but don’t take too long, Yuki. Remember what I said about delegating jobs and forgetting the forest in favor of the trees. Same goes for you, too, Fisher.”
“Yessir,” Yuki and Natalie said together, snapping salutes before they left.
“They work too hard,” sighed Okita.
“Captain, we’ve got a ship to run,” said Sanada. “Which reminds me. Now that everyone’s aboard, I have to start allotting damage control supplies. I don’t think the Gamilas are going to let us get off-planet without some opposition.”
“I agree,” said Okita.
----------------------------
In the meantime, on Pluto, the missile had been raised from its silo. It was now 1500 Hours, Earthtime on October 2, 2199.
“Ready for launch, sir!” said Major Ganz. “We shot off the last planet bombs an hour ago to give this missile a clear path.”
“Good,” said Schultz as he closed up a personal holo of his daughter Hilde. “Commence the countdown.”
“Begin countdown!” snapped Ganz into a microphone in his weird, nasal voice.
“Beginning, sir,” said a Lieutenant below.
The countdown started and then ended. The missile launched.
“Colonel Schultz, estimate that the missile will hit Earth and that battleship in exactly eight Terran hours at 2300 as they call it!” laughed Ganz.
“Excellent,” said Schultz. “Maybe Leader Desslar will make us first-class Gamilas for this?” he said.
“I hope so, sir,” said Ganz. “What do the Terrans call that hunk of glorified wreckage, anyway?”
“I got an intelligence intercept before; we’ve been tapping their planetary video, of course,” said Schultz as he put on a pair of glasses to read the printout. “Their Captain is named Jyuzo Okita. All of that intel has also been sent to Gamilas, of course. Hiss will have it by now.”
“It would be interesting if we could get personal e-mail addresses for those barbarians so we could send them nasty e-mail notes to sap their morale like we did two years ago with the leadership of Planet Alteria before Leader Desslar sent Gimleh in to vaporize their cities when they got...uppity!” Ganz said as he laughed. “I bet that was fun! I love seeing mushroom clouds! They’re so pretty!”
“Well, there will be a lovely mushroom cloud hanging over the grave of their ship Yamato,” said Schultz. “What a stupid name for a warship!”
----------------------------
A little later on at 1600, Yuki was changing her sweaty uniform in her cabin. It was a bigger officer’s cabin, and her new cabinmate was Doctor Denise Carroway, the ship’s second doctor.
Doctor Carroway wasn’t in; the auburn-haired MD was down in Sickbay assisting in physicals of some incoming crew members.
Yuki began to pull on her alternate uniform; blouse, with collar, a little like a polo shirt, and a just-above the knee length skirt with a slight slit. Whistling to herself, she put on her gunbelt, buckled it tightly, and spent a moment or two cleaning her sidearm. Then, she plopped herself on her stomach barefoot on her bunk to read a manual on vaccines when the door whirred open.
Doctor Carroway came in. “Hi, Denise!” Yuki said brightly. She and the Doctor had agreed that they would be on a first-name basis in their cabin.
“Hi, Yuki,” said Carroway in her slightly higher voice.
“How’s it going down below?”
“Not bad. I did the exam on Sparks so you wouldn’t have to do it. I know you two have some issues…”
“Yeah…anyone would after he, in order, pipes aboard, asks me out in the crassest fashion you could think of; I tell him “no” nicely, he doesn’t get it, tries to kiss me and asks if I just want a roll in the hay without commitment, I tell him “no” more forcefully and tell him if he tries that again, I’ll belt him because I’m saving my body for the man that I will marry on the wedding night. Unlike that Scott Foley, I told you about, he got the message then, but he began asking me if I was on the ship for any other reason than to find a husband! I said, hell yes, to serve mankind. He then accused me of being a lesbian and said I belonged home playing with Barbie dolls.”
“I can’t say I blame you, but what if you have to treat him in the future? You’ll need to show some detachment; some objectivity. Want some ramen soup?”
“I’d love some ramen,” Yuki said. “Getting as hungry as a horse and my feet hurt. Well, I can catch up with my friend Natalie later. She’s rooming with that other nurse, Michele Sakamoto. Michele seems pretty nice, but Yuria and I put you in here because we know you need the room. We can also share medical books, manuals, and data cartridges.”
“Smart decision,” said Denise. Then, her phone rang. “Yes?” she said, flipping it to speaker.
“Ma’am, this is Nurse Sakamoto. We could use you and Yuki down here for a while. Doctor Sado’s been hitting the bottle again and he lost interest in his work to play with his cat!”
“I told him about that,” Yuki huffed. “Okay, Sakamoto. The Doc and I will be below shortly.” Yuki then hung up and began rooting in her locker for footwear.
“I’d put your sandals on if I were you,” said Doctor Carroway who had them on herself as she slipped into her lab coat over her white Medical blouse and skirt. “God knows how long we’ll be on our feet down there with Sado three sheets to the wind!”
“Yeah, tell me about it,” sighed Yuki as she stepped into her shoes. “Also, some of my friends were rude to me before on the bus.”
“What did they say to you?” said Denise.
“I don’t really want to talk about it now; I’m very disappointed in them,” Yuki said. “Let’s get going and do those physicals.”
--------------------------------------
On the Yamato’s First Bridge, it was now 1730.
Shima leaned over the chair at his post (he was alone on the First Bridge with Kodai) and he threw his lei over the top of his seat and said, “Jordy, Mom, Dad…don’t worry, we’ll make it back to Earth; I’m sure of it!”
“What makes you so sure of that, Shima? We’re just kidding ourselves if we think we’re going to make it back!” Susumu snapped as he sat slouching in his chair, looking like a juvenile delinquent to Daisuke.
“What?” snapped Daisuke.
“Listen, Captain Okita’s never been that far out in space! Do you really think he knows what he’s doing?”
“Kodai, if you feel that way, why did you join the Star Force?” said Shima.
“What makes all of you think Okita’s such a great man?” Susumu said as he got up and started yelling. “Sure, he wins a lot, but look at the cost in lives!”
“I know you miss Mamoru, and I know you’re upset that nobody came to see you off earlier today. But, number one, you shouldn’t have jumped down Yuki’s throat like that when she asked about your family; she doesn’t know you that well yet. Number two, you can’t blame Captain Okita because Mamoru never came back!”
“Oh, yeah? Well, Mamoru was my brother!” said Susumu.
Then, Kato, Dash, Ota, and Homer came onto the Bridge. Each of them saluted and reported to Kodai and Shima.
Both men said, “Thank you!” as Captain Okita came down from his cabin on his chair-lift, which locked into place at his bridge station at the rear of the bridge.
Captain Okita said, “Our energy buildup is almost complete. We can take off a little earlier than we planned. The Commander and I decided that we’d better take off before the day ends so we won’t be a target for the Gamilas.”
“Captain, what does ‘energy buildup’ mean?” asked Shima.
Didn’t you study your tech manuals for this ship? Okita thought irritably to himself. “Let me explain,” he said, keeping a calm demeanor. “We need an enormous amount of power to start our wave motion engine for the very first time; more than we can keep on board. So, a world-wide power grid was built, and all of the surviving nations of Earth are sending us power.”
“Wow!” Susumu and Daisuke said together.
Okita then picked up a phone and made a call. “XO, I’m ready to make the final inspection. I’m bringing Kodai and Shima with me. Get the Section Leaders for your group, Engineering, Medical, and Living together as we discussed earlier today.”
Okita didn’t share the answer with Kodai and Shima, but they heard certain chimes going off over the shipboard PA system that they would soon become familiar with.
Okita got up and said, “Kodai, Shima, I’m going to make a final inspection tour of the Yamato. Would you two join me?”
“Yessir,” they said.
------------------------
In the meantime, in the underground Earth Defense Headquarters, an officer said to the Commander and Serizawa, “Sir, we’ve just picked up a very large new Gamilas missile coming at high speed towards Earth; probably heading for the dried East China Sea Basin near Kyushu!”
“Not now!” barked Todo. “The Yamato’s not ready yet…Okita advised me he moved the launch time up to 2300 tonight, but he can’t push it any more than that. The energy buildup is still going on!”
“What’s your confidence on that?” barked General Serizawa.
“Confidence level is eighty-one percent,” said another one of the officers.
“Get us an updated scan on that, Lieutenant,” said Todo. “When you’re sure, send a message to Captain Okita!”
On the Yamato, Okita guided Kodai and Shima around the ship as he said, “Kodai, that gunnery computer I showed you is under your command.”
The two of them entered a very large space. “This area used to be for officers’ quarters on the old Yamato,” said Okita. “But now, it’s the mainframe computer room. The mainframe is that large computer over there that’s cooled with liquid sodium coolant. Officers are now quartered with the enlisted men in our new Central Crew’s Quarters.”
“What a computer,” said Shima.
“Who’s going to be running it?” said Kodai.
“All of you will have node connections to it, but the officers who will most frequently be running it will be Sanada, yourself, Shima, and Miss Mori. She’ll be assisting you with space warp calculations, Shima, particularly when we make our first test, possibly in a few hours.”
“What the heck is a space warp?” said Kodai.
Kodai, did you forget to study that part of the manual, too? Captain Okita thought. “A space warp is a fold in the time-space continuum that we will have to make regularly in order to make it to Iscandar and back in less than a year. The wave motion engine will allow us to do this, something which only the Gamilas could do until now! I studied enough captured instruction manuals from Gamilas ships to learn they call it a “Gestcham Jump” in their language. We were trying to reverse-engineer a drive like that from their wrecked ships until we found that the engine plan Queen Starsha sent us would work a lot better. It will be explained after we take off in our first full Department Heads’ Briefing,” said Okita as he walked along. “Follow me. We’re going towards the bow of the ship.”
Finally, he and the others walked through a huge iris out into a part of the ship that Susumu and Daisuke had never noticed before.
“What the heck is this?” muttered Daisuke.
“It looks like a large, rifled cannon,” muttered Susumu.
“You’re partially right, Kodai. Do you and Shima know what this is?” Okita said as the three of them walked into the huge space.
“No, sir,” said Kodai and Shima together.
“The firing gate of the wave motion gun,” Okita said.
Both Kodai and Shima looked around, suitably impressed.
Okita said, “The wave motion gun is the most powerful weapon I know of. Without it, we’d never make it to Iscandar. It operates on the same principle as the wave motion engine, harnessing tachyon particles that travel faster than the speed of light.”
The three of them spent a few minutes staring out at the ruined Earth as the sun began to set on what would be their last day on Earth for some time.
--------------------------
In the meantime, at Earth Defense Headquarters, an officer said, “Commanding General Todo! Our latest computer plot has verified the missile’s target. The missile has just crossed the orbit of Mars and it’s roaring in towards Earth.”
“Where, what’s the target??” snapped Singleton.
“Commander, that missile is heading right for the Yamato. Based on our current estimates, it will hit the ship at exactly 2300; just four hours from now!”
“Oh, my God,” said Todo as he broke a pencil in his hands. “Notify the crew ASAP!”
“Sir, I’m trying,” said a comm officer. “I’m getting heavy EMP static! A planet bomb just hit near Guam! I’ll have to try again in an hour!”
“Do it, for God’s sakes!” said Todo.
----------------------------
In the meantime, the inspection tour continued.
Kodai and Shima walked into a space they had never been before on the vast ship.
To their shocked eyes, Yuki turned from a panel and saluted them. “Good evening, gentlemen. I believe we’ve met?”
“Aye, ma’am,” Susumu said.
“I’ve got to talk to the XO,” said Okita after he hung up a phone that hung against a bulkhead. “Yuki, conduct them around the Observation Spaces, Holography and Sickbay. Get them up forward to Technical when you’re done.”
“Yessir,” Yuki said. “Kodai, Shima, follow me.”
After a walking tour of a few minutes during which Yuki sounded to Kodai like a perky tour guide at Tokyo Disneyland, she said as they glided along a moving people mover belt in the deck, “Next thing I’ll show you two is the Holography Room.”
“What’s a Holography Room?” said Shima.
“Come and see,” Yuki said. “This is sort of my baby.”
The two surprised officers walked through a set of double doors straight onto a Hawaiian beach, where two hula dancers were dancing along to drum music in what looked exactly like some demented luau.
“This Holography Room was designed by me for crew morale,” Yuki said. “As you see, it projects three-dimensional images of life on Earth, as we remember it. I’m sure we’ll need a break now and then from these grey bulkheads, and this is going to be the place to go,” Yuki said with a smile.
ANALYZER came in and began to do the hula with the dancers. “This is great for my universal joints!” he said as the two surprised young men watched him.
“We can also quickly change the configuration to show almost anything, including the personal memory cassettes that we recorded a few days ago. Behold, one of my memories of Fujiyama,” Yuki said.
Yuki pressed a few buttons, and the view changed to a snowy forest around Mount Fuji. Snow was falling all over the place and it felt cold.
“What happened to the palm trees, and the sun, and the girls in the grass skirts?” said ANALYZER. “You can see I’m not dressed for cold weather!”
All three of them laughed at IQ, until Yuki seemed to remember something. “I have some...unfinished business from before I have to attend to.”
“Oh, no,” said Shima. “The bus this morning?”
Yuki nodded gravely. “I really have to talk to Kodai about this. Alone. Daisuke, please get ANALYZER out of here.”
“You’re in troooubleeee…” said Daisuke as he tapped Susumu’s chest.
“Shima, please!” snapped Yuki. “This is serious.”
“Aye, aye, ma’am,” he said seriously as he saluted Yuki (who had more time in grade than he did) and left.
Yuki turned to Susumu, and changed the scene abruptly to a backyard with a house and a pink swing set.
“What’s this place?” said Susumu.
“MY childhood home and backyard in the suburbs of Tokyo!” Yuki snapped. “At least before the Gamilas planet bombs flattened it.”
Yuki took a deep breath. “Okay, Susumu. This is going to be tough for both of us, but I have to address this. I know your brother Mamoru is missing. I asked you about your parents before, and you almost jumped down my throat! That was very, very rude and you owe me a major apology, Mister! I don’t know what the story is with your parents…do you want to tell me about it? Maybe I can help you instead of your giving me verbal punches about it?!?”
“Yuki…I…I’m sorry I jumped down your throat about it!” Susumu said as he put up his hands.
“You’d better be sorry!” Yuki snapped. “I don’t care how damn much you’re hurting, bud, you don’t talk to a lady like that!” she said as she glared at him with her hands on her hips.
“Okay, Yuki. I said I’m sorry,” Susumu said as he thought. Well, Kodai, you’ve blown another friendship with a girl you barely know. “Could you forgive me for being a jackass? Please? I kind of like you. You’re…different.”
Susumu thought Yuki was about to tell him to go to Hell, but he looked at her face and she seemed to relax a bit.
“Okay, but do you want to open up to me about your family sometime, even if you’re on bad terms with them? I’m not on the best of terms with my mother myself,” Yuki said as she shut her eyes and looked at the deck. Then he noticed that Yuki had very full and lovely eyelashes…just like the dead Princess Astra of Iscandar.
“Right now, Yuki…I’d rather not talk about it,” said Susumu. He extended his hand. “But please accept my apology.”
“Apology accepted, on one condition,” Yuki said as she shook Susumu’s hand as Daisuke came into the room, wondering what was going on.
“That is?” Susumu said.
“You let me steal your nose,” Yuki said with a grin. Then, she grabbed his nose and “stole” it.
“YIKES!” yelled Susumu.
“Got your nose,” Yuki giggled as she held up her thumb and shut down the holography units. “I’m holding it for ransom until you’re nice to me,” Yuki said.
“Okay, okay,” said Susumu. Then, Yuki’s personal comm unit (worn on her gunbelt) went off. She looked down and said, “Oh, great. Give me a minute, please, guys. I’ll take this around the corner. When I get back, our next stop will be Sickbay.”
Yuki took off, running along quite fast in her crepe-soled wedgies.
“What a strange girl,” said Susumu in a low mutter to Shima. “One minute she wants to kill me, next minute, she’s getting silly!”
“I think she likes you, Susumu,” Daisuke said.
“Where do you get that idea from? Maybe that robot was right a few days ago; maybe she is a sadist! She seemed to have lots of fun giving me a shot with her needle the other day!”
“She’s just perky and high-spirited; was probably trying to cheer you up,” said Shima. “And I never had a girl steal my nose before, Kodai! It would probably be wise not to tick her off, though.”
“You heard her out here?”
“Some of it, Susumu. No wonder she’s named Yuki. She’s got a cold temper like yours; a real ice queen! You two damn hotheads are made for each other!”
“Well, at least she won’t kill me on this cruise,” Susumu said as Yuki came back around.
“I hope to only kill people in the line of duty…if I have to,” Yuki said. “Gamilas, mostly. I hate what they’ve done to Earth! They’re horrible!”
“Where’s our next stop?” said Susumu.
“Sickbay,” Yuki said. “Look out for Doctor Sado. That phone call was from Doctor Carroway; you met her already. She tells me he’s acting…weird.”
“When doesn’t he act weird?” said Daisuke as they went back down on the people mover in the other direction.
-------------------------
In Sickbay, they encountered Doctor Sado who staggered up and laughed.
“Ha, ha ha ha! Yuki and Doctor Carroway told me you’d be down here sooner or later! Have I got something to show you; the ship’s long-term sleep tubes!”
“What do those do?” asked Shima as they came into a pink-walled room with a good number of what looked like beds connected to machinery.
“The idea is, if we run low on supplies, or someone is critically injured, we can put them under for a while and wake ‘em up later when we get more food or we’re ready to work on ‘em!” said Sado as he held his bottle. “This is a great place to be if you need to…really…chill out for a while! Observe!”
Sado yawned, held his bottle, and plopped down after he pushed a few buttons on a control panel near the bed. “They’re not gonna need me…I think, until after we launch, so I’ll take a nap and sleep off this sake!” he laughed. “See?” he said as he pushed the last button.
Then, a glassteel cover whirred shut, and gas filled the little chamber, putting Doctor Sado to sleep for a while…hugging his bottle!
“What, he’s gonna be out for…how long?”
“Ten hours, I think,” Yuki said with a smile. “He should be okay by then. I hope.”
“Yeah, and he’s going to leave me with all of the work,” said Doctor Carroway as she came up. “Yuki, we’re done with the physicals for now so you can take your bridge station later.”
“Thanks,” Yuki said. “I’ll need to get these guys forward to Technical, and then report to the messhall. Stomach’s growling like a cat!”
Mi-kun then mewed around Yuki’s ankles. She picked her up. “No offense meant to you, m’ dear,” Yuki said as she began to pet the little gold and black tabby. Mi-kun sniffed at Yuki’s nose and licked it. Yuki giggled.
“Well, we know she likes you,” chuckled Shima.
“C’mon, baby, I’ll get your dinner after I get mine,” Yuki sang to Mi-kun. “Come along, gentlemen. I’ve got to get you forward before the Captain wonders if I got lost.”
“Okay,” Susumu said as he gave Mi-kun a pat on the head before Yuki put her down. Mi-kun sniffed him curiously and gave him a head-butt.
“She likes everyone,” said Doctor Carroway with a smile.
“Except Sparks,” Yuki commented.
“What’s going on between you two?” Susumu asked.
“I’ll tell you later over coffee,” Yuki said. “It’s…it’s not a nice story. Maybe he should have been thrown off the ship around the same time that Ito pulled his garbage. C’mon, enough about him, let’s talk about you guys!” Yuki said cheerily as she took off.
Carroway looked at Yuki and thought, Lieutenant, you’re sure good at keeping secrets and not spilling the beans about that asshole Sparks…especially after the crap he gave you six weeks ago. I might have killed him for that. You just slapped him. I think he deserved more than that.
At that, the shipboard tour continued…even as the Ultra-Fusion Missile drew closer and closer to Earth…and the Yamato…
TO BE CONTINUED…