STAR BLAZERS: A VOYAGE TO REMEMBER

A fanfic recapitulation of Series One “The Quest for Iscandar” by

Frederick P. Kopetz

EPISODE SEVEN: “The Dangerous Space Warp”

October 3, 2199

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On Planet Gamilon, Leader and Chancellor Desslok and Vice-Chancellor Krypt were having a conference in his office.

“So, that’s the intelligence you have on that Terran ship? They actually got that ridiculous thing to lift off?” Desslok said as he sipped at a chalice of his favorite white wine.

“Yessir,” said Krypt. “I gave you a hardcopy of our report on their vessel and crew which we took from intelligence we gleaned from the computer core of their vessel, the Paladin, down on Titan, and for what we were able to pick up from their transmissions between the ship and Headquarters. We got it at the Headquarters end; the ship itself was too hardened electronically to hack into. In brief, their ship was named the Yamato. They rechristened her the Argo for some reason known only to Terrans…”

“It comes from a strange legend of theirs about an ancient ship sent to search for a magical Golden Fleece, Krypt. Didn’t you ever read their mythology? I have. It makes interesting lore, which I’d like to preserve even after we wipe their race from the Cosmos. The same goes for Shakespeare, which would probably read much better in Gamilon!” Desslok looked at the report. “I see they gave their crew a name, too…The Star Force. Valiant name for a group of adventurers and idiots. Hmmm…their Captain is named Abraham Avatar. What intelligence do we have on him, Krypt?”

“Leader Desslok, this Avatar has met us in battle before in at least three battles. Ganz reports he was in command of the Terran Fleet we wiped out at Pluto.”

“So, I see. Amazing that he’s survived this long. Is he a cockroach?” Desslok said with cold laughter. “Interesting names for their Section Leaders…Derek…Wildstar…Mark Venture? Steven Sandor? Patrick Orion? Oh, Krypt, this is so amusing. They’re getting really desperate. One of that ship’s officers is a girl who goes by the name of Nova Forrester. Doesn’t that make you laugh, Krypt? They’re even sending their females after us!”

“Leader Desslok, we can’t let them get any further,” said Krypt. “If we permit that space battleship to leave Earth and travel into space, wouldn’t they be much harder to track down? I recommend we exterminate them now! And it would also serve as a powerful lesson to the people of Earth!”

“A lesson?” chuckled Desslok. “It’s our officers on Pluto who need lessons! Let them finish off the…Star Force!” At that, Desslok began to laugh like mad.

What Desslok didn’t know: In the future, Captain Avatar would be a revered hero of the Gamilon Empire remembered with honor on a rebuilt Gamilon. Two members of the Star Force would become two of his best friends; one would become a Head of State, ally, and fourth in line to the Throne of Gamilon itself. In the far future, this same person would in fact rule Gamilon for a very short period of time during a Civil War in the Empire after Desslok himself went missing and his own natural son and first heir turned against him for a time…and his two natural daughters…became airheads enamored with Court Life and Gossip!  And, a future child of two members of the Star Force would end up becoming Desslok’s new Vice-Chancellor, some centuries after he shot Krypt for, basically, ticking him off.

But that would be then. This was now.

The Argo was in a parking orbit over Earth. October 2^nd, 2199 had just become October 3^rd, 2199.

At the helm, Mark Venture said, “Captain, we’re out of Earth’s atmosphere, and will soon be free of her gravity.”

“Good, switch to second stage!”

“Yessir,” said Mark as he worked a control that folded the wings that the Argo had deployed a few minutes ago for atmospheric flight.

The wings clicked back into the mighty space battleship’s hull as the wave engine came up to a higher degree of thrust, and the Argo thus left Earth orbit for the first time of many, many times.

Eager brought the receding Earth up on the main screen as Venture sat back and took a deep breath.

Nova stood up and pointed at the reddish-brown disk. “I’ve never seen the Earth like this before…it’s so small!”

“I almost can’t bear to look at it,” said Orion sadly as he stood up along with the rest of the bridge crew.

“Now that we’re out this far, you can really see how the radioactivity has ruined it,” said Sandor.

“It looks so far gone,” said Venture. “I wonder if it can ever really be brought back to the way it was?”

Derek looked hard at Mark and said, “Hey, this is what this mission is all about! We have to have faith in what we’re doing! Remember all the faces of those people we said goodbye to!”

Avatar said, “All of Earth is depending upon us, and we have a lot to do. Since we took off sooner than we planned, we have some catching up to do. It’s 0230 now. I want all staff officers to meet me in the briefing room at 0345. Continue your tasks on the bridge until then, and have your seconds take your place; except for you, Wildstar and Forrester. Follow me to Bridge Number Two.”

“Yessir,” Derek and Nova said. Dash took Derek’s station; another officer named Ensign Koshima took Dash’s post. Summoned by Avatar, Yuria Misaki arrived on the bridge, and she assumed Nova’s post at the radar as Nova followed Derek and Avatar off the bridge.

“What’s all that about?” said Venture.

“We have to start planning for our first space warp, Venture,” said Sandor. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to check over some equations at my post. We can’t mess this up.”

A few minutes later, guarded by Hoshina and Rosstowski, Sam Sparks stood accused at Captain’s Mast, or an Article 15 disciplinary hearing; which was an informal court-martial.

Captain Avatar faced Sparks, flanked by the two witnesses he had called; Derek Wildstar and Nova Forrester.

“Mister Sparks,” said Avatar coldly and formally. “You stand accused of violating regulations by not acting as an officer and a gentleman and also assaulting a fellow Star Force officer and damaging ship’s systems by turning on power at low amperage to Lieutenant Nova Forrester’s station on Bridge Number One after she followed all due safety procedures and turned off power as the running Mechanical Log indicates. The evidence indicates Lieutenant Forrester sustained an electrical shock due to your actions. How do you plead?”

“Not guilty. She turned it on herself from her post,” insisted Sparks. “Nova doesn’t like me and she’s trying to be a drama queen and stir up the pot.”

“I stand to differ,” Nova said formally. “The running log, as the Captain indicated, proves that I turned off power at your post five minutes before I even opened my panel. There’s an interlock at each panel that does not allow you to open a board for maintenance unless power is off. I couldn’t have even gotten the panel opened if power was on.”

“You’re faking being hurt, then,” sneered Sparks.

Nova calmly took off her bridge station operating glove. “As the Captain can see, Sparks, I have a bandage on my finger. I don’t wear bandages as fashion accessories.”

“Let the record indicate that Lieutenant Forrester was burned. Lieutenant Wildstar, did you see Forrester’s burn?”

“I did, sir. I applied first aid after I noticed the second-degree burn on her finger. I also witnessed her being shocked. I will admit I was so outraged that Mister Sparks and I had words, and I punched him, sir.”

“Why did you punch the man?” asked Avatar.

“Because, and I quote, sir, I observed the incident and observed, quite properly, as an officer and a gentleman that Sparks here was being a jackass by shocking someone as helpful as Nova here was. Nova was also in pain and that’s why I offered First Aid, sir.”

“Nova, do you agree with Lieutenant Wildstar’s story?”

“I do, sir,” Nova said. “Derek here was far more of a gentleman than Mister Sparks was. In my opinion, Mister Sparks definitely committed conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman. He acted as if he was a child in Junior High, Captain.”

“I agree,” said Avatar. “Ensign Samuel Sparks, unfortunately, we need you in your post, so I am dismissing the assault charge as such because if I upheld it, you would not be able to supervise your crew in Engineering because I’d make you work as a deck ape in the engine room for the rest of this cruise! Do not mistake my action for leniency, Mister Sparks! This is only being done as a favor to Mister Orion. However, I am upholding the charge against you for not conducting yourself as an officer and a gentleman. I am awarding you fifteen days’ worth of loss of all pay and allowances, and fifteen days’ worth of extra duty. An adverse action letter will also be placed in your file; to be removed only if you serve as an exemplary officer during the rest of this deployment. Lieutenant Derek Wildstar, I am awarding you a letter of commendation for stopping Mister Sparks and offering prompt First Aid to Lieutenant Nova Forrester. Mister Sparks, before we leave, you will shake hands with Lieutenant Forrester and apologize!”

“Ma’am,” he said to Nova even though the word stuck in his throat. “I’m sorry that my actions hurt you and upset you.”

“It’s forgivable so long as you act as a gentleman for the rest of this cruise,” Nova said as she shook hands with him. “Don’t ever let it happen again, Mister.”

“Aye, ma’am. Wildstar, I’m sorry I called you a liar, sir,” he said as he extended his hand towards Derek.

Derek shook his hand with a hard grip, and said, “I repeat what the lady said, Ensign. Don’t ever let it happen again, or you’ll have me to account to!”

“Why, sir?” said Sparks.

“Because Lieutenant Forrester is my friend,” Derek snapped.

“Thank you, Wildstar!” Nova said with a quick handshake with Derek. “Captain, Sandor wants me to check over my share of the equations for the space warp.”

“You’re dismissed, Nova. Same goes for all of you. Remember the time we’ll be meeting. Sparks, go see your Section Leader. He’ll set up your extra duty.”

“Yessir,” said Sparks.

As all of them left, Hoshina said to Rosstowski. “So, what do you think?”

Rosstowski sighed. “If that guy would have been in my barracks as an enlisted man, I would’ve requested that the men give him a blanket party.”

“Sarge, what’s a…blanket party?” asked Holly Parsons as she got up from her post on the second bridge.

“Ma’am, it means the sort of party where they put a blanket over the guy’s head and begin slugging him. I’d say he deserves it. One night, when I came off a simulation,” Paul said. “I met that nice Lieutenant Forrester in the messhall at 0300. She whipped me up a nice little instant Teriyaki Beef and let me go on and spill my guts about the crap my wife is putting me through. Stupid wife is saying she might want to separate when I get back, and she didn’t even see me off. My wife’s not a nice lady, Y’know. Forrester is, and I don’t like the idea of anyone messing up a nice lady like that.”

“Nova’s a science nerd, but she’s a nice nerd,” said Holly. “She’s way more personable than Sandor. That guy…he’s like a machine.”

“What do you think of that Wildstar?” said Rosstowski.

“Long-haired punk,” snapped Holly. “I’ll betcha he’s the love them and leave them type.”

“No comment,” said Rosstowski.

In her quarters, Nova was working alone to check and recheck the calculus behind their warp calculations.

Thank God, she thought as she ran the calculations through again on her computer. All the math balances out. But now, the data has to be correct. If it isn’t…I don’t want to think about what could possibly happen.

The strangest thing of all for Nova is that the esoteric math she was running seemed familiar somehow.

It almost seems like those dreams I had when I was small, Nova thought. Those dreams…where I saw so much. I think I foresaw the bombings…and….

Nova ran some of those dreams through her memory as she worked. A lot of the images made no sense.

Nova already knew that at some point she would meet her Prince. She knew a lot about him, except for his face, from her dreams.

Nova had also dreamed of herself as a Queen, someday…a Queen doing magic.

That dream was strange…it was as if I was both Queen Lucy from Narnia and Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings…as the same person? Confusing.

And my Prince was in that dream, too. Makes me think…of the bombings.

I was fourteen when the bombings started, and Ariel was in kindergarten in Parochial School and she was six. I was in Junior High. My sister Ariel was on that field trip with her class in Chautauqua Park when the planet bomb hit the foothills of the Rockies. When I finally got home that day after another bomb hit the outskirts of Boulder, I was expecting Ariel would be home, safe. Instead, she was missing.

They found…what was left of her a month later, right before we went underground. That was my first funeral…for my sister. I had a black mourning dress on. 

They say that the present, past, and future might intersect during the space warp, Nova thought. If the Almighty is giving me clues to my future through those dreams…what might I see during the warp? I’m scared…but very curious…

In the meantime, Captain Avatar was in a private meeting with Doctor Sane, who had just awakened from his “nap” in the freeze chamber.

Doctor Sane said to Avatar, “We have to monitor your health closely after the warp…Abraham. It could be very dangerous to your health.”

“I have no choice, do I?” said Avatar. “I have to stay on this ship during each and every warp…and I can’t stay home or stay back.”

“All right, but I will be watching you carefully,” said Doctor Sane. “That’s one reason I called you here. The other reason is this…remember that I said that I found that someone on Earth has some of the same genetic markers as Astra of Iscandar?”

“Is that person someone on Earth?” said Avatar.

“Yes, and no. The person in question is with us now. According to what I discovered, these markers indicate this officer has a good bit of alien ancestry, going back to the maternal grandmother.”

“Did they know about the grandmother? What about the parents?”

“Everything about the grandmother is classified,” said Doctor Sane. “The parents showed very little psi-ability. This officer’s psi-ability…moderate.”

“Who is it?” said Avatar.

“I’m not even sure I should be telling you this,” said Doctor Sane.

“Doctor, give me that chart. It’s an order,” snapped Avatar.

“You’d better not say anything. I’m compromising her privacy by letting you see this…,” said Sane.

“Her…privacy…” said Avatar as he opened the folder and looked at the picture of the officer in question. He chuckled to himself. “Well, I should have known this from Day One, after we found Astra! It’s as plain as the nose on her face! It’s obvious! How come it never occurred to me before?”

“Because you don’t expect a protégé to be thirty, forty or fifty percent alien?” said Doctor Sane as he poured himself a drink. “Excuse me, I need this about now,” he said as he drank his sake’ and licked his lips. “Oh, yes!”  

“Same blood type as Astra, even,” said Avatar. “Roughly the same weight and build…” Avatar took a deep breath. “I think she should be told as soon as possible!”

“Heavens, NO!” snapped Doctor Sane. “That part of her is classified!”

“How could your own heritage and body be classified?” snapped Avatar.

“I think if we tell her, it would not only break regs but have a poor effect on her morale and psyche,” said Doctor Sane.

“Can she have children?” said Avatar.

“Everything there works 100 percent normal, all systems go,” said Sane. “The children could inherit. Then again, it may not mean that much. We already know she’s bright; IQ of 175, and is very intuitive. Should I tie her tubes, maybe…during an operation…?”

“God, NO!” said Avatar.

“Why not?” barked Doctor Sane.

Avatar poked her picture. “I know you don’t subscribe to my religious faith, Doctor Sane, but I do not believe it is a coincidence she’s on our ship. And, I don’t think we should play God, either…with regards to her children…or…with whom God pairs her off with. I believe strongly we should not interfere; “what God hath put together, let no man rend asunder.” You’re right. I think if we tell her who she is, it could interfere with Destiny…but I am against interfering with God’s possible plan for her by having her body altered,” Avatar said as he packed his pipe, lit it, and began to smoke.

“That’s not good for you!” snapped Doctor Sane.

“Neither is this,” said Avatar as he picked up Doctor Sane’s bottle of sake’.

“Okay…you’ve got me there!” laughed Doctor Sane.

A while later, the Argo’s primary officers were gathered in the central briefing room on a large video screen built into the deck, listening carefully while Captain Avatar explained the basics of the upcoming space warp.

“Gentlemen and ladies,” said Captain Avatar. “A space warp is an artificially-generated change in the time-space continuum that will enable the Argo to travel faster than the speed of light and make the long 148,000 lightyear journey to Iscandar and return within 362 days. Sandor, would you explain further?”

“Yessir,” said Sandor as he took the floor. “As you know from your training, time and space are relative, as based upon the astrophysics discovery of the twentieth century physicist Albert Einstein. Einstein observed that as an object traveled closer to the speed of light, its mass would increase if caught in our current time-space continuum, and that a time period of a few weeks for travelers aboard such a craft would take several years to pass in the “outside” world. What is more…travel up to light speed requires more and more power as our mass would increase. Travel up to light speed is theoretically possible, but it would take years to travel to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, and many centuries to get to Iscandar; time which we do not have.”

Sandor then continued. “The physics of the wave motion engine allow us to create a tunnel outside of our time-space continuum. Observe this graphic. Right now, we are passing up and down the valleys of time-space. To free ourselves of this, we will use the power of the wave motion engine and a surge of faster-than-light tachyons to take us from this “mountain-top” to another “mountain-top”, or from point A in our time-space to point B, which could be many millions of kilometers away or even hundreds of lightyears away. In order to make it from mountain-top to mountain-top, our course must be carefully calculated, and our disappearance from our known space must be very carefully timed…so that the imaginary mountain-top point will be there for us to land on. If we make a mistake, we could well disappear forever, probably into the Fourth Dimension.”

Wildstar then asked, “Sandor, is this the method that the Gamilons use to get around?”

Sandor nodded. “Yes…but they call it, as best as I can understand, a “Gestcham Jump” a…similar principle, but using different technology. The method that Queen Starsha of Iscandar sent us seems to be a little simpler, and much more mathematically elegant.”

“If I may speak up,” Nova said, “Some of the math is so abstruse that it almost seems like magic…however, Arthur C. Clarke did say that any technology we did not understand would seem like magic to us.”

“Yeah…this sounds like somethin’ out of an Arthur C. Clarke science-fiction novel,” Eager said. “I hope it works!”

 “We are confident it will…but we have to work together to get it to work,” said Captain Avatar. “Venture, the success of the warp depends upon you executing the procedure at just the right moment.”

“Yessir,” said Mark as he swallowed hard.

“This process is so new to us that it will take extreme cooperation from every one of you, and we must lay aside any private animosities in order to perform our jobs,” said Avatar as his eyes scanned the room; looking at Sandor, Orion, Sparks, Homer, Eager, and Dash, and then settling on Nova. “Nova, you will use your knowledge of the higher mathematics of this procedure to assist Venture in the calculation of the warp.”

“Yessir,” she said, nodding confidently.

Derek glanced at Nova and Venture and thought, I wish you two luck. Hell, I think I’ll even say a prayer for you guys…provided Anyone is really listening, that is.

“One last thing,” said Avatar. “Everyone needs to be on the alert for Gamilons. During the initial power-up for the warp…we will be defenseless. Dismissed!”

On that somber note, the crew left, and ran off to their stations.

An enlisted man from Engineering named McCluskey fell in step with Sparks, and he said, “Sir, do you think this is gonna work? It seems pretty strange.”

“If it works, it works,” sighed Sparks. “If not, we’ll probably all blow up. I wonder how the heck we’re going to get this ship to Iscandar and back. It seems crazy.”

“If I were you, lad, I’d have more faith in our officers,” said Orion as he showed up. “The Captain knows what he’s doing, and Mister Sandor is a very bright officer; not to mention that Mister Venture and Miss Forrester are also very bright, and they have no doubts about what we’re doin’! Trust in them and in the Good Lord, Sparks. Be sure you do your job!”

“Yessir,” said Sparks.

“Have you found them yet?” said Colonel Ganz as he communicated with the Captain of the Shelvade, another Gamilon carrier.

“No, sir,” said the carrier’s skipper. “We thought we had a trace on them, but they seem to have slipped beyond orbit of Terra, sir. Not sure where they are, but…”

“Captain Valshta, just fall back and begin a secondary scan. I’m sending another commander out there to show you how it’s really done.”

“Who is that, Colonel Ganz?” said Valshta, who would survive, move up the ranks to Admiral, and, decades later, actually work with the very Terrans he was searching for.

Ganz ignored Valstha and turned to Major Bane. “Bane, this base on Pluto is more important than ever! Now that the damned…Star Force…has left Earth, we can honor Leader Desslok by destroying it. Is the carrier Relande ready?”

“It certainly is, Colonel Ganz,” said Bane.

“Bane, you go out aboard her and assume personal command! Get those Terran…insects!”

“Of course, sir!” said Bane in his weird nasal voice as he saluted Ganz and ran off.

Ganz watched the takeoff of the Relande a few minutes later, and said, “Watch out, Argo. Space is vast…and there is no place to hide.”

On the Argo’s First Bridge, Nova was working a computer terminal a few meters away from Sandor’s and Eager’s posts in the aft part of the bridge.

The run-through is running like a watch, Nova thought as she watched the numbers and data flowing across her screen. Looks good, she thought as she looked on with a serious expression.

A printout came out, and she advanced in front of Captain Avatar’s station to read off the results after looking it over.

“Captain Avatar,” Nova said. “The best place for the test warp is between the Moon and Mars, at Area Fourteen, Bisect Nineteen.”

Avatar nodded and took the paper from Nova. “Venture, I’m sending you this data,” he said.

“Yessir,” Mark said, trying to sound more confident than he really was as Nova’s data flashed across his screen after Avatar sent a text. This all depends on me now. If I make a mistake, what’s going to happen to us? Mark thought as he looked at the dimensional indicator, which was up and running for the first time.

Mark looked up, and saw that Nova was right beside him, handing him a small hanky of hers.

“What’s this for?” he said.

“It’s just a lucky hanky,” Nova said. “Keep it…it’s for good luck. I wrote you a note and stuck it in there. Take a look before we make the warp?”

“Okay,” said Mark.

Derek looked at Mark and Nova and said, “Don’t worry, Nova. I’ll hold his hand when the time comes if he gets the heebie-jeebies!”

“Fat chance!” snapped Mark.

“Oh, really,” Nova sighed. “Both of you need to put your heads together! Mark, give Derek the note after you look at it. It’s something I wrote down that both of you can keep in mind.”

“Okay, Miss Mystery Gal,” snorted Derek.

Nova smiled at both of them with a slightly exasperated smile, and thought, Boys… as she sat down at her post.

As Captain Avatar made a ship-wide announcement about the importance of the space warp, Venture opened the hanky and read,

For Mark and for Derek: Remember: I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Psalm 16:8. My prayers are with you-Nova.

“This is pretty cool, Derek,” Mark whispered.

Derek felt like making a wise guy crack, but Nova’s calm and the kindness of her gesture to both of them made him sit back and think. “Yeah, it is cool,” Derek said. Then, he shut his eyes and bowed his head slightly for a moment.

“What’ja doin?” Mark teased.

“None of your damn business!” Derek snapped. “Learn to take something serious for once, Venture!”

“Coming from you, buddy…it’s like the pot calling the kettle black,” said Mark. Then, he turned quiet and grabbed the note back from Wildstar.

He shut his eyes and let his mind go elsewhere for a bit.

IQ-9 trundled up to Doctor Sane, who was still snoozing away in one of the sleep capsules. “Doctor Sane, it is time for you to wake up! Wake up, Doctor Sane!”

The sleep capsule whirred open, and Doctor Sane sat up. “Oh, IQ-9…you just ruined a beautiful dream!”

“You wanted to be awake for the space warp!”

“That was before I met this beautiful lady in my dream!”

“I do not understand you humans,” IQ-9 said. “Dreams are not real and cannot be computed. A space warp is real, and probably far more exciting than a stupid dream!”

“I need the polar opposite of a nightcap,” said Doctor Sane as he opened up a bottle of sake. “I call it wake-up sake. Very nice!”

“You confuse me more and more every day,” said IQ-9.

“You confuse me, too, Doctor,” said a rather dry voice as its owner came into the room.

“Hullo there, Denise!” said Doctor Sane. “I might have been dreaming about YOU!”

“Really, Doctor,” Doctor Denise Carroway said as she came into the room and leaned on one of the sleep capsules, with the light glittering off her large glasses and showing up her light blue lab coat. Down to her white skirt and black heels, the young Intern was immaculate in her appearance as compared to Doctor Sane’s rumpled appearance.

“How’s Mimi doing?” said Sane.

“I fed her before.”

“I fed her a while back.”

“The day before, Nova had to feed her. No problem, she likes the both of us. I sometimes wonder when you put that thing down, Sakezo.”

“Want a drink?” he blurted out.

“No thank you, sir,” said Carroway. “This makes me wonder about your clinical readiness. Suppose we have an emergency?”

“I work better when I’m soused!” laughed Sane. “I have to revise my dream. Maybe I wasn’t dreaming about you. Maybe I was dreaming about Forrester or Yamaguchi; the loveliest members of our nursing staff!”

“Both of whom are young enough to be your own daughter,” said Denise. “You need to mend bridges with her at some point; really.”

“Fujiko’s the one who won’t give me the time of day; it doesn’t go the other way around!” Sane snapped.

“We’ll talk about this later, then,” said Denise as she rolled up her eyes. “You’d better get ready for that space warp. The skipper was just talking about it a while ago, and Nova said our thirty-minute countdown just started right before you woke up.”

“Girl’s nice, but too high-strung. You tune Nova’s strings any tighter and she’ll pop, like a bad samisen string!” said Sane.

“People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, Doctor. See you later. Please get ready for that warp. I’m sure you wouldn’t like my bedside manner if you get hurt.”

On Bridge Number One, Nova said, from her post, “ETA to Warp, Fifty minutes! I’m picking up a radar contact at HLJ-25, off the starboard side. It’s a strong signal; I’m switching over to the video panel.”

Captain Avatar looked up. “A Gamilon attack carrier! Nova, what’s the range?”

“A hundred and fifty megameters, sir.”

“Fortunately, we’re not in its range yet…she’s still too far away to attack us! Placing crew on alert, Condition Yellow!”

The klaxons began to go off as Avatar repeated the announcement to the rest of the crew.

Wildstar stood up. “Captain, request permission to take the Black Tigers out to fight her off! I’d like to deploy Conroy, Hardy, and Grant!”

“All right, Wildstar, but all of you have to be back in before the space warp. If not, we’ll have to leave you behind!”

“Yessir,” said Wildstar. “Dash, take my post and order Conroy, Hardy, and Grant to launch! I’ll meet them in my Super Starfighter.”

“Yessir,” said Dash.

“You have forty-five minutes,” Nova said from her post. “Keep that in mind!”

“Righto!” said Derek as he ran off.

“So, what do we have here?” said Venture as Dash sat down next to him.

“A royal mess,” grunted Dash.

Derek and the other Tigers ran to their planes; Wildstar met up with Grant’s squadron of Super Starfighters in the upper bay; Conroy and Hardy were launching from the lower bay already when he got there.

“You want us to follow you?” said Grant.

“We’ll use a pincers maneuver! I’ll lead Conroy’s bunch in. You get the bogies from the other side.”

“Good job,” said Grant. “You’re hot on the line, Wildstar…good luck!”

“Thanks,” said Derek as his plane was powered up by techs who disconnected external power sources and external starting gas hoses. He climbed in and was up on the catapult lift in thirty seconds.

“Timer set and synced with your clock, First Bridge,” said Derek as he came up and out into space.

“Forty-one minutes, Wildstar. Good luck!” Nova’s voice said over his headset. “I’ll vector you out myself; go out along the HLJ-30 line-looks like the Gamilons are launching fighters!”

“Furball time,” said Derek with an evil grin as his plane locked into the catapult. “HASSHIN!” he snapped in Japanese.

A moment later, his plane roared out into action. Now this is what I’m talking about! Derek thought to himself. Time to whoop some Gamilon butt!

Conroy’s plane blasted out of the ship a moment later.

Misaki’s voice then came over Derek’s helmet. “I vectored everyone else out. Firehorse up on Bridge One said she vectored you out herself, Samurai,” said Yuria with a smile, referring to their flight callsigns. “You get personal attention! I think Firehorse likes you!”

“Thanks, Misaki…but I’m kinda busy out here,” said Wildstar. He switched channels and said, “Conroy, we got bogies coming! Remember, we have to be back aboard the ship before the space warp!”

“Roger that, Wildstar!” Conroy responded.

“Don’t let any Gamilons get near the ship; she’s defenseless while preparing for that first warp!”

Derek then visually spotted one of the Gamilon fighters firing missiles in his direction. His head went on a swivel, and he dived, hard, firing at the missiles.

Two missiles were blown apart in short order.

“Wildstar, Nagorski says he’s hit!” said Grant as Derek lined up to shoot at some Gamilon fighters.

“Send him back, Grant!” Derek snapped. He grinned as Grant jinked up and hit a Gamilon fighter.

Another fighter fired two missiles right at the Argo.

Derek noticed and starting following them; hoping to get them before they could cause any damage.

The missiles were locked right on the ship herself.

Derek took a moment to line them up in his target scope.

He got them a few hundred meters away from the side of the ship.

Derek looked up and gasped when he saw the side of the Argo appearing to come up to meet him.

He jinked up hard, came close to becoming an ornament on the port side of the Argo’s smokestack silo, and he breathed a big sigh of relief when he flipped up and over the main radio antennas.

“Close one,” he said out loud. “Okay, what’s that Psalm Nova gave me…something about not being shaken? God, help me keep steady out here! I could get shaken in a hurry!”

Derek jinked back into battle, and shot up two more Gamilon planes. Grant came from below and got two more. “Nagorski’s back in the ship, Fighter Captain!” said Grant.

“I see Conroy, he’s busy…so’s Hardy!”

Then, Derek got another plane, and he saw Hardy’s plane taking a hit.

“Rebel, are you all right?” said Wildstar, referring to Hardy’s callsign.  “Hey, Hardy?”

“My plane took a hit…It’s smoking a little bit, Samurai!” said Hardy.

“Are you all right? Huh? Hardy?”

No response from Hardy.

Derek saw about four Gamilon ships approaching, but they were flying like they were...drunk?”

Maybe they can’t maneuver those things that great in space? Derek thought. Well, guess what, you guys! Take THIS for Alex!

Wildstar maneuvered up and he got them. “Surfer?” he said to Conroy.

“They’re all gone; Blackjack’s starting to go back!”

“Watch Reb…his speed seems to be dropping. He seems to be hit!”

“Gotcha!” said Conroy.

“Thirty-two minutes left!” said Misaki in Derek’s headset. “Recovery operations started!”

“Hardy…hurry up,” Derek muttered to himself.

“What happened to our fighters?” yelled Major Bane on the bridge of the Relande.

“Sir, it looks like the Star Force used them for target practice,” said another officer on the Relande.

“Ganz is going to kill me!” squeaked Bane. “We have to finish off that old wreck! Okay! Forget using the remaining fighters! Advance and ready missiles! We’ll take the Argo on directly! Damn fools! They can’t run from us! Haigar! Call the Shelvade! We could use backup!”

At that, the Relande began to advance on the Argo.

On the Argo, Captain Avatar said, “Dash, recall the Black Tigers! It’s almost time for the warp!”

“Roger,” said Dash. “Homer, call them back in now. Nova, what’s our ETA to the warp?”

“Twenty minutes,” she said.

Homer sent a message to Wildstar. “Wildstar, bring in the fighters. ETA to warp, twenty minutes!”

“Okay,” said Derek. “Recovery is beginning now…Grant, you first, followed by Conroy and myself, then by Hardy’s squadron.”

“Right,” said Kyle Grant. “Super Starfighter squadron, back to base!”

The planes began to cruise back in, plane by plane.

As the recovery operation continued, Nova said, “Gamilon carrier spotted on radar at closer range: at NPS-22. It’s come about to port; range, eighty megameters; we’ll be in range of her weapons in sixteen minutes! It’s close! Second carrier behind it at two hundred megameters’ range. I don’t know if it’ll launch more fighters or attack directly!”

“Nova, keep an eye on both of them,” Avatar said. “ETA to warp?”

“Sixteen minutes!” Nova said. “I estimate they’ll fire right as we warp.”

“We’re in a spot tighter than a cow’s butt!” said Eager.

“That we are,” said Captain Avatar. “Keep calm and keep the faith. Nova, are they in yet?”

“Sir…all of the fighters are in…except for one! One of our planes is missing! Oh, FIDDLESTICKS!”

“We’re right between the Moon and Mars,” said Venture.

“Fifteen minutes to space warp,” Nova said. “Captain, commit?”

“Commit,” said Avatar.

Nova nodded and sent the last course adjustments to Venture. “Course laid in,” he said. “All systems now on automatic for the warp. I just have to punch it at the right time…”

Wildstar and Conroy ran onto the bridge a moment later. “Captain, sir, we need a little more time…Hardy’s not in yet!” Derek snapped.

“We’re already set for the warp, Wildstar!” Avatar snapped.

“But…” said Wildstar.

Then, audio came in from Hardy. “Wildstah, this is Hardy. My plane’s damaged! I’m trying to get in, but go on without me if you can’t. That carrier is coming right at us!”

“C’mon, Hardy! Don’t talk like that!” Derek snapped.

“Wildstar, if we stop now, we’ll have to make orbit the moon and make another go-round and get back in this position again; we’d lose too much time, and we have two enemy ships in the area,” said Sandor.

“I agree with that,” said Dash in a snarky voice as he got up to get back to his post. “Unless Miss Forrester needs bifocals at her age.”

“You’re ridiculous, Dash!” Nova snapped.

“Stop this, you two!” barked Avatar.

Hardy’s voice came up on audio again. “I’m losing power…losing control!”

“Wildstar, you have just twelve minutes left. See what you can do to bring Hardy in!” Avatar said.

“Yessir,” said Wildstar.

There was another ping on the timer, and as Derek and Conroy turned to go, Nova said, “It’s now eleven minutes to the space warp!”

FLYING CRAP, Derek thought.

Wildstar and Conroy ran down to the lower fighter bay after securing their space gear and helmets.

“NINE MINUTES TO WARP!” Nova said over the ship’s PA as Wildstar and Conroy looked out the flight bay at Hardy, who was drifting as his plane smoked.

“Hardy, can you hear me?” said Wildstar.

“Yeah…”

“Five degrees to starboard…come on…hit the beam on manual,” said Wildstar.

“Trying…controls suck,” said Hardy.

“Over one more degree to starboard. Over to starboard!” snapped Derek.

“Catch the visual meatball!” said Conroy as Hardy looked up from his cockpit at the manual guide light. It was supposed to be green if his glide slope was right.

“One more degree, and the magnetic arrestor will catch you!” said Wildstar as he waved. “C’mon! Half a degree now!”

Hardy’s battered Tiger finally caught the beam, and he half-landed, half skidded in, with his nose gear breaking and the plane skidding on the deck throwing up sparks before it slammed into the arresting field and the deck filled with smoke.

“HARDY!” yelled Wildstar. Flight deck crews ran up with fire extinguishers to put out the fires as Wildstar climbed up onto the Tiger and helped a stunned, slightly wounded Hardy out of the cockpit.

“Great landing!” Hardy mumbled.

“You’re okay…you’ll be all right,” said Derek as he helped his comrade walk. “Grant, call the medics! He’s wounded and needs to see the doc ASAP!”

“Right,” said Grant.

Wildstar grabbed a phone. “Captain, this is Wildstar. Hardy’s in. He’s slightly wounded but alright otherwise. He’ll be fine. The hatch is closing; we’re clear for the warp now!”

Avatar nodded, and then Nova said over the PA, “Five minutes to warp! All hands to positions!”

“You heard the lady,” said Conroy as he slapped Wildstar’s shoulder. “Let’s get up to the bridge!”

Wildstar and Conroy arrived back on the bridge as Nova was saying, “Three minutes to warp! Secure all safety harnesses!”

Derek sat down and motioned for Conroy to take the Analysis station to his left. Both men buckled on their harnesses as Nova said, “Two minutes to warp! First enemy carrier is at sixty megameters; second one is following at a hundred megameters. Picking up electrical surges from both ships…I think they’ll fire on us rather that send more fighters!”

“Is that good?” said Venture.

“Better than fighters,” said Sandor.

Venture nodded and looked at his controls. Have I checked everything here? Yes, twenty times! This just has to go right or it’ll be the end of our mission!

Venture bowed his head slightly as Derek raised his own, and smiled at Mark. He thought, Venture, it’s now up to you. You can do it. Your fate is in our hands now…

Nova called out, “T-minus fifty-nine seconds to warp! Carriers still coming!” she said as she thought, Lord, I will not be shaken. I will not be shaken!

“Thirty seconds to warp!” said Avatar.

“Engine transmission is smooth,” said Orion.

“All systems green,” said Sandor.

Venture’s hands gripped the controls as he began to sweat.

On the Relande, a radar tech said, “In range now; fifty megameters distance!”

“Now we’re in range!” screeched Bane. “FIRE THE MISSILES!”

The Relande fired. The missiles sped towards the Argo.

On the First Bridge, Nova said, “Enemy carrier has fired! At the same moment, Avatar was counting down. “Final Countdown! 10! 9! 8! 7! 6!”

“Missiles coming at us!” yelled Eager.

“5…4…3…2…1…ZERO…WARP!” snapped Avatar.

“WARP!” said Venture.

He activated the controls.

Inside the Argo, a fog seemed to fill the ship as sound turned very strange all around the crew.

On the Relande, the weapons officer laughed. “GOT THEM! MISSILES ON TARGET!”

“SARABA, YAMATO!” yelled a Gamilon officer as they laughed.

Then, their laughs turned to snarls and curses as the Argo flashed all sorts of weird colors and began to vanish.

The missiles flew harmlessly through the Argo’s location and went wide as she faded into nothing.

“What’s happened to the Star Force?” cried Bane.

“Sir, they did a Gestcham Jump!” said another one of the officers on Bane’s bridge.

“How did they do that?” cried Bane. “They don’t know how! They’re idiots!”

“Sir…they got us with our pants open,” said another officer as Bane gritted his teeth in rage.

On the Argo, the Bridge Crew saw, felt, and heard a bizarre nightmare.

They felt as if they were drifting all over the place, not even remaining in their seats.

Eager’s mouth fell open as a steam locomotive roared up at him from under his post.

Sandor shut his eyes as it looked as if his seat was going to eat him.

Venture felt as if he was about to vomit as he got a weird sensation that his body was being turned inside out.

Dash felt as if he was on fire. Then, he saw a Tyrannosaurus Rex about to eat him. Then, that hallucination passed as he felt as if he was falling down a hole into nothing.

Mark felt as if he was spinning around in a deranged washing machine as he swore to himself that his pants and underclothes had vanished.

Dash had the odd feeling that he was on a stage at some rock concert. He ignored the loud, fast playing of the band as he felt as if hard jelly beans were being thrown at him.

Homer felt as if his headset was falling into his brain and he was getting nothing but busy signals.

Captain Avatar heard the color blue, and he saw Orion floating somewhere around the ceiling as Nova turned odd colors and jumped all over the place like a Mexican Jumping Bean.

Wildstar felt as if he was floating on colors and smelling sounds in a total sensory wash of weirdness.

Then, he saw a demented face laughing at him like a disembodied head. It looked like Oz the Great and Terrible from the Wizard of Oz except that the face was blue and very handsome, and his eyes were filled with malice and he had blond hair blowing on the wind as he laughed at Wildstar with a merry, deranged laugh in a sibilant, mellow voice that chilled him to his core.

Orion heard gears grinding all around him and he had a weird sensation of swimming in crude oil.

Nova looked at Derek, shocked that she could see his body and then his lungs and circulatory system as he seemed to go utterly transparent.

Derek ground his teeth as he saw a dinosaur and felt a weird, melting Salvador Dali clock dribbling out of his chin.

Conroy heard werewolves howling as he felt one grabbing at him, yelling, “DINNER!” He hated werewolves.

Wondering what was happening to her, Nova looked at herself turning weird phases and colors like a photographic negative, bouncing all over the place again, and then she looked down at herself, horrified as her uniform seemed to vanish and then even more terrified as she realized she could clearly see her own spleen, liver and pancreas inside her own rib cage.

Derek saw and felt a rainbow coming from his ear as he thought his brain was in a meat grinder. In the meantime, Nova’s imagination totally ran away from her and went south. She had the weird sensation and hallucination that she had just become the Bride of Frankenstein and was secured to a table while some cackling mad scientist with a heavy mustache flicked a huge switch. There was a horrible, horrible feeling of deep cold all around her.

Derek felt himself floating all over the place again as a weird light show flashed all around him. For a bizarre moment, he felt as if he was in Venture’s lap and then felt as if he was inside Nova’s head and could hear wind chimes.

“Hallucinating…” he said out loud in a strange voice as the feelings and sensation grew too great for his mind to handle and he passed out along with Conroy.

And so it went, as the Argo seemed to be everywhere and nowhere…all at once…

Soon, the rest of the crew just blacked out from a total sensory overload.

A strange humming noise filled the ship as the Argo re-emerged back into ordinary space.

The bridge crew had collapsed at their stations. Conroy was on the deck.

Nova was hanging out of her seat like a broken rag doll, and she had a strange, lingering sense that she was inside a walk-in meat freezer before she thought over and over again No weapon formed against me will proper, noweaponformedagainstme will proper…noweapon….

Then, she sat up and shook her head. “Is that Mars?” she said in a sleepy voice as she realized that she was whole, alive, and normal and sane. She smiled as she looked out the windows as Derek sat up. We made it! Nova thought.

“Ohhh…what’s wrong? My head!” said Wildstar. Then, he shook his head, looked around, and he saw that Conroy was sitting up as Captain Avatar pushed his head up and he saw Orion lifting his head up. “Hey! We made it! Just one minute went by!” Derek said, laughing and looking at his timer.

Captain Avatar sat up and grunted. “We did it!” he said.

Homer and Dash sat up and laughed as Eager came out of the sluggishness.

Nova looked around and cried, “Wake up, Sandor! Steve!”

“Oh, my God,” Sandor said. “Did anyone get the number of that…?”

“Mack Truck?” Eager said.

“Hey, Novs, you all right?” called Derek. “I…HEY! IT’S MARS! WE did it!”

“Yeah, my head’s on straight,” Nova said as she got up and wobbled. “We have to research that effect…wonder why it does that? Captain Avatar, is everyone up?”

“Everyone but….”

“What’s happened to Venture?” Nova cried. “MARK! COME OUT OF IT!”

Nova ran out of her seat, not noticing at the time that she was the first crew member to have all of her faculties and coordination back. “Wake up, Mark!” she said as she shook him, accompanied by Derek, who was yelling in Mark’s ear,” Wake up, ya space jockey!”

“Derek, will that do it?” Nova said as she felt for Venture’s carotid artery in his neck. “His pulse is normal, good…”

Then, Mark seemed to come around. He muttered, “Okay…Wildstar…first thing I see is your ugly face…second thing I see is Nova’s angel face…did we make it, guys?”

Then, he saw that Derek, Nova, Sandor, Dash, and Orion were all around his station smiling at him.

Derek tapped Mark on the shoulder and pointed.

Mark looked out the windows at Mars.

He smiled wide and said, “It’s a miracle. We traveled thousands of megameters in less than a minute!”

“Congratulations!” said Derek as he shook Mark’s hand.

“Thanks, bro,” said Mark. “Nova, come in for a hug! We couldn’t have made it if not for your math skills!”

“Thanks,” she said as both Derek and Mark threw their arms around her. “Very nice, guys. What is this?”

“A mustard sandwich, Nova? You look like a skinny yellow mustard jar!” laughed Dash.

Even Nova laughed at that one before she playfully punched Dash in the arm. “Okay, Dash! That was cute!”

“You’re cuter. Wanna join me for a date later on?” said Dash.

“Nooooooooooooo,” Nova said as she shook her head as everyone laughed at Dash.

Homer laughed and said, “You struck out BIG TIME, Dash!”

“She turned you down like a refrigerator!” said Eager.

“You might have better luck with Misaki, Dash!” laughed Conroy.

Sandor looked at a display. “Guys, gals, we’re having fun, but look at this…”

He put up a display on the main screen and Captain Avatar said. “Look at that! There’s been some damage to the ship. Venture, land us on Mars!”

“Yessir…heading in towards Mars now,” he said as he began to take the Argo down towards the planet.

On Gamilon, about an hour later, Krypt snapped his heels and reported to Desslok. “Leader Desslok! We have a message from Colonel Ganz on the Pluto Base!”

“What does he want this time?” said Desslok as he took the holo cartridge, put it on his desk, and opened it. “Leader Desslok, GHARE GAMILON!” Ganz said as he snapped a salute in the hologram. “I am afraid I have some slightly bad news. I have received a reliable report that the Terran space battleship Argo, flagship and base ship of the primitive special operations group they call “Star Force” just performed a Gestcham jump away from the area of Terra’s moon just as we were about to destroy her with two carriers carrying heavy missiles. Current location of the ship is unknown. They may not even be in the Sol System any longer. Will continue search. ZAR BELK!” Ganz said as he saluted and the hologram ended.

“Tell me that’s a mistake, Krypt!” Desslok said as he sat back in his office chair.

“Sire, I don’t think that Ganz would make up a story like that.”

“No, Krypt, he doesn’t have that much imagination. None of my generals do. I read over the data we retrieved from the Paladin, by the way.”

“Yes, Sire?”

“I know now where the Star Force is trying to go. Iscandar. Iscandar? Are they mad? Do they have tremendous egos? Was Starsha meddling with them?”

“Need I remind you, sir, our forces shot at an Iscandarian vessel in the Sol System a few months ago,” said Krypt.

“What?” Desslok hissed, gritting his teeth. “So, who was on board?”

“We just received a status communiqué’ from Queen Starsha the other day, so it had to be Astra.”

“Astra the tech Princess! Astra the meddler and grease monkey?” sneered Desslok. “She’s probably aboard that ridiculous ship, guiding them to Iscandar as we speak. Iscandar. I wonder precisely what they want there? Is Starsha going to give THEM the Cosmo-DNA device? It sounds like her,” Desslok said as he banged his fist on his desk. “That Star Force! They must be desperate to get to Iscandar if they’re daring to risk warping that junkheap of a ship,” Desslok said as he picked up Ganz’s holo-capsule, crushed it, and threw it at Krypt.

Krypt just evaded the small missile and Desslok stood up and snapped, “Krypt, I want that second-class idiot Ganz to finish off that vessel! Give him my order that I want them all dead…regardless of WHO is on that ship! Do you understand that?”

“Yessir,” said Krypt. 

“Good, Krypt. You are only a quasi-idiot,” Desslok sneered. Then, he threw back his head and began to laugh as if he was insane.

The Argo cruised into the Martian atmosphere, and Wildstar looked up and stood when he saw snow blowing against the bridge windows. “Hey, look! It’s snow!”

“Hahaha, you’re right, it IS snow!” said Venture.

“It’s frozen carbon dioxide, but it IS snow!” said Sandor with a grin.

“How beautiful!” said Nova. “It’s something we no longer see on Earth!”

“Isn’t that one of your middle names in Japanese-Yuki?” snorted Dash. “Means snow, right?”

“Dash, don’t push it!” Nova warned.

“Or what?” teased Dash.

“Or I’ll dump ramen soup on your head in the messhall later if you don’t behave!” Nova chided.

“I’ll throw a French Fry at him if he doesn’t quit it after that,” said Mark.

“Then I’ll put in the boot,” said Derek.

“Thanks, guys!” Nova said with a grin.

“Oooo…Forrester’s got her own goon squad…I’m so scared!” snorted Homer.

“You guys need to grow up! Stop picking on her!” said Sandor.

“Let’s pick on Wildstar next!” said Eager.

“Wanna BET?” Derek said as the others, even Nova, laughed.

“Venture, land us near the north polar cap,” said Captain Avatar.

“Yessir,” said Venture.

“Sandor, we have to start work on those repairs, we can’t waste any time,” said Avatar.

“Yessir,” said Sandor.

“Venture, put us down between R three and four on the grid,” said Avatar.

“Yessir…landing between R three and four.”

Time passed. While the repair crews worked in EVA suits, Captain Avatar allowed the bridge crew out on the deck in the carbon dioxide snow to stretch their legs.

A lot of them, men and women alike, were catching the snowfall on their spacesuit gloves and laughing.

“This here’s the first snow we’ve seen in years that won’t sicken or kill us!” said Eager.

“Yeah, no fallout!” said Hardy.

“I like watching this,” said Doctor Sane as he leaned against a rail in his space gear and sucked up sake inside with a small drinking reed connected to the suit’s reservoir system.

“You like drinking,” said IQ-9.

“That too,” said Sane.

Sparks, Venture, and Sandor were catching snowflakes and laughing.

Not far away, Natalie Fisher, Michelle Yamaguchi, and Yuria Misaki were gathering up snowballs.

“I wonder if we’ve got enough for a snowball fight?” laughed Natalie.

“Let’s throw some at Forrester…betcha she’s trying to write a poem about the snow!” teased Michelle.

“Ladies, I’m just enjoying the sheer beauty,” Nova said as she laughed and caught snow on her spacesuit gloves. Derek noticed she looked very happy…too happy to engage in a snowball fight.

Not far away, IQ-9 dropped over the rail on his jets and said, “This isn’t what a genius robot should be doing, but it is…FUN!” he said as he tried to roll around in the snow and sunk down in it.

Sandor and Wildstar looked down at IQ and laughed.

“Are you as much of a genius as you think?” teased Sandor.

“Are you stuck?” laughed Derek.

“Did you slip?” Nova teased. “Poor baby!”

As the crew laughed and acted up, Captain Avatar, in a black and white spacesuit, looked at the damage to the ship and thought, Well, old friend. If we can fix you up, you should be good for many more space warps!

And, on that note, the Argo’s mission continued…

Earth had exactly 362 days left.

TO BE CONTINUED…