STAR BLAZERS: A VOYAGE TO REMEMBER

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

Frederick P. Kopetz

EPISODE EIGHT: GREAT HONK!

October 3, 2199

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Great Honk – Idiom-Mild Equivalent to “Darn it! or “Damnit!” Term thought to have originated in the United States, Iowa, late 19^th Century. Term re-entered modern use during the Star Force’s first journey to Iscandar, 2199. OED Supplement, Idioms of the 22^nd and 23^rd Century, 2236.

Great Honk-Slang: believed to have re-entered the Terranglish language around 2199-2200, along with other slang terms such as Gestcham (as in “let’s Gestcham the heck outta here”), Gralnacz (as in “that guy screwed me up in an Astrojack game so I’ll Gralnacz up his head”) and Gerad (Twenty Gerads away from here, more or less).  Term rumored to have resurfaced in the space battleship Argo’s Medical Group on the way to Iscandar in 2199, colorful metaphor probably re-created by Sakezo Sado MD or Nova Wildstar MD at about that time.  Kurzenberger, Slang of the 23^rd Century, Penguin Books, 2224

“Great Honk? I didn’t come up with the term. It was just there from almost Day One of our cruise to Iscandar! I think Doctor Carroway started using it, followed by Doctor Sane, followed by myself, followed by everyone on that ship, because we were in our own little world in those days…” Nova Wildstar MD, Interview on TWN Network, 2230.

“GREAT HONK!” barked Doctor Denise Carroway, the Star Force’s second doctor, as she looked at Ensign Jefferson Hardy’s scans and X-rays on the evening of October 3, 2199, while the Argo sat on Mars making repairs.

“Doc?” said Ensign Michelle Yamaguchi, RN, as she popped into Dr. Carroway’s small office in Sickbay. “What does that mean?”

“It means I’m sort of disgusted,” said Carroway while she adjusted her glasses, which were slipping down her nose. “Hardy got his wrist messed up during that crash landing, and your little elves missed it when they examined him! Who did his intake?”

“Two enlisted medics detailed from Gunnery, ma’am. Sergeant Frederick Lance and Corporal Gavin Hopkins.”

“Who did his aftercare? Sane? Forrester?”

“Ma’am, Lieutenant Forrester was up on the bridge. Doctor Sane was trying to deal with psych issues and minor injuries from the space warp,” said Yamaguchi. “Hardy’s still in Sickbay being observed for concussion, Doctor.”

“Okay, I’ll take a look at him in a bit. That Wildstar kid wants him back on duty “DOUBLE ASAP” as he put it in an e-mail to me,” said Carroway as she sipped at her cup of coffee and yawned. “You know where the hell the wunderkind Forrester went?”

“Ma’am, it’s 2330. She’s off watch, and is most likely sleeping,” said Yamaguchi.

“Yeah…sounds right,” yawned Carroway. “We’re supposed to wake him up every two hours anyhow, so it’s about time. Let’s go have a look at Mister Hardy’s wrist.”

“Right,” said Yamaguchi as she clicked her booted heels and saluted.

Carroway just kicked her clogs back on under her desk and got up, picking up a penlight as she left her desk.

On the First Bridge, in the meantime, Derek Wildstar himself yawned. He was sitting in the Captain’s chair on this late watch, manning the bridge as Officer of the Deck until 0100 the next morning. The Officer of the Deck position was a rotating position amongst all of the bridge crew so that at some point, a suitable officer would be on the Bridge for emergencies as acting CO of the whole ship.

“This was one…messed up day,” Derek said.

At the helm, Chris Eager sipped his coffee and said, “You’re tellin’ me, Wildstar. This whole day was crazier than…I don’t know what it was. Too tired. Nothing to scan but a few asteroids around Mars. Not even nearby, either.”

“Wish I was getting rack time now,” Derek said.

 “Who takes the Officer of the Deck watch after you get relieved?” said Eager.

“Dash,” said Wildstar. “0100 to 0500. Then, he gets relieved by Forrester until the Captain shows up at 0900.”

“Too bad we’ll be sleepin’ when those two lock horns at 0500,” laughed Eager.

“On this boat, sleep is worth more than gold,” said Wildstar. “If we get a chance, I need to challenge Venture to space chess.”

“You get along good with that guy, huh?” said Eager.

“Well, he was my roommate for four years at the Academy,” said Wildstar. “You get to know a guy pretty well after you and he first argue then put your heads together about who’s gonna get the room ready for inspection when the upperclassmen are breathing down your neck.”

“I had it a little different than you at Texas A & M, but not that different. I was an Aggie,” said Eager.

“What’s an Aggie?” said Wildstar.

“I was a member of the Corps of Cadets at that school. Think a really big ROTC unit, school within a school, mini-Academy in a civilian college. We plebes took the crap like you guys did.”

“I’ll bet you did, sir,” said Sergeant David Sorin from Communications. “Of course, it was no picnic for us, either in Israel. Long story, that. Felt like the Unification Wars were going to flare up every day again until the Gamilons started bombing like crazy.”

“We nearly had some idiots run my roommate and I out of ROTC at University of Colorado at Boulder, too,” said Natalie Fisher from the radar.

“So, who was your roommate?” said Eager.

“Nova. She tends to be pretty organized; that’s how we passed inspections when the upperclassmen got on our case,” said Fisher.

“So, how’s life been for you, Rosstowski?” said Eager as he looked across the bridge to Sergeant Paul Rosstowski, assistant Master at Arms, as he sat at Dash’s usual bridge station in his red and white uniform.

“Sucky,” said Paul. “I have a wife named Clarissa and a daughter. We were fighting all the time before I got detailed on this mission.”

“I take it she didn’t like your joining the Star Force?” said Wildstar.

“No, five times over,” grunted Rosstowski.

“Heard a rumor she didn’t even show up to see ya off?” said Eager.

“No, she didn’t!” snapped Rosstowski. “I don’t wanna talk about my wife any more right now.”

“Sorry, Sergeant, just tryin’ to help…” said Eager.

“Eager. Stow it. He doesn’t want to talk!” snapped Derek from his post.

“Yessir,” said Eager.

Royster, who was at the Technical Station, answered his interphone as it bleeped. “First Bridge. Ensign Royster here!”

“Royster, this is Sandor,” said Sandor over the intercom. “We’re closing things up back here at the aft section now. The repair work’s finished. Have the OOD note that we got it done at zero zero zero two hours on the fourth.”

“Yessir. I’ll send the OOD the report now,” said Royster as he sent an instant message to Wildstar. “Good work, sir. Wish I could have done more.”

“You did your part monitoring things on the bridge,” said Sandor. “Over and out,” he said.

“Well, that’s that,” said Fisher.

“Wonder what the Captain’s up to?” said Eager.

“Probably asleep,” snorted Derek.

Captain Abraham Avatar was not asleep.

He was looking at his picture of his wife Clarice and his son Adam.

Adam was his son and Clarice’s stepson.

Captain Avatar had been married to his first wife, Aiko, since 2165. They had met at the Academy of Sciences in Japan the year beforehand. They had had Adam together in 2169.

Things went peacefully for them for seventeen years until both of them were on active duty with the East Asian space fleet in 2183. By then, Adam was in the Academy.

Captain Avatar shut his eyes and thought back to the aftermath of a battle he had fought with the Gamilons in 2184…

“Fleet Captain!” said the communications officer of the space battleship Hyuga, which was then Captain Avatar’s command.

“Yes, Mister Priceman,” said Avatar.

“Commodore Gideon is requesting a status report from you on Fourth Squadron!” Ensign Priceman had said.

“Connect him to my screen,” sighed Avatar. He coughed a little. Hyuga’s bridge was filled with smoke. Half of the personnel at their posts were wounded. A nurse who worked with the ship’s doctor named Yvona Josiah walked over to Avatar and asked, “Sir, are you wounded?”

“I’m fine, Mrs. Josiah,” he said with a slight smile.

“Can’t wait to get home,” she said. “My son’s staying with my sister Teri right now.”

“We can talk later,” Avatar said as the screen came up.

“Avatar,” said Gideon on the other end of the screen in black and white. “How did it go with your squadron?”

“We took out three Gamilon spacecraft carriers. They seem to have a new destroyer class with heavy armor. Our shots just bounced off their hulls, sir.”

“I see,” said Gideon. “What was the damage?”

“Our flagship survived, sir. Along with the Hamakaze, Yukikaze, and the Intrepid. All of the others…”

“It sounds just like what happened out here near Mars,” said Gideon. “My flagship obviously survived, along with the Peyton and the Tone. Everyone else…” he said with a sigh.

“Sir…did the Kisaragi…?”

Gideon shook his head. “Lost with all hands, Abraham. A Gamilon battleship appeared out of nowhere. One of those jumps they pull off. Kisaragi went down defending us.”

“Aiko was on that ship as Navigator,” Avatar sighed.

“I know, Abraham,” Gideon said in a soft voice. “She was a good lady and a great officer. I’m truly sorry, my friend…”

“Thank you, Draco,” Avatar said, wiping away one tear. “Where do we rendezvous?”

“Near Deimos. Two days. There will be a funeral, of course…”

“Thank you,” said Avatar. “God rest her soul…”

Captain Avatar returned to the present, holding his picture.

“When I get in this kind of mood, I wish there was someone I could have a drink with, LORD,” sighed Avatar. “Orion. Doctor Sane. Even those kids Doctor Carroway or Nova Forrester might get it. Instead, it’s just You and me,” Avatar sighed as he looked out at the snowfall on Mars as sunset came over the small red planet. “I had a little pause from the fighting…six years later. That’s where I met Clarice…”

Avatar again shut his eyes and thought of the past…

He was at a dance, not all that interested in mixing with anyone. I was expected to be there, he thought. Until…

Avatar remembered meeting Clarice

She was discussing higher math with a bright Midshipman she was talking to known as Steven Sandor. Avatar knew him. He had taught him as a student the previous year in his Tactics class.

“So, this is how the coefficient works with this higher-function equation,” Sandor had said. “If we solve for y….”

“Why don’t we try to solve for x?” said this short woman in a seafoam green floor-length gown. “Can someone get a piece of paper?”

“Do you need a placemat?” Avatar had said when he bumped into the conversation.

Sandor came to attention and saluted. However, the young woman just smiled and said, “Aha. This is what a Commodore looks like? Are you the man who won at Jupiter four months ago?”

“I am,” Avatar said. “I…”

“I follow your exploits on the Net, Commodore, and I know who you are. I’ve designed some of your vessels.”

“You?” said Avatar.

“Sir, she’s a whiz at spacecraft design,” Sandor had said.

“I’m Doctor Clarice Samson,” she said, extending her hand.

“Avatar,” Commodore Avatar had replied.

They clasped hands as the dark-bearded Commodore sat down. “Could you try to solve this equation for x?” Clarissa had said as she wrote an equation on the back of the placemat.

“I’ve done work in physics,” said Avatar. “Let me try this…”

Avatar smiled to himself. Their friendship started over a piece of paper, doing equations.

Later, of course, he had asked Clarice to dance. She did.

A year and a half later, they were engaged. The wedding took place in October of 2191…eight years ago. In fact, their anniversary was coming up.

“We had a good five years together,” Avatar said to himself. “This picture, with Adam and her, was taken when we were married for four years. We had a great life together when I was home. Until she came back from the doctor. Diagnosis; severe radiation sickness. Terminal. Life expectancy, nine months…”

Captain Avatar then drew his Astro-Automatic and looked at it. “I was at the underground docks inspecting the Kirishima. I had this old sidearm at home in our apartment. I was going to clean it. Instead, Clarice got at the weapon; I thought I had hidden it well enough.”

Avatar shut his eyes again and wiped away a tear. “It turns out I didn’t hide it well enough. When I got home…I found Clarice…dead on our living room floor. It took only one shot…and this was still in her hand…”

Avatar then looked at his weapon. “That’s why I carry this. To remind me that every war…has a cost…and why, oh why, wasn’t I enough for her?”

He sighed and said, “And everyone wonders why I look so tired.”

Adam Avatar was in his cell trying to recover from the latest jump when the Gamilon destroyer he was aboard suddenly stopped.

“Where’s my food?” he yelled, banging on the cell door. “Why did we stop? What’s going on?”

Avatar heard strange banging and hissing noises. Then, there was an alarm…or at least he thought that the weird sound he heard was the Gamilon equivalent of a klaxon.

“WHAT IN GOD’S NAME IS HAPPENING?” he yelled.

“I can hear a lot of people…Gamilons…running around,” said “Doc” Carol Garlow from the cell next to him.

“Okay…gunshots,” Adam said.

“What the heck are they going to do with us?” Adam yelled as the cell doors flew open and four Gamilons showed up. Before Adam could react, two Gamilons grabbed him and he felt a gun barrel in his side. They wouldn’t let him look, but he heard Carol crying out, and he guessed she was getting the same treatment.

“Where am I going?” yelled Adam.

“The Seven Sulphur Hells of Gamilon, Terran!” snapped the Gamilon with the blaster in his side. “We’re getting boarded, and we aren’t letting those scum pirates get their hands on either of you!”

“Pirates?” said Adam.

Then, there was the sound of a gunshot. Adam heard Carol yelling and struggling right before something that seemed like a missile slammed into the side of the destroyer and into the passage.

Smoke filled the room as the Gamilons forgot about them and began shooting at the…missile that had entered the passage.

The thing irised open, and, through the smoke, four people in spacesuits came out shooting at the Gamilons.

The passage filled with smoke.

Carol and Adam saw dead Gamilons and grabbed hands through the smoke.

“We’re running,” Adam coughed.

“Good idea,” gasped Carol. “Where?”

“Down that…passage?”

Then, one of the newcomers looked at them. The person in the spacesuit was tall, but slightly built. The spacesuit was all black, but something like a skull and crossbones insignia was painted on the breastplate.

“Are you from Earth?” said a heavily filtered voice from inside the spacesuit.

“Yes,” said Adam. “I’m…”

“I’m not but our Captain is,” said the person in the armor who shot very quickly at the Gamilons. “In case you were wondering, I am not a Gamilon!”

Carol looked up, and was shocked to see that the Gamilons were all dead.

“You’re pirates,” said Adam.

“Yes,” said the space-suited pirate.

“What is your plunder?” said Carol.

“You two. We need crewmen. Hurry up…get on board. There will be more Gamilons coming soon! MOVE IT!” the pirate barked.

Carol was limping, so Adam helped her into the missile. It turned out it was a boarding passage.

The two surprised Terrans ran down the passage, followed by the pirate who had apparently…rescued them.

They found themselves inside another Gamilon ship…or it looked like one at first. It had a jury-rigged look; with Gamilon, Terran, and strange alien displays of all kinds.

The pirate got into the room with them and pressed a button. There was a buzz and a hiss as the boarding passage sealed and retracted. When green lights came up, the pirate took off a heavy helmet with a mirrored faceplate.

To the utter surprise of Adam and Carol, the pirate looking at them was a woman who looked like a Terran! She had very light skin but short whitish-purple hair.

She ignored them as they felt the ship maneuvering. They heard the sounds of gun turrets locking on somewhere in the guts of the ship and the female pirate picked up a microphone and said, “Captain, I rescued the prisoners from that destroyer. They’re Terrans by the look of it.”

“Not bad,” said a deep voice over the other end. “Have them hold on to something before you get them to Sickbay. We’re going to do a hard one eighty and blast that Gamilon ship straight to Hell.”

“Roger that,” said the pirate.

“Could you tell us your name?” gasped Carol. “My leg’s hurt. This is Adam…I’m…”

“Rezine,” said the pirate with a warped smile. “Where I come from…it’s a long, long story. Hang on. This may get rough.”

“You look like a teenager,” said Avatar in awe.

“You’re close. I’m twenty,” said Rezine. “Hang on…here we go…”

“What ship is this?” said Carol.

“The Deathshadow,” she snapped.

“What Navy do you serve?” said Adam.

“None,” said Rezine. “Now, shut UP!”

“Oh, great HONK!” said Carol.

Rezine just smiled.

It was now 0300 on October the fourth on the Argo.

Doctor Carroway yawned as she came back into their cabin.

By the movement of the ship, she had been able to tell they were off Mars and underway again, taking a roundabout course to avoid most of the asteroid belt.

The first thing she noticed was that the screen was still up on Nova’s laptop. There were no sounds in the room except the humming of the ship’s ventilation system and the soft sound of Nova’s breathing in the upper bunk.

She’s still asleep, Doctor Carroway thought as she tapped at a key on Forrester’s laptop to put it to sleep so no one could access it.

A screen came up; it showed an alarm set for 0430, a Notepad entry stating I HAVE OOD DUTY TONIGHT and an open word-processing program.

Carroway, in closing the windows on the laptop for Nova, noticed that what was there was a diary entry which read:

Had fun playing in the snow earlier. So pretty; haven’t seen it in so long. Got into a snowball fight with Natalie and Yuria which included Derek, Mark, and Peter before we all came to our senses. First chance to let off steam and have a little fun! Then I had to help in fixing some wiring before I turned in. After all, I need everything working at my post on the Bridge. So much to do tomorrow…tired…

Carroway closed the diary entry after making sure it was saved. I hate to do this, but I don’t want her thoughts getting lost, she thought. So, she’s on a first-name basis with Wildstar, Venture, and Conroy? She’s a bright and a good kid…great she’s making friends, but…still…a kid….

While Denise changed, she glanced up at Nova, who was sleeping in a simple white long-sleeved sleep shirt trimmed with ruffles at her cuffs and neckline. She noticed that Nova had slippers sitting neatly near the footplates for the upper bunk.

“Yeah, these decks get cold,” Denise said after she popped into the small head they shared and showered. “Wise move, kid.”

Carroway dried her hair and put on her standard-issue pajamas in the head. Stepping out in her shower shoes, she walked over quietly to her bunk and tucked herself in after setting the alarm on her laptop for 0900. She knew by then that Nova would be up and at her bridge post on watch.

“Lord, bless everyone on this command, especially the Captain, Doc Sane, and Nova and her kids in Medical,” murmured Denise before she went to sleep.

The morning came.

The entire bridge crew was there with the exception of Captain Avatar; Yuria was at Nova’s usual post, and Nova was at the conn.

The bridge doors whizzed open, and Captain Avatar came in.

“Captain on the bridge!” Homer snapped as all hands came to attention.

Nova handed Captain Avatar a computer pad. “Sir, the notes from the last three watches. The repairs are complete, sir, as noted by Mister Wildstar on his watch. I’m turning the conn over to you, Captain.”

Avatar looked at the notes. “Good job, Wildstar, Dash, Nova. I’m taking the conn. Miss Misaki, you’re now relieved. Nova, take her station.”

“Yessir,” they both said as they made the change and Yuria left the bridge while Nova took her post.

“Sandor, I see we’re underway,” said Captain Avatar.

“Yessir,” he replied. “We can expect to cross the Jupiter orbit at three hours at our current speed.”

“So how did you do tonight?” said Venture to Wildstar.

“Not bad. When do you have the conn?”

“Two nights from now,” Mark said.

“Drink lots of coffee; you’ll need it,” Nova said.

“Thanks for the warning,” Mark said. “Continuing to cruise at regular speed…and it’s on to Iscandar.”

“Provided we don’t run into anything else,” said Derek.

“Yeah…that,” said Venture.

And, on that note, the Argo cruised on.

TO BE CONTINUED…