ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE

STAR BLAZERS—THE ENTROPY WARS

By: Frederick P. Kopetz

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CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE HIGH QUEEN IS DEAD; LONG LIVE THE HIGH QUEEN! (RESURRECTION AND SHOUT TO THE LORD)

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I.  A MASSIVE ATTACK…

Deep Space: Near New Pellias

Space Battleship Yamato

Sunday July 3, 2231

0049 Hours: Local Time

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In rage and pain, both over Nova’s death, and this sudden outrageous attack upon the Yamato, Admiral Wildstar himself was still in his Super Star Fighter (OK, young Alex had been flying it, but it was actually his), reaching out with what he could control of his new psychic abilities as he, stripped of his share of the Matrix upon Nova’s death, flew against an innumerable amount of Technomugar fighters at the edge of the New Pellias System.

I can see them, he thought, but I can’t quite see far enough, he hissed to himself through gritted teeth as he and Wakefield flew against the enemy planes.

“There’s one on your six, Skipper!” said Deke in a cry.

“I know that,” said Wildstar as he flipped his plane on its tail and intercepted the Technomugar ship just in time. Then, flying upside down relative to the Yamato, he slammed missiles into two more planes.

It was at that moment that Derek felt an incredible presence slipping inside his head.

Hullo, said the presence inside him in a voice that was all too familiar?

Nova? He said back in his head. You’re dead, yet…are you alive yet?

“I’m dead, yet I live…although not for much longer,” said Nova as she slipped all the way inside his head, her spirit burning and blazing with an incredible light.

“Ma…matrix?” he said.

“I’ve got it…all the way now, and you can borrow more if you need it,” Nova said. “It will allow you to see for miles and miles and miles. Look over there, beyond RP-340, below the ecliptic.”

Derek looked in his head. There, even beyond the range of the Super Star’s radar was the Technomugar Goraizu Fortress from which the enemy was coming from.

“Go there!” he barked aloud. “All planes, regroup and hit RP-340. When in range, hit that Fortress with every missile we’ve got, then take out the remaining planes with our cannon! GO!”

The Black Tigers followed Derek’s orders.

Five…six…. seven…eight…nine…and then twelve missiles roared towards the Goraizu Fortress even as Derek involuntarily raised a hand with….

…Nova’s…?

…spirit, far stronger than ever, it appeared, burning in him.

Fire blasted from his hand, right through his cockpit, and blasted into the command tower of the Goraizu Fortress ship.

A moment later, the missiles blasted into the hole in the ugly ship.

It blew apart, even as Ekogaru’s leering face appeared in phantom form over the Fortress.

But he gasped when he heard a whisper coming out of Derek’s mouth.

He was forming the words with his lips and tongue.

However, the voice was not his. Nova’s voice was coming from him, and she softly said, “That’s a warning, monster. For I am coming for you!”

“How?” Derek said aloud. “You’re dead…but….”

Nova’s voice came out of his mouth again as she said, “You’ll see me aboard the Yamato. Very soon. When we get back, listen to me, and you keep them from taking my physical body to its Tomb for burial. That part is important.”

“Why?” Derek said.

“Very soon, I will have a need for it,” Nova said softly from his mouth.

“you…will have a need for it?” said Derek.

But then, there was nothing but silence.

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II. A NOT UNWELCOME SURPRISE…

Deep Space: Near New Pellias

Space Battleship Yamato

Sunday July 3, 2231

0229 Hours: Local Time

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Admiral Wildstar made his landing on the Yamato a few minutes later.

He ran to the ship’s morgue in Sickbay, where he had been intending to go before the battle to kiss Nova’s remains goodbye before Miarahl, Hegen, and Fela washed Nova’s corpse again for her final journey to the tomb waiting for her already on New Pellias beneath the High Queen’s Palace.

Instead, he ran into the room and saw only Miarahl there keeping a vigil over the sheet-covered form.

“I feel an energy about her again,” said the ancient Ralkhen. “Clearly something is about to happen, and clearly, you are not entirely surprised?”

“Her ghost helped us in combat,” said Derek. “She then spoke to me…I think…told me not to allow them to move her dead body…”

“And…I see why,” said Miarahl. ‘She…”

Then, a moment later, the Yamato shook as the ship went dark.

The morgue emergency lights flashed on and the ship trembled, and then went dark.

Miarahl and Derek looked at each other.

On the First Bridge, Mark Venture looked at the instruments as he said, “I can’t make that last warp to New Pellias now!”

“Why not?” barked Anya Wildstar beside him at her post at Combat.

“It is because a Great Light is about to awaken again,” said Trelaina as she appeared on the bridge in a blaze of light.

“Would you quit that?” said Anya. “The light’s hurting my…”

Trelaina nodded, and then a moment later, the Yamato was ablaze with light from its very substance.

The ship trembled once, twice, three times.

The sheet partially slid off Nova’s body, baring her face and her chest, barely clad in her burial gown

Derek squinted as the Light from all around them focused on Nova’s dead body, and then, a massive ball of Light appeared over Nova’s body, flashed, and then all of the light faded.

Miarahl smiled and tears ran from her eyes as she looked at Nova’s body, as, to Derek’s shock, her chest suddenly heaved as he looked on with shock, and saw that the skin covering her chest wound was no longer plasti-skin, but real, living flesh.

Miarahl smiled as her once-paralyzed legs moved under the sheet, and she saw Nova’s toes emerging from under the sheet, toes that could now wiggle again.

Nova’s eyes opened, staring at Derek and at Miarahl as she slid the sheet off her form.

Derek Wildstar sat in utter shock as Nova’s body stared at him, with her eyes wide open, as the whole morgue was filled with a Light.

“Nova…I…darling, is it…uh…really…uhhh…you?”

She coughed hard, looked at him, and sent into his mind through their Bond, which was back stronger than ever, Of course it is! I’m no longer dead, Derek. Look at my chest…look at my back...all my wounds are gone. I’m alive again….

“I’m…I’m no longer mortally wounded,” Nova said in a dry, cracked voice as she looked in wonder at her own chest and smiled. “I have passed through the Fire at last, and I am reborn…I AM ALIVE!”

“As I was hoping, Your Majesty,” said Miarahl.

“Leave us and go down to New Pellias,” Nova said. “Let them know I live, and ask Queen Astrena and the others to come aboard this vessel as soon as we make orbit over New Pellias.”

“Of course,” said Miarahl. “As for raiment? That gown is barely decent…

“I will settle that issue when I get down there.”

“Of course,” said Miarahl as she bowed before Nova, kissed her hand, and then vanished.

“Nova, you sound like you have a cold…” Derek said.

“I was dead, Derek. Remember? You’ve been very dense since that silly drunken wake you and the others had over my body last night. My larynx is still a bit dry…due to being dead…please get me some water?”

Derek got up, got a paper cup, and let Nova drink some water. It was hard for him to believe that Nova, who had been a corpse, was now alive and whole again.

She swallowed, and when she spoke again, she said, “Much better,” sounding more like her old self as she felt her circulation coming back, and she and Derek saw her color improving from head to toe that of a corpse to a living woman in literally seconds. She reached inside herself and felt a vast set of changes as her electrolytes, blood volume, chemical balances, and nerve impulses clicked back to normal, with blood and fluids filling her body again as every organ inside her rejuvenated and came back on line, in younger, more efficient versions that caused a major, but not unpleasant, head rush.

She looked down at herself. “I look younger…feel younger.”

“You do,” Derek said. “You look about…uhh…like you are in your twenties, again….”

“As I was when we first met,” Nova said.

She looked thoughtfully on the horizon, and said, “It seems so far away….where I was…my spirit…I was told that the youthfulness from the regeneration would persist…until….until what?”

“What are you talking about?” said Derek.

“Heaven,” she said. “I died. I went before His Presence…I was given the Matrix…I was given directions…”

“You saw the Lord?” Derek said in shock.

“Yes, who do you think told me to go back?” she said impishly as she looked at the sheet and pulled it away from under herself.

Nova sat on the edge of the metal table she had been laid out on, and she felt the cold metal with her hands. “My body received its autopsy here…and it was embalmed here?”

Derek nodded as tears ran from his eyes. “With your wounds…they didn’t have to cut you open that far,” he said as he touched her chest, back and stomach, feeling her warm skin and muscles closed and whole over what had been her mortal wounds. “Then, you looked so pale as you were embalmed…”

Nova nodded, and she used her power to float a lancet over from off a table.

She deliberately pricked one of her fingers. “I bled to death,” she said. “And there was barely any blood in me, and then I had embalming fluid in me, but, now…look…” she said as she extended her finger towards him; it was bleeding slightly.

“Warm, fresh blood,” she said.

Then, she held the sheet and smiled at Derek, blushing slightly as certain sensations came back again. She was a little abashed that those senses not only worked, but were going at an RPM rate much faster than she had ever felt before.

“Nova…uh…you don’t need to cover up around me…I’m your husband…” Derek said as he held her hand. “We always used to sleep together, remember?” he said as tears ran down his cheeks.

“I know…and we still will,” Nova said as she smiled at him. “There is something we need to do. Literally, as soon as possible,” she said with a grin that was both impish and delighted.

“What?” said Derek.

“The reason I’m blushing…” she stammered. “Is…that…”

Then, she bonded mentally and intensely with him, and she sent to him, as they seemed to fly to a different realm, We need to create two more lives. Right now!

Nova?

I need you more badly than you can know, Nova sent back as Derek took her in his arms and held her.

What followed was…

…an experience that was almost indescribable.

Their minds and their very spirits joined, as they entered what could be called an altered state.

A million, million stars seemed to break out among them in the starriest night they had ever seen or sensed before.

What is this? Derek thought to Nova. He didn’t even have to send.

We’re forming a spiritual bond, deeper than we ever had before, my darling! Nova thought back.

They felt traces of their old, familiar physical attraction reigniting like fresh coals thrown into a blast furnace, but far more intensely than ever before; far more intensely than they ever felt mortals could achieve.

I again ask, Nova, what is happening? Do you understand it? Derek thought.

Mark and Trelaina felt this…once, Nova sent back. Otherwise, I can’t comprehend this…

Nova, we’re together…but I think this is far, far beyond just the physical…

“It is,” Nova said in this other realm as they realized their physical forms were joined in rapture that went beyond all the joy they had ever before sensed, but that mattered, and it didn’t matter, all at the same time…

For, they were joined.

The life-force, the miraculous Secret Flame that had reinvigorated Nova and given her back her youth and strength, was now filling Derek, as well.

Derek didn’t know how to describe it. He would never have words to describe it. It went far beyond their wedding night, which was beautiful beyond all enduring, and far beyond when their souls first met in the bond of Shal’in’skar that they had felt years ago.

Nova had no words for it, either. She was giving Life to Derek, part of her life, part of the new Life she had received that had brought her back from the dead.

And, in a far deeper level than ever before, they were feeling and experiencing a new Life sparking together in them both as the Creator blessed them and their marriage in a way they could not comprehend.

Oh, the physical joy of making a child they shared was incredible, with a table of death turned into a new marriage bed…but they had never totally felt a new baby spirit coming to them and igniting to life as blazing, incredible, spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical joy washed over them like an ocean of stars.

And, that was not all they felt. they felt a light and warmth coming as, like a bolt of lightning, they beheld Queen Starsha’s spirit, globed in light, clad only in Light as Nova now was, gathering and approaching, and then, with a warmth they both felt, they felt her spirit alighting into them both and then reforming in their joy with her spirit coming back into the world of the living embodied in a new little girl inside Nova’s womb as she cried with the joy of being in Derek’s arms, cried with the happiness of the Lights within her, and finally felt hope that Starsha would now not only live again but thrive in her womb, to be born into a Cosmos at last free from the blight of the Dark Lord.

And, now, again, Nova was pregnant with twins…not long at all after her rebirth.

Ekogaru screamed on his Flagship as he felt and perceived Nova again as the psychic fog over Pellias that had been guarding it from his Eye broke and he saw the Light of Derek’s strong spirit, Nova’s gleaming spirit, the Fire of the Matrix, and the tiny yet potent flame of a reincarnated Queen Starsha and the tiny spark of a little boy’s new essence inside the physical body of the High Queen of Pellias. He screamed in agony because in the moments of joy that Derek and Nova felt in three realms at once; spiritual, emotional, and physical…he felt himself beginning to wither and finally, finally, he felt the first brush of the tips of the fingers of Death as he knew, on the deepest of levels, that his demons were beginning to abandon him at last to his fallen, sinful Mortality. He knew now they had no fear of him.

He knew that, bonded, they pitied him. The pity shocked Derek, but it was all he could feel. Nova was weeping for Ekogaru even as she ascended the joy she and Derek shared, and Derek could not help but feel the same way.

I cannot die like her, thought Ekogaru in rage. She died, and became glorified, and I brought it on myself! I killed her, and sent her to the very Arms of our Accursed Enemy to instead become empowered and resurrected.

I am GOD! He raged. I CANNOT DIE! He screamed in his withered spirit.

But you will die, Nova’s spirit whispered back to Ekogaru in an unexpectedly friendly, gentle fashion even as she lay in Derek’s arms, feeling the breeze of the very Cosmos caressing her angelically in her beloved one’s lap. You are not immortal. Not even I am, and someday, even what I am now will return to His Presence to serve Him as He wills as I await the Resurrection Day, when He will cast Death itself into Hell. There is a Pardon waiting for you in His Presence, yes, even for you, Dark Lord, if you would but repent of being a so-called, self-proclaimed God and accept it. Why not bow to Him, accept you are mortal, and then eventually die as you were meant to, let go of your withered life, and thus live in a forever where He will bless your ambitions and He will aid you in taking your dreams and winding them up into His Eternal Music? Derek and I are together, sharing essences, but we know even that is not forever. Someday, we must leave this Realm for good, hopefully, we pray, together.

WHY DO YOU SAY THAT? Ekogaru thought in rage.

Because, Ekogaru, Nova and Derek thought as one, we feel pity for you, despite all you have done…and we want to help you. We want to show you the Way! I do this because, our friend…yes…our  friend…we have been told you are redeemable. That is the only reason you still live now. Because we care…

And because I weep for you, too, Derek thought. I hated you. So did she. You lied to us, tried to corrupt us, violated us in ways we do not care to describe, and you took Nova’s life. But she has had it returned to her tenfold, along with two new lives and long life for us both. We know we have been forgiven and we know how much we have been forgiven by Him, like never, ever before. Considering that, we cannot hate you now.

WHY? Ekogaru roared.

Because now, by God’s Grace, we are beyond hate for you, Derek and Nova thought at once. We both…love you…although not in the same sense we love each other, or our children.

At that, Ekogaru only screamed and roared in rage. QUEEN PELLAS ONCE THOUGHT AS YOU DO!

Nova’s response was a gentle laughter as she kissed her Consort and Derek laughed back.

At that, Ekogaru left them to their bliss, shocked that not a cross word come from either of them, even as he intruded upon a Holy Rite he had not known could ever go so deeply.

Then, when the physical deed was done, Derek lay in Nova’s arms this time, needing her healing and comfort.

He finally asked her, in their strengthened and renewed bond, Nova, where did you go when you…died?

Heaven, she sent back. But first, I hung around the ship a little as you know…just watching things, before Abraxas came for me to escort me Onwards. I greeted him like an old friend and was very calm about meeting the Angel of Death. It just tore at my spirit watching you mourn me. I prayed to be resurrected right then, but I was told to wait. I kept you from killing yourself, dear. Even though it was a bit difficult as a ghost…

Well, you sure gave me a good slap. What was Heaven like, Nova?

Sort of like the Scripture and unlike. A City and a country filled with trillions upon trillions, humans, angels…I was gleaming when I came to the Gate of the City. Abraxas spoke for me, and I could enter. Then, I went into the City…and I met Him.

Him? Derek said as Nova began to moan and shiver.

The Highest…our Savior Himself, Nova sent back. He burns with Light, and His Hands and Feet are still scarred from His Cross, yet…well…He’s a redhead! He was there with Queen Pellas and Aliscea…and Abraham and my Dad and Captain Avatar and Sergeant Knox…they’re all fine there, on the Other Side.

Nova then said aloud, as they floated in this timeless state together, “And Aliscea was there with Queen Pellas…she was in Heaven, Derek!”

“How did she get there, after all she did?” Derek said.

“He told me it was through His Grace,” Nova said softly. “He said, He died on Calvary’s Hill for her sins, too…like all of us…the same way He gave Himself for your sin, and my sins. And, she fought him at the end and repented and then gave her life as I gave mine and she came through with the Matrix Root. Then, He collected the entire Matrix…”

“That’s why Invidia and I felt the energy fading?”

“Yes. It was given to him. Aliscea surrendered the Matrix Root to Him in shame, remorse, and repentance at last on the other side. After I came through, He empowered it and He repaired it, and then He gave it to Queen Pellas. After I was asked, by the Highest if I wanted…oh, God….to…yes…return to life and finish defeating the Dark Lord…and come back to you and, you know the rest,” Nova said as the glory and light faded and they found themselves lying in a bed in Sickbay, clothed in white, looking innocent, but aware that they had truly joined and that they were husband and wife and had re-consecrated their marriage in some astral plane they did not understand and they had done it both astrally and physically.

Nova also felt the lives within her, and encouraged Derek to touch her white-clad stomach.

He felt the lives inside her too, and smiled as he shut his eyes and she shut hers.

 “I’m…glad you chose to come back,” Derek murmured.

“Yeah…me too,” Nova said with a gentle smile before she gave Derek a very deep kiss.

Then, he heard her musical laughter again. Derek felt as if he wanted to cry; he thought her laughing voice was stilled until Resurrection Day, but it was not, and in her thin white dress, she was warm and beautiful.

Derek seemed to feel his new youth as he said to Nova, “Yes, this is our second wedding day…”

“The wedding Night was before the Day, but who cares now?” Nova laughed. “Oh…God, just kiss me again,” Nova said.

He did that.

Derek lay holding Nova in bliss, delighted at her warmth, her soft breathing, her heartbeat, and the musky, soft smell that came from her in the afterglow of their love.

And then, they fell asleep.

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They suddenly awoke a moment later, Nova stiffened. “Derek, Venture’s coming!”  Nova cried. “So are the others!”

“Huh…?” Derek said.

Mark Venture ran in first, holding flowers that he was expecting to put on Nova’s casket, and he saw them lying there in their bed, and he cried out, “Derek! What is wrong with you? I know you loved her, man, and you were as drunk as hell before, but…”

Then, he looked at Nova, who was yawning hard. “Dear Lord, what a sleep I had,” she said in a drowsy voice as she played with Derek’s hair.

“Wildstar, what the..? She’s not…not dead? SHE’S ALIVE?”

Nova then said, “MARK, he and you are not the only ones in this room! Really, Mark! You’re standing there with flowers for me and all you can think of is punching out poor Derek? Oh, I can read you like a book, Mark,” Nova said as she laughed softly.

“Derek…Nova just talked to me…this place is haunted…Wildstar, what the hell is going…?” Mark said as he stepped back with wide eyes as he took in the whole scene of a living Nova kissing Derek and holding him as she lay there, making no effort to cover the fact that she was cuddled in her husband’s arms and that her face had the liveliness and high color of the high-spirited twenty- or twenty-one-year-old she again looked like, just as she had on the journey to Iscandar.

Mark stood there with his mouth open. He looked on in awe as he noticed that Derek and Nova had the same sort of soft light coming from them that Trelaina had!

Then, a moment later, Trelaina ran in, her bare feet pattering on the deck as she ran up in her only her light and her fragile blue gown.

She then stood there in utter shock as she said, “So…Mark…THIS is the incredible energy source I sensed!”

“What?” said Venture. “Energy source? What energy source?”

“Mark, we’ll get to that a moment later, same with you, Trelaina, you know where I’ve just been…I was told you were there once!” Nova said in a strong voice.

“I was, yes,” Trelaina said as she kissed Nova. “You know I returned from the Void at last just before you died. So nice to see you corporeal again, dear…”

“Likewise,” said Nova as she kissed Trelaina back while playing footsies with Derek under the covers. Then, she crossed her legs elegantly and kissed her husband again.

Then, someone banged at the door, and yelled, “Vould you let me IN here? Ekogaru, what is going on vid dis ship? I am going to kill you…I…”

“Oh…darn…I locked it,” Nova said with a blush.

“You locked it?” Derek said. “Nova, you have not gotten up off the deck yet…how could you have…?”

 “I know how,” said Trelaina as tears formed in her eyes. “Nova, it was with your mind?”

“Sure was...and I didn’t even know I did it!” she said. “Oh, Derek, along with the full Matrix, I now have much stronger powers!”

“Oh, that’s right!” said Derek.

“What?” said Venture.

“Let me unlock it!” Nova said in a clear, loud voice.

Invidia heard that through the door and said, “By…. Arishna…you’re….”

Nova sat up and a slight gleam appeared at her fingertip like a blazing light. The Sickbay hatch unlocked with a loud buzz, and then Nova flipped her wrist a little and the electric doors activated.

Trelaina smiled, and kissed Nova’s hand and said formally, “White Orchid, we welcome you back to your ship, Successor of Aliscea.”

“But…but, Nova…you’re friggin’ dead!” said Mark.

“No, she’s not,” Derek said fiercely. “She’s very much alive, and guess what…she’s expecting again. I’m not getting into the mechanics…it’s none of your freakin’ business…”

“And I’m sure you know where babies come from, Mark,” Nova said. “But, as it appears everyone is going to ask me questions as if I am at a Press Conference, I’ll answer them, okay?”

Nova cleared her throat, sounding like a girlish twenty with a touch of the mature woman in her fifties she truly was, and she said, “No, Mark. I am not dead. Not anymore. I was, but I passed through the Fire and I came back. Look at me, Mark. Look into my eyes. Can dead people give you a dirty look like this? And, Derek, sweetheart, let’s get you dressed in your uniform and we’ll get back to this later today,” she said as she kissed him with an impish look in her eyes.

Just like our honeymoon, huh? Derek sent to her.

Yes, but we didn’t have half the crew watching! Nova sent back. We’ll find a better place for this later today and catch up…where we left off! We’ll dance all night!

“You’re…alive, Nova?” Invidia said. “Really?”

Nova nodded. “It would be a little hard for me to talk to you through my lips if I was still dead…right?”

“Yes…it…Vould!” yelled Invidia as she ran up to Nova and hugged her and cried in her arms. “How did zis happen?” she asked.

“Well…I just came back into my body…and came back to life…uh…forty-nine minutes ago? Oh, by the way, I got rejuvenated a little more quickly than you did, Mark. And Derek, I did some legal research where I was, and under Federation Law, if my death is annulled, which it is….we’re still legally married, which we are. See Lexington v. Schempp, 14 F. Rep 212, 2 Schenck 22, 35 Matsumoto 345-46 inclusive. Even though I do want to say our vows again a little later…please?”

“Yes, we can get remarried around the same time Mark and Trelaina get married,” said Derek.

“A double wedding! How cute!” Trelaina said with a laugh.

At that, Nova held Derekever closer and kissed him, and said, “My life…is your life…our hearts, now beat as one…our bond grows deeper, not to be parted until one of our hearts stops in Death…my life is yours, and yours…is mine…”

“Parted, yet never parted,” said Derek as words came to him. “Bonded, and never separated…”

Then, Nova said, “To let all of you know exactly what happened to me, I died protecting Aliscea and Derek from Ekogaru. I was dead; my spirit had left this plane, my body had just begun the subtle process of decomposition, which starts in the gut first and in the muscles, and I passed to the Next World. There, in the Celestial City, I met the Lord Himself and I met Aliscea, who also died and remains dead. There, partly because of the bravery and sacrifice I showed when I protected Derek and Aliscea at the risk of my very life, I was given the option directly from the Presence to stay there in Heaven or to return here to Derek and the War to finish my Life’s Work.”

“And, you obviously chose the second option,” Mark said.

“Yes! Missing Derek horribly, and not wanting to leave my Life’s Work undone before the Lord, I chose to return to life. shall we say, and I was then re-commissioned as Aliscea’s Successor, the long-awaited White Orchid. I was again given the healed and cleansed Matrix of Pellias, since I know I am both part-Pellian and part-Iscandarian myself, through a long line of descent through alien ancestors who were some of my forebears on Earth. That, by the way, is why I always looked like Queen Starsha. I share some of her family descent. I have been given the Mandate and the Authority to end this war, defeat Ekogaru and finish Aliscea’s work, and to deal with Ekogaru according to some very specific orders from Heaven.”

“How would you do that?” said Trelaina. “Would you destroy him?”

“No. It is given to me to neutralize his power and make him harmless. How I will do so? It will be done according to sealed orders, so to speak, that I cannot share with anyone who lives.” Nova looked gently at Derek. “Not even you, my darling. And I’m so sorry, Derek. This is the one part of my task all of you must accept by faith…that I know what I am doing. I’m not allowed to share those orders until the moment of execution of this operation is at hand, after we all defeat Ekogaru’s vast forces, destroy his Fortress, and then bring down his minions and finally bring Him to bay in person like the rabid dog he is and shatter his Sphere and take his power from him once and for all. You could say…this is to protect you. If any of you had the knowledge or ability to dissuade me from what I am ordered to do, then Ekogaru could use that knowledge to hurt you very badly.”

Derek kissed Nova again and said, “Darling, I don’t understand what you have to do. I don’t know how you are to defeat him by yourself. That seems like an awfully tall order, and I want to help you, but after seeing the death that you have just returned from and seeing that you…chose being with me and finishing your Life’s Work over Heaven Itself, and seeing a glimpse of the authority you hold….are you still the President of Earth and the Pellian High Queen?”

Nova nodded. “Yes, I am.”

“Madame President and Mrs. Prime Minister Wildstar, you have my complete and total support as Commanding Admiral of the Combined Fleet of the Earth Defense Forces, and any time, Nova, that you want that Captain’s Chair up on that bridge, well, ma’am, it’s yours!” Derek said as he hugged her and held her. “And please forgive me for being such a shit to you in so many ways!” Then, he held her and cried.

“Shhh, Derek,” Nova said, soothing him as tenderly as a mother soothed her child. “Shhh…it’s okay, my darling. I forgive you for getting drunk, for wanting to kill yourself, for thinking of hurting Doctor Bixley, and for every stupid thing you have ever done to me in the past…uhhh...thirty-two years?”

“Thank you,” sobbed Derek.

Mark Venture then held her hand, as Trelaina held his, and, he gulped and said, “Lady White Orchid…your Majesty…”

“C’mon, silly! It’s just Nova! To both of you,” Nova said. “Mark, you’re my dearest male platonic friend and my best friend in the world after Derek, and Trelaina, you and I are on the same Team now, so to speak, but our Authority comes from different sets of Orders from the Highest One, El Shaddai, the Mosiach Himself. Yours remains as it always was; to cleanse, to gently heal, to rebuild. Mine is the Power of Aliscea’s…to inspire courage, to burn away evil, to kindle hearts, to heal the wounds of war, to undo evil, and to shed Light. Indeed, you could say that I am Aliscea now. But I am now Aliscea…as she should have been, had she not surrendered to Pride and Fear. Derek, everyone, please stand back a little?”

They did so, as Nova held up her hand.

Suddenly, from her index finger, there came a blindingly bright light, that kindled into an incredibly bright white, pure flame.

Nova quietly said, “The Fire of the Matrix, my dearest ones. When Aliscea last wielded this power, it was fading. This is to show you that it lives and is renewed, even as I live, and I am renewed.”

Nova then made the Fire vanish. 

Mark looked at Nova and said, “Nova, does Holly miss me? Trelaina, I love you, but I still miss her. Our daughter misses her even more…”

“She does miss you,” said Nova. “She was given the choice to Return, too, in which case He would have reincarnated her in a new body made from nothing…but she was too tired and in pain to leave Heaven. But, she sends her love to you and Adrianna, Mark…”

“Thanks,” said Mark as Trelaina squeezed his hand.

“I tell you, Doctor!” squeaked IQ-9 loudly outside. “I feel her life signs here in this morgue! Nova’s been back for about the past two hours! She’s alive, I tell you!”

“No, IQ-9, people do not just come back from the dead!” insisted Doctor Bixley.

“But Nova is functioning again! In fact, she is functioning as well as she was when she was just twenty-one!” insisted IQ-9 as Bixley yelled, “You bucket of bolts, man, you berserk!”

IQ-9 stepped in, not at all surprised to see Nova standing there hand in hand with Derek. “NOVA! WOOW! You look gorgeous!”

Bixley stepped in, and was shocked to find Nova’s shroud sheet on the deck, and the corpse he had been about to prepare for burial up on her feet hugging her husband and quite alive and well.

“Aaaaaaa...Aaaaaaa,” said Bixley. “You must be a GHOST!”

“Doctor, I’m quite alive, I’m well, and I am not a ghost,” Nova said pleasantly.

“Nova….I…” said Bixley.

She then said, “Doctor Bixley, check anything you want so you can rip my death certificate up?”

“She definitely has a pulse, definitely has a heartbeat,” said Derek, “and…she definitely has …uh…other…things…working…right…again…”

“How do you know that?” said Bixley.

“We were doing the obvious thing that parted lovers do before Central Station came in here,” Nova said. As Bixley came over, Nova said, “Could all of you except for Derek leave the room for a while? Katrina, please wait for me in my office?”

Katrina nodded, and Mark and Trelaina left, even as Derek came over to Nova and held her hand for the medical exam she would have to endure.

______________________________________________

Later, after Nova’s physical, during which it was confirmed by her DNA and RNA that the living person sitting here was indeed not only a live Nova Dawn Yukiko Wildstar, but a pregnant Mrs. Wildstar, Nova changed into one of her short white lab coats, scrub dresses and a pair of plain white sandals, and she met Invidia in her office. 

As Invidia came in, clad in her old Royal Gown in red and black, black dress sandals, with her Royal Pin in her hair, she was a bit scared of Nova, even though she remembered that yesterday, in her roles as Terran President and High Queen, Nova had pardoned her as she lay dying and naked in her own blood.

As Invidia came in, Nova flicked a finger and shut the door.

“Please be seated on that love seat by the books,” Nova said as she stood up to greet her visitor and bowed politely.

She felt her clothing; the lab coat felt normal…it was just…it felt so light to her.

“I look just like I did when I was alive now, don’t I?”

Invidia silently nodded and did so after bowing back at Nova.

Nova poured a drink for her, in a Cometine-style goblet, Invidia observed.

The drink looked as if was a dark juice.

“What is it?” Invidia said.

“Kren juice, but it hasn’t fermented yet to make brandy, my dear,” said Nova. “I don’t want to drink alcohol because I’m pregnant again.”

“How do you know?”

“Well, the wife is the first one to know,” Nova said with a deep blush. “And, the scans confirmed what my spirit is telling me.”

“Did you and Derek…?”

“Of course!” Nova said with a very deep blush. “But we were on a very high astral plane when it happened. Don’t worry, we’ve had lots of practice at this and are trained professionals! Enough of this. It’s embarrassing! Let’s drink a toast now…”

“To what?” said Invidia.

“To friendship, pardon, and alliance, my Princess,” Nova said as she poured herself some brandy. A pregnant silence ensued.

Nova and Invidia both clinked glasses and quaffed their drinks.

Thus, for the first time since the Second Cometine War years ago, Invidia sat facing Nova without any subterfuge. And she was scared, even though she sat there in her red and black gown and black sandals in peace on a battered green love seat that she was conscious that Nova had cuddled with Derek in a lot… in Nova’s messy Doctor’s office.

She sensed that there was nothing that could be hidden from this new Nova. The woman who faced her was now far more confident, and wore the mantle of the Terran Presidency and Pellian High Queenship as elegantly as she wore the power that she could feel coming off her spirit. And, Invidia sensed that Nova now had as much, in her way, in ability and authority as Trelaina herself….maybe even more. She must know about how I aided the Black Nebulans, she thought. How I committed subversion against her Government in my misguided desire to aid them…

Nova responded with. “I know what you were doing, and why, Invidia. I knew you who you were right before I died, remember? I knew enough about you before I died to pardon you as Terran President. That pardon still stands. But, pray, tell me…does House Gatlantis stand with us against Ekogaru?”

“How vould I know that? Desslok and Radnar control my former House. And, House Dezarium…you surely know now how they betrayed me and broke away from Comet Empire to join HIM,” she hissed. “He tortured me naked in the Sphere of Joy on his damn Fortress years ago and he did it again a few days ago,” sobbed Invidia. “It was such…”

Nova patted her hand. “I know,” Nova said softly. “I was tortured in that Thing too. Ekogaru…also raped me during that dark period. And he’s so diseased that he raped Derek, too. That’s one reason we were making love so fiercely before; we were cleansing each other of the rage and shame we felt in his torture chamber.”

“Oh, God, you poor woman,” Invidia said with admiration and pity. “Funny, I’ve always admired you. Even when ve were enemies, I sort of admired how you negotiated with us on Melezart. Part of me wanted to accept your treaty and be done with it then….”

“That is water long under the bridge, Invidia,” Nova said. “We now live in the here and in the now. And Ekogaru, we now know, wants all of us dead. I need you to do something for me, Invidia.”

“What do you need me for? You are a goddess now. You can do almost…whatever you want!” said Invidia.

“Not quite. I work under all sorts of constraints. I represent much Higher Authority. Have you ever read The Lord of the Rings? Terran novel?”

Invidia nodded. “Foxy made me read once. I never thought I would like it, but I did. I liked the fictional beings, all of the alliances, the war…”

“Now that we are on the same page,” Nova said. “I have been reincarnated, you could say, as Gandalf the White. I have the title in my full authority as the Matrix Bearer of The White Orchid. Gandalf the White had a heck of a lot of power, but he was still just a Plenipotentiary of the Powers who sent him back to life. I am in the same position. The Most High has decreed at last that Ekogaru’s time is at an end. For whatever reason, I was born to become the Pellian High Queen and close the Circle and finish the work of Queen Pellas and defeat him. I have great power, but I can go only so far with it. That was Aliscea’s failing. She went wild and drunk with power with the energy I now hold. So, it was decreed that she would not finish him, but that…I would.”

Nova paused and sipped at her wine. “Invidia, dear, I still need help to do this. I would like to make a bargain with you, Princess. A far better one than Ekogaru ever made. If you can promise us safe passage to Great Andromeda and a chance to speak safely before your father Zordar’s Throne as the Grand Emperor, and you can convince him to ally with us, which only makes sense since the Technomugar are attacking him, too…I can arrange it so that you get your old throne back as Ruling Princess of House Gatlantis, and I will entrust to you the weapons we need to help defeat HIM. And if you do this, not only do you help us, you also get your vengeance on the Dark Lord, with my blessing and Heaven’s. Do you accept?”

Invidia sat in shock. “You are not only befriending and protecting me, but putting me back in power? Will Desslok listen to you?”

“Oh, yes, he’ll listen, all right,” Nova said softly as she smiled like a gnome to herself. “I have something in mind for Desslok. He’ll listen to me. So will Radnar, and so will your father.”

“All right…I do agree,” Invidia said.

“Good,” Nova said. “Let’s go to the surface.”

“How?” said Invidia.

“Like this,” Nova said as she then nodded her head and transported herself and Invidia down to New Pellias in a flash of light.

A soft glow covered her skin as she stood there now clad in her old gold and black uniform and boots again with a wind blowing through her hair. “Nova?” said Invidia.

“I hope you don’t mind,” said Nova. “I need to give you this.”

Then, Nova hugged her.

“You’re wonderful.”

“Thank you, Invidia,” Nova said as she embraced her.

Invidia shivered and hugged Nova back. Her warmth is uncanny…she thought. Is this what hugging an angel feels like?

Nova broke the embrace and said, “But, in having Passed through the Fire of Death…I have just passed the first of many other tests. We all have much to do before Ekogaru is defeated…and we only have a few weeks…”

“Before what?”

“Before he perfects his Entropy Wave,” said Nova. “Before he is strong enough to wipe out the whole universe…”

“I do not like the sound of that,” said Invidia.

“Neither do I,” Nova replied. “Neither do I…”

Invidia bowed before Her Majesty, who looked beautiful with her Light shining around and through her, and then, with a quiet dread in her heart, she left as Nova used her enhanced powers to float a flower over to herself as she began to smile and smelled it.

As she left, she thought, how does she bear all that knowledge? How does she bear all that pain? And, how does she bear a Power greater than that of Trelaina’s in that fragile little resurrected form?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

II. A DEEP RAGE IN DEEP SPACE…

Deep Space

Ekogaru’s Flagship Domiyanal

320,000 Lightyears from Earth

Sunday July 3, 2231

0725 Hours: Earth Time

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ekogaru the Great was in an utter rage as he cruised the Cosmos in the Domiyanal, a ship that had once been one of the towers of his Grand Fortress; the one that Derek and Nova had destroyed.

He was beating Lord Protector Varen St. Germain, who had once been known, as Flagg before he had died and then had been brought back by his Dark Master after falling to the spirit of Queen Pellas.

Ekogaru had slain him once again in a rage for his messing up a set of commands, and then he had called upon his dark Master to reincarnate this vile demon in a new form.

He was beating St. Germain with the same whip he had recently beaten Nova with on R’Khell’eva before he had consigned her to crucifixion.

“You told me she was DEAD!” roared Ekogaru. “And you failed to destroy the Yamato and her dead body as I ordered!”

“She was dead!” said the naked form of St. Germain as the incarnated demon shivered on the floor. “You saw her bleed out on the Yamato’s Bridge, Lord! When you were finished with her, Admiral Wildstar was holding a bloody corpse!”

On his Grand Fortress, Ekogaru snarled in rage at Veran St. Germain and his other lackeys as he beheld his now-living Nemesis in his crystal.

“THE BITCH!” he yelled. “That rotten woman didn’t stay dead! She didn’t even remain on her damn slab for more than three days, damn her!”

“There’s a new power around her now, Lord,” said St. Germain as he looked at Nova, gleaming softly in Derek’s arms as she was carried through the ship in her fresh uniform by her mate.

“She’s like one of the Great Queens now,” whispered Ekogaru, as he made a fist, with his soul burning with hatred as he thought that Nova, his Nemesis, arch-trickster, and Enemy, had somehow cheated him of his victory and had, by a Power and Grace he felt but did not understand, even beaten Death.

Also, as he watched Nova, looking so much like the late Queen Pellas now even though Pellas had never worn a uniform like Nova’s he realized, with coldness in his heart…that in his demented way, he was falling in love with his very enemy!

“Isn’t that bad?” said St. Germain. “You know that each of the Great Ones really hurt Us, Lord.”

“Yes!” roared Ekogaru. “Who does she think she is? God? A Holy Apostle? That damned little skinny Queen! I’ll skin her the next time we meet! She surely won’t like being reduced to a bloody pile of muscle tissue, fat and bone while still alive!”

Maleus, another demon around Ekogaru, looked at her and said, “Looking at her hurts my eyes, Lord! She’s far more Real than you are! She’s been at the Throne of the Presence, DAMN HER! The Great Tyrant Himself Personally blessed her soul, and she’s burning with His Light! That damned supernal Light! Don’t you see it?” whined Maleus. “I counsel stepping back from the Pellians, Lord, even from Terra. We cannot beat that! Like Trelaina, near her, she’s a lot stronger than she looks! She has passed through the Fire! She’s been cleansed, redeemed, and made clean in her spirit! Provoke her, Lord, and her little bare feet will kick your ass!”

“I’ll have all my armor, weapons, and machines, and my boots will break her toes!” yelled Ekogaru. “Advance the Flagship! Perform a warp! I want to find her and finish her off!”

With that terrible declaration, the huge Domiyanal, which was over six hundred kilometers long, again began to move.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the meantime, aboard the Yamato, it was now 0900 hours on July the 3^rd.

Admiral Mark Venture stood before the assembled crew of the ship and said, “As you know, due to Trelaina’s return from death, there have been some changes aboard ship.” He looked at Trelaina, who nodded.

“Trelaina’s return,” he said, “Is not the only surprising event which we have experienced in the past few days. Nova’s fate…is another.”

“What do you mean, my mother’s fate?” barked Alex Wildstar III.

“My mother’s dead,” snapped Anya. “I was before her body just last night, and today, we’re going to bury her, and…okay, I saw her ghost outside, but…she was naked, and she couldn’t have been alive out in open space, and…”

The doors to the starboard observation deck whirred open, and Admiral Wildstar came in, slowly, carrying Nova in his arms.

The crew stood shocked when they saw her in her old uniform again in Derek’s arms, looking about twenty years old again. However, they gasped, for Nova’s skin looked very pink and healthy for a dead person.

Then, they saw her head move slightly in Derek’s arms as she opened her eyes and wiped away some tears.

To everyone’s surprise and shock, she sat up a little in Derek’s arms, in her skin, kissed him on the nose, and looked at the crew.

“She’s alive?” said young Alex Wildstar.

“He’s holding her up like a newborn in his arms,” said Stephen Sandor poetically.

“She’s so pretty like that,” said Diane Sandor as she wiped her eyes in shock.

Anya looked at her father and growled, “Dad, why are you carrying around Mom’s dead body dressed in her old uniform? Have you lost your fuckin’ mind?”

Nova then looked at Anya and said, “I heard that, Anastasia. The thing is, I’m not dead…anymore.”

“What the hell?” yelled Anya.

“This is crazy!” yelled Paul Rosstowski.

Nova nodded to a Ralkhen waiting nearby, and the young male girded her loins again with her gun belt and sidearm as Derek held her hand. The crew noticed that the gun belt soon looked transparent on her form for a moment, as if it was a dream and Nova was the true reality. Then, it became solid.

Then, with a slight gleam coming off her body, Nova stood on tiptoes, kissed Derek, and then turned to face the crew.

She was confident and unashamed.

“You have the floor…Madame President, High Queen of Pellias.” said Derek.

Nova looked evenly out at the group assembled in the Yamato’s Starboard Observation Deck, and she said, “This morning, the tide of the entire war turned. I was dead, as you all know by now,” Nova said, to a few snickers that a glare from Derek stifled.

“Darling, it was supposed to be funny,” Nova said to Derek.

“Sorry,” Derek said.

Nova held onto the podium, sighed, and said, “I have returned from Death itself, but I am not quite the same woman I was. I died as a partial Bearer of the Matrix, a woman of Earth, decisive at times, indecisive at others. I was affected by my sins and emotions and times, quite imperfect, fallen, mostly Terran in descent with some Iscandarian and Pellian characteristics. I was afraid of our mutual enemy, the Dark Lord.”

You know our enemy finally caught up to us yesterday, and you know he killed Commanding General Alexander, Lieutenant Commander Holly Parsons, Lady Aliscea D’Shal, who was indeed redeemed at the end, along with Queen Starsha of Iscandar, and, last of all, he killed me. As you know, I was dead, and my body lay here in State. I am no longer dead now.”

Nova paused and said, “By the Grace of the Highest, I have been returned to life, with the full Power of the Matrix granted to me at last…where I was, before the Presence Himself. And, I have been commissioned as a Plenipotentiary of Heaven, as the One who will lead the effort to break the power of Ekogaru finally, finally and to reduce him to the humility of only being a Creation of God, and not a God himself.”

Astrena and Aisha smiled at Nova as she paused, and then said, “As a Plenipotentiary of Heaven, I have been ordered, as the Pellian High Queen, which I have been, by birth, all of my life, mostly without knowing it, to take up the leadership of this effort both as the Pellian High Queen, and, for a time, as the Pellian Ruling Queen,“ Nova said as a hubbub filled the room among the Terrans. They had just learned a few weeks ago that she was the Pellian High Queen and now…Nova was about to become the ruler of Pellias and its Commonwealth of Worlds as well as the ruler in exile of the Earth Government.

Nova paused as said, “Derek, as Earth President in Exile, I name you at this point as Commander of the Earth Defense Forces in Exile, after the death of Commanding General Alexander. Derek, do you accept this new rank?”

“I do,” Derek said, as a hubbub again filled the room as Admiral Derek Wildstar finally became the Commander of the EDF in Exile. Nova kissed Derek again. Then, she said, “I am keeping the title of President of Earth in Exile as a temporary measure. When we win the War and rebuild Earth and when Parliament is rebuilt, my temporary emergency rule by decree will end, as I declared before when I Invoked Article Thirty-Nine of the Constitution, and, after a due election that will choose a new President, I will also resign the Presidency.” She continued as she said, “While I was dead, Queen Pellas, who was the first Pellian High Queen, asked me, upon taking the Matrix, to again take the Oath of Pellas. I did so, and by her wish, I am also asking leave to become Ruling Queen for now, until the War ends.”

“I grant you that leave,” said Astrena. “Prepare now to be anointed and assume your Throne and Scepter, My Lady.”

Then, she stood with Derek as Astrena stood nearby holding a small dish of oil.

Derek kissed Nova again and anointed her shoulders with oil.

Then, he anointed her chest above her heart.

Nova was then handed the Scepter by Astrena who said, “Pellians, and allies, behold your new High Queen and your new Ruling Queen! Long live the Queen! Long Live the White Orchid!”

Applause filled the room as the Wildstars again kissed.

Nova stood, holding the Scepter, as she assumed her full inheritance at long last.

Down below, in Beltane, bells began to chime again.

This time, they were bells of triumph as the High Queen’s Ensign, a black flag with silver eight-pointed Star, flew above the Capital for the first time in many years.

Then, Astrena said, “Let word be sent throughout the Commonwealth-We Have a New High Queen at last! And the War Continues!”

And, such word then began to be sent.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Ekogaru’s Flagship emerged from warp, trembling, and smoking, about a hundred thousand lightyears from Earth, and eighty thousand lightyears away from New Pellias.

“Draw back, Lord,” said Maleus. “Or, I prophesy that she will eventually slaughter you and your armor will avail you nothing!”

Ekogaru threw back his head and howled. “We have Terra in our grasp, but I want it destroyed, just as we attempted to destroy R’Khell’eva! The human race is FINISHED! I want them DEAD! Maleus! St. Germain! You two will lead an invasion of New Pellias after I destroy Earth! I want the Pellians enslaved, tortured, and wiped out at last as a people, and I want the planet destroyed and their new High Queen CRUSHED! THEN I WANT GAMILON AND ISCANDAR DESTROYED ALONG WITH R’KHELL’EVA! Then Rikasha! Nothing of this so-called Grand Alliance will be left when I am done with it!”

Ekogaru then sat down, laughed, and began to play his organ.

The Flagship passed into warp again, and emerged, five thousand lightyears closer to New Pellias, at the edge of the Pellian Commonwealth’s new space.

A star background came up, followed by that of a small, blue planet as Ekogaru smiled and said, as he began to play his beloved “Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor” as he said, “That is a planet we have just discovered, thirty-five thousand lightyears from Terra, and five thousand lightyears away from New Pellias. It is known as Planet Milanus Five. They were recently discovered by Earth near the galactic edge, left alone by the Terrans since they are roughly at an early industrial age of development. A billion live there. They believe God is about to judge them and they are awaiting the end of the world. Yes? And they have appealed to the Pellians for aid? Yes? Well, to test our systems, I WILL OBLIGE THEM AND BRING THE END OF THE WORLD! I declare the end of their world, right now, because to them, I am GOD!” howled Ekogaru like a madman as he brought the New Flagship out of warp before Milanus, which had not yet developed the airplane.

He played a few notes, and the Flagship fired.

Milanus Five was engulfed in flame, and it cracked apart and exploded, Ekogaru laughed like mad as he smiled at and fed upon the dying screams of terror of one billion people-people whose voices had cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

“Nice work, my demonic friends,” said Ekogaru. “Soon, SOON, I will DO THAT TO TERRA!”

Maleus and Flagg looked at each other, and reluctantly bowed.

At that, the Flagship changed course.

Its destination would be Earth.

______________________________________________________________________________________

In the meantime, on the Yamato, Nova kissed Derek, still trembling from her anointing as she stood in his arms.

“Fire the salute for Her Majesty!” barked Derek.

The Yamato’s guns then began to go off in the honor salute for Nova.

Derek and Astrena handed Nova the Sceptre to kiss.

Nova kissed the Sceptre, and then set it down on the podium. She knelt on the deck in prayer for a bit, holding Derek’s hands as she did so. She was trembling, with the knowledge that she had finally been invested with the rank of the White Orchid.

A gentle light shone around Nova. It was yellow-golden, but the Star of Pellias at her brow was pure white.

Trelaina stood beside Nova, gleaming in her bare skin with her own light.

The Pellians looked utterly awed, and many of them began to weep openly at the sight of Nova standing there with the angelic-looking Guardian.

General Troughton knelt, and he said, “Behold, all. It is as if Queen Pellas herself has returned to us! You look just like her now!” Nova smiled and blushed, delighted with the honor.

Nova then sent to Trelaina; May I clothe you again?

How will you do that and keep my garment on me?

Trust me, Nova said as she raised her hand, and Trelaina stood clad in a dark blue dress again; gossamer, and partially see-through, but…she was again dressed. Trelaina then came up to her, knelt before her, and said, “This is now the final battle with Ekogaru the Great. I swear fealty unto you, Your Majesty, for this battle and all that follows.”

Nova accepted Trelaina’s oath of fealty, and she squeezed her hand and kissed it.

Then, Astrena and Aisha knelt before Nova. Nova blessed Astrena and said, “I confirm you as my Ruling Queen…in peace. As it is now wartime, I have taken the step of taking the Sceptre myself. I name you as my First Minister, and I name Aisha as my Second Minister and sensei, as she always has been.”

Derek then came up to her, and saluted. Nova kissed his hand and said, “Derek, Aisha, I believe that the Pellian Forces are also in need of a new Lord Admiral ever since Admiral Federlin was killed, O Earth Forces Commander?”

“They are, Majesty,” said Aisha.

Nova looked at Derek. “Derek, I also offer you the rank, title, and position as Lord Admiral of the Pellian Royal Starfleet and Forces. I have always been your right-hand woman for many years, sir. You will now be my right-hand man, and the Yamato will be named as the flagship of both the Free Earth Defense Forces and the Pellian Royal Starfleet as the ensigns of both of our nations go up the staff together as the heart of the Alliance. Do you accept?”

Derek kissed Nova and said, “M’Lady, I do accept, and…I’m grateful…and stunned.” Derek was stunned. Never did he expect that he would ever be the EDF Commander, and never did he expect that Nova would be the very Earth President who would give him that honor. He looked at her, she was beautiful and desperate, still the Terran President in exile, but also a mighty, pure, and awe-inspiring Queen who had come back from death and come into her own at last. He looked at her light, and said, “You look so beautiful like that…I have no words…”

“Thank you,” Nova said.

Finally, Nova kissed him and said, “We need to prepare for our remarriage, Derek.”

“What are you going to wear??” Derek whispered. “Not that I mind….”

“It’ll just be…beautiful and I think you’ll like it,” Nova said. “If I may leave now, Commander…that is…Admiral, sir.”

“Of course,” Derek said as he kissed her, and then, Nova and Trelaina spoke together and then walked into another part of the ship, whispering softly as they walked away together.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

III. TRELAINA’S FIRST WEDDING DAY…AND NOVA’S SECOND…

Deep Space

Space Battleship Yamato

Sunday July 3, 2231

1525 Hours: Earth Time

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Later, the meeting of the Yamato’s crew turned into a banquet on the starboard observation deck after the great ship finally landed on New Pellias, as Eager said, “Nova said years ago she wanted to marry Derek with you and Trelaina in a double weddin’, Venture. Looks like ya finally got your wish,” he said as they could still hear bells pealing on New Pellias in the City of Beltane near where the Yamato was docked. The Yamato was bobbing at anchor near Cape Pellan’da, one of three capes that jutted out from the main Beltanda Peninsula on which Beltane, the largest city on the planet, was constructed.

“Yes, I did,” said Venture as he stood there in his Star Force uniform and black peacoat as Derek’s ship Captain and XO.  He had insisted upon a demotion to Commodore before by Derek so he could more easily serve as Wildstar’s XO. Derek had reluctantly granted it after a fairly civil discussion. “I can’t believe I’m now the aide to the Commander himself. And Derek took all those royal ranks.”

Anya Wildstar said, “I love my Mom, but I think she’s getting a big head and boots ten sizes too big for her little feet.”

“She doesn’t want this,” said Mark. “And she gets bashful at being called ‘Her Majesty’, too.”

“Dad’s getting a big head, too,” said Anya. “My Dad! The new Commander of what’s left of the Earth Defense Forces, which consists of the few ships we have bobbing at anchor around us in the sea on this…weird planet! I was out on the deck before; this whole town stinks of salt water and fish and everyone’s driving copies of 20^th and 21^st Century cars around. They still have gas stations here! Gas stations! And all that’s on the damn radio are contemporary hymns, their native music that sounds like weird Moroccan music, and what sounds like 20^th Century beat music! No techno-rap or techno! Is this the Anachronistic Commonwealth or the Pellian Commonwealth?”

Mark rolled up his eyes and said, “Anya, I’ve got to go. I have an outfit to change into later for my wedding, provided Derek drove to the local formalwear shop with Nova to pick it up! Oh. And your Dad was driving around in a copy of a 1969 Shelby Mustang convertible; blue with white interior. Sweet little car, really. Nova loves it!”

“Yeah, she WOULD. Does it have noisy glass Pak mufflers? Rumbling V-8 Motor?”

“Yup.”

“Who was driving? Both my Dad and Mom drive like they’re insane,” Anya said.

“Your Dad. Your Mom wants to drive it later,” Mark said. “And, I have to run!”

“Have fun, sir,” Anya said in a snide voice. “Hope Mom doesn’t decide to ride her stupid brown horse later! That animal leaves poop all over the place!”

What a snotty little punk of a kid, Mark thought to himself as he walked off.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the meantime, Ariel Wildstar was sitting in the grass on New Pellias with Astrena, her mother, and Miarahl.

“Now sit down in your wedding dress, Mom…”

“Yes, we just made it for you,” said Miarahl. “We think it will allow you to be covered well enough for the ceremony, which will be both your second wedding and your coronation.”

Nova stammered, “I know it’s made to look like my old wedding dress…and, behold, it fits me just as well as it did almost thirty years ago…”

“Yes?” said Astrena. “I actually think you look rather cute in it. The marking that bares your navel is intended to show off your Iscandarian heritage as well as your Pellian Heritage, for you now know that you carry the blood of two Royal Lines in your veins; ours, and that of Iscandar.”

“There’s a problem, though,” said Nova. “It’s…obvious. It…it…doesn’t cover very much of me now! Look! I’m…fully dressed, but now, you can almost see through it!”

“It sort of looks like your ceremonial gown, dear…and I know you like white…” said Astrena. “We put your crown, that is, your mithril circlet below your veil, as you will see. As you see, you and Derek will have your marriage vows confirmed before us here, out of doors, in our sun and breeze.”

“Yes…but…do people, even here on New Pellias, normally go to their weddings close to naked?” Nova said with a blush. “And, Astrena, how come you and the Matrix never told me that my very physical composition would change when I came back to life with the Full Matrix? And how is mithril real here?”

“We tried to hint at it, Nova, but it’s hard to tell how much power a Guardian has when they pass through the Fire,” said Miarahl. “As for mithril, as we call it, it is a metal beyond price that was found only on Pellias as it was, the Pellias that is destroyed now. Thus, this metal is now beyond price. And, as for Pellas, I remember what she looked like and even sounded like. You are like an image of her come back to Life again, but now you look even prettier and more glorious than she did.”

“It’s not usual on Earth for brides to be in…diaphanous gowns” Nova said with a blush.

“It looks cute, Mom, but…well…uh…you look gorgeous,” said Ariel as she giggled and took a picture of her mother sitting in the grass.

“It feels better in the breeze, like this, and I like sitting well, lightly dressed, shall we say, in the grass?” said Nova with a laugh. “And my powers…feel less….”

“Restrained?” said Astrena.

Nova nodded. “It feels like my new body barely holds my spirit now…that just having a bare physical body on and little else is clothing enough for the Glory He put inside me…Yes, you were right, Miarahl…I feel better like this…”

At that, Nova got on the back of her brown, previously wild filly, Tarlixa, whom she had ridden here. The others had also come on horseback, and they got onto their mounts.

The little royal procession then galloped back down out of the hills to the grounds of the High Queen’s Royal Palace, a beautiful rebuilt structure of stone and wood built on its ancient foundations near the edge of Beltane.

The house where Nova and Derek had lived on New Pellias was on the Palace Grounds.

Nova hadn’t come here often, but the ladies-in-waiting therein had been preparing for her arrival for years.

There was an anticipation as Nova led the horseback procession onto the Palace Grounds.

The new High Queen blew a kiss to her attendants as she said, “Derek and I will perform our rites here, and then get back aboard the Yamato to attend Trelaina’s wedding later today. Tessha?”

“Yes, M’Lady?” said a Lady in Waiting, who was barely clad in a white almost see-through gown of her own.

“Astrena and I discussed this. Have the crowds gather at the equivalent of the ninth hour of the day tomorrow at the Ruling Queen’s Palace in the city. I will come there, and the War Standard will be raised at last.”

“M’Lady…HE sent a declaration through…through his Ambassador, St. Germain,” said Tessha as she knelt before the youthful-looking and lovely new High Queen on her horse. “He threatens war…devastation for New Pellias…”

“I will make an Announcement to him in the morning, dear,” said Nova as she descended gracefully from Tarlixa and kissed her Lady in Waiting after petting Tarlixa and whispering something in her ear. The untamable horse whinnied and ran back to the stables.

“Yes?”

“If it is War he desires here and war he already has, then War I shall give back to him and to his grubby St. Germain!” Nova snapped, utterly fearless as she drew her new crystal soul-sword from nowhere. “Let St. Germain try his worst! Let Ekogaru try his worst! Miarahl, muster the Border Legion, please. I want to meet with them by sunset tomorrow!”

“Yes, Lady,” said Miarahl.

“For my part?” said Astrena.

“Come with me and Desslok to my second wedding. But then, both of you, please ready the elements of the Pellian and Gamilon fleets you can bring here. Derek will command the Pellians and what I can gather of the Free Terran Fleet with me at his side, and you and the commanders will obey Derek as you would me. Desslok will command his forces. I foresee we will fight them in space, first. Then, St. Germain will be foolish enough to land his Grey Legion here in the hills around Beltane.”

“How?” said Astrena.

“Through treachery,” hissed Nova. “A member of my vessel’s crew, I do not foresee who, yet, will turn Judas on us and try to lead St. Germain in to kill me. I’ll let him try it.”

“Lady, the Border Legion will keep you and the city safe,” said Miarahl.

“I know that,” Nova said. “Because I intend to lead them into battle…myself…right on Tarlixa’s back.”

“Do you know much of cavalry tactics?” said Astrena.

“She knows some,” said Miarahl. “She has ridden Tarlixa in practice many times on Terra and on Ralkhandar. Trust the Matrix for the rest. It will be as if Queen Pellas herself commands us…” said Miarahl as Nova smiled and ran into the Palace.

“And…” said Astrena.

“Perhaps better,” said Miarahl. “This one…she has an iron spirit, unbreakable will, and unlike Pellas, she has trained in war all of her life, even though she prefers to heal. Aroused…with the full Power of the Matrix, and her cunning and spirit and connection to our gestalt, she will be ready to bring us great honor, and perhaps even frighten Him into surrender.

________________________________________________________________________________

AN HOUR LATER….

Mark Venture sat having a drink on the Yamato as the party began to start on the starboard observation deck as the sun set on New Pellias.

Ariel Wildstar sat on a couch nearby, having put on her short dress nurse’s tunic, nurse’s cap, and the only pair of heels she now possessed, which were a simple white pair of sandals. The leggy young officer both looked like and unlike her mother as she said, “Now that I’ve proven myself in more ways than one, Mom’s going to finally propose me for membership on the Blue Council to take her place as Earth’s Councilor, because with Queen Starsha gone, Mom has been elected the new Lady of the Council, just as Queen Pellas once was. It just happened a few minutes ago, before I left the Palace and came back here with Mom.”

Jordy Venture sat down beside his new fiancée’ (they had proposed to each other in a great deal of joy shortly after Nova’s Return) and he kissed her as he said, “Do you want to make it a triple wedding, dear?”

Ariel kissed her fiancée’ and laughed as she replied, “No, because I don’t want to detract from Mom’s and Trelaina’s big day, but it will need to be soon, like…in the next month…before my stomach starts getting big,” she said as she whispered in Jordy’s ear.

“What do you mean?” said Jordy.

Ariel smiled at her fiancée’ and whispered, “In that bit of make-up sex we had last night after we had that fight with Anya, I began to feel funny. Mom pulled me in, undressed me and examined me…”

“…and?” said Jordy as Ariel played with her hair and smiled.

“Mom, bless her little heart hugged me after the exam and told me I was pregnant.”

“Pregnant?” said Jordy in shock.

“Yes, dear…and the scans and Mom’s senses show it’s our baby. He’s going to be a little boy,” Ariel said softly. “So, I’m going to want to get married in the next month, before I get too fat to fit in Mom’s old wedding dress which she feels she can somehow get from Earth. Think you can stand me being pregnant?”

“I sure can,” said Jordy as he kissed his fiancée, touching her bare arms and legs as he did so. “Can we go to the beach later?”

“If we can get liberty, yes,” said Ariel. “Although I do need to warn you in advance, I have no swimsuit, so unless you want to buy me one, or buy me a Pellian chapeaux, I’m going to be running around on the beach completely naked,” she sang in his ear.

“I’ll just go with the chapeaux, my dear,” said Jordy, smiling as his 37-year-old features crinkled while he looked at his cute 24-year-old fiancée’.

“I thought so, my dear Lieutenant Commander, sir,” said Ariel as she kissed Jordy on the ear.

“Cut that out,” said Anya as she stalked up.

“Hello, Anastasia,” said Jordy. “How does it feel to have half a butt?”

“What the hell do you mean?” she snapped.

“After your big sister, our dear little Lieutenant, handed it to you?” said Jordy.

“C’mon, you!” yelled Anya as she slapped her hands on Jordy’s knees. “We’re going to go for it again, Jordan!”

“No, you’re not,” said Ariel as she glared at her sister.

“You got lucky yesterday, you pompous, self-righteous little shit!” whispered Anya viciously to her sister. Ariel smiled, raised a finger, and Anya fell back choking with an invisible force around her neck.

“Cut that out and go away,” Ariel said in an iron voice as she glared at her sister. “Or would you prefer I hand you over to Mother? She’s way better at this than I am!”

“I’m sorry,” gasped Anya. “But you’re going to pay for that, dear.”

“How?” said Jordy.

“You guys cut it out!” snapped Homer Glitchmann. “The music’s coming up. “We’re getting started!”

“Got to go,” said Jordy as he kissed Ariel. He was to be his brother’s best man for his second wedding. “Take care.”

“Likewise,” said Ariel as she kissed Jordy back.

“I’m not gonna show up,” sang Anya.

“You’re so infantile!” snapped Ariel.

“Who wants to see Mom and Dad get married all over again? I don’t!” Anya sneered.

“So, what are you going to be doing?” snapped Ariel. “You’ll hurt Mom and Dad’s feelings!”

“I’ll be in my cabin listening to Techno-Rap,” snapped Anya. “Sounds better than Mom squeaking ‘Oh, Deeeereeek’ every five minutes!”

“You stink, Anya!” yelled Ariel. “Mom’s back from the dead and will probably lead us to victory in the War and this is the kind of thanks you give her and Dad?”

Anya smiled and gave her big sister the finger.

A FEW MINUTES LATER….

Nova finally came down the aisle, on the arm, for the first time, of her adoptive father, Emperor Desslok himself; a Queen, being given away by an Emperor and Leader.

A Pellian Royal video crew began to record and transmit the proceedings across New Pellias, and the entire Commonwealth, as much as they could do under wartime conditions.

The crew was stunned by the beauty, and austere simplicity of her bridal gown this time out.

Nova knelt on the deck before an improvised altar as she said some prayers. She glanced around. She saw Alex and Ariel together, but Anya was nowhere to be seen. She sighed to herself before she began to pray.

As Nova prayed, her body trembled softly as she remembered the joy Derek had given her before

She thought, I’m not sure if it’s the having the full power of the Matrix in me, or what… I...I…Oh, God…I want Derek so bad…and I want a baby inside me so badly now…that….God…can I wait until after the wedding? Are we going to be doing It again in some passage someplace like two horny cadets?

Then, other images hit her mind. Her previous impressions of perpetual nudity were falling away now as she foresaw herself riding like the wind in a mail shirt and boots on Tarlixa’s back as legions of Ralkhens, Pellians, Leptils, Gamilons, and Terrans ran into combat with her.

Then, she thought of being with Derek, and her complex heart turned from thoughts of battle and dragon-fire to being with her husband. She blushed hard as sensual thoughts ran through her mind. Then, Nova looked up, and saw Trelaina kneeling in blue beside her. 

Nova gently told her, “Trelaina, you look adorable.”

Trelaina said, “Thank you. I hope Mark thinks so, too.”

“You do look totally adorable!” Mark said as he came up behind Trelaina in a white formal tuxedo and four-in-hand tie.

“Mark! Oh, Heavens, I love you,” Trelaina said as she looked at Mark with joyful tears in her eyes.

Then, Derek showed up. He was in his peacoat and Star Force uniform. He smiled at Nova, and Nova smiled back as he took her by the hand and held her as they knelt at the altar before an empty, small throne of crystal.

Derek, like his soon-to-be blushing bride, had talked with some of the Elders of Pellias as with Astrena.

Thus, Astrena herself, in a black dress and the violet stole of a Priestess of the Pellians would perform the marriage ceremony herself.

Astrena sat down on her crystal throne which was on the Yamato. She had intended to use it to officiate at and pray at what would have been Nova’s funeral service had she not chosen to return from Death. Instead, it was now being used for a much happier purpose as Astrena sat there in her role of Second Priestess of the Pellian Church and Temple as she said “I ask you to bow your heads in prayer.”

Everyone, including the soon-to-be remarried Royal Couple and soon-to-be married Princess Trelaina and Commodore Mark Venture bowed as Astrena said, “Blessed and Holy Lord, El Shaddai, the One in Three Persons, You who have seen fit to allow our new High Queen Nova the Third to Pass Through the Fire and Return, hear our prayer. We thank You for Your immense Grace and Mercy, and a new life, life from Death in a foretaste of the Day of Resurrection. Please Bless with Your Presence the couple who are to renew their Vows, and the new couple who also kneels before us. We ask this in Thy Name, O Lord Yesh’ua Mosiach, King of Kings, Priest Forever after the Order of Melchizedek. Amen.”

“Amen,” said everyone else.

“First, our High Queen Nova the Third desires to renew her vows to Lord Admiral Derek Wildstar, Military Leader of both the Terrans and Pellians. Have you two written your own vows of renewal?”

“We have,” Derek and Nova said together.

“Are there rings to be exchanged to Plight Thy Troth?” said Astrena.

“Nay, we again wear the wedding rings we have always had,” Nova said. “We now will renew our vows of thirty years before.”

Derek began first, “Nova, my Queen, your return to my arms is a gift from God that I did not expect. You had died. Indeed, your blood still lies on the deck on Bridge Number One where you died. I again take thee publicly as my wife, to have and to hold, to be at your side always and support you in poverty and in wealth, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sadness, until Death parts us again someday in this life, until we meet again in Eternity in His Gaze. Whatever happens, our bond now continues, and we shall be together…forever.”

Nova nodded and said, “Derek, my Lord and my Prince. I asked the Highest Himself to restore me to you, to continue the fight against our foe, and to be with you. That prayer has been answered. I will be with you for all time, as your wife, mother of the coming children of our Dynasty and of the Dynasty, as well of Iscandar. I have no secrets from you or anyone else now. We are bonded, mind to mind, heart to heart, body to body, spirit to spirit. I plight my Troth with Thee. In you flows some of the Royal Blood of Pellias and Iscandar, as well as that of Terra, of Japan, and of America. In me flows, in greater degree, the blood of Iscandar, the Royal Blood of the Pellians, yes…even a trace of the Royal Blood of the Gamilons, and the Blood of Terra, of America, Japan, and France. I shall be with thee, forever,” Nova said as Desslok started, knowing at once that it was true, incredibly true.

It hit Desslok that…Some of the blood of the Gamilons also lived in the Terrans. When they had been fighting the Terrans years ago, they had been fighting their own brothers.

Then, Derek said, as per Pellian tradition that he had learned, “I have committed to my bride. I again commit in public to my God, my Lord, my Savior, Christ Jesus, the Eternal. I was baptized, but this beautiful Queen here led me so gently to make a commitment of the Heart to the Lord of Lords as we knelt in the grass together on Iscandar in their beautiful Spring before leaving for Earth with the Cosmo-DNA. My love is given to Nova, and my faith is given to Christ Jesus, Who reigns for ever and ever. Amen.”

Nova then said, quietly, “I have committed to my husband. I also again commit in public to my God, my Lord, my Master, my Savior, my Rabbi, and my Friend Jesus the Christ. I trusted in Him and gave Him my heart and being when I was twelve, alone in our backyard in Boulder on a warm Spring Day in 2190 at our picnic table just before the bombings began. My dear Aunt Louise called me, she was and is my mother’s youngest sister, a Captain in the Defense Forces then, and she advised me how to pray to Him on my cell phone from Pennsylvania just moments beforehand. I have given and I give my love to Derek, and my faith reposes in Jesus, my Savior, He Who loved me enough to die for me, the most unworthy of people, and He who allowed me to do so much, and Who allows me to do so again. He Reigns forever and ever, and I long to see Him again in His Glory someday at His Throne, which I glimpsed when I was dead in body but alive in the Spirt. To Him be the Glory. Amen.”

Astrena wiped her eyes at the honest declaration of faith of the two of them, and she said, “By the authority vested now in me by God and by my High Queen, who now by God’s Grace I see smiling through her tears,” said Astrena. “Lord Admiral Derek Wildstar, and High Queen and Lady Nova Wildstar, I thus pronounce thy vows renewed, for all time. Derek, please kiss Her Majesty now, and remain kneeling here while I wed your friends Mark and Trelaina. Then, I shall give all four of Thee Holy Communion.”

Derek held Nova closer, and he kissed her hard as everyone applauded.

--------------------------------------------------------

In the meantime, alone in her cabin, Anya was laughing and rolling on her bunk as she listened to a Techno-Rap piece through headphones that talked about beating someone with a stick and then smashing their head in with a brick! The rest of the lyrics need not be reported here. They were banal, disgusting, and filled with obscenities. They were as crass as she was, and as atheistic as she was. Her parents had tried to raise her in the church. She had turned her back on the Faith, and she never told her parents this, but she had burned the beautiful Bible bound in white that her mother had given her when she had graduated from the Academy.

Now, back at the wedding, Astrena smiled and she recited some words, first in Pellian, and then in Terran English.

Then, Mark and Trelaina began to say their vows together for the first time as Mark said, “Trelaina. By an incredible gift, you have also returned to me, to salve my grief over the death of Holly, and of your original death, which was thirty years ago. I swear to stand beside thee, to hold thee, protect thee, to guide thee, and to be with thee, in this life, and in the next. When this war is over, as our dear friends Derek and Nova have agreed, I shall resign my commission and be with you forever, just as I longed to be thirty years beforehand. I am in civilian wear because this war will be my last voyage on Yamato as a member of the Star Force. Derek, I will always be with Trelaina to advise you and Nova, but when this war ends, my time as a warrior shall finally end.”

The crowd murmured at that, but this was no secret to the Wildstars. In fact, Derek and Nova had asked Mark if he still wanted to serve. He honestly said “no” so both had agreed to accept his resignation when the war ended. They knew he had wanted to go back to Telezart thirty years ago to be with Trelaina, but that had never been. Now, Telezart was no more, save for a small piece of crystal on her ring, that she had reclaimed from the Cosmos, but they would live together for now on New Pellias, in Beltane, in a home not far from the High Queen’s Palace. She had plans for that small piece of crystal, but much would have to happen before she could bring these plans to fruition.    

Trelaina then said as she stood up and walked Mark away from the altar slightly, “Mark, my dear Mark. We are finally together, at last, as I hoped for years and years ago when we were first together. Now we are. Mark, I love you. To you, even though I have almost nothing, I give over all my worldly possessions and talents…. everything that I own what there is of it I give to you. I will share for life with you, for as long as we both shall live.”

“I give you the same, Trelaina,” said Mark. “All I have is yours, and what you have is mine. We will be together for a time that has no ending. In token of this, I give you this ring to wed you. Heart to heart, and soul to soul.” He placed the ring on Trelaina’s finger and said, “My darling, I give it all to you, and I am yours.” 

“I give you my life,” said Trelaina as she then put a similar white gold band on Mark’s finger. “Indeed, I have already done so. You live now because of me.”

“And you live on and returned…because of me,” Mark replied. “My Faith in the Lord, I state like this. When I was twelve, soon after I was confirmed, in the very summer when Nova came to faith, as she has said, I spoke with a Priest, a Father Leslie, and asked him what the Gospel really meant. He told me, and we prayed together. I had been baptized, given Communion, and Confirmed, but then I entered God’s Family at last. May He be praised forever for bringing Trelaina to me, and for bringing us together. Amen.”

Trelaina then softly said, “The moment came for me on Telezart, before I destroyed the livable surface with the energy I was given when I was upset. When Mark first found me, I was nineteen in appearance, but I had lived sixty years already. I was ten myself, in Terra’s Year 2151, as it turned out. On Telezart, we called Him Yeshi. I knew His story, but I felt it was true. I had a book about Him, and that was all. I looked up above the City that day and I prayed and told Him I trust in what He had done for me and I committed myself to His Mercy then. I have been through much pain and loneliness since then; indeed, when I prayed in grief one day twelve years after that after a terrible bombing raid; that is when my Power lashed out and struck at Telezart. We had travelers in the stars then; but the war ended and everyone else died when I lashed out in grief while praying. Then, I saw no one else face to face until the Star Force came twenty-eight years later. Were it not for Yeshi, I would have gone mad, and were it not for Him, I would have drifted in the Pit Forever after I neutralized Zordar, but...He stayed by me, and He sent me back to Mark and all of you. I honestly don’t know why I walk alive again, but He must have a reason. May He be Blessed Forever, Amen.”

“You are ready for my pronouncement?” said Astrena.

“We are,” said Mark and Trelaina.

“My Lord Mark Venture, Princess Trelaina D’Telezari Venture,” Astrena said, granting Trelaina at last a full House name and last name, “By the Authority vested in me by God and our High Queen, I pronounce thee both a Lord and a Princess of the Realm, and thus duly married. Mark, please kiss your bride!”

Mark kissed Trelaina at last as everyone applauded and Mark blushed and thought, Holly, I’m so sorry, but this was thirty years overdue. Trelaina, I love you so much.

When they were done, Mark and Trelaina embraced and then they knelt again as Astrena stood and held up a chalice containing the Communion Bread wafers as she began with a variation of these timeless words. “I pray that God will bless those we have committed and recommitted today. Many years ago, on your Terra, on the night when He was to be betrayed by one of His Own Companions, our Lord and Savior Yesh’ua D ’Nazarene, D’Galilee, D’Terra, the Hope of Israel, your Lord Jesus on Terra, the Gospels state that your Jesus, Our Messiah, King, and Savior, spoke to His own in these words at Seder: “Then, Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely the betrayer is not I, Rabbi?” as he shared the charoseth with the Master. The Master replied, “Judas, thou hast spoken correctly. What you go and do, leave, and do so quickly.”

Then, as in Pellian tradition, Astrena bowed her head in silence at that moment, setting down the chalice and taking a Host. Then, she said, “While Our Jesus and His Disciples were eating, Jesus took the seder bread, gave thanks to His father above, and He broke it thus, saying to His Disciples, “Take this and eat, for this is My Body, soon to be broken for all of you and all humankind. Do this always, in memory of Me.”

Astrena paused, broke the Host in two, and she ate a piece herself. Then, in silence, she broke a second host in three, and she gave Derek, Nova, Mark, and Trelaina their pieces of the Host in their hands. The two couples ate the bread, and then bowed their heads in silence and in reverence as Astrena continued the ancient story.

“When they were finished,” she said. “Scripture records He took the cup of wine, thus,” she said as she held up a second chalice, in gold as Desslok came up to the right side of the altar. “Then, He gave thanks to His Father again and He offered His Disciples, His closest friends, the cup and He said, “Take this cup, all of you. This is my Blood of the New and Eternal Covenant, poured out for so many for the Forgiveness of Sins. I tell you; I shall not drink of the fruit of the Vine again from now on until that where I drink it anew with all of you in My Father’s Kingdom. Likewise, this do always in memory of Me.”

Astrena then took the cup, sipped from it, and then she gave it to Derek, Nova, Trelaina, and Mark again. Then, she turned to Desslok with another Host and served him Communion as he knelt, took the bread, ate it, and then sipped from the cup.

The two couples then stood, and Nova and Derek turned to Astrena and said, “Now, may I give this gathering our gift while everyone else who wishes to comes to the Table of the Lord?”

Astrena and Desslok nodded.

Derek and Nova held hands and sat down on a piano bench behind a white grand piano brought aboard the Yamato from Pellias for this day. As Derek adjusted the microphone and the drummer, violinists, viola and cello players, and guitarists and singers stood at the ready, with the men in black suits or tuxedos, and the women in yellow dresses, Nova said, “I know we are at war. And I know that we have no time for you all to find gifts for us. But Derek and I have a gift for you; our skills and voices. We shall now sing a hymn together as all the rest of you take Communion. This hymn was written in the late twentieth century, and it was sung at many churches I attended, and has even been sung here on Pellias in Terranglish. It was originally written by a Terran writer known as Darlene Zschech, who is now with the Lord in this time. I changed the Terranglish lyrics slightly to reflect that we are in the sea of stars now, on Pellias, our Pellias. I declare this henceforth to be no longer New Pellias, but OUR Pellias. The Pellian lyrics I translated myself. It is a beautiful song called “Shout to the Lord.” Derek, sing with me. It goes…like this…”

Nova began to softly play while she and Derek prepared to harmonize and sing, as the other players began to play softly and a producer adjusted the sound so that Nova’s hymn could be heard all through the Commonwealth. Word later came to them that it was heard in the Gamilon Empire, on Iscandar, and even clandestinely on the occupied Earth itself as Nova sang, with Derek’s harmonies backing her up:

My Jesus, my Savior

Lord there is none like You

All of my days, I want to praise

The Wonders of Your Mighty Love…

My comfort, my shelter

Tower of refuge and strength

Let every breath, all that I am

Never cease to worship You…

Shout to the Lord, all the worlds let us sing!
Power and majesty, praise to the King!
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name!
I sing for joy at the work of Your hands
Forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand….

In the Sanzar System, the crews of Gamilon cruisers, battleships, and destroyers were in desperate battle with their Technomugar enemies as General Fraken wondered if the Fleet that he and Astrofleet Admiral Dietz were jointly commanding would be done for soon.

A comm officer aboard Dietz’s red flagship picked up Nova’s song, and turned up the sound of Nova and her singers as he transmitted it to the who Fleet on an impulse. For a second, the men and women of the Home Fleet were in shock, thinking, Is that not the voice of the Terran/Pellian High Queen? We had heard she was dead. Does she live?

“She is alive again!” cried the Comm Officer in joy. “May Adonai Bless us! She lives!”

The men and women of the Fleet then began to fight with renewed hope and ferocity as the sound of Nova’s voice seemed to be itself a magical tonic to all of them. Another officer on the flagship said, “Listen! I hear the Supreme Leader himself singing with them! I recognize his voice! Desslok yet lives!”

The men and women cheered as the battle continued, and the battleships and carriers used SMITE to warp in dive bombers to attack the enemy.

Soon, the Techomugar Admiral was in utter shock as he tried to run. But his escape path was cut off in a pincers movement by a combined Iscandarian/Free Terran Fleet led by the flagship Queen Starsha, which had just been renamed in memory of Iscandar’s fallen monarch by the now-widowed Queen Sasha, who had donned a purple Iscandarian Forces peacoat and was herself in desperate command as Queen and High Admiral to avenge her dead parents on the fleet aboard the New York class space battleship that Earth had given Iscandar years ago.

She said, as she heard Nova’s hymn, “Transmit that to the fleet, Communications, then ask Admiral Dietz to stand back.”

“Majesty, what are we doing?” said Sasha’s XO.

“Stop all our engines. I know what Mother thought of this weapon, but ages and times have changed. Transfer all energy to our wave motion guns!”

“Yes, ma’am!” he said as Nova’s song continued with;

…Power and majesty, praise to the King
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name
I sing for joy at the work of Your hands
Forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have in You

Shout to the Lord, all the worlds let us sing
Power and majesty, praise to the King
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name
I sing for joy at the work of Your hands
Forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand….

“Energy charge, one hundred and twenty percent!” said Sasha’s Engineer.

“FIRE!” Sasha cried.

Sasha’s fleet aimed at a corridor away from the Gamilon Fleet, and she fired their wave guns at the enemy fleet.

The wave gun blasts hit home.

Not one of the enemy vessels escaped the holocaust near Gamilon, and Queen Sasha and Admiral Dietz sent word to each other of their great victory as Nova’s voice continued singing:

My Jesus, my Savior
Lord, there is none like You
All of my days, I want to praise
The wonders of Your mighty love

My comfort, my shelter
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
   Never cease to worship You….

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------                                                                                                                 

In her mind’s eye, searching the Cosmos with a clearer vision than Ekogaru’s, even as Nova played and sang, she caught what was happening near Gamilon and smiled deeply and sang through happy tears as she sent her impressions to Derek and then began to sing again, this time in the Pellian language.

M'Yesha, M’Trana…

Jak, dera nashi kaldi!

Kalada’sha, M’terajeh

Gorrin’da to Shana’keh…

Now, the Pellian language was very similar to R’Khesh, the language of the Rikashan and R’Khell dominions. As the Terran languages Spanish and Italian shared maybe eighty percent of their vocabulary and even grammar with each other, a literate Rikashan or R’Khell can understand Pellian, and vice-versa.

There was a renegade fleet of R’Khell ships that were part of a faction that had broken away from Ekogaru’s fanatics and madmen. The fleet of this underground we are looking at now was known as the “Black Orchestra” or “Black Squadron” R’jkharraz psionics of the R’Khell Union and the Rikashans who were renegades, and, for the most part, believers in the One and His Son, had assembled a fleet under the command of the R’jkharraz underground fighter who had contacted Nova years ago before the Battles of Sirius and Arcturus when she had been commanding the North Carolina, namely, the renegade Commodore Hergen Vlaner himself. The long-haired R’Khell was now older, and his face was covered with scars from years of fighting his own people, wild beasts, and Technomugar.

The Technomugar and most R’Khells considered Commodore Vlaner a pirate and a renegade of the worst sort. Some R’Khells said he had links with the mysterious pirate, cut-throat, and freedom fighter from Terra known as Harlock. Men, women, and even children of all sorts, the beaten, the lost, escaped prisoners and slaves, and renegades flocked to Commodore Vlaner’s banner. He took in repentant R’Khells, liberated Pellian, Gamilon, Terran, Bolar, and Ralkhen slaves, and even some of the hideous Orcs of R’Khell’eva had fled to him and joined his freedom-fighting band. Some of these Orcs had even found redemption in the Name of the True Master and in other decent faiths, renouncing Ekogaru forever.

An Orc Radar Officer on Vlaner’s pirate flagship, the Deathblade, spotted blips and said, smiling in a smile that most humans would find hideous…except for those men and women from Terra who had fought bravely with Ensign Granak, “Cap’n, we’ve got several pus-ridden machine bastards on the damned radar! GARN! Ten battleships, five cruisers, ten escorts of varied types and classes. Commodore?”

“Getting a signal from the Patrol Cruisers on our flanks, they’ve already engaged the Mechanoid freaks,” said an Ensign John Garner, a man once from Columbia, South Carolina, United States, Terra, who had been taken prisoner by the cruel Technomugar enemy after seeing his wife crucified and burned alive on Occupied Terra and then joining the Rebels on Terra before contacting Vlaner’s men. Garner had been a college professor, a linguist by trade, teaching at USC in Columbia, and this former Gamecock had also been a reserve officer in the EDF. Marked for death after seeing his wife killed, the bearded officer had learned the practical arts of fighting in days in this short, intense, cruel war, and he had been with Vlaner’s men for five days now. He interpreted the signals from his fellow renegades and said, “The Cruisers are fighting hard, sir. And I am picking up a hymn, over a great distance, in Pellian…shall I play it?”

“It is not a hymn to the Dark Lord, is it?” hissed Vlaner.

“Negative, sir. It is “Shout to the Lord”, in your language. A morale builder, sung by a woman with a gorgeous voice.”

He put the song up and they heard Nova singing, in Pellian:

Shana Kala halka veda Shana!

Hega kalda Shana M’Malkha!

Again… Power and majesty, Praise to our King!

“I recognize her voice,” said Vlaner. “I met her twice! That’s the Pellian High Queen Nova herself! D’Malkha‘Jak Himself be Praised! I heard she was dead! She’s back! All of you, fight like the Imperishable Flame Himself burns in your Heart, because He does! Fight for the Almighty, and fight for HER, too! ATTACK!” cried Vlaner.

And, they did, with the rough-voiced Ensign Granak lustily leading the men and women on the bridge in song and praise with Nova in Pellian as Vlaner’s fleet of freedom fighters fell on their enemies like flaming rain with every heavy plasma gun on the captured and reconfigured R’Khell warships shooting at their enemies with pinpoint accuracy and causing a holocaust before some of the freedom fighters peeled off and bombarded factories and dockyards at Vlaner’s orders as the repentant psionic reached out across space and smashed in the metallic neck of the evil Technomugar Admiral Gratz the Cannibal (who was literally a Cannibal who tortured and ate prisoners!) Gratz would eat no more innocent children as he gasped to breathe and then fire raked the bridge of his ugly dark-green flagship, blowing the battleship to bits.

Vlaner’s whole crew was singing lustily now as Vlaner nodded and they warped out, their hit and run raid on the enemy and on R’Khell’eva itself finished.

And, back on the Yamato on Pellias, Nova and Derek finished their hymn to great applause. They stood up, bowed together, and partook in some dinner and wine for a few hours before they made a discreet exit around midnight in both local Pellian and Terran Tokyo Megalopolis time.

It was quite dark outside as the lovers stood on the Yamato’s deck, held hands, and then vanished.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

A few minutes later, they were in the city, with Derek standing in a dark, simple, and quiet room in the rebuilt Royal High Palace after Nova teleported him there.

There was a stone floor, a bed with a silken mattress, a bookcase, a bureau, a single window, and nothing else in the room. It was quiet and very discreet.

Nova raised her hand, and changed them both into comfortable casual clothing after making sure the heavy wooden door with its old-fashioned key lock was locked.

Derek raised his hand and decided to try something.

He found that he could turn down the dimmer switch.

“How dim do you want it, Nova?” Derek asked.

“Dim enough so that the only light in here is moonlight and starlight,” Nova said.

Derek did exactly that.

“And now?”

“Hold me, Derek,” Nova said as she lay in his lap. “You can figure out all of the rest.”

Derek just smiled and kissed her again.

And…she hugged him.

They did not sleep that night.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mark and Trelaina had to drive a little through the darkened streets of Beltane to find their new home away from home in the port city, which was not far from the parklands and forests that were on the northern border of the High Queen’s palace grounds.

They got out of the car that had been purchased for them along with the house: a cherry-red copy of a Terran 20^th Century Cadillac convertible.

Complete with tailfins.

Mark liked the car, but it looked a bit like the used retro 2205 aircar he had bought when still married to Holly years ago.

“Trelaina, did I ever tell you about a car I had that was similar to this?”

“Was it when you were on Earth?”

“Yes. The tale of how I ended up buying it sort of went like this…”

It was in 2208.

Mark’s car had just died.

“Well, what’s the verdict?” snapped Holly Venture as they sat together in Mark Venture’s 2203 Buick Century aircar. Holly was tapping her sneaker-clad foot impatiently against the floorboard as Mark was trying, again and again, to get his aircar to just start.

All he was getting was the noise of the starter turning over the turbine repeatedly, followed by the sound of the turbine spooling up, and then going dead. “I can’t get the damn thing to suck in enough air to pressurize the manifold,” said Venture. “The fusion cell is producing more than enough power…just can’t get that power to kick over the fan…”

“TRACTION MOTOR OVERHEAT?” muttered Holly as she looked at a red light on the dashboard. “What’s that mean?’

“I think it means we’re stuck by the wide of the damn road until someone can get this car running again,” said Mark as he banged his fist against the dashboard. “DAMNIT!”

Holly looked out the window, which she had just had to open because there was now no air conditioning in Mark’s aircar. “It’s hot out there,” she said as she looked at the side of the road near the shoulder, where there were trees and a few houses and buildings. On the other side of the road, traffic sped past Venture’s dead car, which sat on the shoulder with its hazard lights blinking. Holly swabbed at her bare midriff below her cropped top and above her cutoff shorts and said, “We’d better do something. I’m melting in here!”

Mark looked at Holly and sighed. “Get the comm phone out from the console. I’m calling some friends.”

Holly handed Mark the phone and said, “You’re not popping the hood yourself?”

“No, I know that the damn thing will need a reset code to get started,” said Mark, who was sweating himself in his T-shirt, gym shorts, and flip-flops. “Except that I don’t know the reset codes.”

“Great,” said Holly. “You don’t seem to have any luck getting me pregnant, even though we try and try and try, and now, it seems you have no luck getting the car fixed, either!”

“Holly, I’m not useless, I just don’t have the information!” snapped Venture as he dialed a number. He grumbled as it rang and rang and rang.

“Who are you trying to call?” said Holly. “It’d better be the Road Service or the police…”

“No…I’m trying Sandor.”

“Sandor?” said Holly in a flat tone of voice.

“If anyone would know about cars, he would,” said Mark in an irritable tone of voice. Sandor’s voicemail came up, and Mark gave up. “No answer.”

“Call the road service!” said Holly as she got out of the car.

“Let me try someone else,” said Mark. He dialed another number as Holly got back into the car after messing around with her ponytail. After four rings, the other party answered. Holly heard a young woman’s voice coming out of the phone. “Mark? What do you want? I’d be more sociable, but I’m driving.”

“Yeah, call her,” snorted Holly. “Like Nova knows any crap about cars.”

” Where are you?” said Venture.

“Akibihara Road,” Nova said. “Derek and I had to run out to the market for baby food. The kids are with Jonathan. What’s up?”

“How far are you away from Clearview Boulevard and Memorial Drive?”

“Ten minutes,” Nova sighed. “What’s the problem, Mark?”

“My car’s dead. Can you and Derek come and look at it? And do you know the reset codes for a Buick?”

“He’s hopeless, Nova!” yelled Holly into the phone. “He won’t call the Road Service!”

“You try calling Sandor?” Nova said.

“He’s not picking up.”

“I don’t know if I can help, but it’s near home, so we’ll see ya.” Nova then clicked off.

“How does she know reset codes for aircars?” said Holly.

“Easy…she wants to restore an old 2175 model someday with Derek,” Mark said.

“Nice, another project for the lovebirds,” sneered Holly. “I think we need a new car, Mark!”

“So, what did you end up buying, again?” Trelaina asked.

“A pink 2205 Cadillac, like I mentioned before,” sighed Mark. “It was an aircar, but it sort of looked like this one,” he said.

He got up, slammed the door, and helped Trelaina out onto the driveway. It was warm, so she was comfortable in her thin dress with bare feet.

She smiled a little and used her power to pop open the house door before Mark even got the key out.

“That was a surprise,” said Venture with raised eyebrows.

“I hope you like the surprises I have planned for later tonight,” Trelaina said.

“Trelaina, I thought you were so innocent,” Mark said.

“Innocent, yes, after you carefully took my new physical virginity to other day. Oblivious, no. This is getting to be fun!” she said as she lay down on the sectional couch after locking the door. She dragged Mark on top of her, and he was as startled as heck to find out a moment later that Trelaina had made their garments disappear with a wave of her hand. Everything was gone.

“Trelaina! What did you do with my tux?” Mark said.

“It’s back in the guest room,” Trelaina said. “Clothes will just get in the way right now, and my dress was close to dissolving. Kiss me, please…oh, please…”

Mark did so, and soon, they were back at it again.

As they made love, Mark thought, I wonder how I’m going to take you back to Earth with me without the authorities using you as a guinea pig?

“Simple,” Trelaina answered aloud. “We’ll be under Nova’s protection on Earth; she’s still the President, remember? But I think we’ll spend a few years after that here on Pellias, in this pretty little house…”

“And then, where will we go?” Mark said.

“I have plans that I can foresee,” said Trelaina with a smile before she kissed Mark like mad. “I don’t want to spoil my surprise yet.”

Mark kissed Trelaina back, having no idea what she was talking about…and not caring, either.

As they kissed, Mark noticed that they were no longer on the couch.

Trelaina had them floating in the air about a meter above the couch as glimmers of her energy filled the space.

“Mark, I do hope that you’re not afraid of heights. I wanted to try this…”

“Trelaina, this is….”

“Fun?” she said as she kissed him again.

Mark kissed back.

He had a sudden urge to take her…now.

And, he did.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

TO BE CONTINUED…