The Honeymoon’s Over
By Yuki Wildstar
A Star Blazers Fan Fiction work
Chapter One: Honeymoon and Recall
to Duty
I. HONEYMOON
Earth
The Pacific Region
Sunday, June 24, 2204
Morning
After a long night on
the beach, Captain Derek Wildstar awoke to a bright sun coming over the
horizon. Looking down on his wife, Lieutenant Commander Nova Forrester, as she
slept, he could not believe after all this time that they were finally
together. As he stared at her she moved a bit, opening her eyes to see the man
that she had married and had loved for so long.
“Good morning Mrs.
Wildstar, how did you sleep?” Derek asked.
“MMMM, just
wonderful” Nova replied, “and a good morning to you, Mr. Wildstar.”
As they sat on the
beach watching the sun rise it was just beginning to hit them that they were
indeed all alone on the island. They were sitting on a large beach towel, with
their swimwear cast off somewhere in a pile.
“Derek,” Nova asked
while looking into his eyes with a playful light as she cuddled her nude form
next to his, “do you think that we could do the same thing that we did last
night?”
Derek looked back
into her eyes and smiled, “ I think I can accommodate
you on that.”
So, he took her into
his arms again and began kissing and caressing her body for a long time until
Nova moaned just enough for him to take her. Their bodies entwined once again,
but this time it was less of a rush.
Nova responded to
Derek’s body more so then the night before. This time they were more in tune
with each other. As the sun began to beat harder down on their bodies, it was
almost magical to them that they were alone and making passionate love on the
beach. As they both came to the height of their love making, Derek grabbed Nova
tighter just as Nova did with Derek.
Finally, fireworks
came at the end as they fell back onto the beach towel in a heap, smiling at
each other.
“Wow! That was
fantastic!” Nova said in exhausted tones, “I can’t believe it gets better every
time.” To punctaute her words, Nova gave Derek an affectionate kiss.
“I know,” Derek
replied “ I knew it would be great, but baby, you are
the best. I love you so much.”
“I love you too,
darling,” Nova replied. As she began to stand up, Derek pulled her down again. “Nova? What is this?
Make love and run? I mean, you’re just gonna leave me here like this? I don’t
even know where my Speedo trunks went.”
“No, silly,” Nova
said looking into his dark eyes, and admiring his slender, yet muscular form,
which was starting to get an all-over tan she was finding very appealing, “I
would never leave you! Come on…we can shower and have breakfast, because after
last night and this morning I am starving!”
“Me, too!” Derek yelled back, after she started to run back to the bungalow,
flying with barefoot grace through the sand with her dancer-like legs going as
fast as they could. As he got up and started to chase her back, Nova squealed
with delight. It would be a race to see who would get back first.
“Last one there makes
breakfast, while the other takes a shower!” yelled Nova, while hoping that he
would out run her, because after the last time he had tried to cook…everything
was cooked a la burnt.
Running faster to get
to the door, Derek passed her in order to take a shower first; after all he
knew he wasn’t the greatest cook.
He knew Nova was
being nice to him after he made breakfast the last time, and he didn’t want to
put her through that again.
“Ha, I beat you!”
“OK, OK , I guess I should get breakfast started, you go and take
your shower.” Nova said as she stretched on her toes on the wall-to-wall carpet
in the hallway.
Derek stole yet
another glance at his wife’s body. Her hair was a lighter shade of blond than
usual due to the sun, and she was lightly tanned all over, too, from the top of
her forehead down to the tips of her toes. She wore only a small cross
necklace, the wedding band he had slipped on her finger at Heroes’ Hill in the
Tokyo Megalopolis a bit less than twenty-four hours ago, and mother-of-pearl
nail polish on her fingers and toes that had matched her wedding gown. Few
people had been able to see the polish on her fingers during the ceremony,
since Nova had worn long gloves with her dress, but more than a few people saw
her toes, as she had worn sandals for the warm weather as a June bride.
It was miraculous
that they were together, Derek thought. Only a month beforehand; Earth had been
facing extinction thanks to the Deinguilians and their sick plan to drown Earth
by warping Planet Aquarius there in a war that had begun in late April. One
bleak day in early May, Nova had remembered the space battleship Yamato arriving home on automated
control, badly damaged. She had boarded her with Doctor Sane and had found that
the crewmembers with helmets on would stand a chance of living while those
without helmets were dead; and…
…she had found Derek
without his helmet. At that, she had nearly killed herself.
She couldn’t face
life without him. Not then, and not now…
Derek’s voice brought
Nova back to where they were as he said, “Well we can take a shower together
and make breakfast later together…if that sounds a little better” said Derek
while kissing her neck even though there was still sand on it from sleeping on
the beach.
“Why, Captain
Wildstar, is that a proposition…or an order?” Nova laughed.
“Well if it has to
be…than it’s an order, so march yourself into the shower and be prepared to be
pampered all over…” Derek said with a grin.
“Oh you, what am I
gonna do with you?” Nova laughed while heading to the shower.
Kids…
II. TIME TO GO…
The Pacific Region
Sunday, July 8, 2204
Morning…
“I can’t believe that
it’s over, why couldn’t it have lasted a little longer?” complained Nova as two
weeks’ worth of swimming, lovemaking, diving, sunbathing, lovemaking, dancing,
talking, singing, running, lovemaking and exploration of Palau all too quickly
came to an end as Nova got their bags in preparation of their departure for
home.
“I know, baby,”
replied Derek. “But…reality calls us…and we have to get back and face the music
with the EDF.”
“I know,” sighed Nova.
“I wonder what
surprises they have in store for both of us. As much as I want to spend the
rest of my life just laying around and making love to you, we have to get back
to the real world,” Derek said to his new bride, that he loved so much. He still remembered the promise that he made
to Venture and he knew would never go back on that promise for as long as he
lived.
That promise, sworn
as Venture had been dying at his post on the Yamato, had been “Make her happy, Derek…”
As he looked at his
lovely wife of two weeks, Derek thought of their lives on the Star Force and he
wondered again why he waited so long to marry her. He should have married her years
before…even if it was a quick ceremony at least his best friend and brother
would have been there. Maybe then he would have known of Captain Avatar still
being alive and he would have never missed them getting married. He thought of
the possibilities that could have been, had things been a little different and
if Earth wasn’t being threatened by enemies.
The Gamilons,
the Comet Imperials, the Black Nebulans, the Bolar Federation and the Garumans,
and the Deinguils. All of them
had conspired, as it were, to keep them on duty and apart those many years.
And what about Desslok? Derek thought. After the Yamato’s last battle, in which Desslok, thought dead in the
devastation of Garuman, had appeared, the mysterious Gamilon had left again for
the stars.
Once my enemy…now my friend, thought Derek.
I wish he could have remained around long
enough so that he could have been at our wedding. He knows how much we have
always loved
each other. Instead, he sent a message, stating that he had to
depart-duty called him. I wonder what he meant? Derek thought. But…well,
enough. That was the past. What is now is now.
Now we can finally move forward, he thought to himself with a thoughtful look running across
his face as a breeze blew his hair against his light blue EDF uniform top.
Since they would be flying soon, Derek and Nova had reluctantly had to put back
on their uniforms and pack away their summer things until they arrived home.
“Derek, what are you
thinking about?” Nova asked as he readied his red flight helmet. She knew that
something was running through his mind. “You looked so far away for the
moment.”
“Is it that obvious?”
Derek asked.
“Yes. You seemed so
far away and your eyes were somewhat glossy, is everything all right?” Nova
asked with worry crinkling her delicate features above her skin-tight EDF
blues.
“No honey, nothing is
wrong…I was just thinking to myself of how stupid I was to wait so long to take
you as my wife, among other things. I know that we decided together that the
time wasn’t right, but now I think back and ask myself, when was the right
time? Venture is no longer with us, neither is my brother and Captain Avatar is
dead, at rest on his post aboard the wreck of the Yamato up in space. And, Desslok just departed soon after our last
battle.”
“Derek,” Nova said.
“Mark and Captain Avatar are in a better place now; I can sense it. Mark is
finally with Trelaina, and the old Captain is with his dead wife and son. As
for Desslok, he’s like the wind. Who knows where
he went? Maybe to rebuild what was left of his Empire? I don’t know…”
“I know. But, Nova, I
only wished that they were here to see us get married. I guess reality is
hitting me now of the possibilities that we could have taken. But enough of
that…I don’t want to return home with this gloom all around us.”
Derek walked over to
Nova and grabbed her hand. “I love you Nova, and I would never do anything to
betray that, to you or to Venture and Captain Avatar. I promised them I would
always love you, and be there for you…no matter what…we’ll be together.”
“Oh, Derek!” said
Nova as tears of happiness filled her eyes.
And with that, Derek
he kissed his bride long and hard, hoping that the moment would never end.
“Oh Derek, I love you
so much too… I ever couldn’t imagine myself with any one else. And I’m so glad
that it was you that I fell in love with.” Nova said with more tears in her
eyes. She too didn’t want this magical time to ever end. But, now, she thought, It is back to work and
back to dealing with the EDF…at least they have Singleton to be there for the
Star Force, whether they are together or apart. At least they have that….
As they both packed
their things in preparation of departing, all they could do was stay silent and
bask in their own thoughts of the lovely wedding and honeymoon they had
enjoyed.
When they were
finished packing, Derek broke the silence by saying, “Well are you ready, my
love? Duty calls us.”
Nova smiled at him
and nodded. Together they placed their things into the Star Voyager boat, and
they both took a last look at the place they thought of as home for two weeks.
Back to the real world,
Nova thought to herself. But, at least
I’m going back as Mrs. Derek Wildstar…. to which she smiled at.
“What are you
grinning at? You look like the cat that ate the canary,” Derek said while
looking at her with a puzzled look on his face.
“Well,” said Nova as
she ran her booted foot around in the sandy soil. “I was thinking that now…we
are going to start our lives as Mr. & Mrs. Wildstar, at long last,” Nova replied.
“Derek, did you ever think that it would ever happen, considering that we had
to postpone our wedding, like, I don’t know…about a million times? Between all
the wars we fought, and besides, the fights we had to
fight with the EDF. And now we have to go back and probably fight more with
them. Did you ever think about it, Derek?”
“Too many
times, but we are here and now we are going to our new home. I just can’t wait until I carry you over the threshold to
finally make it legal.”
“Legal?” Nova asked
with a puzzled look on her face. “I had the idea that the Padre in his
vestments made us legal on Heroes’ Hill when we said, “I do” to each other… Or did you find our wedding rings in a cereal
box?” she teased.
“Nova, we’re not
fully legal until I carry you over the threshold.”
“Then?” said Nova as
she playfully pushed her husband.
“And then my love, we
have to christen the house in a few places.” Derek said with an evil grin. “The
bedroom, the guest room, the living room, the rec room, the bedroom, the dining
room, the foyer, the bathroom, the Jacuzzi, the bedroom…”
“I think I like that
idea,” said Nova as she winked at her husband.
“Ok…everything on board, we got everything, how about the portable comm-set?”
“Oh gosh, almost
forgot about that thing.” Nova said. “We can’t leave it here for the next set
of guests. I requisitioned it from Homer back home.”
“I’ll get it,
babe…you just finish up here and I’ll go fetch it,” Derek said while heading
back to the bungalow.
When he got back, he
found Nova fast asleep in the front cockpit. He decided to leave her be and
finished putting their stuff into the plane. He put their dress peacoats in
last, since he knew they would need them back home. Once he was done, he
strapped Nova into her seat, put her helmet on her head, kissed her before
sealing the faceplate after turning on the air supply, and then he blasted off.
Back to the home that awaited them on
III. TOUCH DOWN TO REALITY
July 8, 2204
Federal Air Station
1314 hrs
“This is zero niner
zero to control tower …come in, control tower,” Derek said into the radio.
“This is control
tower, zero niner zero, we’ve been expecting you Captain Wildstar and Mrs.
Wildstar, you’re clear to land on runway 62S. Welcome home.”
“Thank you control
tower, clear to land on runway 62S, preparing to land,” Derek said while
looking at his sleeping wife. “Oh well I guess I’ll have to wake her,” he said
to himself. Then, speaking more loudly, he said, “Nova, Nova honey, wake up
we’re here!”
“MMM, what?, where are we?,” Nova asked while trying to wake up, “What
do you mean we’re here?”
“Baby, you slept the
whole way…we’re home, we are just about to land, so you have to put your seat
back upright,” Derek told Nova.
“Oh my, I can’t
believe I just did that, I’m so sorry that I wasn’t up to keep you company,”
Nova replied.
“That’s OK…I just
love watching you sleep and...” Derek was about to say when a familiar voice
came over the radio.
“Captain Wildstar,
Mrs Wildstar, this is Commanding General Hiram Singleton; on behalf of the Star
Force and Earth we welcome you two home. Please report to my office once you land…we
have a lot to discuss.”
“Roger,
Commander…Captain Wildstar and Lieutenant.....,” Derek stopped and looked at
Nova. “What shall we call you now for EDF purposes…Lieutenant Commander
Forrester or Wildstar?”
“Well…considering
that people will get confused over which one of us, I think its best to stay
with my maiden name, so it’s Lieutenant Commander Forrester, if that’s OK with
you, Captain Wildstar?” Nova replied.
“Hmmm,” said Derek as
a sour look crossed his face. “Roger…sir… Captain Wildstar and Lieutenant
Commander Forrester will be there…”
“Good,” said the
Commander. “We have much to discuss…and an old friend of yours will be there to
help brief you, too…”
“Acknowledged,” said
Derek.
“It sounds as if I
may have interrupted…a discussion between you and Lieutenant
Commander…Forrester…so, we shall talk later,” said Singleton. “Please report to
my office in EDF Headquarters after you land. I will expect you there at
fourteen-thirty hours. Good luck.”
At that, the
Commander cut off.
Nova looked at her
silent husband. “Are you mad?”
Derek then looked at
Nova and just said “No. We can talk about this after we land…that’s all…”
“Is this going to be
our first fight?” said Nova with a pleasant voice but fire in her dark brown
eyes.
“Nova…we’ve really
never discussed this before…I guess once we land we’ll need to talk about it.”
“Yes. We certainly
will,” replied Nova. She looked at Derek with the strong will that she had
which Derek knew all too well.
Derek thought, I
guess I better prepare myself, I know she’ll win this one too..
As the Voyager
finally landed, Derek and Nova looked around to see if there were any reporters
lingering around. The last thing they needed right now were digital cameras
flashing in their faces and lots of nosy, intrusive questions.
They looked in the
distance to find someone approaching them on the taxiway.
“Sir, Ma’am, your car
is over here,” said a young enlisted man as he saluted. “My name is Corporal
Jack Middleton and I will be your driver, please step inside and I will take
care of your luggage.”
As Middleton placed
their things in the car Derek and Nova tried to sneak one last kiss before
going to Singleton’s office. They were successful, but they sighed
a little as Corporal Middleton got their heavy dress peacoats and helped them
into them. Even though they were shorter summerweight jackets, and not the
regular issue coats for Fleet duty, the two young officers soon felt a little
hot in the navy blue and scarlet Naval peacoats with their high, stiff red
collars that harkened back to Napoleonic days when military officers had
dressed well.
Finally Middleton
returned to the car and began driving back to the
Why couldn’t this
wait until we were unpacked and settled in at home? Nova thought to herself.
Wildstar wondered
also what was it that couldn’t wait until tomorrow. “I
wonder what the Commander wants…I hope nothing is wrong, to come back from such
a wonderful time with my wife to something else that can take us apart from
each other” Derek said out loud.
“Oh Derek, do you
think that we already have orders to leave somewhere? Or even worse, will you
have leave on a mission that will take you away from me for a whole year?” Nova
said looking at Derek with grief in her eyes. “I know they said they were
rebuilding the Fleet with the relatively few ships they had left after we lost
most of the Fleet to Lugal’s forces…but…?”
“I don’t know but I’m
sure we will know in a few minutes, we are coming up to the building now,”
Derek said.
The massive EDF
Headquarters building loomed before them. Middleton pushed a few codes, and the
aircar came off the main Government Center Circle Parkway that surrounded the
main governmental buildings in the Capital of Earth, and it took a private exit
that led right to one of the high-priority clear techtite vacuum tubeways that
went right into the huge multi-storied Headquarters building. This tubeway led
to around the eighteenth floor, around the Fleet Ops and BuShips levels.
BuShips was the part of the EDF that designed new space and seagoing naval
vessels and procured new ship construction for the Fleet.
The aircar finally
came to a full stop and the door was opened by Middleton.
He said, “Sir,
Ma’am…the Commander is waiting upstairs in his office on the sixty-fifth floor,
oh…and by the way, welcome home…Captain and Mrs. Wildstar.”
“Thank you Corporal”
Wildstar and Nova said in return.
Derek and Nova headed
into the building and looked around “nothing’s changed” thought Derek as
he looked around, watching male and female officers and enlisted men and women
scurrying around in the standard blue EDF uniforms and different-colored
coveralls of the different Headquarters units, punctuated here and there by
robots of different classes.
Derek and Nova both
waited for the elevator to come. Just as one opened its doors, their old friend
Commander Stephen Sandor stood inside.
“HEY! Wildstar!”
“Sandor! How’s it going, what are you up to, Steve?”
“Design work. We have
a Fleet to rebuild,” said Sandor.
“Nova…has this guy
been taking good care of you?” Sandor said looking at Nova.
“What do you think?”
said Nova. “Yes. Except for a little discussion whether I’m going on active
duty as Lieutenant Commander Forrester or…”
“Wildstar,” blurted
Derek.
“Forrester,” repeated
Nova as she patted Derek’s cheek.
“Nova…you look
absolutely radiant,” said Sandor. “It looks like marriage agrees with you and
Wildstar. But didn’t you just get back? What are you doing here so soon?
Couldn’t get enough of this place I see.”
“Naw, Sandor, Admiral
Singleton wants to see us both in his office as soon as we landed. Any idea what this is about?” Derek ask
Sandor in hopes that he knew something. After all, he knew that Steve had his
ears at about a hundred different keyholes, so to speak, because of the
friendships he had with all sorts of people here at Heaquarters.”
“Nope, sorry…” Sandor
said. “I do know that there’s a rumor going around about a new space battleship
or two, but they’re keeping news about the Arizona
II class tighter than a drum.”
“What’s the Arizona II class?” said Derek.
“Supposedly, a super
ship class they’re designing that’s eventually supposed to be the new EDF
Flagship. You remember the
“Yes, she was lost
looking for a New Earth,” sighed Nova. “The Bolar
Federation chewed her to bits. Jason Jetter, IQ-9 and I explored that wreck.
She was in pretty sad shape, and most of her crew had been reduced to
skeletons,” said Nova as she shivered at the memory of almost tripping over the
skeleton of what had once been an officer and friend she knew.
“They’re supposedly
building a new one,” said Sandor. “But if they are, they’re keeping me off that
project. Maybe they remember how I criticized their last wonder ship classes,
namely the Andromeda and the Inflexible-class.”
Derek sighed at that
memory. The Inflexibles were the
spanking new lead space battleships they had just lost to the Deinguils. Thanks
to the Deinguil Hyper-Radiation Missiles, Admiral Geoff Rowland, the commander
of the EDF Fleet in that battle, had been the latest Fleet Admiral to die,
joining Admirals Gideon and Yamanami in the Beyond.
“Oh well…Derek…let’s
get going…the sooner we get up, there the quicker we can get home and unpack
our luggage. And we probably have a thousand gifts to unwrap, plus not to think
of the thank-you notes we have to send out.” Nova said with a smile.
“OK you two, we’ll
talk a little later when you’re all settled in. Good luck!” Sandor said waving
goodbye after getting off on his floor around BuShips.
The elevator
continued on to the 65th floor. That was the floor that they were to get off
at.
When the doors
opened, Derek and Nova turned left to the office of General Singleton. They
were greeted by the Adjutant, a post Nova had once occupied, and a post now
being held by a young woman named Lieutenant Vanessa Jacobi. She looked good in
the white jacket and skirt uniform that Nova herself had once worn as the
Commander’s secretary and military aide. They were told to have a seat while
the Commander got off the phone while Jacobi worked. Nova knew all too well
that Vanessa had quite a job, since a Commanding General’s Aide had to not only
take phone calls and do paperwork, he or she also had
to decide who had priority to see him and speak to him, and who could be
shunted to voice mail.
The Aide also had to
decide what papers, reports and computer files the Commander actually had to
see, and he or she had to decide the meeting agenda for the head General’s busy
day. There were also travel vouchers, cutting orders at a moment’s notice, runs
out to different stores and supply offices, and…yes, making the coffee. The
coffee part was the only part of that job Nova had never quite mastered.
Nova, from
experience, (having been smart enough to have served three tours of duty as
Singleton’s aide, along with his grand-daughter Wendy Singleton) also knew that
part of the job included keeping reporters out and keeping General Stone, the
by-the-book but annoying Chief of Staff, from barging in on him. Nova
remembered the times she had been forced to tell Stone, “Sir, he is busy. He
will see you later.” Quite a few
times, Stone had had harsh words with Nova. Once, he had even cursed her out
and called her names that were so rude
that later on, Nova had been forced to go into Singleton’s inner office and
have a good cry while he gave her some brandy.
But, enough,
thought Nova as she looked at Vanessa’s face and wondered how long she’d last
in that hot seat. Quite a few men and women had been relieved of that post
after run-ins with Stone or others of his ilk.
Two minutes later
they were told to enter the office.
They did so, coming
to attention and saluting as Singleton faced them in his imposing forest green
uniform and white ascot.
The Commander
returned the salute and said, “Welcome back Captain and Mrs Wildstar” as he
then shook both of their hands. “It’s nice to see the both of you back, so how
was the flight there and back?”
“Very good, sir,”
lied Nova. She hadn’t seen much, after all, having been asleep during the
flight.
“Great. I’m sure that
Captain Wildstar was an excellent pilot and there were no bumps on the flight.
Anyway, down to business. Have a seat.”
The two junior
officers sat down, smoothing down their peacoats as they sat in comfortable
chairs before Singleton’s large desk.
Then, Singleton said
into his intercom, “Send him in, Jacobi.”
“Yessir,” she said in
clipped tones. Nova’s eyebrows went up as she heard a little yelp from the
secretary as the intercom cut off…
And…a moment later,
IQ-9 rolled into the office.
“IQ!” said Derek.
“IQ-9, are you being
good?” said Nova.
“No. Your legs are
much lovelier than Lieutenant Jacobi’s, Nova!” chirped the little red Analysis
robot.
“IQ, you are talking
about my…” said Derek.
“Derek, Tinwit is
just talking,” said Nova. “Okay. Why are you here?”
“I was asked to be
here by the General, Nova,” said IQ-9. “I have technical data pertinent to this
meeting.”
“I see,” sighed
Derek. A technical
briefing? Darn. Captain
Wildstar’s face went just a little sour at the thought of a data-dump.
Singleton said, “He
is cleared to discuss classified information, Wildstar. I know that you two are
in a hurry to get home and unpack. I’ve already sent the driver to the house to
drop off your suitcases and he should be waiting for you when you leave here.
As for my asking you two here in such a quick time, I’ll get to that right now.
It has to do with your new orders.”
“Orders?” said Derek.
“Yes. As you know
when before you left for your honeymoon, both your orders were not set in
stone. Well after strong consideration, I manage to convince the EDF to place
you both on the next flight to Pluto that leaves in about one month for
training.”
“Training?” said
Derek. He looked hard at Nova.
“Yes. Training aboard a new command for you, Wildstar. It is not a
moment of crisis, so the Star Force is not being reunited as of yet. Instead,
many Star Force officers are in other commands, training new officers and men.
Cory Conroy will be at the
“Together?” said
Derek and Nova with a sudden look of shock on their faces.
“Yes. Together. At Pluto, you will then broad the new space
battleship Endeavor where you,
Captain Wildstar will take command…and you Lieutenant Commander Forrester…? Or is
it Wildstar now?”
“We are still
debating that, sir,” Nova said.
“Its Lieutenant
Commander Forrester, sir” Wildstar jumped in with a slight sigh
while Nova’s eyes lit up.
“Lieutenant Commander
Forrester…you will continue your work as Senior Living Group Officer, Head
Nurse, and Cosmo-Radar officer…That’s if you both can handle continuing to work
with each other in the Fleet?” General Singleton asked.
“We should have no
problem, sir,” said Derek as he looked at Nova.
“She’s blushing!” chirped IQ-9.
“I am not!” snapped
Nova.
“Are too!”
“Not!”
“You are, Nova,” said
IQ-9.
Nova was tempted to
grab down and pull off her shoe and throw it at him (as she had a few times
when she had been Adjutant), but as she reached for her ankle, she remembered
she had her black service boots on. Pulling off a boot in front of the
Commander would have been embarrassing, while losing a shoe (as she had done
once in that situation) would have been even worse.
General Singleton
cleared his throat and said, “IQ-9, give us a techical briefing on the Endeavor project. That is why you are
here.”
“Yessir,” he said as
he turned his dome a certain way, all business now as he focused on a spot in
front of the desk. Nova gasped as one of his forward sensor units lit up and a beam
of light appeared, followed by a hologram of a baby-blue and royal blue space
battleship cruising through the stars.
“This,” said IQ-9.
“Is a computer animation of the new Arizona
II class of space battleships. The first ship of
the class, the Arizona II, was,
unfortunately, not finished in enough time for the battle with the Denguils to
act as EDF Flagship. Neither was her sister ship, the Endeavor.”
“The Arizona II and Endeavor are intended to act as command ships and long-range
exploration and patrol ships,” continued IQ-9. “If the Yamato had survived, she would have received a new upgrade and
refit to make her similar to those ships. The topic of such a salvage and refit
is still being considered by the Earth Defense Council…”
“What?” said Captain
Wildstar, utterly shocked. “But the Yamato is gone…she’s a wreck in an ice
asteroid orbiting Earth, and…”
“IQ-9,” said Singleton in clipped tones. “They are not cleared for that!”
“I may have said too
much,” said IQ-9. “I apologize. The Endeavor
and Arizona II are each 280 meters
long, with a gross mass of ninety-three thousand metric tons,” said IQ-9 as he
showed details of the two ships, which looked like slightly larger versions of
the original space battleship Arizona,
which had been lost at Beta. Derek also noticed quite a resemblance to the Yamato in Endeavor’s sleek bridge tower and topsides.
“The Endeavor, the main point of discussion,”
continued IQ-9 as he showed more holograms of the sleek light blue battleship,
“has a heavy armament of pulse lasers, attack missiles, counterattack missiles,
smokestack missiles, and four main shock cannon turrets. The main guns have a
range of eighteen megameters. The wave motion gun of this ship has a range of
thirty megameters and is switchable between straight blast and dissemination
modes. She can mount two Cosmo Hound warp-capable boats, eight medical boats,
six landing boats, and up to sixty fighters. She will not have a whole
complement on this mission; she will be carrying a squadron of Super Star
Fighters, one command Super Star fighter, and two squadrons of Cosmo Tiger
II’s. The Endeavor has just been
completed and is on her way to Pluto now with a skeleton crew undergoing
initial trials. Captain Wildstar will be her first operational Captain. If he
accepts the command, that is.” IQ-9 shut off his holo-projector and then
Singleton turned to Wildstar.
“Wildstar,” he said
as he stood and put his hand on Derek’s shoulder. “When you resigned the
command of the Yamato after losing so
many men and women in that first battle with the Deinguils, I knew this day
would come. I am offering you a chance to finish redeeming yourself with the
Captain’s papers for this new ship. I feel you and Nova would be great together
assisting a small cadre of young officers in training new men and women aboard
the Endeavor as a test project. Although this is not the Star Force, consider
yourself the Avatar of a new Yamato
on this mission, training the finest young men and women of the Fleet for new
tasks. If all goes well, and I’m assuming it will, then the EDF will have no
excuse to placing you both with each other on other missions in the future. Unless you decide, Lieutenant Commander Forrester, to resign and go
start a family.”
“Well, sir, Captain
Wildstar and I have spoken on that subject and we have decided to wait a while
longer,” Nova said as she looked towards Derek’s way.
“Yes sir, we did
agree…” Derek responded to her statement.
“Well then, I won’t
hold you up any further; I know that you have plenty to do once you’re home and
just a quick reminder. We will be all meeting at Heroes’ Hill tomorrow at 0700
sharp if you both wish not to attend we all will understand after all you both
need to get back into the swing of the things.”
“We will be there…nothing
can keep us away,” Derek replied.
“Good,” said
Singleton. Finally…two more things, My niece, Wendy,
and Homer are getting married in six months. I am sure that they will be
telling you both together once they know you’re back, they would like you two
to attend after your mission is over. And last but not least, you both have 3
weeks’ leave to settle into your new life together before preparation for your
mission. With that…good luck and Godspeed, and you are dismissed.” General
Singleton said.
With that, he signed
at them to both step out the door, so that they couldn’t respond; that would
mean they be there for hours catching up on the new mission and he didn’t want
to take up any more time on their return home. He and IQ-9 had told them
enough.
IV. ONWARDS TO MARRIED LIFE…
July 8, 2204
1600 hrs
As Derek and Nova
stood outside of the Commander’s door, they just looked at each other. Derek
finally took Nova’s hand and started walking back to the elevators. She knew
all to well not to speak out in the open so she took his hand and followed him
back.
As they entered the
elevator they continued to be in their own thoughts, not saying a word about the
mission to each other until they got home. “The walls have ears” Nova said to
Derek as he smiled and nodded at his wife.
Once downstairs, they
waited outside for their car, which they were told, the Corporal would be
bringing around to the park before EDF Headquarters. They both looked at each
other and decided to walk around the grounds until the car returned. They told
the guard at the front door to have the car wait until
they came back in a few minutes. The guard nodded and Derek and Nova started to
walk away.
They walked and
talked about nothing in general, then Derek turned to Nova and spoke, “I know
we never discussed the whole last name thing…at first it did bother me that you
wouldn’t take my last name for professional reasons, but I understand now. With
the new orders I wouldn’t want everyone to be confused as to who’s who.”
“I’m sorry that we
didn’t talk about this earlier, but I really didn’t want to use your name as a
coat tail, Derek. And if its any consolation, I am
Mrs. Derek Wildstar outside of the office.” Nova said as she spotted the car
pull up.
They both walked back
to the car and hopped in as quickly as the day has passed.
When they were
finally home, in their foyer, they stood amongst boxes and boxes of gifts that
were left for them to open when they return. “Oh goodness, this is going to
take the 3 weeks that we have off” Nova said with a sigh as she sat down on a
small bench after shrugging off her peacoat. She pulled off her boots and put
them in a shoe rack in a closet in the foyer, not bothering with house slippers
on this warm late afternoon as she stood barefoot on the cool tile floor of
their elegant new house.
Nova knew the place
better than Derek did. It had been left to them by Captain Avatar, who was the
previous actual owner of the house. He had lived in the house while he had been
recovering from the operation that had brought him back from near-death, until
he had been evacuated right before the Black Nebulans had invaded Earth. Nova
had then found herself as a prisoner of Sub-Lieutenant Alfon of the Black
Nebulans, living in one of the guest rooms in a sad existence as Alfon’s
servant while she had been spying on him. Nova had told Derek about that
miserable existence many times, so she had found it ironic that she and Derek
had been left this house by old Avatar (who had reclaimed the place after the
events of December 2202) before he had left on Yamato’s last mission.
“I know it’ll take a
long time,” Derek said, “But…let’s wait until tomorrow and start on that and
come out here. Let’s go outside a minute.”
Nova walked outside
with Derek, not knowing what he wanted. Then, with one quick swoop he scooped
her up and carried her over the threshold of their home. They kissed and Derek
put her down and said “Now we are legal…finally!” Nova laughed out loud and
then they kissed again.
“Gosh, what time is
it?” Derek asked.
“Why its only 1700
hours, but it feels like midnight,” Nova said to Derek. “I’m tired…”
“Well…Mrs Wildstar
why don’t we grab an early dinner out at Andrea’s and then relax among these
piles of boxes?”
“Yeah…maybe I’ll find
a blender,” said Nova as she yawned.
“Or two or three
blenders,” retorted Derek.
Nova just laughed as she
went into the master bedroom to change out of her traveling clothes. When she
walked into the room, she noticed that someone was already there and had turn
down the bed. “How inviting it looks” she thought. “I could just lay down and sleep til morning.” Derek came in after to change, as well... as he looked towards the bed he looked at
his sleepy wife and said “Turning in already?”
“No silly, someone
turned down the bed for us, must have been Wendy and Homer. I’ll be ready in a
minute!” Nova yelled back from her new walk-in closet.
Derek went into his
own closet and looked for some comfortable clothes. He put on a pair of beige
slacks with a black dress shirt and matching belt and shoes. When he stepped
out of the closet, he found Nova in a nice little red strappy just above-the
knee dress that showed off her lightly tanned bare shoulders and shoulder
length hair. Again, she had a simple cross for a necklace, the one that she
never took off. Finally, she was busy strapping on a nice pair of open strappy
sandals that flattered her petite ankles and feet.
Gosh, she has great
legs, Derek thought to
himself as he looked at her smooth bare legs as she pirouetted while putting on
some perfume. They’re in top and
fit shape, yet very delicate to the eyes.
Nova examined her
husband and gave an approving nod. She always knew that he looked good in
civilian clothes. “You look great, Derek!”
“And you look great too, I might have to keep you inside this house. Someone
might want to take you away!”
“Oh, you!” laughed
Nova.
“So, where would you
like to go, Nova?”
“Oh lets go to
Andrea’s! They know us there and it’s quiet and there are no reporters.”
“Darn them, always
bugging us,” said Derek. “Sounds good to me.”
Derek smiled and
grabbed her by the waist and both went to their new car, heading to Andrea’s.
Dinner was quiet and
filling.
Andrea himself
greeted them at the door and whisked them to a private table in the back.
The food and wine
were excellent as usual, and before they knew it, it was already 2100 hours.
This was very late
for them, considering all the traveling and then the visit to the Commander’s
office.
By the time they
reached the house, it was 2214 hrs and they were both exhausted.
As they both undressed,
Derek took Nova’s hand and he carried her to the bed where he made mad
passionate love to her.
She didn’t mind one
bit as she responded to the lovemaking, enjoying the fireworks as she enjoyed
loving Derek, and being loved by him.
Finally, with happy
tears in her eyes, she yawned and cuddled Derek skin-to-skin while her husband
pulled down the covers, and admired her, naked except for her necklace.
They talked a little,
and then, a few minutes passed.
Derek felt an odd
presence as he pulled the light topsheet up over Nova’s breasts.
Not sure if he was
imagining it or not, Derek thought he saw the ghostly form of an old man in a
dark Naval coat looking at them.
The old man looked
just like…
“Captain Avatar?”
whispered Derek.
Avatar’s spectre
seemed to nod…and wink at them. Derek then sat up a little in bed, holding Nova
as a breeze blew in through the open window.
Derek thought he
smelled cherry blossoms on the breeze. Wrong time of the year for cherry
blossoms, he thought as he looked up at the stars. Then, he looked at Nova
again. As he looked over at her, she was already in a deep sleep.
“Good night Mrs.
Wildstar. I love you,” whispered Derek as he kissed her sleeping face.
Derek lay back and
within seconds he too was out like a light.
TO BE CONTINUED….