By
Yvelises Giordano (“Eva”)
A Star Blazers Fan Fiction work
Chapter Two: DUTY CALLS
I. TIME FLIES
Federal Air Station
July 29, 2204
Both Nova and Derek couldn’t believe how
time went by…one minute they were at home unpacking, and the next they were in
dress uniforms ready to depart for Pluto.
Wildstar stood next to Nova in his black
military Captain’s peacoat with full medals. Nova looked great in her officer’s
blue uniform and peacoat, also with medals. As they stood there waiting to
board the High-Speed Space Shuttle that would take them to Pluto Station, they
went over all the drills. They were very well aware that all eyes would be on
them going and coming back from their mission. So as to make sure all would go
well, they promised each other that this would be like any other mission.
It would be two respected officers working
side by side. There would be no public showings of affection in front of
others, and also they were to both have their own staterooms. Derek, of course,
would be in his Captain’s quarters and Nova would share her quarters with two
other female officers.
It took a few space warps for the
shuttlecraft to finally reach Pluto. On Pluto, they met with the new crew that
would be working with them on the Endeavor.
There were some familiar faces and many new ones. Many were new cadets fresh
out of the Academy, as Wildstar noticed. They look so young and scared and
awed at the same time.” Wildstar thought to himself. They remind me of
me when I first came out of the Academy..

A while later,
Derek and Nova flew the shuttle one last time to the dock that held the Endeavor.
“Shuttle 135, ready for takeoff,” said Wildstar into his mike just before he
and Nova removed their medals and stowed them away for sakekeeping.
“Shuttle 135,
clear for takeoff to the dockyards,” said a voice.
Derek then took
off as Nova helped him with the controls.
While they made
the last leg of their jourmey, Derek took a look at one of the schematics of
the Endeavor that IQ-9 had provided him. He shared it with Nova,
who had a look at the graphic of the new ship’s bridge.
“Derek,” she
commented.
“Yes?”
“I’m not sure I
like the looks of this ship much. Look! It looks more like the Andromeda than
the Yamato…see that bridge layout? The quad main
screen and all that?”
“Nova, most new
ships look like that.”
“And, Derek, look
at the bridge crew list. They’ve compressed the functions of several stations!
Did you see that? Now the bridge crew just consists of seven bridge
posts. There used to be nine on the Yamato.”
Wildstar looked
hard at the crew layout and list. “Hmmm…Combat and Artillery have been
compressed into one station…the jobs that Dash and I used to do are now in the
hands of one officer?”
“They think the
computers can take up the slack,” sighed Nova. “And
look! The Tactical Radar position has been combined with Communications? The
Assistant Pilot is also the Comm officer now?”
Derek and Nova
looked at each other. “And look, Nova. Cosmo Radar and Analysis are now one
post, and they’re yours all the time. The side Analysis post at the forward
part of the bridge next to Combat is just an auxilary station now. No more
Tinwit to assist you with the scans.”
“I thought they
had one of those new IQ-10’s on board,” said Nova as
she scratched her head. “What will he do?”
“Make the coffee
because you can’t?” said Derek with an evil wink.
Nova crossed her
eyes and knocked his Captain’s hat off his head with a playful cuff. “Oh, YOU!”
she said as they laughed.
Derek took the
mike and pretended to press the button as he said, “Marine Group, please board
this shuttle. One of my female officers is assaulting me because I insulted her
coffee. Please have a space ready for her in the brig!”
“Derek!” cried
Nova as she looked even more annoyed.
Then, a voice
came up on the speaker. “Shuttle 135? Is someone going crazy up there? Do we
need a guard for Lieutenant Commander Forrester? OVER!”
“No…negative…that
wasn’t supposed to go out on the bands. OVER…thumbed the button
by mistake.”
“We hope so,”
chuckled the man. “Lieutenant Commander Forrester isn’t very big. You should be
able to subdue her by yourself, sir.”
“We’re fine,”
said Derek.
“Silly,” huffed Nova. “Here’s that layout…”
Derek and Nova
looked. The graphic looked somewhat like this:
(aft)
1. CAPTAIN
2. MECH
OFFICER 3. COSMO RADAR (astral compass) 4. ENGINEERING 5. COMMUNICATIONS/TACTICAL RADAR
6. NAVIGATION 7. COMBAT 7a. AUX-ANALYSIS (usually unmanned)
(forward)
A few minutes
later, when they boarded the Endeavor, they met their crew.
Derek walked up
and down a line of officers on the
Lt Cmdr Evan Lee - Deputy Captain and
Helmsman (Navigator & XO)
Lt Cmdr William Ortiz – Combat Group Leader
Lt Masoto Miamato – Assistant Pilot and
Communications Officer
Lt Cmdr Jonathan Wright – Mechanical Group
Leader (Chief Tech)
Lt. Cmdr Mike Watanabe - Chief Engineer
Lieutenant Anthony “Pesh” Pesci - Black
Tiger Group Leader-1st Squadron Leader (in charge of 12 Cosmo Tiger II’s)
= (also known as the “Two Tonys”)
Lieutenant Tony “Tone” Delvechio
-
Black Tiger 2nd Squadron Leader
(in charge of 12 Cosmo Tiger II’s)
Lieutenant Hiro Matsui- Black Mamba Group
Leader and 1st Squadron Leader (in charge of 12 Super Star
Interceptors)
Staff Sergeant Robert “T” Booker - Space
Marine Group Leader
Lt Cmdr Michael Spada - Medical Doctor
As Derek walked down the line and shook hands
with each member he finally came up to Pesci and Delvechio, “So you two are the
famous Two Tonys I’ve been hearing about?”
“Yessir,” they said together.
“Okay,” said Wildstar. “Let’s see how good
you two are out there. But mind you I run a tight ship; therefore, there will
be no hot shots on my ship. Got
that?” Derek warned them.
“Yes
Sir!” they both replied as if they were twins that were born together at
birth.
“Good, glad we’re clear on that,” snapped
Derek as he shook hands with Matsui. He remembered him well-Matusi had been on
the Yamato three years ago as a Black
Tiger and new cadet graduate on their second mission to Iscandar to try to save
Starsha and Alex from the Black Nebulans. They had only succeeded in saving
Alex and his daughter Sasha, who had both died a year later when the Black
Nebulans had invaded Earth.
“Sir, when you said no hot shots,” said
Matsui, “Did you mean no guys like Sakamoto?”
“Yes, I was thinking of him,” said Wildstar.
“Where is he now?”
“Last I heard, up on charges someplace,
sir,” said Matsui. “Something about two women and a poker game…”
“Try to make sure these guys don’t lose
their shirts in poker games,” said Wildstar.
“I’ll try, sir,” replied Matsui.
Derek then introduced himself to the rest of
the crew. There were other officers on the bridge, many of whom would be
serving in other posts. When he was done, he came up before his bridge station,
sat down in the Captain’s chair, and said, “Good introductions, people. All staff…please report to the Main Conference room
at 0700 hrs tomorrow. We will be leaving Pluto at 0900 hrs so get your things,
settle in and study up on our mission. It is good to have such a great crew,
Thank you and you are dismissed to your cabins,” Captain Wildstar said to his
crew.
The officers before him saluted, and then
snapped to. Derek nodded. As all the staff went to their respective cabins to
settle in, Wildstar watched Nova walk with the other two female officers back
to their cabin. As he looked up from a computer screen behind his Captain’s
console for a quick moment, he saw Nova turn around and nod while looking deep
into his eyes. Then she disappeared with the other two women she would be
rooming with.
At that moment Lt Cmdr Lee took notice and
thought, This is going to be hard on them working side by side while not
able to act like they’re married aboard ship. But I also must do my job and
report back to General Stone with regards to any fraternization on board ship….
Wildstar looked back at
the bare bulkhead behind him and sighed. It
looks bare without Captain Avatar’s portrait there, he thought. But, then again, this isn’t the Yamato,
either. So much has changed in the past few weeks. I hope the change is for the
better.
“Lee, you have the bridge,” said Wildstar. “I’m
going up to my cabin in the upper part of the bridge tower.”
“Yessir,” said Lee. He saluted as Wildstar
worked the switch that would move his chair back onto the elevator track, and
he saluted as Wildstar rode the elevator chair up into the overhead and up into
the upper reaches of the bridge tower.
Then, Lee looked at the empty Captain’s
station as he walked to his post at the helm, thinking back to when he was
called into General Stone’s office one week ago….
“Lt Cmdr Lee, I have called you
here today to give you your new orders, mind you after the last Goddamned stunt
you pulled on me…. you shouldn’t even be allowed to leave Earth! You will be
the new Deputy Captain of the Endeavor. You will report to Captain
Wildstar on Pluto and assume your command. On this you will also report back to
me directly on a weekly basis on what’s going with the newlyweds; that is, the
Skipper and the glorified Secretary. They have been placed together on the same
ship and we must know if there will be any, I’ll make this frank, any
fraternization on board ship between the two of them. They are supposed to be
leaders and I want to make sure that everything is run by the book as two
indivdual officers. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes… sir…,” Lee replied.
“Dismissed; get the hell out of
my sight, Lieutenant!” General Stone said while looking down and pushing
papers.
As Lt Cmdr Lee stepped out of
General Stone’s office he thought about what he said. “Am I to spy on the
Captain and his wife? That’s kinda low even for the General, but I must do what
I must do. After all he is giving me a second chance to redeem myself
after…what happened
the last time”. To which he didnt even want to
think about….
The Captain’s
Quarters on the Endeavor were very large, and luxurious.
Almost too luxurious, thought Wildstar as he pulled down
the wide Murphy Bed from its hiding place in the
bulkhead in the port side of the cabin near his desk and bookcase. The cabin
was arranged somewhat like Captain Avatar’s cabin on the Yamato, except
that it was bigger. This bunk is wide enough for two, he thought as he
looked at the comfortable almost Queen-sized bunk. Yeah…big
enough for Nova and I. It’s like the Fates are mocking me…or
something…he thought as he patted the bunk. It would be very empty sleeping
in the luxurious bunk alone.
Derek looked at
the lockers where the enlisted orderlies had stowed his uniforms and gear…on
the starboard side…he observed that they were also too big for one person. He
opened a hatch, and found that the Captain’s private head and shower were right
in his stateroom-not in the lobby of the Captain’s Quarters like they had been
on the Yamato.
As Nature called,
Wildstar punched a button and saw that the head even had a tiny porthole that
looked out into space. Who designed this crazy ship? The
White Star Cruise Line? Derek thought with some annoyance. A
military vessel isn’t supposed to have a padded toilet seat, for cryin’ out
loud!
Wildstar then sat
down at his desk after flicking on the light. A small panel appeared near one
of the flat computer screens. “A personal stereo?” he said as he looked at the
small console that would hold a digital message capsule tape. “What will they
think of next?”
Derek turned on the
stereo and heard a soothing female computer voice welcoming him to “Radio Endeavor”.
“Good evening,
Captain,” it said.
“How do you know
I’m the Captain?” Derek said back to the Tinwit brain running his radio.
“I recognized
your DNA print when you turned me on, sir. What musical selection do you want?”
“If you’re smart
enough to program something for a depressed, pissed off Skipper, you
handy-dandy box of chips, find it!”
“Yessir,” said
the soothing, neutral voice. “I am turning on Pachelbel’s Canon in D,
piano solo. It should sooth your mind, sir.”
Derek said,
“Fine.” Then, he sat at his desk in his
overstuffed quarters reading over
all the officers’ personnel jackets. Most of them were newer…in the new light
blue folders that had only been used in the Fleet since 2201. Boy…what a crazy bunch they gave me… he thought to himself. He was most interested in Lieutenant Commander
Evan Lee, his Deputy Captain. Why would they even let him get orders as
Deputy Captain after what happened to him? Derek thought as he read
his story I’d better keep a close eye on this one. If they gave him to me
there must be a reason. I guess I’m the one to whip him into shape,
sadly I’m not one to judge…since I was once a hot head too. Oh well, I hope
that all goes well with this mission…
Wildstar would question a lot of the
officers that were handed to him; they pretty much all had a weird history as
he read all their jackets. Misfits,
he thought. They gave me the misfits of
the Fleet. The scrapings of BuPers. Good thing they
didn’t give me that idiot pilot Bryan Hartcliffe. I have enough history with that
guy.
The only jackets that
looked fairly clean were those that belonged to Matsui, and the owners of the
two old light green 2199-issue jackets at the bottom of the pile; namely, the
jackets that belonged to Lt Commander
Jonathan Wright, who was an experienced old hand who had once served
under Sandor on Yamato along with
Royster and Bando… and…the jacket he barely even needed to read since he knew
its owner so well.
He opened the jacket anyway after looking
sadly at the now rather-old picture on the front of it. It was Nova’s personnel
jacket. The picture had been taken five years ago, in 2199.
He read over the personnel history quickly.
Much of the handwriting in the jacket belonged to Captain Avatar, Commanding
General Singleton, and himself.
Her career is our story together, thought Derek. Almost
no bad spots whatsoever. It’s
a book I know very well. He closed the folder gently, kissed the picture of
his wife on the cover, and set it aside. Then, he began to read over Lee’s
jacket again, trying to make some sense of the man.
“It’s gonna be a
long mission,” Wildstar sighed out loud as he turned the stereo off. The
near-silent sound of the ship was almost preferable to the all-too-soothing
music the computer had come up with.
On another part of the ship Nova was
settling into her own quarters, which, although they were also fairly plush,
reminded her a bit of her old dorm room at college. I wonder who my
roommates are?
I hope they are least clean, Nova
thought.
On that note, Nova’s first roommate arrived.
“Hi there, I’m Lieutenant Jessica Springer,
and I already know who you are….Nova Forrester…or is it Wildstar now?” Lt
Springer asked as she dropped her seabags. Nova noticed a medkit, so she
guessed Springer was another nurse, and, later on, Nova turned out to be right.
Nova, who liked to make notes of people (it
was a good mnenomic for remembering who someone was, for one thing…) took quick
stock of Jessica in her head. Lt. Springer was about 5 feet and 9 inches
tall….one inch taller than Nova was. At 114 pounds, she was very, very slim, even slimmer than Nova
herself at a petite 120. If you asked Nova’s opinon, she was too thin and she
probably needed to eat better.
Springer had very short blond hair that was
more like a page boy style, with the bluest eyes she had ever seen. Of course
the blonde hair was not as blonde, for Nova could see the darker roots coming
out, which happened to be unlike her own dark-blonde hair, which was natural
down to its roots. And, Jessica had a Northen accent that was not quite
Where’s
she from? Nova thought.
Just as Nova was about to say hello to Lt
Springer, her other new roommate, a younger odd-looking girl, walked in. She
stood only about 5 feet tall with a very slim petite frame. Nova thought she
looked kind of odd with big green eyes and long dark hair. She looked at Nova
and Springer as if she was already annoyed with that fact that she was sharing
a room with two other officers. “Hi” was all she could say.
“Hi, I’m Lieutenant Jessica Springer…and
this is Lieutenant Commander Nova Forrester or is it…Wildstar?” Lt Springer
asked looking at Nova as Nova rolled her dark brown eyes a little at that one.
“It’s Forrester and hello there, you are…?”
Nova asked extending her hand out.
“I’m Lieutenant Denise Howard, I guess you
two will be my roommates for the whole mission, right?” she said without
extending her hand to Nova. Nova just shrugged and put her hand down.
“Well I guess we are”, Lt Springer, said,
sounding rather annoyed at the comment, Nova
sounds nice…but Denise doesn’t seem too friendly… she
thought to herself. “So I guess we are in for a treat, we’ll be bunking with
the famous Nova Forrester who is also married to our dear Captain Wildstar,
this is going to be interesting…isn’t it?”
“Yeah, interesting,” said Howard as she
kicked off her boots and plopped down in a chair near one of the little desks
without even stowing her seabags in her locker.
“Shouldn’t you put those things away?” said
Nova.
“I’ll do it when I get around to it,” yawned
Howard. “These bags are so heavy. Hope I don’t break a nail moving them. Of
course, you don’t have to worry about that, ma’am?”
“Why not?” said Nova as she took off her
gunbelt and slung it over a chair.
“Didn’t one of those robots bring your stuff
up here? The Captain must allocate every robot on this ship to helping his
sweetie-pie out,” said Howard as she stuck a finger in her mouth to dig a hunk
of broccoli out of her teeth. She then stood on the deck
Oh boy, Nova said to herself as Howard played with
her used broccoli…I guess this is what I’m gonna be dealing with, everyone’s
gonna think that I’m the Captains pet!
“Well, before we all get on the wrong foot
here…yes, I am Captain Wildstar’s wife…but my job here will have nothing to do
with my personal relationship with him! We are all here to do a mission and I’d
like to keep it at that. I also carried my own bags in here…I’m not a weak girl,” said Nova with a grin,
hoping to keep the moment friendly.
“OK, if that’s how you want to play it, that will be fine with me!” Lieutenant Springer laughed.
“Guess we should all unpack and get
ourselves settled in”, Lt. Howard said.”Which one is my locker and bunk? And
where’s the shitcan? I wanna get rid of my broccoli.”
Lt. Springer pointed to the bottom bunk near
Nova and she went over and started to put her things away at last. In the
meantime, Nova pulled off her boots, and she sat on her middle bunk looking
over her tally sheet as to who was going to be her crew. There were a few
Corporals and Privates…all of them seemed very well qualified. There was
nothing in their jackets that showed anything that would be a problem for her.
Then Nova look over the jacket of a Lieutenant
Commander Michael Spada, MD. Why does that name sound so familiar? Nova thought to herself as she continued
to undress to go to sleep…alone. She had a set of shorty pajamas for the cruise
that she changed into.
She tried to remember…but she couldn’t think
of it…Oh well it will come to me…
Night passed, and the next day began. PT, breakfast,
a routine meeting in the briefing room…the Endeavor
was beginning to awaken herself as Nova found herself back in her cabin with
her roommates as they were changing out of their PT outfits into their regular
duty uniforms. Nova hadn’t slept well; the bunk was lumpy, Springer snored, and
Howard had a weird habit of muttering strange stuff in her dreams as she slept.
Nova also hadn’t slept well because she had
been alone for the first night since before her wedding night, but, then,
again…they didn’t need to know that.
“How was breakfast?” said Nova cheerily as
she combed her hair.
“Lousy,” said Howard.
“I liked it,” said Springer.
“Yeah. You’ll eat anything, you weird meat-eater,” said Howard as she talked
past Nova like she wasn’t even there. “Eat, eat, eat. And you never get fat. I
have to diet to preserve my girly figure, Jessica…”
“What figure, Denise? You’re built like a
meatball,” said Springer.
“Girls,” snapped Nova, who had a raging
headache and who felt as if she wanted to hide her head under her pillow rather
than listen to these two. But, she knew she didn’t have that luxury. Derek is much nicer to wake up to, Nova
thought. Even when he
has to tickle my belly button or my feet to hear me laugh.
Then, a chime rang over the speakers. Nova
snapped, “Room, TEN’SHUN!” as she jumped to her feet.
“The deck is cold,” said Howard. “I threw my
sneakies into the corner!”
“Well, put your boots on, stupid!” said Springer.
Then, the announcement came. It was Wildstar,
who said: “Attention all hands, attention
all hands report
to general quarters, all hands report to general quarters! The Endeavor
will be launching in 20 minutes, repeat…the Endeavor will be launching
in 20 minutes! All hands report to general quarters. Those attending launching
ceremony report to the top deck. All bridge crew members…man all stations now
for systems check!”
“I have to go,” snapped Nova as she pulled
her boots on.
“What makes you special, ma’am?” said Howard.
“I serve on the
Captain Derek Wildstar
finally took complete control of the Endeavor.
It’s nice to be in space again. I truly do miss it at times… Wildstar
thought to himself. As he sat at the Captain’s chair, he looked around his
bridge. Wow…she’s so much bigger then the Yamato, but does she have
the same spirit. How he missed that ship. She was like an old friend to
him. She was smaller, but the famed Yamato
was one of a kind. With her and the Star Force, the best crew in the Fleet, he
could accomplish anything. So Endeavor are you made
of that same spirit or not? Derek thought. We will see and hopefully with this crew we can make
history together…all over again.
The bridge crew started to fall in, checking
over their systems before takeoff as they had been ordered to. One by one they
entered, saluting Wildstar. My God, they all look so young, was I that young
looking when I boarded the Yamato not too long ago? Derek thought again..
As Derek watched his crew entering, he made
his mental notes on each and every one of them. Ah yes, Lt Commander Evan
Lee… my Deputy Captain and Helmsman, struck a General while in a drunken rage…his record never
went into detail about who or why. Then there’s Lieutenant Commander William
Ortiz, who is my gunner, an ‘A’ student without much experience in real battle,
so I have to see what he is made of. Lieutenant Masoto Miamato, my Assistant
co-pilot and communications officer. Not much confidence in himself when I talk
to him, he seems too eager to please. Lt Commander Jonathan Wright…he’s my
chief technician, about the only one that doesn’t have a jacket that pasts my
arm. I hope he is as good as Sandor, Derek thought. IQ-10 was
already in the radar chair where Nova would be taking over. He was almost as
smart as IQ-9, considering that IQ-9 built him personally for Nova and Derek.
As everyone was beginning
to make their final checks, the elevator door whizzed open, and all turned to
see Nova entering the bridge. Derek watched as she entered and his heart raced. He hadn’t see her since the meeting in the conference room early this
morning, and since they boarded the ship yesterday. God how I missed her
last night.. Derek thought to himself. Nova stood
in front of his command and saluted. Wildstar nodded and returned her salute.
“Well I see we are…all here, all systems
check!” Wildstar ordered. “Give me your reports, people!”
II. TAKE OFF
Pluto Defense Station
Space Battleship Endeavor
July 30, 2204
And with that everyone took their posts,
each announcing their check list. “OK…crew let’s see what your made of,”
Wildstar said. “Haul in the gangway, and prepare for take off!”
“Aye, aye, Hauling
in gangway!” Deputy Captain Lee announced, “Preparing for take off! Engine
power up to 6!" he snapped. “Ready engines! Ready
keel jets! We’ll need all power to get off this pad.”
“Acknowledged! Engine power up to 6," Chief Watanabe confirmed over the building
whine of the engines from below. “Open the valve to the wave motion engine
starting cylinder, 5 minutes to ignition! Increase inner pressure to the wave
motion engine. Energy charge at 80 percent!”
“Spinning up main gyrocompass,” snapped Nova
from her post. “Reading no bogies on radar. Preparing main computer for space warp calculations when needed.”
“Weapons systems ready. Computer systems
locked on in Main Gun Turrets One through Four,” said
Ortiz from his post.
“Systems on internal power-all life support
systems green; all damage control posts manned, electrical switching units,
ready for max power,” said Wright from his post at Mechanical as the engines
continued to spool up with a deeper whine.
“Auxiliary engines set for maximum output,”
Lieutenant Lee called out. “Locked in: Ascending angle 20
degrees. 1 minute to take off!”
“OK, Lee…let’s see what you got when we take
off!” Wildstar said.
“Wave motion energy
charge 100 percent!” Watanabe called. “ Start the flywheel! Activate superchargers! Afterburners,
SWITCH ON!”
“Main screen, switch ON!” barked Nova from
her post as all of the Endeavor’s
four main screens activated and various status readouts began to show up.
“EDF dockyard control has cleared us for
departure, Captain!” said Miamoto from his post.
“Commence final countdown,” snapped
Wildstar.
“10 seconds to count down,” Lieutenant
Commander Lee announced, “ 9.....8.....7.......6......5......4…”
OK here we go… Wildstar
thought Finally! Let’s hope that this crew doesn’t
screw up, that would give the EDF some neat excuse to bite my head off!
“…3......2......1 launch ready!” said Lee.
“Endeavor,
ASCEND!” barked Wildstar.
“Endeavor,
ASCENDING!” sang back Lee.
And with that, the Endeavor with its crew at the ready, took off at last from the
landing pad.
“Prepare for cruising speed, open wings!”
Wildstar called as the mighty ship began to climb higher.