The Honeymoons Over-1

By Yvelises Giordano (“Eva”)

A Star Blazers Fan Fiction work

Chapter Two: DUTY CALLS

I. TIME FLIES

Great Island

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 First Bridge. Alongside of Nova, there was the new XO’s’s staff that would be leaders on the ship. Among them were:

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-1^st Squadron Leader (in charge of 12 Cosmo Tiger II’s)

= (also known as the “Two Tonys”)

Lieutenant Tony “Tone” Delvechio - Black Tiger 2^nd Squadron Leader (in charge of 12 Cosmo Tiger II’s)

Lieutenant Hiro Matsui- Black Mamba Group Leader and 1^st 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 New York, but sounded even further north than that. Nova remembered the accent when she had lived in New York for two semesters at NYU; her mother and family in Colorado used to make fun of her because she seemed to have picked up the funny-sounding accent for a time…and still had a little of it, as a matter of fact.

Where’s she from? Nova thought. Boston maybe? Or further north like New Hampshire?

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 First Bridge, Lieutenant,” snapped Nova as she snapped her gunbelt back on. Before she took off, she said, “You two had better get to your stations!”

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.