The Honeymoon’s Over
By Yuki Wildstar
A Star Blazers Fan Fiction work
All the thanks to Fred and Gail Kopetz for inspiring
me to write.
Thanks a lot Freddo, for your input and detailing. You
ROCK! My story was good, but with collaboration you made it great!
Chapter Six: BOLAR INTENTIONS AND
R & R….
I. THE BOLAR PRESIDIUM
MEETS…
Planet Bolar Prime
(Headquarters World of the Bolar Federation)
The Great Hall of the Presidium
Earth Date:
August 10, 2204
0900 Hours-Standard Earth Space-Time
The homeworld of the Bolar Federation was a
bleak, cold planet in the far Northern Spiral Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, and
it was located over one hundred thousand lightyears away from Earth in the far
depths of the Northern Spiral Arm, located far from the
Even in
the Federation, almost none of the High Command that made up the Presidium, which
was the Ruling Council of the communistic Party that had ruled the Race for
millenia liked to come to Bolar Prime unless they were summoned here by the
Prime Minister.
For close to two years, there had been two
Acting Prime Ministers because no one could quite agree on a permanent
replacement for the domineering and evil Prime Minister Vladimir Bemlayze, the
warlord who had again and again taken the Federation into battle against the
Garuman who were trying to break away from the Federation, the Garuman and
their arrogant allies the Gamilons. Bemlayze had vanished after the Bolar
Federation’s last battle in Earth’s own solar system in early 2203 with Emperor
Desslok of Gamilon/Garuman, where he had been assumed killed after his Black
Hole Fortress had been destroyed by Desslok’s flagship when it had been hit by
a massive energy beam fired from Desslok’s Hyper-Desslok Cannon.
Or, rather, Bemlayze had been assumed
dead. He had recently turned up again, found in the Fourth Dimension by some
ragged ships from what remained of the Comet Empire. He had gotten loose from
his ship at the last second in an escape pod. But the pod had miswarped, and
had sent him into the Fourth Dimension.
Bemlayze had just returned to Bolar Prime,
killed off many of the generals opposing him in a purge, and he told a strange
tale of how he had warped his pod into the Fourth Dimension as his bridge was
being dissolved around him by the Desslok Cannon. Then, forces from the Comet
Empire had later found his inert body drifting almost dead in space far from
Earth, and they had brought him aboard a huge Cometine command vessel that was
somewhere in deep space; even Bemlayze didn’t know where it was or who was in
command. He had been half-comatose, so the circumstances were very mysterious
and puzzling.
However, he found himself bound back for Bolar
a few weeks later aboard a Cometine carrier, with a treaty of alliance signed
between his race and what remained of the Cometines. Both he and the Cometine
Leader, who remained hidden and mysterious, agreed that they had one grievance
in common; they wanted revenge against Earth and the whole Gamilon-Garuman race
for their losses.
Thus, this explained the reappearance of the
Bolars and their new assertiveness. This was a vile assteriveness that was the
first stage of a vast campaign of evil that was intended to reduce the Terrans
and the Gamilons to slavery, and a campaign that would leave the Bolars and
Cometines as the rightful masters of the Milky Way, all of the Magellenic
Clouds, and the Andromeda Galaxy. From there; they would expand outwards to
conquer the entire known universe!
After Bemlayze’s latest purge, the returned
Prime Minister had appointed many new men to the Presidium. One of these men
was a General Hindleman, a tall, arrogant-appearing man with a black and grey
beard who bowed as he spoke to Bemlayze.
“My Lord, we suffered a reverse recently in
the Eighth Sector,” he said.
“Explain,”
barked Bemlayze as he stroked his fat light blue face. The Prime Minister was
so ugly that he resembled some kind of mutated bullfrog. The burns he had
suffered didn’t make him look any better. One of the burns had given him a huge
port-wine birthmark on the back of his bald pate that didn’t make his pallid
light blue skin look any better. As a matter of fact, he looked grotesque. But,
Bolar officers who pointed that out had a nasty habit of being shot.
“Lord,” said Hindleman, a handsome old Bolar
who somewhat resembled the late Terran actor Christopher Lee in his role as
Count Dooku in the ancient Star Wars film series. “Recently, I sent
General Sigma out towards the Orion Arm of the Galaxy, beyond the fringes of
Garuman territory, to find us bases to replace our lost bases around what had
been Planet Berth. I’m sure you remember Berth, My Lord.”
“I do, and the memory is not pleasant,” hissed
Bemlayze. Early in his first war with the Gamilons, Bemlayze had found the
Terran space battleship Yamato on Berth, where they had come after a
battle with the Garuman, who, at that time, were the Star Force’s enemies since
they were unaware of their link with the Gamilons or that Desslok was their
ruler. Bemlayze assumed he could force Earth into an alliance with the Bolar
Federation then.
However, Captain Derek Wildstar, a face that
remained in Bemlayze’s mind as a hated enemy, had been arrogant enough to
refuse their kind offer; they would have been treated fairly and paid well as
Bolar underlings, yes. Some minor thing about his nosy fiancee’ Nova Forrester
discovering that Berth was being used as a gulag, one of hundreds in
Bolar space, for those annoying pacifistic worshippers of that damned Queen
Guardiana. Some minor crud that the Terrans considered the Bolar race evil as a
result. Ingrates! Oh, the Terrans thought he didn’t know, but Bemlayze’s Chekha
(secret police) knew about so much that was going on in the Federation that
it wasn’t even funny. Bemlayze remembered that his differences with the Yamato
led to his having to wipe out his own base world and all on it with proton
missiles.
“Well, Lord, we were trying to find a new base
world. We had one nailed down; a small planet that the Terrans called
“What?” hissed Bemlayze.
“
Lord,
it gets worse,” said Hindleman. “I sent Sigma out days ago from our base on
Planet Baynet. He never came back. Sigma and the Twentieth Carrier Echelon were
destroyed by the Earthlings.”
“How?” roared Bemlayze. “Their ships are crap and
they suffered such a reverse after we stood back and let Deingil attack them
after the Great Warp Disaster that they couldn’t have done much. And the Yamato,
thankfully, is destroyed! Gone. Dead. So is Wildstar, that boy genius meddler,
right? Star Force is finished!”
“Wrong, Lord,” said Hindleman. A shot of the Endeavor
appeared on a screen in the Presidium Council Room as Hindleman waved his hand.
“The Terrans built a new space battleship; the Endeavor. The Chekha
were monitoring transmissions between her and Earth. The Endeavor
stopped us at
A visual of Sigma’s last transmission ran on
the screen. “This was the final transmission from the Luytens, lord. I
took out the audio so you don’t have to be disturbed with that capitalistic idiot
running dog Sigma’s last screams. Seemed he turned a theist in his death
throes. So against our wonderful atheist ways. You see what wrecked them…”
“Wave motion gun,” barked another General, a
tall man named General Orlov. “Prime Minister! This is an outrage from these
running dogs!”
“They should be tormented for months in the
cold for this,” growled another General, a bald, evil man named Nikita
Stalchev. “Hindleman, did they find out which Terran pig was responsible for
the death of our dear Sigma?”
Hindleman nodded. “Yes. My daughter is afraid
of him.”
A familiar face appeared on the screen as the
Bolars booed, hissed; and a man threw his coffee cup at the screen. Another man
banged his shoe against the table in rage, screaming, “We will bury him!”
“Derek Wildstar,” purred Prime Minister
Bemlayze. “Ah, my friend. Alive, are we? Did you bring your nosy parker
fiancee’ back into Bolar space again? Not good, fool. People with noses that
reach into other peoples’ business have a habit of having them cut off.”
“This is what I want done to Wildstar and his Endeavor,”
said Bemlayze. “This is now a personal vendetta between him and
II. INQUEST…
Space Battleship Endeavor
Deep Space, 9,000 Lightyears from Earth…
August 11, 2204
1300 Hours-Standard Earth Space-Time
The Article 17 Inquest into Doctor Spada’s
guilt or innocence, a necessary prelude under EDF military justice to a
contemplated later Special Court-Martial (that would take place on Earth)
continued in the messhall of the Endeavor as Deputy Captain Lee stood up
in his peacoat as presiding judge and tapped on a small ship’s bell with a
mallet to call the preliminary hearing back to order.
Lee, an Ensign from Gunnery known as Thomas Corman,
and a female pilot known as Junior Lieutenant Sabrina Wapner were the three
officers sitting in judgment behind a table to determine whether or not formal
charges were to be brought against Spada.
The first day of the proceedings, Captain
Wildstar, Booker, and some of the other officers present at Nova’s rescue had
been placed on the stand, where they had been questioned by a Living Officer
who was also a Judge Advocate General Corps (JAG) officer named Lieutenant
Jose’ Mayaguez.
Spada, it seemed, was a very persuasive and
smooth operator with those on the stand. Lieutenant Mayaguez was more like a
“just the facts” attorney who laid out the case and let those on the stand
speak.
Spada, on the other hand, had a gift of
blarney that made someone under his cross-examination doubt their own name, let
alone the facts. He had a weird gift of making all of the witnesses look
vaguely stupid on the stand, even the Captain himself! He had actually
had Wildstar tongue-tied on the stand several times yesterday. He had made a
fine case of making Wildstar look like nothing but an overly jealous husband.
He had been so good that in recess, Derek had talked with Nova off to the side
and they wondered if even they were being too hard on Spada. Nova had
begun to wonder if she should even testify the next day or not. But, Derek had
convinced her to stick to her guns.
Now, after the Court addressed the witnesses
and Spada, Lee said, “We call our first witness of the day. Booker, bring up
Lieutenant Commander Nova Forrester.”
Nova walked up, walking rather straight
because she still had on a small back brace under her uniform. She had on her
peacoat and her medals, and she felt a little like a penguin as another Marine
held out a Bible while she took an oath to tell the truth. Nova winced in pain
as she slowly sat in the witness’ seat as Lieutenant Mayaguez calmly and dryly
had her recall all of the events of the third of August. Derek sat in the
spectators’ area in a chair biting his lip as Nova simply and calmly spoke,
going over all of the events in response to
Finally, after forty-five minutes,
“No objections,” said Lee as he and the other panel members noticed that Spada
stood in silence. “Doctor Spada, your witness…”
Spada bowed and turned to the Court and Nova
and said, “Now, Nova, I am sure that this is a sore topic for you. I will try
to be as gentle with you as possible. Do we understand?”
“We do, Doctor,” said Nova as she looked down
at her boots.
“Gentlemen, and ladies,” said Spada. “Does
this look like a sincere witness to you?”
“Objection!” yelled
“Sustained,” snapped Lee. “Counsel will not
impugn witness’ testimony until witness is asked a question of substance.
Proceed, Doctor.”
Spada nodded. “Thank you. Lieutenant Commander
Forrester, how long have you been a practicing surgical nurse?”
“Over five years,” said Nova. “I received my
RN certification as an Ensign in June of 2199, concurrent with my graduation
from the
“Thank you,” said Spada. “Lieutenant
Commander, are you aware of the effects of the Tarnax sedative?”
“I am,” said Nova.
“How many patients have you administered
Tarnax to as a nurse?”
“About a hundred,” said Nova. “It blocks pain
receptors and the beta uptake to those receptors. It is commonly given to
people after severe trauma, to women in labor, to post-operative patients, and
to cancer patients. It is to be used with care, because…”
“Because?” said Spada.
Nova had fallen into his trap and knew it. “It
has side-effects, Doctor. As a practitioner, you should be aware of
them.”
“I am, but the Court is not, or may not be
aware of those side-effects. Describe them, Forrester.”
“Objection!” said
“Your Honors,” said Spada. “I am laying a foundation with this line of
questioning. It has to do with Forrester’s state of mind during the events of
the crash. May it please the court, due to her injuries, I was forced to inject
Forrester with two hundred CC’s of Tarnax that night. I…”
“We will confer,” snapped Lee. He and the
other judges whispered hard amongst themselves while Spada played with
something in the pocket of the white lab coat he had on. Wildstar wondered to
himself what the hell Spada was up to now. His whole line of questioning
seemed bizarre but cogent. Derek wondered if this blarney-tongued man had
entered the wrong profession, and should have gone to law school rather than
medical school.
Finally, Lee said, “We are forced to admit
Spada’s line of questioning. Your objection, Mister Mayaguez, is overruled. Go
on, Doctor.”
Spada grinned, his face confident with the
victory he knew was in his pocket. The star witness was now on the stand, and
he had all the material he needed to make her look, sound, and come off as some
utterly idiotic teenage girl with the vapors, or so he thought. And science
itself had provided him with his alibi! He just needed to spring it.
“I’m sorry, Nova,” he purred. “I know this
must be hard for you. I promise you that I will be gentle and we’ll be done
with this in maybe six minutes. Then you and the Captain can get a nice cup of
coffee together during the recess. You two are such a cute couple.”
“Thank you,” said Nova with barely disguised
acid in her tone of voice.
“Now,” said Spada. “Forrester. You told me
once you want to go to medical school someday. Let’s pretend you are in
Toxicology Class. What are the mental side-effects of Tarnax upon a patient?”
Nova sighed. He had nailed her and she knew
it. She said in a calm but barely audible voice. “Euphoria, lack of emotional restraint,
less-than-acute reasoning ability, memory impairment, paranoia, possible memory
loss, and blurring of time frames. Patients on enough Tarnax have been known to
mistake minutes for hours and vice-versa.”
“Were you on Tarnax the evening of August
third?” said Spada as the whole court muttered.
Nova just nodded.
“How much?” said Spada.
“I read my own chart when we got back. Just
under three hundred milligrams.”
“And what was your mental state?” said Spada.
Nova shut her eyes and refused to answer.
“Please answer the question, Forrester,”
purred Spada.
Nova turned her head and kept her eyes closed
in shame.
Lee looked at her and said, “Lieutenant
Commander, must I remind you that you are under oath? You are obliged to
truthfully answer Doctor Spada’s question.”
Nova shook her head.
“I will have to hold you in contempt of Court
if you do not…”
“All right!” cried Nova as she slammed
her fists on her thighs. “I was upset, in pain, and as high as a kite on that pain
medication! Are we clear? I was not in a good state of mind then! My head was
all messed up. But I know that you were playing games with that transponder,
Doctor! I think…”
Nova looked at Derek across the room and shut
her eyes. Derek wanted to get up and punch Spada as the room buzzed and Lee had
to ring the bell several times for order.
“You…think,” said Spada. “May it please this
Court, this case is resting on the testimony of a woman who is known by her
psychological profile to be somewhat histrionic and excitable. A newlywed woman
who admitted to you she was missing her husband and who just admitted “my head
was all messed up…” Under the Hartz decision of 2202, we do not place as
much probative weight as usual to service members who are…uh…on a drug, or
short a few of these…”
Spada grinned and removed the items from his
pocket. They were marbles.
“Are these yours?” said Spada with a smile as
Nova almost slapped his hand away as she began to cry. “Oh,” said Spada. “Also.
Tarnax toxic shock has been known to last for up to ten or twelve days! Let
this woman’s actions indicate how reliable her testimony is, and…”
“That’s enough!” barked Lee as Nova
cried. “Captain Wildstar, the witness is excused…I am calling a recess so you
can comfort her.”
Derek came up and held Nova and wiped her eyes
as she sobbed. He helped her up and they walked out of there together.
TEN MINUTES LATER….
Nova had calmed down and sat beside Derek in
the spectators’ area as Spada stood before the judges’ table and the empty
witness chair. “Doctor Spada,” said
“I refuse your summons under Federation
Constitutional Article Five, where it states a witness cannot be forced to
testify against himself or herself.”
“You take the Fifth?” sighed
Spada nodded.
“I rest my case,” said
“Your Honors, I also rest my case,”
said Spada. He smiled at them and said, “It’s all in your hands now, huh?”
“It is,” said Lee. “Court adjourned for recess
for us to deliberate our final findings.” He rang the bell and everyone left.
TWO HOURS LATER…
Derek and Nova were on duty together on the
Spada stood in his peacoat before the bench
now, flanked by two Space Marines. If found “guilty” by the preliminary
hearing, he would be relieved of all duty and remanded to the brig by the
Marines and held until trial on Earth. Nova had already decided that she and
the other nurses and medics would provide medical care if Spada was locked up,
and she would command as best as she could as a nurse-practitioner, doing as
much of Spada’s job as possible with the help of medical texts and IQ-10.
Of course, if found “innocent”, Spada would be
free to just return to duty, with the Article 17 and any proceedings against
his medical license just dropped.
Lee led the judges in and sat down. “We have
made our decision in the preliminary Article 17 Hearing of People vs. Lt.
Michael Spada MD. First, I want it stated for the record that our decision
was not unanimous.”
The spectators muttered at that until Lee rang
the bell. Lee said, “The decision was 2-1. Since we have a split court, we will
poll the judges for their decisions. My own decision was in favor of indictment
against the Lieutenant, or guilty, charges to be preferred, sufficient
evidence for trial.”
The others muttered again until Lee rang the
bell. “We are not done yet!” he barked. “Lieutenant Wapner,” he said as he
looked at Sabrina. “Read your decision out loud.”
“Yessir,” said Sabrina as she stood. “After
due consideration, I found against indictment against Lieutenant Spada, or not
guilty, no charges to be preferred, insufficient evidence for trial.”
The spectators muttered again until Lee rang
his bell. “Silence!” he said. “Finally, Ensign Corman, read your decision.”
Lee did not look happy, and Nova almost wanted
to cry again when she figured out what this meant. Corman cleared his throat
and said, “Sir. After due consideration, I found against indictment for
Lieutenant Spada, or, not guilty, insufficient evidence for trial.
Inconsistent testimony from several witnesses.”
Derek stood up, comforting Nova as Lee read
mechanically. “The decision of this Court was One in favor of indictment, Two
Against. This panel has, therefore, dismissed the matter of People vs. Spada,
and also is sending a recommendation to the Medical Board in reply to
Lieutenant Commander Forrester’s Ethics Board complaint of August 7, 2204,
recommending that the facts of this judicial hearing call for the dismissal of
any ethics complaint against Doctor Spada’s medical license. I reluctantly
order these proceedings ended and the record sealed. Lieutenant Spada, you are
free to return to duty. Adjourned!”
The bell rang, and Derek and Nova left. They
had lost in court, and Spada had won. They refused to look as Spada received
congratulations and happy handshakes from several of his nurses and medics.
A couple of people refused to look at Nova as
she left on Derek’s arm.
“Well?” said Nova.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” said Derek.
“I don’t want to see that jackass being congratulated by his fan club. This was
such a joke!”
Nova just nodded. They didn’t believe me,
she thought. They think I’m crazy. They didn’t believe me!
III. A FRIEND INDEED…
Space Battleship Endeavor
Deep Space, 8,000 Lightyears from Earth…
August 13, 2204
1700 Hours-Standard Earth Space-Time
“Lieutenant Spada?”
“Yes that’s me,”
Spada replied as he turned around “Lieutenant Commander Lee, how are you? Captain
Wildstar has left the bridge; and you tend to forget who is running the ship at
times when he is doing other things,” Spada said with sarcasm. “Right?”
“Well, I get lucky
sometimes and he lets me out of the prison ward,” to which they both laughed.
“Hey,” he said. “No hard feelings about the trial, I hope.”
“Well, I got off,”
said Spada with a wink. “So, matter ended. As for me, I’m glad to see Wildstar
let you out today. Do they feed you on the bridge, or do they just throw food
at you like in the zoos back on Earth?” Spada, while feeling him out.
“Sometimes, both,”
Lee said laughing with him. “Are you dining alone?”
“Yes I am…and you?”
Spada asked.
“Yes, I don’t get to
talk to anyone but the Captain, it’s hard to talk to him, other then work. He
is not a touchy-feely man, Doctor. Always walks around like he’s on duty.”
“I get your
meaning…all business, but no social talk?” Spada said, still feeling him out.
“You got that right,”
Lee egged him on. “You know, it’s a royal bitch to work with him, he can be
such a perfectionist with that tight-backed Samurai attitude. I’ve never seen
him relax. It’s a wonder how his wife puts up with him! I mean she’s on the
same ship with him, and he doesn’t even acknowledge her! Poor Nova! It’s like
they never met. You see how she stood by his side when he was unconscious, yet
when she was in Sickbay, I rarely saw him visiting her.”
“And when he was
there, he was Mister Tight-assed and humorless,” said Spada, seldom wanting to
be in the room when they were together. “He even watched me undressing her, you
know that? It’s like he has her on a leash!”
“That is weird,” said
Lee. “Their relationship is not normal.”
“So, what should our
Samurai and our lady do?” said Spada.
“From what I’ve seen
in the past few days,” said Lee in ignorance, not privy to the moments when
Derek sat holding Nova’s hand in Sickbay, or not there when he read to her, “If
you ask me, she should divorce him. She’s a beautiful women and she’s real
smart, and I can’t understand why he isn’t trying to steal some private moments
with her. I never see him doing that. It’s all duty, duty, duty. They never
even sleep together, damnit!”
“I know, he must be
one of those guys that doesn’t appreciate a good woman,” Spada said. “Hey! How
about sitting together more…I’m starting to like you, even though you voted to
lock me up!”
“I had my reasons,”
said Lee. He grinned and walked with Spada to a table.
They sat at the table
and talked. Spada went on and on about how Wildstar was such a horrible husband
and Captain. “I mean, Lee, if she were
my wife, I’d probably try to get her pregnant right away. A beautiful wife like
that, she must be a trophy wife. But there’s a plus…she’s smart too. When she’s
not all emotional or pumped up on Tarnax, that is!”
Lee just grinned at
Spada. Lee decided to lie a little, and he said, “When we were arguing your
fate, Spada, I saw quickly how the others were going, and I just voted “yes”
since I saw the others were going to let you off. It was to make Wildstar think
I was Mister Sympathetic, when…”
“You saw she was
faking it and out of her head with that transponder thing?” said Spada.
Lee nodded. “So how
do you two work together now?”
“We share the bare
minimum,” said Spada. “She’s smart, but not smart enough to be a doctor, I
think. She should be a nurse for the rest of her life and know who wears the
pants around here, and that it ain’t her!”
“Yeah, she’s so
emotional,” said Lee. At that, they laughed and talked throughout dinner. Then
Lieutenant Lee got up. “I’ve gotta get back to the bridge. Old Captain Wild
Brains is probably looking for me. Hey!
Do you play cards, Spada?
“Sure do,” Spada
said.
“Maybe I’ll put a
game together; are you familiar with the old Texas Hold’em game?” Lee
asked.
“Love that game, I
don’t like bragging…but I was the one to walk away with everyone’s credits. I
can pretty much read people’s faces when they’re bluffing,” Spada bragged to
Lee.
“Well then I’ll be
sure to put one together, because I’d like to see that poker face of yours,”
Lee said as he walked out of the mess hall.
“OK then, never say I
didn’t warn you!” Spada yelled back.
Spada watched his new
friend walking out the hatch and watched Nova walking in in her nurse’s
minidress and open clogs that she sometimes wore, especially for operations,
rather than her regulation shipboard nurse’s boots. She had been wearing them
since they had just finished setting up someone for a bionic arm earlier; the
enlisted man had experienced the loss of his arm but the stump had to begin
healing first before a transducer for his new arm and screw unit could be set
up. It was a six-hour operation mostly conducted in a grim silence. It made
Spada uncomfortable to be beside her for that long now, and her unavoidable
touches as she helped him place instruments and suction hoses in the wound were
like reproaches to him, particularly because there was no friendship in her
eyes. When she wasn’t looking at instruments, readouts, or the patient, Nova’s
dark brown eyes seemed very far away and distant above her OR mask, as if she
was thinking of something…or someone, far away at the moment. He had been
avoiding her as much as possible since their last confrontation during the
hearing.
Spada knew Nova was
on to him, so he thought that the best bet was to just steer clear of her for
now. They were on the way back to Earth, and the mission was almost over, so he
figured he’d just lay low and wash her out of his hair as a lost cause, game
over. It was not that she was breaking down his door or anything. Spada knew
she never did say anything after their last conversation at his ‘trial’ and as
far as he knew, she never mentioned anything else to the Captain…especially
after he had made her look stupid and utterly scatterbrained in front of the
whole crew!
Oh well, he thought. She is stupid and scatterbrained! At least
I’m making buddies with the Deputy Captain…
While Lieutenant
Spada sat gloating at the table, Nova and Lee passed each other in the mess
hall, Nova nodded at him and he gave her a smile; she knew then that everything
was in place.
Nova looked around
and saw Howard and Springer sitting at the far end of the dining hall. Howard
waved her over with a smile. Nova grabbed dinner and walked over to their table.
As she passed Doctor Spada’s table, he got up and stepped in front of her.
“Hey, Nova, I’m sorry
that we had a little misunderstanding before but I would like to move on and
just work together and forget the whole thing, if that’s OK with you,” said
Spada. “I’m sorry about that trial, by the way. I’m not sure what to say about
it, but I was telling the truth before. You were rather zonked due to those
drugs I had to give you and the fact that you hit your head. You were mature
enough to admit on the stand that you were not one hundred percent there that
day. So, please, can we call it a truce and forget it and bury the hatchet?”
Nova smiled at him,
sighing to herself as she thought, I’ve
never been enemies with anyone. As long as he wants to let it go, why shouldn’t
I? I guess he was right…I must have gotten all my facts mixed up. I’m sorry I
caused trouble for him!
Nova smiled nervously
as she said, “Sure don’t sweat it…I”m sure you’re right! I did hit my head and
I passed out, so I could have been wrong on the time frame. I…guess. Let’s just
drop it and start over, Doctor. Start from Square One and act like I never knew
you? Let bygones be bygones? Let the past…be
the past,” she stressed…while touching her wedding ring like a magic
talisman.
Damn you!
Spada thought. So, you just wiped out
time and we never dated? Okay…I’ll find another way to charm you back to me
like a stray kitten…
“So with that said,
and out of the way, are we still friends?” Spada looked desperate for her
approval.
“Sure Doc, all is
well…” Nova said and then shook his hand.
“Hey, thanks!” he
said as they hugged. Nova stepped away, blushing. “You are cute,” he said.
“Please don’t make me
blush again,” said Nova.
“Even that toe ring
of yours is cute, despite what I said about it before..” he said as he looked
down at her nurse’s operating theatre clog, worn under a disposable paper
slipper in the OR. The ones that she had on that day had open toes like a
summer sandal (she was comfortable like that after being on her feet for
hours), and her neatly pedicured toes and Derek’s toe ring were all out in the
open. Only Derek and her mother usually complimented her on her footwear. Nova
smiled and said, “Oh…you” as she
hoped he didn’t compliment her on her hair next. Or her boobs. Or other parts
of her anatomy she never spoke of in public!
Nova was actually a
fairly modest woman, and even Derek complimenting her on her body in private
made her get flushed and blush all over, even though she got all shivery at his
compliments. Derek thought this was very cute.
“So what was that all
about?” Howard asked with a raised eyebrow. “I thought you two got along like
“Nothing major, we
just had a misunderstanding before, but it’s all taken care of now,” Nova said
with a grin. “So I see you two have new interests, anything I should know?”
said Nova happily.
Howard smiled at her,
glad to see that Nova had bounced back after her injuries. If she was making up
now with Spada, that must mean that she was ready to go on again. Howard would
later find out that this was an essential part of Nova’s character; she was
never the sort to hold grudges against anyone no matter what the wound would
be. Later, others in life would wound Nova deeply, but Howard would see that
Nova could be angry for a while, but that she would eventually pick up the
pieces, smile neatly, and move on.
“Well,” Springer
said. “Thanks to Howard here, and our slapping each other around once upon a time,
we have managed to pickup some nice decent pilots. Maybe decent enough to bring
home to our parents. What do you think, Howard?”
Howard just turn to
Nova and smiled. “I think you’re moving in too soon, Springer! If you plan a
wedding before the groom asks you to marry him, he may just run away. Isn’t
that right, Nova?”
Springer didn’t give
her time to answer, “Hey! Just how did you manage to snag the Captain? Dog
food?”
Nova laughed at the
thought of snagging anyone. “I didn’t snag him at all; we were friends first
and later on we became an item. Times were different then! Earth was being
threatened and we were all determined to get to Iscandar and back before the
year was up. There were always threats from the Gamilons and other spacen
forces later on. Tight quarters didn’t help either!
I pactically lived in
Derek’s lap on the old Yamato back in
the days when we were those funny adventurous Star Blazsers travelling the
galaxies! We respected each other and
the work that we did. And that is how we built our relationship. Trust me,
there were plenty of opportunities but the Captain and I never forgot about
what was truly at stake. The Star Force always came first for him as well as
myself. Captain Wildstar’s life has not
been an easy one. He has lost both his parents, his brother, his sister-in-law
and his poor young niece due to war. Captain Avatar was like a father to Derek
and the Yamato became his home and the Star Force became his family. Now that
we’re not on the old Yamato any more,
even though we have a beautiful house and we both have beautiful aircars back
home on Earth, we feel sort of homeless without that old space battleship.
That’s why he is the man that he is now.”
Howard and Springer
sat there amazed about what Nova was telling them. They only hope that they did
not go through what they went through to find love. “That’s amazing, ma’am…”
Springer said in awe. “But I can’t believe that you two still choose to be part
of the Earth Federation forces, even now. You’ve done so much that you can
retire young and make a lot of money in civilian consulting work; or even go
into the Government. Weren’t you frustrated having to wait so long to get
married?”
“There were times,
yes, but I know that Captain Wildstar loves me and that he would not do
anything that I wouldn’t agree to. I know how seriously he takes his job and
being a Captain was his dream, who am I to destroy that dream? Anyway I have
ambitions myself, and he doesn’t discourage me. No! He is totally the opposite
of that…he pushes me to work harder to get there.” Nova said with a gleam in
her eyes. “You can look far and wide to find a man like that these days. There
was someone in Derek’s life before I met him who treated him terribly, though.
She said she cared for him and dumped him. Derek still has an old wound from
that person. I hope I never meet her.”
Howard asked, “Ma’am,
is she that…Julie person you mentioned?”
“Yes,” sighed Nova. “Julie Tolbert,” said Nova as she spat
out the name with a venom in her usually gentle voice that Howard had never
heard before. Nova had never met her, but she had seen pictures of her before.
Nova knew that Lieutenant Tolbert had a tomboyish but somewhat sneaky-looking
face with sort of…weasally dark brown eyes, dark brown hair that was almost black,
and freckles. Nova thought she would have been cute if she hadn’t been caught
in the picture smirking…sort of like the simrk that had been on the face of a
really weird British Tiger pilot she had encountered briefly at her wedding
reception who was a friend of a friend of the younger Cory Conroy’s. He seemed
to be drunk, and Nova remembered he looked like he was leering at her in her
wedding dress! Nova put this unknown pilot out of her mind as she continued to
speak of the near-legendary Tolbert. “And I’ve heard she is still in the Fleet.
Our paths may cross someday; if they do, let her just shake Derek’s hand and go
on with her life! She probably would. It was a long time ago and she is surely
a full adult by now. She and Derek were younger and…less experienced when they
met.”
“I hope she does just
leave you alone and nod and go on,” said Howard. Howard and Springer knew then
that love was many things. There would be hardship and happiness; you just had
to balance it.
“Well ladies,” said
Nova as she yawned a little. “It’s getting late and I need to run some system
checks before I head to my quarters and go to bed. I bid you both adieu, auf weidersehen, sayonara,
and Hasta La Vista, and please try
not wake me with all the fighting?” Nova laughed. They laughed back and Nova
waved goodbye as she heard both ladies laugh out loud.
Doctor Spada sat in
the dinning hall watching Nova with the other female officers. He wished that
he could hear their conversation, but he didn’t want to push. In due time he
thought to himself.
Nova walked up to the
observation deck. When there, she smiled at the man who was standing there
looking out into the stars. Before speaking she looked around, nope no one
is in sight, thank Heavens, she
thought. Then, she said, “Hello there handsome…how are the stars
tonight?”
Derek turned around
with a smile and looked into his wife’s face. God she’s beautiful, he thought. “Hello there, sexy…how
was your day? I didn’t expect to see you here. I thought you’d be hitting the
rack by now…”
“Well I didn’t expect to see you here either…I just wanted
to take a breather from everything, that’s all. Since they didn’t see fit to
build a holography room on this ship…isn’t this view beautiful?”
Derek nodded and said,
“Good thinking. What does that view remind you of?”
“The Wishing Star of
Voton,” said Nova. “Even though, here, there are far more many stars.” Derek
took a deep breath, watching Nova in one of her newer-issue Medical minidresses
(it had more decorative Section markings against the white in bright red) and
her operating-room clogs.
“Yes, lots of them.
I’m sorry, Nova. I didn’t get a chance to check the charts that closely after
we made our last space warp. Where exactly are we with those nebulae?”
“Crovinger’s Nebula,
over there,” said Nova as she stood up on tiptoes, pointing to a colorful
scattering of stars and interstellar gases to their left. “I read about this
part of space once, and I’ve always wanted to see it. I wish I get get my
mother interested in some of the books I’ve seen about this, but she could care
less about space and how beautiful it is. Her and her social events and that
stupid chartreuse helicopter she leases,” mused Nova as she thought of her
social butterfly mother and her snooty private pilot on call. “And she won’t
let me fly it for her even though I’m checked out to fly a military-spec
Cosmonatutics 223 like that. But, back to this view! A huge blue-white star
exploded here over seventy thousand years ago, the scientists said…”
“Big hunk of carbon
and heavy metals that had reacted to death,” joked Derek. “Big deal.”
“But it’s beautiful!” said Nova. “What am I going
to do with you, Derek?” She pointed to her right. “And the stars over there
where the green gases are?
“I’m not sure,” said
Derek. “This view gives you the shivers, though…”
Nova nodded. Then,
she stood in silence by the rail and softly recited, “And, while with silent lifting
mind I've trod…The high untresspassed sanctity of space..Put out my hand and
touched the face of God…”
“High Flight,
1941,” said Derek.
Nova nodded as he came closer. “These views bring back so
many memories,” said Derek.
“They sure do…Pardon
me…do you remember our first date, Derek?”
“I sure do. Now, if I
recall, you slapped my hand away when I tried to hug you,” Derek grinned. “That
was not very nice for a first date.”
Nova laughed at the
thought, “Well I couldn’t let you think I was easy or something. But seriously,
on point…what are you doing here? Looking at the stars and hearing me recite
poetry? Not that I mind, but…Shouldn’t you be on the bridge?”