An Intelligence Review…And its Results
Chapter 16 of Starfighter! The
Iconoclast
By: Tom Sczepkowski
With editing and clean-up
by: Frederick P. Kopetz
Copyrights:
STAR TREK is © 2004 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. STAR BLAZERS is © 2004 by
Voyager International, and, STAR WARS is © 2004 by Lucasfilm, Ltd. GARGOYLES is
© 2004 by Disney Entertainment. The Technomugar Empire is © 2004 by Frederick
P. Kopetz and is mentioned here by the author's permission. All original
elements of this tale are © 2004 by Tom Sczepkowski. All rights reserved, not
to be copied without the author's permission.
It was well into the
night as Vaught continued to hear the cleaned-up message tapes, which were
recorded from the message of an unknown origin. He listened to them over and
over again. It was not because he didn’t understand the language, it was
because he did understand the language and was confounded since it was a
language from his own universe that no one should be able to speak here.
“Telezar,” Vaught muttered
“What?” said Nova, who
was sitting next to them. Vaught took off his glasses
and rubbed his eyes, being careful not to open them and reveal them. Then, as
he put the glasses back on he listened to the panicked voice on the message
once again as he felt a strange eerieness in it.
“It’s nothing,” Vaught
said as he replayed the message.
“Whatever it is, you seem
pretty interested,” said Derek. “Or…is that upset, Nova?”
Nova simply looked at her
beloved; she was also listening to the message on a headset. She tapped her
foot against the ground; her sandal made a rapping noise as it hit the deck.
Derek knew that this was a mannerism of hers when she was worried, but, Venture
gave her a dirty look. She gave him an equally peeved look back before she concentrated
again on the message.
“Vaught, whoever she is,
she enunciates her words like you do,” Nova said. “This is strange,” she said
as she pulled at the pink top she had worn under her sweater, which was thrown
over a chair. Derek looked at her old sweater for a moment and thought, This looks ratty, Nova. One of these days, I’ve
got to buy you a better wardrobe. I know you don’t make quite enough to afford
better now…but….
Vaught muttered something
to himself in a similar language as he started writing down words,
"danger.....You might be to....
someone must hear this.........
must....come quickly........
horrible danger......Quickly.......come
follow.”
“Derek!” Nova shouted as he
and Sandor quickly walked over. Vaught listened for a few more moments and took
off his headset. Then, he ripped off the sheet of paper from his note pad and
handed it to Wildstar. He read the paper and placed it down on the desk.
“Look,” said Vaught. “I’ve
translated it, and this is what she said.”
Wildstar read it, and his
face grew pale by degrees as he read Vaught’s translation of the message.
“So…it’s a distress
call,” Wildstar said. “She sounds like she is in great danger.”
“But it’s incomplete,”
mused Sandor. “Wildstar, I wonder what she is really saying.”
“I admit the message is
garbled.” Vaught said “However I can discern the tone more so than the words.
If she were in direct danger her tone would be panicked. In this case, the tone
is that of urgency rather than fear.”
“That could mean
anything.” Venture said “And we don’t have any idea where the message is coming
from?”
“I am unable to give you
specifics because were not getting enough of the message to get an actual
location.” Vaught sad as he stood up and walked over to the
tactical screen and brought up an image of the Comet. Vaught studied it
for a few moments.
“You see something?” Nova
asked.
Vaught nodded “What do you see?” Vaught asked. “All of you?”
Wildstar and Venture
looked at each other quizzically then they looked back at Vaught.
“I see a Comet,” said
Venture. “I see…something that looks…nasty.”
“Close, but not it,” said
Vaught. Wildstar remained silent. Sandor stood with his head down, as if in deep
thought. But, Nova spoke up.
“What am I looking for?”
Nova asked.
“The pieces to the puzzle
are all here.” Vaught said
Vaught realized that as
intelligent as Nova was, she wasn’t experienced. His own daughter would have
seen what he did in a matter of seconds. However Nova was not his daughter. But
Vaught knew that, regardless, she was still a very special person. In the alley
he felt that the young naive girl had potential. He knew she would never be the
solider or Jedi his daughter was or perhaps it was his pride in Starsha that
made him feel that way. However, he still wanted to test the young girl’s
patience and potential as he leaned forward.
“Trust your feelings.”
Vaught said quietly.
“Do you two want to be
alone to play your New Age game, or can we play too? Nova, I can’t believe you,
of all people, would fall for this crap,” Venture said with a smirk as Wildstar
quickly slapped him behind his head and walked over and stood next to Nova as
she looked at the board. She turned to him as he gave her a reassuring smile as
she looked back to the board, and the image of the Comet that appeared on the
screen.
“Going by logic…The
transmissions started at the same time as the Comet appeared.” Nova said
“Yes.” Vaught said as he
stood directly in front of Nova in his green uniform.
“The Argo is attacked.” Nova said.
“Yes.” Vaught said.
“Then the power goes
out.”
“Right,” Vaught said.
“The message is a warning
about the Comet and its sender has information on the Comet, which is a
threat.”
“Exactly,” Vaught said as
he turned to her. “Well done.”
“Wait a minute!” Venture
protested. “How could they possibly have known that!?”
“She looked at the
board.” Wildstar said.
“Great!” Venture said to Nova.
“Ok, eager young space cadet, you and Duck Dodgers over there care to tell me
where the mysterious Planet X where all the transmissions are coming from is!?”
“Venture,” Wildstar said
“Shut up…don’t pick on her! Go ahead, Vaught.”
Vaught nodded, glancing
hard at Venture for a moment, then he continued.
“I can’t give you a
definite location; however, let’s tie in all the evidence…all of you.” Vaught
said
“It’s still not going to
give a location.” Sandor said.
“He’s right,” said
Venture.
“Well riddle me this,”
Vaught said “If an invading force wants to get their hands on a planet and you
find out about it, and you don’t think much of the invading force what do you
do?”
“Try and contact the
people about to be invaded,” Sandor said. “Just like Queen Starsha did with us.
What she didn’t tell us, though, was that Iscandar and Gamilon were neighboring
planets. She was afraid we wouldn’t make the trip…as we got closer the Gamilons
tried harder and harder to block out all communication with Iscandar.”
Vaught turned and looked
at the tactical screen and walked up close to it and studied it for several
moments.
“Colonel?” Wildstar asked
“I think Sandor might
have given me something to think about where the origin of this message is.”
Vaught said
“So you think it’s coming
from Iscandar?” Venture asked
“Too
far away.” Vaught said as he
changed to a course plotting screen. “Have a look. At the time of the first
message the Comet alters its course by 13 degrees. Then, after an hour it
returns to its base course. Then after the second power failure, the Comet
again alters its course by thirteen degrees than in an hour turns back to its
base course.”
“So whomever
is behind the Comet…” Nova said, “…may be directly aligning itself to be in a better
position to interfere with the transmission.”
“Or to take them out,”
Wildstar said, “So they can’t send anymore messages.”
“Interesting analogy,
Captain,” Vaught said. “Perhaps they are
returning to their base course because Orders are being countermanded.”
“You mean someone wants
to stifle the person or persons transmitting the message but some one higher
and hotter is preventing them.” Wildstar said ..
“It’s a logical premise.”
Vaught said
“The Earth Defense
Counsel has to do something if they could just get themselves to stop talking
and Listen.”
“Colonel?” Wildstar asked
“The Andromeda is investigating what has transpired to cause the power
blackout. I suggest we wait for them to return and present our findings to
Captain Gideon and have him address the council for us, Captain. He has
influence. They would listen to him.”
“I can address the
Council myself,” Wildstar huffed.
“I don’t think that is
wise, Captain,” Vaught said
“Every minute we wait
that Comet is getting closer to Earth.” Wildstar said “Vaught, Nova, Mark,
Sandor…get all the information together…I want to address the Council by this
afternoon.”
Vaught nodded slowly as
he let out a deep sigh. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes again.
Wildstar turned and walked out of the room with Sandor and Venture. Nova, aware
that Wildstar was in his “Man with a
mission” mode, simply kissed him gently on the cheek. She said that she
would see him later.
Vaught continued looking
down at the computer screen. As Nova walked over to the console where Vaught
was working she could tell that he was disturbed with something as he put back
on the glasses, and looked up at her.
“What?” Vaught said
“He bothers you.” Nova
said, smiling softly. “Or, to be precise, my Derek drives you up the wall,
doesn’t he?”
“Just wondering what I
got myself into.” Vaught said. “I
shouldn’t be here.”
“Why?” Nova asked.
“This isn’t my arena.”
Vaught said. “I usually work alone and I make my own decisions in the field. I take
my orders as any soldier does, but I just don’t like being asked my opinion,
then having it ignored because it wasn’t what somebody wanted to hear.”
“My father is good at
that,” Nova said bitterly, “Especially with my mother.”
“Interesting,” Vaught said.
“What?” Nova asked.
“Any conversation that we
have ends up with you being resentful towards some family member or another,”
Vaught said.
“He just agrees with
everything she says,” Nova said.
“So?” Vaught said “Maybe
he just doesn’t want to fight with his wife that he loves.”
“Derek doesn’t seem to
mind fighting with me all the time.” Nova said. “And I know he loves me.”
“Oh please,” Vaught said,
“When he gets into one of his commanding moods you could jump his bones then
and there!”
“Vaught!” Nova said with a deep blush.
“You and he are in need
of sex more than any humans in history!” Vaught said “I can smell it from here!
The best thing I can do for you two is strip you two
down to your underwear and leave you both on a deserted island for a week!”
Nova was taken aback then
thought for a second good point. “Uh,
Vaught, do you talk to your daughter this way?”
“When she starts to act
like you are …yes.” Vaught said
“Once a
month?” Nova asked jokingly
“No I’m lucky,” Vaught said
as he closed the briefcase and began to walk out of the room. “It’s once every
three months.”
The doors closed behind
Vaught leaving a confused Nova in bewilderment at the comment.
“Once every three months?” Nova said as she thought
for a second. Then Nova gasped to herself in realization, grabbed her sweater
and left quickly.
She was very embarrassed.
An emergency meeting of
the Earth Defense Council was in closed session, however Wildstar and Sandor
were allowed in. Vaught was able to catch the meeting. They sat in observation
seats above.
It all went down hill
from there
Seven people sat around a
large conference table. The Council was comprised of General Singleton and two
other generals and also several civilians. They sat debating the information
that was given to them. Vaught was paying attention to what the Council was
saying and was even taking notes. Also, he had Inferno’s sensors record the meeting…with a shake of his head,
since he noticed how the men were behaving both over-confident and smug. It
seemed the only person even taking the meeting seriously was General Singleton.
“You speak of our new
ability to be able to defend ourselves with our new ships.” Singleton said.
“However Captain Wildstar feels that perhaps this person is a danger herself.”
“General Singleton,” a
civilian member of the counsel said with jaded sarcasm “The Star Force is a
very chivalrous group, however regulations and our
charter do not leave any room to go rushing to the aid of every Damsel in
Distress.”
Wildstar sprang up to
everyone’s surprise and started shouting....
"May I speak?" Wildstar shouted. "Have
you all forgotten what Queen Starsha of Iscandar did for
Earth?!"
Sandor tried to stop Wildstar's
tirade by grabbing at his arm but Wildstar jerked it away.
"Wildstar stop
it!" Sandor said barely above a whisper.
"We have a chance to
repay that debt!" Wildstar exclaimed. "Not to Queen Starsha, but to
someone else!"
A general sitting at the
table had heard enough of the young officer’s tirade
"That's
enough!" the General shouted. "You were invited here as an observer;
you do not have the right to lecture us!"
“Then we’ve lost
already!” Wildstar said.
“What do you mean?”
Singleton asked
“Because as long as we
have to play by these bullshit rules
and the aliens don’t…we’re gonna lose, sir.”
Vaught stood up and
walked over to Wildstar and stood in front of him.
“Come on, that’s it,”
Vaught said. “You’re not going to make
your point this way!”
Wildstar glared at Vaught
angrily turned around and exited the Chamber.
“Damned punk kid.” the
general said. “He should be court-martialed for that.”
“That’s not necessary, General.” Singleton said.
Vaught turned to where
the council was beneath him
“He does have the right to lecture you, General.” Vaught said. “You may
have forgotten, but that punk kid has
seen more action and has made more life and death decisions in two years than
any of you have in a lifetime.”
“That’s a matter of a
very loose opinion,” the general said. “That Wildstar is a
loose cannon who should be tied down ASAP.”
“Your over-confidence is
your weakness,” Vaught said. “And to place your planet’s safety in a class of
ship that hasn’t been fully tested is laughable.”
“Marine, you have no damn
idea of what you are saying. The Andromeda
class space battleships are the most advanced and powerful ever created,” said
the General. “With the newly redesigned
double chamber wave motion gun we could go to an enemy’s home world and destroy
it before they could even know what the heck hit them.”
Vaught chuckled to
himself,
“Don’t be too proud of
these technological terrors you’ve constructed, the ability to destroy a planet
is insignificant next to…”
Vaught stopped himself
from saying anything further. There was a tense moment of silence as Vaught
again chuckled.
“Good day, gentlemen,”
Vaught said as he turned and exited the room.
Vaught walked across the
hall into a small lounge where Wildstar, Sandor, and Venture was sitting in a
chairs wile Wildstar was in a tirade.
"I can’t believe
this," Wildstar yelled. "Two years ago they were living underground,
now they think they’re omnipotent? What are they smoking, anyhow?"
"I take it than that
they don't think that there is any real danger to Earth," Venture said.
"As long as we're ok, why worry about someone else?"
"What would happen
if we were attacked suddenly by an enemy strong enough to foul up our energy
system?" Wildstar yelled.
Sandor sat down in the
chair "Wildstar, about that," Sandor began. "The world-wide
blackout was caused by the deliberate destruction of our solar energy station
on Venus."
"Destroyed?"
Vaught asked as he leaned against a table. "And your government
doesn’t consider that a threat?"
"We'll have a full
report when the Andromeda gets
back." Sandor said.
Vaught sighed. "I
have a bad feeling about this. This could be the first stage of an enemy invasion.
Disruption of power sources should be considered a softening up tactic."
"So you think there
really is a danger?" Venture asked.
"I think that if
there is a danger, it is considerable." Vaught replied.
"I agree."
Sandor said.
"We can't just sit
here doing nothing!" Wildstar said.
”And you suggest doing
what?" Vaught muttered.
Wildstar was silent for a
second, as he looked out the window towards the ocean. Vaught could tell what
he was thinking as he turned and looked at him. Wildstar gave him a good long
hard stare, as Vaught realized what he was thinking
“Oh come on!” Vaught
said. “That’s…”
"Sandor, how soon
can the Argo take off?" Wildstar
interjected, still staring at Vaught.
Sandor looked at him
shocked "What are you saying?"
"Wildstar!" Venture exclaimed.
"Someone has got to
find out what’s going on!" Wildstar said turning towards Sandor. "The
Defense Council thinks that if they talk long enough, the problem will go
away."
"And you think that
the four of us can just take off in the Argo?"
Sandor asked.
“What do you mean the
four of us?” Vaught said.
"The Star Force can
do it," Wildstar said. "All we have to do is let them know we’re
going."
"You cannot be
serious about this," Vaught scolded. “Do you know the implications of what
you are considering?”
"Colonel Corsair’s
right." Venture said. "What you’re suggesting is very serious; if we
leave without permission we'll be outlaws. We could be court-martialed, even
shot for this. Those guys on the Council don’t play games with mutineers."
"GODDAMMIT, they’re
not going to listen to us!” Derek exclaimed, "Their minds are made
up!"
There was a silence in
the room, then Derek turned to Sandor.
“Well, what about it?”
Wildstar said
"We’ll let the old
Star Force members know what we are planning to do, and of the danger,"
Sandor said. "If they come it will be because they want to...they'll be
risking their careers."
"I've got to think
this over." Venture said as both he and Sandor stood up.
“I know,” Wildstar said.
“Mark, this meeting never took place.”
“Right,” Venture said as
he grabbed his coat and left the room slamming the door behind him.
Sandor left the room,
leaving Derek and Vaught alone.
There was silence for a few
seconds as they listened to the whirring of an air conditioner.
“It’s dangerous,” Vaught
said. “Your friend Venture is right, at least about that.”
Wildstar shook his head
"I know there are dangers in taking this action...but if we don't who
will?"
"You needn’t
convince me, Sir," Vaught said. "I will not oppose you."
"But I can’t…just
accept your help, either," Wildstar said.
Vaught silently shook his
head. "I can’t help, not even if I wanted to," Vaught said, "All
I can promise you is my silence. I am bound by laws and disciplines
that you know nothing about.”
A look of seriousness
washed over Wildstar's face "Yes I do." Derek said "I do know
you what you are up against.”
Vaught scoffed, “Sir, you
know nothing about me.”
“I know enough!” Wildstar
snapped. “I know you are from somewhere else; you don’t belong here; you’re
undercover. I know what you did during the blackout. You put yourself in harm’s
way to save those people whom you didn't even know, especially Nova, a girl who
reminds you so much of you daughter you risk exposing yourself to save her life. The Star Force is such a
group with ideals not unlike your own Vaught...you’re thinking as I do about
this; and you know I'm right. Why? Because you gave me
the information. And I think that with your help the odds of us coming
out of this in one piece would be doubled."
Vaught looked at him for
a few seconds and cracked a smile. "I'm surprised you aren't in
government, Captain." Vaught said. “You make a better politician than
those people on the Council do.”
Wildstar chuckled. Then
Vaught had a serious look on his face.
“I need you,” Wildstar
said. “You know what might be going on out there. I…don’t.”
Vaught closed his eyes,
“I cant.” Vaught said. “As much as I want to I have an
obligation to a higher power and a higher law that is not easily broken. You
might almost call it a spiritual obligation, Captain.”
“What will you do, then?”
Wildstar asked.
“Go home. Where I
belong,” Vaught said as the two shook hands, “May the Force be with you,
Captain.”
Vaught saluted. Wildstar
returned the salute as Vaught turned and closed the door behind him.
A feeling stirred in
Wildstar that this would not be the last time he would be seeing the mysterious
Vaught Corsair.
Later that day, after the
meeting, Derek and Nova were driving in an aircar along a green stretch of
highway.
Derek was unusually
quiet; not that he was talkative in the first place. But Nova could see that
something was on his mind and whatever it was it was disturbing him. She knew
that he was edgy over what had happened earlier. Not that he took it out on
her. Their whole week of leave together had gone by perfectly….and quickly.
Their relationship had never been better. She had even dressed up a little
today, since she had scraped together enough to have a favorite pink jumper
dry-cleaned, and she wore it today, with matching boots. But, all was not well
in the car. As the car moved along, Nova could sense that he was getting more
uneasy. And the silence was beginning to make her uneasy as well.
“Did something happen
today?” Nova asked.
Derek, who seemed even
more distant, didn’t even hear her question.
“Derek!” she asked again.
His reaction was almost
as if he was sleeping.
“What?” Derek asked in a
startled voice. Then, he tried to give her a reassuring smile and kissed her
hand gently.
“It’s nothing, Nova,”
Derek said gently.
“Did you and Sandor get
them to listen at the Defense Council meeting?” Nova asked.
“Don’t worry.” Derek said
in a peaceful tone again.
Nova sighed. “When you
say don’t worry, that’s when I begin to worry Derek,”
Nova said. “You have something on your mind, don’t you?”
There was an eerie
silence in the car when she spoke again.
“It’s not about having breakfast
with Vaught is it?” Nova asked. “Derek, you know I’d…”
Wildstar shot her a
sideways look “You had breakfast with Vaught? That’s all?” Wildstar asked while suppressing the urge to laugh.
“Yes.” Nova said
“Well, what did you
have?” Derek asked. “And I hope it wasn’t fattening. I know how you watch your
figure.”
Knowing that he was
teasing her she looked at him with frustration.
“Please! Derek, I know when there is something serious bothering
you! We promised not to keep secrets from each other.”
He said nothing and just
continued to drive.
The highway ended as the
air car now was driving over desert. A small patch of it still had craters from
planet bombs. They drove for about five minutes when Wildstar found what he was
looking for. It was an entranceway to a large cave with a huge hydraulic door.
It was left open. Nova confused as to why he chose this particular place to
bring her.
They stepped onto a
glass-enclosed elevator, which brought them down deep under ground where an
entire metropolis stood; a metropolis that was now abandoned.
“Just a year ago,” Derek
said. “Frightened people lived down here. Yearning for a
glimpse of sunlight.”
The elevator stopped.
Derek and Nova stepped off.
Wildstar closed his eyes and took a deep breath the
air was moldy; just as he remembered it when he, along with everyone else used
to live down here in the darkness. He continued to look around, while Nova
waited to hear anything, anything at all, from him. It was an eerie feeling to
be the only ones in this vast underground city. But an eerier feeling consumed
Derek.
“People forget the
terrible things they live through.” Derek continued. “I couldn’t forget.”
He was silent for another
minute than turned to Nova.
“Nova, do you remember they day when the Star Force left for Iscandar?” he asked.
She didn’t reply. Nova just kept her eyes fixed on him, listening intently to
every word he was saying.
“All of Earth had one
year to live,” Derek said. “Radiation poisoning was everywhere.”
He kicked a small can as
it bounced across the concrete sidewalk that he was standing on.
“Now no one remembers the
danger; is it because they think it can never happen again?” Wildstar asked
rhetorically
They stood there
together, staring into the cold abandoned structures as they both reflected
upon their own thoughts. Her thoughts were of Derek, and the strange force that
was now driving him. He almost seemed to grown ten years older in the last five
minutes. Standing like their old leader Captain Avatar Derek Wildstar was no
longer the arrogant young boy that she knew. He had changed, but she didn’t
know if it were for the better, but the more she looked at him the deeper she
fell for him.
Derek’s thoughts were of
the mission he was planning, his obligation, his sense of honor towards the
people of Earth, and of how he wanted Nova to stay behind, stay out of this
scheme, remain safe on Earth waiting for him in peace
until he came back. Derek continued to look at the city. “I still remember the
day we got back to Earth. What joy there was!”
“Even the children,” Nova
said slightly above a whisper. “They had been living underground for so long,
but they seemed to glow.”
“Yes, the children.”
Derek said. “Many had never known how beautiful Earth could be…Now they do….
What if they had to come down here and live again…leave the sun, the sky and
the grass…. and live again like pale ghosts…. It could happen again, Nova….and
it would be our fault.”
Nova let out a sad sigh. “I guess I know why you
brought me down here today,” she said. “You made a decision…didn’t you?”
“I don’t know what the
future is but who does? If you know or feel that there is something important
you can do to make it better, don’t you think you should do it?”
She turned away from him.
“Yes,” Nova said quietly.
“You understand?” Derek
said.
Nova felt like her heart
was just ripped out of her chest.
“Yes, I understand,” she
said numbly. You’re leaving Earth again,
she thought. And you don’t want me to
come with you. She wanted to confront him and ask him why it had to be him
to go; why it had to be him that was so noble. She couldn’t see clearly through
her tears and came up with a lame excuse that she would be right back and ran
off. Wildstar called after her, but Nova just took off, running like the wind,
and crying as she went.
I can’t bear to let him go… she thought. But
I can’t ask him to stay!
At that, Nova continued
to sob as she stopped in front of a large building and dropped to her knees.
Next Chapter: "The Die is Cast…”
To Return to the
Introduction to Starfighter: The Iconoclasts,
click here