Rebellion
Chapter 19 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.
General
Stone already had a good idea what Wildstar was up to as he watched the video
display of the crew of the Argo
boarding the giant ship. There were alarms sounding and phones ringing as the
staff around him frantically tried to grasp the situation around them.
But Stone
knew already and so did Singleton as he was standing next to Stone for some
time.
“I’m glad I
insisted on having these closed circuit cameras installed.” Stone said.
“So what’s
happening?” Singleton asked.
“You
already know that.” Stone replied.
“So tell me
anyway.” Singleton.
“We started
receiving reports of several call out’s; it was over seven hundred, so I did a
background check to see what was in common…..I think we found it.”
Singleton
sighed and continued to look at the monitor.
“You know
that there is only one course of action which you can take. Make an example of
them so we can keep discipline within the rest of our forces!” Stone snapped.
Singleton
continued to look at the monitor “Which is a course of action that I won’t
take….Send a message to the Argo and tell them to leave the vessel at
once.”
“Yes sir.”
Stone said dejectedly.
As Derek
Wildstar paced the bridge of the Argo, he huffed slightly to himself
while he looked up at the command console, as well as the portrait of Admiral
Avatar hanging above it.
A thousand
thoughts raced through his head at once. They were mostly of Nova, and the
mysterious Marine who seemed to piece all of this together with the ease of
some board game. Wildstar continued to look at the portrait of Avatar, So many
people had looked to Wildstar for leadership when Avatar became ill; Derek
looked around the bridge and saw the bridge crew busy at their stations. He
knew that now, they would be looking to him….he was the leader of the Star
Force now….He felt he lost something of himself from a year ago. The brash
young Wildstar that left for Iscandar wouldn’t have had any second thoughts
about this action…. Where was that personality when he needed it most?
He wondered
mostly of what the consequences would be if he was wrong. Not just for himself,
but for the rest of the Star Force; however, Vaught Corsair again came to
Derek’s mind. Wildstar reflected on how Corsair made it seem so easy…he made it
like a school lesson.
It wasn’t a
lesson. It was real life.
Wildstar
knew that Nova was somewhat taken with Vaught. He guessed that it what probably
not in the sense of a romance, but more like a father-daughter relationship. He
knew how much frustration Nova’s rather mundane and boring parents caused her,
and he guessed that was probably the role Vaught was filling……..
“Captain
Wildstar?” came the words in an Australian accent which slightly startled him.
“More like
Captain Blood, Homer,” Wildstar said. “Now, we’re a bunch of renegades.”
“Can I walk
around with an eye patch and yell Arrgh!?!?”
“No.”
Wildstar said.
“Can I get
a Parrot?”
“NO!”
Wildstar shouted.
Homer
cracked his usual jovial smile, “Well, sir, can I at least report to you that
all the New Communications systems checked out ok?”
Wildstar
was about to shout “No!” again when he caught himself as Homer snickered.
“Go away.”
Wildstar said calmly. “Just go away. I’m…working some things out.”
Homer
showed a broad grin and started to walk back to his console when Wildstar said,
“Homer?”
Homer
turned around again. As the two men’s eyes met, Wildstar stammered, “Homer,
thanks…thanks for coming…thanks for…risking…”
Homer
walked back to him as he spoke calmly and seriously, with no sign whatsoever of
a joke in his demeanor. “You saved me arse a dozen times over, Wildstar. That’s
worth a career, mate.”
Wildstar
nodded as Homer returned to his station.
Wildstar
turned to Orion, and asked. “Do you have everything you need?”
Orion
walked past him and gave him a quick nod.
“No, sir,”
he replied in his Irish brogue.
Wildstar’s
eyes widened, “What do you mean…No!?”
The bridge
doors closed behind him as Wildstar sighed. Sandor, knowing his frustration,
walked over to him.
“What the
hell are we doing?” Wildstar said, “I’ve placed everyone’s career in jeopardy over
some information put together by some alien we don’t even know.”
“Whatever
he is, I don’t think he meant us any harm,” Sandor said.
“I don’t
exactly see him here helping us!” Wildstar snapped. “At least if Venture didn’t
show, I could have used him as a navigator! He talks big but if he doesn’t even
have the guts to stand by his convictions, whose side is he really on?”
Therese the
incident with the Gravo – Crane,” Sandor said “Maybe he could only just point
us in the right direction.”
“Well, whatever
it is, we have to get going in order
to be traveling in the right direction,” Wildstar said. “There are at least 50
different ways for us to screw this up.”
“I know,”
Sandor said. “Wildstar, that’s why we have to make sure we’re in good condition
when we leave; if anything goes wrong, we won’t have any of our repair depots
to count on.”
“We
have no more time,” Wildstar said.
“Sandor, begin the countdown at once. Homer, tell Orion I want all
engines up and running in five minutes; he can fine tune along the way.”
“Right,”
Homer said.
Sandor
looked at him with confusion. Derek could tell that he wasn’t used to shooting
from the hip. Avatar told him that which was why he was considered for the
first officer’s position.
“Look,
every move we make is being watched on a video panel somewhere. Unless I’m very
wrong they know what we’re up to already.” Wildstar said. “Once they decide to do something about it,
we have to be out of here, Since we’re under sea level here, we’re going to
need the water locks to exit…..that’s where they can get us….It’s Game Time…
let’s go!”
Sandor
nodded. “Right. We also can’t risk any false starts. I
know that when we make our move it has to be hard and fast…..I also know you
are worried…..Take it easy….Everything is checking out all right; just give me
a couple of minutes to make sure everything is OK.”
There was a
beeping at the communications panel when Homer turned to Wildstar
“Earth
Defense Headquarters on channel A.” Homer said “They want to talk to the
rebellion’s leader!”
Sandor
smiled and gave him a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder “That’s you, Captain
Wildstar.”
Wildstar
stood by himself and closed his eyes for a moment, then turned and pointed at Homer. “Switch it
on.”
“Aye, sir.”
The video panel
flickered showing a very angry General Stone. Wildstar sighed; he had hoped it
would be General Singleton rather than his nasty Chief of Staff.
Wildstar
saluted the General.
“Commander
Derek Wildstar, Space Battleship Argo flagship of the Third Interplant—“
“If I gave
a rat’s ass, I’d ask you what the hell you thought you were doing, punk,” Stone
began cutting off Wildstar. “Since I don’t care, I’m going to say this one time
and one time only. You and every one of your weekend warriors had better get
the hell off that damned ship at once!”
“Sir,”
Wildstar said. “We respectfully decline. We’re taking off as planned.”
“Oh, really?” Stone said with a deadly sarcasm. “Get off that ship in thirty minutes
or I will blow that tub back to the bottom of the ocean where it belongs!”
“I will
pass that along to the, Star Force, General.” Wildstar said. “They are here of
their own free will, and I don’t think that they will comply.”
“Make them
comply, Commander,” Stone said “Half hour and no more. Consider this your one
and only warning!”
Stone
angrily flipped the monitor off and started to walk out of the room. “Damn
them,” he muttered. “They need to be made a public example of!”
“Where are
you going, Miguel?” Singleton said in their native Colombian dialect, so that
no one else would understand them.
“I’m takin’
them OUT!” Stone said in English. “A few torpedoes would do it!”
“You gave
them thirty minutes,” Singleton replied in English.
“I don’t give
a good God Damn, Javier!” Stone shouted. “That is the last time that kid mouths
off to me!”
“I’m not
going to have them demoralized if I can help it,” Singleton said, “The Star
Force is too valuable a group…..Give them a chance to back down….that’s an order,
General Stone!”
Infuriated,
Stone just nodded.
“And,
besides, they can’t leave just yet.” Singleton said.
Despite the
many times she had been to an airbase with Derek. Nova never could get
interested in fighter craft. Inferno was an exception. She gleamed in
the hangar like a diamond, next to the burnt and pitted old M1142 space
battleship named
While still
limping, Nova walked alongside Inferno studying its markings; one of which was a delta-shaped insignia with
a star in its center on its tail. Along its starboard side, a caption read:
NCC-91399
Along the
other side, along the slender nose, in the same but smaller text the caption
read:
“Starfighter SS Inferno United Federation Of
Planets”
“That’s
some plane you’ve got,” Nova said.
“The
Tholians sure seemed to think so,” Vaught said.
“Who are
the Tholians?” Nova asked.
“Computer,”
Vaught snapped .“Identify voice as Lieutenant Nova Forrester.”
Instantly,
not as in the
“Acknowledged.”
“Give
Lieutenant Forrester level access two on main command functions and level
access one on library computer.”
“Acknowledged
“
Vaught
said, “Nova, Ask your question again.”
Nova
shrugged, and said, “Computer, please show me a Tholian.”
The
computer beeped and a holographic image appeared alongside the nose of the
aircraft.
Nova took a
step back, and looked at Vaught who seemed to be scowling at the image.
“That’s how
you burned your arm, isn’t it? You were fighting them!” Nova said.
“Yes. War
is hell,” Vaught said as he threw a duffel bag in his cargo compartment. Nova
continued to limp around the aircraft, as Vaught came around and handed her
what appeared to be a black and blue uniform of sorts. As he tossed it to her,
he said, “It’s Starfleet issue but you at least will be dry. You can change in
that little head in the corner behind the aircraft,” Vaught said as she nodded
in appreciation. But he still couldn’t avoid having her ask one question as she
untied her sneakers and prepared to walk into the head to change.
“Vaught,
why are you doing this?” Nova asked
Vaught
turned around and looked at her.
“Doing
what?” asked Vaught.
“Derek just
leaves….Doctor Sane left me in a parking lot….Yet you just gave me access to a
machine that is centuries ahead of our best technology…..Why?”
“Interesting
that you resent Derek and Doctor Sane for their decision not to involve you in
the mutiny. Perhaps they thought that after what happened to you with Iscandar,
that the pressures were just too great for you.”
“So men are
the only one who can make sacrifices?” Nova said.
Vaught
cracked a smile, “If it was so, would you be standing here? Do you think I asked
you to come out of charity, or pity….?”
Nova
straightened “No.”
“You are
more than you think you are. People look at you as clumsy both mentally and
physically; they look upon you as someone who is frail and defenseless. What
they don’t realize is that you are stronger, tougher, and more agile than they
are. You’re clumsy only because your reflexes are faster than others. You
simply just lack the coordination and training to control them adequately. When
you quiet your mind and focus your thoughts, you will see all fall into
place….I can help you find that….and that’s all the buttering up you’re going
to get from me.”
“Thanks,”
Nova said “You picked me right up there. Now, I feel…”
“Right now
that is not important. We haven’t much time,” Vaught said. “I would get behind
that aircraft, change, and hurry if I were you. I’ll be doing maintenance
checks while you change.”
At that,
Nova nodded. Then, she disappeared into the head to change into her Starfleet
uniform.
************************************************************************
Captain
Gideon had stayed in his quarters for most of the trip back to Earth. He was
troubled from what they had learned on Titan, and from his years of experience
he knew that there was danger lurking in the distance. That bothered him, and
the fact that he had learned that his wife was back in the hospital also ate at
his nerves.
Knowing
that he should be on the bridge, he leisurely made his way down to there. His
arrival was much to the surprise of everyone when his first officer shouted,
“Captain on the Bridge!”
He hated
that. It sent a chill down his spine like someone taking their nails and
screeching them down a chalk board.
“Don’t do
that anymore,” Gideon snapped. “It’s unnecessary!”
His first
officer straightened. He was a younger man in his mid thirties.
“I’m sorry
Captain, I thought-
“I also
didn’t ask for an explanation, now, did
I?” Gideon said angrily.
“No, sir,”
The first officer said.
Gideon sighed,
“Just…… go back to…doing what you were doing.”
“Aye, sir,”
The first officer said as he walked quickly away and muttered to himself.
Gideon didn’t pursue the matter, since he just wanted to get home without any
other incidents.
He was
about to leave when the communications station started beeping and the
communications officer moved frantically.
“Easy,
son,” Gideon said.
“Yes, sir,”
The communications officer said. “We have a yellow alert on Earth, sir.”
The first
officer walked over to the station as the Communications officer handed Gideon
the message.
“Planet-wide,
sir?” said the first officer.
“No.”
Gideon said. “It’s in…… space dock in
“What’s…going
on. And how can you have a yellow alert in space dock?” The first officer said.
“When
someone is stealing a starship!” Gideon said.
“Captain,
I’m sorry, the message didn’t say what started the yellow alert .”
“It doesn’t
have to!” Gideon said. “I know what he’s doing. Damn kid. Mind your board and
let me know if there are any more messages.”
“Yes sir,” said
the communications officer…who was thoroughly mystified.
Gideon
walked across the bridge, leaned against an empty chair, and gritted his teeth,
as he thought, Wildstar, damn you! This
isn’t the way you do things…
Next Chapter: "The Next Move”
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Introduction to Starfighter: The
Iconoclasts, click here