rOYSTER’S CRUCIBLE…
Chapter 31 of Starfighter! The
Iconoclast
By: Tom Sczepkowski
With editing and clean-up
by: Frederick P. Kopetz
And with inspiration and
aid by:
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.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Nokkar
stood outside his underground base for the past three thousand years as he
looked out over the
But
still something felt out of place for a split second as he opened his eyes and
there sitting next to him was Destine
“Forgive
me my old friend.” she said “I had to come.”
“I
know.” Nokkar said in a weak voice “Twilight is upon me and now Light must
fall…..that is the way things are……it’s the way of the Force.”
“If
you ask me the Force is a huge pain in the ass.” Destine said wiping away a
tear from her face.
Nokkar
laughed weakly for a moment “I heave heard the Force described in many ways but
never quite like that.”
“Well
then you know it’s accurate.” Destine said
They
both laughed at the remark as Nokkar coughed heavily…no longer able to support
his weight, he laid back on the ground while tears rolled
down Destine’s face as she held his hand and knelt down besides him.
“Are
you in pain?” She asked
“No.”
Nokkar said “I don’t really feel anything.”
“Is
there anything I can do?” she asked while sobbing.
“For
me, no,” Nokkar whispered. “Your family, however, needs you. You need to find a
way to get to them.”
“I
cant do any good out there,” Destine said
“Everybody is out there doing their own thing I don’t even know where
Vaught is and Star, well she has her own demons to fight….”
“We
all have our demons to fight,” Nokkar said. “You above all else should know
that…..They do, and they love you very much…..”
“This
shouldn’t be about me,” Destine said wiping the tears from her eyes. “It should
be about you.”
“No.
My time with you is nearly done,” Nokkar said as he gasped for breath. “When I
pass through the Force, Vaught will succeed into my place as Master……but he is
caught between two worlds now. Very soon Vaught will be pushed either into the
world of darkness or a brighter existence…rather then his familiar world of the
twilight.”
Destine
tried to make sense of what he was saying then understood that it had something
to do with the mission that he was on.
“Working
with the Star Force is making him see things from another perspective,” Destine
said.
“The
Commander of the Star Force does not consider him the expendable weapon that
Starfleet regards him as…..,” Nokkar said while
gaspingfor breath. “But Vaught’s faith will be shaken and he will fall…..where
or how soon I cannot say…..That’s why you must go to them….for if Vaught dies,
you must seek out the only other person that could intervene…..for if not we
would lose both Starsha and Nova to the Dark Side.”
Destine
looked at him with Shock
“Nova
as in….?”
“Yes,”
Nokkar said. “She serves with the Star Force.”
“Christ!”
Destine said “If She’s on the Argo
and Vaught’s on the Argo….! This was
never supposed to happen….. We took steps to ensure that it wouldn’t happen!”
“Terri
and Karl did as much as they could,” Nokkar said.
“Great!
So I’m the one that’s going to have to contend with Vaught as to why we hid the
fact that he and Astra had twins,” Destine said.
“I
don’t think he knows,” Nokkar said.
“Oh
please,” Destine said “I know that the Forresters had her fangs removed, but
he’s not stupid… he’ll figure it out…..Do they have a lot of contact?”
“They
are best friends,” Nokkar said.
“and this other person…..you’re talking about Trelania!”
Destine said. “Creighton thought that she was the one sending the message to
the Star Force……He thinks that’s what Vaught is up to.”
Nokkar
looked away from her and closed his eyes.
“Through
the Force I see dimensions within dimensions, wheels within wheels, plots
within…everything is confused….but when I see Vaught there is order and
stability surrounding him………Nothing must interfere with what they need to do
but both of them cannot be sacrificed……they….”
He
reached out and touched Destines face. As he gasped again, his eyes opened wide
“All……Your ……experiences……and……wisdom…….have brought you…….to this
moment………….Have faith in yourself…………It is your………Destiny……………”
Then
Nokkar breathed out his last and closed his eyes.
Destine
sobbed for a few moments as she looked to the sky at the stars. She began
singing very softly.
Dona, eis………Dona, eis……..Dona, eis
pacem………….Dona eis Pacem.
Requiem aeternam Dona eis, ET lux perpetua luceat eis……….. lux perpetua
Dona Nobis…………. Dona Nobis………. Dona Nobis Pacem…………..
Dias, maius
Lieuchent taieis....
Tears
flowed from her eyes as she picked up Nokkar very gently. However in an
instant, his body was gone, having been enveloped by the Force. All of the
people that were with her through her lifespan were now gone. She was the last
of her generation now and that made her feel lonelier than ever.
******************************************************************************
The
White Comet maintained her course and her heading towards Earth.
Zordar
sat in a chair having a drink with his daughter Invidia. This was his time to
relax ….His battle plans already been drawn his fleets deploying….and Desslok
engaging and destroying the Star Force……
Life
was good.
But,
as always, General Gorce could be counted on to disturb his relaxation.
“Always
on the move, my Romulan friend,” Zordar said over his glass.
“I
have good reason, my Prince,” Gorce said.
“The Federation again?”
Zordar asked.
“Does
it not disturb you that our intelligence has the
“Not
in the least,” Zordar said “It’s just the usual Federation Political Damage
Control……But what of these rumors of the Captain of the Earth Space Battleship Andromeda?”
“The
Tal Shair believes that there may be truth to the
rumors,” Gorce said. “Starfleet hasn’t commented one way or the other; however,
there is a lot of movement of Starfleet ships and according to my sources a lot
of surveillance of the Brumus area. “
“What of General Naska’s fleet?” Invida asked. “He was supposed to
take Brumus!”
“It was mostly destroyed….Gorce said as he flipped a switch
activating the floor Video Panel. An image appeared as he said, “It is also
confirmed that Starfleet Weaponry was used in the battle.” Gorce said. “Naska
managed to get these visuals of the Starfleet vessel…and her pilot.”
Invida
looked at Zordar and hissed.
Zordar
leaned back into his chair and rubbed his chin for a moment.
“Darth
Hawk,” Zordar said. “The role is being played by Maestro Vaught Corsair Major,
Starfleet Marines. This is most
interesting. Yes!”
“What
is that thing strapped to his back?”
Invida asked.
Zordar
chuckled, “That, my dear, is the “Sword of Kahless” the Bat'leth. It is the maestro’s weapon of choice.”
“You make good use of your intelligence structure, my
Prince,” Gorce
said.
“Only what interests me,” Zordar said “And the maestro is
an interesting subject, to say the least.”
“But not one to be left unchecked, Father,” Invida said.
“Isn’t he supposed to possess the same power as Trelaina of Telezart?”
“It is rumored as so…yes,” Gorce said.
“It is also rumored,” Zordar said while clearing his
throat, “That he and Trelaina are related in some happenstance.”
“Perhaps his older sister,” Gorce said. “We don’t have
that many details to our personal reports….but we do know he is extremely
dangerous and wherever he is, Admiral Nechayev isn’t too far behind…..and behind
Neacheav is Chekov and Destine……and that’s Starfleet.”
“If Starfleet is giving tactical support to the Star
Force then perhaps they are a bigger threat then we were led to believe,”
snapped Invidia. “Father, they must be dealt with! We cannot leave such a
threat to that renegade Desslok!”
Zordar
raised his finger lightly to silence her.
“It
is nothing.” Zordar said “We have more important things to concern ourselves
with. Leave the Star Force and this… musician to Desslok, for he can tend to
them…….Soon the Comet Empire will engage a truly formidable foe….If one is to
be judged by the tasks one assumes, think of Desslok and the Little Children of
the Star Force and Zordar and the Mighty James T. Kirk!”
Zordar
laughed maniacally as Gorce felt a sickness in his stomach.
***************************************************************************
Derek
Wildstar quietly walked on the bridge as Vaught was talking to Sandor and
Venture. Wildstar had some concerns that Vaught and Venture were going to go at
it again; however the two spoke in a normal conversational tone. They were
merely exchanging ideas and theories in finding their destination. Wildstar
felt that this was the way Admiral Avatar had meant the Star Force to be.
Their
conversation continued; now it was mostly between Sandor and Vaught discussing
the technical computations for a space warp. The math had become too much for
Wildstar to follow….and he chuckled when he heard Venture ask them to slow down
because he didn’t know what they were talking about. Wildstar focused on the
picture of Avatar hanging above the command console….He felt small….lost. He
never felt that he was in command of the ship…only that it was on loan to him.
Derek half expected to see Captain Avatar walk through the door and take his
station above the rest of the bridge crew.
His
thoughts became interrupted by the sound of Homer’s console beeping. Homer
quickly donned his headset and called to Wildstar. Venture and Sandor were
somewhat as they didn’t even know that Wildstar was on the bridge.
Before
Homer could even open the channel, Venture had pushed Homer out of his seat and
grabbed his headset off his head by force.
“Hey, ya Pelican!”
Homer shouted. “You’re not backing out in coming forward, are ya!?”
“I’ll
take care of this message, Homer!” Venture snapped.
“You’re
mad as a two bob watch!” Homer yelled
“I don’t go ‘round telling you how to bloody navigate!”
Venture looked over at Homer, not necessarily
understanding his Australian colloquial speech.
“I need this
for Navigation,” Venture said in a slow and careful voice, as if he was talking
to someone he pereceived to be an idiot. “I need to get a radio bearing so we
can plot an exact course to wherever we’re supposed to be going.”
Vaught was about to intervene when he looked over at
Wildstar who shook his head no. Vaught nodded without hesitation and took a
step back.
“”It’s all right Homer,” Wildstar said. “Let Venture
take this particular message.”
The message was broken and what could be heard was a
young woman’s voice in another language. Frustrated Venture was pounding on the
controls and Homer was screaming at the top of his lungs in protest. Vaught however was able to filter it out as
he took a pad and pen and began writing the translation of the words down.
White Comet is near- Danger – No
time –
Wildstar looked over Vaught’s shoulder and saw what
he was doing and saw that he was concentrating on the message which could
barely be heard over Venture’s and Homer’s tirade with each other.
“WILL
YOU TWO SHUT THE HELL UP!?” Wildstar roared spinning around not noticing Nova standing behind him.
The only sounds on the bridge were that of radio
static and components beeping as Vaught continued writing.
This Message- waste no time- The
universe is- We pray that you will reach us in time.
“Nova! I…uh… thought you went to bed,”
Wildstar said.
“After your conversation on the observation deck I
thought it might be a good idea to stay around,” Nova said.
Static now overcame the young female voice as the
transmission ended. At the same time, Wildstar looked over at Venture.
“Bearing 174 mark 15.”
That’s the best I could get.” Venture said.
“Well that’s better then what we had before.”
Wildstar said. “It seems, Vaught, that you can
understand her language….any idea who she is or where she’s from?”
Vaught seemed fixated on the stars for a moment as
he turned to Nova.
“Telezart?” Nova asked.
“Well, the language is definitely Telazar.” Vaught
said. “However, Telezart no longer exists. So I really couldn’t give you any
insight to her identity.”
Wildstar, Nova, and Sandor branched off on their own
conversation leaving Vaught and Venture alone for the moment.
“What the hell is a Telezart?” Venture asked.
“It was my home,” Vaught said. “It was destroyed in
an interstellar war.”
“Oh….” Venture said quietly. “I’m sorry.”
“It was a long time ago.” Vaught said. “I was only a
child when it happened.”
“That doesn’t make it all right,” Venture said
“Stuff like that stays with you for along time. My little brother is still
wound up over the Gamilon planet bombing.”
“How old is your brother?” Vaught asked.
“Seven.” Venture said.
“Ah.” Vaught said “They’re very inquisitive at that
age.”
Venture chuckled, “And don’t I know it….! One day
when we were at port I took him to work with me for a day…Man, he wanted to
know everything!”
Vaught let out a slight laugh. “When my daughter was
seven, anything electronic in the house was taken apart.”
“You made her put it back together?” Venture asked.
“Oh yes.” Vaught said.
“Same here.” Venture said. “We better be
careful….they might be engineers one day.”
“I hope so,” Vaught said. “Right now, my Starsha is
more of a destroyer.”
“Nova mentioned she’s a Marine?” Venture asked.
“Yes. Combat aggressor squadron,” Vaught said.
“Like her old man, huh?” Venture said. “You don’t sound happy about it.”
Vaught simply shrugged, “I’m not,” he said quietly.
“Well, what did you expect?” Venture said. “After
all…I’m sure life with father had its adventures.”
Vaught smiled at the remark thinking how right
Venture was, as numerous memories of his daughter’s childhood briefly flooded
his mind.
“It was all too brief, Mr. Venture,” Vaught said as
he turned his attention back to his station and glanced for a moment at Nova.
For some reason, Venture thought the glance was rather wistful.
Vaught shut his eyes and again thought, With Starsha….it was all too brief...
******************************************************************************
It was late afternoon on Iscandar……The air was still
hot and humid from the afternoon…although a thundershower was just clearing, it only made the air hotter and heavier.
Alsarida was walking down a grass field where she
met up with Spock who seemed to be meditating…..or perhaps he was just ignoring
her. She always felt uncomfortable around Spock; in fact he made her downright
nervous which caused her to pace back and forth.
Spock opened his eyes and sensed her uneasiness. He
cleared his throat as Alsarida stopped pacing.
“I just got a call from the
“Indeed.” Spock said.
“You’re going to stand there and expect me to
believe that you didn’t know that?”
Alsarida snapped. “I get the same intelligence reports as you do,
Ambassador Spock. I know what you are trying to do and it’s not going to work.”
”I don’t need your approval, Colonel,” Spock said.
Alsarida looked at him sternly. “That sounds almost
sounds like a challenge,” Alsarida said
“Perhaps.” Spock said in a total monotone.
Alsarida looked at him angrily as she shook her
head, “You know, I keep wondering what it is that I did to you, other than the
fact that my grandmother left you at the altar 100 years ago on Vulcan.”
Spock turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow.
“She was a conniving bitch and you know it!”
Alsarida said.
Spock let out a soft sigh “Your emotional outburst
is highly illogical,” Spock said. “It is most… unseemly.”
“Crap.” Alsarida said. “I embarrass you because I’m
a Vulcan and I don’t follow the rules.”
“On the contrary, you don’t embarrass me, Colonel,”
Spock said. “I understand that you weren’t raised on Vulcan and to accept
another philosophy at such an age is highly impractical, However
it is you who seemed embarrassed around us.”
“Because all of you look at me like a skunk at a
wedding,” Alsarida said as her communicator pin beeped.
“Neri,” she said as she walked away from Spock who
now couldn’t hear what the transmission was about but by her body language he
could tell that it wasn’t good news. The conversation was brief as Alsarida
looked at the sky and swore to herself and walked back to Spock.
“Bad news from the
“That was Destine,” Alsarida said. “Master Nokkar
cashed it in last night,” Alsarida said as she sighed heavily.
Queen Starsha knew of the News from the
“Thank you,” Selar said as she began to walk out of
the room.
“That’s it?” Queen Starsha exclaimed “You give her
the bad news and you just walk away?”
“Starsha!” Alex said in a warning tone.
“What more is there to do?” Selar said “She already
sensed his death through the Force before I even came here.”
“She’s your Niece,
for Trilander’s sake!”
“Starsha!” Alex called again.
“It’s all right Captain…I understand her concern.”
Selar said. “I know our Niece very
well, your Majesty.” Selar said. “She will turn to us in time but for now it
would be best to leave her alone with her thoughts.”
She nodded to Alex who nodded back. As she exited
the dining room, Alex looked over at his wife whose back stiffened and walked
over to the door.
“Starsha!” Alex shouted. “You heard
her…leave it alone!”
She returned his angry glare. “She’s hurting, Alex!
Can’t you see her heart is breaking?”
“Leave it alone.” Alex repeated.
She glared at him again for a moment “No.” She
muttered as she walked towards the balcony.
Alex watched very closely from a distance as Queen
Starsha gently pushed open the balcony door. Starsha Corsair stood there with
her eyes closed and her head towards the sky. She seemed at peace to Queen
Starsha so thinking perhaps Alex was right she quietly began to go back
inside.”
“Aunt Starsha,” Starsha Corsair called out gently
not opening her eyes.
“How did you know it was me?” Queen Starsha asked.
“Your footsteps.” Starsha Corsair said “They’re
very soft…..unlike Uncle Alex’s”
Queen Starsha turned to see Alex standing behind her
as she jumped slightly startled.
“And you were telling me to mind my own business.” Queen Starsha muttered.
Starsha Corsair chuckled as she breathed in deeply
and opened her eyes.
“Star, We’re so sorry.”
Alex said. “We’re just a little concerned about you is
all.”
Starsha looked at him. “Thank you,” she said.
“Starsha, you can’t keep bottling up your feelings
like this; you’re going to make yourself sick,” Queen Starsha said.
“You sound like my father,” Starsha Corsair said.“Yet he would do all the things he would lecture me not to
do.”
“Sounds like your Dad wanted a better life for you.
He didn’t want you following him,” Alex said.
“That’s my choice.” Starsha Corsair said her voice
breaking “I could never hope to be like my Father… I’m not strong enough.”
“That’s not true.” Queen Starsha said, as she
reached for Nokkar’s light saber on a table.
“That’s my father’s light saber,” Starsha said.
“No.” Alex said. “Your great grandmother said that
Nokkar and your father both agreed that this should be passed to you.”
She closed her eyes and clenched her hands, “Why?”
“Because Nokkar was proud of you!” Queen Starsha said. “And your
father knows your potential and wants you to live up to that potential.”
“And it seems to me,” Alex said “That your dad is
proud of you too.”
“And I know he loves you very much,” Queen Starsha
said as she gently placed the light saber in her hands. And so do I.”
Starsha could no longer hold her
composure as she dropped to her knees and wept uncontrolled. Queen Starsha
embraced her niece gently, quietly reassuring her that all was ok. Alex
remembering that his younger brother Derek went through when their parents
died. He crouched down and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
“I want my dad,” she muttered
softly barely above a whisper.
Queen Starsha and Alex heard her
and looked up at each other.
“Your dad has his hands full with
my brother,” Alex said.
“Just like you have your hands
full with me,” Starsha said.
“Believe you me, we got the better
end of that deal,” Alex said. Both Starsha and Queen Starsha looked up at him.
“I love my brother,” Alex said.
“But if I ever had to serve on the same ship with him, I couldn’t stand him for
more than five minutes.”
Starsha stood up, happy that Alex
was changing the subject
“Oh
Alex!” Queen Starsha said, sitting down in a chair. “He’s a complete gentleman!
He never raised his voice once. Even when Nova was abducted!”
“Nova?” Starsha asked with interest.
When Wildstar returned on the bridge at 0530 the
following morning and realized that Vaught, Nova and Royster had stayed up all
night trying to pin point the exact location of their mysterious destination,
he was far less than pleased and he pulled the three aside to a private area
where no one could hear him read the three officers the Riot Act. Wildstar stated that there were plenty of
times that the crew would need to push themselves and this wasn’t
the time for such overzealous behavior.
Since they were too tired to argue plus the fact
they all suspected that Wildstar really wasn’t mad at them, but was just
looking for an excuse to give the three a day off without it looking like
favoritism, they simply said “yes sir” and saluted and Wildstar dismissed them
saying he had better not see them anywhere near the bridge or Inferno for 24 hours unless there was an
emergency.
Nova had slept until 1100 hours when she awoke and
couldn’t fall back to sleep. She looked at her violin case sitting in the
Corner and smiled. Then, she quickly got dressed in a pair of jeans and a white
T-shirt. She tied her hair back, and grabbed the violin case and walked out
into the corridor forgetting even to put on shoes.
She became used to the deck being cold on her bare
feet quickly as she stopped by the galley to pick up a bottle of water and then
went down to the lower Cargo hold where Vaught spent most of his time playing
the piano.
As she guessed, he was there playing a piece from an
old twentieth-century movie called Somewhere in Time.
The Score outlived the movie which was in the case of most of the Classical
music from the twentieth century. She
noticed that Vaught was also wearing jeans, sneakers, and a grey sweatshirt
with a skull on it that said:
Vaught knew she was there, as she put the violin to
her chin and began to play. It was the first time he ever heard her. She made
the Violin sing magnificently as she improvised throughout the whole piece as
if it was written for the instrument.
The vast regions of dimensional space were not
enough to keep Vaught from knowing what had transpired in his own universe.
Through the Force, he felt Nokkar’s death, and the pain experienced by his
daughter. He took some comfort knowing that there was family with her to ease
the burden as it also made him realize that she was on Iscandar. How or why he
did not know as the images faded and Vaught opened his eyes, to notice that he
was back on the Argo in the cargo
hold in front of the piano. He noticed Nova standing next to him with her hand
on his shoulder.
“Are you ok?” Nova asked.
Vaught nodded. He said, “Yes I’m fine,” while
quickly wiping away tears that formed in his eyes He just wanted to become lost
in the music and not feel anything for a while. Even though he knew that his
mentor was going to die and was prepared for it, it did not take away the pain
of loss that he felt.
Nova could clearly tell that there was something
wrong. However, Vaught kept on acting as if nothing was wrong.
“I have a challenge for you,” Vaught said as he
pulled a piece of sheet music out and handed it to Nova indicating where he
wanted her to begin playing.
“Challenge accepted,” she said with a slight
smile. Nova raised her violin again and
then she began playing the difficult piece.
It was; Zigeunerweisen, Op.20 by Pablo de Sarasate.
Nova played the complex piece well…almost without effort. The last
two minutes of the selection had a fast tempo and were extremely difficult.
However, for Nova, she made it look simple as she gracefully slid her bow
across the strings making the instrument appear to dance while she slightly
swayed and tapped her toes to the piece. She had a technique that was so unique
Vaught felt that it would have even stunned the greats like Mae, Chang, Sutter,
and even Perlman.
He could tell that playing was her passion, even to the point of
modifying her own violin in a unique manner that would have interested even Antonio Stradivari. With the piece
finished Nova shook and threw her hair back breathing somewhat excitedly.
“Was it good for you dear?” Vaught chided.
Nova laughed at the comment and grabbed a bottle of water
and a towel and walked and sat next to Vaught as he played Sheep May Safely Graze by Bach softly on the piano.
“You’re passionate about your music…that’s good,” Vaught
said as Nova wiped her violin clean with a rag she took from her case.
“It’s like eating potato chips,” Nova said. “You keep on going, because you can’t stop with just one…..I used to
drive my mother mad because I would always play until my fingers bled.”
“You know any orchestra would take you in a heartbeat,”
Vaught said.
“I know,” Nova said. “But that’s not what I want to do.”
“You want to be a doctor,” Vaught said.
“Surgeon actually.” Nova said as she
adjusted her violin.
“You weren’t going to find that at Juilliard,” Vaught
said.
“Yeah,” Nova said. “I was doing what was expected of me. Everybody thought that I
was going to be this great musician but the playing was a hobby to me and an
escape.”
“But being a surgeon it would be a challenge for you,”
Vaught said.
“I like being a nurse,” Nova said. “What is more, Doctor
Sane always gave me the most hands on cases and then requested me as his
personal nurse.”
“He has a lot of hopes for you,” Vaught said. “That’s why
he’s so hard on you.”
“I know,” Nova said.
“And to be a surgeon, you actually have to go to school
and not waste your life hanging around on a starship.”
Nova rolled her eyes, “Yes, Derek!”
Vaught chuckled.
“Do you know he went to college at the same time he was
at the academy?” Nova asked.
Vaught nodded.
“He was an Art Major…..Art of all things,” Nova said.
“I know,” Vaught said. “I understand that some of his
work from when he was a child still is in the Smithsonian.”
“You’re being silly, right?” Nova said.
Vaught slowly shook his head, “You didn’t know?”
“Well Derek isn’t one to talk about himself,” Nova said.
“And he doesn’t like to talk about things past. But even so our conversations
get pretty deep nevertheless.”
“He is a very brilliant young man,” Vaught said. “But that hair trigger
temper of his always gets him into trouble.”
“He used to be a lot worse.” Nova said.
“He ever lose it with you?”
Vaught asked.
“No, oddly enough.” Nova said. “He
doesn’t even curse around me, which makes me feel bad because lately I’ve been
really acting like a cargo star pilot……I can’t even believe some of the words
that come out of my mouth.”
“I’ve seen you two fight,”
Vaught said. “Ralph and Alice Kramden aren’t as bad.”
“Yeah, but then we make up,” Nova said with a smile on
her face.
“I’ve seen that
too.”
“Ho, Ho Funny
boy,” Nova said as she stood up played a scale on her violin and began playing
a rendition of a twentieth-century pop culture song called One Moment in Time. While
she was playing, she opened her eyes and looked at Vaught again, as he started
playing something different. Then she followed. The tune was haunting as the
lyrics came to Nova as they both started singing while playing,
Dona, eis………Dona, eis……..Dona, eis
pacem………….Dona eis Pacem.
Requiem aeternam Dona eis, ET lux perpetua luceat eis……….. lux perpetua
Dona Nobis…………. Dona Nobis………. Dona Nobis Pacem…………..
Dias, maius
Lieuchent taieis
While they were
playing, Nova saw the images of Vaught’s daughter at that exact moment with Queen Starsha
and Alex Wildstar, and she even saw Nokkar lying on the sand with a sobbing
Destine crouched over him. Then, there
came images of Vaught’s whole life sprawled out in front of her.
Nova saw Vaught’s
childhood with his older sister Trelaina. She was teaching him how to play the
piano and to sing. She was like a mother to him, as she felt the love that she
had for him. She saw Vaught’s memories of her conducting a symphony, singing in
an opera, and to Nova’s surprise, she even played the violin. Music seemed to
surround the family’s life. Then she saw Vaught in later years teaching music
at a college. Next she saw Vaught’s Brief and Stormy Life with Astra.
She could feel the
love that Vaught had in his heart for her, and the sadness that the two could
never get along….She saw the images of them fighting which almost reminded her
of her fighting with Derek. But Vaught was always gentle with her and he always
refrained from yelling or becoming violent. Astra, however, was nothing like
Nova imagined her. She had a very quick Derek-like temper, as well as their
daughter whom she saw now always in a fight with Astra. It reminded Nova of
herself and her mother, with their father powerless to do anything about
it.
Nova sensed that with
both of them, it proved to be a difficult time for Vaught. But, both Vaught and
his daughter shared a very special bond, for she looked up to him and they
rarely fought. She looked at Starsha and realized that she could almost be her
own sister. But what came next was in the darkest recesses of Vaught’s mind…in
a place where it almost frightened her to look.
It was filled with
carnage and destruction. She realized that the corpses she walked through were
dead at the hands of Vaught. She witnessed what happened at Wolf 359 and what
Vaught had to do to the comrades of his that were assimilated by the Borg.
She saw images of
Necheyev and Vaught standing next to each other on a Jem Hadar carrier that
Vaught had killed all the occupants of.
Nova saw every assassination of every person Vaught ever performed. A
chill went down her spine when she saw how cold-blooded, swiftly and without
hesitation Vaught dispatched his objectives. Vaught was a cold-blooded killer, It seemed
impossible that these two minds, although constantly at war with each other
were part of the same man. But she did not look away, and it did not take away
the admiration she had for him.
Vaught, as well, saw
Nova’s life before him. Her memories always seemed to be happy ones and she
always tried to gravitate towards the warmth and light in everything. He
witnessed her recitals and performances as a little girl through High School.
She could play the violin so fast that if you put a tissue paper on the strings
right after she was done playing the tissue would smolder, a critic for the
local paper had written. But most
powerfully, he felt the passion and love she had for Derek. He also felt that
passion from Derek as they always seemed to be in that one moment of passion, and as at the sound of a moan or when they started
getting too excited they both stopped themselves. He knew they wanted each
other in so many ways. But he saw every memory she ever had of him and although
they did argue they laughed together much more.
He felt the
disappointment she had towards her parents…especially towards her father who
seemed to be afraid to confront the mother. Teri Forrester was difficult.
However, there was no doubt that she loved her daughter. He saw the parallel
between them and Starsha and Astra. He next saw the darkest part of Nova’s
mind, while seeing the battle on Gamilon and how she raced to save Derek’s life
by activating the Cosmo-DNA unit. Plus her anger with the space marines for the
way they treated her. However he became concerned when he saw the darkest of
Nova’s thoughts….Her aunt Yvona. He saw the reason why she was so afraid of her
and how this woman had tortured her. But the thoughts didn’t dwell there, and
they returned to Derek a moment later.
Then they both saw
Derek’s life…..they saw his mother and his father, and his brother Alex. But,
his thoughts were filled with Nova, in every garment she ever wore and every
expression she ever had. She could see that he had thoughts of marrying her,
but there was another woman in Derek’s life…..the Argo. This truly was the mind of a ship’s Captain. But mainly in
the darkest regions of his mind, was an image of him looking down at the ground
while a large statue of Captain Avatar loomed over him. This is how Wildstar
truly saw himself as not being good enough and never being able to fill his
shoes. Then the images changed to that fateful day when Nova attempted to start
the Cosmo-DNA and herself was struck by the
radioactive sleeping gas. Nova saw that he was plagued by it, It haunted him…it was a nightmare reliving itself in his
mind over and over again, followed by every trip, every fall, every time she
dropped something, thereafter he blamed himself. Then, there followed every
conceivable scenario how Nova might be killed, he relived her death in torment
every night even though it has not happened or might not ever happen.
Nova’s heart was
breaking at what she saw. There was never a doubt in her mind that he loved her
but she never knew how much he blamed himself for what happened to her….Nova
realized that he blamed himself because she saved his life.
Then in an instant,
they saw Royster’s life. It was fixated
on just one thing, and one thing only.
Alcoholism,
plain and simple. The Inferno was foremost in his thoughts,
along with the responsibility of her maintenance. But, despite that,
this is how Royster saw himself….this was how he viewed his life. No
achievements, no glory, no talents. Just
being able to get to the bottom of the bottle was enough. The memories and visions faded as Nokkar came
into focus in their mind.
“In this is your final lesson,” said Nokkar’s voice booming in their skulls.
“The Force will be with you……Always.”
Like a whirlwind, Vaught and Nova
returned to the cargo hold as they were still playing another piece. When they
had full control over their faculties, they stopped playing. Nova looked at the
ship’s time and noticed only a few seconds had elapsed for what she felt was
hours. She sat on the floor and rubbed her eyes.
“Was that supposed to happen?” Nova asked
“I don’t know.” Vaught said rubbing his eyes as
well “Its never happened before.”
“I’ve seen your entire life.” Nova said and “And you have
seen mine.”
“It was not my doing.” Vaught said.
“I know.” Nova said smiling. “It was Nokkar. We saw
Derek’s life too and......”
She stopped and looked at him in horror. “we saw royster’s life…”
“Yeah, I know,” Vaught said.
“Oh my God…we have to do something,” Nova said.
**************************************************
Royster sat in the Argo’s
holographic room as Puccini’s Madame
Butterfly played. To many people looking at Royster for the first time, and
for those that knew him, they would never guess that by his demeanor, and his
appearance that he was a lover of the opera and classical music.
He was interested especially in what types of opera the
Federation universe had, especially ones that had Vaught’s family in it. He had
become an instant fan of Vaught’s mother Melesande who had a very dynamic voice
from operatic soprano to jazz and big band vocalist. But this particular opera
he was watching this evening had his interest…..also having taken him a while
to find in the database. It was a Klingon version of Madame Butterfly with Vaught’s older sister Trelaina was playing
the lead role. She had a unique flowing voice even with the harsh language of
the Klingon vocabulary.
He was especially amused with the ending of the Klingon
version of Madame Butterfly. In the Terran version, it
ended with Butterfly committing suicide to regain her honor. But, in the
Klingon version Butterfly using a Bat’leth’ killed Lt Pinkerton and his wife, then walked off with her son into the sunset.
Royster called up another opera this time Puccini’s Turandot with Trelaina as the lead role.
As he sat back in the somewhat uncomfortable chair trying to stay awake,
fearful that if he went to sleep the dreams would start again.
He felt the urge to drink again but reminded himself that
his stash of liquor was all gone, all dumped into the wave motion engine. He
chuckled as he remembered the bluish reddish tint that the exhaust made….But no
one really noticed, and that’s what made Royster somewhat depressed. He enjoyed working on Inferno and he liked the carte-blanche
access he had to it. Which was they main reason why he stopped his
drinking. But it was a tall order….but
who could he go to with his problem…….the answer came to him that it was no
one, mainly because he wasn’t a part of the Star Force family. He didn’t share
their history and their experiences, he was a stranger
in a strange land feeling outcast and alone.
The feeling wasn’t new to Royster. He had felt that way
all of his life, was even used to it. Which is what made it
hurt so much.
He felt the usual round of nausea,
however, he was able to keep it in check unlike last night where he had been
vomiting constantly. When he wasn’t vomiting he kept seeing bizarre things,
even when he was awake. Mostly visions of spiders and all
sorts of strange, loathsome insects. The opera seemed to keep him in
focus although his sides burned with pain as he could no longer sit up and lay
down on the cool metal deck which felt as a relief for the moment.
He knew he would get through this, but it would just take
time. As the opera played around him he
started to drift off….He knew it….but the music was with him so he let himself
sleep. As his senses now took over, as he smelled salt air and a brisk mild
wind while he heard waves gently crashing against a shoreline. If this was a
hallucination, it certainly wasn’t a bad one. He opened his eyes and he was
indeed out of the Argo’s holographic
room and believed that he definitely was not on the Argo as he saw the statues that were before him.
Royster thought it was all a dream. That as usual after
one of his drinking binges, he boarded a plane going anywhere, and everything
that happened to the Star Force and the Inferno
was all in his head.
He heard a voice singing over the wind as he walked down
a grassy hill to the shoreline below.
Dona, eis………Dona, eis……..Dona, eis
pacem………….Dona eis Pacem.
Requiem aeternam Dona eis, ET lux perpetua luceat eis……….. lux perpetua
Dona Nobis…………. Dona Nobis………. Dona Nobis Pacem…………..
Dias, maius
Lieuchent taieis
He stopped suddenly as his eyes widened and realized that
he did not just wake up from a dream but rather he was having one…..He
recognized the female gargoyle as Destine while he saw the lifeless body of
Nokkar disappear from sight. Destine turned around and looked at him. Royster
shuddered, paralyzed with fear as if he was cornered by a large predator, Destine sensed this and raised her hands gently.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” She said coming into a better
view as Royster’s fear turned quickly into arousal. She had almost a slight
English accent to her voice.
“What were you singing?” Royster said.
“It’s the Gargoyle way,” Destine said as she walked over
to him. “A small memorial to a fallen comrade.”
“It was beautiful.” Royster said. “But then again, so are
you.”
Destine just looked at him oddly for a moment.
“What?” Destine asked.
“I said you were very beautiful.” Royster said “I just
felt it was a while since anyone said that to you…..I’m sorry about Nokkar, Admiral, …..The name’s Royster.”
“Dominique Destine,” She said as she extended her hand
Royster gracefully took her hand and kissed it gently, as Destine looked again
at him with surprise….The last person ever to kiss her hand was Thomas over 400
years ago.
“Who are you?” Destine said. “What are you doing here?”
There was a large flash followed by a high pitch
whooshing sound. Royster knew that from Destine’s disgusted expression that she
knew who it was that appeared.
Royster also knew who he was having read recent Starfleet
history.
“I brought him here, Demona,” Q said expressing something
almost like concern in his voice.
Either Q or Destine were surprised on what Royster did as
this disheveled, unshaven overweight human walked over to Q and extended his
hand as he introduced himself.
For the first time, Destine saw Q taken aback for a
moment, as they looked at each other then to Royster. Q grasped his Hand and
accepted his greeting.
“Humans don’t greet me like that,” Q said.
“And you must really be hosed, because everyone knows you
don’t bring in a middle reliever in the early innings.” Royster said.
Even as an omnipotent being, Q didn’t know what Royster
was talking about, as he looked at Destine who shrugged as Royster just sighed.
“What am I doing here?” Royster said slowly,
re-explaining his previous question.
“You are the guardian,” Q said.
Royster nodded his head slightly and gave a sheepish grin
then grabbed Q’s arm and shaked it vigorously saying, ”WEEEEEELLLLLLLLLL
…. Good bye!”
Royster turned around suddenly, then
just as quickly turned back to Q.
“And don’t think it hasn’t been a little slice of heaven……..,” he said turning away then as an after thought turned
back to Q, “Cause it hasn’t.”
He started to bolt away when Destine grabbed him by his
shoulder.
“Civilian,” Destine said to Q. “He’s merely a civilian!”
“Yes ,and I’m very proud of that
fact and would like to continue,” Royster said.
“You’re frightened at the aspect?” Q said.
“Uh let me think-YES!” Royster said.
“He’s honest,” Q said.
“Easy, son,” Destine said.
“You’ve got the wrong guy,” Royster said. “You want
Vaught or Nova.”
“I don’t think so,” Destine said, glancing over angrily
at Q.
Royster looked at both of them as he understood what the
inference was.
“Nova’s his daughter, isn’t she?” Royster said to
Destine.
Destine looked at him almost is shock as she looked again
at Q.
“Astra had twins,” Royster said.
“Yes,” Destine said. “Nova’s fangs were removed to
conceal her Gargoyle lineage.”
“Why?” Royster asked.
“She was born with almost no midichlorian count,” Destine
said. “Astra wanted her to have a normal life on Earth, so she was entrusted to
one of our cultural professors who was studying
interdimensional worlds….”
“Uncle!” Royster said. “I already need a
program to follow all da players, Wada we doin here anyway?”
“The space time continuum has been compromised…events
that are unfolding are not unfolding as they were ordained.” Q said.
“Ha?” Royster said.
“What Q means is that events that…”
“I know what he means lady,” Royster said. “You guys are
going to hafta leave this up to the boss and da lady because right now they knows the inning and the score. What we need is someone
backing them up. Because I don’t think the EDF is up to this.”
“I’m working on it.” Destine said as she looked at Q
“I have nothing to do with this.” Q said “The continuum
cannot interfere in matters of the Force, all I can do
is bring you two together for this one time meeting of the minds. For only a
few minutes….”
Royster knowing that time was limited explained all that
he knew to Destine. He didn’t know all the particulars only that he came over
with Sandor from the Andromeda
.
Destine could tell Royster had gotten somewhat emotional
when he explained how Vaught entrusted him with the Inferno, he seemed to love the starfighter more then Creighton or
Vaught, and his admiration for Vaught was almost like that of a younger
brother. Destine never broke eye contact with Royster as he almost seemed to be
overwhelmed by what was going on he sat down on a rock and rubbed his eyes.
“You’re overwhelmed.” Destine said sitting on the rock
next to him
“Yeah.” Royster said “I’m not up to this….let
alone being trained for it.”
“Do you want me to put my hand on your shoulder and say
that you’ll do fine?” Destine asked.
Royster scoffed “No, ” he said.
“He doesn’t have much faith in his abilities,” Q said.
“Thank you,” Royster said sarcastically. “I can work the
little lever in my back that makes my jaw go up and down just fine.”
Destine chuckled softly.
“Royster, if you read anything on my history you should
know that I am not a very patient woman, let alone kind or gentle.”
Royster nodded “I know…..Demona.”
“Good.” Destine said “Do your job. Tell Vaught what’s
happened that we spoke and that I’m working on it.”
“Vaught may not be able to be relied on.” Q said. “Things
will happen that will impair his judgment!”
“And what might they be?” Destine said.
Q looked at Royster then at Destine……”I can’t tell you
that.”
“Then shut up,” Destine growled as she stood up off the
rock she looked at Royster who had his head bowed down. She reached down grabbing his throat and
lifted him off the ground. “If anything happens to any member of my family
because of something that you &%$#@* up on…..I’ll kill you.”
Royster closed his eyes and nodded.
“I won’t let you down Admiral.” Royster said.
She put him back down on the ground and looked at him
more thoughtfully drew in and kissed him briefly and gently on the lips.
Royster didn’t understand why she did what she did and didn’t have time to
wonder as she disappeared from sight the smell of the ocean disappeared he was
back where he was supposed to be on the Argo.
He wondered if it was an
hallucination brought on from delirium
tremens as he stood up something metallic fell to the floor. Royster knelt down
and looked at it curiously.
It was Destine’s Phaser.
Next Chapter: “PRELUDE: TELEZART”
To Return
to the Introduction to Starfighter: The
Iconoclast, click here