STARFIGHTER! The Iconoclasts
Chapter 8: Homecoming
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.
Nova
Forrester watched from a distance as the Argo touched down in the great
She made
her way to the main terminal which was crowded as the crew of the Argo disembarked
meeting the loved ones that they had not seen in a year. Of course she had to wait for Derek because
the Captain traditionally was the last one off the ship. Her thoughts dwelled
for a time on the man she met on her flight from
Nova looked
in the mirror for a moment and for some reason thought of Astra…and the sad way
Vaught looked when he mentioned her ….She shrugged off the eerie feeling and
turned to exit the bathroom.
She still
made heads turn as she walked out of the bathroom which gave her some
reassurance. Through the gated area she saw him as her heart skipped a beat.
She tried
to call his name but the words would not come. He was busy signing something
with a sergeant at the gate as his eyes looked up and met hers.
The two
said nothing as he walked up to her quietly until both of them stood before
each other except that there was a third person there who was smiling broadly.
Derek and Nova were not looking at him but they both knew he was there.
“What is
it, Homer!?” Wildstar snapped glancing at him.
“Just
letting you know I’m going back on board to look at that darn radio again.”
Homer said with his almost hard to understand Australian accent. “G’day Nova.”
Nova smiled
politely. "Hi, Homer. It's been a year…"
Derek
looked at him than back at Nova and Homer was just standing there with a broad
smile on his face as now both of them looked at him quizzically.
Knowing
that he was intruding and completely loving every moment of making the
situation awkward suppressed his laughter. Wildstar was getting irritated
quickly.
“Homer.”
Nova said calmly “You have a wife…and a girlfriend that you haven’t seen in a
year….”
“Yeah I
know….Nova, I
just wanted to see how he wanted to log the enemy figh-“
“WILL
YOU GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE?!” Wildstar roared
making both Nova and Homer jump. As Homer quickly walked away Wildstar let out
a huff. Then, with Nova hanging on his arm gently, he began to walk away from
the gate.
She could tell he was stiff at
first, but he relaxed instantly to her touch. She smiled at the reaction.
“How long
is your leave?” she asked him gently
“Only a
week...” Wildstar said as they both shook their heads as they walked through
the terminal. They got outside as a rain shower finished passing through;
Nova's sneakers were soon wet as they splashed through several puddles together
on their long walk.
"Couldn't
find a better space?" teased Derek.
“I …had to
park in the boonies.” Nova replied.
“I’m kind
of glad.” Wildstar said. “It's good…after a year on that ship…to smell that
fresh air.” He said as he inhaled deeply than reached into his jacket pocket
and pulled out a cigar putting it into his mouth than started checking his
pockets for a lighter.
Nova looked
up at him and frowned “Derek!” she exclaimed “I thought Homer was joking when he said you
started smoking those disgusting things again! Don't you know they cause
cancer?”
“Smoking?” Wildstar asked “Who's
smoking?”
Nova
stopped and put her hands on her hips showing him a look of annoyance
“Do
you see smoke coming out of this?” Wildstar said
“It’s
in your mouth!” Nova snapped
“I’m
just simulating…I’ll do the flight later.” He said not wanting to push the
issue as he put it back in his pocket. It was then that she noticed a rather
large sloppy bandage wrapped on his right hand.
“My
God, what happened to you!?” she
exclaimed
He
looked at his hand “We…uh had a little trouble on the way back.” Wildstar said
“We’re
going to have Dr. Sane look at that. Right now!”
Now
Wildstar stopped walking. “Nova…you've handled much worse than this little
scratch!”
“Come
on.” Nova said getting into the car. "NOW!"
Dr. Sakezo Sane was a very odd looking man. He was bald, extremely
short and most of the time, he was drunk. He also happened to be the world's
leading surgeon, believe it or not. He carried the rank of Commander. Along
with his odd appearance, his disposition was equally odd. His main confidant
was a cat who was called Mimi named after the lead character in Puccini's La Bohemie. Opera was Sane’s passion.
Every Saturday night during the opera season you would find him in opera houses
all over the world which welcomed him as a celebrity allowing him to bring his
cat with him. Having been to at least two of those performances with Sane (in a
gown and heels she had borrowed from her mother) Nova knew that even in the
Parquet Circle of the Metropolitan Opera House in
He
would spend most of whatever free time he had listening to an opera and
drinking some weird homemade brew that he called “soy milk.” Which everyone
knew wasn't exactly true. Nova had been foolish enough to chug a whole glass of
the stuff once, and she had found walking to be somewhat difficult for about an
hour (not to mention that she had also been very
giggly).
It
was afternoon. Sane sat in his office with Mimi on his lap as Verdi’s Il Trovotre resonated in the background.
He scratched Mimi behind her ears and reclined his chair as he took a sip of
his homemade potion………
“Dr.
Sane!” cried Nova as she crashed through the office door, startling Dr Sane and
causing him to spew his drink all over Mimi. He fell backwards off the chair
yelling as he crashed to the ground.
Wildstar
closed his eyes and shook his head.
“What
is it!?...What!?” Sane shouted as he stumbled into the
examination room as his glasses were crooked on his head from his fall. He
straightened them and looked up at Nova.
“Derek’s
hurt.” she said showing Sane his hand. "Look!" As Nova showed Sane
his hand, she almost pulled Wildstar out of the chair.
“Hey!
Now that hurts!” he protested as Nova
quickly hushed him.
Sane
looked at Wildstar's hand than rolled his eyes up towards Nova and sighed.
“So,
it's a scratch…so what?” Sane asked. “You haven’t seen each other in a year and
this is the best you could come up with?”
“I
said it was nothing serious.” Derek said
Sane
smiled “Never mind her for a minute. How are you doing, kid?”
Derek
was about to answer when he was interrupted by the mechanical whirring of a
small analysis robot known as IQ-9 pushing a small first aid cart over to Nova.
“Nova is a very smart lady,” his
mechanical voice buzzed
“She of course is aware that there is a landing party tonight for
the crew of the Argo. However, she is
using this time to be alone with Commander Wildstar. One does not have to me a
genius robot like myself to figure that out.”
“We missed
you on our last trip.” Wildstar said "You're a very handy robot."
“Thank
you.” IQ9 said.
Nova walked
over and smacked the top of his dome. “Handy…and very perverted!” Nova snapped as she grabbed some
antibiotic salve from the cart that the robot was pushing.
“See…..I’m
right.”
Nova walked
back to Derek as she took his hand and started applying the salve to it while
Doctor Sane chucked.
“IQ-9 is a
lot smarter than most of the Doctors in this hospital.”
“And just as perverted.” Nova muttered under her breath as Derek chuckled. Nova
noticed the robot's hand reaching for her tush (which looked very nice, even in
her simple jeans) "Stop that, you!" she barked.
Sane smiled
as he hung up his Lab Coat. “Well that’s
it for
“Off to the
golf course?” Nova said.
“Yes.” Sane
said “I’m dying to try that new Titanium driver I got. I’ll be taking IQ-9 as
caddy….How about yourselves?”
“We're just
winging it.” Nova said dryly causing Derek to look at her quizzically.
“Amazing.”
Sane said “When I was your age……"
Sane paused
and smiled broadly and looked at them both and shook his head. He turned to
leave again when he spun around as if he suddenly remembered something.
“Oh, Nova I
almost forgot! Tonight is when we will be honoring Captain Avatar.”
Nova turned
to him while re-bandaging Derek's bandage. “I know the whole crew is gathering
at his memorial statue…Except Sandor.”
“Yes I
know.” Sane said “I spoke with Sandor this morning…Which reminds me apparently
there was a rumor that you went toe to toe with Captain Gideon.”
Nova looked
down at Derek who shrugged. “It's nothing, It’s just a Captain's matter.” Derek said.
“Well
according to Sandor if it weren’t for this hot shot nerves of steel marine on
the Andromeda, Nova would be treating
more than just a scratch on your hand. Do your people know what they're
doing?"
“They do! I have confidence in my crew, Doctor!” Wildstar
said with some heat in his voice.
“Wait a minute,” Nova said. "Doctor…this Marine….was
his name Corsair?”
“Yes, it was, as a matter of fact. He had a strange first
name, though; can't remember it..” Sane said
“Vaught?” Nova asked.
“Yes…that’s it.” Sane said. “You know him?”
“I met him on my flight back from
Derek glared at her. “What the heck?? You went to
Nova smacked him lightly against his head “Listen when I
talk!…I said I met him on the flight Back from
“OK… my bad.” Derek said with a smile.
"Don't be so suspicious," said Nova as she put her
foot up on the edge of the cart. As her pants leg came up, Derek noticed a
brown bandage around her bare ankle above her sneaker top.
Sane chuckled to himself as he put on his coat and walked
out of the room with IQ-9 following not to far behind with his golf bag…….
"Nova, what's with your foot?" asked Derek. "You drag me to see Doctor Sane for a
little scratch while you're limping around with a bandage on?"
"Long story," she said nonchalantly as she
considered one of the two reasons she had for not wearing her sandals today
(one of them was not letting Derek see her bandage, the other was the day's
rainy weather report). "I tripped over somebody in
Wildstar took her hand, wondering precisely what Nova had
been doing in
Starsha Corsair had spent her first two days on Earth with
Creighton and Melisande at the family house in
The house was huge and old over 400 years but maintained and
immaculately kept. From what Starsha knew about the house, it was designed and
built by Thomas Dantes and it stood on stilts placed on what was once a bird
sanctuary. The State of
She never really knew why; perhaps it was because her father
wanted to raise her without the influence of the family. Right now she was
concentrating on other things, as a small boat bobbed up and down in
Using the Force had a calming effect on her as she tried to
look into it…to see perhaps, where her father was. She wanted to know what he
was doing. Was he ok? All that the Force revealed to her was the image of a
woman in a white skirt, sandals, and a summer top who resembled herself with
short hair falling down in a waiting area.
That cant be me! I wouldn’t be
caught dead in an outfit like that!
She continued to seek things until she felt another presence
as an impish smile pursed her lips….
Destine walked into the house and slammed her bag on the
ground startling Belinda. She mumbled to herself as she walked through the
kitchen and flung open a glass door leading to an outside deck that went all
the way around the house. She huffed with exasperation as she saw no one on the
beach. However she did hear music coming from upstairs. As she went back inside
and walked up the staircase, she barged into a room. In the room, two women named
Selar and Melisande were standing outside on the balcony, with Melisande
playing a Violin and Selar the cello.
Having no regard for the session she shouted startling
Melisande. However, the young Vulcan known as Selar kept her composure.
“Where the hell is everybody!?” shouted Destine.
“We are here.” Selar said in a monotone voice. “It is nice to see you.”
The female Gargoyle shot them both an evil stare and in an
instant she sighed heavily.
“Are you all right?” asked Melisande, who also spoke with
the same southern drawl as her husband Creighton.
“Yeah, I'm fine,” grunted Destine. “Where’s Starsha?”
“She was performing what the Marines call a full pack dive,”
said Selar as she tuned her cello. "I believe she's in the water?"
Destine groaned and left the room as Melisande and Selar
just looked at each other
She bolted put the front door past the pool and out onto the
beach. She walked angrily to the water’s edge until she was ankle deep in the
water. She turned around towards the house as she narrowed her eyes and smelled
the air, ignoring the fresh salt smell. Her ears moved just like a jaguar's or
a tiger's listening to very faint ever so gentle footsteps coming up from
behind……
She reached behind her, grabbing something and throwing it
over her head to the ground. As it made an “oomph”
sound Destine didn’t know who it was at first as the figure sprang up and moved
to strike. Starsha she thought as she found herself flat on her back in
the water as she cursed to herself . She next pushed
Starsha as she fell back into the water as Demona moved towards the knapsack
that she brought with her and opened it and pulled out her bat’leth.
Although Starsha's lightsaber was still clipped to her belt,
she reached behind her and unclipped something while she brought her hand down
revealing a similar Bat’leth. Destine
snarled revealing her fangs. Starsha followed suit as the two charged each
other……
End Chapter Eight
Next Chapter: "Revelations"
To Return to the
Introduction to Starfighter: The
Iconoclasts, click here