Legend of Grand Mechapolis Ch 20

THE LEGEND OF GRAND MECHAPOLIS

STAR BLAZERS/GALAXY EXPRESS 999

Founding of the Dual Monarchy and Galaxy Express System

By: Frederick P. Kopetz

Chapter TWENTY: Let’s Blame Count Alatar of Iscandar…

Thanks to Gail Kopetz, Margaret Diviney, Michelle Nutter-Lynd, Steven Diviney and Andrea Lyon for Advice and inspiration.

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I. A QUICK TRIAL RUN…

Space Battleship Yamato

Between Earth and the Moon

Tuesday, February 2, 2236

2245 Hours

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As it was, the Yamato had received some repairs, even though it was not anticipated that she would be needed for a while.

It was the evening of Nova’s fifty-seventh birthday now.

There was a reduced skeleton crew on Yamato at this time, and Derek and Nova’s newest son Solomon, with his big sister Ariel in Nursing aiding with his care, was riding aboard the ship with his parents for the first time. He had been growing rapidly, and was about the equivalent of five now, albeit a very well-behaved five. He had long dark hair that matched his father, but he also had light blue skin like a Gamilon child. Derek and Nova thought their boy had picked up some recessive Gamilon genes that the couple carried; those genes had never manifested before.

At this hour, Nova and Ariel had gotten Solomon to bed in his own small cabin not far from their own, and the Wildstars were just awake late, discussing the ship’s trial runs, and generally cuddling in their sleepwear in the Captain’s Cabin, enjoying the view of the innumerable stars as Yamato drifted slowly through space.

Derek wore simple black pajama pants with a pair of black sweatpants; Nova wore black shorts with a simple white tank top.

“So, what did you want to say, hmm?” Nova teased.

“I wanted to say how beautiful my birthday girl looks tonight,” he said, looking into her eyes. Now, as we had stated, Nova was now fifty-seven, but thanks to her death and resurrection five years ago and the power of the Pellian Matrix in her and her psi-link to Derek, she and Derek looked like a well-preserved couple in their mid-twenties.

“Thank you,” she said softly, blushing as was her wont whenever complimented.

“I wonder how long we’ll go on like this…with this most uncanny youth,” Derek said.

“I have been assured we will remain young and mostly vital until I end the evil of Promethium, and if we somehow survive that, then we will finally age normally again. It could be centuries, Derek.”

“So, we’d be like Peter Pan’s Lost Boys?”

“A lost boy and a lost girl,” Nova said with her cute little grin. She then began to sing a snatch of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here; “We’re just two lost souls swimmin’ in a fish bowl…year after year…”

“You’re silly, especially since neither of us are “lost” spiritually.”

“I’m filled with wonder and strangeness over our interesting lives; that’s all,” Nova chuckled as Derek played with her hair.

“It amazes me,” Derek said. “Not a strand of grey in your blond hair at all…birthday girl…”

“We can thank God for this strange gift, I’d guess,” Nova said. “The Press recently called us ‘the world’s strangest couple’. Kind of funny.”

“Was it that Scott Foley dope?”

“Yup,” Nova teased.

“Well, you broke one side of his nose years ago when you were dating before you met me and he ran your hands up your blouse. Can I break the other if I see him again?”

Nova laughed. “Sure. And…I think you’re running your hands up my blouse. Should I punch you?”

“No.”

“Good. Because I do not intend to,” Nova replied. At that, they began to kiss, and then Nova used her power to lower the privacy cover in their cabin, blocking out the stars. “Don’t want anyone seeing us,” she whispered.

“Wise idea, Mrs. Wildstar. Happy Birthday,” Derek said.

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II. STOPOVER

Planet Pellias

The City of Beltane

Thursday, February 11, 2236

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“Wheeee!” thought Solomon Wildstar as he swam underwater in the warm waters off the beach near the High Queen’s Palace on the coast of the Pellian Capital of Beltane.

He exhaled and shot up between his parents as his breath bubbled out in the sea. He looked cute in his grey swim trunks.

Derek gave him an apprehensive look and sent to Nova, “Are you sure this won’t drown him?”

Nova looked at her husband, who looked nice in his black Speedo and swim mask, and she, in her swim mask and pink bikini, sent back, “He has to learn to swim sometime, Derek. He’s growing up!”

“Yeah, too fast!” gasped Derek as his head broke the surface along with Nova and Solomon after gulping some air.

“What’s too fast, Dad!” laughed Solomon.

“You,” laughed Derek. “You were under water the longest of the three of us!”

“Probably because I have those Gamilon genes you two gave me. Mom has more than you, even though she’s not blue…”

“If this water was cold, I’d be blue!” Nova laughed.

“But the water is warm, Mom!” protested Solomon.

“I know. It almost feels like a bath, doesn’t it?”

“You make the bath hotter, Mom!” Solomon said.

“That’s the way it’s done in Japan, sport,” said Derek. “Remember when we last stayed over at your big sister Ariel’s house?”

“That was fun,” Solomon said as he began to swim back to shore, followed closely by his parents.

A few minutes later, on the beach, Solomon was working on a sand castle while Derek made some meats on a portable Hibachi while Nova strummed on a guitar and taught Solomon a song that included lots of animal noises, which Solomon repeated with laughter and the gusto of a seven-year-old boy.

A thin man in red swim trunks sat down beside them. His red hair was going grey in spots, but the freckled man still looked young.

“Hi, Robert,” Derek said, looking at one of their Security Detail. “Want some beef on a stick?”

“I can hang around for that, sir,” Robert Walker said. “Solomon, do you know my name?”

“Mom, is he cool?” Solomon said.

“Hush, he’s one of our security men,” Nova said. “Yes, he’s cool.”

“That’s good. What’s your name, Mister?”

“Robert Walker,” he replied. “I’ve known your parents for years. I went to grammar school and a bit of high school with your Mom.”

“Yes, where you tried to keep Diesel Dalton off my case,” Nova said with a smile. She strummed a few chords.

“What’s a Diesel Dalton?” said Solomon. “Mister Walker, are you married?”

“Diesel Dalton was a bully, but he’s grown up. And, yes, I am married, with three children. The youngest is in the Space Fighters’ Training School on Earth,” Robert said as Derek turned over the beef on skewers and added more Teriyaki sauce. Nova smiled, played some odd chords, and began to play a song that sounded like a cross between something Spanish and something Romani as she began to sing in Pellian. “L’ash d’kalirhama! Bizel ego d’taramu! Tera’ne, shalima do, Makala ra Shimada he!”

“What does it mean?” whispered Robert to Derek.

“My heart is torn hard between two worlds; I see Terra rising in the evening…where, where does my heart go? That is a rough translation, anyway,” Derek said. “It’s a folk song in a Pellian mode known as Tallath. Nova wrote it.”

“It almost sounds like a Gypsy song,” Robert said.

Nova stopped playing and said, “Say Romani, please, Robert. Gypsy is a racial slur.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” Robert said.

“It’s okay. But we have Romani people who moved here. Some are near us on the beach. They might take offense if they hear you being misinformed, Robert,” Nova said as she strummed down and sang again.

“She always finds things to remind us of,” said Robert.

“Don’t I know it?” laughed Derek.

“Stop making fun of Mom, you two,” said Solomon.

“Making an observation,” Robert said.

“Food’s done,” Derek said.

“I’ll be over when I’m done with the song, Derek,” Nova said. “Solomon, you eat first. You’re a growing boy!”

“Cool!”

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III. HOME AGAIN

Planet Earth

Philadelphia, PA, USA

Saturday, February 13, 2236

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The Yamato was home from her trial run, safely back in an under-river dock in the Philadelphia Space Navy Yard.

Derek, in his Star Force uniform minus peacoat, looked up at the great ship one last time before Nova and Solomon met him in the dock for the drive back home to Northeast Philadelphia.

“We got around a lot in the past few days, didn’t we?” Derek said.

“We sure did. Port of call on Beemira to check out the new base there and confer with the new Beemiran Hive and the new Queen Mercida, stopover on Hopkins V to check that listening post, port of call on Pellias, doing business in the Palace, and then back home,” Nova said.

Derek bent down to speak to their son, who was in boots, an orange jumpsuit, and a black leatherette vest. “How did you like our trip, Solomon?”

“Those Bee People were creepy,” he said. “They speak Terranglish funny.”

Nova knelt down beside their son, pretty in her medical whites and lab coat with white boots. “They’re aliens, sweetheart. Not everyone is going to speak the same way we do. You heard all the different accents on Pellias, and you met the Ralkhens and the Leptil, along with Pellians from all over the Commonwealth. You’re part-Pellian, you know, thanks to your father and I.”

“How come I’m the only one of the family who’s blue like a Gamilon?” he said.

“Recessive genes,” Derek said. “Your mom and I actually have some Gamilon ancestry; just a little, really. It showed up in you.”

“And Queen Starsha is really my sister?” he said.

“She sure is,” Nova said as she kissed Solomon on the cheek as he blushed and hugged his mother, whose boots scraped on the cement as she stood up. “You’ll meet her in person one of these days. She’s really nice.”

“That sounds neat!” Solomon laughed.

“We need to get to your car, Nova,” Derek said. “It’s gonna be crazy heading up Interstate 95 this hour.”

“I’ll drive. I know how to drive Pinky better than you,” Nova laughed.

“Oh, yeah…you brought the pink Cadillac!”

“More room there for you, sport,” Derek said.

They got to a parking area.

Nova’s restored 1959 Coupe DeVille was waiting there with the top down.

The family piled into the car, and Nova started her up and the updated turbine motor kicked in and began to roar.

The car cruised past the gate of the Base, with their security detail following unostentatiously behind as the procession sped onto I-95 and began to head up the Delaware River waterfront.

Once the car was back in their home neighborhood, people saw the car and cheered, waving at the pretty High Queen, dashing Lord Admiral riding shotgun, and smiling at Solomon in the roomy back seat.

When the family got home, they parked near their house, and opened the trunk and ran in with their bags.

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In the meantime, on Earth, Invidia had just arrived four days ago at the Gatlantian Consulate in the Tokyo Megalopolis; the rebuilt Foxworth Manor.

Other than staff, she lived there alone.

The memories of Foxy were just too powerful, and in fact depressed her as she lay in what had been their bed in the Master Bedroom, all alone.

Five days after the return of the Wildstars to Terra, Invidia found herself sitting behind her huge desk in her Consulate office.

She was weeping softly and drinking some brandy that was just as bitter as her mood.

“Why is it that I am so depressed?” she said out loud to herself. She walked outside after finishing off her snifter of brandy, walking out into the courtyard to look at her former marital home. “Foxy. It is because you are dead, and have been dead now for almost five years. Five long years. And I am aware I am not in the best of health myself.”

Invidia coughed into a handkerchief, and saw spots of blood there. “How much longer do I have; tell me? Father placed me here as Ambassador. We are in need of a new consulate. I will buy it myself, and…and…sell Foxworth Manor. It is time someone else lived here, to fill this tomb of a house with light, joy, and laughter, even if they spend so much time playing around in private that I know not how they get anyzing else done! Derek mentioned he sold his old house here in Tokyo to his daughter. Maybe he and Nova would like another house?”

Invidia found a servant with the rank of Colonel walking nearby in Gatlantean uniform; since Gatlantis and the Commonwealth were now allies, there was no longer any need for subterfuge among the ranks of those soldiers of the Empire who guarded embassies and bases in Commonwealth territory.

“Colonel Narvis!” Invidia snapped.

“Yes, Princess?” he said, bowing to her in his black, red and gold uniform.

“Into the Computer Annex. We need to talk,” Invidia snapped.

A minute or two later, in one of the computer rooms, Narvis said, “What is your wish, Princess?”

“I want the consulate moved to a new compound, as soon as possible. I cannot stand living here any longer. Too many memories of dead husband. I plan to sell this whole compound to a willing buyer in a non-profit transaction. I want this done as quickly as possible!”

“Princess,” said Narvis as he raised his fist. “We just installed the secure computer network so you can communicate with other Gatlantean forces and ministries from here. Do I understand that you want this done again?”

“Do you question me, Narvis?” Invidia snapped as she motioned with her hand and was flanked by two other officers.

“No, Princess…I do not question you,” said Narvis after a long pause.

“I am glad you do not question my will,” Invidia snapped. “Question me again and I can easily have you replaced; even executed for your lack of loyalty. Are we clear on this?”

“Yes, Princess,” said Narvis.

“I also want every bug and listening device removed from this compound before the sale. The devices which you and the General Staff have used to spy on me…in secret?”

“Princess…how…?”

“I have friends who can detect such devices. And one of my friends was here two days ago…for tea. You glanced at her, thinking she was a mere Terran teenage girl I invited in. You were so wrong.”

“Who is she?” snapped Narvis.

“I need not tell you of all of my social engagements, Narvis!” snapped Invidia. “They are my own business. See to it my orders are carried out.”

“Yes, Princess,” said Narvis with a bow.

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Two days later, Nova, Derek, and Solomon were in the Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna, transacting some business.

However, later at night, Nova felt that Derek needed a crystalline blade somewhat like her own.

So, while Solomon slept, Nova hammered away at her forge, in her gold and black uniform covered by a brown leathern apron with heavy gloves on her hands, as she hammered out a sword for Derek. Only Derek watched her at her lonely task as she used her power to control the flames, and used the strength of the Matrix and their prayers to help forge the crystal on her anvil.

It took several hours, and both Derek and Nova were exhausted when the task was over, but Nova finally handed Derek his blade and said, “Derek, you will be using this blade for many battles. It is filled with my love for you and determination for us to fight on. I call my blade Gimalak; “The Queen’s Fire” in Pellian. What would you like to call this?”

“Shanalak; The Prince’s Flame,” Derek said, smiling as Nova placed her hand over his on the still-smoking blade.

“Now, think,” Nova said. “As I have created a space around myself to hide Gimalak, I would like you to create a space around yourself to hide Shanalak in the same manner.”

Derek held the blade, and thought of hiding it around himself.

It vanished, but then Derek thought of pulling it out, and he grabbed it in the space and whipped it out.

“How is that?” he said.

“I’m proud of you,” Nova said as she turned down the heat of the forge and kissed him.

Then, they sparred a little with their swords and laughed when they were finished.

Derek stowed his blade, and Nova did the same with hers.

Then, they embraced and walked up to their apartments in the Palace arm in arm, ready to rest after a trying evening.

Somehow, both of them felt they would soon need to make use of their blades.

They would turn out to be more correct than they knew.

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IV. OTHER BUSINESS…

Planet Earth

Philadelphia, PA, USA

Monday, February 29, 2236

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“Are you sure about this whole thing?” Derek Wildstar said early that morning in his Star Force whites as he watched Nova putting on rather dilapidated clothing; her oldest pair of jeans, with a hole in one knee, a ratty striped top that was beginning to unravel at the hem; along with a pair of boots that had seen better days and a puffy down-filled blue topcoat with a rip in it.

“I had a very bad feeling that something strange is going to happen at a job fair today, Derek. I have had that feeling for a few days. Why do you think I bought that old 2210 aircar under a false set of ID?”

“Knowing you, I believe this…but do you have to take Solomon up to Allentown with you?”

Nova sighed. “Solomon, are you ready?”

“Almost, Mom. But why do I have to wear those old grungy clothes?”

“It’s like dress-up,” Nova said. “Everyone at that job fair will look poor, and to fit in, we have to look the same.”

Solomon came down the stairs, wearing a patched pair of khaki slacks, battered sneakers, a sweater that Nova had encouraged him to wear while rolling around in a flower bed in the backyard, and a torn leather jacket picked up at a thrift store that was too big for him. “Okay, Mom. Do I look grungy enough?”

“Tear your scarf a little and you’ll look perfect,” Nova said.

“Mom, this is crazy,” laughed Solomon.

“And you two are doing this all on a hunch of Mom’s…” Derek said, shaking his head.

“Derek, if nothing happens, I’ll come home with a handful of fake job applications and resumes and maybe another hole in my boots,” Nova said as she put on a light brown knitted scarf as dirty as Solomon’s. “If what I feel happens will happen, I will save a lot of lives.”

“What…what is so serious?”

“Derek…Count Alatar is back. I told you all about him and what he put me through on Beemira. You remember that?”

“I do, unfortunately,” Derek said. “Do you know what race Alatar is?”

“A corrupt Iscandarian, who long ago turned to evil; I believe he is a servant of Promethium’s, now,” Nova said. “He somehow survived what Venla did to him on Beemira, and he’s back. He intends to attack Earth,” Nova said as she packed an Astro-Automatic into her battered purse and tossed Solomon a nine-millimeter Glock pistol. “Solomon, put that in your waistband, and be careful with that. Your father and I taught you how to use it. It’s not a toy. Do you understand?”

Solomon nodded grimly as he stowed his weapon.

“Okay, let me put on crappy clothes and come with you, Nova. I want to be your backup,” Derek insisted.

“It won’t work to start, because I will be pretending to be a single mother,” Nova said. “But you know how to teleport now. If I call you…come. Got it?”

Derek nodded.

Then, he hugged her, held her close, and Nova’s ratty scarf went across his shoulders as they kissed, with tears flowing from their eyes.

“You be careful, Peppermint,” Derek said in a hoarse voice. “I’d put up an argument against you taking Solomon…but something feels…right about this.”

“I’m glad you’re picking up on this, Derek,” Nova said after she kissed him again. “Get ready for a major fight if I call you. Count Alatar is a vicious person with many tricks. He tried to hypnotize me thirty-six years ago on Beemira.”

“How did you fight him off? You had no…active powers then.”

“Prayer, the Grace of God, and maybe my powers were working behind the scenes, Derek. In secret.”

“Like our first wedding on Iscandar,” Derek said. “In Captain Avatar’s cabin with just Father Likanski, my brother Alex, and Orion present with Captain Avatar. Now, we and Father Likanski are the only ones left from that day.”

“I’m so glad I have you to count on, Derek.” Nova said as she stared into Derek’s eyes. “Do you know how scared I am?”

“How scared are you?” Derek whispered.

“I wish I could stay home today and play Battleship on the floor with Solomon,” Nova said. “I don’t want to go to Allentown. But, if I don’t, hundreds will die. But Gimalak, God’s Grace, and Solomon will be with me; and we know our boy is gentle…but far from helpless.”

“I understand. Watch your six, Nova. I love you. And keep our son safe.”

Then, Derek hugged Solomon and told him he loved him. He stood watching the door for a long time as Nova and Solomon left.

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Nova drove up the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, stopping in Quakertown to stop in a Dollar Store to get some energy drinks for herself and Solomon.

It was 0700 when she arrived in Allentown. The old aircar’s turbo-engine was making strange noises, so she pulled into a parking lot off Parkway Boulevard, where, if her vision about the future was correct, she would not need it again.

“We’ll have to walk a few blocks, Solomon, to reach Cedar Park where the job fair is.”

“Good. Let’s walk faster, Mom. It’s cold.”

“You got that right, kiddo,” Nova said as she mussed Solomon’s hair, and wondered why the heck she hadn’t gotten them grungy-looking hats at home.

Then, Nova heard Derek in her mind. Are you two all right? You’ve been out of touch.

Didn’t want to bring an expensive comm device, Derek, Nova sent back. We’re fine. The sun is up and we’re walking towards Cedar Park. We were here last summer, remember?

Yeah, where the Press mobbed us when you were still pregnant, Derek joked. At the swimming pool, some reporter said you looked like a sea lion in your swimsuit.

And I kicked him, Nova sent back. I almost wish we had gone to Phillipsburg that day to ride the steam train.

You pull through this okay, I’ll treat you when the line opens for the summer. Be careful, damnit!

Love you, Nova sent back.

Love you too, Derek sent.

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At the job fair, Nova clutched her portfolio holding some fake resumes (under the name of Dawn Forrester, RN) as she waited for the job fair to open.

“So what are you here to find?” asked a man who had a black beard.

“A nursing job,” Nova said.

“The hospitals are always hiring, but I hear that the hours are horrible,” said the bearded man. “Is he your son?”

“Yes. His name is Solomon. I…had a Gamilon fiancee’. He died before we could get married,” Nova said, using a cover story she and Derek had arranged.

Then, she watched Solomon stand up like a startled animal.

“What is it?” Nova asked.

“I’m hearing a buzzing noise, Mom…don’t you hear it, too?” he said.

Nova listened. Then, she looked up at the sky, and sent to Derek, Now… it starts. I may need your backup after all.

Then, she saw two dark blue specks in the sky. “Everyone…” she yelled after jumping up on a picnic table. “GET DOWN! HIT THE DIRT!”

People began to scream and hit the ground, just as laser bolts came from nowhere.

Nova glanced up, and saw two dark blue and white Gatlantean Scorpions wheeling about in the sky.

She probed the minds of the pilots; They’re cyborgs! Nova discovered. And one Iscandarian! Alatar!

Taaaa-daaa, you scum-master! Alatar sent into her mind. You think you’re going to be cute and fight me, eh, High Queen?

YES! Nova sent back. “Solomon, grab my hand!” she yelled as the crowd began to stampede as the attacking planes made another pass.

Some people screamed as a laser bolt hit the picnic table and Nova and Solomon vanished at the same time…

…only to reappear inside one of the Scorpions.

“Huh?” said the cyborg piloting the gunboat while Nova and Solomon stepped over the broken bodies of the Gatlanteans who had been flying the planes…and who had been killed by the two cyborgs.

One cyborg shot at Nova and Solomon. Solomon ducked and got his weapon and shot the enemy trooper in the head as his parents had taught him.

“Nice work!” Nova said.

“Thanks,” said Solomon with a blush.

Nova tore a strip of cloth off the cape of one of the dead Gatlanteans, and she got behind the cyborg pilot and began to garrote him with it, strangling him as she used her power to put on the Scorpion’s auto-pilot and put her into a steep climb.

Soon, the cyborg was dead. Nova grunted and pulled his body out of the seat, shooting him once in the head with her own weapon to make sure he was dead. “Solomon! Sit over there!” Nova barked. “Strap in! I’m taking control of this bird!”

“When did you learn to fly one of these, Mom?” Solomon asked.

“There was a familiarization flight over Pellias when you were small. Zordar himself taught me to fly one of these!”

And, Nova smiled as her mind went back in time, thinking of her flight with Zordar…

“This is the throttle,” Zordar said. “The yoke and steering wheel are much like they are in some of your ships,” growled the huge Gatlantean from the co-pilot’s seat as Nova prepared to take off. The third seat held Derek, who was sort of snarling at Zordar; Zordar hadn’t offered to teach him how to fly one of these planes, and Zordar also seemed to be touching Nova’s hands a little more than necessary. Nova herself didn’t think much of it, thinking of Zordar more as a surrogate father or big brother rather than the potential suitor that the jealous Derek thought he was acting like.

The flight went well…Nova’s takeoff had been a little shaky, but she had proven to be a serviceable pilot under Zordar’s tutelage….

In the present, Nova took control and killed the auto-pilot, noticing for the first time that the Scorpion was one of the upgraded models with Pellian warp drive. I can do all sorts of things with this, she thought as she dived down through a cloud and lined up Alatar’s bird in her sights as it looked as if he was ready to fire missiles at the job fair.

But, Alatar smiled, growled, and he fired at Nova’s plane first.

Solomon screamed and Nova hissed an oath or two as she corkscrewed the plane to avoid Alatar’s fire; quickly lining him up in her sights after levelling out.

She fired.

Two laser bolts hit the side of Alatar’s plane. There was damage; it was smoking.

Then, Alatar sent to Nova, are you ready to die yet?

What do you mean? Nova sent back.

Then, Nova found out as she felt an iron grip around her neck as Alatar began to strangle her with his powers.

My God! Nova sent to no one in particular. How do I break this hold? I…I…

Then, she saw Solomon standing up, and raising his hand.

The stranglehold broke, right as she detected another fighter entering the battle on her radar.

Coughing and retching, Nova pulled up the IFF/Ident screen. Flicking the switch to “Terranglish” she read; “Identified as friendly plane. Type 53C Cosmo-Zero, Commonwealth Royal Defense Forces.”

Then, a voice came over the radio. “Hey, Nova! You need a hand?”

“DEREK!” Nova said, laughing even as she coughed up a little blood. “You’re a sight for sore eyes!”

“Are you all right?”

“Alatar and I had a psychic battle. I got strangled. Bring him down? My head’s fuzzy…”

“Got him lined up,” Derek said. “FIRE!”

Derek shot, and his cannons took out the Scorpion in a nice blast of flame.

“Is Alatar dead, Mom?” said Solomon.

“Maybe. But thank you for helping out. If you were in the Defense Forces, you’d have won two medals. Derek, can you call the authorities? People down there are hurt.”

“Already done. Nova, I’m escorting your plane to Willow Grove NAS. We’ll land there.”

“Roger that,” Nova gasped as she levelled out and followed her husband, as the swung over the scene again to make sure there were no more marauders.

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A FEW HOURS LATER…

Back home in Philadelphia, the news was on, talking about what the Press was calling the Allentown Massacre: ten people killed; twelve injured.

While holding an ice pack against her throat, and still wearing her grungy top and jeans (but no boots or socks), Nova abstractedly watched the news. She and Derek were on the screen, answering questions at Willow Grove NAS in the Public Affairs Room.

Derek came in, now clad in jeans and a white shirt; he also wore no shoes. “How’s your throat?”

“Better,” Nova said. “I shouldn’t have let him get the drop on me like that.”

“I hope he’s dead,” Derek said.

“I’m not so sure,” Nova said as she jumped into Derek’s arms and clung to him. “Alatar may have been able to teleport away from that mess. I think he did. His body was never found. At least the Gatlanteans took back the bodies of their pilots. They will be buried with military honors in four days. Invidia will be there. I have to be, too.”

“What about the three cyborg bodies we found?” Derek said.

“They’re in morgue drawers in Cedar Crest Hospital now,” Nova said. “I’ll go up there to autopsy them when I feel better.”

“Thank God the death toll wasn’t worse,” Derek said.

“I will have to attend the funerals of all of those who were killed, too…” Nova sighed.

“I’ll be there with you. Do you think Solomon can handle it?”

“He can,” Nova said. “He’s very mature for his age. He saw the bodies of the dead pilots; killed one of the cyborgs himself, and he saved my life with his abilities. I have to train him more and talk to others to be sure he’s trained.”

“He still wants to become a priest?” Derek said as he helped Nova down.

“Definitely,” Nova replied.

“May God protect our son,” Derek said.

Nova paused to pray. “He will, Derek. He will.”

TO BE CONTINUED….