The Legend of Grand Mechapolis Chapter 6

THE LEGEND OF GRAND MECHAPOLIS

STAR BLAZERS/GALAXY EXPRESS 999

Founding of the Dual Monarchy and Galaxy Express System

By: Frederick P. Kopetz

Chapter Six: The House of Pain

Input contributed by Gail Kopetz, Jamie Tucker, and Margaret and Steven Diviney

Artwork “Keyman in the Morning” kindly contributed by foxyladycpz with her permission. Access her Pixiv Profile at: https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/8173737

All other original art is by Frederick P. Kopetz along with altered captures from the old and new Yamato series and Cosmowarrior Zero.

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I. THE LINGUISTIC ARGUMENT CONTINUES

EARTH

IN AN AIRCAR SOMEWHERE ON GREAT ISLAND/JAPAN

JUNE 1, 2233

0900 HOURS EARTHTIME

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Our story begins (or continues?) with a couple very much in love, in a marriage over 30 years long, driving in a new 2232 Nissan President luxury aircar while they have…

…a rather silly argument.

“Hey, Nova, if I told you once, I told you a thousand times, you pronounce “Don” and “Dawn” the same way,” Derek Wildstar said with a grin on his face.

“No, you don’t,” she replied clearly and distinctly with that maddening sunny Yoda-like smile on her face.

“Yes, you do!”

“Wrong, Derek!”

“I’m right!” Derek snapped heatedly.

“You’re still wrong,” said Nova in that same teasing tone.

“I’m right and you’re wrong!” Derek said. “Let me demonstrate. Donald Duck sounds the same as ‘By the Dawn’s Early Light’!”

“No, it doesn’t,” Nova sang. “My full name is Nova Dawn Yukiko Wildstar, which sounds different from Donald Trump!”

“You’re exaggerating your voice to make them sound different!” chuckled Derek.

“No, I’m not; this is the way I’ve talked all my life!” Nova snapped.

“Yeah, you and that weird Colorado-Osaka accent you have!” Derek laughed.

“Can I help it if my formative years were in Colorado and Osaka?” Nova snapped back. “Now, Derek, you sound funny, you funny space cowboy who can’t comb his hair right who was raised between Tillamook, Oregon and a suburb of Yokohama!”

“What about you, O Peppermint Patty, with your dirty blond hair and your habit of wearing flip-flops in twenty-degree weather?” Derek teased back.

“Oh, yes, a reminder of that silly nickname you have for me. In truth, Cowboy of Outer Space, my hair is honey-blonde and I sometimes wear flip-flops in twenty-degree weather when I go back and forth to the nail salon so I can get a pedicure so I can look cute next to you in my heels at those fancy parties we go to!”

“Where you eat all the damn h'ordourves like they are about to be outlawed!”

“I do NOT eat finger food like that, you do!”

“This is getting silly!” laughed Derek.

“I know…that’s one reason why I love you, you space cowboy,” Nova said with a smile.

“And that’s why I love you…Peppermint, with your cute pink and white sailor dress and pink flip-flops,” Derek said back.

“That’s sweet, Derek. I hope you meant it as a compliment!”

“You figure it out!”

Nova looked at Derek with crossed eyes and then they both began to laugh.

Then, their conversation became more serious. “Sandor saw me at Headquarters today,” Derek said. “The refit on the Yamato is finished. God knows how he did it, but the ship was done in record time.”

“She’s in better shape than the Sovereign,” Nova said. “That’s the Pellian carrier I was going to requisition…until I found out she was going to be in refit for more than three weeks.”

“What happened to her?” Derek asked. “No one gave me a report.”

“That’s because I sent her out four days ago on an exercise…and she just came back badly damaged. Some ship pounced on her just beyond Commonwealth space. Homer was the Captain, and my God, he was upset. He’s also in the hospital…he lost a leg out there,” Nova said. “Bixley and I fitted him with a bionic leg last night; that’s the operation where I was up half the night, you remember. Poor Wendy. She was fit to be tied at his condition.”

“What sort of ship got him?” Derek asked.

“He wasn’t clear, but we’ll talk to him again before we go out, Derek. At any rate, now I have an emergency, and I have the authority to have you reactivate the Star Force. We will go out in three days…on my authority…and Kiman and Yamamoto will join the crew.” Nova said.

“Did…he request it?” Derek said, referring to Desslok. Derek and Nova knew that Klaus Kiman was a cover name for Reinhardt Desslar, the true name of the pilot and operative; Desslok’s eyes and ears on this mission, and his nephew.

“He sure did.”

“Nova, did you tell Yamamoto who he is yet?”

“Heck No! That’s Reinhardt’s responsibility. Although, only God knows how Akira will react once she finds out everything that she knew about Klaus was untrue. I didn’t want that to happen, honestly…”

“But it did,” Derek said.

“Yes. Like with us…it…happened.”

On that note, she went silent.

When they got home later, they found a message awaiting them on their home comm device: encrypted.

Derek opened the message while Nova was kicking off her shoes for the inside of their house, and, to his shock, he found the speaker sitting in the white and blue tunic usually worn by the Lord of Rikasha; Rikasha had reverted its government back to its old quasi-monarchy.

However, the youngish, long-haired Rikashan Lord in what looked to be his early forties was very light-skinned; not orange as usual, and he somehow looked familiar, even though he wore his hair in two large flips over his brows in the typical Cha’rif style.

“Greetings, Lord Admiral Wildstar, and your Majesty, Lady Nova. It has been a long time since I spoke with you. You may remember me as you aided me on Rikasha long ago after I was captured. My name is Lord Shiro Matsuya Cha’rif, and since my adoption by the clan years ago, and the death of my older brother Ar’ten Cha’rif in battle recently when a group of Technomugar tried to assassinate us in our Palace, I have now become the new Lord of Rikasha. The other clans have assented to my leadership since I was a military commander for a time after we learned our parents had died in battle. We are making a formal request to your Government for aid and we request that the Yamato be sent to our aid as soon as possible. It is our prayer that the Lady Nova is all right as we understand she was also recently the victim of an assassination attempt. That is all for now. We pray that we shall see you soon. Godspeed.”

Derek and Nova looked at each other and Nova said, “More reason for us to go out ASAP on the Yamato. I don’t care if we can only get part of our crew from Earth; we can fill the ranks in with Pellians. Hades take the Joint Defense Council and the political red tape! As we agreed before, Lord Admiral, you will assume command on my authority. I’m calling Natalie in London and Ruling Queen Rezine up on Beltane now to make this decision known. After we finish our business on Defuel and elsewhere, take us to Rikasha. We will leave the day after tomorrow; June the third.”

“Are you going to remain on Earth or Pellias?” Derek said.

“I said we will go out, Derek! You will need a doctor and I’m it. I don’t intend to lie around in one of the Palaces or here at home eating grapes on a couch and mooning over your return like Lady Penelope awaiting Ulysses’ return in the Odyssey! You will also need a diplomat and I’m it. Or her. Whatever,” Nova said as she threw up her hands. “Stop looking at me like that! And don’t give me an argument, Derek Wildstar! This time, I am within my full rights to tell you what to do! Unless you’d prefer to stay home, in which case I’ll sit in the damn Yamato’s Captain’s chair myself!”

“Okay, Nova, thanks for joining my crew as my first recruit,” Derek said as he gave her a hug. “But what’s our chain of command?”

“You make the shipboard decisions; I’ll make the political decisions and of course run my Sickbay,” Nova said with a yawn. “I remember poor little Shiro so well, complete to washing his back. It amazes me he’s a head of state now and that a Terran is now running the Rikashan Empire.”

“There’s been a lot of that going around lately, Peppermint,” teased Derek. “Like you being in ultimate charge of Pellias and Earth on that throne of yours you almost never sit on.”

“There are days I like the Palace, and days when it bores the heck out of me. I could use some action and excitement in my life again. Although I didn’t think we’d start with my almost getting killed.”

In the meantime, Desslok was sitting on a balcony in the High Queen’s Palace, looking up at Earth and the galaxy, and drinking some wine from his favorite chalice.

“What I wish,” he said out loud to himself, very softly, “…is that Time could be turned back. If only Time could be turned back to the moment that Astrena was killed…so that I could stop it…and so that Astrena could still be with me…or maybe, perhaps, turned back further, to a day before Starsha and I were at odds.” He raised his chalice to the sky. “I know, Astrena…we were at odds over this, you and I, as I remembered Starsha, but you told me she was in the past, bonded to Wildstar’s brother. I grew to accept that, yes.”

Desslok sipped at his wine, and then said, “…but, never, in all Truth, did I truly like it. If only…things could have been different…”

Desslok then turned his head at a sudden sound and then flipped around with anger. “Who disturbs my repose?” he demanded. “Are you not aware that Wildstar and Nova gave orders that I was not to be disturbed?”

“I don’t always listen to my parents,” said a young, dignified female voice as its owner came through a beaded curtain that separated the balcony from the Palace. She was clad in a white Iscandarian gown. “But I can feel your pain from afar, my Leader Desslok…so I came to you. I sense you need someone to speak with; so, behold, here I am!”

“Princess…Starsha,” Desslok said with a slight bow. “Do your parents know that you are here on Pellias?

“They are aware, yes. I am aiding Ruling Queen Rezine with some issues, even though I am making ready to travel to Iscandar…for the first time since my birth there. My mother Nova birthed me back into existence with much pain and much joy.”

“Back into existence, Princess Starsha?” Desslok said skeptically as he sat back down. Starsha walked around him, with Earth framed behind her off the balcony in the night sky.

“Yes, Desslok. I have lived twice before; centuries ago, as Queen Starsha the First, and more recently, as Queen Starsha the Second. The very woman you knew…and loved, ages ago, it seems. But I still remember it as if it was yesterday.”

“It cannot be,” said Desslok.

“How much do I need to tell you?” Starsha said. “I remember well the night I first spoke with you; on Iscandar. We were dying then. I had a suspect in mind for the creation of the virus that was killing our people then.”

“It was only the two of us there, then…Starsha. If you are the true Starsha I knew, give me his name?”

“Count Alatar, Desslok. A madman I myself banished from Iscandar before it happened. He was a genetic scientist…a genius, and his heart was bound over to Evil. He was aided by a Baron of our people, a rogue military man known as Parkus. You will remember that I wanted you to apprehend those men. You later advised me that you had them in your grasp, but they escaped. By then, it was too late-most of us were dead already. Including my second set of parents.”

“I knew your…second…mother,” said Desslok as he sipped at his wine. “What was her name and what did she look like?”

“Her name was Klaisha. She was over two hundred when she died. Oddly enough, she could have been a twin with my third and current mother, our High Queen Nova. I saw Mother in a white Iscandarian gown like one of hers the other day, and almost passed out; it was as if my second mother had come back to life again and was standing in front of me. Of course, Queen Klaisha never used that interesting Terran Colorado accent when she spoke, and she was useless with a blade, sadly. Mother, on the other hand, has been teaching me how to fence; and very well, too. I cannot keep up with Mother. She is as fast and wily as an enraged angel when she fences.”

“They say I’m good with a blade, myself,” Desslok said dryly.

“Oh, do I not know that?” Starsha said with exasperation in her voice. “However, maybe Destiny decreed that things would…play out as they did.”

“Explain,” Desslok said.

“I used to think, you know, that you were a madman, someone who wanted to be a God, usurping Adonai…”

“Luckily, I’ve grown out of that phase,” Desslok said. “I believe in Him as you do. He knows I am not the best of His followers, but…”

“You try, as we all do,” said Starsha. “Desslok, listen to me. I cannot condone what you did in the past. I never can condone it. But now, maybe, because of Ekogaru and Promethium…and my death at the enemy’s hands and my reincarnation at the hands of the Almighty…maybe I understand now why you acted as you did in the past. And, we cannot go back to the Past. Astrena has passed on. My previous self has also passed on. But I live now…in the future. I have touched the spirit of Astrena, Desslok.”

“So, you have?” Desslok said with raised eyebrows. “What does she ask of me?”

“She is content now where she is. Her struggles are over. She wants you to move on, Desslok. And if you will not slap me for being…impertinent…I feel the same way, Desslok.”

Desslok shut his eyes and sipped at his chalice. Then, he looked Starsha in the eye and said, “Would I be impertinent if I ask that you and I meet again?”

“Where, and when?” she said. “I am set to leave for Iscandar in three days. You may not be aware, but Father and Mother are taking the Yamato out again. I have been asked to travel with them to Iscandar.”

“How apt,” Desslok said. “Do you expect to aid them in their war?”

“Perhaps,” Starsha said. “I believe that Alatar and Parkus might be implicated in Astrena’s death. Mother has asked that I help in finding them.”

“How does your mother know these men?”

“She met them years ago on Beemira. They tormented her there but then, perversely, they later indirectly helped her to escape from a rebel Beemiran leader. She did not know they were Iscandarian then, but she and I probed the Past. We learned that Mother thought they were Gamilons…but the Past also revealed to us why they were drawn to my mother. They knew who and what she was, well before she even knew. They took some of her blood while she was knocked out. I tremble to think what they may have done with it. As for when we can meet, Desslok…meet me in two days, here in the Palace, in the dueling practice room. Please bring a saber and proper protective gear. You and I…we need to fence. I need the practice.”

“Starsha, this is a new angle from you,” Desslok said as he got up and bowed. “People do change.”

“Yes,” said Starsha. “They do. Please excuse me. We shall meet again in two days. Fare Thee Well…my Desslok.”

Desslok’s eyebrows went up. He snapped Starsha a salute. “Fare the well…my Starsha.”

She smiled at him for the first time in decades and left.

Desslok then sat back down and stared at Earth for a long time…

It was very early the next morning in the Tokyo Megalopolis; about 0600.

In their home, in the den to be exact, Nova was sitting on a love seat in a nice powder-blue shirtdress practicing on her white Fender Stratocaster for church later that morning. She would be playing in the praise band at the church service at Idlewild Flight Base at 1000.

Nova was partially curled up near Derek, with her bare feet in his jeans-clad lap as he smiled at her, clad in a green EDF Academy T-shirt which had clearly seen better days.

“So, what are you singing next?” Derek said.

“Well, this hymn’s on the program, even though it’s not one of my favorites…Shout to the Lord,” Nova said as she played a few chords and then began to sing the hymn as she played.

My Comfort…

My Shelter…

Tower of Refuge and Strength…

Shout to the Lord, All the Earth Let us Sing….

When Nova finished, she smiled at Derek and said, “Any requests, dear, before I go on to the next hymn on the program, namely…Victory Through Grace?”

“This is going to surprise you, Nova. I used to hate this song, but…I love the way you do it. And only the way you sing it.”

“Okay, I’ll bite. What’s the song?”

“Old Beatles…For No One.”

“You’re right. You used to hate it…memories of Diane Henson, long ago…now she’s Diane Sandor…”

“The only rendition I like, Nova, is yours.”

Nova smiled at him and then began the Beatles piece. She smiled more when she saw that he was smiling softly at her as she played and sang. When she was finished, she segued right into Victory Through Grace, which went:

Conquering Now, and Still to Conquer…

Rideth a King in His Might…

Leading the host of all of the faithful…

Into the Midst of the fight…

See them with courage Advancing…

Clad in their brilliant array…

Shouting the name of their Leader…

Hear them exultingly say…

Not to the strong…

Is the Battle…

Not to the Swift is the Race…

Yet to the True and the Faithful…

Victory is Promised through Grace…

Nova continued with this hymn, which she liked more than Shout to the Lord, as she finished the song to the end, adding a few triumphant chords as grace notes.

Nova set down her guitar and kissed Derek, and then she looked at him and said, “You’d better change.”

“Uh, Nova, your dress has a few paint marks on it from the other day when we were touching up the room.”

“The paint was acrylic. It’ll wash out with a rag. I want you in a tie, shirt, and better pants than those jeans that are ripped at the knee,” Nova said as she tapped Derek’s knee with a laugh.

“Okay, Mom,” Derek said with a smile as Nova threw a pillow at him and laughed before she unplugged her guitar from her practice amp and put it away in its fitted case. “Actually, it might be better if I’m in EDF Blues,” he said after a moment. “Venture’s going to be there.”

“He hasn’t resigned his commission yet?”

“No,” Derek said. “I’m assigning him to Pellias as my Chief of Staff there. Sandor will be on Earth as my Chief of Staff here. Do those appointments meet with your approval?”

“You asked me last night and I said yes,” Nova said with a wink.

“Okay…that takes care of that,” Derek said.

II. OF THANKSGIVING AND DIFFERENCES

EARTH

BASE CHAPEL: IDLEWILD FIGHTER BASE, TOKYO MEGALOPOLIS

JUNE 2, 2233

1000 HOURS EARTHTIME

“So, what are we doing here at this ungodly hour…please pardon the pun?” Akira Yamamoto asked Klaus Keyman as he and she sat beside each other in the Fighter Base Chapel. She had on a white top, black skirt and black sandals. Keyman wore his Gamilon dress uniform.

“I’ve been asked to be here,” he said opaquely, acting as if he didn’t want to talk about it much as two laughing couples came in; Mark Venture and Trelaina (their daughter was being looked after by Ariel Wildstar for the morning) and Derek and Nova Wildstar. Mark and Derek were in their EDF blues, wearing black dress jackets. Trelaina had on a flowing white dress with a Pellian chapeau with a blue ribbon and white sun veil at the back with open white boots, and Nova had on her blue shirtdress (from which she had managed to remove the white paint spatters) with dark blue peep-toe pumps. Keyman looked annoyed as Mark and Trelaina sat down, with Venture shaking his head as Derek and Nova shared a long kiss before Nova ran up to the stage with her guitar in its case to join the band off to the side of the altar.

Derek smiled and saluted as a grey-haired priest in white and red vestments waved at him; namely, his and Nova’s old friend and advisor Father Martin Likanski, who was now in his seventies. Father Likanski greeted each praise band member with a quick handshake except for Nova; he gave her a quick hug. He had known her since she was much younger, and he had gone with the Yamato to Iscandar and back as a Chaplain, married Derek and Nova about a year later, performed dedication services for a number of their children, as well as the funeral Mass for their lost daughter Anastasia after the war in 2231 in which she had died serving aboard the Yamato.

Finally, before the service was about to start, and before the organist began with the processional during which Likanski and the altar boys would come down the aisle, Keyman’s comm device went off.

“Stifle that, please,” said Akira.

There was some writing in Gamilon on the phone that Akira didn’t understand. Klaus looked at it and said, “Excuse me…I have to take this!”

“Who is it from?” said Yamamoto angrily.

“Desslok,” he snapped. “EXCUSE me!”

Klaus pushed past Akira, and he took off for the church lobby (or narthex) as he answered the phone. “Yes?” Akira heard him say.

“Reinhardt…we have a problem,” said Desslok in a low, mellow voice that Yamamoto heard as her eyebrows went up.

What is going on here? Akira thought in extreme annoyance, tempted to follow Klaus and ask him what was going on. However, she was stopped when the organ began to play Bach’s Little Fugue in G Minor as the priest and his acolytes came down the aisle.

Akira had been to church a few times with her deceased brother and two of his friends, and she barely knew what to do or what was going on, being agnostic herself, but she stood anyway out of respect as everyone else stood. Her mind was a haze of emotions as she mechanically answered Father Likanski’s benediction, “The Lord be With You” by mumbling “And Also with You,” along with her nearest seatmate, Lieutenant Commander Boyington from their squadron, who was also in dress blues. Akira was so upset that the praise band’s rendition of Shout to the Lord (with Nova on rhythm guitar and sharing in the vocals with two other singers) went right over her head in a cloud of bad feelings as she thought, Why the hell did Klaus receive a call from Leader Desslok, of all people? And why did he call him Reinhardt? He owes me an explanation, the big liar!

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In the church narthex, Klaus Keyman, or, rather Reinhardt Desslar, was in a conversation with Leader Desslok Abelt Desslar, the Emperor of Gamilon, and his uncle.

“So, what is it you require of me now?” said Keyman. “I’ve been watching our Terran friends for a while to see what they are doing to hunt down Astrena’s assassins. It has progressed quite far. The Yamato is about to be deployed.”

“You shall go with them, of course,” said Desslok. “You will provide me with one avenue of information. My adopted daughter is providing me with another avenue of information, and she will most certainly be aboard.”

“Is your adopted daughter another Gamilon?” asked Keyman. “How do I get close to her?”

Desslok laughed. “No. My adopted daughter is a Terran/Pellian/Iscandarian hybrid; you know her quite well, and she is a very ‘hands-on’ Head of State who enjoys adventures. Her Majesty Nova Yukiko Wildstar? She will be traveling with her husband, Admiral Derek Wildstar, of course. She has already touched minds with me and advised she is placing herself under his command for shipboard business, but as the High Queen, she will direct the agenda of the search.”

“If you have a mental link with her, what do you need me for?” asked Keyman.

“Confirmation. She is usually very truthful, but there is a principle I like to follow in that a matter is best established when it comes from two witnesses. You shall be the second witness.”

“I see. There is a complication, sire.”

“Which is?”

“A woman of Terran/Martian descent is in love with me and I her. She is a fellow pilot known as Akira Yamamoto. She only knows me as Klaus Keyman. I have been lying to her as to who I am.”

“Well, if you are taking her into deep danger at your side, you shall need to resolve that.”

“How?”

“Use your ingenuity and charm; what do you think?” Desslok said. “Oh. You are not the only man facing such a dilemna. I am myself patching up relations with a woman once close to me who has gone through a lot since we last met. She is an ally and former friend.”

“Who?”

Desslok laughed, almost bitterly. “Need I tell you about everything about my personal life, Reinhardt? I know you are a very good intelligence operative, but you can be a bit cheeky. Ask me again and it will go about as well for you as it would if you asked Lord Admiral Derek and High Queen Nova what they were up to in their bed the previous night. Both of them, you should know, are very good at hand-to-hand combat. I have seen it, having gone into battle with those dear friends of mine. You would probably end up severely injured,” Desslok said with an almost evil smile. “Interesting how Destiny changes things. Those two were once among my arch-enemies, since they devastated Gamilon over thirty years ago. I’m sure you remember the history of that war?”

“Only second-hand,” said Reinhardt. “You had already exiled my mother and I by then.”

“Yes. We had issues. But they were in the past. What was in the past…let it stay in the past!”

Klaus was about to bid his uncle a formal (if not entirely fond) farewell when Akira came up behind him and knocked his comm device on the floor.

“Hey!” he said.

“Why the hell is Desslok calling you in the middle of the day and calling you by a different name, Klaus?” snapped Akira as she poked him in the chest.

“Oh, no, here comes the lovers’ quarrel,” Desslok said from the device on the carpeted floor.

“YOU SHUT UP!” Akira yelled at Desslok’s image as more music seeped through the church doors into the narthex.

“I believe I know when I am not wanted. Good day,” Desslok said as he cut the transmission off.

Akira then stared at Klaus and said, “Why did you lie to me about your name?”

“Because I’m a member of the Gamilon Royal House,” retorted Klaus. “I generally don’t want that known. How many people would talk to me or work with me if it was generally known that I’m the Leader’s nephew?”

“That sounds plausible, except that I’d love to know what else you have been hiding from me!” Akira snapped.

“That is the only thing,” he said.

“Do you mean that?” Akira said. “Really?”

“I do…” he said. He meant to hug Akira, but she backed away from him and pushed his hands away.

“Why are you being so cold to me all of a sudden?” he said.

“Because I’ve lost some confidence in you until you lay out everything. And our informal engagement is OFF until we work this crap out!”

“You’re being mean,” said Klaus.

“Consider yourself lucky that I don’t just break it off altogether and tell you to go to Hell now,” snapped Akira. “Okay, you…TALK!”

“All right,” said Reinhardt. “My father was very close to Desslok, being his elder brother, until the events that led to Desslok taking power from his father happened. I have been told my father was killed in battle with the Cometines shortly before Desslok began his coup to take the throne, suddenly finding himself the Leader of the resistance. Desslok took power and he had a quarrel with my mother. For that, Mother and I were exiled from Gamilon. After my mother died, years later, Desslok sought me out and found me, ironically, in Pellian territory, and he reversed his own edict and commissioned me into the Gamilon military as I had been serving Astrena as an intelligence agent.”

“How do I know any of that is true?” snapped Akira.

“If you need further confirmation, go ask Nova. She was there when Desslok recommissioned me after Astrena…and she…spoke on my behalf in a private meeting…aboard the Yamato, of all places. I then changed my allegiance from Pellias to Gamilon, although I retain a close friendship with the Wildstars, especially her, whom you could say employed me when our roles were both still quite secret. Nova, in fact, had to release me from her service to join Desslok’s service. However, she told me I remain on call to her as arranged with Desslok. If you don’t believe me, go speak with her. Good day,” Klaus snapped as he walked off after picking up his comm device.

As he opened the doors to the church to let Akira through, they did not speak to each other, even as the strains of “Victory through Grace” tickled their ears as the praise band went on.

Klaus then sat in an uneasy silence beside Akira as Father Likanski began the Liturgy of the Mass. Klaus felt like a zombie as he stood and knelt at the proper times for the sake of propriety, feeling even worse as he noticed that Nova had left her guitar on stage on a stand and was holding hands with Derek during the Mass.

Akira didn’t listen at all, standing and kneeling mechanically during the Mass.

She drifted almost into another world of anger and depression as she barely heard the words of the priest.

Father Likanski said, “Lord Jesus Christ, You said to your apostles: I leave you peace, my peace I give you. Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and grant us the peace and unity of your Kingdom where you live for ever and ever….”

The congregation responded with an “Amen.” Then, Father Likanski said, “The Peace of the Lord be with you always…”

“And also with you,” said Akira with the others as Klaus opened the Missal and pointed to the correct passage.

Father Likanski then said, “Let us offer each other a sign of peace.”

As, up in front, Derek and Nova and then Mark and Trelaina shook hands and then quickly embraced each giving the other the Sign of Peace, Akira said, “Okay…the peace of the Lord, who I don’t believe in, be with you…”

“And also with you,” said Klaus. “Peace?”

“Not until I talk with Nova and maybe Wildstar after this way-too-long service,” she snorted. “We’re still un-engaged until we work this out! IF we can!”

Klaus rose and stood with the others because it was expected, but there was no joy or fulfillment for him during the rest of the Mass. Of course, neither he nor Akira went up to receive Communion.

When the Mass ended, and before Father Likanski gave the benediction after whispering out of turn with Nova before she took her place with the praise band, he said, “I have been advised through my friend, Her Majesty, that the Yamato will be taking off the day after tomorrow at 1100 to investigate the assassination of the Pellian Ruling Queen Astrena. We ask for your prayers for the Star Force, and the Wildstars have requested we sing this song before we end this service. It’s not in the hymnal, but please feel free to sing along, in both English and in Japanese.”

Akira groaned as she heard the praise band playing the first few notes of the Earth/Pellian Defense Forces fanfare, followed by a lusty sing along to the ballad of the Star Force, with a melody and lyrics written one day long ago by Derek, Nova, and Mark during the first Cruise to Iscandar as they began to sing:

We’re off to Outer Space…

Defending Mother Earth…

To Save the Human Race…

Our Star Blazers!

Danger Lurking everywhere…

But we know we’ve got to dare…

The anthem went on, with the first verse in Terranglish ending, followed by the second verse, in Japanese:

Saraba Chikyuu yo… (Farewell to Mother Earth!)

Tabida tsu Fune wa… (We’re departing in our ship)

Uchuu…seennkaaa unn… (OUR Space Battleship…)

YAMATO!...

Uchuu no Kanata… (Heading out among the stars…)

Iscandaru he…. (Heading off to Iscandar)

Akira sang without much enthusiasm as the song went on.

Then, the anthem ended, and Father Likanski gave the benediction and they left.

Forty-five minutes later, Derek, Nova, Mark, Trelaina, Klaus, and Akira found themselves around a large round table sharing breakfast in the Lancers’ Diner near the airbase. Akira was only with Klaus because he was her ride today.

Klaus still found Terran food a little…weird. He was eating fried cornbread (also known as “cornpone”) with a large sausage and cheese omelet because it was one of the things he could stomach…his stomach was roiling because of his quarrel with Akira, who barely spoke to him on the aircar drive over from the chapel to the diner.

Nova, who was digging in to pancakes and Canadian Bacon (served in the suburbs of Tokyo), was gently telling Akira (while trying to play peacemaker) the story of Klaus/Reinhardt and his history, backed up by Derek, who was eating Belgian Waffles and sausage.

Akira felt a little nauseous, and she was only eating an English Muffin with a side of home fries as she looked skeptically at Klaus as he looked down at his food, refusing to meet her gaze, as Derek said, “So, you see, I was there when Desslok and Astrena and Nova worked things out.”

“Yeah,” said Akira as she stirred her coffee uneasily. “Okay, this may be true…”

“Are you doubting my veracity, Yamamoto-kun?” Nova said very formally in Japanese.

“Iie!” (no!) Akira snapped back. “If you think I’m calling you a liar, then you really are like a Valley Girl, Majesty!”

“Oh, is that it?” Nova said as she crossed her arms angrily. “What do you think I’m going to do next, call Klaus rude ethnic slurs?”

“Which would be really idiotic because she’s one-sixteenth Gamilon herself!” snapped Klaus.

“Would you all stop being mad at each other?” said Trelaina. “The anger is giving me a headache!”

“I’m not mad at Space Cowboy here,” Nova said as she patted Derek’s hand. “I’m a little ticked that Miss Yamamoto here is calling me a liar and insulting my rather considerable intelligence.”

“I am not calling you a liar, Nova!” snapped Akira, who almost felt like throwing her coffee at the young-looking woman, who was considering her with her dark eyes and a smile that reminded Akira of some demented legendary Gremlin who was about to eat the wiring in her fighter. “I am wondering what else Klaus here is hiding from me.”

“Like what?” said Mark Venture.

“You keep out of this, space jockey!” snapped Derek.

“Derek, he was asking a question,” Nova said. “Quite a reasonable one, too, I’d think,” she said as she sipped at her coffee.

“Yeah, it’s like the questions I have about him,” said Akira as she nudged Klaus.

“He is hiding nothing else from you,” said Trelaina. “And Derek and Nova have verified what happened.”

“How do you know that?” said Akira.

“I know things,” Trelaina said as Akira got a very weird feeling that the Telezartian was looking inside her head. Then, Nova held Trelaina’s hand, and Akira felt even more uncomfortable as she found the whispered stories about Nova were quite true as she felt her rooting around inside her thoughts.

“Would you two witches get the hell out of my head?” she snapped.

Then, Akira felt her thoughts being directed towards Klaus as Nova said, “Kindly set aside the hatred, doubt and pain, Akira. Remember, pain leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to unnecessary suffering. Please open your mind and heart to Klaus. We are both helping you.”

Akira then said, “Okay, Yoda. I will allow this to happen.”

“How do you know about Yoda?” said Klaus.

“We watched those dumb movies the other night, Klaus,” said Akira as she found herself being nudged into Klaus’ head by Nova and Trelaina, who then courteously stepped out, taking deep breaths as Klaus and Akira looked at each other, staring into each other’s eyes, shocked that they could exchange thoughts like this for a time.

So, you weren’t lying to me that much? Akira thought to Klaus.

Good. You finally figured it all out, Klaus said. No one here is telling lies.

Why did you lie to me?

Because I was trying to protect my identity and to protect you, after a fashion. Given my position in the Royal House, Akira, I have a lot of enemies.

You’re thinking that if I knew…?

Evil men or women could capture you and torture you for information…Klaus thought.

I get the sense you’re not lying, now, Klaus…

“I’m not,” he said as tears formed in his eyes, shocking Akira as his stoic Gamilon exterior broke for a moment. “I really wish you’d believe me.”

“I’m…starting to,” Akira said as she broke the mental connection with Klaus. Then, she looked at Derek and Nova. “Are you two connected like that?”

“All the time,” said Derek. “It’s very useful when we have to settle an argument.”

“But it’s also almost a curse,” Nova added. “When he hurts, I feel his pain. When I hurt, he feels my pain. We’ve been like this for many years. Nothing breaks our connection.”

“Not even death itself,” Derek said as he kissed Nova. “I was still connected to you when you were dead and in Heaven.”

“It wasn’t that clear, but I finally got it through my head that if we were still bonded, you’d be back sooner or later, Nova.”

“And I was.”

“I was always connected to her,” said Mark as he smiled at Trelaina. “Even when I was married to Holly! Even though I denied it.”

“For a long time, I could not be with you in body, but I was in spirit,” Trelaina said. “I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to return to the physical plane, which was why I told you to marry Holly. I only thought then you would return to me through death.”

“But things went differently, we know,” Mark said as his voice hitched.

“Did you two have a child?” Akira asked.

“We certainly did, and she’s very special,” Mark said. “That’s also why this is probably be the last time we will be seen on Earth for a while but are moving to Pellias. Trelaina, we have an offer for the house. We will leave soon and go back to Pellias, where you’re more understood than here.”

“Yeah…that gleam she has tends to turn heads,” Klaus said dryly.

“So, they’re staring at me?” Trelaina said. “I thought they were staring at you, Baron Keyman.”

“Thought they were staring at me because I have to fend off reporters all the time,” Nova said.

“I thought they were staring at me because my hair’s a mess,” Derek added.

“Aha! He confesses to it!” Nova said with a laugh pointing her spoon at her husband. “Now, would you two kiss and make up before I throw this sugar container at you?” Nova added.

Klaus then looked at Akira. “Sorry I lied to you.”

“I’m sorry I got so angry at you,” said Akira as she held Klaus’ hand. “Our engagement is back on, even though you still owe me a ring,” she said.

Nova glanced at Derek, who nodded. Nova then carefully took off her own engagement ring, which she wore in tandem with her wedding band, and tossed it on the table. “Give her this, Klaus. Remember, though, it’s a loan. I’ll see about getting you another ring to give her in our travels.”

Klaus then looked at Nova’s engagement ring. “No, I can’t borrow this…”

“The diamond has a slight purple tint, granted,” Nova said. “It was originally my birthstone, an amethyst, but Derek allowed me to transmute it before I gave birth to Starsha and Theodore. I put a minor virtue in that ring of finding and keeping, from our souls and bond into that jewel. You notice it glitters on its own? It’s a sign that we remain together, and its fire will only fade someday when we both die.”

“So, you’re in the business of making…magic rings?” said Akira.

Nova nodded. “Maybe the wishes we have in that jewel will bleed through to you two. Consider it a gift.”

Klaus then picked up the ring, and got up and knelt on the floor before Akira. “Akira, my love…will you…marry me?”

“Of course, you silly fellow,” Akira said as she pecked him on the cheek. Then, she allowed him to slip the ring on her finger, as Derek, Nova, Mark and Trelaina applauded, and, so did the rest of the diner as Klaus and Akira then shared a very hot and passionate kiss.

“I’d say they made up,” observed Derek.

Nova nodded. “Mmmm…hhhhh…when I get you a better ring, give that back!” Nova sang.

“I’ll see about getting her a ring,” Klaus said as he got up and sat down while Akira mussed up his hair. “It’s my job.”

“Can I at least bless it?” Nova said.

“Yeah…so long as it doesn’t involve an electrical shock,” teased Akira.

“You silly girl,” Nova said with affection.

“You crazy Valley Girl,” Akira said back.

Then, both women laughed, while Klaus and Derek looked at each other, thinking, okay, what the heck?

“We’re all friends and comrades again,” said Trelaina as she picked up a water glass. “Let’s toast to friendship!”

“To friendship!” the others said as they picked up their water glasses and all of them clinked them together.

Then, they all drank. The long conversation had made them all thirsty….

Later that night, Derek and Nova were home. Ariel, Jordy, and Samantha had gone to sleep in their bedroom.

The Wildstars were lying in bed, unclad, after having made love.

Nova was staring into space and saying, “Derek, I have an idea that this mission is going to take us further into space than we’ve ever gone before. Invidia contacted me through our Matrix Bond.”

“What did she have to say?” Derek said. He remembered well the aid their former enemy had given them in the defeat of the Dark Lord Ekogaru and the subsequent defeat of his demented successor Queen Promethium. However, he was a bit suspicious of the Cometine Princess’ motives, even though the Commonwealth now had friendly if distant relations with the Comet Empire.

“She told me that she thinks we’ll have to see her at some point in her city on planet Great Andromeda in the depths of the Andromeda Galaxy. The planet is also the Capital of the Comet Empire, capital of all of the Houses, in a city that covers most of the planet…a city known as Grand Mechapolis.”

“Grand Mechapolis. That sounds like an ominous place.”

“From the mental sight I got of the place, it’s a horrible place, Derek. The Grand Emperor of the whole Cometine Empire, Lord over all of the Princes, Princesses, Counts, Countesses, and Barons of all of the Houses rules from that place…where they build those Comet Cities, or…world ships as they call them,” Nova said. “Invidia told me the Grand Emperor wants to meet with us…but I don’t want to meet with him, Derek. We met him before…and he chilled me to the bone. We only met him once, darling…over a screen…”

“Who is he?” Derek said.

Nova shut her eyes, linked with Derek, and just sent memories to his head…

NOVEMBER 2201…(Over Thirty Years Ago…)

“Why fight on, you idiot Earthlings? You utter fools…” Prince Zordar said as he stared down at Derek, Nova, Eager, and Homer on the bridge of the Argo.

Nova remembered that she was shivering down to her core, and was praying silently as she heard Zordar’s voice again, now directed at them.

It was the first time she had ever seen Zordar.

He looked as darkly evil as he sounded!

“…You are NOTHING!” Zordar intoned. “I hold the whole Universe in the palm of my hand! I just close my hand, and planets crumble…the stars SHATTER! Why fight on, Star Force…it’s a Cosmic Joke!”

Then, Nova remembered his chilling, diseased laughter as, in her heart, she said the Lord’s Prayer, stressing the “Deliver us from Evil” part.

For Zordar’s demented laughter was the worst thing Nova had ever heard in her life…at least until she and Derek met Lord Ekogaru….

“Nova?” Derek said out loud to his amazing wife, surprised at what she had become in the intervening thirty-two years since they had heard that demented laughter. “Are you trying to tell me that the Grand Emperor of the Cometine People is ZORDAR?”

“Yes. He’s still alive. Unfortunately.”

“Trelaina killed him! I saw it! Nova, I love you and I believe most of what you say, but I think this time you’re waaay out in left field! Zordar is DEAD!”

“I thought the same thing, too. Trelaina destroyed his ship, but she sent him and his crew to a purgatory of her own making. She recalled Zordar later for her own purposes, just like she recalled his men two years ago when she and I rebuilt the Gatlantis because we needed it for a weapon. Invidia told me that after his…return to life, her father Zordar ruled well, almost as if he was trying to atone for his previous crimes. He ascended to the head of the Cometine Bureaucracy because of his legendary record of conquests, and then, he assassinated the Grand Emperor and took his throne when the old Emperor lost his mind. She says he is a good ruler…except that he is beginning to go mad. A fact that is not in our favor…he hates us and the Star Force and wants vengeance.”

“This sounds like Desslok Act Two,” sighed Derek. “But…?”

“In our favor is the fact that he loves his daughter Invidia, the new Princess of Gatlantis by his grant, and that he knows Trelaina still lives…and, of course, he fears her. He has also heard rumor of me and how you and I brought down Ekogaru and Promethium. He has never met me, of course, except for that glance at me on the screen of the Argo where I was trying to keep Eager from screaming…but he obviously didn’t know who I was then, which makes two of us because I didn’t know who I really was at the time, either. Invidia told me that Zordar is also very afraid of me. Yaaay,” Nova said as she yawned. “Looks like my reputation has preceded me to Andromeda. Zordar appears to think I am either a demigoddess or a monster. That’s something that could work in our definite favor, Derek.”

“You don’t look very dangerous, dear,” Derek said with a wink.

“I don’t want to be dangerous, either,” Nova said. “But, sometimes, power is the only thing that people like Zordar listen to. If we meet him…”

“I don’t think I want to, Nova.”

“If we meet him,” Nova said. “We will be protected…by much Higher Authority. Because our jobs are far from over.”

It was 0500 on June 3, 2233, when Akira woke up to find Klaus drinking some water near their bathroom. He was in his pajamas, with an open pajama top showing off his sculpted form.

“I see you’re up,” she said.

“Yes, but it’s a wonder I am up…given what transpired last night between us when we got home,” he said with a wink.

“Oh, that!” laughed Akira.

“That, which I enjoyed a great deal,” said Klaus.

“You’re not the only one who enjoyed it,” Akira said with a wicked smile in her short robe.

“Moroboshi’s quiet this morning,” Klaus said.

“I talked to Kashima down the hall yesterday before we had our fight at church,” Akira said. “Heard he finally got evicted.”

“Maybe there is a God…that’s a nice, small favor,” said Klaus. “I talked to Uncle a few years back. He used to be very traditional in respect to the gods of our people, until some of our Terran friends spoke to him and gave him some historical evidence, and he found out that what the Terrans call monotheism was probably the traditional faith of our people. That and some personal spiritual experience he said he had once which he otherwise refused to elaborate upon. Me, I’ll believe in some supernatural entity that grants miracles when I see a miracle myself.”

“Some people say the fact that Trelaina, Mark Venture and Nova Wildstar are walking around quite alive and solid when they should be dead are living object proof there are miracles.”

“You surprise me, Akira, love.”

“I am taking a contrary position for the sake of argument. What if some all-powerful God or His Agents DID bring those three back to life?”

“Comas or near-death experiences?” said Klaus.

“Mark Venture was found drifting in space nice and frozen. Trelaina blew herself to smithereens. Quite a few people on Yamato saw Nova Wildstar bleed out and die on their first bridge and then saw her get up from a slab in the morgue two days later after she had been embalmed.”

“Oh, great, we’re friends with a zombie,” quipped Klaus. “There has to be some kind of rational explanation our science does not understand yet.”

“Maybe,” said Akira. “But you didn’t have Trelaina and Nova there in your HEAD yesterday. I did! There’s something kind of weird about that.”

“So, are you becoming a true believer?” said Klaus.

“No, just starting to have something of an open mind that maybe there are things in heaven and Earth beyond our ken.”

“”Scuse me…gotta brush my teeth. Love you!”

“Love you too,” Akira said as she went to make a cup of coffee, not entirely pleased they weren’t having a meeting of the minds like they used to. What was happening to them?

THE NEXT MORNING….

On Earth, the Yamato was bobbing at anchor at her dock. The sun was just coming up; the time was 0600.

Derek had on a black peacoat over his Star Force whites.

Nova wore her old Star Force uniform in gold, with a white sash around her waist indicating her new Royal rank. However, she would be serving under Derek’s command as both the ship’s Doctor and Operations head again. Her Imperishable Crown of light flamed at her brow as she thought of the challenges that awaited them out in deep space.

“Well, at least we have something of a crew,” Derek said as he and Nova stood together in the Captain’s Quarters at the top of the bridge tower on the Yamato.

“Some Terrans, some Pellians, some Gamilons, and some Ralkhens, and even Rikashans and R’Khell,” Nova said. “We have just enough people to run the ship.”

“I, for one, thank God for major miracles,” Derek said as he looked out at the sky. He then turned to look at his bondmate. “You’re one of them.”

“We prayed earlier when we couldn’t sleep,” Nova said. “Is the word given?”

“The word shall be given,” Derek said. He thumbed two switches. One turned on the alert klaxons.

The other brought up the PA system. “All hands, this is Grand Admiral Derek Wildstar acting as Captain. All hands, assume your positions…ready the ship for takeoff! I repeat, PREPARE FOR TAKEOFF!”

Over the sound of the klaxons, Derek stood, embraced Nova and kissed her long and hard.

“Once more unto the breach we go,” Nova said.

“Off we go,” replied Derek.

Together, they left for the First Bridge.

TO BE CONTINUED…

“Victory Through Grace” pub. 1890 by Frances J. Crosby.