Onward With Love…

Chapter Eleven:  Aftermath: A Frayed Bond Between Two Hearts

By Yuki Wildstar

With much appreciation to Fred Kopetz , he encouraged me to go for it. With his collaboration in this story about Derek and Nova it has turned out to be better than I thought it would. His vision with detailing and added script has made this so much more fun than expected.  You and Gail ROCK! Thanks for everything and I am so blessed to have a partner in writing.

Yuki


I.Planet Baynet

Bolar Battleship Antara

May 16, 2205: 0822 Hours Earth Standard Spacetime


“Captain Rycon, please tell me that you have some news about Baynet.” Hindleman said hoping that he knew something of what happened to his daughter.

“Sir when we arrived here at Baynet the Gamilon and Earth fleet warped here the same time. There was a battle between us, but their fleet was much stronger and they out numbered us 3 to 1. We will need re-enforcement to continue in the battle.” Rycon told him while bowing his head.

“Are you certain that it was Earth?” Hindleman wanted to make sure.

Rycon replied “Sir I spoke to the commander of the fleet myself, his name is Captain Derek Wildstar of the Endeavor!

“Who did you say the commander of the fleet was?” Hindleman couldn’t believe what he just heard.

“Sir, Captain Derek Wildstar!” Rycon said again.

“No this can’t be! Captain Wildstar is the commander of the fleet? Out of all the damned Earthlings he has come back to haunt me.” Hindleman was in disbelief.

“Sir” Rycon continued “What would you like for me to do now?”

“Stay there at Baynet; I will send more ships. Stay out of sight for now; I’m sure that they will continue on to their next destination. Get me the information that I asked for. I want to know what Commander Navox has found.” Hindleman said.

“Very well sir, as you wish!” Rycon saluted and bowed before signing off.

Hindleman screamed into the telecom “PEVIN, GET IN HERE NOW!!!”

Pevin ran into the office and stood at attention as quickly as he ran in, “Yes sir?”

“Send out another fleet to planet Baynet and make it fast!” Hindleman said with anger in his voice.

“But sir do we have a fleet to spare?” Pevin asked.

Hindleman turned and threw a cup at him. “DON’T QUESTION ME, JUST DO IT!!!”

 

II. Outer Part of Baynet

EDF Battleship Galaxy II

May 16, 2205: 1310 Hours

“Sandor, are you sure?  We can hang back and wait on you guys!” Glitchman said.

Sandor knew it would be best if they continued with the mission to planet Tizen. “We need to make sure that the Bolar fleet is handled here.”

“Very well then Sandor, we’ll head out with the Turion and make sure that all is clear, Glitchman out. Well you heard him we are to head to Tizen with the Turion. Tolbert, are repairs completed?”

“Yes Captain all repairs have been made and completed!” Tolbert wonder what had happened on the Endeavor that made Wildstar decide to stay back. He usually would be the one to go on ahead and leave one of the other ships behind to sit with the Bolar fleet.

“Tolbert, start countdown to warp” Glitchman called out to her, snapping her back to reality.

“Yes sir, warping in 15 minutes, attention all hands, attention all hands secure all station, warping in T minus 15 minutes. Get to your stations and prepare for warp!” Tolbert called into the intercom.

Mean while Glitchman was on the video with Cantara “I understand Captain Glitchman, my best to Captain Wildstar we will meet up with him on Tizen.  We will start our procedure for warp also. Cantara out!”

“Captain all is secure for warp, start countdown in 5 minutes.” Tolbert walked over to Glitchman and asked “Homer what do you think happened to make Wildstar stay back? Wouldn’t he usually be the one to go forward and leave another ship behind? I mean it’s only one battleship left, what could they do?”

“Lieutenant Tolbert I don’t think it is in your place to question the fleet commander’s orders. So continue with the countdown!” Homer knew exactly where she was getting at, and it didn’t surprise him that she would do anything to get involve in Wildstar’s personal life.

“Yes sir, Continue countdown! Attention all hands, attention all hands prepare for warp in T-minus 15 seconds. Everyone make sure you are strapped in and all stations secure.  Countdown 10 …. 9 …. 8 …. 7 …. 6 …. 5 …. 4 …. 3 …. 2 …. 1 WARP”

At that, the Galaxy II warped out.

 

III. Planet Baynet

EDF Battleship Endeavor

May 16, 2205: 1405 Hours

“Wildstar the Galaxy and Turion have just warped to Tizen.  Maybe you should go see about Nova and make sure she is okay?” Sandor tried to get him to see her, but each time he would make an excuse as not to. It had been like this for almost a whole day now, which Sandor was very unusual, since he knew that when Nova had been injured or ill on board ship in the past, Derek would be down in Sickbay every free moment visiting with her and encouraging her. “Wildstar?”

“I need to go get some papers from my quarters, I’ll be back” Wildstar walked over to his private elevator and took it up.  He didn’t even look back to tell Sandor to take command.  He walked into the room that he shared with Nova and looked around. He stared at the bed that they shared, the same bed that they made love in that had gotten her pregnant. Derek even remembered the date now; it was on the night they had made love after reconciling over their argument over Julie Tolbert. I got her pregnant nineteen days ago…almost three weeks ago now, Derek thought bitterly. But she’s not pregnant anymore, is she? He walked over to the bed and sat down. How can I face her? How could she not have known? Why didn’t she know? It was OUR CHILD!  “NOVA ,WHY DIDN’T YOU KNOW!” He screamed at the top of his lungs. He got up walked over to his desk and began to throw everything. He smashed the chair across the room, and threw the lamp that sat on the side table. He fell to his knees in the middle of the room and cried for the child he didn’t know about until it was gone.  He never heard the knock on the door. Sandor opened the door and saw him in the middle of a mess on the floor in his old Star Force whites crying. Sandor also had his whites on for a work session.

“Wildstar, Wildstar” He walked over to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. He knew to follow him up to his stateroom knowing that he was avoiding seeing Nova and he wanted to know why. “Wildstar get up, pull yourself together! You can’t continue to do this to yourself. Nova needs you and the crew will need you also!”

“Let go of me! What the Hell would you know about losing a child?” Wildstar yelled at him.

Sandor had to be harsh with him “No I don’t know that feeling…but I lost my sister and it hurts just the same! And as much as you think that this only happening to you, you’re forgetting that Nova is too feeling the pain! Don’t you think that she feels responsible for something she had no control over?”

“Don’t talk to me about my wife. She should have known….she’s a nurse for Christ sakes. She should have known!” He told Sandor.

“Derek, pull yourself together NOW.” Sandor grabbed him from behind with his bionic arms and kept him from moving “Calm down!”

All Derek could do was cry in pain for the loss of his unborn child. It took him a long time to pull himself together, but Sandor stood by him and waited for him to collect himself. He walked over to the mini bar that Derek and Nova had in their room and poured Derek a stiff drink.  He handed it to him “Here drink this…you need it right now!”

“Naw I don’t want it!” Wildstar didn’t want a drink but Sandor stood over him and shoved it in his face.

“Drink it, damn it!” he commanded him.

Wildstar looked at him and took the drink, and shot it down in one gulp. He handed Sandor the glass and suggested another one. Sandor walked over and poured him another one. “This is the last one, you have to stay sober.” Wildstar took it again and shot it down again. “Better?” Sandor asked him.

“Yeah, thanks Sandor I needed that!” Wildstar said clearing his head.

“No problem, now can you tell me why you’re not by your wife’s side. She needs you now Derek she’s probably wondering why you left her side. You haven’t been down there for almost a day now and she’s probably wondering why.”

“Yeah, you’re right, I guess the shock of getting the news about her being pregnant I just didn’t know how to take it all in. It hurts Sandor I don’t know how to feel! I’m mad at her for not realizing that she was pregnant, and then again I want to hold her. I just don’t know if I want to see her just yet. I don’t know if I am ready.” Wildstar poured his heart out to him.

“Wildstar now think about how she’s feeling, she feels alone and blames herself. Do you want her to go thru that alone too?” Sandor told him what he didn’t want to hear but knew it was the truth.

“No Sandor she shouldn’t go thru this alone. I guess I better make my entrance to the little Mrs.” Wildstar tried to put a smile on. “Steve, can you take over the bridge just for a few more minutes?”

“Of course      go to her         I got this covered” Sandor walked out with him and made his way back to the bridge, while Wildstar made his way back to the medical ward after changing back into his blues. Walking into the medical ward, he saw Doctor Webster and motioned him over. “How is she, Doc?”

“She‘s been asking for you, how are you holding up Captain?” Webster was concerned. This was not an easy thing to go through on Earth let alone on a ship in the middle of a war.

 “Just been busy, can I go in?” Wildstar didn’t want to explain to him about how hurt he felt.

Doctor Webster looked him over and nodded “She’s waiting for you.”

Derek walked over to the door he stood there a few seconds before turning the doorknob. He never got a chance to see her. The Endeavor was rocked by an explosion that threw him to the deck. Derek got up and looked around everything seemed okay but most of everything was thrown to the floor. “What the hell was that?” He took off running to the Bridge. He didn’t even think twice about what to do, he never looked in on Nova.

“What hit the ship, Sandor?” Wildstar called out as he ran into the bridge.  

“Captain on the bridge! We’re assessing the damages now, skipper,” Sandor said. “The Antara decided to come out of the hole and attack! I have the Black Tigers out there now. Ortiz is returning fire.”

“Pesci!” Wildstar called into the telecom “How’s it looking out there?

“Sorry that we didn’t catch them sir, they came out of nowhere. Before we knew it they were on top of the ship. We are on top of it now sir!” Pesci yelled into the helmet.

“Miamato swing hard to port let’s see if we can flush out the Antara. Let’s try to get this under control. Ortiz, use the laser guns, make sure they don’t come to close to the ship.”

“Aye, aye sir” Miamato and Ortiz called out.

“Sandor, where’s the Antara now?” Sandor took over Nova’s job in the meantime while she recovered. “Sir, she’s on the other side of Baynet…about 50,000 mega meters from the planet. It looks like she’s the only one still there.”

“Well let’s see if there’s any way of getting to her without being detected?” Wildstar’s mind was racing a mile a minute, trying to figure out how to get out of this puzzle without any more damage.

“Sir maybe if we do a mini-warp and come up behind them, we could use the wave cartridges,” Miamato said.

“Sounds good, call back some of the Black Tigers, and prepare for a warp! Pratt, Get me the Lalanda on the screen.” Wildstar said. “General Sirius…we have a plan. The Endeavor will make a mini warp to the other side of the planet coming 50,000 mega meters from the Antara. You stay back with some of our Black Tigers and continue the fight.”

“Sounds good, Captain. I will stay here and continue the fight. Good luck Captain!” Sirius and Wildstar saluted each other.

Wildstar then yelled into the ship’s speaker. “Attention all stations, attention all stations…prepare for warp, secure yourself and prepare for immediate battle with the Bolar ship Antara.”

“Captain, our pilots are back on the ship! I have a reading on the warp, we’ll come up to the Antara at about 50 megameters’ distance. We need to warp in 2 minutes to get the right calculation.” 

“Okay Miamato, take control of the ship. It’s up to you to get us there!” Wildstar said in a stern tone. He wanted to block out what happened with Nova and concentrate on what was going on in the present.

“Yes Sir, starting countdown to warp, all personnel secure your positions, T-minus 5 seconds  4 …. 3 …. 2 …. 1 WARP!” it took less than a second to warp to the destination, 50 mega meters from the Antara.

“Ortiz fire all wave cartridges! Pesci get out there! Sandor take the bridge! I’m going out with the Black Tigers!”

“Aye aye sir, Captain leaving the bridge!” Sandor called out. He watched Wildstar leave the bridge and understood why he needed to go with them. He had to take his aggravation out on something. This was another way he dealt with it, but Sandor thought to himself… Did he even see Nova?

Wildstar ran into the flight deck with his helmet under his arm. He ran to his Super Starfighter and looked it over quickly. Then, he jumped in and looked over his instruments. He maneuvered his fighter towards the open hull and took off. It took less than a few minutes to join in the dog fight that was occurring with the Bolar and Cometine fighters.

Pesci looked thru his cockpit window and saw the Captain out there side by side in the fight.  “Captain, glad to have you fighting alongside us!” Pesci said into his helmet.

“No problem, now get to work!” Wildstar ordered.

“Okay fellas we have our Captain with us! Let’s make sure that he gets back in one piece. Punch it guys!” Pesci laughed. He and the others were honored that the Captain was with them.

“Pesch, get to work!” Howard scolded him.

The battle continued, Wildstar chased down two Cometine Scorpion fighters and continued to shoot.

He dodged a spread of missiles fired by one of them and then shot down the enemy pilot, who died in his plane with a loud scream.

Then, Derek followed the other one near the Antara and managed to shoot him down before he got into the ship’s flight pad.  He pulled his Super Star up just in time,  managing to miss the ship by mere inches. 

“Wow that was close, better get it together!” Them Derek shouted into his mike. “Pesci! It looks like they are scrambling back to the ship! Pull back!”

 

 

On the Antara, things were getting very grim in a hurry for the enemy.

“Captain Rycon, we have major damage to the starboard side of the ship! We are losing power! If we don’t fix the problem now, the ship is doomed!” A corporal approached him with fear in his eyes, knowing that Rycon would kill him for just even suggesting the thought.

“Rycon! What do you think you’re doing” Hindleman came on the video screen. Rycon turned and stood to attention with a click of his booted heels.

“General, I wasn’t aware that you were there!” Rycon said, looking up at the screen

“I said to stay out of the way and wait for re-enforcements! By attacking you risk your ship, you idiot and the mission! Now pull your fighters back and pull away from the planet! Maybe they will think you retreated. It is important that I get the information that Navox has. Now get out of there!” Hindleman yelled. “Once is all clear, go back and pick them up!”

“Yes sir, right away sir!” Rycon shivered with fear, and knew he was to do what he was told or else. “Call back our fighters, and prepare to warp!”

 

 

“Huh? What’s going on, they’re pulling back?” Wildstar was baffled at what was going on. “Pesci, hang back…let them go, let’s see where this is going!”

“Looks like they’re leaving sir, maybe they knew they were outnumbered?” Howard spoke into the helmet. “What do you think they are up to?”

“I’m not sure, looks like they are warping, so let’s pull back to the ship. Let’s keep her covered just in case.” Wildstar still a little confused as to their battle tactics.

“Sir, they are warping!” Howard was stunned to see what happened. She was as confused as the rest of the Black Tigers.

“Okay, let’s get back to the ship. Everyone head on back!” Wildstar ordered.


They landed one by one on the Endeavor; Wildstar was the last one back in. Howard and Pesci were looking over their fighters, making sure to file a report with the techs for any damage to their planes that needed to be repaired.

“Captain” Howard called out. “It was great having you out there with us. What do you think they will do next?”

“I have a funny feeling about that; I think that they are coming back with reinforcements! I don’t think this is over yet!” Wildstar looked at Howard and thought of telling her about Nova but decided against it. “I have to go, I need to talk to Sandor on what to expect and then I need to see Nova.”

Howard looked at him for a minute, he looked distracted about something. But, after all, he was the Captain and they had just came out of a fierce battle. It never dawned on Howard that something was really wrong with him and Nova. “Well, I hope to fight alongside you again, sir.”

“Ah yeah, Pesci talk later,” Wildstar said while running back to the bridge. Pesci gave him a wave and turned to the repair tech to show him the damage that needed to be fixed.

Sandor watched as Wildstar walked onto the bridge. “Sir, they warped and we are not sure where they went.  What do think they are up to?”

“They’ll be back with a new fleet. We have to wait and see, I need to call Desslok and see what he thinks, Pratt, get Desslok on the line. We are going to need to get in touch with the EDF and see where they stand with another fleet. I doubt very much that they’ll send us more ships but we have to give a report to Singleton.”

“Sir I have Desslok on the line,” Pratt called out “Putting him on video now!”

“Desslok, I’m sorry to trouble you now, but it looks like the Bolars are trying to figure out what happened on Baynet. They’re fishing into Devina’s disappearance, I think.” Wildstar knew all too well that that was the reason for them being on Baynet.

“Well I guess I should make sure that I prepare my planet for any retaliation, if they come to the conclusion that she is here.” Desslok said smiling at the thought.

“There’s no denying that they know we are in a joint union. I’m sure that they will come at us with full force. They might even turn towards Earth itself next, as well as New Gamilon,” Wildstar wanted to make sure that they were prepared for anything.

“Thank you Wildstar, but I think that we be able to take care of that.” Desslok wanted to make sure that Devina would be safe. “I was informed by Captain Cantara that they have just finished warping into the Tizen solar system, and he will contact me once they have reached the planets.”

“We need to make repairs here on the Endeavor, which should take a day or so….then we’ll head over to Paxton to meet up with Glitchman and Cantara. Wildstar out.” Wildstar turned to Pratt “Okay! Put me through to EDF, let’s get this over with!”

“Ah, Pratt hold on! Captain, I need to speak to you…now!” Sandor waved Derek over to a corner. Derek nodded and walked over with him. “Derek, I can take care of this part, you need to be with Nova.”

“Sandor, thanks but I think it would be better if I speak to Singleton. I know I have to see her. But she will understand, I promise right after I’ll go to her” Wildstar knew it looked like he was avoiding see her, but he had a ship to run and right now he had to put his personal life on hold. This was war.

“Pratt, put me through now!” Pratt nodded and switched over the line to the video screen. “Captain Wildstar, tell me the status of the situation?” Singleton asked after they exchanged salutes and the usual pleasantries.

“Sir the Galaxy II and the Turion are warping to planet Tizen. They will contact us once they reach the planet. We ran into some Bolar and Cometine fighters here at Baynet, but they retreated for some odd reason. I do believe that they will return with reinforcements.”

“It sounds like a likely possibility,” said the Commander.

“Sir, has the Council agreed to send more ships?  It is already known to the Bolars and Cometines that Gamilon and Earth have joined forces. I’m sure that they will be coming back in full force.”

“Captain Wildstar…we are putting the finishing touches on the new Andromeda-class space battleship Sitka. She should be finished and should leave Earth within the week. Do you think you can hold on till then?”

“Yes sir, I think we can handle it till then, Wildstar out!” Wildstar saluted.

Sandor step over to him “Go now I have this covered, we just have minor damage that can be fixed within the hour. There’s no need for you to be here, now go!”

Wildstar knew then that he couldn’t avoid it any longer. He nodded and headed towards the hatch. “Captain leaving the bridge, Commander Sandor now in charge!” Sandor called out as he watched him leave.

Wildstar walked towards the medical ward with his hands in his pockets and tried to think of other things that needed to be done, anything to keep his mind from thinking about Nova.

When he walked into the medical ward Doctor Webster saw him enter. “Captain” he waved him over.

“How is she, Doc?” He looked in the direction of the room Nova was in.

Webster looked a little confused “Sir, she checked herself out an hour ago over my strong objections. I told her she needed rest, but she said she needed to get back.” Wildstar looked at him shocked, “Sir, honestly, she is not well enough to start work, she needs to rest at least 72 hours. She can have other complications, but she said that she was a nurse and knew the consequences. Then she just left.”

“I thought she couldn’t leave, why would you let her leave?” Wildstar suddenly started to worry. Before the doctor knew it Wildstar was running for the door. He grabbed one of the telephones in the hall way and called the bridge. “Who is this?” he asked, almost shouting into the phone.

“This is Lieutenant Pratt, sir!”

“Is Lieutenant Commander Forrester up there?” Wildstar started to panic.

“Ah, sir, no she’s not.” Pratt said confused.

Wildstar hung up and ran to their stateroom throwing open the door she stood there in the middle of the room in a black nightgown cleaning.


Earlier…..

“Lieutenant Commander Forrester you can’t leave you need to rest at least for a day or two. As your doctor I’m ordering you to stay here!”

“Doctor Webster, I am a nurse I know the signs to look for if I feel sick I’ll make sure that I come back, I promise. But right now I have to work I can’t just lay here knowing there’s work that needs to be done. I promise I will rest as much as my duties allow me to.” Nova finished getting dressed and walked out of the room.

“Lieutenant Commander, you have to rest!” Webster yelled after her.

Nova made her way to the stateroom she shared with Derek, thinking about what happened. He just left me there, I needed him and he just left me there. Does he hate me for what happened? I need to make this right, oh Derek how are we going to get past this? Walking into the room she was shocked at the mess that laid before her. “Oh my god, what happened? Then it dawned on her, she walked over to the bed and fell on it and started to just cry before she got up and began to clean up.

 

“Nova, what are you doing?” Derek looked at her standing there cleaning. “Give me that! You need to rest!”

“Derek I’m fine,” Nova continued to clean up some things off the floor.

Derek grabbed her by the arm and tried to take her over to the bed. “You need to rest! I’m tired of you telling me that you’re fine, now get back into bed!”

Nova was curious as to what happened, “Derek, what happened here, this couldn’t have happened from the battle?”

“Don’t worry about it you need to rest!” Derek said.

“Derek, I’m sorry,” she could see the stress in his face. Between her and this war it wouldn’t be long before he broke down.

Derek looked into her eyes and then turned away. “It never dawned on you that you were pregnant?”

“Derek, I’m beating myself up enough. I need you there for me, please! Let’s just get past this.”

Derek couldn’t get past it like she like too, “Nova, do you know what I’m going through right now? I have enough stress running this ship and now this!”

“First of all WE are going through this…not just you! Second of all where have you been, I needed you there waiting for you! You promised me you wouldn’t leave my side. You don’t hear me putting any blame on you about that, do you?” Nova’s voice started to rise higher.

Derek walked away from her across the room. He was starting to get angry and didn’t want to do anything to make it worse.

Derek!” Nova yelled.

He turned towards her and took a deep breath. “Okay, it wasn’t fair to hit below the belt I am sorry, you’re right I should have been there. But you have to understand how I felt about it. It took us both by surprise, it something that we weren’t expecting. I have no right in putting this all on you. Nova I do love you very much and yeah, we do need to get past this.”

“Derek” She walked over to him. “Had I known…had I even known… I wouldn’t have hid it from you, believe that. I would have given this all up in a heartbeat to have it.” She looked at the room again, “I can tell you were upset, this didn’t happen when the ship was hit.”

“No it was me, I guess I had my little temper tantrum. I’ll clean it up, but right now the doctor said you need to rest.” He walked her over to the bed and picked up the covers and placed it back on the bed. He picked up the pictures that he threw and looked at it, then looked again at the room before staring at her. “Nova?”

“Yes, Derek?”

He walked over to her and held her tight. “I’m sorry it’s just that ….I don’t know ….the more I thought of the possibility of being a dad and then losing that just made me…I had my hopes taken away from me in one swoop.” She couldn’t say anything else to him all she could do is hug him back.  “Get some rest Nova, I love you.”

Nova knew that this was not over for them. He was still hurting from what happened, but so was she. She was just too tired to get into it with him again.  One thing that she agreed with both Derek and Doctor Webster were right … she needed to get rest, so she crawled into bed and tried to sleep, turning her head towards the bulkhead as she put her face into the pillow. Derek covered her with the blanket and gave her a kiss on the head. He walked out of the room and she never turned to see him go.


He walked onto the bridge and called over to Lieutenant Pratt “Pratt, put me thru to the Galaxy!” Wildstar ordered. He was still reeling from the talk with Nova. He just couldn’t shake it all off the way she wanted him to. He was going to be a father and they never knew it. Now it was all taken away.  

“Sir I have Captain Glitchman on the screen!” Pratt said.

Wildstar looked up at the screen and gave Homer a half smile. “Homer, what’s the status on Tizen?” Homer could tell at once that he sounded tired and strained, but he did not comment.

“Wildstar, we just finished warping here. We should be there at the planet in a day or two. How’s it going there at Baynet…any action?” Homer asked him.

Wildstar tried to stay focus on what Homer was saying, “Strange that you ask! Homer, they retreated after they attacked us. I think we will be here a little while longer; I have a feeling they will be back with backup. Commander Sirius and I both agreed to stay in the area just a few days more to see what they are up to. I spoke to Singleton and he managed to get the EDF to send us a new Andromeda-class battleship called the Sitka. It should be ready and leaving Earth in about a week. So I think it’s important that you hang back before you head to Paxton that way we can catch up with you.”

“Will do, Wildstar I’ll wait for your call. Glitchman out.”

 

IV.  Planet Tizen

EDF Battleship Galaxy II

May 18, 2205: 2200 Hours

For the Earth Forces in the Sector, two more long, interminable days passed in which the ships made repairs and went on exercises as the war moved on and May began to grind towards June. 

On the Galaxy II, Homer’s crew continued to cool their heels as the waiting game continued.

“Captain Cantara, I guess we must hang here a few days until we hear from Wildstar and Sirius.” Glitchman told Cantara.

“Well Captain then we should make the best of it. How about first thing we test our pilots in an exercise?” Cantara suggested

“Sounds good, I’ll have my pilots ready” Glitchman said

“Very well we’ll see you in the A.M.” Cantara said, saluted and signed out.

“Tolbert, I’m calling it a night, make sure that you update the next shift on what’s going on as we pass into the nineteenth.” Glitchman ordered her.

“Yes sir” Tolbert replied. “Good night”

“Good night Tolbert”

“Captain leaving the bridge, Deputy Captain Tolbert now in charge!” she called out.

“Lieutenant Anderson please get me a line to Earth; I’ll take it in my room” Glitchman called over before leaving.

Homer walked into his room and threw his Captain’s peacoat and hat on his bed. He sat at his desk and called down to the communication officers, “Anderson…do you have that line?”

“Yes sir line 4 for you is ready,” Anderson replied back. “Connecting to Earth.”

A moment later, Wendy’s face came up on the screen. “Wendy…hey, baby.” Glitchman said with a smile. “How are you?”

Wendy smiled at her fiancé “Hello sweetie, I’ve missed you so much!”

“Looks like we are going to be out here a little while longer…sorry I won’t be home when I said I would be,” Homer missed her terribly.

“I understand Homer, it’s just part of our jobs…” Wendy said with a low voice “We just have to accept it.”

“So what’s the story over on Earth?” Homer liked to hear what was going on back on Earth.

“Nothing much here going on, I’m sure Derek has informed you that the EDF is sending the new Andromeda-class space battleship Sitka. I believe that they are going to have Eager take command of it. Word has it they’ll leave Earth on the twenty-fourth but she will take some time to reach your sector.”

“Really, that’s great! It looks like the old Star Force is getting together out here.” Glitchman was happy to hear that.

“Homer is this a secure line?” Wendy asked

“Yeah, why?” Homer was looking at her confused.

“I’m not sure how to tell you this and this stays between you and me. No one else knows except Sandor, and of course…Wildstar. Nova and I were talking, yesterday. I was giving her the heads-up on their house and she just broke down. Homer, Nova was pregnant and she lost the baby a few days ago,” Wendy told Homer.

“Are you sure, this could cause a problem with the mission?” Homer was shocked at the news

“Homer she’s going through a hard time, we are keeping this under wraps, this can’t go beyond you and me. She tells me Derek is taking it really hard.”

Homer couldn’t believe what she was telling him “He never mentioned anything to me.”

“I’m sure he has his reasons, Homer. I can’t image what they are both going through right now. Nova is walking on eggshells around him. She feels its her fault that this all happened. It never occurred to her that she was pregnant, she’s just beating herself up over it.”

“Bummer, can’t imagine what he is thinking,” Homer shook his head in disbelief “I never heard them talk about kids it was always we’re waiting, and now for them to go through this? Well my mouth is sealed, I know that the EDF would love to hang them for this one for fraternizing on duty….at least General Stone would.”

“Well they won’t have to worry about my uncle, he actually considers them as family. It’s like they are family to all of Earth.” Wendy said, she wanted to protect their secret and intended to do so.

“Well my love I have to go, need some sleep. I have an exercise in the morning with the Turion and their fighters. I’ll call you soon, Love you babe.” Homer pointed his finger on the telecom and ran it down the screen.

“Love you too, my best to you all and look over Wildstar…he is going thru a lot right now. And so is Nova.” Wendy said.

“Of course I will” Homer cut off the screen and looked at his little stateroom. I hope that this doesn’t interfere with the mission Homer thought to himself.  He never realized that his door was open slightly and Tolbert was listening in…


 

TO BE CONTNUED….