Onward With Love…
Chapter Two: Hot Water and Confusion
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. BACK INTO THE HOT WATER…
Space Battleship
Endeavor
Sector 8
Approaching Planet Turoc
March 28th 2205
1456 Hours
The Endeavor, which was just coming out of a warp in Sector 8, made the
trip on time as noted by Wildstar.
“Okay everyone, great job. We
should be coming up to Planet Turoc in about 10 hours so get prepared for
docking. Lieutenant Pratt, how’s our radar looking? Is there anything in the
area that we should be worried about?” Wildstar asked.
“No sir, it all looks clear,
it’s just the stars,” said Pratt. Pratt had taken over Nova’s position on this
mission. Pratt was a skinny kid, very tall, with dark hair. He was from a small
town in New Nevada near
“Very well then, Lieutenant
Commander Tolbert, you can take leave of the bridge and go eat something. Who
knows what’s out there, and who knows when you’ll able to eat or sleep.”
Wildstar ordered. “But don’t take too long”
“Yes, sir,” Tolbert sighed.
She thought, About time… I thought he’d never let me off this bridge!
“Lieutenant Miamato, take
over the ship. I need to get some work done,” Wildstar ordered.
“Yes sir. Assuming command, the
Captain is now leaving the bridge,” Miamato announced.
Derek went up to his quarters
and sat behind his desk. Then, he turned to his laptop and was about to turn it
on when he heard a loud booming noise and was thrown to the deck.
He got up, yelling, “Now what
the hell was that?” He grabbed for the Telecommunication microphone. and yelled
into it. “Miamato, what was that? It feels like we took a hit!”
“Sir the ship is under
attack, I think you’d better get down here quick!” yelled the Lieutenant in reply.
Wildstar grabbed his
officer’s peacoat and he ran to the bridge. Lieutenant Commander Tolbert also
heard and felt the impact, so she was right behind him when he got to the
bridge.
“What’s going on Captain? It
sounded like a missile hitting the ship!” Tolbert called out.
“I’m not sure…hurry up, would you?” Wildstar yelled back to her.
“How did we get caught with our pants down?”
“Sir, they came out of
nowhere! They must have warped here,” said Tolbert as she stood next to Pratt
and whispered to him. “I am told that our radar didn’t even pick them up until
they were right in front of us! We had no time to react, sir!”
“Send out the alert,” snapped
Derek as he got his microphone up. “Attention all hands, attention all
hands….the ship is now under attack! I repeat…the ship is under attack! All crew members to your battle stations, repeat all
hands to your battle stations!” Wildstar yelled into the microphone.
“Lieutenant Ortiz, get those
guns going, Lieutenant Miamato, get the Black Tigers out there NOW!” Lieutenant
Commander Tolbert yelled.
“Ortiz…fire at will! Give
them what we’ve got now!” Tolbert ordered.
“Aye, aye…Ma’am!” Ortiz
yelled. Then, he said, “Artillery crews…aim guns to 63N starboard, range 10,000
kilometers set! Ready to fire. FIRE!” Ortiz screamed to the Artillery crew.
“Artillery guns to port 54S
hold there, ready ..... FIRE!”
“Direct hit” Lieutenant Pratt yelled. “One enemy ship
destroyed!”
“Where are our pilots, now?”
asked Wildstar
“They’re leaving the dock now,
sir!” Tolbert answered.
“Pratt, how many bogies are
there?” Wildstar asked
“Sir, so far just 20 fighters
are on my radar,” Pratt answered.
“Enemy fire at starboard!”
yelled Tolbert. They could see a massive explosion off to one of their flanks.
“Sir, we’ve just lost the
destroyer Yellowbird," Pratt
cried, looking at the radar. “The enemy fleet’s moving on to port to attack the
destroyers Young and Thunderhawk! The frigates are trying to
put up a defensive screen!”
“Get the rest of our pilots
out there, we need to cover the rest of the fleet, and NOW!” Wildstar ordered.
“Sir all pilots are out, we
need to use the main guns,” Tolbert said.
“Mister Ortiz, use the main
guns…give them full power!” Wildstar yelled.
“Yes sir!” Ortiz replied.
“Artillery, open main guns on target 85 degrees at the Port side range 5.0
megameters!”
Pratt
then yelled, “We’ve lost the Young!
The Thunderhawk is retreating while
returning fire!”
Ortiz ordered to Gunnery,
“Ready, FIRE!”
The Endeavor’s guns went off. The destruction was major; three Bolar
space battleships fell in an instant. However, with pilots in flight and many
guns firing, the battle went on.
“Report!” demanded the rough
voice of Prime Minister Bemlayze on the Bolar flagship, an ugly-looking vessel known
as the Lalanda.
“General Procyon, how goes
our conquest of what the Earthers call Sector Eight?”
Procyon, the Bolar commander
present, responded with, “Very well,
sir. We have brought down six Terran destroyers, four frigates, and many
planes. The Earthers’ so-called Fleet is now down to one space battleship, two
frigates, and two destroyers. I expect to demand the surrender of the Earth
flagship shortly.”
“Good! You must hold this
sector at all costs. The Earthers’ scummy allies, the Gamilon-Garuman Empire,
are trying to challenge our supremacy here. Just like them to use the
Earthlings as shock troops, eh? Let them die while Desslok laughs.”
“The Earthlings are a
threat…they have brought down four of our destroyers and four battleships and two carriers.”
“What? Can’t fight them off?”
snapped Bemlayze. “Win this battle or I will leave you out there to die like a
rat, Procyon!”
“Of course, Lord…”
The Bolars fought back with
renewed force. On the Endeavor, Pratt
called out more bad news. “Sir, we’ve just lost another frigate, and the Riegal has been badly damaged, she says
she may not make it back.”
“Miamato, how are the Tigers
holding up?” Wildstar demanded.
“Heavy casualties,” he
responded. Then, Pratt spoke again. “Sir an enemy destroyer just warped into
our space! She’s 5045 kilometers out to our stern and coming in fast!” Pratt
said, now yelling because of the noise.
“Okay? We’re screwed if they
hit us at that range! Any ideas? I’m kind of open right now.” Wildstar spoke
out. “Well, anyone?”
“Sir, maybe if we make a
small warp towards that planet over there, we may be able to surprise them and
reverse the situation,” Tolbert said.
“Enemy destroyer, range, 2000
kilometers!” Pratt yelled. The destroyer began firing a moment later. Miamato yelled,
“We’ve taken damage to the port auxiliary engine! She’s still running, but
another hit might kmock it out!”
“Good idea Tolbert, prepare
for warp, call back the fighters!” Wildstar yelled
“Sir we just lost our last destroyer!”
Pratt said as a Bolar destroyer rammed the EDF destroyer Thunderchild. “We are down to two escorts now and one is heavily
damaged!”
“Countdown to warp, all
secure, hold on to something guys…this is going to be a quick one!” Wildstar
ordered.
“Ready 5 ..... 4..... 3
.....2 .....1 Warp!” Tolbert cried
out.
The Endeavor flashed out…and then reappeared a moment later. Within
seconds, the Endeavor was behind the
enemy taking them by surprise. “Get the pilots back out there! Open all guns!” Wildstar yelled.
Finally, with all guns going,
the Endeavor had the upper hand. The
Cosmo Tigers started picking off each of the enemy fighters, as they continued
to fire all guns at the enemy destroyer. “Let’s just hope that the rest of the
fleet doesn’t show up now,” Wildstar said.
“Sir, you’re not going to
like this one bit…” Pratt announced to Captain Wildstar, “…but the remaining
fleet just popped up on our radar. But sir, they’re being chases by someone.”
“WHAT!” Wildstar said
surprised.
“Sir, it looks like another
fleet in the area” Pratt said.
“Captain, let’s call back our
fighters and what’s left of our fleet. Let’s see how this pans out. I think now
the enemy is more concerned with the other fleet then they are with us,”
Tolbert said.
“Yeah I think you’re right,
Tolbert,” Derek mused. “Miamato, call back our fighters and tell our remaining
fleet to back up to coordinate zero sixer three. Let’s see what these guys are
fighting about, huh? Try to put me through to the first fleet…I need to make sure
of something,” Wildstar commanded.
“Yes, sir,” Miamato called
back. After a moment, he said, “Sir, I have the commander of the first fleet on
the line. Should I put him through to the main video panel?” Miamato asked.
Wildstar nodded. Then, he
waited as an image of a rather ugly-looking Bolar officer with a scarred face
came up on the screen. “This is Captain Derek Wildstar of the Earth Federation
Space Battleship Endeavor…who are
you?”
“I am General Procyon of the
Flagship Lalanda from the Bolar Federation!
You are in our space and you are intruding here! I have claimed this in the name of the Bolar
Federation! Get out before I make you get out!” Procyon said. “This will be
your only warning, you meddler in our
internal affairs!”
“Sorry General, but this
sector is claimed by the Earth Defense Federation, and you are now in our
sector. I am telling you to leave, along with the other commander,” Wildstar
demanded.
“If you tell him to go, that would actually be
appreciated,” snapped Procyon. “Then, you get your rotten little fleet out of
our space with him…before we have to destroy you!”
“Sir I have General Lugin of
the Space Battleship Epsilon on the
other screen,” Miamato cut in. “They say they’re from the…”
“Switch it over, Miamato,”
Wildstar snapped.
A moment later, a man with a
blue face came up on the screen. He had dark brown hair with a few grey streaks
and a bit of a beard. The crew gasped as they recognized the dark green and
white tunic he wore with a red and black cape over it. “Gamilons,” muttered
Tolbert.
The second officer said,
“This is General Lugin of the Garuman-Gamilon Imperial Space Battleship Epsilon. You will identify yourselves at
once! We have business with these Bolars and do not appreciate being interrupted!”
“This is Captain Derek
Wildstar of the Endeavor. You are
both in EDF space. You must retreat from this space.”
“Ah, Captain Wildstar, is it?
I have heard good things about you from our Emperor Desslok. We are sorry that
this is occurring here in your sector, but as you can see the Bolars are losing
the war and are they trying to retreat to your section of the Galaxy to find
new rat-holes to hide in like the vermin they are. We must stop them before
they try to take over your section of the galaxy,” Lugin said. “It is to your
benefit that we are here. Please stand back and let us do our job and
exterminate these…pests,” said Lugin
with a charming but cold smile.
“I cannot allow you to pursue
this; we have control of this sector and we must fight back to defend it! We
would appreciate your help if we were in Garuman or neutral space, but you are
not wanted in this sector either! I demand you leave!” Wildstar spat back.
“If you so wish, be it on
your own head! Then you can deal with
these infidels and meet death, fool, since that it what you seem to want!”
Lugin snapped. “Emperor Desslok will be sad to hear of your death!”
With that the screen went
black.
“Captain Wildstar, what was
that about?” Tolbert asked.
Derek sighed and replied,
“Tolbert, we cannot allow them to fight in our part of the galaxy, or else it
will become a habit for the Gamilons to do as they please. Desslok knows that
we have an understanding.”
“The Gamilon fleet is
retreating, sir!” Pratt yelled out.
“Sir I have General Procyon on
the video monitor!” Miamato said.
“Put him through,” Wildstar
commanded. “General Procyon, you and your fleet must remove yourselves from
this part of the galaxy. Earth does not want a war with you but if we must fight…so
be it….we will fight you and we will win.”
“Captain,” sighed Procyon.
“You must and shall understand this…we are only trying to survive and fend off
constant attack from the Gamilon Empire. So, we must claim this part of the
galaxy in the name of the Bolar Federation. However, I will be lenient with you
and overlook your past crimes when you fought on Desslok’s side years ago.
Therefore, since you have helped us by giving us time to escape from the
Garumans, then we shall retreat from here. I have heard about you and how you
helped our Captain Ram from Berth many years ago. But note that we are not one
to turn and run,” General Procyon said. “We will be back to reassert our
territorial rights!”
“Captain it looks like they
are also retreating from this sector.” Pratt called out.
“Captain Wildstar, do you
think they will come back?” Tolbert turn and faced Wildstar.
“You can bet on it,
Lieutenant Commander,” Wildstar said. “You see, they have only retreated to let
the Gamilons think that they won, but they did so only to repair their ships.
They’ll be back. Trust me on this. Lieutenant Wright, what is our damage?”
“Sir we have lost four
frigates and three destroyers. We are down to two frigates and two destroyers
now, and one destroyer, the Riegal,
is badly damaged. The Endeavor has
suffered damage to her port side and some of the main guns have been hit, along
with the long-range communications antenna mast. We are now in the process of
repairing all damage. The Riegal needs
repairs badly, so she must return back to Pluto for those repairs,” Wright
said.
“So we are pretty much on our
own; just our ship, two frigates, and one destroyer,” Wildstar sighed. “Eight
hundred men and women killed on those other ships…and for what?”
“Yes sir, I’m sorry to give
you the bad news,” Wright reported.
“Very well then, give the Reigal orders to return to Pluto for
repairs.” Wildstar said. “I know Commander Connolly won’t like taking his
command home, but so be it.” Derek then closed his eyes. Then, he said,
“Lieutenant Commander Tolbert, please report to my quarters. Lt Miamato, you
take control of the bridge,” Wildstar said with a tired tone.
“Yes, sir,” Miamato saluted.
“Captain leaving the bridge!” he snapped.
II. AN AFTERMATH…
Space Battleship
Endeavor
Sector 8
Near Planet Turoc
March 28th 2205
1600 Hours
Wildstar waited in his
quarters for Lieutenant Commander Tolbert. He sat behind his desk looking at
Nova’s picture. I have to see if I can get in touch with her soon… I don’t
care what time it is over there. I miss her voice so much. He turned his
chair to face the stars.
He sighed as his mind ran
back to the recent past. I remember
that night here in my quarters with Nova… it was such a special night.
Lieutenant Commander Lee was so kind to do that for us. It’s a shame he
couldn’t handle his loss. I guess I can understand that if I lost Nova I’d
probably go nuts too. He didn’t know what he was doing when he kidnapped Nova
that time. Nova and I bear him no hatred for that. The man was sick. Derek made it a note to go visit him in
the mental hospital when he was on Earth. He did so to check on him once a week
to see how he was coping. Even though he had done what he did, he and Nova
still had some respect for him.
Lieutenant Commander Tolbert
knocked on the Captain’ hatch. I wonder what I did wrong now, she thought.
“Enter!” Wildstar snapped.
“Sir Lieutenant Commander
Tolbert present and reporting as ordered!” she said as she entered the room and
stood at attention.
“At ease Lieutenant
Commander…you’re not in hot water,” Derek said. “You’re here to be commended
today. I just wanted to let you know that was great thinking on your feet
today. That’s what I’m talking about. You are a very good officer. Just show
your confidence and don’t let anyone second guess you. But don’t show too much
of it. You can be a great Captain someday if you just go with your gut. Good
job,” Wildstar said.
Lieutenant Commander Tolbert
stood there in disbelief. Is this the same Captain that told me that the
cooks can do a better job? I guess I was wrong about him. All Tolbert could
say was thank you. She was ready to pivot and leave when she turned to him,
“Sir, Request permission to speak!”
“Yes Lieutenant
Commander…what is it?” Wildstar asked.
“I’m sorry that we had to
start off on the wrong foot, sir. I was sure that you still had a grudge
against me about leaving you so many years ago. We were both so young. And so
stupid.”
“Think nothing of it
Lieutenant Commander! That was the past…and we’ve both moved on since,” said
Derek. “I am now happily married to Nova. And you…are you married?” Wildstar
asked.
“No sir, it never happened
for me,” Tolbert said with downcast eyes.
“No? What happened to that
pilot you were dating after me? That British guy?” Wildstar was a little
curious.
“Well, he left me for some
younger model after two years of dating and when I happened to mention that I
was pregnant,” Tolbert lowered her eyes. She was close to crying.
“You have a kid?” Derek said.
“I’m sorry. Where is the little one now?”
“Well no, sir…I lost it later
in my second trimester. I guess it wasn’t meant to be. He didn’t even come to see
me when I was in the hospital recovering from the miscarriage,” Tolbert said
with tears in her eyes as she remembered how painful it was. “That
“Sorry to hear that, Julie. I
always wanted the best for you.” Wildstar said.
“And you Derek, any kids
yet?”
Derek smiled “No not yet…Nova
and I have only been married a short time. We both still want to wait another
year. But lately, I’ve been thinking about it. When I get back home, I’d like
to talk to her about it.”
“I’m happy that you found
someone to make you happy. I never wanted to hurt you. Does your wife know
everything about us?” she asked
“I told her that we were an
item once, but I never quite told her how close we were. Nova is a very special
person and I don’t want her to worry. She’s my life now,” Derek said while
looking at her picture.
“Well Captain she is a very
lucky girl, you were always a great catch. It’s a shame that I threw you back,”
Julie winked at him.
“Well I guess you should be
getting back on the bridge…you have some work to do, I believe?” Wildstar was
starting to feel uncomfortable. He wanted to let the past remain buried and
dead.
“Of course Captain,
permission to report back to my post,” Tolbert stood at attention and saluted.
“Yes, dismissed,” Wildstar
said, waving her out.
Derek sat at his desk. After
Tolbert left, he reached for his iPod and turned it on to Firehouse’s ‘When I look into your eyes’. Then, Derek
turned his chair to the window and thought about Nova before trying to attempt
a video call to her. He was like that for a while…
EARTH
AT
Nova had been forced to work
a double shift that day in Pediatrics with the kids. She was bone-tired, and it
was already the next day; the 29th of March, around midnight.
Nova yawned and took some
coffee at the nurse’s station. She thought, Just
one more hour of work to go, and it’ll be over soon. She pulled on a white
sweater over her nurse’s minidress; it got cold in the wards at night. It had been
warm that morning, and she had broken out her open clogs for the first time in
months. Now, Nova had her toes up near a heating vent under the desk; her bare
legs and partially bare feet were very cold.
She was very depressed for
two reasons. One: no Derek.
The second reason: little
Trish.
Trish was seven. She was a
young leukemia patient on the ward whose condition went up and down like a
yo-yo. One day, she would almost seem to be well, and then she would have bad
days.
Nova had been in to check on
Trish a while ago. The little girl was asleep, but one of the other duty nurses
had done a write-up in her chart; her vitals were not bad but not good, either.
Since Trish was so small, any drop in her vitals would be dangerous for her.
Trish had recently had a bone
marrow transplant. There had been some improvement, but her condition was still
very delicate.
Nova read her chart, and then
she sat up when she heard little Trish screaming.
Nova ran into her room to
find the little girl kicking her blankets off and crying horribly in her sleep.
“Don’t!” she screamed. “Please don’t, please don’t, please don’t, PLEASE
DON’T!” she screamed.
Nova held the little girl,
who was very thin in her hospital gown. Not all of her baby-fine platinum blond
hair had come out yet after the last round of chemotherapy she had been forced
to endure before the operation, but some of it was falling off like snow into
Nova’s lap as Nova held her and looked into her terror-filled eyes as she
opened them.
A moment later, two other
nurses ran in with a crash cart, making Trish scream and sob more as Nova
rocked her.
“Missus Nova,” she lisped.
“You’re here!”
“Yes, I am,” she said as she
took Trish’s pulse. “Her pulse is elevated but her heart rate feels steady,”
Nova called out.
“We need to hook her up to
the EKG,” said another nurse.
“Those mean, sticky things HURT me!” Trish sobbed.
“I’ll help,” said Nova as she
gently pulled Trish’s hospital gown a little to bare her thin little chest. “Hand
me the sensors, Kate, she trusts me,” Nova said.
“We could do this faster,
ma’am, if we pulled the gown completely off and worked on her all at once,”
said Lieutenant Kate Marsden, one of Nova’s other nurses.
“We’d also have a screaming
little girl we’d have to hold down,” Nova said as she carefully but gently put
the sensors on Trish’s fine skin. If she
wasn’t so sick, she’d be beautiful, Nova thought as she carefully put the
sensors on Trish’s chest while pulling her into her lap. Nova kept the gown
around Trish’s waist to give her at least a little modesty, pausing to tickle
her belly button.
Trish giggled softly through
her tears as Nova put up her own long, bare legs so that Trish’s leg would be
ready for the sensor that Kate put there. Nova saw the third nurse, a young
Hispanic woman known as Lieutenant Barbara Tejeda, setting up the EKG unit
itself and carefully gathering up the wires. To distract Trish from the
scary-looking machine, Nova began to play with her toes. Trish giggled, and then
looked down at Nova’s feet. “Your little dress and your legs and white shoes
are so pretty! I can see your piggies, too, Missus Nova! You painted your nails
pink!”
“Yes, I did. It was nice out
today.”
“When can I play outside
again?” Trish said.
“One of these days,” Nova
whispered as tears came to her eyes when she spotted the EKG tracks. Kate and
Babs were just setting the unit up to record the rythym of Trish’s weakened
little heart, but Nova recognized the pattern at once. Characteristic of congestive heart failure, Nova thought. Poor baby, her blood’s becoming too thick
for that little heart to handle, she thought as she recognized the signs of
an opportunistic heart failure caused by radiation-induced leukemia. I can’t make the diagnosis, but…the chart
says she has been sick ever since 2199…in the underground cities. We did all we
could for her, but…
“Why are they doing this?”
Trish asked. “Can they record my dream?” she asked.
Nova said, “No, this is for
your little heart. It’s sort of weak right now,” Nova said in a soft voice.
“I had a scary dream when you
came,” said Trish.
“What about?” asked Babs.
“I want Missus Nova to hear
it first. It was about a skeleton man,” she said.
“My God,” whispered Kate.
“Nova, in the dream, the skeleton
man was coming for me,” lisped Trish.
“You shouldn’t talk about
this,” said Kate.
“Let her talk; it might
help,” Nova said as Kate gently put a thermometer into her mouth. Kate took it
out a moment later. “Nova, she has a high fever…”
“Get some medication, Babs,
and get an orderly to bring some cool water and sponges,” Nova said. Nova then
got a towel from the crash cart while Trish sat in her lap and began to whine a
little. Nova kissed her and got a towel under her and tenderly got her gown off
her, tickling her little tummy again and making her smile. Babs came back with
the water and sponge a moment later as another nurse came in and looked at Nova
and said, “Ma’am, some of the other children on the floor got awakened.
Hiroshi-kun and JoJo are scared; they heard the screaming.”
“Try to comfort them,
Ensign,” Nova said. “I’ll pop in to look at Hiroshi-kun and JoJo in a few
minutes.”
Trish looked Nova as she
began to bathe her, and then she said, “Missus Nova, the skeleton man had on a
black robe and a big mean stick. Is he Mister Death? Hiroshi-kun said when you
die, they put you in a box called a coffin and worms and bugs eat you up. Does it hurt to turn into a skeleton
in that box?”
“That happens to the body of someone who dies,” said Nova as
tears ran down her face. “The real you, known as your spirit, goes somewhere else. It goes to a nice place, especially
with little children…where some wise men say you live forever, while other wise
men say that you come back again as a new person.”
“Is that Heaven?” said Trish
as Kate shook her head and couldn’t look at her anymore.
“They say it is,” Nova said.
“I sort of know about it.”
“How?”
“I might have been there
once, but I don’t know if I went there or dreamed it,” Nova said softly. “When
we had the first space war against Desslok, I was on the Yamato, which they had renamed the Argo then. The Argo got
into a very bad battle as we were coming home with the Cosmo-DNA, and Desslok
and his men were bad men then. Desslok’s bad men shot the Argo full of a radioactive gas that put you to sleep. I went onto
the Cosmo-DNA machine dressed almost like this, except that I had my boots on
like the other day when it rained.”
“Those were pretty, too,”
said Trish. “Can I have pretty boots like yours when I grow up?”
“We’ll see,” Nova said softly
as she thought, You poor little angel,
how can I tell you that you might never grow up now? That mean little boy
Hiroshi-kun!
Trish said, “Tell me more of
your story!” in a soft voice. Nova’s gentle washing seemed to be cooling her
fever and making her sleepy again. Another nurse came in with some baby
aspirin, which Nova gave to Trish. Then, she continued with, “Well…I turned on
the machine and saved everyone, but I breathed in some of the gas and became
very sick and went into a deep, deep sleep. I think I dreamed of a beautiful
grassy land when I was asleep, and there were birds there, a river, and a
shining city off in the distance. I dreamed that I wanted to run there over the
grass in a nightgown and bare feet. The land was beautiful; it looked like
Planet Iscandar. In my dream, a young man in a white shirt and pants came to me
and he said I could not go to the city yet; there was still work for me to do.
Lots of work. Then, the beautiful land faded, and I drifted in the dark for a
while until I woke up in the arms of my Prince Charming, my future husband,
Derek Wildstar, in the blue nightgown I had on in my dream. I showed you his
picture once. He’s in space again. I couldn’t go with him. I miss him.”
“I miss my Mommy,” said
Trish. “Can she come and see me again?”
“We’ll try,” Nova said as she
began to towel off Trish. She was shivering, so Nova took off her sweater,
which was far too big for the little girl, and she wrapped her in it with a hug.
“You look like an angel now,” Nova whispered.
“If you die, is it like
dreaming?” said Trish.
“Sort of. I was very sick
then. I don’t know if I had a dream or was about to die and saw those places
and then came home like the young man said,” Nova said. “But other wise men say
that people have been about to die and have come back after seeing all sorts of
nice things, except for some bad people who…well…let’s not talk about that.”
“Am I going to die?” Trish
asked with simple, childlike honesty and bluntness.
Nova shut her eyes and wiped
away the tears. “Maybe,” she said softly. “Doctor Fritz can talk to you about
that in the morning,” she said. Nova then looked at the EKG screen and nodded
sadly to herself. I know what is
happening now, she thought. Your poor
tired angel, your little heart is just slowing down like an old windup clock.
Nova looked at the last page
of Trish’s chart and sadly shook her head. Here’s
a clear DNR order…DO NOT RESCUSITATE from her parents, she thought sadly. Kate, did we need to scare her with this
machinery? The EKG shows there is not much we can do now. Why not just let her
go to sleep? She’s so tired…poor thing…
“I’m tired,” said Trish.
“Let’s tuck you in,” Nova
said. “No more bad dreams for you. I’ll do my best to keep them away. Even when
I can’t be there…my sweater will help keep them away…it’s magic…”
“Never let them take this off
me, Missus Nova,” Trish whispered. “I don’t want to go to sleep with no clothes
on like I did in that unit where they hooked all those things up to me. They
scanned me all the time in there and kept on poking me and putting things in me
and I had no clothes to wear under that one sheet. Is that the Icy Room?”
“ICU,” Nova said, gently
correcting her.
“It was cold in there,” said
Trish as she yawned. “I never wanna be cold again. I’m so sleepy…”
Nova kissed her and rocked
her for a bit, wishing that Trish was her own daughter, and wishing that she
had powers like Trelaina to just knock this damned sickness out of her, repair
her little body, and let her be well again. Finally, Trish opened her eyes
weakly and said, “Nitey-nite, Missus Nova. Tell my Mommy and Daddy I love
them…so sleepy now…”
“Nitey-nite,” said Nova as
she kissed her. “Sweet dreams, Trish…”
Trish kissed Nova back and
fell asleep smiling as she cuddled Nova’s sweater. She would still be smiling a
little around sunrise, when they would find her after Nova went home.
Nova kissed Trish and walked
away, shivering a little herself as she guessed she would never get her sweater
back.
She would be right.
As Trish went to sleep, she
would never wake up again in this life; she would be destined to have her
weakened little heart give out mercifully in her sleep around sunrise.
Trish would be buried in a
pink dress and Nova’s too-big sweater a week later.
After finishing her shift,
Nova drove home in her Mini Cooper in a quiet, angry daze. These rotten wars, she thought. We
have to fight, sure, and Gamilon was dying, too, back in 2199, but I wish I
could just sit Desslok down and make him watch as I put little Trish to bed and
try to find a nice way to let her know she may not wake up tomorrow morning!
Thank you, Leader Desslok, for another wonderful little gift from your cruel
planet bombs, Nova thought sarcastically. At least I gave her my sweater. I wish I could rip my own heart out and
give it to her.
In a daze, Nova got home
around 2AM, stripped, showered, and put on a plain white nightgown. Then, she
opened the fridge, found part of a leftover bottle of wine from the other day,
and she poured herself a big glass of it to help her sleep. Then, she took the
wine glass, threw it into their fireplace with an angry gesture, and she went
into the bedroom and cried herself into a merciful sleep, missing Derek’s arms
around her more than ever. He was so good at comforting her after a bad night
like this at the hospital.
Nova finally went to sleep
and had a strange but sweet dream about running through a grassy field with a
heathy Trish with both of them in light white dresses, laughing as the wind
blew through their hair. Nova dreamed of blowing dandelion puffs into Trish’s
face until she screamed with laughter.
It was about the same time
that Derek finally got up the nerve to call her on his comm system from the Endeavor.
The video phone rang twice
before Nova picked it up.
“Hello?” It was three in the
morning and she had just gotten home an hour ago.
“Nova is that you?” Derek
said.
Nova sat up quickly, smiling
through her shocked tears as she saw him on the screen “Derek, Derek is that
really you? Thank God! I had a horrible night at work!”
“Yes baby, how are you? I
miss you,” Derek said as he smiled at her. He didn’t care if she was
sleeping…he just wanted to see her and hear her voice.
“Oh, Derek I miss you too.
How’s it going up there? Any word on what’s going on?” Nova was fully awake
now.
“Yeah it’s exactly who I
suspected. The Bolars are trying to get control of our sector. The Gamilons
have them on the run.”
“Gamilons. Bolars. So does
this mean you’ll be out there longer?” Nova asked.
“Can’t say for sure, I guess
we’ll have to see. Nova I wanted to ask you something.”
“Yes Derek what is it?”
“When I ...... home ....I
........to ......”
“Derek you’re breaking
up…what is it?”
“Sorry ... oney......get
....ad .....recep .....call ......la.....,” then he was gone.
“Shit…I hate this, but at
least I got to see him and talk to him,” Nova said in frustration. “But I
couldn’t even tell him about that little girl…or hear what he wanted to say.”
Nova looked at a picture of
him that she had put on her night stand and passed her finger over it.
I miss you my love, she thought. Then she place her head
on his pillow taking in his scent of Drakkar and trying to fall back to sleep.
The Next Day
Nova started her rounds again
the next day at 9AM; she was yawning from the lack of sleep she had last night.
She walked thru the Pediatric floor in a daze. “Nova, you look like hell are you
okay?” Dr. Fritz asked her.
“I’m sorry just didn’t get
much sleep last night. Derek called, so I was up talking to him. Even though it
was only for a minute. We got cut off midway. Then I just couldn’t sleep.”
“You know about…?”
“Yes, Babs told me about it
before she left,” Nova said. “Poor baby Trish. Babs told me that Doctor Fleck
estimated the time of death was about 0545 right before the sun came up.”
“They gave the family your
sweater,” said Fleck. “Do you want it back?”
Nova shook her head. “She
told me she wanted…she never wanted it taken off her. Can’t be helped…in the
morgue, but…”
“I think Tejeda told the
family after you told her before you left,” said Fritz. “I’ll make sure they
tell the funeral director.”
Nova yawned again, almost falling
out of the Oxford-style shoes she had on this morning. “I’m sorry…just so
tired.”
“Well, maybe you should go
home and rest…you’d be of no use here if you can’t function anymore,” Dr. Fritz
told her.
“I don’t know…wouldn’t you be
short staffed?” Nova said. “I’ve been doing these long shifts because you need
people so badly.”
“No we’ll be just fine…
Anyway, hasn’t it been you that has been doing double shifts for everyone?
Maybe it’s time someone does it for you so you can get some sleep, particularly
after last…”
“Yeah,” mumbled Nova.
“Andrea, can you cover for
Nova? She’s not feeling well,” Dr. Fritz asked a male nurse.
The Italian nurse smiled and
said, “Sure Doc, anything for her.”
“Okay now you’re set. Go home
and sleep…that’s an order!” Doctor Fritz commanded.
“I guess I could use the
sleep….thanks Doc…you’re a peach.” At
that, Nova turned and left to get her things and go home…
“God, I miss her. I only
wish that I was able to talk to her longer…. Derek thought to himself as he
lay in bed. He just stared out into the dark sky where only the stars shined.
He was almost asleep when someone knocked on the door. “Who is it?” Wildstar
asked annoyed.
“Sir, it’s Lieutenant Wright,
there’s something you have to see.”
“Oh, all right, come in…”
Derek answered. “What’s so important that it couldn’t wait till the morning
shift?”
“Captain, we just received a
message from Desslok,” Wright informed him
“Desslok? What did the
message say?”
“Sir, it reads: Captain Wildstar, it is nice to know that
you are near my part of the Galaxy; you must come and see me at once. I shall
have a feast in your honor. Best
regards, Emperor Desslok.
“What would you like to reply
with, sir?”
Derek then said, “Tell
Desslok it would be an honor and that I will be there in 3 Earth days.”
“Yes sir, I’ll have Miamato
send out a reply ASAP!”
“Give Lieutenant Commander
Tolbert the coordinates; we are going to see Desslok,” Wildstar was happy to go
see Desslok, since it’s been a long time since the two of them had met. He
wondered what was so important that he needed to see him. Well, Desslok, we
shall meet once more.
III. OLD FRIENDS…
Space Battleship
Endeavor
Planet Garuman-Gamilon
New
April 2nd, 2205
1800 Hours
Desslok awaited his long time
friend and one-time enemy as the Endeavor neared the port on Garuman-Gamilon. It’s
been too long, Wildstar, I wonder about you and Nova. Desslok, still the Emperor of the
Garuman-Gamilon Empire, had been successful in defeating the Bolar Federation.
There were still many followers of Prime Minster Bemlaze, but slowly his evil
Federation was crumbling down. Desslok had them on the run. Unfortunately for
Wildstar, the Bolars were moving closer to Earth, hoping to take over the small
planet in their name. To them, conquering Earth would give them leverage over
Desslok, and Desslok could not let this happen.
“Wildstar my old friend how
have you been, it’s been too long?” Desslok approached Wildstar and they shook
hands.
“Yes it has been too long
Desslok. I see you have done well, you’ve rebuilt your capitol city from the
devastation caused by the passing of Aquarius, and it looks better than ever,”
Wildstar admired how quickly they could bounce back after the destruction.
“So where is the rest of the
Star Force?,” Desslok purred. “And tell me, who is this creature here standing
next to you?” Desslok said, eyeing Lieutenant Commander Tolbert. Desslok
approached Lieutenant Commander Tolbert and grabbed her hand to kiss it.
Tolbert almost jumped out of her skin to be this close to such a man. Namely,
the man who had almost destroyed the Earth many years ago, the man who was now
a friend of the Captain. With the
initial shock, Tolbert was somewhat intrigued about him.
“This is my Deputy Captain
Lieutenant Commander Julie Tolbert,” Derek replied. “And this is Lieutenant
Jonathan Wright, my Chief Technical Advisor and these two young men are
Lieutenant Anthony Pesci and Lieutenant Tony Delvechio, my chief Black Tiger
pilots,” Wildstar introduced each one to Desslok with a nod. “The Star Force
has been disbanded until further notice.”
“How is Nova doing? I would
have thought that you would have brought her with you,” Desslok said.
“Sorry Desslok…not this time.
She’s back on Earth waiting for me to come home. So what is the important
information that you wanted to give me?” Wildstar smiled at his friend
“My oldest friend you have
always been to the point, no, how do Earthlings say it, beating around the
tree?” Desslok laughed.
“Well it’s not that, it’s
just the sooner we get down to it the sooner I can get back to my wife,”
Wildstar missed her so and Desslok could see that in his eyes.
“I see, I can understand that
my friend. Please make yourselves at home,” as Desslok waved to the others.
Wildstar nodded to them to let them know it was all right.
“So Wildstar how have you
really been? I must let you know that my General Lugin has informed me about
your run-in with the Bolar General and himself.
While I admire your spirit, I do not like the fact that your interference
with one of my fleets gave a Bolar fleet an opportunity to escape.”
“I’m sorry about that
Desslok, but considering that you two were both in Sector 8 which is part of
the EDF’s jurisdiction, I must inform you that you were on our turf. We could
not allow your war with the Bolar Federation to spill into our part of galaxy,
Desslok…” Derek always knew how to handle Desslok. He knew that he wasn’t a man
to beat around the tree as he so said it. He was a man to be direct to no
matter what. He did not back down to anyone, and he respected those who stood
their ground. Something that Wildstar
was, direct and spoke his mind.
“I see I can assure you that
in the future all my Generals will know not to interfere with your battles. But
if you should need any assistance with the Bolars I would be more than willing
to help you and Earth.”
“Tell me something
Desslok…have you gained that much of their territory that they must flee into
our territorial space? And what about Prime Minster Bemlaze….is he still alive,
and…where is he now?”
“Ah the great Prime Minster,
yes, after the great war between my Garuman-Gamilon Empire and Bolar, it turned
out that he had survived the destruction of his Black Hole Fortress near Earth
years ago. We were able to track him and then to defeat him at last on his own
planet. Luckily for him, but not for us, he was able to escape from my
clutches. He is still out there somewhere floating in space trying to control
what’s left of his part of the universe, ” Desslok laughed at the thought.
“So you brought me here for
that, I think I could have figured that out, Desslok,” Wildstar grin at his old
friend.
“Yes I’m sure you would have.
But do you know that he has a large station on Planet Mira? That is why one of
my fleets was there. They were trying to drive them out. Defeating him would be
in your best interest as well as in ours, Wildstar…”
“Planet Mira? Well that’s a
pretty good piece of information. I do appreciate it. I should see to that as
soon as possible. Thank you. We will have to leave and take care of this at
once.”
“You are not going right away
are you? After all, the festivities are just starting,” Desslok look shocked.
“I’m sorry about that but we
must see to it immediately. I’m sure you do understand, this is nothing to take
lightly.” Wildstar said. “You are right; those Bolars must be dealt with!”
“Of course, you’re right,”
Desslok replied. “I guess if I were in your shoes, I would do the same. Very
well then, I guess my festivities will be cut short. You must do what you must.
Please let me walk you to your ship and I will give you a hero’s farewell.”
“Thank you Desslok, that’s
very kind of you,” Wildstar saluted him and then shook his hand.
Wildstar instructed
Lieutenant Commander Tolbert to have the crew report back to the ship. Wildstar
went up first to check on the reports from Lieutenant Pratt. Once everyone was
aboard, he told Tolbert to give the order to get ready for departure, since
they were heading to Planet Mira and see about the Bolar Federation base there.
IV. A MAJOR MISUNDERSTANDING BEGINS…
Space Battleship
Endeavor
The Vicinity of Planet Mira
April 5th, 2205
2005 Hours
They were in the outer
atmosphere of planet Mira when Wildstar gave over command to Lieutenant Commander
Tolbert. “Lieutenant Commander, take the bridge.”
“Yes Sir, the Captain is
leaving the bridge,” Tolbert informed all.
Derek knew that this might be
his only chance to call Nova before things got bad. He had a bad feeling about
heading to Mira, so he sat down at his desk and started up the laptop computer.
I hope she’s home, he thought.
The video phone rang a few
times at Derek and Nova’s home before Dr. Fritz told Nova that it was ringing.
“Would you like me to answer that, Nova?”
“Please do, I have a hot pot
in my hand!” Nova yelled back
“Hello?” Doctor Fritz
answered.
“Oh I’m sorry I think I got
the wrong connection,” Wildstar said.
“It all depends; who are you
trying to call, sir?” Fritz asked Derek.
“I’m calling for Nova
Wildstar! This is her home, isn’t it?” Derek seemed puzzled that another man
would be answering his home phone, It
must be a wrong number, he
thought.
“Just a minute, I’ll get her,
Captain!”
Derek mouth dropped Who
the hell was this guy?! Derek thought. And
what in hell is he doing in my house with Nova at eight o’clock at night?
“Derek is that you?,” Nova
said as she answered the phone. She did not have on a nurse’s uniform…she wore
a pink pullover and brown shorts with a white apron over them and she went
barefoot in the house. She looked very much at home…Too damn much
at home, with some other guy! Derek snarled to himself. “Derek? Are you
okay? I miss you so much…”
“Apparently not too much! Who
is that guy? And why is he answering our phone…especially at night?” Derek
demanded.
“I’m sorry, did I do
something wrong?” Nova was a little puzzled. “Derek, what’s wrong? You look
very upset!”
“I call to talk to you and I
get some guy answering my….Wha….hell…go….ther….why…?”
“Derek you’re breaking up
again! Please call me back on a better line, Derek?!”
The line went dead. Nova was
only staring at a blank screen.
“Nova, was that Derek?”
Denise Howard asked; she and Nova had become good friends after their last
mission together, and she was there with Doctor Fritz as Nova had a meeting
with her, Fritz, Doctor Spada, and some of their other friends, including Babs
and Kate. Nova was trying to cheer
everyone up because they had been at little Trish’s funeral earlier that day.
It had been very hard for them to watch the little girl’s body being laid to
rest in her tiny white casket. “Did he say anything about Pesci?”
“No, sorry I didn’t get a
chance, I’ll be right back,” Nova ran into the bedroom and closed her door. Was
he thinking what I think he was? Nova
thought. Does he think that I had something going on here? It sounded like
he was accusing me of something. I didn’t get a chance to explain that I was
having a meeting with some of the staff here at the house. Oh God, what could
be running through his mind? I have to explain this to him! He jumps to
conclusions so often; how could anything be wrong here with two men and three
other women in the house with me? I was just trying to cook for all of us!
At his end, Derek sat at his
desk baffled and angered at what just occurred; his wife had another man in the
house with her. Could this life of theirs be taking a toll on their marriage? I
can’t believe that Nova would do such a thing… I need to talk to her. Damn this
thing, Derek tried for 30 minutes to get a connection back to her but
nothing happened. How could he do his job wondering about this? I have to
talk to her. I have to find out what
is going on back there! With one sweep of his hand, he threw his computer
to the ground. At the same time he fell. Something hit the ship.
“Attention all hands,
attention all hands the Endeavor is
under attack, all crew get to your battle stations now!” Lieutenant Commander
Tolbert yelled into the PA system’s microphone. “Captain Wildstar, come to the
bridge at once!”
Wildstar grab his peacoat and
ran to the bridge.
V. TENSION
Planet Earth
April 13th, 2205
0908 Hours
The next week, Nova did her duties
in a daze, as Spring made things warmer on Earth. Today, she was shaking her
head and sighing to herself frequently as she thought about her tense argument
with Derek…and how they had resolved nothing at all. Nova wasn’t on her game at
work and Dr. Fritz was aware of it.
He turned to her after seeing
her drop a folder at the nurse’s station and he said, “Nova is something on
your mind? You seem not to be on the ball.”
“I’m sorry sir, it’s just
been hard, I haven’t heard from Derek in a week and after our last call he
wasn’t too happy with me.”
“Why is that?” Fritz was
concern that his best nurse’s mind was elsewhere.
“Oh nothing Doc, it’ll be
alright thanks for asking. We had a misunderstanding the night you guys were
over for dinner, that’s all.” Nova said, still feeling something was wrong with
Derek.
As Nova made her rounds, she
played with the kids, especially a little boy there who was called JoJo; he was
5 years old and cute. He had the biggest brown eyes she had ever seen and a
smile that would melt your heart. And he was improving, slowly but surely. “Hey
there sweetie, how are you today?” Nova smiled.
“I’m okay are you going to
give me a shot today Ms. Nova?” JoJo asked with his big brown eyes.
“I’m afraid so…Are you going
to need your Mom to hold your hand, sweetie?” Nova asked.
“I’m 5 years old! I’m old
enough to take it myself.” Nova laughed at the little boy trying to be so brave
.
“Very well then, I want you
look the other way and count to 10. When you hit ten I’ll give you your shot.
Okay?” Nova said, smiling wide.
“Okay, 1…2…3…4…. Ouch!”
Before he could finish, Nova gave him the shot.
“Hey, no fair! You said it
would be at ten….that’s not fair. You tricked me!” JoJo protested.
“Sorry kiddo, but sometimes, I
forget the next number and I thought 10 would come next,” Nova said with a
wink.
“Well, I think you need to go
back to school and refresh your mind,” JoJo said with a pout.
Nova laughed at the little
guy and she thought of Derek. Working this month with kids just makes me
want to run to Derek and ask him to let’s go have a baby. Oh Derek I only wish
you would call me so I could explain myself and we could kiss and make up.
Nova left the room and walk
back to the nurse’s station when she saw two uniformed Space Marines at the
front desk. The receptionist pointed in her direction, Nova stood still as they
approached her. “Mrs. Wildstar?” one of the Marines asked.
“Yes that’s me. What can I
help you with, Marine?”
“Your presence is requested
at EDF Headquarters ASAP, ma’am! Admiral Singleton would like to see you, we
are here to escort you back. Please come with us now.”
Nova’s head started to spin,
“What’s going on? What’s this about?” she said as she tried to get answers.
“Ma’am, we are not at liberty
to say. You must come with us now,” the Marine said.
“Very well then! Andrea, I
have to leave, I’m needed at EDF Headquarters please inform Doctor Fritz and
Ensign Tejeda, thank you,” Nova tried to sound calm but Nurse Andrea could see
in her face that she was stressed. Poor girl, he thought. The only time they send out uniformed Marines like
that for you is if someone didn’t make it back. I have the feeling we’re gonna
be at another funeral soon.
Nova jumped into the air car
with the Marines, and they headed to EDF Headquarters. Her mind was racing as
to what Singleton wanted. Was Derek okay or could this be bad news for her? She
nearly came to tears just thinking of what could be wrong.
The car stopped in front of
EDF Headquarters. As she got out of the car, she saw Sandor and IQ-9 standing
outside the door arguing. “Sandor, I do not want to go for my 550,000 Hour
check up, I am fine!” IQ-9 said, fighting tooth and nail.
Sandor snapped back, “Tinwit,
you're going and that’s that! A lot of the Female Officers are complaining too
much about you looking up their skirts, enough is enough, NOW GET IN THE CAR!”
Sandor screamed.
“Hi, Nova!” IQ-9 burbled.
“It’s so nice to see you again! How’s the legs doing?” he burbled as he ran
over to her…
…and pulled up the short
skirt of her Medical minidress.
Nova stood up on tiptoe in
her clogs and screamed as she swatted at the robot as her legs were exposed
from the edges of her brief white and pink panties all the way down to her
clog-clad exposed toes.
“Your taste in undergarments
is still very good, Nova, ha ha ha ha ha!”
“YOU PERVERT!” Nova snapped
as she pulled down her skirt and gave the robot a good kick.
“Sandor, he needs his
checkup, all right! What would he be doing, pulling this crap at a time like
this!” Nova called him over.
“Nova, how are you,” Sandor
said. “What brings you down this way? It looks like they dragged you right from
the hospital,” Sandor looked puzzled at why Nova looked so stressed. “Is
everything okay?”
“I don’t know, I thought
maybe you knew; I was about to scrub for surgery when they dragged me here,”
Nova said, still looking worried.
“Knew what?” Sandor looking even more puzzled.
“I’ve been called to the
Admiral’s office, these two Marines are escorting me,” Nova pointed to the
Marines standing next to her. Sandor then knew this was not good news. Everyone
knew that if uniformed Marines come to your home it was always bad news.
Sandor’s heart skipped a beat.
“That’s not good news” IQ-9
said. “Captain Wildstar must be dead. They must be asking you how you want his
plaque at Heroes’ Hill to look, Nova. Don’t worry…I’ll come live with you,
and…”
“IQ-9 SHUT UP! We don’t know
that yet,” Sandor snapped. “Nova, I’ll go with you, you’re going to need
someone there,” Sandor told the Marines that they could leave that because he
would escort Mrs. Wildstar to Singleton’s office personally.
All three took the elevator
up to the 30th floor. The higher they went the more blood drained
from Nova’s face. She was about to cry. It was more evident than ever on her
face. IQ-9 was about to play with her skirt again, but he stopped when he saw
the look in Nova’s eyes. “It’ll be all right, Nova you’ll see,” Sandor said,
trying to console her.
“I know Sandor, thank you for
coming with me, and thank you too, IQ-9. Even though I know you are admiring my
legs," she said with a pale wink.
“I’ll do anything for you,
Nova” IQ-9 said while his lights were flashing.
The elevator stopped and all
three of them stepped out. They all walk together in a haze towards the
Admiral’s office. Once the Admiral’s aide saw her, she drop her phone and spoke
into the intercom. “Yes, sir…she’s here,” was all she said. Then, she turned to
Nova and the others. “Please go straight in, he’s been expecting you.”
It felt like a coffin being
opened for the first time when they opened the door to the Admiral’s office.
“Nova, please come in,” said Singleton. Sandor I wasn’t expecting you…please
enter, have a seat”
Sandor held Nova’s hand for support.
Because Nova was not in EDF Federation uniform, the Commander addressed her as
Nova or Mrs. Wildstar. “Nova, I’m sorry to bring you here on such short notice.
But we have got word that the Endeavor
has lost communication with Pluto; most of her fleet has been destroyed and two
of her escorts returned to Pluto station very badly damaged. We got word from
each Captain that when they last seen the Endeavor,
she was still in commission. But we haven’t heard from them since.”
“How long has it been?” Nova
said.
“It has been about a week
since they were last heard from,” Singleton said. “Now they’re not even showing
up on basic telemetry readouts. We are about to consider them missing in
action.”
Yes, the night we argued, Nova thought. Oh,
Derek, what if you’re gone, and the last thing we said to each other was some
stupid argument? Her head started to spin; Sandor saw her and went to get
water. IQ-9 held her hand with his long mechanical hands. Tears began to well
up in her eyes. Sandor came back with a glass. “Here, Nova drink this.”
“I need something stronger
Sandor, please. Water won’t do the trick,” Nova said, trying to compose
herself.
“Yes I understand, Sir may
I?” Sandor said, pointing to the bar on the other side of the room.
“Of course, please do
Sandor,” Singleton replied, waving to him.
Sandor came back with a glass
of Vodka. Nova took it and drunk it straight down in a few gulps.
“Nova, we are sending a fleet
to Sector Eight to see if we can find him and his crew. You’re ordered to go
with the space battleship
“Thank you sir, I don’t think
that sitting here on Earth would do me good. I’ll lose my mind…waiting for
news. I want to be there looking. When do we leave?” Nova asked through tears.
“In about 5 hours, so go home
and get your things together and get your house in order, Nova,” Admiral
Singleton looked at her with a fatherly look. “I’m sure that he is all right. I
think it might be either a technical problem, or maybe they took some minor
battle damage. Please send Derek my regards when you see him.”
“I will sir, thank you” Nova
brushing tears away from her eyes.
Sandor left Nova in the hands
of the next Marine team that showed up at the Admiral’s call, and he told her
that he would meet her at the spaceport in 4 hours. He had to get his uniforms
in order for the trip. They hugged and left in opposite directions. The Marines
brought her back to the hospital next to her car. She got into her car and drove home at high
speed in her Mini Cooper. Once she was home, she packed her uniforms and,
feeling it would bring her and Derek good luck, she threw on her old yellow
with black jumpsuit…her old Star Force uniform, which she hadn’t worn in years.
After she pulled on her boots, she threw everything in the car and sped off to
the dock. While on the way there, she called Wendy and made arrangements to
have her check on the house while she was gone.
She pulled up to the port
where the
As she took her things from her
Mini Cooper, someone tapped her on the shoulder. Nova turned around to see
Howard standing there with tears in her eyes.
Denise said, “I guess you got the news too, Nova. Are you going with the
“Yeah, I was given orders
about five hours ago…I’m just getting here. Oh my god, Denise, Pesci is with
Derek! How are you holding up?” Just then Nova notice that Howard was in full
uniform, too, in her blues and boots “Are you going too?”
“Nothing could keep me away.
I demanded to be on this mission. The Admiral himself gave the okay for me to
go” Both Nova and Denise hugged just when Sandor pulled up with IQ-9
dissassembled in the back seat of his air car.
“Ladies,” Sandor looked on at
Denise and Nova. “Nova, who’s your friend?”
“Sandor, this is Lieutenant
Commander Denise Howard; she’ll be going with us also. She’s a close friend.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m
assuming there’s someone special for you on the Endeavor also?” Both women nodded. “Nova, your car…is it new?”
Sandor said this while pointing to her yellow and black air car (which happened
to match her uniform) and trying to take her mind off of Derek being missing.
“Yeah, Derek got it for me
before he left. He knew how I wanted one, Steve.” She smiled remembering the
day he brought it home for her.
“Cute car…it fits you,”
Sandor said. “Well ladies, shall we get on board and shove off?”
They each grabbed their
belongings and started up the gangway.
TO BE CONTINUED….