In the Grand Technomugar Fortress, a coffin-like enclosure covered with multi-colored indicator lights began to open. First, it freed up a head; a female's head, one which had a very young-looking face framed by brown hair. Then, the two lower halves of the enclosure opened, and an unclad shapely female body was revealed. It looked perfect save for the presence of a small readout meter where the navel should have been.

The dark eyes opened, and the head stirred, shaking off the wetness on the new artificial skin. Yvona Josiah thus awoke to her new life.

"Greetings, Yvona," said Lord Ekogaru the Great.

"Greetings, your Lordship." She kissed his hand, feeling renewed and resplendent in her new power. "It is an honor to awaken in your presence."

She sat up, and two low-ranking Technomugar males appeared to towel her newly-minted body off. Another soon emerged with a black gown that went around her shoulders, covering but not quite concealing her nakedness. Her new feet stepped into black high-heeled open-toe mules.

Ekogaru himself took her hand. "These garments are decorative. You note I am in only a black robe at this moment."

"And what is the purpose of this ritual?"

"To complete a bond. Your are mine spiritually now. You shall soon be taken physically"

Ekogaru clapped his hands, and they stood together in his vast Audience chamber.

"You no longer need those," those Ekogaru. He made a gesture and Yvona's gown slid off her shoulders. Smiling, she stepped out of the gown and the slippers. Then, she was held close by Ekogaru. She was touched, caressed, pawed, and otherwise felt all over by his huge hands. To her surprise, the new body responded with an intensity she had never felt before as a mortal.

Yvona was soon forced to the floor. Then, she cried out, partly from passion...and partly from sheer pain.

Oh, my God, he is so COLD...thought Yvona. He is COLD!

"I take it," said Captain Derek Wildstar, "that this is a technical readout of one of those missiles that Desslok said was used to destroy Garuman?"

Wildstar looked down at the huge deck screen in the Argo's Central Briefing Room. Sandor tapped at the readout with a pointer. "That's right. We just translated it from the Gamilon language."

"Hyper-Radiation Antimatter Missile," said Venture, reading off the translated title of the weapon. "Do we know how it works, yet?"

"Antimatter can be created by a nano-explosion that can be set off by a nuclear detonation," said Sandor. "What this device seems to do is use a hydrogen warhead charge to set off a small thermonuclear reaction that also creates radioactive gas. It would make a very nasty anti-ship weapon, particularly if equipped with an armor-piercing warhead. What this new variant seems to do is use that primer to set off a hyperspace engine that opens up a small naked singularity to an antimatter universe. That releases a huge surge of antimatter that reacts with the missile shell itself as well as with anything nearby to create an annihilating explosion. It looks like six of these were used to destroy Garuman's crust and mantle, leading to the destruction of the entire planet. Nasty weapon."

"Sounds like it was made in the forges of Hell itself," said Nova, who shivered even though she was back in her full Star Force uniform. "Who would build such a morbid thing?"

"Our enemies," said Dash. "These guys seem like a pretty sick bunch."

"You can say that again," said Angelique Hartcliffe, who was near the back of the circle of crewmembers. "Captain, shall I tell you about what I spotted while we were on patrol?"

"Go ahead," said Wildstar.

"Yessir," said Angie as she came to the center of the circle. "What I spotted was a Rikashan ship sitting about ten megameters away from us; for just a moment. Then, it warped out."

"What kind of ship was it?" asked Sandor.

"A small ship, sir. Like a scout ship."

"Then, they're trailing us," said Wildstar. "We'd better make another space warp. I have an idea. Nova, please go over to the main computer terminal. Have it pull up a three random values between one and 9,999. One of those figures will be the amount of lightyears that we warp today. Let's see them try to predict that."

"Yessir," she said with a salute. She walked over and pulled up a random number generation routine; a somewhat simple application. After a moment, she inputted the parameters that were needed, and let the computer work. The information that came up a moment later read:

"There's three values," said Nova. "7454, 9359, and 4804. Which one of those should we go with?"

"9359," suggested Venture. "There's not much rhyme or reason to that particular value."

"All right," said Captain Wildstar. "After this meeting, we're warping exactly nine thousand, three hundred and fifty-nine lightyears away towards the Great Magellenic Cloud, of course. Let's see where that takes us. Make sure that there are no hazards we know of in the area, Venture. We don't want to warp straight into a black hole or something."

"Got it," said Mark.

"Okay, let's do that warp," said Wildstar. "Everyone, to your stations."

"We have twelve dead on the ship," said Doctor Sane. "We'll have to lay them to rest today."

"And we will," said Captain Wildstar. "This evening, after the dinner period, we'll gather on the deck for that funeral."

"The radiation count out here is higher than usual because we're close to a small star," said Sandor. "We'll have to use the old-style full spacesuits."

"Are you sure we have enough for the whole crew?" asked Venture.

"We keep them inventoried for emergencies," Sandor replied. "Since we've had casualties, we have more than enough."

"Doctor Sane, are all of the dead prepared?" asked Derek.

"Yes. They're encoffined in the morgue under cold storage."

"May I have a moment to say a private goodbye to Orion before the services?" asked Nova in a quiet voice.

"I don't see a problem," said Doctor Sane.

"Granted," said Derek.

"Thank you," said Nova. She returned to looking at her hands. Derek immediately guessed that she was depressed.

"Now that we have that taken care of, there's the matter of Lieutenant Bryan Hartcliffe's court-martial," said Derek. He tapped a pen against the table and sighed. "We had a panel picked, but since Orion can't be on it, now, we need to pick a replacement."

"What about picking out a new panel altogether?" asked Dash. "We could do it at random."

"Yeah. Every one of us could go in the pool," said Conroy.

"Does that apply even if we ahn't bridge officers?" asked Hardy.

Captain Wildstar nodded.

"Not a bad idea," said Parsons. Holly looked a good deal perkier than most of the crew at the moment. Wildstar guessed it was probably because of what had recently happened between her and Venture.

"What does everyone think?" asked Captain Wildstar.

"No objections," said Paul Rosstowski.

Aliscea just nodded. "Sounds good," said Homer. Venture gave a thumbs-up. Nova nodded once and returned to looking at her hands. Yamazaki said, "It works for me." Conroy said, "Sounds good for me, too." Hardy nodded, shaking his hair out of his eye for a moment.

"Okay," said Captain Wildstar. "IQ-9, come up here. Take my hat," he said, sliding his Captain's cap (which he didn't have on) over towards the robot. "With the exception of myself, Venture, and Aliscea, I'd like all of the rest of you to tear a piece of paper off your notepads and write your name on that paper. Fold it up and put it in the hat. Then, IQ-9 will shake the pieces, and draw names until we have three. The first three form the new Court-Martial board."

"Captain, do you still want me to be under consideration, in light of what we discussed before?" asked Nova.

"Yes. That doesn't mean you'll be drawn, or course. If you do get drawn, I know you'll make every effort to follow your orders and judge him only by the evidence. It's been a few days since that incident in the messhall, and I trust your judgment and ability as an officer, Nova."

"Okay, Derek," said Nova with a slight smile. She wrote her name on the paper and began to fold it. When the hat came by, she dropped the wad of paper in the hat and refused to look at it.

Finally, IQ-9 came over to Wildstar with the hat. "I'll hold it down so you can pick names. Can you reach it here?"

"I can," he said. "Thanks." Refusing to look, Derek stirred the wads of paper around. Then, he drew three pieces of paper at random.

After a long moment, Derek opened the pieces of paper. Sitting at the head of the table, he refused to look at the papers for a bit. "At random, again," said Captain Wildstar, "The first name I pick will be the Presiding Judge of the Court."

Derek picked up a piece of paper. "Senior Lieutenant Dash," he said. "Dash, you're on this court, and you're the chief judge."

"Okay, Wildstar," said Dash. "I'll see to it he gets a fair trial. It'll be an interesting exercise since I've never done this before."

"Thanks," said Derek. He then pulled up a second piece of paper. "Number two man on the Court is Senior Lieutenant Jefferson Hardy."

"Great," laughed Hardy. "Looks laike I'm a hanging judge." Everyone laughed but Nova and Derek. They just smiled and shook their heads. "Ah accept, Wildstah. Even though he was in my squadron, I'll just look at the evidence."

"Thanks," said Captain Wildstar. "Judge number three will be...Senior Lieutenant Nova Wildstar."

Nova let out a deep breath and said, "Why, God?" Everyone laughed at that one. She smiled at Derek, Mark, and then looked at IQ-9. "If you fixed this drawing, tinwit, I'll be very upset."

"I am sorry, Nova. It was completely random. Please make sure your peacoat is clean. I hear that your locker is a mess."

"Who talked?" said Nova in an accusing tone. The crew laughed again. The laughter was so hearty that even Nova added a few giggles.

"Hey," said Dash. "At least being on this court won't be boring."

The crew applauded, and Venture asked. "Anything else?"

Homer's phone went off. "Yes? Okay. I'll tell him, Sergeant."

Homer hung up. "Captain Wildstar, the Commander's answering our message. He said it's good to hear from us again. Sergeant Miles says that she has him up on the main screen on the first bridge."

"Looks like we're dismissed, then," said Derek. "Okay, everyone, let's go and report."

On the first bridge, the crew saluted as the Commander turned around in his chair to face them.

"It's been a long time, Captain Wildstar," said Commander Singleton. "Are you still on your way towards Iscandar?"

"Yes. We're more than halfway," said Derek. "The Rikashans have been pursuing us constantly. We've lost some crewmembers, I'm afraid. Homer will send you a casualty list, along with copies of the letters you'll need to send to the families of the dead."

"I see. How is it you're communicating with us now?"

"We recently heard from Leader Desslok. Unfortunately, due to the war with Rikasha, his search for a new home has failed. The Rikashans just destroyed his ancestral homeworld of Garuman, where the Gamilon race originally came from. They used a new kind of missile to do it. As for how we're talking to you, you recall the part of the first Iscandar mission where the Gamilons gave us access to their relay satellite network to demoralize us?"

"I do. I take it they allowed you access again, but this time to send news to us here on Earth?"

"He did, sir."

"Desslok lost his ancestral homeworld?" mused Singleton. "I hope that this doesn't make the Gamilons a threat to us again in the future."

"I'm hoping the same thing, sir. How's things on Earth?"

The Commander sighed. "There have been several Rikashan attacks. Raids, mostly. We have one of our new Andromedas leaving soon as flagship of a special task group that I organized to scout the edge of the solar system to see if we can ascertain where they're coming from."

"Which one, sir?"

"The Cassiopeia, under Commodore Hoshiyama's command. I am also detaching two battleships, a carrier, and several cruisers and destroyers. They will be leaving in the next few days. I hope they can find them before long; we can't spare twenty ships from our Fleet like that, Wildstar. Do you think Aliscea can stop the Fortress at Iscandar with aid from Starsha?"

"That's what we're hoping, sir," said Wildstar. "That's why we press on with our mission."

"Well, the best of luck to you," said the Commander. "I'll be expecting that information soon. You're dismissed."

Wildstar and the others saluted as the Commander cut off.

Doctor Bradford came up onto the bridge a moment later, crisp, cold, and efficient-looking in her lab coat. She was carrying a clipboard and studying figures.

"Oh, hello, there," said Wildstar. "I've never seen you up here before, Doctor. Is Doctor Sane all right?"

"He is. I was checking the regulations, and I found that we have to examine our brig prisoners every four days if they're confined for a long time. Doctor Sane is busy with the final preparations for the funeral, along with most of the nursing staff. I need to borrow Lieutenant Wildstar from you for a bit, Captain."

"Is this going to be a usual practice of yours, Doctor? The Lieutenant is on watch up here."

"I'm sorry, sir...but, Doctor Sane says I have to note the log. It's his orders."

"All right," said Captain Wildstar. "Nova, call Mister Voorhees up from the second bridge. Have him relieve you until you get back."

"Yessir," said Nova. She then began to call Voorhees. He reported in a minute.

"Yessir. I was wanted?" he said.

"Relieve Mrs. Wildstar. She has to do some...important...work with Doctor Bradford."

"Of course, sir," said Voorhees.

Nova got up. She turned to Derek and saluted. "Station secured, sir."

Derek returned the salute. "You'd better tell Doctor Sane I need to talk to him later," he muttered. "We don't need this except for real medical emergencies."

Nova noticed Bradford watching her and she just looked down quietly. Derek recognized it as a subtle "yes" from her.

"Dismissed." Captain Wildstar said a moment later.

Lieutenant Wildstar and Doctor Bradford left together.

Nova had just changed her uniform and stood in her regular nursing uniform; minidress and boots. "I'm ready, Doctor."

"Let me look at that. Ten-hut!" said Bradford.

Nova came to attention.

Bradford looked her over. "Hmm. Burn off those loose threads at your right pocket; starch that dress, and get those boots shined. You've got a terrible scuff on the right one, Nurse."

"I'm sorry, Doctor," said Nova. "The last time I had these on earlier today, I was helping pull people out of a damaged compartment down on Deck Number Three by Frame Number 266. It was a bit dirty down there."

"Okay; I'll not report you to Doctor Sane for now. Just get busy with that polish later on. Medkit ready?"

"Aye, aye, ma'am."

"Okay. Let's get going. You'll begin the exam, of course."

"Of course."

Bradford and Wildstar found the Rikashan prisoner to be remarkably cooperative, quiet, and even noble about his imprisonment

"Tell me about your homeworld, please," he said. "What's your planet Earth like?"

Nova said, "Well, Earth is cold in a few regions near the poles, temperate in most areas, and very hot near the equator. There are many oceans, lakes, and seas, many continents, but not as many people as one might think because of the war with Gamilon. In that war, they made Earth into a desert."

"Like Rikasha," he said. "My world is very dry, very hot, and water is a little hard to come by. People sell it there. Occassionally, poor people die because they can't afford any drinking water and can't get to a place where they can gather water on their own."

"How terrible," said Bradford quietly.

"How much of your Earth is water now?" asked the Rikashan.

"Seven eighths of the surface," said Bradford.

"I've heard of worlds like that," said the Rikashan. "Is it true that on such a world, there's enough water to crawl through like a sport?"

Bradford raised her eyebrows. Nova knew what he meant, though. "You mean swimming?"

"Is that your word for it? Tell me what it's like to swim."

"Very nice," said Nova. "You take off your regular clothes and put on a brief garment that can withstand the water; and then you jump in. It's nice on a hot day, when you need to cool off...even more fun when you do it with a friend or friends you can splash with."

"Splash?" said the Rikashan. "What's that?"

"There's so much water in a place where you swim that you can throw it at each other. I sort of like it when my husband does that when we swim together. It's fun."

"A planet where there's enough water to crawl in. Please teach me how to do that," said the Rikashan plaintively. "And please let me swim in the water. And...do women do that as well as men?"

Nova nodded, blushing a little. "Yes. Men and women wear...brief outfits. Sometimes, if they're lovers and they can find a place alone, they don't wear anything at all to swim in."

"Interesting. I'd love to see that...a planet where you don't worry about the sun's heat...a planet where there's enough water to play in. Am I all right?"

"You're fine, as far as we can tell," said Doctor Bradford. "We'll see you again in a few days."

"To both of you...thanks."

"You're welcome," said Nova with a smile.

Then, she and Bradford went in to see Hartcliffe.

"Mister Hartcliffe," said Nova. "We're here to look at you."

"I'm surprised," he said. "I heard through scuttlebutt that you didn't want to associate with me again, Nova."

"I didn't and I don't. But my oath and my job override my personal preferences. If you need to be examined and it's my job, I'll do it. If you heard anything else, it's because I was angry at you, and I do apologize."

"Oh, good. This'll be fun. Especially since I've had no...female companionship..."

"Hartcliffe, stop it," snapped Bradford. "We're professionals. We're not a dating service, we're not available, and if either of us were, I doubt we'd want to date you. Besides, aren't you married?"

Hartcliffe was about to retort with some comment, but Nova just cut him off. "Hold out your arm, Mister Hartcliffe. I need to check that blood pressure."

"Got it," he said. "How izzit?"

"Normal," said Nova. "Do you want to see Angie?"

"She hasn't been down here to visit."

"I'll ask her to come down and see you. She's not so angry now."

"Really?"

"Yes, really," said Nova. "Open your mouth. I need to look inside it," said Nova while she got a medical penlight. "Get ready for the popsicle stick. Give me a really good noise, now."

"Eeeeeeeeaaaaaaagggghhh," went Hartcliffe.

"His throat's normal. Doctor, you look at his eyes..."

Hartcliffe had a light shined into his eyes. "Normal," said Bradford.

The rest of the examination proceeded normally. Finally, Hartcliffe asked. "Any idea when me trial starts?"

Nova said, "Well, a new court-martial board has been picked, so they'll probably begin tomorrow."

"Why'd you have to pick a new board?"

"One of the members of the old board, Orion, just died in battle. That's why," said Nova.

"I see," said Hartcliffe.

"We're done," said Bradford.

Nova just nodded, and they left Hartcliffe alone in his cell.

A short while later, Nova changed back into her regular uniform and arrived back on the first bridge.

Aliscea came onto the bridge a few minutes later. "Captain Wildstar...is it possible for us to warp again today?"

"We were going to hold a funeral at nineteen hundred," said Wildstar. "Why do you ask?" he said, thinking he knew the answer.

"Ekogaru's power has just increased, if one can consider that possible. He is drawing even closer to Iscandar. It's vital that we get there as soon as possible."

"Can we push the ship again, Sandor?" asked Venture.

Sandor sat in silence. "These long, repeated warps are putting a strain on the engine and the warp mechanism, as well as on the structure of the Argo herself. I guess we could warp at twenty hundred, after the funeral."

"Let's pull up another random value," suggested Nova. "That way, our course will be harder for the enemy to predict."

"Good idea," said Captain Wildstar. "You do that."

"Roger."

Nova ran the calculation, and the highest number that came up was 7,096.

"Can we do a 7,100 light-year warp?" asked Venture after Nova sent him the value.

"That's possible," said Sandor. "Can we do that at twenty hundred, Captain?"

Wildstar said, "Yes." He then made an announcement that they were going to warp at twenty hundred.

"It's almost dinner time," said Parsons. "Our reliefs should be up here soon for the next watch."

"Good," said Dash. "I'm hungry."

"Except for you, Dash," said Captain Wildstar. "You'll be on duty for the next watch as Officer of the Deck."

"Rats," he said as the others laughed.

A little later on, Nova left her quarters in the Captain's cabin, having put her white peacoat on over her gold uniform. Supplementing her uniform with her red ascot...My Scarlet Scarf, thought Nova with a sad little grin, she went down the stairs towards the lift. A few minutes later, she arrived in the Argo's hydroponic garden.

Doctor Sane found her there picking some flowers. "So, what are you doing?"

"Getting these for Orion. I'm going to visit him before dinner...and...pay my respects. We've been so rushed lately, I haven't really had time to do so."

"We haven't had time for a lot of things," said Sane. "I hope we can relax a little when we get to Iscandar. How close are we, anyway?"

"After we warp tonight, we'll be eighty-nine thousand light-years away from Earth. After they check the engine, they're talking about warping another twenty thousand light-years tomorrow. We might reach Iscandar sometime this weekend."

"And then we can relax a little? I've got my swimsuit ready, Nova."

"Maybe. Aliscea is expecting some kind of confrontation with Ekogaru. We'll have to see what happens. Although..." mused Nova. "Well, someone from Living Group said they put a request in to Mechanical Group to have a surfboard or two produced in the replicator. If that's the case, I might like to try it out."

"You know how to do that?"

"Yes, but not very well," laughed Nova. "I usually fall off after about thirty seconds. I once sent a picture that Natalie took of me on a surfboard to Derek on his long patrol last year. Judging from the letter he sent back to me, he thought it was cute."

"Were you on the board, or falling off?" said Sane.

"On it. It wouldn't have made a graceful picture if I was going "aaaaaaa" and falling off the board."

Dr. Sane smiled. "Those flowers are for...?"

"Orion. I'm going to see him for one last time before we have the funeral. He was always so nice to me..."

"Well..." sighed Doctor Sane. "Want me there with you?"

"No. It's best if I do this...alone. I don't even want Derek there. He knows what I'm doing, but..."

"I see." He gave Nova a hug. "Come back to see me if you need to talk any more."

"Thanks," said Nova. She gathered her wits up about her and left.

The Argo's morgue was a part of Sickbay...a room kept cold, like a freezer, for the preservation of the dead; thus, Nova's extra clothing. Still, her breath blew cold about her as she walked in.

I never liked this room much, she thought. I know; Captain Avatar told us to remember the dead and move on, but I've never much liked the end of a life. She looked around at the coffins and sighed. Every one of these coffins means that someone, somewhere is crying right about now. Parents, a wife or husband, brothers or sisters, grandchildren, thought Nova as her eyes misted.

She looked around. Finally, she knelt before a coffin and opened it.

Under a light frost, Pat Orion lay there, still, looking as if he was sleeping.

"Orion, I promised you I'd come," said Nova softly. "What a way to be saying goodbye," she said with a hitch in her voice. The tears began to run down her cheeks a moment later. "You were so nice, staying with me that time I called my parents, helping me deal with Momma and her pictures of suitors. Guess what? All of those guys were boring anyway. And Poppa asked if I had found someone here on the Argo? Boy, you know the answer to that question, don't you, Pat?" laughed Nova through her tears. "Now, your sons will never see you coming home again, you'll never hug Cathleen again...I'll keep tabs on her, let you know how she grows when I see you at Heroes' Hill...and I understand you have a boy, a cadet who might serve with us, soon. I'll keep tabs on him for you, too, okay? Now, you go tell Captain Avatar that Derek and I are doing just fine." Nova sobbed as she laid her additional bundle of flowers over Orion's chest. "Oh, my God, we'll miss you so much...we'll..."

Then, Nova just lost it, and fell crying over Orion's cold chest. She held his hand, watching the tears fall on it.

"Sorry, Orion, I always get like that," sobbed Nova. "I'm as bad as my mother, maybe worse...Sorry you're seeing me like this...but I've got to be strong...got to encourage Derek and the others, got to put on that stiff upper lip...oh, damnit, what stiff upper lip? I lost a friend and my heart's breaking!"

Behind Nova the door whizzed open. While she wept, a kind but firm hand fell on her shoulder. She felt something wet running down the nape of her neck.

"Hey, Nova," said a familiar voice.

"Derek! But you're..."

"No need for you to cry alone, honey," he sobbed. "I guessed you'd be here. I...I...wanted to say goodbye to him, too.."

Nova hugged her husband. He returned the hug, and for a moment, in the cold, the two of them wept together over Orion's body. Then, Derek lay his bouquet on his chest.

"He was so fatherly...kinda like the Captain," said Derek. "He helped me see Captain Avatar as a person who took a loss and then went on when I thought Alex was dead and I was so angry at him. He was one of the people who helped me see that life was worth living again. The others were the Captain, Venture, Sandor...and you, of course. Then he was so wise, keeping an eye on us when we mutinied a few months back, I still remember what he said, 'someone's gotta keep you young fellas in line, now that Captain Avatar's gone'. Now, he's gone, too."

Nova just nodded mournfully. She shut the casket and stood. Derek also stood, and then he saluted. She joined him in the fist-to-the-heart salute, and then they sat down together on the deck again.

"So many others," said Captain Wildstar. "Parmon, Farland, deGrothius, Tanami, and Orion, especially..."

"I hope he's sharing a drink with the Captain now," laughed Nova as she clung to her husband on the deck.

"Hey...speaking of drinks," said Derek with a wink in the cold. "I brought us this." He pulled a small bottle out of the inner pocket of his peacoat.

"Ah, the quote-unquote spring water, hmm?" chuckled Nova. She undid the cap and sniffed at the bottle. "It smells suspiciously like sake. Are you breaking some regulation?"

"It's for...medicinal purposes..." teased Derek while he removed two small sake cups from his other pocket. Nova then poured him his glass, and he poured hers.

"Kampai, Orion," said Derek in a soft voice.

"Kampai," replied Nova softly. They clinked the plastic cups, and then drank together to Orion's memory.

After the Captain put everything away, he put an arm around Nova's shoulder. "Hey, Nova. Let's go."

"Good idea. I'm getting cold," she said, shivering even under her heavy peacoat.

The couple left holding hands, silently consoled by each other's company. They felt that now, they were ready to face the funeral.

 III. YVONA'S CONVERSATION

"There is so much about you," purred Ekogaru while he rocked and squeezed Yvona, "that I wish I understood."

"What do you mean?" she replied in fearful tones.

"Much about you, is a mystery, shrouded in an enigma. Your psyche may be quite as individualistic as mine. May I probe your mind?"

"You're like a god," whispered the frightened Yvona; she was both awed by Ekogaru and repulsed by him. Part of her wanted to cuddle up closer to this cold monster of a man, while part of her wanted to run from this thing that held her. "Why do you need to ask?"

"It's easier if you consent," he replied. "Easier since even I am tired now. A disadvantage of having a brain which is still flesh is that even I can grow weary. I detest the...weakness...of this state."

"So part of you is still mortal?"

"Yes....unfortunately. I was thinking of my mother. How she cast me out...how she and father left me to die long ago in the burning Rikashan desert when they discovered my early psionic experiments. They said...I was going beyond acceptable bounds. They said I was a warlock; not a mage. They said I was...mad. Possibly possessed by...things. Such was my family. But I lived. And I had my vengeance later on. Let's see what yours was like, Yvona. Yes. Let us see..."

The Dark Lord put a cold hand on Yvona's head, and she seemed to fall back, back, back into the past.

"How's the flight, Yvona?" asked a younger Hiram Josiah. He put a hand on his wife's stocking-clad knee.

"Hiram, don't do that. Not in front of the children," she said.

"What's wrong with my putting a hand on your knee? Isn't that innocuous?"

"Hiram, a lot of things can start with a hand on the knee."

"On a plane?" smiled Lieutenant Commander Hiram Josiah. He shook his head, looking across the table. "Karl, does what I'm doing look particularly dirty?" he asked while he sat there in his United Nations Space Defense Force uniform, with his hand on his wife's black stocking-clad knee. Yvona wore a black dress and Victorian-looking black booties.

"No," smiled Karl. Karl Forrester sat there in a grey blazer with black slacks and boots. His wife, Teri, sat beside him in a tan shorty bib coverall set with a beige top on beneath it, supplemented with brown sandals. Her hair was down, and she looked rather stylish. Karl also had a hand on his wife's bare knee. "Given that I have a hand on Teri's knee, there's nothing naughty about it."

"And you're doing that in front of your daughter," smirked Yvona.

"It's innocent," said Teri. "And I hardly think Nova's looking."

Ekogaru shook his head. The adults sat in rotating seats facing each other around a small cocktail table on the JAL plane. The children sat around a similar table on the other side of the aisle.

Two of the children; the girls, sat there in near-identical youth soccer league uniforms in green and gold. They were, of course, Nova and Natalie. Natalie was with the family with her parents' permission; her father had an important court case that he couldn't leave as of the last minute, so the Forresters arranged to take Natalie with them so her vacation wouldn't be interrupted. They had no problem with that, since Nova and Natalie always got along well.

Nova sat scrunched up in her seat, in her green soccer top and gold shorts. She wasn't wearing her soccer socks, and she wore rubber after-game sandals rather than her cleats (her mother wouldn't let her walk on the plane in cleats), but she looked rather cute as she sat concentrating over a Monopoly game with a Band-Aid on her knee. Natalie was similarly dressed, save that she wore her soccer socks with her sandals.

Samuel, on the other hand, wore a suit with shorts, high socks, and dress shoes. He looked more formal than the girls, but it looked like he was having fun.

"What do you have?" asked Samuel.

"She's got an eight," said Nova. "She goes to jail!"

"Oops," giggled Natalie. She marched her piece into Jail.

"If you need a good lawyer, you can ask for my dad," teased Nova.

"Don't tease your father like that," said Yvona "That shows a lack of respect!"

"Yvona," said Teri. "She's a kid. That was cute. Are you bothered by what our daughter said, Karl?"

"No," said Karl as his eyes twinkled through his glasses. He came over to the children. "Why are you in jail, Natalie?"

"She landed on the "Go To Jail" space," said Samuel.

"She's been caught in a life of crime," giggled Nova. "She wants to rob that big bank in San Francisco."

"Do not," said Natalie.

"You do too," said Nova.

"Do not."

"Do too." Nova sang while Yvona looked on and shook her head.

"Do not!" snapped Natalie. "What about you and your boyfriend?"

"I don't have a boyfriend!" giggled Nova.

"Nova's got a boyfriend," teased Natalie. "She looks at Mike all the time at school."

"Do not," said Nova. At that, she paused to kiss her father on the cheek as he went to sit back down.

"You do too," teased Natalie.

"You should be spanked!" yelled Yvona. "Both of you!"

"Yvona," said Teri. "I don't spank other people's children! Now, Nova, Natalie, sit down and take a time-out. You are getting a little loud. What will people say?"

"Yes, Momma," said Nova. Natalie nodded agreement and she also quieted down.

"Children aren't quite human yet," said Yvona. Teri's eyebrows went up. "Why do you treat them as if they were?"

"Yvona, you don't treat a little girl...or...a little boy...like a dog you want to train," said Teri. "Discipline should be leavened with respect, love, and affection." Teri noticed Samuel sitting quietly, and her heart went out to him. I wonder what she does to keep him quiet like that? I hope he's not being abused, she thought.

"God wants us to," said Yvona.

"God does not want us to crush the spirit of a child for our own convenience."

"Are you saying you don't like the way I raise Samuel?"

"Yvona, I never said that...I..."

"Well, I don't like the way you raise your little wild child...you...you...little...tramp! Little girls should not be playing boys' sports! And in tight shorts!"

"These aren't tight," said a very puzzled Nova. Her soccer shorts were, as a matter of fact, fairly baggy.

"Shut up!" yelled Yvona in a voice that made Nova jump and made other passengers look at them.

"Yvona!" cried Teri. She took a deep breath. "You've come along with us...for what reason? To insult us!" said Teri with a hitch in her voice.

"Now, Momma," said Karl reassuringly as he put a hand on her wrist.

Nova ran over and said, "Momma, please don't cry!"

"I can't help it. My sister is mean sometimes...she..."

Teri began to sob quietly while Hiram gazed hard at Yvona. "Now do you see what you've done?"

"The Word saith, "Let a man's enemies be from within his own..."

"Forget what your book says, and live," said Hiram.

"I've never been so insulted, either," said Yvona. "Children," she yelled at Natalie and Samuel. "Vacate those seats. "No, not you, Samuel. You're stupid!"

"Mom, you just said to move," he said as Natalie walked away.

"I changed my mind. And put away that game."

"We were playing," said Samuel. At that moment, the stewardess came over. "Ma'am," she said. "Would you please stop talking so loudly? You're disturbing other passengers."

"Of course," said Yvona. While Nova and Natalie sat down uneasily together in the seats that Hiram and Yvona had just vacated in front of Nova's parents, Yvona then whispered, "Samuel, you're going to really get it when we land for causing all of this...."

"Mom, I was..."

"No you weren't," said Yvona.

Ekogaru and Yvona disappeared, to reappear in his Council chambers. Yvona smiled when the Dark Lord pulled up an image of her son, standing in his peacoat, standing with an umbrella in the snow...in a cemetery, on Earth.

It was evening in the Megalopolis.

Samuel Josiah stood with a bouquet of flowers in the snow near a very fresh grave.

Dad, he thought. You lingered for several weeks. Never regained consciousness. It was almost....merciful, that you finally died on Sunday night. To think we just put you in the ground this afternoon, after Mother stabbed you. Now, I am really an orphan. My Mother is dead, as far as I'm concerned, some traitor...and my Father is now dead. Really dead. Just another one of Yvona's victims.

Samuel Josiah ground his teeth as he laid the bouquet by his father's tombstone. It read:

Rest in peace, Dad, thought Samuel. We won't forget you.

After staring at the tombstone, Samuel Josiah turned around. Karl Forrester stood behind him.

"Sam, let's go," he said. "You're staying with us at our apartment for the night."

"Did you let my cousin know?"

"Earth Defense sent a message out earlier today. I think she knows by now, Sam. I think she knows."

"Damn my mother," said Samuel.

"I agree with you," said Karl. "Finally, so does Teri."

"Thanks," said Samuel after a long moment. "My mother...do you have a lot of Scotch around?"

"We do. Why do you ask?"

"I've gotta tell you and Teri about a lot of things she did...both to me...and to my cousin. She was a sick, sick woman..."

"I see. You can tell us at the apartment. Hate to cut you off, but it's cold out here."

Samuel Josiah nodded.

Later that day, on the Argo's foredeck, Rabbi Greenberg, the ship's Chaplain, intoned, "In the name of peace, with hopes for a better tomorrow, we commend these fallen warriors to the Sea of Stars." While the caskets drifted over the Argo's side, as the Combat Group and Marines fired salutes from their hand weapons, the rest of the crew stood in salute. Lieutenant Yamazaki, Lieutenant Parsons, Ensign Rosstowski, Lieutenant Wildstar, Lieutenant Commander Venture, Lieutenant "Dash" Jordan and Lieutenant Commander Sandor stood in a line below the first gun turret, holding salutes in their old-type spacesuits as, above them, Captain Wildstar stood saluting in his red and white old-type spacesuit.

"Farewell, everyone," murmured Derek softly in his helmet. "Farewell, Orion. I hope that we don't have to do this again on this voyage. It's probably too much to hope for...but..."

The crew held the salute for a long time. Finally, Rabbi Greenberg said, "All hands, these proceedings are ended."

"At ease," said Venture a moment later.

The crew released the salute, and Venture looked up at Wildstar. Derek nodded. "All hands, you are dismissed. Essential personnel will return to their posts. Everyone else is given an hour off for a period of reflection. You may break ranks now."

The formation broke in an orderly manner. Then, the crew began to return to the inside of the ship.

Later on aboard the Argo, in the Captain's Quarters, Nova was taking off her spacesuit helmet not long after the funeral on deck.

"Well, at least it's done," said Derek. "Orion and the others are now decently at rest in the Sea of Stars."

Nova nodded. "I still feel wrenched. I'm wondering who else we'll be laying to rest before we get home. I hope it's not you..."

"You worry too much," said Derek. He hugged Nova, who made a crinkly noise when they embraced because she still had on the old-style spacesuit that they had been forced to wear today due to the local radiation. "Want me to help you out of that?"

Nova nodded yet again; tears were running down her cheeks. Derek began to undo her spacesuit a moment later. When the chore was finished, and her spacesuit and boots had come off, she stood there barefoot in her regular female Star Force uniform; the female variant was tight enough to be worn as an undergarment beneath a standard spacesuit.

"Here, let me help you out of yours, Derek."

Wildstar relaxed and let Nova undress him out of his spacesuit. When she was done, he stood there in his undershirt and boxer shorts. Both of them stowed their spacesuits in the specially-designed garment bags, and then Derek sat down exhausted at his desk.

"I wish I could sleep for a hundred years," he said as he sat there with his head drooping back. Nova knelt behind his chair and began to rub his shoulders. "Just another hard day at the office," he said in a self-deprecating tone. He sat there, enjoying Nova's rubdown with a smile on his face and closed eyes. "You're good at this."

"I should be; I'm a nurse," teased Nova. "And we are both off duty."

"Yeah...it's twenty hundred. We still have forty-five minutes to reflect before the next watch starts."

"We're not on watch tonight," suggested Nova.

Derek smiled. "Yeah....we do have some catching up to do, since Gun Frontier. Did you do your preliminaries for Hartcliffe's court-martial?"

"Did them earlier this evening," said Nova. "I have no more work to do tonight. Unless, that is, we get attacked. Oh! I need to check my e-mail."

"You checked it earlier."

"Let's just see if anything else came in."

Nova padded over to her computer and brought up her e-mail program. "The usual spam," she sighed. "Want something to make you "irresistible to ANY woman?""

"And that's in your box? They must think you run on DC current."

They both laughed at this. "Oh. Got two from my mom. Let's see what the first one says..."

"Hmm...it says, I hate to upset you, but...."

Nova opened the letter and read. Her face went white after a moment, "Derek...oh, my God. No!"

Derek looked at the stricken expression on his wife's face. He barely needed to read the body of the message to see that something bad had happened....

"Not more death!" cried Nova. She fell into her husband's arms and wept. "Derek, when is it going to stop?"

"When we defeat them," he said. Tears ran down his cheeks, too. "Captain Josiah was a good man."

Nova just clung to her husband's arm and sobbed. A knock came at the hatch. "Who is it?" yelled Captain Wildstar in a broken voice.

"Doctor Sane. I'm sorry to disturb you two, but we need Nova right away."

"What happened now?" sobbed Nova.

"Come in," said Derek.

Doctor Sane came in and looked mystified. "What's happened?"

"She just got word that her uncle died. Yvona Josiah did it."

Sane looked upset. "I'm so sorry. I just got a call from Doctor Bradford...someone else might die soon if he doesn't get treated?'

"Who?" said Nova, who sat up bolt upright.

"Lieutenant Bryan Hartcliffe just tried to kill himself."

"How?" said Nova as she put her feet down in a hurry. "Derek, my boots? What happened?"

"He got hold of a plastic writing stylus, sharpened it, and cut his own wrists pretty damn deep," said Sane as Nova put her shoes back on. "He left a note in his own blood that said, quote, "No one's putting me on bloody trial." Unquote."

"terrible..." said Nova.

"Nova, don't you want your nursing uniform?"

"I've got a uniform down in Sickbay. I'll change there when we scrub." She turned to Derek and kissed him. "Sorry, again. I'll see you later."

"Good luck on the operation," said Derek.

Both of them left.

Now we've got more crap, thought Derek while he reached for his clothes. I wonder what other e-mail she got? Well, I won't snoop, so, I'll just shut this down for her and take a look in at that operating theatre in a while...as much as I dislike that Hartcliffe, I hope he'll be all right...

The Captain dressed and left.

Later on, he stood looking down at the main operating room in Sickbay through the observation windows. Doctor Sane worked on the still, anesthetized form of Bryan Hartcliffe, while Nova and Natalie Fisher assisted him in their scrub minidresses and boots. IQ-9 worked running some equipment nearby.

"I heard he needed blood," said Conroy.

"Yeah...looks like they're running quite a bit into him," said Wildstar, who noticed two bottles of blood hanging on a stand over the pilot. In the operating room, Nova disappeared for a moment, and then came back with a third bottle, which she plugged into the IV they had running into his elbow. His wrists were in no shape to accept an IV feed, of course.

"I heard that his cell was a mess when they found the poor devil," said Rosstowski. "Hemsford told me another five minutes, and they'd be doing an autopsy right now."

"Well, there goes his court-martial...at least for a while," said Dash.

"Yeah. We can't do anything now until he gets a complete psychiatric evaluation; and Doctor Sane will have to do that," said Captain Wildstar.

"How long will that take?" asked Conroy.

"Days," said Dash. "Maybe a week."

"He'll have to recover first, of course," said Doctor Bradford as she came up. "I don't know how likely that'll be."

"Where's his wife?' asked Captain Wildstar.

"I have her sedated in a side room. Hardy pulled her off an outgoing patrol when he heard the news."

"What a shame," said Dash. "I hope he realizes how his selfishness is hurting everyone else."

"I'll beat it into him if he doesn't," said Rosstowski.

"Ensign," warned Derek.

"Sorry, sir...figure of speech," said Paul. "Yeah...Aliscea just warned me, too, through our link."

"Not a good situation," said Conroy.

"No, not at all," agreed Captain Wildstar.

"Well, now that we've restored his blood volume, we can get these tendons fixed," said Doctor Sane after Nova and Natalie disconnected the IV's. "Help me hold this vein down while I fix it. Then we can loosen those hemostats up again."

"Right away," said Nova. "I've got a clamp here. Got it?"

"Let me get in here with the laser unit," said Sane. "Natalie, how's his blood pressure?"

"Low but steady," she said. "I think he'll pull through this. I don't know if that'll be a good thing or a bad thing for him, though."

"It'll be dicey," said Sane. "Nova, when we get done, you stay with him. Natalie, you and Brunner get the secure room ready. Given how he was yelling in that brig, he's going to wake up in restraints."

"Do you think he'll be cashiered for this?" asked Nova.

"That's my decision," said Sane. "You just get me all the diagnostic notes you can when he's no longer groggy. Ever counsel him?"

"Once. It didn't go well. Him and his attitude problem," sighed Nova.

"Let me guess. He was complimenting your looks, and it wasn't your face he was complimenting," chuckled Sane.

"No, Doctor," said Nova as she blushed under her mask.

"I can see you blushing under that mask, Nova. What was he complimenting?"

"You don't want to know," she said softly. "He should be complimenting his wife. She's very pretty. Maybe prettier than I am in some ways."

"Oh, stop putting yourself down, Lieutenant. You're drop-dead gorgeous and everyone on this ship knows that."

"What does that make me?" said Natalie.

"A pain in the backside!" said Sane. "Now you be good and get me twenty cc's of Ivox. I'm going to need it here in this wound."

"Yessir," said Fisher.

"Your bottom is not a pain. It is a work of art, Fisher," said IQ-9 as he looked away from his panel.

"Tinwit!" warned Nova. "We're busy."

"I owe you one, Natalie. You, too, Nova, so you won't feel neglected."

"Thanks a lot, IQ," huffed Lieutenant Wildstar.

"Is he like this all the time?" asked Natalie.

"Yeah," sighed Nova. "Has he annoyed you yet?"

"Nope."

"Get ready, it's coming, Natalie," said Nova with a grin under her mask.

Two and a half days passed aboard the Argo, which was now close to the very edge of the Great Magellenic Cloud. Bryan Hartcliffe remained confined in Sickbay while Doctor Sane and Nova took time to question him about his motives and state of mind. He was quite uncommunicative, and often responded to questions in only grunts. His fitness to stand trial, and, possibly, his fitness to remain an EDF officer, was in the balance.

The journey continued without incident. The ship's systems were repaired, and the Argo survived every warp smoothly. In fact, a normal routine took hold. The ship was checked and rechecked, the Black Tigers went on patrol and returned with no sightings of any enemy forces, and things were normal, or as normal as they could be.

Even Aliscea reported that Ekogaru was, inexplicably, slowing in his approach of the Sanzar System. She began to think that they might have two, perhaps even three weeks before he and his dreaded Fortress arrived.

"If he continues to work this slowly," she said as she sat at Analysis on the First Bridge, "Starsha and I will surely have time to work out some sort of strategy to stop him. This battle, at least with his forces, might never even get to Earth."

"Why do you sound so confident?" asked Dash.

"Ekogaru and his Fortress are inextricably linked," explained Aliscea. "If he is wounded or killed in psionic battle, his Fortress would just stop dead in its tracks. And, since I think his cyborg forces are somehow linked to his twisted life-force, his Empire wouldn't be much of a threat, either."

"What about the Rikashans and R'Khell?" asked Rosstowski.

"Paul, from what you've seen, they worship Ekogaru. Their holy war is driven by their faith in him, just as the Crusaders were driven by faith in their God. If they receive word that their God is wounded or dead, I think the momentum of their holy war would slow down or maybe stop altogether. The threat to your Earth would either drop off or dry up altogether in those circumstances. I need to go off and meditate, if you don't mind...while we make this warp, but I have words for each of you. Captain Wildstar, may I proceed?"

"Go ahead."

"These thoughts came to me in dreams," she said. "Dreams and visions." She stood up and held Dash's shoulders. "Dash, whatever you do, don't give up. The storm is darkest before the dawn; remember that, always. Don't give up on life. In the next few years, you will be the XO of another ship. Don't lose sight of that."

"Of course," he said.

Then, Aliscea walked over to Venture. "Mark; what you and Holly Parsons have is something special. Don't lose sight of it. Remember your past loves; they will serve you well, but don't live in the past. Many trials will be coming, but don't ever lose hope. Those are my words to you."

"Thank you, Aliscea," said Venture, whose eyes were misting. He wasn't sure why.

Then, Aliscea walked to Sandor. "Steve, if I may call you that?"

"Yes?"

"I think I had a vision of you. You will continue to advance, and I see you sitting at this same seat within two years, on this bridge, after the fire of the phoenix washes over this grand ship and makes her over again anew. The life-spirit of this ship will never die in your lifetime. You have a great charge. Heal her through her wounds, and she shall take care of you. She shall bring you love. I see a day in the future when, indeed, you will not be alone."

"Thank you," said Sandor as Aliscea hugged him. He was both intrigued and mystified by her words.

Aliscea then turned to Nova. "Sister...may I call you that?"

"Sister?" said Nova.

"You've been like that for me. Caring. Accepting. Always there. I had a specific vision about you and I. Do you want to hear about it?"

Nova nodded.

"Do you have enough courage to bear it?"

"Yes, I do."

"I saw us naked in Hell together," said Aliscea in a monotone.

"What?" said Nova, who was totally horrified by this.

"It may be figurative; for, sometimes my Visions don't make a lot of sense," said Aliscea. "I don't think I saw the afterlife. I think we might meet on his Fortress before this ends. I also know that you will have to meet your greatest fear and decapitate it. Or, she will decapitate you."

"Do you mean my Aunt Yvona?" demanded Nova.

"If she is your greatest fear...which I am not sure she is...maybe she represents it. I don't know. If I were you, I would practice my fencing with a rapier. Practice the fastest moves you can make up with your husband. Think of it as an elaborate jazz dance. I know you love to dance. Yet, in the end, I see you holding your children, and I see you in school again for a time; and I see you in the summer; once, with a baby on your back; once, with Derek on a bicycle in a sundress. I think both will come to pass, but you will have to endure darkness first. And you will never be truly alone. Remember that, even in the darkness and in the cold. Remember that on the day when you have to carry me and warm me with your body warmth so I can live...so we can all be free. Especially in that day."

Aliscea hugged Nova. Nova hugged back, but weakly. What is ahead for me? she thought. Do I die? Do I meet Ekogaru? And what does Yvona have to do with this?

Aliscea then held hands with Holly. She said, "I will have to rescue you. There will be a time, soon, where you won't be able to walk or move anything below your waist. You and Mark will suffer terribly. Yet, I also see you skipping down the aisle at your wedding, and I see you dancing barefoot with your husband, the Commander, Captain Wildstar, and with Nova on a summer's day more than a year from now. Maybe you marry him or have the reception on a beach? I don't know."

"Thanks," said Holly. Parsons cast her eyes downwards, not sure what Aliscea meant.

Aliscea then walked back to the Captain's station and knelt beside Captain Wildstar. She and Derek held hands, and she said, "I dreamt about you last night. For you, I saw a number of parties or functions. Odd. I saw a party on Iscandar. It is soon; it will be on the beach. Then, I saw a celebration here on the bridge of this ship. You and Nova are holding hands and embracing as you both gaze into something that looks like the sun. Tears are running down your faces, and you are both happy because a great evil has passed. Then, I see the two of you laughing together in a church with her family. A funeral suddenly turned into a banquet; perhaps because someone thought dead stands in the midst of the group alive. Then, later, I see you and her at a ball on Gamilon."

"Gamilon?" said Derek, totally mystified. "We devastated it. How can anyone have a party there? It's a dead planet, Aliscea."

"I saw it, and I saw Nova with her shoe off, dipping a toe into the seawater at the shore on Gamilon and laughing. I have no idea what that means."

"Aliscea, are you sure it was Gamilon? Gamilon's oceans are sulfuric acid. It nearly dissolved this ship; and I don't like to think of what that acidic sea would do to a human being!"

"Nevertheless, it was Gamilon," said Aliscea. "Maybe it means that many things will change. Also, all the time, I saw you and her together. Except for a dark hour when you are looking at your wedding photo album, alone. But later, you were looking at it with her. Take heart from that, Captain Derek Wildstar. I see you and Nova growing old together, very old. You might even both live to be a hundred and still be with each other. I don't know for sure. But, don't give up. There is a future, and it is bright."

She then released Derek and then went on to Homer. "I had a funny vision about you," she said with a smile. " I see you dating someone. She has brown hair, and she's very pretty. In fact, she's gorgeous. Does that help?"

"It does!" said Homer. "Thanks!"

"Now, for you, Yamazaki," said Aliscea as she took his hands. "You will serve here for a long, long time. You are mourning the loss of your Chief, yet, before this ends, you will see his son here on this ship. You will train him to step into his father's shoes...I saw that."

"Thank you," said Yamazaki. "That makes me feel better."

"Paul," she said as she hugged her bondmate. "Paul, you were in all my dreams. Always there. Always together. Let that thought console you a while...since I see us as being parted."

"Parted? But why?"

"To defeat Ekogaru, I have to descend into Hell. His hell. I must confront him. And I can't do it with you beside me."

"But I want to be there!" said Paul.

"Unfortunately, you cannot be. But we will meet again," said Aliscea. She released the hug and said, "That will be all."

"Captain," said Venture. "We're ready to make our last warp in five minutes. Our destination will be...the Sanzar System. When we come out of warp, Iscandar and Gamilon will be looming up in those windows."

"Commander Venture, make those preparations. Homer, stand by to contact Queen Starsha. When we come out of warp, I want Iscandar contacted. The end of this stage of our journey is now almost before us."

"Yessir!" said Venture...and Homer. For once, both men were in agreement.