ALTERNATE
TALES OF THE STAR FORCE
STAR BLAZERS---TREACHERY
Being the second part of
THE NEW COMET--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz
This Act is being completed with the
Cooperation and Assistance of Derek A.C. Wakefield (as usual)---Freddo
ACT EIGHT: A WINTER OF
DISCONTENT
I. FIRST DATE (kind of…)
Earth
The Vicinity of the
Space Fighters’ Training School
Greatland’s Coffee Shop:
Kawaguchi
Friday, October 4, 2205
1900 Hours: Earth Time
Deke
Well, I’m here, he
thought. But where’s Sasha? She said
she’d be in blue, and…
Deke’s
thoughts, heart, and soul came to a screeching stop when he first spotted Sasha
sipping decorously at a cup of coffee. She wore a white turtleneck, blue jacket
and skirt, and charcoal-colored boots that matched her belt. But, it wasn’t
quite her apparel that made his heart stop.
It was her face. Never had
he known that Sasha was hiding a gorgeous blonde mane of hair quite like hers,
nor had he known how attractive her rounded face was.
What’s this? Deke thought. She’s gorgeous, and, shit, I don’t even like
blondes! But…what a blonde! Ghod! I thought Mrs. Wildstar was attractive! But
her? She makes the great heroine Nova look like a dog by comparison! WOW!
Sasha
looked up from her coffee just long enough to smile and call Deke over with two
fingers that were up in a playful “come-thee-hither” gesture.
Deke
came over and sat down.
However,
unknown to him, off in a corner of the coffee shop, Brew was sitting with some
of his homework. His eyes nearly popped out when he saw Deke sitting down with
Sasha.
What? Brew thought. Deke’s with a girl? And she’s a blonde? Sticks
doesn’t have a thing for blondes! What’s goin’ on here, bro? Woo, this is some
crazy shit!
“What
do you want?” he asked.
“I’m
treating,” Sasha replied in a quiet voice.
“But…”
“I’ve
got more than enough money,” replied Sasha. For her, that was indeed the case;
after all, she owned a good part of the wealth of Iscandar, and her family made
sure that she had ample credits in the bank here on Earth. “Now, would you put
your tongue back in your face and sit down, Deke?”
“Uh…sure.”
The
waitress came over a moment later and handed Deke a menu. He ordered a latte
and a pastry, determined that he’d at least help Sasha with the tip.
“Did
you hear about Hartcliffe the other night in the Rat?” began Deke.
Sasha
giggled at that. “I’ve heard. News gets around fast about that character. Is he
really that bad?”
“Yes,
he is,” said Deke, who almost regretted bringing up the subject. “And he
thought it was funny to pinch his wife’s butt in public on the way out. He got
Nova once, too.”
“My
God,” said Sasha as a blush came to her face. “He’s like a human IQ-9 or
something.”
Deke
was puzzled for a moment until several of Nova’s passages in her book about the
perverted “genius robot” came to his mind all at once. “You mean that Ninth Class robot?”
“No,
she means me,” said a little red tin can that zipped up on its tracks.
Sasha
put a hand over Deke’s wrist and smiled, as if she was teasingly saying, “Please protect me from the tinwit!” Deke not only didn’t object, he also smiled
back.
This be crazy, thought Brew as he watched
Deke and Sasha over his book. He’s not
only forgotten about his squirrel, he’s letting this second-year babe touch his
hand and he’s smilin! What’s wrong with you, Deke? Get that gloomy crap taken
outta yo’ head at last?
Deke
couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing as he looked at the robot. “So you’re the famous IQ-9?”
“Yes,
I am a certified genius. I’m here with Doctor Sane.”
“I
hear you’re a certified lunatic” said Sasha with a smile. She winked at Deke
and said, “Are you gonna try to lift my skirt, IQ?”
“NO”
said Deke as Sasha laughed softly. “Don’t encourage him, Sasha. He’ll…”
“Don’t
worry,” said IQ-9. “I only do that to her Au….I mean, function call messed up…I
mean, I only do that to Nova!”
“Get
over here, you!” yelled a little fireplug of a man who seemed to be adding
something from a bottle to his espresso. “Nova’s not here tonight, IQ-9!”
“Yeah,
we know that!” called out Sasha, who immediately put her hands over her mouth
and grinned at Deke.
“You’re
encouraging him,” said Deke.
“Teasing
him,” repeated Sasha.
“Same
thing,” said Deke.
“I
like being a tease,” said Sasha as she smiled at Deke again. The spell of her
sparkling, happy eyes was something new for Deke; he vaguely remembered only
how serious Dawn was all the time, having forgotten the good times they had
once shared.
He
again found himself holding hands with Sasha as he smiled back at her “tease”
comment.
Brew
couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Now
he’s smiling at her like an idiot, he thought. I think the world’s about to
end. Deke actually looks happy. Deke’s
actually scoring with a chick. Shit. Holeeee shit.
Brew
looked at another cadet sitting there. “Dude, I’m gonna have to buy me a
jacket?”
“Why,.
Brew?” asked this cadet, who vaguely knew him.
“Because,
my friend, Hell is about to freeze over.” He just pointed towards
“Function
call negatory,” said IQ-9. “She sort of looks like Nova and sort of smells like
Nova, but she is not Nova. Of course,
the explanation is simple, because…”
“Well,
don’t let the whole damn world know it!” yelled Doctor Sane. “Get over here!”
“Bye,
lovebirds” said IQ-9 as his dome flashed.
“Lovebirds?”
said Deke.
“Well,
you are holding my hand,” said Sasha.
She laughed again. “That robot is a real nutcase.”
“So,
where are you from?” asked Deke.
“Someplace,”
said Sasha softly as she smiled at him and looked into his eyes.
Damn, those eyes, he thought. Why are they so beautiful?
“Where’s
someplace?” asked Deke.
“Someplace
far away,” said Sasha, as she thought, Let’s
be cagey here…I think that’ll get him more interested…“My dad’s a military
officer and my mom’s kind of a scholarly type. Mom doesn’t get out very much.
Dad and I have always tried to get her to see more of the world, but she likes
her books and staring at the ocean too much.”
“So
you’re from somewhere around the coast?” asked Deke.
“You
could say that,” said Sasha. “Where are you from?”
“
“Neat,
we’re both from the coast.”
“Like
to surf by any chance?”
“I
like the water,” said Sasha. “What’s surfing?”
“What’s surfing?” repeated Deke. “You’re
from around the shore in
Sasha
laughed. “Okay, I’ve seen one of my brothers doing it; I think. Is that where
you put your bare feet on a board and try and ride a wave?” She knew about the
concept of surfing, but because she had experienced it only on Iscandar, she
didn’t know the Terran English word for it!
“Bingo,”
said Deke. “I’m not half bad at it. I used to surf before the bombings…”
“The
terrible planet bombings,” sighed Sasha. She shut her eyes and wiped at a tear
a moment later, knowing from her unique perspective (since she had not been on earth
during the bombings) that it wasn’t wise to say much more about something she
had not lived through. But she had plenty of opinions about it that she kept to
herself as she bit her lip and tried to hold back tears. Mother, she thought. I can’t
understand your logic. Why couldn’t you have done more? People were dying. Why
did you have to make the fate of Earth some kind of abstract case? I would
never have done that…if I were on the throne. I….me…on the throne? Sure, like
that’ll ever happen. I’m like the Princess everyone in the family forgot.
“Did
you lose someone close to you in the war, Sasha?”
“Yes,”
she said. “A dear aunt of mine.”
“I’m
sorry,” said Deke.
A dear Aunt I never even
met, Sasha
thought. “Who did you lose in the war?” she said in a small voice that sounded
as if she was on the verge of crying. Deke didn’t feel comfortable pushing her
much further, but he knew her question deserved an answer. After a moment, he
said, “I lost both of my parents and my sister…damn those Gamilons!”
“Gamilon
has always been like that,” said Sasha. “They were supposed to be so advanced,
they should damn well know better! I could never figure out from my readings
why such an advanced race could be so morally barbaric. Again…they should know better!”
“Yeah,
they should,” said Deke. “And Iscandar should have done more, too.”
“Explain
your logic?” said Sasha in a quiet voice as she dabbed at her tears. “So we
don’t get upset at each other, let’s consider this like a class exercise.”
“Okay,”
said Deke. “Queen Starsha, she knew we were dying, right?”
“Right.”
“And
she knew she had a cure for our situation on her planet, right?”
“Right.”
“Why
did she not send Astra here years before, before millions, no…billions, were
killed by the planet bombs? And then, why did she insist that we had to come
get the Cosmo-DNA like a few gross tons of Chinese take-out with our own ship?
And why did she not Goddamn tell us that Iscandar was smack next to Gamilon?”
“The
texts said she wanted to test the
mettle of the people of Earth,” said Sasha. “The texts and the stories and
press releases we’ve read. And the Star Force went right along with it.”
“Do
you agree with that?”
“Hell
no,” snapped Sasha. And that is the big
difference between Mother and I, she thought. “When a baby needs a vaccine,
do you see how loudly he can cry, first?” said Sasha. “No. You give him the
vaccine and see to the rest later. In some ways, Starsha was almost as bad as
Desslok in his inhumanity.”
“Bingo,”
said Deke. “You know, most people don’t think that way. They think Starsha was
all-wise, like some goddess or something.”
“She
is not and was not all-wise,” said Sasha with some vehemence.
“This
is interesting,” said Deke. “How do you know that?”
Well, I can’t tell you Mom
and I had a big argument over the wave motion communicator the other day, thought Sasha, so…have to improvise again…”Well,” said
Sasha. “Would you agree with the basic notion that all people are fallible?”
“Yes,
I damn well do.”
“Queen
Starsha, despite her ‘I see all and know
all’ bit, is just as fallible as you and I, Deke,” said Sasha, ignoring
some of the dirty looks that were being shot in her direction from throughout
the coffee shop.
From
his place, Brew was actually surprised that Deke had not only apparently
snagged a blonde, but one with brains and strong moral principles, to boot. Again, this is just crazy, he thought. Almost wanna go over and talk with her,
but…no…don’t wanna spoil the moment.
From
her place at the table, Sasha continued, saying, “About Starsha. She’s just
human. She can screw up. And with the matter of Earth, I think she did screw
up. I agree with you. She could have saved us years before she really did.”
“Match
and set,” said Deke. “I haven’t met a lot of people who think that way, Sasha…”
“Well,
you haven’t met me,” said Sasha. “Oh. My full name is Sasha Petrovsky. Yours is
Deke Wakefield, if I remember correctly.”
“You
do.”
From
his post at the table, Doctor Sane breathed a sigh of relief. Not bad, he thought. She didn’t spill the beans. I can report to
Nova later on that Sasha can go on a date and provide wonderful conversation
that doesn’t provide a clue to who she really is.
“I
wish Nova and Wildstar would hurry up and get here,” said Doctor Sane.
“I
hope Nova has a skirt on,” said IQ-9, who was thinking, Logic dictates: Sasha needs to be distracted so she will not give away
her identity here. Logic dictates: Nova’s behind is adorable. Logic
Dictates: I LOVE Nova. Logic Dictates: I must tease Nova when she comes
in here to distract Mister Wakefield from asking Sasha too many questions. QED.
“You
would,” said Doctor Sane.
The
little bell above the door dinged, and Commodore Derek Wildstar walked in his
black peacoat and Academy whites, followed by Nova, who wore her Academy
whites, a flight jacket, sandals, and…of course…
…a
skirt.
IQ-9’s
sensors lit up like crazy at that.
“Where
were you two?” yelled Doctor Sane.
“You’re late again! BOTH of you!”
Ooo, Nova’s here, thought Brew from behind
his book. And so’s the tinwit. This is
gonna get good. Almost as good as Deke and Mystery Lady over there.
“Checking
out the ship after class,” said Derek as Nova stretched and yawned.
At
their table, Deke and Sasha ignored the Wildstars for the moment as Deke’s
coffee came. He drank some of it as Sasha asked him, “So, what’s your major?”
“Flight
operations, specifically, being a fighter pilot. I know you don’t have a major
yet being in second year, but, what are you interested in?”
“Navigation.
Radar Ops. I like working with numbers and things. I’m pretty good with
integral calculus, applied calculus, et cetera…”
“Good,”
said Deke. “I was fairly good at that, but I have an applied math test coming
up soon for one of my classes…couldja look at these equations?”
“Sure,”
said Sasha as she took Deke’s notebook as he took it out of his gear bag.
“Hmm,” said Sasha. “These are tricky equations you have here.”
“Are you familiar with them?” he asked.
“Please
don’t be so condescending,” said Sasha with a minor look of annoyance on her
face. “I’m familiar with Belkamp’s Theorem; but there’s at least five ways you
can calculate this set of terms and this navigational curve. This is for flying
a fighter, right?”
“Right.
Suborbital approach on a moving target. This is for sketching out the basic
curve pre-flight in case your computer fails.”
“Well,”
said Sasha. “You’d start it like this…”
At
their table, Doctor Sane asked, “So how was your
day, Nova?”
“Did
so much walking around today my feet hurt. It’s been a long day,” said Nova as
she stood on tiptoes. “Hi, IQ. What’s up?”
“Look
down,” piped IQ-9.
Nova
did, and she saw that IQ-9 had raised her skirt…in “stealth” mode. She turned
red and outraged as she realized that her half-slip, bare legs (one playfully
clad with a trick garter for Derek’s eyes only later that night for Operation
Stork), and silken panties were on display for the entire clientele of the
coffee shop. Some people began to applaud and clap.
At
his table, Brew ducked down further behind his book, trying to make sure that
Deke did not see him there. Still, he couldn’t resist the temptation to steal a
glance at Nova from over his book. He did notice from his perspective that in
her partially pulled-up skirt and slip, her panties clothed a very nice-looking behind. He licked his
lips before he hid his face again.
“What’s
going on?” said Deke as he looked up from the math that Sasha was writing.
“Look
to the right, Deke!” whispered Sasha, who did NOT want to be overheard. “Nova
and IQ-9! They’re so funny!”
Deke
looked; then, he sat there with his eyes popping out of his head just before
Sasha looked over again, blushed, and began to giggle her head off softly.
From
his perch, Brew had put down his book, and he was clapping and laughing along
with all of the other males in the place. Some of the waitresses (who looked
fairly cute in their uniforms, which included ruffled blouses, skirts, and
white nurses’ sandals similar to the sort Nova had on) looked rather annoyed at
the lunacy that was going on in the shop all of a sudden.
After
the hubbub faded a little bit, Brew’s friend told him, “Hey, Marrable.”
“What?”
“Don’t
you have to go see Hartcliffe tonight in his office about that flight schedule
tomorrow? The guy’s keeping late hours tonight.”
“Right,”
said Brew. “Hey, Redland, we gotta go. Although the timin’ sucks,” he said.
“And I gotta change my uniform before that damn Hartcliffe gigs me for these
here coffee stains.” So, Brew and Redland left together a moment later.
“What
a nut, Deke!” cried Sasha. “And we were actually here to see it! Nova looks so funny when she gets mad!”
“Don’t
look too much,” said Deke.
“Isn’t
it funny?” said Sasha.
“Yes,
but she might give us boo-koo demerits for it,” said Deke.
“You
have a point there, Deke,” said Sasha with a smile.
“Stop that!” snapped Commodore Wildstar
at the little robot.
“YEAH!
PUT DOWN YOUR DAMN HAND, TINWIT!” cried Nova.
“Yes,
your underwear matches your toenails, just wanted to check,” said IQ-9.
Nova
grabbed Doctor Sane’s sake bottle, stood back, and popped the cork. Then, she
poured as much as she could over IQ-9’s dome.
“What
are you doing? WHAT are you doing?”
“Giving
you hiccups,” snapped Nova as she slammed the bottle of sake back down on the
table and smoothed down her skirt. “Sorry, Doctor,” said Nova. “I’ll reimburse
you later. Maybe this’ll help reprogram him!”
“You’d
better reimburse me for that; that was good sake,” said Sane with a growl.
“You’re
a vet, Doc,” said Nova. “You’d better get the soldering iron and help me get
him neutered!”
“Won’t
work,” piped IQ.
“Not
necessarily,” said Nova. “I’ve tried…”
“You’re
crap with working with integrated
circuits, Nova,” said IQ, with all of the social grace of a bratty four-year
old (and one with a potty mouth; Nova had just learned that he now thought it
was “cute” to curse)
“I’m
getting better at it,” grinned Nova wickedly. “I did reprogram you so you
wouldn’t look in the shower at me.”
“Too
bad,” said IQ.
“Why?”
said Dr. Sane.
“You
know that Nova is a work of art when she’s naked,” piped up IQ.
Nova
blushed strongly at that as she thought Not
everyone here needs to know that!
She wondered what IQ would think of what she sometimes wore to sunbathe
in her yard (nothing) and then thought I
don’t need to encourage him!
“Nova,
let’s go get our coffee,” said Derek. “You look….”
“Embarrassed,”
she said in a small voice.
“They
have waitresses here, sir!” called out Sasha, hoping that her uncle wouldn’t
make sure she was wearing her guts for garters later on.
“No
they don’t,” growled Commodore Wildstar.
“She’s
right, they do have waitress service
here,” said Nova as she sat down, and pointedly put her purse on her skirt
under the table. “C’mon, IQ,” said Nova. “Sit, boy!”
“Sure,
Nova,” said IQ-9, who let an extendo-hand slip between the back of Nova’s chair
and the seat of her chair as he zipped past.
“Oooooooooooo” hissed Nova as she felt a
hand on her tush.
“And
that’s the end of that first proof,” said Sasha, who looked up and began to
laugh again.
“What?”
said Deke.
Sasha
mouthed “look” as Deke looked over to see Nova looking very uncomfortable, and
then relaxing as IQ-9 withdrew his hand.
“Remind
me to keep him away from the graduation party,” said Deke.
“Why?”
laughed Sasha. “He’s a riot. And he only picks on Nova.”
“How
do you know that?”
“Scuttlebutt,”
said Sasha. “Now, let me show you proof #2, the Campbellian Method of solving
this nav-curve.”
In
the meantime, at their table, Nova was kicking IQ-9’s treads; in her sandals,
she could feel him gently trying to play footsie against her toes under the
table, and it was driving her nuts. IQ,
what the hell did you put in your batteries this morning? Nova thought in a
very irritated fashion. She and Derek had had a very rough day, and she was in
no mood for Tinwit’s games this evening.
“What’s
wrong, Nova?” asked Derek, who looked very indignant at this game.
“I
should have brought my guitar tonight, Derek,” hissed Nova. “The solid-body
Fender, preferably.”
“Why?”
said IQ-9.
“So….I…can…brain you with…it!” hissed
Nova as she made a pair of fists.
“IQ,
stop it,” said Commodore Wildstar flatly.
“Do
I have to?”
“It’s
an order,” hissed Derek. A moment
later, his conversation with Nova, Doctor Sane, and IQ-9 just faded into the
general hubbub of the place below the soft pop music piped in over the
speakers, and Deke and Sasha heard no more of it.
At
their table, Deke asked, “I wonder how often that happens? With Mrs. Wildstar,
I mean? That robot is a class-A pervert!”
“More
often than you think,” said Sasha. “I’ve talked to her a bit about it.”
“And?”
“Well,
she’s trying to come up with some measure to stop him…but I don’t know if
she’ll ever succeed or not.”
“Why?”
“Let’s
say a little bird told me,” said Sasha sweetly. She checked her watch and said,
“It’s almost twenty hundred. Before I have to hit my quarters, I have to show
you those other three proofs.”
“Okay,
wanna stay here?”
“No,
let’s go to your room and finish this stuff.”
“My
room? Uh, why?”
“Don’t
you have reference books and a computer there? Also, I’m just curious. Never seen
a pilot’s room before,” shrugged Sasha, who was again subtly lying; she had
seen the master bedroom her aunt and uncle shared quite a few times in the
past.
Strangely
enough, Deke couldn’t find any reason not to go along with Sasha’s logic on
this one. So, after she paid their check and he left the tip, they left.
A few minutes later, Deke and Sasha arrived back at the dorm
where Deke and Brew dwelt.
As Sasha and Deke went down the hall on their floor, Sasha
said, “So this is your dorm?”
“Uh-huh.”
“It’s a little bigger than mine,” said Sasha, who stepped
through the door as Deke opened it.
They were quite surprised as they strode into Deke and
Brew’s room. In the middle of the room stood Brew, who stood
there naked as a jaybird, amidst a pile of clothing and various whatnots,
holding his empty sea chest over his head and shaking it to see if anything
else would fall out.
“What?” said Deke.
“Yo, man, what’d you do with my other belt buckle?” yelled
Brew as he looked at Deke. But then, when he noticed Sasha standing there
looking at his nudity, Brew howled “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargggghhhhh!!”
in panic as he dropped his sea chest down to cover himself.
“Ohhhh NO!” Sasha screamed as she quickly stepped back out
and slammed the door.
At that, Deke just died laughing.
“GODDAMNMUTHERFUHSONUFABITCH!!!” Brewski rattled off angrily
as he looked for a towel. “Deke, what lousy timing, bringing a girl up to our
room!”
“I’m sorry, Brew…I didn’t know!” Sasha called out from the
other side of the door.
“Now you do!” Deke
yelled laughing. “Brewski’s secret’s out. News at ten, film at eleven. Erection
results as they happen.”
“SCREW YOU MAN, GO TO HELL, DEKESTICKS!!” Brew spat as the
adrenaline pumped through his body waking him up good. Once he caught his
breath, he said in a calm, even tone, “Sasha? You can come back in now.”
“Yes?” she said uneasily.
“Do ya need something, Miss?” Brewski asked in a cordial
tone, still holding his sea chest over his midsection.
“Uh…uh…damn. Oh yes! Deke and I were planning to study up
here tonight. Could you please make yourself at least minimally decent? I
wonder why he was like that, Deke? I mean, stark…”
“Oh, you know, Sasha. Brewski has to do his daily sea chest
shuffle,”
“Pleased to make your acquaintance,” smiled Sasha. She
noticed that Brew was still holding his sea chest, and she said, “I’d offer my
hand, except that I’m not sure what part of your anatomy I should shake. Both
your hands…and…other parts of you…are pretty…uh…big.”
Deke sat down on his bunk and began laughing like a maniac
again while punching his mattress.
“You know, Deke,” said Brew as Sasha walked around and sat
down beside Deke on the bunk. “I’ll have to pay you back for this, you rotten,
lousy, stinkin’…”
“Watch the language, Brew. There’s a lady present.”
“And plenty of rear ends,” said Sasha. “Both on the wall and
in front of me,” she said as she pointed at Brew’s hentai collection of wall
posters and then gestured towards Brew’s own dark bottom. “Mister Marrable, why
do you have all of these pictures of ladies’ behinds on your bulkheads? Is he
running some kind of house of ill repute in here, Deke?”
“Why do you say that?” said Brew. “Deke, I need a mother…”
“What do you need?” said Deke.
“A towel, man, a towel!
Get that first!”
“Shut your eyes, Miss Petrovsky,” said Deke with a smile as he
gave her a peck on the forehead. Sasha shut them with a little smile on her
face as Deke helped Brew cover himself with a towel. Then, Deke said, “Brew,
why’d you have to make this joint look like some kind of disaster area?”
“Lookin’ for my other belt buckle, man. I gotta see
Hartcliffe in…thirty minutes in his office, and my uniform’s messed up as
shit.”
“So’s this room,” said Deke. “I swear, if some officer
pulled a surprise inspection now, we’d have all of our asses in such a sling
that we’d…”
A moment later, a bang came on the hatch outside. Three
bangs, authoritative and hard.
The usual signal that an officer was about to enter the
room.
“Oh….” Deke said.
“Holy motherofgod…” said Brew.
“..shit,” said Sasha.
Sasha was the only one who had enough presence of mind to
yell out, “ROOM, TENSHUN!” as the door burst open…
…and her aunt and uncle came together into the room.
Sasha was at attention.
So was Deke.
Brew had been obliged to set down the sea chest. But, when
he came to attention, his towel had fallen off and was puddled in folds of
cloth around his toes.
As a result, when Nova Wildstar scanned the room, the first
thing she happened to observe was…
…Brew’s anatomy hanging out in the open.
Commodore Wildstar looked like he was about to yell, but
Nova just shushed him and said, “Toad, I think it’s getting a little cold in here, isn’t it?”
“Ma’am?” he said.
“Looks like someone’s let the air out of your little
friend,” she said as she gestured at the appropriate body part with a pen. She
then gingerly kicked aside an abandoned rank pin with her sandaled foot (being
very careful not to get the pin caught in her big toe) and said, “Mister
Wakefield, were we having a scavenger
hunt in here?”
“No…no excuse, ma’am,” he said with a gulp.
“Definitely no excuse, sir…” said Sasha, who immediately
regretted opening her mouth.
“Damn straight
there isn’t,” said Derek Wildstar with an evil glare. “I believe you midshipmen
are aware of the regulations regarding how one is to keep their quarters?”
“Yessir,” they all said in unison.
“And, Mister Marrable, I believe one is supposed to be in
uniform…especially with visitors present in one’s room?”
“Sir, I can explain,” began Sasha.
“I was not
speaking to you, Miss Petrovsky; you will let me carry on this conversation
with these two other midshipmen!” snapped Derek.
“But, sir,” she
said.
“Let’s begin with her. Nova, write her up for disobedience
of a direct order: ten and five,” said Wildstar as he tossed Nova a demerit
pad. “Oh, write up the other two for poor maintenance of quarters, make those
two fifteen hours’ each, too.”
“Yessir,” said Nova as she took the pad while Deke and
Brew’s faces dropped.
“SIR!” said Sasha.
“Miss Petrovsky, don’t make it worse. I was speaking to
Mister Marrable? Mister Marrable, is there a good reason why you have your sea
chest upside down on the deck, your clothing scattered all over the place, and
why you are here stark naked with a lady present?”
“Two ladies,” added Nova. “Even though I have seen
everything Mister Marrable has to offer already. It’s just the usual.”
“Ma’am, you’re not remembering that time back in
“I am,” grinned Nova. “Derek, at home in
“Ma’am, not that
story,” said Brew.
Nova smiled. “No impropriety here, Derek. I think. Even
though I remember he looked VERY cute in my pink shorts.”
“So, how did you come to be bare in this room, in front of
the current company?”
“Here’s his pen, Derek,” said Nova.
“How’d you find it?”
“Got caught in my sandal between my heel and the bottom,”
she said dryly.
“Well?” said Derek.
“Sir, I was lookin’ through my shi…I mean…stuff…for a clean
uniform because I have to see Hartcliffe in fifteen minutes. Then, these two
just walked right in on me, and gave me very little warnin’! I got a towel on,
but it fell off. You know the rest…”
“He still has an
obsession with ladies’ behinds,” said Nova with a sense of awe on her face as
she wrote like crazy on her pad while looking at his poster collection on the
bulkheads. She reached down and handed him a towel. “Put it on, Mister.”
“At attention, ma’am?” he said.
“Oh,” she said. “Commodore?”
Derek nodded. “At ease, people.”
They went to at-ease.
“I’ll tell you what,” said Derek as he looked at Nova’s pad
and stopped her pen. “I’ll just give you the fifteen hours each and nothing
more that Mrs. Wildstar has already gigged you three for if you three can make
this room shipshape in…oh…fifteen minutes. I could do more, but if this place
looks decent, we’ll go with that.”
“And that includes dressing Mister Marrable,” said Nova with
a wink.
“Sir, I’ll be late for my appointment,” said Brew.
“You’ll be in much worse trouble if this place doesn’t
transform itself from a shithole into a proper set of cadets’ quarters in
fourteen minutes,” said Derek.
“Nova, let’s go down to the lounge and get some coffee out of a machine while
they work.”
“Sure,” said Nova in a soft voice. Then she said, “You
people got that?”
“Aye, aye,” said Deke.
“MOVE IT, THEN!” yelled Nova as she slammed the hatch with
an evil smile on her face.
“Well?” said Sasha.
“You heard the lady,” said Deke.
“Please help us clean up,” said Brew.
“All right…but you two WILL owe me,” sang Sasha as she
joined the two midshipmen on their knees cleaning the mess up.
While they cleaned up the mess, Sasha noticed a picture of a
very attractive young woman on Deke’s desk. “Who is she? Is she a relative?”
“Nope, she’s his squirrel,” said Brew.
“Squirrel?” said Sasha, who was totally puzzled.
“She has a fuzzy tail,” said Brew.
“Brew, shut up,” said Deke.
“Fuzzy tail?” said Sasha.
“It’s a long story, Sasha, trust me,” said Deke as he picked
more stuff up.
“You’re blushing,” said Brew.
“Why are you blushing?” said Sasha.
“Think of the implications of….a fuzzy…,” said Brew.
“Fuzzy what?” said Sasha in all innocence.
Then, Sasha just happened to pick up a magazine that
belonged to Brew. “What kind of book is this? I…”
Then, something fell open. It was the centerfold. Miss
November was on it.
“Fuzzy tail; squirrel,” said Brew as he pointed at the
proper portion of the centerfold model’s anatomy while Deke and Sasha turned
red.
“That’s a squirrel,” muttered Deke. “He insists on calling
Dawn that.”
“Who’s Dawn?”
“Old friend,” said Brew while Deke slammed the magazine
shut.
“I can’t believe how crude you are,” said Sasha in an
indignant little voice. “Brew, you have this thing for…”
“Squirrel. Now do you understand the concept of ‘squirrel,
Sasha?’”
“I think I want to just die,” said Sasha in a tiny little
voice.
“That makes two of us,” said Deke.
Two
days later, Deke encountered Sasha again on the Central Area while he was
marching off some of his demerit slip in the rain. As with West Point,
Like
Deke, Sasha was in her midshipmens’ uniform, with a raincoat on over her
uniform and a plastic cover over her cap as she marched with her AK-01
astro-rifle.
“Where’s
Brew?” she whispered sidelong as she marched past Deke.
“He
skipped church to march off what he had to do today,” said Deke in a sidelong
whisper as they passed.
“I’ll
be here next Saturday, too, to finish my last five hours,” said Sasha as she
passed Deke again. “All because I had to open my mouth to a Commodore.”
“Hey,
it could’ve been worse,” said Deke. “Guy could have had you up on charges.”
Or my uncle
could have told Nova to spank me again, thought Sasha miserably as she
remembered a punishment Nova had imposed when she had been much smaller, and
not all that long ago, either, thank to the growth rate of Iscandarians such as
herself.
Sasha
felt miserable as she continued to march off her last hour of this particular
five-hour stretch on the Area.
“I
have a question for you,” said Sasha as she marched past Deke.
“Shoot.”
“Is
this our second date?” she whispered.
“You
could say that,” said Deke with a grin.
“Hey!”
yelled an Anglian voice over a bullhorn. Drop
dead, Hartcliffe, thought Deke irritably as he looked up at the officer who
had pulled the duty of manning Central Area tonight as their Warden. “Yer gonna
keep marchin’,
“Keep
marching,” whispered Sasha.
Deke
nodded and sped up.
As
he continued to march, he noticed another figure among the five or six others
who were forced to march tonight. It was a rather thin plebe who looked utterly
miserable.
Deke
recognized the face at once. Decker,
he thought. I wonder what he did?
“What
brings you here?” whispered Deke as he marched past Decker.
“Caruthers,”
whispered Decker. “My room was OK when I left last week, but when I came in, he
was in there with the Tac officer and it was a mess. I think he went in there
on a contraband hunt and decided to pull a ten-and-five on me for fun.”
“That’s
illegal,” said Deke.
“It’s
the second time this semester,” whispered Decker as Deke passed him again. “I
can’t stand that guy and his games.”
“Talk
to someone,” said Deke.
“What
good does it do?” whispered Decker in
a depressed voice. “I’m probably gonna be out of here soon, anyway, the rate
this is going.”
“Don’t
give up,” whispered Sasha as she marched past.
“Easy
for you to say when you’re being
punished, too,” said Decker. He said nothing else to any other cadet for the
rest of his punishment tour of five hours that night. Given his other offenses
since midterms, he knew now that with ten more demerits, he would be out of the
Academy.
Decker
was not in a good frame of mind that night. Neither were Deke or Sasha.
II. BALKAL’S
WAR
Between the
Milky Way and
The Andromeda
Galaxy
Planet Rotella
November 5,
2205
Planet
Rotella was again under heavy attack from the Comet Empire.
The
capital city of
The
flagship of the Cometine forces was a single-deck carrier known as the Matushka.
The
commander of the Cometine forces was a man with a thin dark-greenish beard known
as Balkal. Field Marshal Balkal liked to wear a mostly black uniform, and he
enjoyed destruction.
“So
how goes the bombing raid?” he asked as images of the burning capital city of
A
helmeted pilot appeared on screen. “Sir, we have the SKERLATS missile array
ready. We are ready to launch twice against Serdana, sir. It would be wise to
call in the fighters. Nothing much will survive this.”
“Survive
what, sir?” asked a Lieutenant who
came in and saluted General Balkal.
“Our
thermonuclear missiles,” said Balkal. “We could use antimatter missiles,
granted, but I prefer nuclear weapons in a case like this.”
“Why?
They’re so inefficient, sir.”
“Yes,
but this will leave their capital uninhabitable for the next one hundred years,”
said Balkal as he laughed. “You recall that these are especially dirty
warheads, of
course. I want the Rotellans to never dare raise their
damned heads again!”
A
moment later, the pilot said, “Sir, we have the city center in our sights now. Are
the fighters out of the way?”
“They
are, Denlitz,” said the Lieutenant.
“Now,
it’s just you and your wingman, Denlitz,” said Balkal. “Fire those missiles and
then clear the accursed area! I want to see the damned fireworks!”
Balkal
then laughed, caring nothing at all for the approximately four million Rotellan
lives he was about to wipe out in a moment.
“Discharging
missiles, sir,” said Sub-Lieutenant Denlitz with an evil sneer. “Here they go!”
He
fired, followed by his wingman.
Both
Scorpion fighter-bombers then roared out of the area as their missiles roared
down, skimmed the ground, and then slammed straight into the Rotellan seat of
government.
There was a great and morbid
nuclear explosion as the two hydrogen warheads went off and filled the city
area with light and radiation. Denlitz and his wingman just barely escaped the
holocaust as the city of
A
moment later, where there had been millions of men, women and children, there
was now burning corpses and bubbling, steaming molten rock and glass. By
nightfall, the area was a glass-covered radioactive desert.
“Well,
sir?” said Denlitz over his link to Field Marshal Balkal.
“Nice
job,” laughed Balkal. “Very, very nice job. We should
be receiving the surrender of whatever Rotellan forces are left within about a
day or two. They’d never dare resist us after a show like that.”
“And
if they continue, sir?” said Denlitz.
“That
is why we have the antimatter missile ships,” said Balkal.
“Sir,”
said the lieutenant on the Matushka’s
bridge. “Princess Invidia’s orders were that the planet was to remain intact.
Well, mostly intact, at any rate.”
“Oh,
those,” grumbled Balkal. “Very well, Gegen. Well, let’s see what else we can do
to terrorize this lot, hmm? Any other cities within range?”
Three
days later, a report came in to Invidia and her staff aboard the Eritz Gatlantis city-ship, which was now
cruising near the edge of the Andromeda Galaxy.
Dyre and his men stood
looking at a familiar galactic region map as Balkal’s voice droned on, saying, “Reports are that the
Rotellan city regions of Serdana, Povlitz, and Orgeral are now essentially
decimated. Estimated casualties are fifteen to twenty million. The resistance
has slowed down to a halt as the Rotellans try to relieve the cities we
destroyed. The capitulation of the planet is now almost a mere formality. “
“Fine
news,” said Dyre as he looked up towards Invidia on her throne. “The Tenth
Region is almost subjugated.”
“I
grow weary of this,” said Invidia. “I wish we were closer to Earth.”
“You
know that the other Houses want us to secure your father’s old domains first
before trying again for Earth.”
“The
day we will be on the other side of that map back in the Milky Way will not
come too soon,” snapped Invidia. “I want you to recall Balkal and decorate him;
to encourage him, of course. Then, I want that planet back in our hands. And we
had better not delay too long. I don’t want them laughing at us.”
“Of
course, Princess,” said Dyre. “Anything…anything to please you,” he said as he
drew close to the throne. “I hope you remember that…and our old relationship.”
“You
will not come to my apartments
tonight, Dyre,” hissed Invidia.
“Why not, Princess?”
“I
have other business to tend to,” she said as she quietly grasped his hand.
“Now, go. Go before I lose my patience and think about
putting your head on the wall in my quarters along with the others.”
“Of
course,” said Dyre, who turned a sickly shade of green reminiscent of rotting
pea soup at that hissed comment from his Princess…and his lover.
III. DECKER’S
GREAT LEAP
Earth
Derek and Nova
Wildstar’s Home
Friday, November 8, 2205
2018 Hours: Earth Time
Nova
Wildstar sat in her living room, slowly playing Bach’s Piano Concerto in A Minor while Derek sat
in a chair, looking over a notebook he had brought home that day from Earth
Defense Headquarters. He didn’t look happy.
“What’s
wrong, Derek?”
He
didn’t answer. Nova shut her eyes and played on a bit more; the solemn music
matching her mood as a fire roared in their fireplace.
I wish I knew what was
wrong,
Nova thought. He’s barely talked since he
came home today. Derek, why won’t you open up and tell me what’s in that
notebook?
Nova
had a clue a moment later as he stood up, shook his head, and threw the
notebook at the floor with a snapped curse. Then, he glared in Nova’s direction
and shut his eyes.
“That
was uncalled for,” said Nova in a low voice as she stopped playing.
“Damnit, I know,” said Derek.
“What’s
in that notebook? Or are you forgetting we have the same military clearance,
Commodore, sir?”
“You
know those things you’ve been buying?”
“What
things?” Nova snapped, her denim skirt flipping around her legs as she walked
towards her husband.
“The things for the spare room. The room I’ve seen you
looking at for the past few days.”
“The
things for the baby?” she said.
“You
mean…you’re…”
“Not
yet,” said Nova both dolefully and angrily as she stared down at her toes.
“I
see. Why am I both sad and relieved at the same time?”
“The
sad part I get, Derek. Why are you relieved?”
“The notebook. Okay. I didn’t want to tell you, but it’s a
digest of all of the wave motion radio traffic our patrol ships have been
picking up…in just the past week on the old Cometine 756 Gigahertz band. And
they’re barely encoding it. It’s almost like they want us to pick it up.”
“What’s
the news?”
“Well,
Invidia’s back in power again. Intelligence has confirmed that. And they’re
after Zordar’s old realms again…in a very systematic manner…like they’re
getting closer; planet by planet…world by world.”
“Derek…does
that mean we might have to…?”
“Possibly. They’re saying it could be
weeks…months…years…no one knows. And the Gamilons and Rikashans are getting the
same traffic; but their embassies aren’t reporting any more in the way of
concrete intelligence than we have. Cha’rif’s sent a report through his ambassador.
As for Desslok…no one can get hold of him.”
“So,
what do we do? Can we have a child right now, in this uncertain world?”
“I…I
don’t know, Nova,” said Derek as his eyes filled with tears. “That’s why I
wasn’t talking. I had no idea how to tell you.”
Nova
nodded dolefully. “I still have the contraceptive ampoule in the cabinet. The
shot doesn’t hurt me that much. I’ve gotten good at it, even though I hate
needles.”
“You’re
a nurse, and you hate needles?”
“Yes,
when they go in me, that is.”
“Hold
off on it for tonight, Nova……I…I…”
“What?”
said Nova as she hugged her husband. “You don’t want
me tonight?”
“I
do…but…I don’t know if we should have a baby…now.””
“Yes.
We’d better hold off on that…for now…,” said Nova as she began to unwrap her pre-loaded contraceptive syringe. “I can always
get the shot neutralized, you know, if…things look
better.”
Derek
nodded. He did not look happy.
“Well,
so much for Operation Stork,” he said.
“For
now,” Nova said softly. “Just for now…”
At
that, Derek hugged his wife…and they shared a deep, doleful, sad, but very
sweet kiss.
Later
that evening, around 2230 Hours (it was, after all, a Friday night) Sasha came
by Deke and Brew’s room again. In the past few weeks, she had been there quite a
bit, although she had learned to ignore Brew’s posters. It wasn’t that they
mattered much, anyway.
Deke
was somewhat more interesting to her than the posters.
“So,
do you have that concept down?” said Sasha quietly as she and Deke worked
together on their navigation homework.
“Sure
do,” said Deke. “Sasha, why are you looking at me like that?”
“I
have some great news,” she said. “I’m going to do something interesting on
Monday. My aunt talked me into it, of all things.”
“What
could be so interesting that your Aunt would have to talk you into it?” said
Deke.
“Yeah,
she’s probably ninety years old and has a zillion warts, hon,” said Brew as he
sat at his desk writing out a pilot’s attack scenario bit by bit on his
computer as part of an assignment.
“Brew,
my Aunt happens to be very attractive,” said Sasha with a sniff. “And she’s
younger than you think.”
“Introduce
me to her, then,” said Brew.
Sasha
made a pair of fists and sighed. “My Uncle wouldn’t like that much.”
“Which
Uncle?” said Brew.
“The
one her aunt’s married to, ya stupid porcupine,” said Deke.
“Hey,
I resemble that remark!” said Brew.
“You
sure do,” said Sasha with a grin.
“Are
you making fun of my elegant Nubian looks, Miss Sasha?”
“No.”
“What’s
the big news?” asked Deke as he sipped at his soda.
“I’m
going out for the cheerleading squad!” said Sasha. “First-round tryouts are
Monday!”
Deke’s
reaction shocked Sasha. He started and spat his soda out on the floor as he
gasped.
“Deke!”
said Sasha. “Are you aware you just coughed soda into my lap? What’s wrong with
you? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost!”
“I
think he just has,” said Brew in a serious tone of voice as he looked towards
Deke’s desk at Dawn’s picture.
“Deke,
why do you look that sick?” said Sasha. “And why are you looking at your old
girlfriend’s picture?”
“Sasha…Dawn….Dawn
was a cheerleader.”
“Did
something happen to her when she was on the squad?” asked Sasha as she came up
behind Deke and hugged him. This was behavior that Brew had been seeing a lot
of lately, and he was not particularly unhappy with it.
“Nope…that’s
when the whole thing began to go sour…when she was a cheerleader. We started
getting a bit distant about then. It was a slow, creeping process, but…”
“Deke,
I won’t get like that…”
“But
there’s the practices…and…you…in that short little
skirt, and….”
“So?
I dance in less in PT class.”
“Not
with half the Corps of cadets leering at you, Sasha…”
“Deke,
I think you’re getting jealous,” said Sasha.
“Jealous?”
said Brew. “Hey, this is cool shit…”
“Brew,
leave it,” said Deke.
“Leave
what?”
“You
know….I don’t want to talk about it,” said Deke as he
grabbed Dawn’s picture and threw it into his desk drawer. Then, for good
measure, he locked the desk drawer.
“Why’d
you do that?” said Sasha. “She was pretty.”
“Was,”
said Deke. “I stress the word was.
And I don’t wanna talk about it, okay? Have fun on the cheerleading squad! Sis,
boom bah, rah, rah, RAH!” yelled Deke. He glared at Sasha and stalked out of
the room, slamming the door behind him.
“What’s
his problem?” said Sasha.
“You
just touched a nerve,” said Brew. “He’s still very touchy about Dawn. He…”
At
that, someone started banging at the door.
“What’s
going on?” said Sasha.
“Hey!”
yelled Brew. “Deke, you lock yourself out? What’s the problem? Deke?”
Brew
opened the door, only to find a sophomore in white and yellow breathing hard as
he looked in at Brew and Sasha.
“What’s
going on?” said Brew. “Hey, Rusk, what’s with you? Out runnin’
PT in your dress uniform?”
“Sir,
I just got back in from a dance. Fifth floor’s going nuts.
“Crowbar? Fifth floor?”
“Sir,
you’ve gotta get the tac officer on duty tonight. I
mean the duty officer. That’d be Hemsford tonight; the big dude.”
“What’s
wrong?” yelled Brew.
“It’s
a shitstorm, sir, it’s…”
“What’s
wrong?” yelled Brew as Sasha shut her eyes.
“Decker,”
he said. “That stupid-ass plebe Decker got called up to Caruthers’ room on the
fifth deck. You know, the asshole guy. They were
making him do pushups for the past hour.”
“Hazing
crap,” said Brew. “Study time starts at twenty-two hundred; even crappy-ass
plebes have to be allowed to study. What happened?”
“There
was a fight. Decker…”
“He
barricaded himself into his room,” said Sasha. “And…he’s having horrible thoughts!”
“How’d
you know that?” said Rusk. “That’s exactly what is going on. There was a
fistfight, and Decker got written up, and he’s going nuts.”
“Just
trust me,” snapped Sasha. “I know. Would you two leave the room, please? You
have to get Hemsford, anyway. I need to make a phone call.”
“Phones
are shut off at 2230,” said Brew.
“I’ll
get it kept on,” snapped Sasha, as she remembered a code she had only had to
use once before here at the Academy. She would need it for the operator.
“Please go. NOW!”
Brew
and Rusk left the room as Sasha picked up the phone and dialed “0-9” for an
outside line.
An
operator came on and said, “I see you’re calling from a midshipman’s room. Outside
calls are against regulations after 2300…”
“This
is an emergency, ma’am!” Sasha said breathlessly.
“Miss,
I’m a duty officer, and you’re going to be getting Midshipman Marrable in a lot
of trouble if…”
“I’m
also a midshipman, ma’am,” said Sasha.
“You
know better. What’s your service number?”
“2129692042.
But, if you pull up that code, you will see a notation on there for “Code
Sapphire”. This is a Code Sapphire emergency call, and you have orders to let
me through at any time when I invoke this code. There’s a profile on me…on the
lower part of the screen it….”
“Do
I, now…I’ve had enough of this cadet crap, I…”
The
Lieutenant pulled up Sasha’s number and saw a small notation that read “Sapphire-Special
Medical Profile”. Curious, she hit the small radio button on the PC screen
with her mouse, and a strange message appeared on her computer screen. It read:
SAPPHIRE CODE INVOKED
This Midshipman
allowed special comm-net access in emergency at any time
MOST CONFIDENTIAL
BY ORDER COMMANDANT’S
OFFICE
Which Comm Node
Desired by cadet?
* Watchtower
*
* Small Diamond
* Great Diamond
Ask cadet her wish
then connect.
“Okay,”
said the Lieutenant, thinking that this midshipman had some physical problem; a
very few she knew of had such arrangements; she had never known this cadet had
such an arrangement before because she’d never accessed her PC Personnel File.
“What is your wish?”
“Watchtower,”
said Sasha.
The
Lieutenant nodded, and hit the cursor prompt near “Watchtower.”
The
screen then went blank and the duty officer lost the call as a brief message “CALL
OVERRIDEN AND SCRAMBLED” flashed across the screen and then disappeared
along with Sasha Petrovsky’s Midshipman File.
Another
call came in for the Lieutenant a moment later, and then she spent most of the
night busy getting emergency personnel as the beginning of what would become
known as The Decker Incident flashed across the consciousness of the staff of
the Space Fighters’ Training School.
But,
in the meantime, Sasha was calling somewhere else. Disguised under a so called
“medical profile” was a secret system that was basically a panic button for a
Princess. It was there on the insistence, not of the Princess, but of her
mother, Queen Starsha.
While
Sasha had other means of communicating with her mother that did not involve a
telephone, they were chancy, so she also had alternate means to reach her or
others in her life when she truly needed help.
Right
now, she had to share her psionic impressions AT ONCE with her Uncle and Aunt…
…so
she could save a life. She just had
to.
In
their bedroom in the Great Megalopolis, Derek Wildstar lay in his bed
half-asleep and skin-to-skin with his wife as she cuddled naked and innocent in
his arms, musky with the scent of recent romance. She was also almost asleep,
and was slowly kissing her husband’s chest when the phone rang.
“DAMNIT!”
yelled Commodore Wildstar as the ringing visiphone hammered into his
consciousness like a jackhammer. “Who the Goddamn hell is that?”
“It’s
almost midnight,” said Nova in a slurred voice as she pushed herself up off
Derek’s chest, giving a certain part of his anatomy an affectionate little
tweak as she grabbed for the phone. “You get it.”
“You.”
“No,
you, silly,” said Nova. “C’mon….could be….”
Derek
nodded and took it. “Hello? SASHA?”
“Sasha!?”
cried Nova. She grabbed the receiver from her husband. “Honey, what’s wrong?”
“Nova,
I need you and Uncle Derek right away! Just had this awful impression! You know
Cadet Decker?”
“Yes,”
said Derek as he grabbed the handset out of his wife’s hands. Nova kissed him
and got out of bed, flying like a bird to grab the gauze East-Indian style
nightgown that was discarded near the foot of their bed.
“He
had a fight with Caruthers, and he’s just earned enough demerits for expulsion!
He’s barricaded himself into his room and wants to kill himself!”
“Isn’t
Hemsford on it, yet?”
Sasha
said, just as another midshipman yelled into the room what was going on (she
knew it first because of her Iscandarian clairvoyance) “He’s refusing to talk
to anyone! He wants you or Nova! You’re the only ones he’ll talk to!”
“Where
is he?” cried Nova as she pulled on
her flimsy garment and threw a set of pajama bottoms at her husband.
Another
midshipman yelled, “Holy shit, the plebe’s up on the balcony and he’s gonna jump!”
“Up
on the balcony, fifth deck…going to jump…”
Derek
nodded. “Hit two for
“Understood,”
said Sasha. She then jiggled the phone button once as she reached EDF
Headquarters to put events into motion.
At
the doorway to Decker’s room, everything was pandemonium.
“Sir,
Caruthers and his bunch made me do pushups until I shit my pants!” screamed
Decker in a wild, high, crazy voice. “Then I hit them, and they wrote me up!”
“Mister
Decker, we don’t need this. You know the regs,” said Hemsford. “You’re under
hack as of now, and you’ll most likely be a civilian again first thing in the
morning, son. Let us get you some help in the meantime. Nuthin’ like this is
worth losing your damn life for. Let us in. NOW.”
“Screw
you! I wanna die and that’s it! I wanna let Wildstar know why I wanna die, him
or Nova. Then I wanna die! If I can’t be a midshipman, Dad doesn’t want me in
the house again!”
Another
cadet used the crowbar on the door. “Sir, he’s got some kind of weight against
it. I can only get this door to budge a little.”
“It’s
his desk,” said Sasha as she came up.
“You’re
sure?” said
“Look
through the peephole; you’ll see it,” said Sasha, not wanting to give away how
she knew it was the desk. “Logic dictates only his desk would be heavy enough
to block that door,
Then,
he whispered to her, “I’m sorry. About…you know…”
“We’ll
discuss it later, Deke,” she said with a small smile. Then, Sasha cried,
“Decker, hold on before you do anything rash. I’ve called Commodore Wildstar
and Lieutenant Commander Wildstar! They’re on their way.”
“You’d
better be right! I’m on the balcony! I’m gonna jump if anyone tries any crap!”
screamed Decker. Then, in the background, Hemsford and
“Who
the hell is that?” barked Hemsford.
“Caruthers,”
hissed
“Mister
Marrable, Mister Rusk, Mister Chen,” barked Hemsford. “Spread out and find
Mister Caruthers and his asshole buddies Mister Perkins and Mister Smith! Then
inform them they’re under arrest and are to report to their quarters until I
get there; or until the Commodore shows up!”
“Aye,
aye, sir!” snapped the three midshipmen. They saluted and left.
“If
you break down that door, I’m gonna jump!” yelled Decker.
“How
can Wildstar or Nova get in to see ya if you won’t let anyone in?” yelled
Hemsford. Another officer, named King, ran in and said, “Mister Decker, you’re
under arrest! Don’t make us come in and get you!”
“I
know I’m out! Don’t rush me ya jackass, or I’ll JUMP!” screamed Decker.
A
moment later, Marrable showed up leading Perkins by one wrist. “I got him, sir,
but he won’t tell us where his buddies are.”
“Midshipman
Perkins, I give you a direct order to tell us where Midshipmen Caruthers and
Smith are,” yelled King.
“I
ain’t tellin no one, sir,” said Perkins, who sounded
belligerent and drunk. “I invoke my right o’ silence.”
“You
don’t have one,” said Hemsford. “As of now, you’re suspended,” he said as two
more cadets on the Provost Marshal’s detachment grabbed him by the arms. “Take
that guy right to Boarder’s Ward. He’ll have his trial in the morning.”
Perkins
glared at everyone as he was frog-marched out of the barracks.
A
moment later, Commodore Wildstar and Lieutenant Commander Wildstar ran up the
steps. “What’s going on here?” demanded Derek as he helped Nova through the
press of officers and cadets. The two higher-ranking officers were quite a
sight; Derek wore his pajama bottoms and an old Academy sweatshirt and went
barefoot; his hair was very mussed up and he was unshaven. Nova wore her short
nightgown and flip-flops with a flight jacket over everything; Sasha saw hints
of dark circles of sleeplessness under her eyes.
King
saluted Commodore Wildstar and said, “Sir, we have an unbalanced plebe accused
of fighting with three of his superiors. He’s barricaded himself in his room
and is making suicidal gestures on top of his balcony and has refused several
direct orders from officers to stand down. He was demanding you and the
Lieutenant Commander, sir. I’m not sure why.”
“I’m
one of his professors,” said Nova. “He trusts me. Mister Decker!” cried Nova. “This is Lieutenant Commander Wildstar.
I’m here to talk. Do you want to get down from there so we can talk?”
“You
can talk to me from out here!” screamed Decker. “You won’t get near me, any one
you! They’ve got guard dogs, I know it! I can hear them out there! Caruthers
said they’d feed me to the attack dogs, and you’ve got them! I’d rather die
this way than be eaten by your dogs!”
“This
is Commodore Wildstar,” yelled Derek. “Decker, I swear to you, there are no
dogs. No one here feeds midshipmen to dogs!”
“Caruthers
says so!”
“Mister
Caruthers is full of shit!” yelled
“Hey,
steady,” snapped Wildstar as he looked at Deke.
“Sir,
just trying to help…” whispered Deke.
“You
can best help by getting us in there,” said Wildstar in a low voice. “Hemsford,
you,
Rusk
showed up dragging Smith a moment later. Smith looked at Wildstar and said,
“Sir, Caruthers is on the third deck. I confess to having helped them haze
Decker. Please take that into consideration.”
“Thanks.
Now get the hell out of my sight. Take this cadet to Boarders’ Ward, Rusk. He’s
under hack.”
“Yessir,”
said Rusk, a large blond cadet who was on the Academy’s football team as a
tackle.
In
the meantime, inside the room, Decker yelled “I wanna see Nova or Wildstar! Now!”
“How
can we get in?” said Wildstar. “You have the door barricaded. Clear the
barricade and then sit down.”
“I’ll
clear the barricade, but no one had better try to get me, because I’ll be right
back on the balcony again!” said Decker. He jumped down, and Wildstar, Nova,
“I’m
back up on the balcony!” yelled Decker after the first or second kick at the
door. Hemsford kicked again, and the door opened.
All
of them saw that Decker had opened the window in his part of the room he shared
with a chair, and that he was on the edge of the balcony.
“Get
down from there, son,” said King.
“I’ll
jump! I mean it!” yelled Decker. “Lieutenant Commander Wildstar! I’ll talk with
you!”
“We’ll
talk if you sit down,” said Nova.
“I’m
not getting off of here,” screamed Decker.
“You
can sit on the edge of the balcony,” said Nova. “I’ll…sit with you.”
Derek
looked at his wife, but Nova just nodded. Then, she whispered, “Derek, you and
the others hang back by the bed. I’ll try to calm him down first.”
“Okay,”
whispered Derek.
“Hurry
up!” yelled Decker as he stood on the balcony’s edge and raised one foot.
“You
have to sit down,” said Nova as she kicked off her sandals to walk over. The
hem of her thin nightgown blew in the cold November breeze below her coat.
“Damn,”
whispered Brew in Deke’s ear.
“What?”
asked Deke.
“Look
at that view,” whispered Marrable. “She’s got a BUTT, my friend.
And…she’s…God…I don’t know what she has on under that…maybe…”
“She
just got out of bed,” said Deke
irritably.
“Yeah,
she sure looks it…”
“Brew,
stop it,” whispered Sasha as she
blushed. She glanced at her aunt, and saw that a good deal of her aunt’s thighs
and bottom were showing as she stood on the balcony’s edge near Decker. Nova
grabbed a hand and slowly coaxed Decker into sitting on the balcony’s edge
right near her.
“Tell
me,” said Nova as the atmosphere remained tense. “Why do you want to die?”
“I’m
being thrown out of here,” said Decker through a sob. “Caruthers and his bunch
won. They harassed me, made me do push-ups until I crapped myself and wet
myself; then I lost it and hit them.”
“They
were your superior officers,” said Nova. “But they will be punished for what
they’ve done. We’ll see to it.”
“They
were assholes. And you can’t undo the regulations for me, can you?”
“No.
There’s not much we can do to save you now…but…”
“That’s
why I want to die. My father…my parents…my father….told me
not to come home if I didn’t survive plebe year. Since I can’t go home,
where can I go when I’m out of here? Heaven, maybe.
Hell…most likely. And they have dogs ready to eat me if I come down from here.”
”There
are no dogs,” said Nova. “And there are places to go if you leave here. You can
get a recommendation to any civilian college on the planet; Derek and I will
see to it. We can also get you exempted from your military service requirement on
the grounds you couldn’t take military life.”
“It’s
a disgrace. I’d be in DISGRACE!”
“It’s
no disgrace if you can’t handle it,” said Nova as she held Decker for a moment.
“Let us help you. We can even find you a place to live…a job…a…”
Commodore
Wildstar and the others moved in a little closer. Nova began to help Decker off
the balcony, when he happened to see the others. Sasha looked at Nova and shook
her head, hard. But, Decker said, “Nova, I see the Commodore…”
“Yes,
he’s here…to help you…”
“And
Decker
came to his feet again, dragging Nova up with him.
“Don’t
come one step closer!” he screamed. “You’re not gonna take me away like some
loony! I’m gonna jump, and I MEAN IT!”
“Decker,
no,” said Nova as she grabbed his hands.
Decker
howled and hit her even as Wildstar,
While
holding her hands and being held by her, Decker almost toppled over and took
Nova with him over the edge. But, then, the cadet struck Nova again, broke free
from her embrace with a crazed strength, and before Wildstar and Hemsford could
get to him, he jumped.
Decker
went down like a stone, falling five stories down to the quad. His head made a
sickening noise like an exploding melon when it hit the concrete and shattered
in a bloody mess.
When
everything settled, Decker lay there face-up in a pool of his
own expanding blood with a look of wonder and fright in his now-vacant
eyes.
Decker
had finally gotten his wish.
He
was dead.
Later,
as the ambulance crew cleaned up the mess below, Nova held on to Decker’s desk.
She had stepped off the balcony and had immediately started crying. Sasha had
cried with her, and it had taken Wildstar and
“That
was bloody gruesome,” said
King
had just finished taking a statement from the cadets and officers present for
the Academy records when the phone rang.
“Commodore,
sir,” said King. “It’s the Commandant.”
“Good
evening, sir,” said Derek.
“Commodore,
I’ve just gotten word that Decker’s parents, who were in town for Homecoming
Formation, have come by to identify the cadet’s remains. We can’t release them yet
since he needs to be given to a Medical Examiner for an inquest, even though it
was pretty obvious how he died. The parents want to talk to someone who was
there. Would you mind, Wildstar?”
“I
can come, and so can Nova. Just give us some time to get sort of decent, sir.
We arrived here in our nightclothes.”
“I
have some things in my quarters that’d fit you, sir,” said King in the
background. Sasha then spoke up and said, “Ma’am, I have some things you can
wear with your flight jacket.”
“Thanks,”
said Nova. “Tell the Commandant we’ll be there in a few minutes. Where are
they, Derek?”
Commodore
Wildstar spoke to the Commandant, who said, “They’re at the infirmary. The
body’s there under guard.”
“Sir,
I need to speak to the Commandant,” said Hemsford.
Derek
nodded and left with King after kissing Nova quickly on the cheek. Hemsford
took the phone and said, “Sir, we need details to get these damn midshipmen to
bed. I see cadets squeezing up to the crime scene tapes for a look.”
“Order
a formation on Central Area, and have an officer announce the death and then
order all midshipmen back to their quarters.”
“Yessir,”
said Hemsford. He looked at Marrable and
“That’s
an understatement, sir,” said
“I
know about what you guys did in the summer for Wildstar with those Josiahites.
I’ll bet this is worse.”
“It
is worse, sir,” said Brew.
“Hell
of a lot more senseless,” said
“There’s
coffee up here,” said Hemsford, who had brewed some coffee in Decker’s small
pot when it was determined there was no evidence on
his bedside table that had to be secured. “Want some while we shoot the shit?”
“Yeah,
thanks,” said
“0300,”
said Hemsford as he poured the coffee. “Now, as a Marine, I’ve seen people get
killed every which way short of I dunno what in the Gamilon War, the fracas with
the Cometines, and the business with the Rikashans and Technomugar. But this,
people, this tops the list for senseless and sick.”
“He
couldn’t take the hazing, sir,” said Brew as he was handed some coffee.
“I
know that,” said Hemsford as the
late-night light from outside shone against his shiny chocolate-colored bald
pate as Academy officers and cadet officers yelled out commands outside as they
began to gather the Corps of Midshipmen on Central Area. “The thing is, who tried to stop it?”
“I
did,” said Nova as she abruptly entered the room with Sasha in tow. The cadets
saluted her, but then she just laughed and said, “Even though I have something on
with my flight jacket over it, I still look like a fright.”
“You
look fine, ma’am,” said Hemsford as he looked Nova over from her still
somewhat-mussed up hair to her flight jacket, with a blue blouse and skirt of
Sasha’s on under it along with the white thongs she had worn here. “So, what’s
this about that you tried to stop it?”
“I
reported it to some other Academy officers weeks ago,”
said Nova. “That was after I talked with Decker about the hazing, which was
pretty bad, even then. I plan to let the Commandant know everything tonight
before I go to bed. They really should take this more seriously.”
“Fine
line, ma’am, between training and harassment,” said Hemsford. “One is
honorable, the other is…”
“I
know the difference,” said Nova. “Oh, Deke, can I have that baseball bat over
there by you? Is it part of evidence, Hemsford?”
“Nope.”
“Ma’am,
it’s not Decker’s,” said Deke as he handed Nova the bat. Someone left it here.
Why, ma’am, would you need a baseball bat at 0300 on the Academy campus? You’re
safe here.”
“Not
from IQ-9 if he shows up,” said Nova. “He has this weird thing for me whenever
I have a skirt on…too bad your pants weren’t clean, Sasha.”
“Sorry,
ma’am,” said Sasha with a blush as Nova toted the bat. “See you later.”
“Later,”
said Nova after she took some coffee and drank it. “Darn, this coffee’s weak,”
she muttered as she drank and then left.
“I
feel sick,” said Sasha. “We shouldn’t have seen that tonight.”
“A-men,”
said Brew.
“Sasha…sorry
about the argument before,” said Deke. “Hope you…have fun when you go out for
cheerleading.” Although I hope you don’t
make it, he thought to himself. This is reminding me too much of Dawn. Waaay too much of Dawn for comfort.
“It’s
okay,” said Sasha. “Seeing what we saw…well, I’m not much interested in talking
about pom-poms tonight.”
“Understood,”
said Deke. He looked out in the distance and said, “It looks like they’re all
in Central Area, people, all in uniform, too. I think the message is about to
come out.”
Finally,
the speaker system across the campus came to life. “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Corps of Midshipmen,” said the voice of
the Commandant over all of the speakers. “You
may have heard rumors; and I regret to inform you that Midshipman Fourth Class
James Reginald Decker, Class of 2209, died tonight in a tragic suicide caused
by personal problems. These problems were caused by hazing in the training
process, hazing which is forbidden by regulations. Those responsible for
driving Mister Decker to this point will be standing trial in my office by
first light tomorrow morning. The
Training Cadre and the Corps of Midshipmen will join together momentarily in a
moment of silence in memory of Mister Decker when “Taps” is played.
Unfortunately, this is the second time we have gathered together like this
during this semester; the first time was when Midshipman First Class Michelle
Connolly died in that tragic flight training accident at the beginning of the
semester. Let us pray that we have no more deaths here on campus this semester
as we pray for the eternal rest of these cadets. Order, Ten-SHUN!”
The
Corps of Cadets snapped as one to attention; in Decker’s room, even Deke, Brew,
Sasha, and Hemsford snapped to as a bugler began to blow “Taps.” Second damn time this
damn semester, thought Deke as he stood in silence. Things were never this weird around here until now…except when they
almost threw me out of here over Dawn, that is. I wonder where else this is
gonna lead? When is it gonna end? When is the bad karma gonna end?
In
the meantime, in the infirmary, Decker’s mother Phyllis was crying and coughing
as she tried to get the last image of her son’s ruined face out of her mind.
The body bag had to be opened, just slightly, if only for a moment, so that
Decker’s father Aaron could identify the remains along with his wife.
“I’m
so sorry,” said Nova as she patted Phyllis Decker on the shoulder. “That’s all
you have to see of him for tonight….until he’s cleaned up and put back
together…that is,” said Nova, who had viewed the entire body and guessed that
restoring his remains for a viewing would be impossible. “Then, you can
decide…”
“I’ve
already decided,” snapped Aaron Decker as he lit a cigarette with a harsh,
angry gesture. Commodore Wildstar couldn’t help noticing that even at 0320 in
the morning, the thin, arrogant looking North Carolinian had on a three-piece
suit. “I’ve decided I want no part of this. Phyllis, he was your son. You
raised him to be a baby. I tried to toughen him up, but it didn’t work. So,
people, I am refusing to accept the body, and I am refusing to arrange a
funeral.”
“What?” hissed Phyllis in shock.
“I
don’t believe it,” said Commodore Wildstar.
“Sir,
I know you’re in shock,” said Nova. “But…he was your son…”
“I
stress…he was my son. I believe in
God, Christ, and in the fact that a man must die and face the Judgment. He has
been judged, and he is burnin’ in Hell now for killing himself. Saul was sent
to Hell for suicide. So was Judas. Phyllis, you know Pastor Michelson will want
no part of a suicide. This boy is as lost as anyone can be. And, I am washing
my hands of him. Let’s go home. We have no reason for being here.”
“Sir,
what about his funeral arrangements?” said Nova.
“Let
him belong to the state. You can cremate
him or something,” snapped Aaron. “Or you can give him to science. Looks like
he’s already half apart as it is!”
At
that, Phyllis began to cry and keen, looking very lost in her dress and grey
pumps.
“Would
you like some tea?” said Nova as she took the crying woman by one hand.
Aaron
Decker grabbed his wife’s hand out of Nova’s hand and said, “I’ve seen you damn
people on the news! If you Star Force people are really this damn sentimental a
bunch, it’s a wonder you ever became warriors…like…like HE should have been,”
he snapped as he gestured to the body bag.
“Listen,
you don’t know a Goddamned
thing about the Star Force!” yelled
Derek as he rushed forward. Only Nova kept him from punching out Aaron Decker
as she stood between the two men.
“You
don’t know about nothin,” said Aaron Decker as he turned to leave. “Phyllis,
let’s go! I need a drink!”
At
that, Aaron dragged his wife away, slamming the infirmary door behind him.
“So
what do we do?” asked the nurse.
Nova
angrily wiped her eyes and looked at Derek. “What a cold-hearted man he was!
Derek, let’s see to it James here receives a decent funeral. I….I’ll handle all
the arrangements.”
Derek
nodded, and then hugged his wife as she turned to him and again began to weep
in his arms. “His mother should be here to cry for him,” said Nova in a broken,
sad voice. “At least I can do it!”
“At
least we can do it, Nova,” said Derek
Wildstar as he shut his eyes and rocked his wife, not even trying to hide his
tears for the fallen cadet.
The
next morning, Caruthers, Perkins, and Smith stood at attention in the
Commandant’s office before his desk as Commodore Derek Wildstar, Lieutenant
Commander Nova Wildstar, Hemsford, King, Wakefield, Marrable, and Sasha all
stood near a wall of the office in uniform with the chaplain after having been
called to give their testimony to the Commandant. The Commandant stood and said
to the miscreant midshipmen. “Well, people, I have heard from seven witnesses
most of what happened to Mister Decker. I had you leave the office while I
decided your case.”
“I
have decided you will not stand trial before an Honor Board. There is no need to
consider your honor, for the three of you have broken regulations that were
written in black and white in the Midshipmens’ Bluejackets’ Manual from day one
of your time here. As such, then, this is a strict disciplinary matter. For the
hazing that led to Mister Decker’s disgrace and suicide, I am, by my authority,
about to sign the papers ordering your expulsion in disgrace. Have any of you
anything to add in your defense?”
“No,
sir,” said the three cadets in unison as they glared at their shoes.
“Have
you any comments at all?”
“Sir,
why the hell are you still referring to Decker as “Mister” Decker?” snapped
Caruthers. “Boy lost his rank and status as a cadet soon as he hit me,” he said
while he massaged his black eye.
The
Commandant then paused to scrawl his signature across the first of the letters
on his notepad. He then handed it to Caruthers. “Mister Decker was troubled and he never came to trial, granted, but
he was still a midshipman when he died, Private
Caruthers. This school will remember him as such, unlike you, Private.”
“Private?”
sneered Caruthers.
“Read
your expulsion letter, Recruit Private,” said the Commandant in an even tone of
voice. “You signed a military contract and are still in the Earth Defense
Forces, son. You leave today to enter basic training as a Space Marine at
“Yessir!”
said the three Marine Privates in low voices. They saluted, and then did an
about-face and left as two MP’s stood waiting for them outside the office door.
They would process out that day under guard, and they would stay under guard
until they were escorted onto a military transport plane and off
IV. THE
BEGINNING OF A WINTER OF DISCONTENT
Earth
Tuesday November 12,
2205
1030 Hours: Earth Time
“I am the Resurrection and the Life”,
said Father Likanski in a solemn voice as a slow but steady cold rain fell on
the darn green tent that covered Midshipman Fourth Class James Reginald
Decker’s grave. Raindrops glistened sadly off the gunmetal grey metal casket as
Likanski continued to read from his Bible, saying, “he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And
whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.
Believest thou this? She saith unto Him, Yea, Lord; I believe that thou art the
Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.”
A
moment later, the casket began to descend silently into its grave.
A
woman with graying blond hair, who wore a black dress, stockings, and heels with
a formal hat with a mourning veil that hid her face wept quietly as she threw
some dirt onto the casket. “It’s all right,” said another woman in black, much
younger, as she hugged Phyllis Decker, who was here to mourn her son…alone. The
woman was Nova Wildstar, who had had to comfort Phyllis Decker both emotionally
and physically in the past few days. Phyllis’ face was badly bruised and some
dried blood still showed under her nose. This was the remains of a beating she
had received on Friday night, courtesy of her soon-to-be-ex husband, Aaron
Decker, who was now in jail for spousal abuse.
James
Decker lay in his casket, with his remains fixed up as best as the undertaker
could do. He wore a grey civilian suit that Commodore Derek Wildstar had bought
him. He and Nova were paying for the private funeral and burial themselves.
Even though Decker was still technically a cadet when he had died, he had not
been entitled to a military funeral. Still, oddly enough, all of Decker’s
pallbearers were military men in uniform; namely, Commodore Derek Wildstar,
Lieutenant Patrick Hemsford, Lieutenant Keeshawn King, and Lieutenant Bryan
Hartcliffe, along with Midshipmen Deke Wakefield and Jere Marrable. The
Commandant of the Space Fighters’ Training School had also shown up, along with
Nova and Sasha. Sasha stood beside Deke as Father Likanski intoned Scripture
about “For dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return. Let us pray.” The
pastor then began to intone a final prayer over the grave.
Sasha,
who was wearing a black dress and boots for the first time in her life, looked
at Deke and whispered, “I don’t like funerals.”
“Me
neither. I was at too many of them; saw my father, my mother, my sister all
being remembered for the last time. Too damn many people close to me have died.
I can’t take it.”
“Let
me help,” whispered Sasha.
“I’ll
try,” said Deke as he squeezed Sasha’s hand wanly and then looked, not at her
eyes, but at the casket in its grave.
Nova
then helped Phyllis cast a lily into the grave. It missed, bouncing off Nova’s
wet and muddy black boot instead. Nova then gently picked up the lily and
tossed it for Phyllis, shutting her eyes under the black beret she wore as
tears ran down her cheeks. Derek then cast a lily into the grave, followed by
Hemsford, King, Bryan Hartcliffe, Angie Hartcliffe (who shivered in a thin
black dress under her black coat; Phyllis thought that Angie looked a little
undignified in heels and black net hose, but she didn’t dare say much), and
then all of the other mourners cast flowers into the grave. Deke was the last
one, and he shook his head and stared at the casket for a minute as Sasha got
him to turn away from the grave.
Deke
walked like a living ghost beside Sasha to one of the funeral air-limos (also
in black). He shut his eyes and sat in a funk for most of the drive to the
Wildstar house, where Nova had prepared a buffet for the mourners.
Later
that day, Deke still sat in silence beside Sasha on a love seat in the
Wildstars’ fine living room while Nova, with her wet boots, coat and hat off,
sat in stockinged feet curled up beside her husband with some white wine in her
hand. “So tell us how you two met,” said Nova in a soft voice while Father
Likanski sat nearby in an armchair, trying to quietly counsel the grieving Phyllis
Decker, who had refused to eat any of the food Nova had made up for the funeral
party.
“It’s
sort of funny,” said Sasha in a quiet, gentle voice.
“I
don’t feel like discussing anything right now,” said Deke in a low voice.
“Sasha, I’m tired.”
“How
could you be tired?” asked Sasha with concern in her eyes.
“This
whole day…everything…I’m just down. Nova, I don’t mean any disrespect; how can
you even be halfway pleasant today?”
“Sometimes
when you give to those who are mourning and try to make them feel a little
better….well…sometimes, it helps. It’s usual in my family to have a dinner for
those who’ve been left behind after a funeral. I’m sorry that Phyllis couldn’t
have arranged it for herself, but…”
“I
couldn’t even put my dress on right today,” said Phyllis Decker in a very
depressed voice. “I can’t believe Aaron could be so callous!”
“If
ya want, luv, I’ll go to jail and kick his arse for ya,” said Bryan Hartcliffe in
what was meant to be a helpful voice.
“That
wouldn’t help,” said Phyllis. “It sure wouldn’t help bring Jimmy back.”
“No,
it wouldn’t,” said Father Likanski as he sipped at some club soda. “You know
that God said that vengeance was His.”
“I
hope He makes Aaron suffer in that jail,” sniffed Phyllis. “And I hope that He
makes those awful cadets suffer for what they did to him!” She then looked
straight at Brew with accusing eyes. “If I knew you midshipmen were like this;
I never would have let Jimmy go to that damned disgusting school!”
“We
aren’t all like that,” said Brew in a
solemn voice. “Most of us aren’t like that at all, matter of fact. They drummed
those guys right out of there.”
“That’s
right,” said the Commandant in a low voice. “Those boys are still in the
military, but we’re making sure they pay
for what they did to your son, Mrs. Decker. I’m so sorry.”
“I
hope you are,” said Mrs. Decker in a low voice. “I really hope you are.”
“We’re
as sorry as any of us can be,” said Commodore Wildstar. Then, the phone rang.
Nova
got up and padded away to answer it. A moment later, she called Derek to the
phone.
“Hello?”
said Commodore Wildstar.
“Wildstar,”
said the unmistakable voice of Commanding General Singleton. “We’ve just
received bad news.”
“What,
sir?”
“Are
there people there?”
“Well,
yes…mostly military…sir…we’re holding a funeral luncheon for that midshipman
who died the other day at the Academy. What’s up?”
“Is
the Commandant there?”
“Yessir,
he is. There’s only one civilian here, as a matter of fact; the cadet’s mother.
What is it, sir?” said Wildstar as Nova looked over with some interest.
“The
Argo may have to take off again
before Christmas.”
“She’s
still in refit; but we can speed it up, I’d guess. What happened to the
“That’s
the bad news. We received a transmission from the
“From whom, sir?”
“The Cometines. A General of theirs known as Balkal was
behind the attack. Captain Venture relayed a message before we lost contact.”
“What
was the message?”
“Princess
Invidia has formally declared war on Earth, which they desire to reclaim. The
“They
do?”
“They
challenged you to meet them at Barnard’s Star in eight of our weeks for another
round. Balkal says they will beat you. And to make matters worse; the Gamilon
Embassy still has no idea what has become of Desslok, Astrena, Dellar, or
Talan. It looks like we’re being beaten all around.”
“Sir,
that’s not likely. We’ll…..sir…is the
“Missing…presumed
lost. Venture said there were over a hundred ships and their wave motion gun
was damaged. They were trying to warp out…when…when…we lost contact.”
Derek’s
eyes shut; tears ran out as he thought of the dire possibility that his best
friend, Mark Venture, might now be dead.
“Sir,
“ said Wildstar. “They won’t beat us. I’ll make sure
of it.”
“That’s
what I wanted to hear,” said Singleton. “Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
END
OF BOOK TWO “TREACHERY”
TO BE
CONTINUED WITH BOOK THREE
-- “A ROOT OF BITTERNESS”
To
Return to the Introduction to The New Comet,
click here