ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE
STAR BLAZERS--
AND THEN THERE WERE TWO...ACT FOUR-AN ENDGAME
I. THE ENEMY'S STROKE RETURNED
The Vicinity of Neptune
First Bridge
Space Battleship Argo
January 10, 2202
0152 Hours
On the Argo, Lieutenant Nova Wildstar had a hunch as to how she might discover the whereabouts of the enemy space submarines (or so she guessed) that were tormenting the Star Force, the Colin Powell, and the Westhampton Beach. The enemy had also just destroyed the Earth space frigate Thaddeus Kosciuzko, and as another missile hit the Argo in grim counterpoint to her racing thoughts, Nova knew that if they couldn't soon discover the source of the enemy fire, the Westhampton Beach, already hit, would surely be doomed, and the Argo might soon join her in death.
Finally, there was convergence. Nova punched a few buttons and called out, "Captain, this was what was in this sector of space just twelve minutes ago!"
"Space submarines," said Sandor.
"But they're dark red," said Holly Parsons from her post at the battle radar. "And…they don't match anything we've seen before, Cometine, Gamilon, or anything we know of."
Wildstar looked up at the round screen in the bridge overhead. "Nova, where were they at?"
"RPX-234; our current location. The missiles are coming at fifty space knots, from…"
"RPS-180; fifty degrees to starboard, distance, two thousand meters away," said Parsons.
"Venture, take us there!" ordered Wildstar. "Dash, Rosstowski, prepare our space mines! If we can hit them just right, we might be able to force them to emerge, like we did with the Cometine submarines we met a few months ago."
"Roger," said Venture, as the Argo abruptly turned and began heading towards the subs' projected location.
"Prepare to drop mines, Rosstowski," ordered Dash.
Paul nodded. "Both racks, deploy and prepare to drop anti-submarine mines."
The Argo sat over the spot a moment later. "Drop mines!" ordered Rosstowski.
Both racks released their deadly cargo. A moment later, several explosions came, and two red superstructures that reminded Wildstar a bit of pictures he had seen of ancient World War II ocean-going submarines emerged from subspace. On both superstructures, two gun turrets went off, raking the keel of the Argo even as more mines fell towards the subs.
In the Argo's keel, the port side auxiliary engine stuttered for a moment before blinking back to life, but not far away, the space battleship took a more crucial hit when the lower fighter bay hatch was hit.
"Wildstar!" said Conroy's voice over the intercom a moment later. "The lower hatch has just been hit. The linkages for the automatic and manual hatch latches are blown. We can't launch squadrons number one or two of the Black Tigers!"
"That's all right; Hartmann's strike fighters are in the port side upper bay. Order Hartmann to ready her planes for launch; have Lubyanska order her recon/fighters to stand by for launch if we need fighter cover."
"Roger," said Conroy, who sounded out of breath and disgusted at being sidelined for the moment just when the Argo was in the thick of things again.
"Captain!" called out Homer. "I've received word from a Lieutenant Ember Tyson on the Colin Powell. She says that they've taken a few hits and the Captain's dead but she's still in command. She's evaded the enemy subs and is going to attempt to attach to the Westhampton Beach with cables. She's going to try to tow her out of danger towards the base."
"Good…maybe it's us they want," said Wildstar while Rosstowski ordered the launch of more mines.
"Good!" said Parsons a moment later. "One of the subs has surfaced!"
"Dash, prepare turrets one two and three," said Wildstar. "Venture, bring her about one hundred and eight degrees and drop down below the ecliptic. When we get on the right plane with those subs, Dash, turn the guns about and open fire!"
"Roger!" smiled Dash wickedly. "Rosstowski, ready all forward turrets."
"Readying all turrets," said Paul with a glint in his eye as Venture swung the smoking space battleship about and down. After the Argo maneuvered into position, the second sub surfaced, opening up with her guns.
"Locked on target!" said Rosstowski.
Wildstar nodded, and then Dash snapped, "FIRE!"
The Argo's guns turrets spoke once again, spitting out a nasty blue statement of death at their new, and as yet, unknown enemies. The first sub, commanded by Hallacher's friend, Talach, soon blew apart under a withering barrage from the Argo's guns.
"What do we do?" screamed Hallacher's exec as they looked at the screen on their sub's main bridge and saw the huge Earth space battleship turning her guns slightly, setting up for the kill.
"What else?" barked Hallacher. "Submerge her! NOW!"
"Submerging," said the helmsman in a cold sweat as he rapidly spun a large wheel. "What are we going to tell that Prophet, Gralnacz?"
"Tell him we served Ekogaru the best we could, damn you!" snapped Hallacher as the sub practically disappeared into subspace. "Best we can do when the gods interfere in our affairs…and then…"
"Incoming fire!",
yelled an officer."What?" cried Hallacher.
But, the fire wasn't from the Argo. The energy bolts were livid green, and they were from the rapidly approaching black bulk of the Sukalnach, the flagship of Gralnacz himself.
They were roaring towards the sub's conning tower because two beams had just blasted over the Argo. One of them had just gone through main turret number two, killing the gun crew and reducing the top of the turret to smoking scrap. The other one had just dug a gash in the ship's main deck.
"Living quarters hit!" barked Sandor a moment later. "Wildstar, we need to get behind that…that space fortress!" said Sandor as he looked at the ugly black form that Nova had just acquired a visual of.
graphic: "Goraizu Fortress" by Frederick P. Kopetz (c) 2000
Wildstar clenched his fists. "Venture, ninety degrees to starboard…and then warp us ten megameters behind that fortress. Dash, when we emerge from warp, you and Rosstowski prepare to hit that thing with every gun turret we have left."
"Right!" said Dash as the Argo began to swing around in the very teeth of a laughing Gralnacz's attack, with gun turret number three firing behind them to try to cover the ship's stern.
"What
?" said Dash as Venture maneuvered the Argo right over some of the enemy fortress' towers. "Wildstar! They must have some super-dense armor on that ship. Our shock cannon beams had no effect! They just bounced right off!""Damn them
," whispered Wildstar. "There's only one thing we can do, then.""Venture, modify our course. Warp us twenty megameters behind that ship."
"But we'll be close to the gravity well of Neptune's farthest moon, Wildstar."
"We'll have to take the risk; just do it."
"All hands," said Venture. "Prepare for emergency warp! Ten…nine…eight...seven…"
"I'm gettin' ye power as fast as I can," said Orion from his post as he snapped on his harness.
"…five...four…three…two…"
"Derek!" cried Nova as her radar screen suddenly filled with snow. "The gas cloud is approaching…and …oh, no! So is the hyperspatial disturbance! It's right behind it!"
Wildstar looked up, sitting aghast as a rolling cloud of gas appeared in their windows, followed by a roiling mass of bluish-green energy that was rolling over Neptune, over the enemy fortress, over everything at once….
'…one…"
"Venture!" snapped Wildstar, just as his helmsman's hand went down on the warp lever.
"…WARP!"
The Argo's engines roared, and the ship began to go into warp, just as usual…but then the warp turned into a distorted parody of itself as a greenish, yellowish, and then pure white light blasted over the bridge. Venture and Dash cried out, and Nova screamed, just as Wildstar realized. Oh, my God, we're warping…right as that thing is rolling over us! We're warping straight into a tear in the time-space continuum! What in God's name is going to happen to…
The last thing Derek heard was Nova screaming as the white light overtook him, and he felt as if he had melted into nothing.
The wave roared over the battle zone, and, a moment later, the Argo, Gralnacz's fortress, and Hallacher's space submarine were all gone; all had disappeared into nothingness.
No sign of the three ships existed in our universe a moment later.
For all Ember Tyson knew, as she watched the ships fading out at long distance, all three vessels had vanished, forever...and just as she was about to attach to the liner to tow it.
Then, the wave hit her frigate and the Westhampton Beach. Neither of them were anywhere near warping, (the liner, as a matter of fact, couldn't warp at all…) but, still, the wave rolled over both of them like madness. There came chaos, and then, silence….
II. LOST SHEEP
First Bridge
Space Battleship Argo
Unknown Location
Unknown Time
Silence.
That was the first thing Captain Derek Wildstar noticed when he came to on the Argo's bridge a few moments later.
Wildstar opened his eyes, expecting to see either an angel, a Buddha, or perhaps the Lord Himself telling him that he had just arrived on the other side, but he knew he was still on the Argo when he felt the cold metal of his console beneath one hand, and felt the deck against his bleeding forehead.
He got up, mopping away the blood, not caring that his mane was soon matted all over the wound. He found it a little difficult to move one arm for some reason, so he took off his Captain's jacket and cast aside his ascot, tossing them on his chair. A blink of an eye later, his eyes met Nova's as she struggled to her feet beside her radar console.
"Nova!" he cried out as he ran over and helped her up.
"I'm okay…just feel like a tooth is kinda loose, that's all," said Nova as she held onto her chair. "Your head! I'd better bandage it!"
"No…after I see how the crew is…," said Wildstar. "Venture!" he cried as he ran up behind his friend's prone form.
"We're alive?" said Venture.
"Yeah, but I've got no idea where we are," said Parsons. "Those stars look weird, and the astro-compass looks dead."
"Power's normal," said Orion, who stepped aside as Homer helped up Rosstowski.
Sandor was struggling up beside his console. "We made it through that…on the edge of subspace," he said. "That's why it looked so…"
"Sandor…what is it?" asked Wildstar.
"I don't believe what I'm seeing on these instruments," he said. "They must have been knocked out of calibration by the warp. They must have been. Or else…"
"Or else what?" said Venture.
"Before I can tell you anything, I'll need to have these checked," snapped Sandor. "Royster!" he called on the intercom. "Are you okay down below on the second bridge?"
"No," he whined, but Sandor smiled, knowing he was all right.
"Royster, go to the master chronograph, the elapsed time sensor, the absolute time sensor, the spatial dilation chronograph, and the date-time log and give me your readings."
"Okay," said Royster a moment later. "Shipboard time…0200 hours. Elapsed time sensor, negative two hundred plus years. Absolute time sensor is dead. Spatial dilation chronograph reads plus two hundred thirty five years, and the date-time log reads, "(ESTIMATE) 06/25/1967. Uh…anything else you need?"
"Royster," said Sandor with his head in his hands. "Check the computer trunk and see if that's what they really picked up."
"Okay," said Royster. "And, then, I'll try to give you an absolute calibration, okay?"
"Great!" said Sandor. "If I'm right, we just probably have a bug in the system."
"And if you're wrong?" asked Wildstar.
"Well, then, one of these two sets of figures would be correct, Wildstar."
"Which means?"
"Something we don't want to think about," said Sandor. "If one set is correct, we're in the twenty-fifth century now. If the other set is correct, we're in the twentieth century. If neither is correct, we just lost a few minutes…the normal sort of thing for when we warp. Although where we went is still an open question."
"Well, where could we be?" said Wildstar.
"That's probably not too bad. First, let's try to figure out when we are, so to speak."
"Okay," said Sandor.
The bleeping of the radar started again a second later. "It's working!" cried Nova. "Hmmm," she said, slurring her words a little due to her loose tooth. "I know where we are now. I've got this visual of our location. Transferring to the main video panel."
Nova flicked a switch, and everyone gasped. "Earth…and our moon! And the moon's undamaged!" they said.
"Yes…and there's no traffic on the usual EDF bands," said Homer. "This doesn't look good."
"I think that's the understatement of the year, Homer," said Wildstar. "Sandor, how long will it take you and Royster to figure out what we picked up?"
"A while," he said.
"I thought so," said Wildstar. "Nova…Homer, IQ-9…in the meantime, can you scan Earth, the moon, and all the comm bands we can pick up? We've got to get some idea of what happened."
"Roger," all three of them said in unison as they got to work.
"This is mighty strange," said Orion.
"You're telling me," said Wildstar. "You're telling me."
_________END.________
Here ends And Then There Were Two....