ALTERNATE TALES OF THE
STAR FORCE
STAR BLAZERS—THE BATTLES
OF THE MAGELLENIC AND THE MILKY WAY
Being the eighth 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)
ACT TWO: ENTER THE BLACK
ORCHESTRA
I.
AN ARGUMENT TO BE RESOLVED…
Space
Battleship Argo
The
Edge of the Sanzar System
Thursday,
July 2, 2207: 0518 Hours Earth Space-Time
While Commodore Derek Wildstar and his wife Nova had hugged
with relief that he was alive after he had returned from his attack on the
Black Nebulan Floating Fortress, a few words exchanged between them after that
made it clear that his pregnant wife was still very upset at him for going out and leading the Tigers.
Nova had been summoned to Sickbay after that to help treat
patients, so Derek didn’t really have a chance to talk with her.
The Argo had made
another warp to assist the damaged EDF spacecraft carrier Shiryu and begin repairing her own damage. All was quiet, so Derek
finally left the bridge in search of Nova.
He found her, down by her locker near Sickbay, crying her
eyes out in nothing but her slip and sandals with her clothes thrown in an
untidy pile on the deck.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as he came up to her.
“This
war’s wrong!” she snapped. Nova
turned to face him. “Oh, my head knows you have to show your leadership by going out in that damned
Super Star to fly with your pilots and lead them into battle. That’s my head!
My heart is the part that’s broken now…why did you have to leave me and the
babies in serious jeapordy of my having to have them alone and be a single
parent? I’m very upset at you right now because you had to play fighter captain
today and leave me there chewing my nails! I want to kill you for that
arrogance, Derek! You made me so mad!”
“Nova, I made it through that battle just fine, I…”
She looked at him, wanting to slap him for a moment. “I’m
glad you made it home to me, but upset
you had to risk your life like that! Don’t you damn well get it yet?””
“Nova, I…”
“You’re a flag officer now, Derek! Your place was on the bridge! You’re nearly
thirty, like me! You’re getting too old for this! Hardy could have been your
commanding officer out there, and you damn well know it! Don’t you?”
“Nova, I put myself in danger; so do you, every time you
board that Medical shuttle, and every time you board the Cosmo Hound on those
missions. You have kept your flight certification up for those two ships. Or
should I tell you, ‘nurse, heal thyself?’”
“I…,” said Nova.
“If you’re gonna tell me
to stop flying…”
“Derek, you know I…”
“Then you stop
flying too,” he said as he held her hands. “Or have you forgotten our children
are in here?” he said as he caressed her stomach.
“I can’t stop flying, I guess,” sighed Nova. “I don’t know
if I can ask you to stop, either. Or could you be a little more careful?”
“I’ll try to stop flying so much in combat, if you will,” he said with a weak smile.
“Do we have a deal?”
Nova nodded sadly. “What I want is for this war to be over
and to be home! But that’s not gonna
happen until we defeat them, is it?”
Derek shook his head. “No…”
Then, Nova hugged him. “Then how about you stop complaining
when I try to look out for you?” she said as tears ran down her cheeks. “And
let’s try to lead more careful lives…and be there for each other? I love you, damnit! I love you so much I could just
kill you!”
Derek held Nova. “I know that, and do you believe me when I say
I love you?”
Nova nodded. “Yes. But try not to go into harm’s way quite
so much? Try?”
“I’ll…try,” sighed Derek. “But I don’t know how long I can
keep that promise in this stupid war. You know that…I know that…”
“Good,” said Nova as she snuggled up to him while she cried.
She saw he was crying too. “I guess that’s the best either of us can do, for
now, isn’t it?”
“Nova, when this war is over, I’ll never let anything
disturb us like that again. We’re a family. Remember?”
Nova smiled at him through her tears and kissed him. “Thank
you, Derek. Thanks…for trying…”
“Nova…” he said softly as they embraced and snuggled.
“Derek…” whispered back Nova as she kissed Derek.
Then, she snuggled very close to him, hiding in his warmth.
They stood there together like that for a very long time,
lost in each other and their thoughts, hopes, and fears…
They stood there, enjoying a moment of peace in a day of
battle…
II.
BREW AND HIS LADY…
Space
Battleship Argo
The
Edge of the Sanzar System
Thursday,
July 2, 2207: 0530 Hours Earth Space-Time
Derek and Nova had resolved their argument peacefully and
romantically.
In the meantime, Deke Wakefield and Ivan stood in shock,
watching as Jere “Brew” Marrable had what was clearly a romantic argument with
Gabrielle “Bangs” Capistrano-right on the flight deck in the upper starboard
bay.
Bangs yelled at Brew, “So, you let the damn cat out of the
bag…mentioning sex with “your lady” right in an open communication!”
“I didn’t say who “my lady” was!” snapped Brew.
“Bullshit! They all know by now!” snapped Bangs. “Or they
should!”
“What’s going on here?” asked Deke.
“Sticks, this ain’t yo’ concern!” yelled Brew. “Do I get in
the way when you and her go at it?” he said, pointing to Sasha.
“You’re in love?” said Sasha.
“Yeah, if I don’t kill him first!” snapped Bangs.
“That’s adorable!”
laughed Sasha.
“He’s not so damn adorable now!” snapped Bangs. “He looks
more like a jackass!”
“Hee-haw,” said Brew as he waggled his face at her. “And
when was the last time yo’ went Spindletop on me?”
“What?” snapped Bangs as she slapped Brew. “That’ll teach
you to make that stuff public!”
“You mean…?” said Sasha.
“Yes, we’ve been doing the deed!” snapped Bangs. “Not on the
ship, though…”
“You sly dog,” said Deke as he laughed at Brew. “Keeping
this quiet, huh?”
“Yeah, but the whole ship knows now!” said Brew.
“They wouldn’t have if you wouldn’t have blabbed!” yelled Bangs. “Excuse me while
I go get some air,” she said with a huff as she walked away.
A while later, Bangs ended up on the aft observation deck,
tapping her boot against the deck as she furiously smoked a cigarette. She
didn’t care if the smoking lamp was on or not, she just wanted to be alone.
“Brew, I love you, but I want to kill you sometimes,” she snapped at no one in particular.
“What I want,” she said out loud as tears ran down her
cheeks, “Is for you to be sweet to me, Brew! Show me that I am more to you than
this week’s pilot fighter-jock conquest! Show me that I matter, damn you!”
Then, Bangs turned her head and quickly put out her
cigarette in the communal ashtray when she heard soft guitar music. She blushed
when she looked over and saw a figure in yellow and black sitting in the other
chair with her Gibson, playing along as she sang, “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me…”, an old standard by Dusty
Springfield. Bangs heard the figure, who was Nova, playing and singing:
You don’t have to
say you love me…Just be close at hand…You don’t have to stay forever…I will
understand…Believe me, believe me….
Nova noticed her audience and stopped. “I’m sorry,
Gabrielle,” Nova said quietly. Nova was one of the few on the ship who usually
called Bangs by her Christian name. “Just thinking out loud…”
“I think you heard me, too. Darn that Brew!”
“What happened?” Nova asked. “Or would you rather not talk
about it?”
“You heard most of my rant,” said Bangs as she shut her eyes
and tears ran down her cheeks. “Is Derek in the doghouse?”
“No. Maybe I am because I tried to nudge him to hang up that
fighter helmet. He’s going to be twenty-nine soon. I know from his latest
flight physical he is just starting to slow down. Just a little. Not much,
but…he is getting a little less sharp. I worry about him so! Don’t broadcast
this, but our Commodore isn’t a twenty-two year old fighter jock anymore. He’s
the youngest flag officer in the Fleet. I want him to live to be the oldest.”
“A sensible notion,” said Bangs. “Especially…”
“Yes, with a family almost here,” said Nova as she looked
down at her inescapable tummy. “These two want out bad. They must have kicked
everything but my spleen in the past week.”
“Amazing how you keep on going like that,” said Bangs.
Nova nodded. “Just wait until you and Brew…”
“If we get that far,” said Bangs.
“It’ll work out, I’m sure!” said Nova. “I’ve known Brew
since we were kids. He really is decent. He just acts…jerky at times.”
“Tell me about it,” huffed Bangs.
“He’s not the only one, I can be a jerk sometimes myself,
and I confess to the sin and do Twelve Hail Marys as penance,” said Nova as she
rested a grey-booted foot on the deck; she had just been out on a short
search-and rescue run a few minutes beforehand with Dawn in Boat #21107. They
had successfully retrieved an injured and drifting Green Hornet pilot and had
brought him back home after Nova and IQ-9 had pulled him out of what remained
of his Cosmo Tiger. “Like to come up to my cabin for a bit? I’ll make some
tea.”
Bangs nodded and followed Nova out of there.
Ten minutes later, Bangs sat at the small table in the
Captain’s quarters while a now-barefoot Nova served her some tea. “Big cabin
you two have,” she said.
“It gets cramped in a hurry, believe it or not,” said Nova
as she rummaged through a drawer near her locker. “Ah! Found it!”
“Found what?”
“A data capsule of music Derek and I keep around,” Nova
said. “Now, to be honest, I have no idea when we are going into battle next, so
I try to let my anxious, overwrought mind take a smoke break every now and
then. Even though I do not smoke.”
“That sounds almost missionary in its fervor, ma’am,” said
Bangs.
“Operate on a lung cancer patient and it’ll put you off the
stuff for life!” Nova huffed. “Derek,
you and Captain Avatar’s pipe,” said Nova as she took out a pipe and shook her
head. “Recently used, too,” she said as she ran ash out on her finger.
“You sound annoyed.”
Nova huffed. “He’s like a kid! He sneaks this thing when I’m
not around. Well, I’ll just hide it again,” she said. Nova opened another
drawer and threw a bra over it. “Let’s see you find it this time, Commodore smarty-pants!” she said with a wicked grin.
“That’s a little mean,” said Bangs.
“Well, I’m trying to keep Derek alive,” said Nova.
“Sometimes, to keep Derek alive, I must use extreme measures,” said Nova
as she turned on the data capsule of music. It sounded like a nice instrumental
mellow blues, with lots of electric piano in it. “Want more tea?”
“Okay,” said Bangs. “But I have to be going soon…”
“Well,” said Nova. “We get rest…when we can,” she said as
Derek came in. She got up, hugged him, and said, “Derek, want tea?”
“Okay,” he said. “Of course, I don’t know how much time
we’ll have…”
“Who does?” said Nova as she kissed Derek and poured him
some tea. “Now, this is what I want to talk about…”
III.
PLOTTING A NEW WICKEDNESS
The
Eritz Gatlantis
The
Edge of the Sanzar System
Thursday,
July 2, 2207: 0910 Hours Earth Space-Time
Many,
many Black Nebulan and Cometine ships gathered at the New Comet a few hours after
the loss of Derdan’s Floating Fortress to plot Phase Two of their attack upon
the Sanzar System.
The Comet Field was up, and the Comet City, surrounded by its
roiling gases, positively reeked with evil as Admiral Jena, forgiven by Invidia
for his early loss to the Gamilons, stood on the bridge of his carrier flagship
as it manuevered through the central vortex and arrived safely in the Comet
City a few minutes later.
In the docking area, he noticed many Black Nebulan ships as he was
escorted up to Invidia’s palace by some guards.
In the palace, in a huge meeting hall,
Invidia stood, tapping her white-booted foot against the deck
screen as she snapped, “We have suffered a major reverse a few hours into our
attack with the treacherous sneak attack upon Admiral Derdan by the Star Force.
In that attack, we lost three hundred and sixty vessels and a Floating
Fortress. However, contrary to rumor, we are not terminating our attack upon
Iscandar and Gamilon. We are intensifying
it.”
“I have the second thrust ready,” he said. “I shall strike
Iscandar directly, without further ado, with our Attack Fleet Number Two. It is
intact and battle-ready. It consists of ten first-class space battleships,
thirty destroyers, five more carriers, and an invasion fleet of a hundred
landing ships and troops. I will commence a landing on Iscandar post-haste! To
hold off the enemy, there are two Gorba Floating Fortresses. One will be
commanded by Admiral Dega, my dear friend, and I shall command the other one. I
intend to draw the Argo herself into
a trap. Then, Sarda and Skaldart will deal with her, and then, they will deal
with the Gamilons. Fifteen ships of
Invidia
smiled and nodded. “
Skaldart
smiled and bowed towards Invidia. “As you command, my Princess…”
He
had to win.
Or
die in the attempt…
He
expected to find them soon as he roared away and executed his warp.
It
didn’t take long until he found them…
…not
at all…
Only
twenty minutes later, at 0935 Hours Earthtime, his ships were all in position
and ready to go.
The
attack began soon afterwards, and it was particularly vicious and dastardly
when it began…
The
Argo was heading back towards Iscandar,
and she was now near the tenth planet of the Sanzar System. The tenth planet
was known as Dalsanti, and it was a smallish, rocky planet. Fraken’s fleet had
retired there for repairs and for resupply, and the Argo,
The
Shiryu had made it safely back to
Iscandar, where she was in orbit of the planet and was being protected by the
Iscandarian spacecraft carrier Princess
Astra and some other EDF space battleships while she sat under repair in
orbit of Iscandar.
At
Dalsanti, however, the attack began when
“Situation
report?” said
“Recon
planes indicate the Argo is under
repair. Minimal fighter cover. Recon ships left before they were detected,”
said an officer as he came forth and saluted.
“I shall
report to Invidia.”
Invidia
was drinking some wine when
“Greetings,
my love,” she said with a smile.
“Greetings,
my Princess,” said
Invidia
nodded. “Thank you for calling, but you do not need my approval,
“Win
for us, Admiral. Win!” said Invidia.
The
Argo was sitting quietly in orbit of
Dalsanti at 1003 Hours, resting with her navigation and running lights on so
she wouldn’t be a hazard to the other EDF or the Gamilon ships operating in
close quarters near the rocky Gamilon base world.
On
the main bridge, Nova came up with a tray of orange juice.
“Good
morning, everyone,” she said. “Here’s some juice, fresh-squeezed by IQ-9
fifteen minutes ago.”
“Thanks,”
said Eager as he took some juice.
“Thank
you,” said Sandor as he took some himself.
“How’s
the repair work?” said Derek, who was manning Combat himself, like old times,
with his peacoat off. Domon had finally been sent off to get some much-needed
sleep. Nova had slept a little between 0700 to 0930 in a similar catnap, so she
was, at least, somewhat refreshed as she walked about in her male-pattern
uniform and space boots.
“They’re
almost done with the work on the port side armor plating,” said Sandor.
“They’ve also just replaced and repaired both rocket anchors and their chains.”
“Good
to know,” said Kitano.
Derek
nodded as Sasha came up to her post. “Ensign Apprentice Wakefield reporting as
ordered,” said Sasha.
“Man
the radar,” said Derek. “Nova, take over from IQ at Analysis when you’re done
with that juice.”
“Yessir,”
she said. “IQ-9, head down to the second bridge to assist Bando in
recalibrating the instruments.”
“I’d
prefer to be up here with you, Nova,” he said. “It’s been so long since we’ve
had a good conversation.”
Nova smiled
and kissed IQ. “That’s very sweet of you. Take this tray with you.”
“Heading
off as ordered,” he said as he saluted Nova, who giggled as she sat down beside
Derek at Analysis. She immediately caught something glimmering in deep space
with her sharp eyes just as Sasha was bringing the radar up on-line.
“Huh?”
she said. “I’m spotting several funny glimmers out there to starboard, Derek!”
Nova nudged Derek’s arm and got him to look.
“Huh?”
he said just as Sasha’s radar began to bleep.
“Unidentified…”
began Sasha just as a barrage of fire slammed into the Argo’s starboard side, taking about eight space-suited repair crew
members with it.
The
bridge lights dimmed and Nova almost fell on her butt screaming as the Argo shook from a second hit a moment
later. Not far 
away, in
space, the EDF destroyer Malenfant took
two hits and was blown apart, along with a Gamilon destroyer that was nearby. A
panting Nova tried to steady herself, but the ship shook again from another
hit, and she almost fell out of her chair as she just barely managed to keep
her feet on the deck.
Derek
killed the running lights at once and he yelled, “Crew! What the hell is going
on? Nova, where’s your space legs?”
“Shaky!” she snapped back as she sat down hard
at Analysis beside Derek and hit the alert klaxons as she caught her breath and
snapped on her safety harness.
If that had
hit me just right, that might have caused a miscarriage right there, Nova thought
in fear and apprehension as she concentrated on her panel as the emergency
lights came up.
A
moment later, Sasha called out from her post, “Enemy fleet spotted! Eighty
degrees to port! Range, eight megameters, speed, nineteen space knots! Spotted,
two heavy spacecraft carriers, four light spacecraft carriers, three space
battleships, and six destroyers! Identified as Cometine!”
“We
are under attack!” yelled Derek into the PA. “Comet Empire fleet! All hands to
combat stations! Repeat, all hands to
combat stations!”
“Enemy
fleet is launching attack boats and planes!” called out Nova from her post.
“Crap!” called out Derek as Kitano
brought up the engines and began taking evasive action as more fire blasted in
from the Cometine space battleships. One of the beams was one of their deadly
shock cannon beams; a nearby Gamilon destroyer was caught in the deadly vortex
and crushed just as the EDF destroyer Bartram
perished in a similar horrid fashion. “Maximum power to main guns!” snapped
Derek as he frantically worked the familiar controls himself. “We have to get
those space battleships first! If one of those shock beams hits us, we are finished!”
“We
also need fighter cover, sir,” said Kitano.
“I
was thinking of that!” hissed Derek as he and Nishina worked together to get
the main guns aimed. “Hardy!
“Roger!”
called out Hardy. “Taking off now!”
A moment
later, he and the rest of the Tigers and Trojans roared out into space.
From
his post, Homer said. “Wildstar! Message from the
“Put
it on the main video panel!” said Derek.
Wildstar
looked up at Captain Venture, who sat in darkness himself in the
“Damn!”
said Wildstar. “How big is the fleet?”
“Aliscea
says at least forty ships. When can you get here?” said Venture as his image
began to blur on the screen.
“As soon as possible,
I hope,” said Wildstar. “Cometines got us pinned down while we were finishing
up the repair work! We were hoping to leave for Iscandar in an hour.”
“Might
be a diversion,” said Venture as the jamming became stronger. “We just got word
that Iscandar…that…”
Then,
there was a loud blasting noise, and Mark’s image faded away altogether in a
burst of static.
“Venture!”
yelled Wildstar.
A
moment later, a horrid red flash appeared outside the Argo’s windows.
“Second
fleet!” said Nova from her post. “I’m reading Black Nebulan beta energy
emissions!”
“Range
of second fleet, thirteen megameters! Twenty ships!” cried Sasha.
“Missiles
approachin!” yelled Eager. “Big damn
honkin’ wave of missiles!”
“
“FIRE!”
yelled Wildstar as he worked the controls himself.
The
Argo returned fire, trying to get the
Black Nebulans and the Cometines at once.
It
hit Wildstar that it was a very smart, malicious and twisted mind that had
planned this attack.
His
whole task force was pinned down defending a small Gamilon base, while, not far
away, he got word that Iscandar itself might be under attack.
Someone’s
trying to keep us from getting to Iscandar, thought Derek. But why? What are they cooking up out there?
What is going on?
From
her post, Sasha screamed abruptly and fell on her radar screen with her nose
bleeding.
Derek
and Nova ran to her while Nova staunched the nosebleed as fast as she could.
“What
happened?” cried Derek while Nova called for medics from the main radar.
“Psychic…flash…”
said Sasha. “Iscandar’s…under attack…Mother…”
“What’s
wrong with your mother?” cried Nova as she tried to get Sasha’s hemorrhaging
nosebleed to stop with nothing more than her bare hands by making Sasha lay
with her head back at her post while Nova clasped her nose.
“Horrible…attack,”
said Sasha. “Gorbas…hitting…
“Strong signal
coming in from the Comet!” said Homer. “Video panel on!”
There was an image of only a dark face
in shadow with gleaming blue eyes as a horrible laughing voice voice rolled
across all of the circuits, heard by the entire Star Force, and Hardy, Brew,
Hartcliffe, Bangs…and Wakefield, as well as by Alex Wildstar on the Princess Astra and by Leader Desslok
himself on his new flagship, known as the Excelsior,
which was just leaving Gamilon. The image disappeared from the screen a moment
later as IQ-9 came onto the bridge to begin capturing the image on video. It
was replaced by a weirder image; that of a skull with gleaming blue eyes
floating in space before the Argo in
some weird bluish gas field…or ectoplasmic field? At any rate, the weird
phantom was seen before the Argo,
before her pilots, before the
The
weird phantom was also seen by Starsha in her palace on Iscandar as she
clutched at her chest in agony.
The
image was even seen in Earth Defense Headquarters as everything in the
Operations room went black, and Commanding General Singleton stood grimly in
the darkness, watching as the phantom seemed to appear right in Operations
before the screen like a ghost. Singleton listened grimly as Ekogaru spoke.
“Oh, yess….Earth Defense Command, Starsha, Desslok. All of you at once. You
have trifled with me for the last time, my enemies! You laugh today. Tomorrow,
you shall worship me, in hate, in loathing, and in FEAR!”
“Not
bloody likely,” said Singleton in a whisper on Earth as he saw men and women
crossing themselves and getting out Buddhist rosaries, among other things, at
the sickening apparition of evil that had appeared right in mid-morning in the
Tokyo Megalopolis.
Deke
recognized that horrible, dragging voice at once as he looked up at the weird
Halloween-like skull face that hovered before his cockpit and before the nose
of his plane…he had actually tried shooting at it but it had just laughed at
him and had raised a skeletal middle finger at him in salute; Stovall, being
used as a willing puppet by the Dark Lord Ekogaru.
Ekogaru
said, “Derek Wildstar, you fool. You wondered what was keeping you from getting
to Iscandar? It is I, and the strategy of those under me, yes. Sasha, like the
glimpse of pain I gave you? Your mother will die, soon. Unless you can do
something about it. Like that,
“You,
Ekogaru, are something from the pit of hell!” yelled back Deke from his plane,
heard throughout the fleet. “And you ain’t much better, Stovall!”
“Dekesticks,”
sneered Stovall over the speakers. “I’m in the Comet Empire city, Dekesticks.
Come and get me, Sticks, you damned Plebe! I never recognized you, and I never
will! If you have the balls, that is. If you can even find me! HA HA HA HA HA
HA HA HA! That’s if we don’t kill Sasha
first on your old boat of a Goddamn ship! I always told ya the Argo sucked!
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!”
“You
stink,” said Ekogaru as he leered at Sasha, who was crying in agony as Nova and
another medic worked at staunching her nosebleed.
“How
original,” gasped Sasha as she looked up at the phantom from her post. “The
best you can do is a bad Halloween tactic?”
“I
can do much better,” said Ekogaru. “Aliscea has just tried to come here and
attack me. I stopped her. I can stop you at a moment’s notice, too…all of you,
but I think I’ll let this battle go on for a while. Why? I like chaos. I like
humiliating your sort. And, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m also a sadist.”
“Like
we just noticed!” barked Nova as she tried to comfort Sasha.
Ekogaru
laughed one last time and vanished as more missiles blasted into the Argo.
“We
have to fight our way out of this!” said Wildstar. “Tigers, Trojans, ignore
what you just saw! Concentrate on getting those carriers! Medic, get Ensign
Wakefield out of here! Nova, take her post!”
Nova
nodded as she helped the medic walk Sasha out of her chair. Then, with Sasha’s
blood still drying on her hands, Nova strapped herself in and said, “The
Cometine fleet is the greater threat, Derek! Those carriers are the closest to
us now. If they launch planes…”
“If
those battleships get a good bead on us with those shock guns, we’re
deep-sixed, too,” said Derek. “Hardy! Get your planes in there to disable those
flight decks, and then get back to the ship. We have no time for a long battle!
We have to take them out now!”
“Acknowledged,”
said Hardy. “What are you thinkin?” said Hardy.
“I
have an idea,” said Derek. “Nova, put a tactical plot up there on the main
screen…now!”
“Yessir,”
said Nova as she scanned and then put a tactical up on the main screen…”
“If we can warp…right there,” said Wildstar as he pointed at a spot where the
enemy fleets intersected. “We’ll have to get behind them, and get our fleet to
clear the way, and we’ll have just one chance, but….”
“Wildstar!”
said Sandor. “That’s too dangerous! How do we know they’ll hold that position?”
“We’ll
use ourselves as bait,” said Derek as he opened a small hatch and put something
around his neck.
“Derek!”
said Nova. “You’re not…”
“Get
yours ready, too, Nova. We’ll have to do this fast. Then, we have to get to
Iscandar.”
Nova
nodded and she got out the same thing Derek had on around his neck.
A
pair of anti-flash goggles…
Nova
then smiled a little as she thought, Wave
motion gun? It might work. It just might…
IV.
DEATH COMES TO
Iscandarian
Defense Fleet Spacecraft Carrier Princess
Astra
In
Orbit over Planet Iscandar
Thursday,
July 2, 2207: 1023 Hours Earth Space-Time
Over
Iscandar, the Princess Astra, and Admiral
Alex Wildstar, were in a horrible battle for their lives….
“How many of them are there?” asked Alex from the Captain’s chair.
“I’m reading over sixty ships, sir,” said Dana, a young
Iscandarian woman who was the ship’s radar officer.
“Admiral Wildstar, I don’t know how long we can remain in a
sustained gun battle like this,” said Conor, who was the ship’s XO. He was
sitting at the Combat console.
“I can’t let them get to
Conor nodded, saying, “Open all guns, once again! Target, enemy
destroyers! FIRE!”
The Princess Astra
bravely fired her main guns, cruising on above Iscandar as she smoked and
burned. At the moment, the mighty spacecraft carrier was taking damage similar
to the sort that the Argo herself was
taking only two planets away. However, she may as well have been a universe
away right now as far as Alex Wildstar and his embattled fleet were concerned.
“Where the heck is the Gamilon Deep Space Fleet?” snapped Alex.
“Sir,” said Lieutenant Lori Cialna, a young Pellian lady who was
serving as his communications officer. “The main Gamilon Fleet reports that
they should be in position to back us up in seven minutes. Oh…another contact!”
General Fraken appeared on the Princess
Astra’s main screen a moment later. “Admiral,” said Fraken. “We’re fighting
a major battle with the Cometines and the Dark Nebulans at the moment. I’ve
just heard from your brother, Admiral. He says he’s planning a strategy that
will be decisive; then he hopes to come to your aid.”
“I hope it’s soon,” said Alex. He looked over and saw a young
figure running on the bridge. “Cadet Hartnell-Iiyama!” said Alex from his post
as he looked at Jonathan. Jonathan now had on a full red and black spacers’
uniform, but he had a cut on his head and his face was dirty.
“Sir, I’ve been sent up here by the medics. Lieutenant Parkman
crashed on the flight deck when refueling with me in his aft gunhouse in his
Tiger. He didn’t make it. Neither did Ensign Sura, sir.”
“Why were you sent up here?” demanded Conor as he ran over to his
son and brought him up to the Astro-Compass.
“To tell you I’m all right, sir…I…they ordered me to..I…They want
me to get new orders…”
Alex looked at the boy and he looked at the fighting outside. He’s got spirit, he thought. Reminds me a little of Derek at his
age…fourteen and Derek wanted to take on the whole universe too after our
mother and father were killed by that planet bomb…Derek couldn’t wait to leave
that orphanage and enter the Space Fighters’ Training School. Wish I could have
taken better care of you, Derek, but it was hard to do so being a junior
officer in the Space Defense Forces in those days… I hope I can bring Astra
around and that he can go to the Academy like Sasha did. Sasha…my daughter..I
hope you’re all right. Starsha and I can’t wait to see you again after this
fighting ends…
“Conor, send him to Sickbay,” said Alex. “He’ll be safe there and
he can help the medics…he…”
“Good idea, sir,” said Conor. The bearded young Iscandarian
officer in red and black hugged his foster son and said, “Jon, we’d like you to
go to Sickbay…”
“I’m not hurt…bad…” said Jonathan.
“To help the medics…and keep you out of trouble. I don’t think we
can find another pilot who will take you in as part of his flight crew now that
Lieutenant Kyle Parkman is…dead. He was a good leader for the Red Wolves…and a
great pilot…he…”
“Sir!” yelled Dana from the radar as her strawberry blonde hair flew all over
the place. “Two ships just warped in front of us…they…”
Then, the Black Nebulan ships fired.
The lights on the Princess
Astra’s bridge dimmed, and then went out as the spacecraft carrier shook
like a hut from two very bad hits.
A third hit came and the Astro-Compass exploded.
“GET DOWN!” yelled Conor as he flew on his foster son’s back and
shoved him to the deck as exploding glass and metal flew all over the place.
Jonathan hit the deck hard with his father on top of him.
Then, he heard and saw no more for a while, being knocked out.
Maybe that was more merciful for him than actually seeing what happened a split-second later.
Although he would see the aftermath of it…
Not
far away, the Gamilon Deep Space Fleet finally sortied, coming around Gamilon
from its nightside like avenging angels of destruction.
Leading the fleet was a brand-new Gamilon/Garuman space battle
fortress that had just completed the first stage of her space trials; the
brand-new flagship of the Empire, under the personal command of Leader Desslok.
Desslok’s new flagship was named the Excelsior, and she was a beautiful, fast, and very powerful blue
and red engine of destruction.
The Excelsior was the
biggest ship yet created by the Gamilons. She was over a kilometer long, was
incredibly massive, heavily armored, and Desslok’s scientists and engineers had
told him that she was unbeatable and unsinkable.
“Running at full speed,” said a Gamilon officer proudly on her
bridge as Desslok stood near his command station. “We’ll be in main gun range
in ten minutes. We’ll be in range of the main armament in five minutes.”
“Five minutes,” mused Desslok. “It may not be enough for
Iscandar,” he said as Talan stood beside him and they could see the accursed
Black Nebulan fleet showing itself in all of its ugliness. “We’ll need the main
armament, Talan…right away.”
“The proton missiles?” he said.
Desslok shook his head. “No. Our prime weapon.”
“Leader
Desslok!” said Talan. “The Hyper-Desslok Cannon has never been tested! We…”
“No time to test it like the present, when Starsha needs our
aid…more than ever,” said Desslok. Desslok nodded to a tech. “Make initial
firing preparations for the Hyper-Desslok Gun!”
“Yessir,” said the tech, one of Desslok’s minions in a grey
uniform. “Transfer tertiary circuits to the Hyper-Desslok cannon!”
“Transfer of energy beginning,” said an engineer. “Powering up
third energy generator! Power to port and starboard main engines normal and
continuing. We can continue to manuever and fire secondary weapons during the
charge process, Leader Desslok, just as designed!”
Desslok smiled grimly with satisfaction. The great classified
secret at the heart of his new ship; a secret he did not even intend to reveal
yet to Earth or even Iscandar, was that his new ship did not need to shut down its main engine in
order to fire his surge cannon. The reason why was because his massive new
space battleship had three energy generators; one for each of her massive
engines and ship’s power, and one dedicated only to firing his Hyper-Desslok
gun.
Desslok’s new weapon was also incredibly powerful and could be
charged in full in less than 100 seconds. Desslok smiled as his firing grip
came up and an engineer said, “Energy level, now forty percent! Sixty seconds
to firing!”
“Full power to our engines!” barked Desslok. “We have to get there
in time. Is it safe to warp yet?”
“We don’t know what it would do,” said Talan nervously. “So we
disabled that feature as a safety measure during charging of the Gun until we
test it…”
“Three minutes to range of the enemy fleet!” barked another
officer.
“Thirty seconds to firing power!” said the engineer. “Energy level
now seventy-five percent!” he said as the Hyper-Desslok cannon bleeped
incredibly fast with its energy buildup.
“Open main safety lock!” snapped Desslok. His target scope lit up.
“Two minutes to firing range…excellent!”
“Engaging vanguard of enemy fleet,” said a voice from deep in the
bowels of the Excelsior.
“Drop Desslok mines!” ordered Desslok.
“Dropping mines!” said another crewmember as a cloud of mines
dropped from the keel of the Excelsior
and began to gather before the ship’s bow by remote control.
“Ready for transport,” said an officer.
Desslok nodded. “Go!” he
said.
The mines were warped out before the Black Nebulan fleet by the Excelsior’s new SMITE units a moment
later.
“That will hold them off, Lord,” said a Gamilon officer.
“Until I am ready,” said Desslok as the status lights went green
in his target scope. “Thirty seconds to firing range!” he said. “Energy charge
complete!” he added. “Make final preparations for firing of the Hyper-Desslok
Cannon!”
“I hope we can save Iscandar,” said Talan.
“I am not concerned,” said Desslok. “We shall win…”
On Iscandar itself, enemy troops had just begun to land on
The small city was in panic as Black Nebulans ran amok, shooting
at people wherever they could find them.
The Pellian part of the fighter base where Invidia had stayed a
few weeks ago was now under attack; Pellian officers and men and women took cover
as best they could as Black Nebulans attacked their planes.
The
same part of the base where Deke and the Trojans had been just a few weeks ago
was also under attack by Black Nebulans landing with jetpacks.
Commodore Priceman, the EDF Fighter Base Commander, was behind his
desk in his headquarters, shooting at Black Nebulan troops who had just raped
and murdered his secretary on her own desk.
Priceman’s Astro-Automatic finally ran out of energy. The “Iceman”
resorted to throwing a picture of his dead wife at his enemies before he blew
himself and about ten Black Nebulans up with a hand grenade he had secreted in
his desk. It was a gruesome death, but at least he died a hero.
The Cocoanut Grove (which would later reopen) had just had its
last call for a while as Black Nebulans kicked over tables and pillaged the bar
at random, stealing bottles of liquor as someone set the piano on fire with a
flame-thrower. They left the place burning.
Outside, some troops pounced on a poor Earthling woman walking
with her baby boy. She was the wife of a scientist, and had never done any harm
to anyone. A lone Gamilon trooper in brown armor tried to defend her and her
honor, but he was killed. She screamed as she was attacked, and screamed again
as she saw her son’s brains smashed out against a wall as a laughing Black
Nebulan smacked the baby against the wall. She kept on screaming throughout the
attack she was subjected to in an alley, and only stopped screaming after her
tormentors stripped her of everything and cut her throat.
“Did she have a map in her handbag?” asked one trooper.
“Yes, Commander Lurgis,” said another one. “Look. It shows the way
to
“Up the Great Continent,” said another trooper. “Not far. We
didn’t get that much resistance here, even from the Gamilons,” said the trooper
as he kicked the dead body of the Gamilon soldier who had gone down fighting in
an attempt to guard the Earthling woman the squad had just robbed, raped, and
killed in the alley after smashing her baby boy’s head against the wall.
“These people are going to be easy to rule,” said Lurgis.
“Yes, no spirit!” roared the other one.
Other such tragedies followed on
On the Princess Astra,
in the meantime, the Iscandarian spacecraft carrier was badly crippled.
Smoke rose on the bridge from the destroyed Astro-Compass.
That wasn’t the worst blow they had taken, though.
Alex and Dana were pulling Conor gently off of Jonathan. Jonathan
survived with a cut lip and bruises; but only because his adoptive father had
shielded him from the blast.
Conor had several shards of glass and metal in his back and in his
lungs. He could no longer move or feel his legs because his spine was severed,
and every time he coughed, bright red foamy blood spewed from his mouth.
Several arteries in his lungs were cut.
He was dying, and he knew it.
“Jonathan…I’m glad I was here for you…at the end,” he said.
“Father, don’t die!” said Jonathan.
“Try not to cry so much,” whispered Conor before he coughed again.
“You’ll have to be strong…for your mother…please tell Astra I loved her. My
love-bond with her is severing, even now. She reaches to me from Earth…but I
can barely answer her back. You need to be strong now, Jonathan….you have to be
a man…for…her…”
“I can’t go to the Academy now! You know she won’t allow it! You
have to be there for me!”
Conor’s eyes looked out into space, as if he saw something none of
them could see. “That may be right, but your godfather Derek will make sure of
it. Alex,” he gasped at Admiral Wildstar. “Make sure your brother Derek and his
poor Nova are told after the battle…if they live through this with us. With the
foresight of the dying man, I can foresee them standing with Jonathan at my
grave. Please bury me on Iscandar after my spirit flies. The Hills of
Rememberance. Bury me near the first Princess Astra; she whom you named this
ship after. My Astra will someday lie in the ground next to me, in the distant
future, when your Sasha becomes the new Queen. Astra will never come to the
throne…this will break her spirit….why now? Why now?” Conor coughed again and
said, “Jonathan, poor Astra will say things to you in her grief, after I am
gone. Don’t take her to heart…and…listen to Derek….and listen to Nova. The
parents you lost on the Westhampton Beach…brought
you through babyhood…Astra and I…raised you…through boyhood…”
“Father, why won’t Mother stay with me?” sobbed Jonathan.
“She’ll…blame…you…” gasped Conor. “Grief. I forgive her. Alex, I
charge you with making sure his godparents finish raising him. Your brother,
Derek, will be his new father…even though he does not yet know it, he is a
father as of today. Nova…will soon bear her own. Make sure she raises him along
with the brother named after you and his little sister named after the angel of
light. He will be the oldest…protector of his baby brother and sister…Derek and
Nova…will teach him…how to be a man…I wish I could have done so…I…”
“Please don’t go!” sobbed Jonathan as he hugged his foster father.
“Jon, I have to…the house of my spirit crumbles…” Conor went
silent and then said, “Alex…sir…they’re here for me…Astra…the sister-in-law you
never knew…is here with Trelaina…they are beckoning me to come with them…I go
now…goodbye…”
There came an explosion outside as Conor drew in a ragged last
breath, and went slack and empty as that last breath was exhaled and he turned
limp in his foster-son’s arms as the light left his open eyes forever.
Jonathan wailed and held his foster-father as a weeping Alex and
Dana tenderly closed Conor’s eyes. A moment later, medics came with a stretcher
for the body. Jonathan stood numbly sniffing into his sleeve as the body was hauled
up on the stretcher. A sheet went over the corpse as a nurse in summer uniform
said to Jonathan, “Come on. There are living wounded you can help with.”
Jonathan bit his lip, and saluted Alex. Alex saluted back and
hugged him and whispered, “Be strong…”
“That’s easy for you to say, sir,” said Jonathan bitterly. “You
didn’t lose your dad…”
“No, but I helped my brother identify what was left at the planet
bomb site after we did,” retorted Alex. “I’m sorry…I have a battle to fight.”
Jonathan nodded. “Get those Black Nebulan bastards!” he whispered.
“I will…”
“Ten seconds to firing!” said an officer on the bridge of the Excelsior as Desslok started into his
target scope. “Target…main body of Black Nebulan Fleet! One Gorba
Auto-Fortress, many battleships and escorts…”
“This had better do it,” said Talan.
“I’m sure it will,” said Desslok. “Hyper-Desslok Cannon, FIRE!”
Desslok pulled back the trigger as he fired his new flagship’s
dread weapon right at the heavily armored Gorba from which Admiral Dega had
just demanded their surrender and Iscandar’s surrender.
The new cannon worked just as Desslok’s engineers had adverstised.
The energy flow was perfect.
Deadly pink energy surged from the Excelsior’s bow into the heart of the Black Nebulan fleet.
Dega
screamed as his Gorba was covered with energy, and then, the energy boiled
through even its armor as it dissolved and came apart. The Gorba blew apart at
last.
Not far away, Desslok’s former flagship, the red command
spacecraft carrier Farushar, was
firing its Desslok Cannon point-blank at Meldazz’s own Gorba ship under the
orders of Captain Nazemayo, its new commander. Meldazz looked nervously at
Dega’s ship, and was glad that he had escaped the holocaust. But, he only
laughed as the Desslok Cannon beam from the Farushar
smashed into his ship’s armor and did nothing.
Meldazz only laughed as the red carrier sat there and did nothing.
He laughed again as he opened his Gorba’s main guns under the armor belt.
And, he laughed yet again as he fired and fired and fired until
the Farushar was nothing but scrap
metal, defeated at last, luckily without the Leader aboard. The carrier,
originally laid down on old Gamilon in 2199, had lasted through eight years’
worth of honorable service. It went down fighting to the end as Nazemayo died
with “Long Live Leader Desslok!” on his lips, a loyal soldier of the Empire to
the end.
Desslok bowed his head as he watched Nazemayo’s end. “Farewell,
friend,” he said. “Talan, bring us about! Our second barrage is meant for that
arrogant Meldazz! Prepare to fire the Hyper-Desslok cannon again!”
But, the Gorba and her remaining ships just warped away, retiring
from the battle as Iscandar continued to burn below them. “Cowards!” yelled
Desslok with a raised fist. “Stand and fight like men, you jackals!”
Then, messages began flowing into the Excelsior. “Leader Desslok!” gasped Talan as he came up and
saluted.
“Talan?” said Desslok. “Why are you so..?”
“Gamilstadt, sir. They’re hitting the capital on Gamilon! More of
those…fortresses!”
“More of them,” hissed Desslok. “Very well…we shall warp!
Destination..right over my capital on
Gamilon! If they hurt my wife, son, or my citizens, they shall face my
wrath!” roared Desslok. “Take us out of here! Sadly, we must wait until later
to aid Iscandar…I only pray…Wildstar was here.”
The fleet warped out a moment later.
V.
ENDING A HORRID DELAY
Space
Battleship Argo
Near
Planet Dalsanti
Thursday,
July 2, 2207: 1105 Hours Earth Space-Time
The Argo had performed
her warp.
The
“I recognize that sound,” said Deke. “But it sounds even more
powerful on the Argo than it did on
the
“When we hear that, we know Wildstah’s had it with the enemy,” said Hardy with an evil grin.
Then, a moment later, Wildstar’s voice came up on the PA speakers
over the sound of the charging wave motion gun. “Fifteen seconds to firing! All
hands, brace for recoil shock! Energy
level one hundred and twenty percent! Ten seconds to firing!”
On
the Argo’s bridge, all hands now had
on their goggles as Wildstar himself stared through the firing scope with his
hands on the firing grip. “Enemy in range!” cried Nova from her radar.
“Begin final countdown!” snapped Wildstar.
“Ten…nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one…final sequence
completed…FIRE!”
The energy glow at the Argo’s
bow grew luridly bright as Derek fired the wave motion gun.
And the wave gun spoke, blasting a cataract of blue energy at the
enemy fleet just as two Cometine space battleships finally fired their deadly
shock cannons right at the Argo from
seven megameters’ range. The deadly surges blasted towards the Argo, but they did not prevail against
the offensive punch of the deadly surge of energy from the wave motion gun,
which scattered them to nothingness.
A shocked Admiral Jena watched his own doom as his flagship and
the rest of his fleet were surrounded by lurid, bright light. He screamed as
his body dissolved, never to return to his Princess again.
The Black Nebulan fleet that had backed him up also perished, and
not a single enemy ship was left at Dalsanti. The remainder of the wave motion
gun beam roared brightly into space as Deke, Brew, and the others stood with
their mouths open as space was filled with light. Then, the Argo began a slow and majestic turn to
port, making a final course change as she prepared to lead what remained of her
task force onwards to Iscandar at last.
The
Argo and her task group made a space
warp a moment later.
But, would she make it in time?
Or would Iscandar fall in the next few minutes?
In Sickbay, where she was being treated, not even Sasha knew the
answer as the Argo roared through
subspace.
She would be in battle again in just a moment….
But to what result? The Star Force had won Round Two….
But what about Round Three?
TO BE CONTINUED….
To Return to the Introduction to The New Comet, click here