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)
Much Thanks to Michael C. Crump (aka “Max Damage”) for artwork contributed to this
chapter.
Thanks to Gail Kopetz (Fluffy) and Yvleises
Giordano (Eva) for some plot points regarding a punishment in this tale…
ACT SIX: A FINAL OUTRAGE
I.
A CONTENTIOUS MEETING
Planet
Earth
The
Great Megalopolis
Earth
Defense Headquarters
The
Chambers of the Defense Council
Friday,
July 3, 2207: 0920 Hours Earth Space-Time
The Earth Defense Council had just been called to order in
emergency session.
The Commander already saw that it was not going to be a
pleasant meeting. We should count
ourselves lucky we are here to meet at all, he thought.
Prime Minister Gonjin looked over the Council and said,
“I’ve read the report, but I am still trying to put this together. Part of the
Comet Empire helped us drive away Invidia
today?”
General Singleton nodded. “Yes, Mister Prime Minister. To
put it in perspective, it is necessary to put together intelligence about what
we have learned about the Cometine Race in the past few years.”
“Go ahead,” said Daniel Margolis, the attache’ to the
Federation Parliament Assembly. “We’re listenin’…”
The Commander
ignored the sacrcasm and said, “We have learned, from intellligence gained from
the Gamilons, and intelligence gleaned from various enemy sources, including a
brief conversation we had with General Radnar before he left the Solar System
after the battle, that Prince Zordar was not, as we thought, the leader of the
entire Comet Empire, but a warlord, for lack of a better term, fighting on his
own with the sanction of his Race. It seems their Race, located in the
Andromeda Galaxy, is a loose federation of many such warlords, expanding in all
directions. General Radnar once served Prince Zordar but later fell out of
favor with him. Since then, one could say he has been a rival to Zordar’s
faction, led by Princess Invidia. Invidia’s new war against us, for reasons of
inheritance, was found to be illegal and she was recalled to her home galaxy by
the Cometine Grand Emperor. She refused that summons, so Radnar is one of
several factions under orders to stop
her. For lack of a better term…Radnar is an ally against Invidia on our side.”
The Council muttered and mumbled amongst themselves,
trying to absorb this weird new development.
“So, let me get this straight,” said Doctor Gonjin. “We were
partially saved today because of a quarrel in the Cometine ranks?”
“We wouldn’t even be in this mess today if we hadn’t allied
with Gamilon and Iscandar,” sneered Doctor Harold
Mattingly of the Xeno-Cultural Bureau. “Isn’t it true that the famous Star
Force was playing around helping Desslok while Earth was burning?”
“Yes,” said Singleton as sweat ran down his brow. “But a
large part of the enemy’s strength was stopped there, at the Sanzar System, by
our Star Force units. If the report I received from Commodore Wildstar is any
indication, a major warlord and general in Invidia’s faction named Skaldart was
killed today, and the Dark Lord Ekogaru was seriously weakened in some kind of
battle with Aliscea Rosstowski, formerly Aliscea D’Shal of Pellias. Gamilon was
also kept in the war today thanks to an attack upon a neutron bomb led by
Commander Sandor and General Talan. I read you the report from Commodore Derek
Wildstar at the beginning of the meeting.”
“Aren’t you calling them back?”
sneered Defense Minister Neil Ainsley. “We pay all of
those Star Force hooligans special hazard pay, right? We should have those damn
freebooters back home watching the
ramparts. I’m sure Invidia will probably be back for another round of target
practice soon! Three million dead and our automated fleet turned to so much
damn space junk in one morning. What a waste! We only have two hundred and ninety more million people to be killed on
Earth now. Fifteen million have already died in these two years of fighting.
How many more do we need dead until you realize, Singleton, maybe we had better
consider peace negotiations with this bunch?”
“We tried that already,
and it didn’t work!” snapped Singleton. “Remember what happened at Melezart?”
“That’s because you wouldn’t consider surrender, and you had
to send that Wildstar teenybopper girl to be our representative,” snapped
Ainsley. “It only got them madder at us and lost us more resources. That kid
should have been up on charges for her stupidity along with her long-haired
husband!”
The Council muttered angrily as Singleton pounded a gavel
for order. “Ladies! Gentlemen! We’re here to decide strategy, not to put the Star Force on
trial. Or did you forget the enemy demanded
that she was to be there? At any rate, I’m told that her strategy partly saved
Gamilon this morning. She might be sitting here amongst us someday. But, at any
rate, I have sent Commodore Wildstar orders. The Star Force and the whole Task
Force…except for the spacecraft carrier Shiryu,
barring any unforeseen distasters, are to begin heading back home on Tuesday,
July Seventh since the threat to the Sanzar System is now apparently
neutralized. The Gamilons have already told us they can help defend Iscandar
and Gamilon from any furrher incursions based on what seemed to be left of the
enemy’s forces. When the Star Force vessels come home in a week or two at top
speed in continuous warp mode, they will then be debriefed and receive
emergency repairs prior to being redeployed at the edge of the Solar System.
Until Invidia is completely defeated, whether by us, Gamilon, or Radnar, we
know we will not be safe…”
II. REGROUPING
Between Iscandar and
Gamilon
Space Battleship Argo
Friday, July 3, 2207
1406 Hours: Earth
Standard Space-Time
Commodore Wildstar sat in the Argo’s comm booth, listening as General
Singleton asked him, “Do you believe that you can have the Task Force, with the
exception of the Shiryu, on the way
back home within the next four days?”
Derek nodded his head. “Yes. The
situation is finally more stable here in the Sanzar System at last. There have
been no signs of enemy activity ever since our last battle with those Black
Nebulan forces earlier this morning. It appears that after Ekogaru was
defeated, he pulled everything out. The Gamilons have every recon ship and
satellite spread out as far as possible in the system, and the Shiryu and the Danube are on patrol; no signs of enemy activity at all. How is it
near Earth, sir?”
“Third Fleet fought a small
skirmish with a little task force Invidia left behind, but they’ve all been
defeated. A lot of people died around
“They’ll never stop it,” sighed
Wildstar. “If we would have been able to receive communications, we would have
been on our way home in emergency continuous warp mode as soon as we knew Earth
was in danger, sir.”
“I told them that, and they
finally believed me,” said Singleton. “Unfortunately, Intelligence discovered
that the Eritz Gatlantis probably
survived that suicidal space warp near Earth; with major damage.”
“I’d like to hope that they’ll
creep back home, or that someone in that vipers’ nest will just assasinate
Invidia..or something. I want this war over, sir. I’m tired of it.”
“Wildstar, you speak for a lot of
us,” sighed the Commander. “But you know they won’t give up until that
city-ship is turned to wreckage. I think they’ll be back.”
“Unfortunately, I think you’re
right, sir,” sighed Derek.
The two men exchanged pleasantries
and then saluted and ended the conversation.
A moment later, there was a tap at
the partition. Derek knew who it was at once by the way the person tapped.
“Come in,” he said.
The partition slid open, and Nova
came in, yawning slightly. She had on her white nurses’ tunic and clogs now,
and she looked beat.
“How long have you been on your
feet?” he asked.
“Doctor Sane and I just finished
up with the last operation a few minutes ago. Hemsford. He was hurt invading
the bomb. It’s not serious, luckily. You look like I feel, Derek.”
“Funny, I was about to say the
same thing,” said Derek Wildstar as his wife came over to his chair and began
to give him a back rub. “You’re starting to look pale. That worries me.”
“A lot of things are worrying me,” Nova said as she worked the kinks
out of Derek’s back muscles through his Star Force whites. “I’m beginning to
wonder if I’m still fit for duty.”
“Why…would you say that?” Derek
said delicately.
Nova sighed. “You know why. The
pregnancy. I’ve said a lot of things lately that must make you think I’m an
utter idiot, and I’m sorry. I know you…if there’s any action, you might need to
go out and fly. I want to apologize…for being so possessive of you. I…”
“Nova, I got your point,” said
Derek. “I’m commander of a Task Force now. My place is on this ship running
it.”
“Maybe my place is home,” she said
quietly. “I wish I could go home,
but…”
“We’re going there anyway,” Derek
said. “But we agreeed you were going where I go. Staying where I stay.”
“If we’re going to be home for a
few days…a few weeks…well…I’m only seven weeks or so away from my due date now,
Derek.” She smiled a little. “You’re going to be a father in seven weeks,
Commodore Wildstar. And I’m going to be a mother to these children,” she said
as she patted her stomach.”And maybe one more.”
“Jonathan?” he said.
“I hate to interfere…but he came
to me again the other day. He was crying. He said he and his mother Astra have
had some very harsh words over the communications net. They were about Conor.
She blames him for his death.”
Derek shook his head. “This does
not sound like a good situation…”
“It’s not, Derek. And we are the boy’s godparents.”
“We’ll let this one sit until we
can talk to both Jonathan and Astra
about this,” said Derek. “He’s fourteen. Lots of fourteen-year old boys have
fights with their parents.”
“They’re going to be burying Conor
in the cemetery on Iscandar tomorrow,” said Nova. “Can we be there for
Jonathan?”
“Yes, Nova. I was…planning on it.”
“And about home?” said Nova.
“Yes?” said Derek.
“I’m going to need some help
papering and painting the bedroom we chose for the nursery when we get home. Up
to some home improvement?” she said with a wink.
Derek got up and held his wife.
“Yeah…I guess I am…”
“Thanks,” said Nova in a small
voice.
III. A VERY BITTER
INTERLUDE
One Lightyear Away From
the Sanzar System
The Eritz Gatlantis
Princess Invidia’s
Palace
Sunday, July 5, 2207
2000 Hours: Earth
Standard Space-Time
It could fairly be said Princess
Invidia was in another burning rage.
Another
session with the accursed, rotten General Staff gone bad! Invidia snapped as she smashed her way back into
her repaired suite, smashing a glass with her pointer as a nice little
afterthought. Idiots! We can warp at full
speed, but we can’t re-ignite the Comet for ten days! We can fix the shield but
the power ducts to the belt Magna-Flame generators are down! I should hang a
few more engineering officers for that and make them work harder! And our
commanders? Desslok and the Earthlings handed us our posteriors on a platter,
and Skaldart gets killed in battle himself! IDIOT!
Invidia threw down her pointer and
got herself a drink of some wine. She wished Michelle was around about now, but
she was ill, so she had given her Terran slave a night off to rest in her
quarters.
It left Invidia alone, depressed,
and nasty as she drank.
Invidia could become a very nasty
sort of drunk. Her wine burned like acid as it went down and she looked over at
something that Gorse had recently had hung up in the cabin.
It was on a wall. It was a large
picture of her father, Prince Zordar.
Invidia poured herself more wine, and
then she glanced sidelong at the portrait of her father.
“Father,” she said out loud to the picture as she
mockingly raised a toast to it as tears began to run down her face. “You and my
mother, Countess Eloise, were happy for the first twelve years of my life. I
was happy. Then, there was the day that Mother died. That was the day you began
to possess me. You told me I was a true Princess at that point; and new First
Lady of our House. After the funeral, you made me sit with you in strategy
sessions in her chair. You made me sit next to you all of the time, always. It
is not that I did not love you…I did. Too much. I craved your love so much, Oh
DEAR Father, that I began to believe anything
you taught me was right. Take what you
want!...you told me! Take a city, it
is yours! Take slaves, they are yours!
Read the books and romances beyond my years? You want something? Have the
troops plunder it! Have our men smash windows and kick in doors in cities to
get you a beautiful necklace! Wash the blood off the dead hand of the jeweller
holding it! Read all of Mother’s private books and booktapes? They are yours! Become your mother! A
lady of breeding! Passion! Power! You want fun? Take from the slaves like I do!
Take whatever you want! Wealth? Take! A baby torn from its mother’s breast to
be plaything until it starves of affection and milk and dies? TAKE!
Conversation? TAKE! Someone in your bed at night? TAKE! They are your inferiors! They are not people!”
“Father, what did you become?”
hissed Invidia. “The once decent man I knew…began to change. No more baths, no
more bouncing me on the knee, no more games! You are grown! Share my power! Is it any wonder I began to crave
more for myself, the more I wanted? And we fought! The worse you made me feel,
the more I took it out on others!”
“And you told me I was your most
precious one,” she hissed as she drank even more. “You told me, Father, that
you were leaving it all to me. To me? UNTIL YOU FOUND HIM!” she screamed as she
held the pointer up to the portrait. “DESSLOK! You found him, and you said he
was like a son to you! Where there is a son, the daughter…oh, the accursed laws
of succession that you could have laughed at….the law that says the son
inherits!”
“I wanted power to keep that place
at your side as your precious one, your true heroine,” said Invidia as she
began to cry. “I schemed to put Desslok down to deal with Trelaina and everyone
as I saw fit. I lied, cheated, schemed, to keep at your side and keep him down!
I thought I had him out of the way when I sent him into prison and I prepared
to put him on trial for his head! Then, what? He escapes! AND YOU AIDED HIM IN
GETTING AWAY FROM ME! YOU GAVE HIM BACK HIS FLAGSHIP! SO HE CAN DO WHAT? SETTLE
HIS PRIVATE QUARREL WITH THE ARGO AND
THEN TURN AROUND AND HELP THEM AFTER DESSLOK GETS ALL MUSHY ABOUT THE BOY AND
GIRL HUGGING EACH OTHER!”
Invidia began laughing. She drank
more wine and laughed harder. “Oh, he helped them. And what do you do? I try to
preserve things to keep the decisions out of your head, and you turn around and
demote Dyre, myself, and Gorse to minor tasks! Then you decide to disinherit
me!” Invidia laughed in a scream. “Strip me of my throne, that you promised me
after Mother died! And I do not learn of it until after I run from you because
you decided that you would deal with us later! Myself, Gorse and Dyre could
take no more so we left the Dreadnaught! Then, Trelaina deals with YOU. And you
don’t even try to warp away or shoot at silly Trelaina with that siege cannon!
You died! YOU LEFT ME! And you did not care!”
Invidia shook her pointer, now
throughly drunk. “YOU DID NOT CARE! Abandon your daughter? Leave her? You could
have been with us in our vengeance! Maybe you would have made it work! Maybe it
still can work, but…our last chance is fading away! What can I do? What can I
do now?”
“Get Desslok,” said a deep voice
as Invidia turned her head.
Standing there, grinning like
Death, was Ekogaru in Stovall’s body.
“You will wreck their
“Like that will do anything,” said
Invidia with scorn. “My mother. I remember my mother…”
“Is this a briefing or some kind
of psychotherapy session?” mocked Ekogaru. “Really. There are times when I do
not quite believe you…”
“When you realize what?” snapped
Invidia. “That my mother loved me?”
“Oh, she did love you?” mocked the
Dark Lord.
“She did. She treated me….well,
like a true Princess! She was always good to me, and she always got Father to
treat me well, as well.”
“And after she died?”
“Father was never the same. It was
as if her death unhinged him,” said Invidia.
“As you are becoming unhinged
now,” he purred. “I have a bargain to make with you. Stovall is dying.”
“Interesting that you are using
him still. And how do you keep him from knowing all of what you think?”
“I have the ability to do so. His
mind is fragmenting on me. My bargain. What if I came to live inside your body?”
Invidia threw back her head and
laughed insanely. “You are jesting! NO! NEVER!”
“I do not joke in such matters,”
said Ekogaru. “If you and I melded; became one being…you would have power like
nothing you have ever dreamed of.”
“And you would use up my essence,
and I would then grow prematurely old, and die like him,” said Invidia. “Having
the ability that Trelaina gave me to change my appearance at will to that of
the dead Katrina Savela is weird enough for my taste. I only want one person
living in my head, and that is me. Or, if you are so great, why don’t you just
take me by force? If you can.”
“I cannot do so,” said Ekogaru. “I
can only inhabit a willing host. No bother. I shall find another. Then, I will
come back to you soon and beat your brains in while inside a stronger and
younger body. In fact, if the person I have in mind agrees to this, it would be
a sort of poetic justice, eh?”
“You’re mad.”
“You, Invidia, are far worse.” At
that, Ekogaru vanished.
IV. TEMPTATIONS BY NIGHT
Planet Iscandar, High
Orbit
Space Battleship Argo
Derek and Nova Wildstar’s
Quarters
Monday, July 6, 2207
0206 Hours: Earth
Standard Space-Time
Nova Wildstar awoke from a strange
dream only to notice that it was suddenly very cold in the Captain’s Quarters.
She pulled the covers tighter
around her naked body as she tried to rouse Derek, who slept deeply beside her.
“Derek?” she said. “Derek, please wake up! I’m cold! Derek!”
“He will not awaken for the moment,” said a deep, sepulchral voice
that came from nowhere and everywhere at once as the cold grew ten factors
worse. Nova looked down at herself and realized that the blanket and sheet had
vanished, and she was lying nude on her back while horribly cold air made her
skin go up in goose pimples from head to toe. Nova held Derek and shivered as a
bizarre shape began to form in the near-darkness of their cabin, illuminated
only by the shipboard instruments that were in there.
“Ekogaru,” hissed Nova as she
reached down and drew Derek’s Astro-Automatic from its holster near their bunk
as she confronted the weird, hooded, semi-skeletal apparition that was an
unwelcome guest in their cabin. She undid the safety with a loud click as she
leaned in close to Derek’s naked body. He barely seemed to be breathing. “If
you hurt my husband, you will have Hell to pay. Get out of here and go back to
whichever astral Pit you came out of! Go back to Hell where you belong!”
“Oh, you are concerned for him
while as naked as a baby. Were you mating with him tonight?” Ekogaru said
mockingly.
“That is none of your business, you sick piece of garbage!”
Nova snapped.
“You know, I like your spirit.
Your protectiveness for your husband. You have a very young, healthy, and vital
body. Why not let me move in there with you?”
“What?” cried Nova.
“Michael Stovall is not in very
good health. He is not terribly bright, his thoughts are tiresome and boring,
nothing but sex and revenge and killing, and he is dying fast because he has
about as much mental potential as a rock. You, on the other hand, are in very
good health, are awfully strong and attractive for a seven-months pregnant
woman, have a keen mind with a lot of intutive factors, and you like to travel
and see new places. If I come to live in you, I would cherish you and bring this
war to an end. Together, you and I could advance the human race.”
“By what? Enslaving it to create
more cyborgs in your image?” snapped Nova.
“Homo Technis,” he said. “A new, perfect life form. Join with me,
and I can give you all the power I promised your late Aunt Yvona…and her
ungrateful Clone.”
“I’m not an insane religious
fanatic like my Aunt,” Nova retorted. “And you have five seconds to get out of
here before I shoot you!” If I can even shoot
a ghost, that is… she thought.
“I take it that is a no?” said
Ekogaru.
“Four seconds,” said Nova.
“That is a no. Most unfortunate.
All right. An alternate bargain? Give me one of the children inside your naked
stomach.”
“Never,” said Nova. “Three
seconds!”
“Or let me have your husband,” he said with a cold laugh.
“No. Two seconds!”
“You are aware that it would be
awfully hard to fire that weapon at me now and cause any damage,” purred
Ekogaru.
“WHY?” snapped Nova. “Your time is
up!”
Ekogaru’s phantom smiled and bowed
mockingly as Nova fired.
Derek’s Astro-Automatic just
sprayed water at the Dark Lord. The stream of water went through him and
spattered the back of Derek’s chair as Ekogaru laughed like mad and vanished.
Nova looked at the weapon with
disbelief as she noticed that she was kneeling naked and shivering on the
restored blanket. She noticed the time on a nearby chrono: 02:13:040.05. Part of her recorded
that time in her head, guessing it might be a significant observation for later
on.
Derek woke up with sleep in his
eyes. “Nova, what are you doing with my weapon?”
Nova turned around, filled with
disbelief. “Ekogaru was just up here. I was trying to protect you!”
Derek sat up and yawned as sweat
covered his bare chest. “Yeah, it feels incredibly cold in here…”
Nova put down the weapon after
putting the safety back on. She heard and felt the buzzing of its power cell as
it somehow went back to its normal state in her hands. Derek rubbed sleep out
of his eyes and said, “I think we should call an alert if he’s still around.”
“How do we know that?” said Nova.
“He was here one minute as a ghost…or some kind of spectre…and gone the next
minute. He put you to sleep and we had some strange conference. I tried
shooting him-he turned your weapon into a water pistol for a moment. That’s why
the back of your chair is wet.”
“He didn’t bring Stovall’s carcass
with him?”
Nova shook her head in the
near-dark. From Derek’s perspective, the shape of her slender but strong back,
the roundness of her toned, bare bottom, and the soles of her bare feet as she
knelt on her naked haunches made her look hauntingly sexy in the dim light.
“No. He just showed up as a phantom! Granted, I was not thinking clearly and I
wanted to shoot him, but how do we call an intruder alert against an ectoplasm, Derek? Something like that
doesn’t even technically exist as a physical object in space!”
“What did he want from you?” said
Derek.
“To live inside my body,” said
Nova.
Derek chuckled. “Yeah. Part of me
moves in there every other night or so…I believe that is why you are pregnant,
my dear.”
“That’s not what he meant!” Nova snapped. “He wanted to
possess me. Or one of our children! I am
Legion, William Peter Blatty novel stuff…or maybe H.P. Lovecraft.”
“Sounds like he needs to get a new
screenwriter,” chuckled Derek.
“This is not funny, Derek!” Nova snapped. She irritably went over his back and
grabbed up an intership phone. She dialed a number and waited as it rang. “First bridge,” came a Texas-accented
voice over Nova’s headset. “Officer of the Deck Lieutenant Chris Eager
speakin’! That you, Wildstar?”
“Right place, wrong gender,” Nova
snapped.
“Nova! Now what’s botherin’ you,
ma’am?”
“We have an intruder alert to
report,” she said as she looked at Derek and he nodded once. “Be on the lookout
for something tall, semi-corporeal, and ugly. It’s about seven feet tall and
sort of looks like a stereotypical image of the Grim Reaper. Lord Ekogaru paid
Derek and I a visit tonight. He might still be on the ship.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really?” said Derek as he
took the phone. “I…”
Then, a weird scream came over the
ship’s speakers. Demented laughter woke up every sleeping crewmember and
officer as something like a gas cloud formed above the weather deck, with a
skull-face at its center. The Argo
was knocked over hard to port like a toy ship as Derek and Nova crashed out of
their bunk and smacked hard into their lockers. Then, the emergency lights came
up in their cabin as the red alert klaxons came up while the ship went back
onto an even keel.
“Are you all right?” Nova asked as
she sat on the deck in Derek’s lap.
“A little bruised up, but I’m
fine,” he said. “Get dressed!”
Nova nodded, pulling on a uniform
and boots as quickly as she could while Derek dressed. Both of them appeared on
the
Eager turned to face them as they
showed up. “Okay, Nova, now I you you wasn’t kidding!”
“Where did he go?” snapped Derek.
“He appeared over the weather
deck, kicked the ship ninety degrees to port, and then he vanished,” said
Homer. “I’m calling the
“This is damage control,” said Bando’s voice over the intership
speakers as Nova and Derek ran to their posts. Nova went to the Cosmo-Radar,
while Derek took a position at Combat, which was vacant at this hour of the
night. “No damage reported to the ship. Except maybe a lot of
shaken-up people and a few broken dishes in the galley.”
Sandor appeared a moment later as he ran onto the
bridge. “Would someone tell me what is going on here?”
“We’re still trying to figure that
out, Steve,” said Derek from his post as he got up to look around.
Hemsford’s voice came up a moment
later. “Marine Group Leader Hemsford here. No security events reported…except…”
“Except what?” snapped Derek from his post as he whipped his head around.
“Nova, scan the ship and the surrounding area!”
“I was already on it, sir,” Nova
replied from her post as she worked the controls at her radar and sensor unit.
“Haven’t found anything odd yet. Scanning every spectrum and band that I can
find.”
Derek nodded once and then said,
“Hemsford?”
“Sir, one of my squad leaders
reports something weird. He was guarding the brig. Bryan Hartcliffe was down
here?”
“Yes, we delayed his Captain’s
Mast,” said Commodore Wildstar.
“He’s not there now. He’s
vanished, the man reports.”
“What?” said Derek.
“Gone. And the cell door is still
dogged tightly shut.”
Derek put his head in his hands
and shook hard. “Now this is weird.”
“What should we do, sir?”
“Put another man on that brig in
case
“Yessir,” said Hemsford.
A few minutes later, Wildstar
stood talking with the Marine Sergeant, a tallish, thin man named Marvin
Reiland. Nova recognized him from somewhere but couldn’t place who he was until
she remembered that she had first met him in the fall of 2201, when he had been
a mere Private and had been rescued with Sergeant Knox from the now-destroyed
planet of Brumus. He had survived the first Cometine War only because he had
been badly wounded while helping to board Desslok’s flagship in their last
battle with the Gamilon Leader and he was thus unable to board the Gatlantis, where Sergeant Knox had been
fatally wounded.
Now, Reiland said to Wildstar,
“Sir, I ran the security camera scans from inside his cell. They were weird.”
“Did you bring the tapes?” said
Derek.
“Yessir. We can run them over here
at the starboard side screen.”
Wildstar, Eager, Sandor, Nova and
the others gathered around the starboard side bridge screen to the aft of
Eager’s post. Reiland and IQ-9 soon had the security tape going.
“Here’s Hartcliffe in his cell,
sir,” said Reiland. “Sitting just the way he was earlier, morose, staring into
space.”
“Bring up the time readout?” said
Nova.
“Yes, Nova,” said IQ-9. He
adjusted a knob on a console, and the time readout 2:13.040 came up on
the screen.
“Slow it down!” said Nova. The
video was slowed down. At 2:13.050, Nova observed, just ten seconds after
Ekogaru’s phantom had left her shivering and naked in her cabin, Hartcliffe sat
bolt upright as a shadowy blob appeared on the video. A fog began to fill the
room, but Nova thought she caught a glimpse of a skull-like face grinning at a
shocked Hartcliffe as he made his prison garb come off him, and then the man
sat shocked and naked in the cell.
“Did you find his clothes down
there?” asked Derek.
“Yes, we did. And there were no
signs that anything on his prison jumpsuit was even unzipped or opened! We had
no idea how he got out of those garments without opening them, sir.”
“Now we know, Sergeant,” said
Sandor. “Nova, get IQ to run it back and rerun it at normal speed.”
“Yessir,” said Nova. She said,
“IQ-9, reverse and rerun 1X speed…”
“Yes, Nova,” he replied. IQ-9
reran the tape. No sound was picked up, so the tape ran in silence. The form
came, the fog filled the room, and the camera caught a glimpse of a naked and
oddly thin Bryan Hartcliffe yelling a few things at the weird phantom while he
shivered. Then, something obscured the camera. The image remained hazy for two
minutes before the fog, the phantom, and Bryan Hartcliffe were all gone; only
“2:13 Hours,” said Nova. “Right
after he finished with me, Derek.”
“Weird. But now we know where he
went,” said Wildstar.
“Ma’am, you saw him?”
Nova nodded sadly. “He tried to
tempt me into joining him, but I refused. He said…he wanted to move into my body. I said no way! Then, he wanted to
possess one of my children inside me,” said Nova with a shiver. “I also refused
him. He laughed at me, left, and I guess maybe he thought Hartcliffe…was a
better potential host than I was.”
“If he’s found again, he’ll have
to be watched carefully,” said Wildstar.
“He’s weird,” said Eager. “Even
stealing that Hartcliffe’s clothes off his body! Nova, hate to ask, but did he
steal your nightgown off ya?”
“No,” said Nova. “I was already
sleeping naked with Derek when he came…the way I usually sleep with him when I
feel warm. It’s a good thing he didn’t steal my skin and muscles off my bones
or something grisly and weird like that,” Nova said as she shivered, glad she
was safe and whole after her close encounter with the evil Thing that was
Ekogaru.
“We’re keeping an eye out for
Hartcliffe ...or Ekogaru,” said Commodore Wildstar. “If Hartcliffe is found, he
is to be taken to Sickbay for every scan we know of…until Aliscea or Sasha can
study him, that is.”
“I wish Sasha was here now,” said
Sandor. “Wildstar, I wonder where she is?”
“That,” said Derek. “Is a very
good question…”
Deke was looking for Sasha, too.
She wasn’t in their cabin, and
neither was her saxophone.
He found Sasha in full uniform up
on the observation deck playing a blues number on her sax at about 0300.
“Sasha! I was worried about you.
Did you hear about Ekogaru visiting the ship?”
Sasha tooted a few more notes and
then stopped playing. “I didn’t need to hear, Deekee! I can feel him, remember? He tried to do
something horrible to Auntie, so he took Bryan Hartcliffe out of the brig,
instead.”
“Do you know where they are?”
Sasha shook her head. “Not for
sure. I think he took Hartcliffe somewhere to Iscandar. The wretch is still
alive, if you were wondering. I got up and came here because…you weren’t there
when he woke me up from out of that dream I was having. I need you, Deke. I was
scared when you weren’t there?”
Deke hugged Sasha from behind.
“Afraid he took me…?”
“Sort of,” said Sasha. “Let’s go
back to our cabin. There’s something else I want to do…”
“Okay…but I’ll need to call the
Captain on the way back below. You’ll have to report to him…”
“Yeah, guess so,” sighed Sasha.
THIRTY MINUTES LATER…
After having talked to Wildstar on
the phone, both Deke and Sasha had returned to their cabin.
Sasha lay yawning until an idea
occurred to her.
“Deekee,” she said as she came up
behind him and hugged him.
“Yeah?”
“Having trouble sleeping?” she
said as she kissed him.
“Sure am.”
“Wanna do something?” she said as
she teased his crotch.
“Actually, I was thinking of
playing a little before we did that. Do you see that sketchpad over there? And
that pen?”
“Sasha, I do not draw very well.
I’m better at drumming than drawing.”
“I want you to try
something…Deekee,” whispered Sasha.
“What?”
“I’ll pose for you…like this. Try
drawing a picture of me.”
Deke smiled at Sasha’s slender
form, bare from the top of her head down to the tips of her toes. “You look
gorgeous, but the picture would probably stink. I can’t draw for crap. Where
did you get this idea from?”
“Auntie,” said Sasha. “She told me she’s posed like
this in the nude with Uncle Derek a few times while he sketched her. She got
the idea from an old movie called Titanic.
She loves that movie…”
“I’ll try it,” sighed Deke as he
kissed Sasha. “Get on the bunk.”
Sasha winked, smiled, and lay down
on her back in a come-hither pose with her eyes closed and one leg up. She
pointed her toes like a dancer, made sure her hair was spread out, and she
relaxed.
Deke began trying to draw her in a
somewhat manga-esque style. It took about half an hour as he studied every
feature of his young wife’s body all over, and he began to want her more and
more as he drew her.
Finallly, he stopped. Sasha sat
up. “How did it come out?”
“Have a look,” Deke said as he
handed her the sketchpad.
Sasha laughed. “Oh, that’s so cute! Thanks, Deekee!”
“Now why did you have your leg
up?” asked Deke as Sasha stripped him of his undershirt and they kissed.
“It’s not right for the whole
world to see everything, is it?” laughed Sasha.
“Oh…yes, your squirrel,” said
Deke.
“What’s a squirrel?” teased Sasha
in all innocence as she began to sit in his lap.
“I’ll show you,” said Deke as he
slipped out of his boxer shorts.
Then, he pulled Sasha all the way
onto his lap as he began touching her. She closed her eyes and again pointed
her toes as Deke made her feel simply wonderful.
They hugged, kissed, and caressed
for a long while with her in his lap.
Finally, he carried her to her
bunk, lay on top of her, and, he gently took her as soon as she offered herself
to him.
For maybe twenty or thirty
minutes, the cabin was filled with the sounds of their love as they made tender
love to each other. Finally, their dance of passion ended, and they fell asleep
on top of each other in the little bunk. Sasha pulled a blanket up over them
right before they went to sleep around 0410 for what they guessed would be a
relatively short, but romantic, nap together.
Their nap was a moment of love,
kindness, and sweetness in a few days that would prove to be chaotic.
V. OFFERS AND
PUNISHMENTS
Planet Iscandar, The Great Continent
Somwhere in the Jungle
Monday, July 6, 2207
0530 Hours: Earth
Standard Space-Time
The sun was slowly coming up in
the hot, steamy jungle on Iscandar as Bryan Hartcliffe struggled awake on the
ground.
He was sans bunk, sans glasses,
and entirely sans clothes.
“Man, I must have been hittin’ the
Vodka good. Had a dream that I was in the brig back on the ship awaitin’ trial.
Now, I’m ‘ere in the jungle. Naked,” he said as he looked at himself. “Aww,
man, don’t want Angie to bloody see how thin I’m gettin’. She might make fun of
me because she’s gettin’ fat with that bleedin’ baby lump. What is with that Angie? Why am I ‘ere and where is that
crazy bird? Does she wanna do it in the jungle
now? Might be fun, luv…”
Then, Hartcliffe heard footsteps.
He jumped, but didn’t cover himself.
He got a stick in his hand when he
recognized Stovall. Stovall’s eyes looked very vacant.
“Hey, Stovall, ya traitor! You’re
under bloody arrest for treason, and I’ll drag yer in! Then they’ll drop all of
the charges against me, and I can go back to porkin’ Angie again before she
gets too fat!”
“You?” said Stovall, in a weird,
deep voice that chilled Hartcliffe down to the bone in the muggy pre-dawn
morning. “Yes. You, and what army, Bryan Hartcliffe? Considering that I have taken you, this should be amusing.”
“Who are you?” whispered
Stovall’s body held up the Sphere.
“You know who I am, Hartcliffe. And you do not, I see, eat well or take care of
yourself. Shame, really. Nova Dawn Yukiko Wildstar looks far better naked than
you do, even seven months pregnant.”
“You’re him,” muttered
Ekogaru grinned evilly and slapped
Hartcliffe hard across the face. Then, he grabbed him under the armpits and
whipped him hard against the trunk of a nearby palm tree like a rag doll.
Hartcliffe screamed at the pain.
Then, Ekogaru punched Hartcliffe
in the throat, and he found it hard to breathe.
Ekogaru used his power to pick him
up, and then he bashed him down hard onto the foilage-covered ground.
A gasping Hartcliffe shivered with
sudden cold as Ekogaru loomed over him and kicked him onto his stomach. “You
have such a contempt for women,” sneered Ekogaru as he
knelt with a hand on Hartcliffe’s butt. “Had we a little more time, I would
teach you something of what it is like to be
the woman in the relationship! By physical force.”
“Ya…faggot,” muttered Hartcliffe.
“No, just an equal opportunity
rapist,” said Ekogaru. “I should have done this to Nova when I was there, you
know. I was somewhat distracted. Also, I didn’t really want to rape a pregnant
woman. Not all things are quite seemly. Even for me. Anyhow, the reason why we
are here….”
“Why?” muttered Hartcliffe.
“Stovall’s body is dying slowly.
It is harder for me to keep together. Do you want to become my next host? No one would mock you then. And you
could treat Angie like an utter slave.”
“I’m in the soup, mate,” said Hartcliffe.
“What would I have to do?”
“Let me move into your soul,”
purred Ekogaru. “I would be inside you. You would share my power. My imminent
Godhood.”
“Hey, I don’t have much of a
chance with the Church of England and I’m probably goin’ on the way down,
anyway, but this’d guarantee it. Aren’t you like Old Mister Scratchman or
somethin’ like that?”
“Oh, be quiet,” said Ekogaru. “Worrying about your immortal soul, really. How absurd. Will
you consider working with me? I will get you out of your problems.”
“Lemme think about it. Got a phone
number where I can call yer?”
Ekogaru slapped him hard across
the face and said, “I will give you time. When the time is right, I will come
to you. Don’t think too long, though.
We are both running out of time. Now, back to the Brig for you!”
“Hey, can’t yer put me in bed
beside me Ang…”
Hartcliffe raised his head,
finding himself back in his orange prisoners’ jumpsuit in his cell in the Brig.
His cell door whizzed open a
minute later. Three Marines came for him.
“Hey, what…?”
“We have orders to take you to
Sickbay, Hartcliffe,” said one of the Marines.
“Say wot?”
“Yeah, they’re gonna examine you
and probe your brain. If you have one, that is, you asswipe.”
“What?” said Hartcliffe.
One of the Marines punched him in
the gut and made him double over. Hartcliffe was then handcuffed and dragged to
Sickbay after the Marines kicked him around a bit more.
Ten minutes later, Hartcliffe
found himself naked and being examined by Dawn, Doctor Sane, and Tasha
Cleveland.
Nova was elsewhere, with two other
nurses, Derek, Sasha, Aliscea, and Lieutenant Peale of Intelligence.
Nova had voluntarily agreed to
have her mind probed by Aliscea and Sasha and to endure thirty minutes in the
lie detector/interrogation chair for two reasons; to establish a “normal”
baseline for a mind recently contacted by the Dark Lord, as well as to prove to
herself and the crew that she was clean of Ekogaru’s influence. Behind a
curtain, she had also received a physical.
Now, she sat in the ship’s interrogation
chair as an apprehensive Derek watched sensors being connected to her almost
bare chest; she wore only her bra and panties for the interrogation, and she
looked very small and vulnerable in that chair.
“Why are you agreeing to this?”
asked Derek as more sensors were hooked up to her body, along with a fetal
monitor for the babies. Then, her bare wrists and ankles were locked into the
unit after some conducting gel was smeared on the palms of her hands and soles
of her feet.
“I told you, Derek. To prove for
the record Ekogaru has no part of me, and to act as a control for the
interrogation of Mister Hartcliffe.”
“Ma’am, this can get rough,” said
Peale as he watched Aliscea gently lowering the cephalic sensor helmet and its
wires onto Nova’s head. “I have orders from the Captain to stop if you look too
uncomfortable or the babies show any distress.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said.
“Very well,” said Peale.
A moment later, Aliscea came up.
Kneeling in her black Pellian dress and sandals, she put her fingertips on
Nova’s forehead and said, “Now, relax. Sasha and I are going to probe your mind
before you are questioned under the lie detector. This will take but a few
minutes,” she said as Sasha knelt in her uniform and held her aunt’s hand.
Nova nodded and shut her eyes.
FORTY MINUTES LATER….
“Well?” said Commodore Wildstar
with apprehension as he watched Peale scanning back over Nova’s polygraph
results.
“She showed some stress…”
“With the way you were yelling at her, Lieutenant, I am not
surprised!” Derek snapped. Nova was done, but was in the locker room showering
and getting into a fresh nurse’s uniform. The questioning session had been
harsh. Nova had ended the session covered with sweat and close to tears.
Wildstar had also come close to punching Peale because the Lieutenant had
slapped Nova across the face once during the interrogation, treating her
exactly like an enemy prisoner for a bit after he accused her of lying in one
of her answers.
“It was necessary to see how she
reacted under stress, sir. The slap was necessary for the same reason. She
passed the polygraph test with flying colors, though. She refused Ekogaru and
made no deals with him and did not compromise any military secrets to him. No
sign of any untruthfulness in her responses. She decidedly refused the Dark
Lord and his gestures. This officer is utterly loyal to the Star Force and
Earth and she’s almost as pure as those babies inside her. She is a very good
woman. I am actually impressed at her strong will. If ever captured, she would
not easily break under interrogation, probably not even under torture,” Peale
said.
“Mrs. Wildstar is a very good
spacer and very well-trained,” snapped Derek. “She’d probably hold up better
under torture than you would, Peale.”
“And her soul and mind are totally
clean and she has a good conscience,” said Aliscea. “She is one of the few
people I met who has the moral purity to withstand Ekogaru’s temptations
unscathed. She has the minor sins and pecadilloes of most people, but
otherwise, she has an exceptionally pure heart. She is also utterly devoted to
the Commodore here and her coming family.”
Hartcliffe was brought in a moment
later, having overheard the comments about Nova. He smiled at her as she came
in in her nurse’s minidress and clogs a moment later, crisp, clean, not a sign
of sweat on her at all. “Hey, Mrs. Pureheart,” he said with a leer on his face.
“I bet you were a really good little bird in Parochial School, luv. Queen of the May and cute and pure in your little First Communion
dress.”
“Oh,
A few minutes later, after Aliscea
and Sasha probed his mind (and came away looking as if they had both touched
something as nasty as a worm found under some rock),
“What were you doing on Iscandar?”
yelled Peale.
“How do you know I was there, jackarse?” barked Hartcliffe.
“Idiot! When you were stripped for
your physical, we found Iscandarian
plants and leaves on your butt! What were you doing down on Iscandar?”
“Nuthin,” he said.
“That is not an answer! WHAT WERE
YOU DOING ON ISCANDAR?”
“Chatting
with Ekogaru. He tried
to sell me a new aircar.”
“That is the most idiotic answer I
have ever heard in my life!” yelled Peale as he struck Hartcliffe across the
face. “WHAT WERE YOU DOING WITH EKOGARU?”
“He was tryin’ to get me to open a
whorehouse, man,” said Hartcliffe with a stupid smile on his face.
Peale glared at him and the
screen. “Captain, this man is lying. His profile is totally unlike Mrs.
Wildstar’s; he is hiding something and the stress is showing…”
“So are
me pecs,” leered
“BE QUIET!” snapped Nova.
“Request permission to use harsher
measures on this man,” said Peale.
Nova’s face dropped. “Peale, I
don’t even like doing that to him. Doctor Sane, can he withstand the
treatment?”
Sane looked at the readouts and
nodded. “Yes, he can. I don’t like using it, even on enemy prisoners.”
“Use it,” huffed Derek.
Sane nodded, and he reluctantly
pushed a red button.
Hartcliffe screamed as an
electrical charge ran through his body. Everyone looked nauseated; even Nova
hid her face in her hands and looked sick.
The shock ended as Peale said,
“Prepared to talk to us yet? Prepared to tell us the truth?”
“Go to hell, mate,” snapped
Hartcliffe.
Peale nodded to Sane again. There
was an adjustment of a few knobs, and Hartcliffe was shocked again; he endured
the electricity for nearly sixty seconds this time.
When he was done, he blurted out,
“ALL RIGHT, ASSHOLE! Ekogaru and I made a deal! He wanted my body and I told
‘im I’d consider it just to buy time to get away from ‘im! That and he was temptin’ me! He scared the crap out of me, all right?”
Peale watched the readout. “Now,
you’re almost telling us the truth. Have you considered joining him?”
“Yes, all right? I wanted to get
away from ‘im!” screamed Hartcliffe as he began to cry.
Peale slapped him across the face.
“Scum,” he hissed. “You’d consider treason?”
“Yes, I would! I didn’t do it,
though!” Hartcliffe screamed in a high, panicked voice. “I want a lawyer!”
“You don’t get one!” snapped
Wildstar. “You are not under arrest for treason…yet!”
Nova and Doctor Sane watched the
session with impassive eyes while Sasha stood nearby, putting a hand on his
forehead under the interrogation helmet again while Aliscea held her hands. “No
sign of his presence, but his soul has been marked,” she said. She turned to
Nova. “Ma’am, he has had contact with the Dark Lord.”
“So have I,” sighed Nova.
“When I probed you; when you let
me in, I found resistance to HIM. There was little resistance in this man’s
mind,” said Sasha.
“Wot mind?” said
Peale slapped him again. “Smart-ass!”
he snapped. “Wildstar, sir, this man is a punk. His loyalty is very suspect. I
think he should be held and considered for charges for treason.”
“I’m not doing that,” said
Wildstar.
“Sir?” said Peale.
“He has considered treason. He has
not done it yet. Besides, he is guilty of other crimes. I think we’ve got all
we can out of him. Hartcliffe,” said Wildstar. “You are ordered not to make any
more deals with the enemy. That is a direct order. I will put you up on charges
of offering aid and comfort to the enemy if you give the Dark Lord anything
else, and under those circumstances, you might well be shot in disgrace after a
full court-martial! ARE WE CLEAR?”
“Good, I think that’s all we can
expect of you. Marines, see to it that he showers and gets dressed in his
uniform. He will stand Captain’s Mast in my cabin at 1130 Hours for the spousal
abuse and dereliction of duty charges. Nova, get into your regular uniform and
get the witnesses ready.”
“Yessir,” said Nova with a salute.
Then, she left.
1150 HOURS…
Bryan Hartcliffe stood at
attention in the Argo’s Captain’s
Quarters, back in his full uniform. The ship had landed again on Iscandar, but
the First Star Force was making preparations to leave the Sanzar System the
next evening after a final party in the afternoon tomorrow.
Deke
That was enough for Bryan
Hartcliffe as he stood before Wildstar’s Captain’s chair with his head bowed.
“You have nothing to say in your defense, Lieutenant?” asked Derek in stern tones.
“No, nothin’,” he said.
“Then I find you guilty of
dereliction of duty and of spousal abuse. I will be awarding the following
punishments,” said Commodore Wildstar.
“Yessir,” said
“Third; I am forced to take away
your waiver from fraternization protocol for the remainder of this mission. I
am doing this at the request of Mrs. Hartcliffe.”
“WOT?”
said
“Pursuant to that order, you will
remove your things from Mrs. Hartcliffe’s cabin this afternoon. You will be
assigned new quarters with two male Ensigns. Any fraternization with your wife
or attempt to fraternize with her on this command for the rest of this mission
shall be severely punished. Also, you are not allowed to have any contraband on
this mission. Mrs. Wildstar will search your effects every three days. You are
not to have any contraband, defined as alcohol, unauthorized booktapes, music
tapes, or magazines. If any are found, they are to be confiscated. Finally, you
are ordered to undergo alcohol counseling with Doctor Sane and weekly
psychological counseling sessions with Lieutenant Commander Wildstar for anger
management. If you can show improvement, you might be redeemable and remain
with this command. If not, you are off this ship, for good, when we return
home. This crew has had enough of your attitude, Mister, and enough of your
games, and so have I. Are we clear, Mister Hartcliffe?”
“Yessir,” said
“Good. These proceedings are
finished. Your extra duty details begin today at 1400 after you move to your
new cabin. Mrs. Wildstar, assist him in his move and show him where his new
quarters will be. Then he is yours from 1400 to 2200. Then, Mister Hardy, he is
to fly a patrol this evening. You know what to do to keep the man busy…”
“Yessir,” said Nova and Hardy
together.
Later, in his former quarters,
Angie barely acknowledged
Angie felt sick as she saw
evidence of how “faithful”
“
“She’s cute. Cuter than you, ya
fishwife! And yer not takin’ Vicki away from me, Nova!”
“Be quiet,” Nova snapped as she
ripped the disgusting centerfold in half. Then, Nova picked up a book with a
disgustingly graphic cover. “
“’Coz she likes to be tied up and
beaten black and blue. Look at her stockings, luv. All torn up! Sexy?”
“It is not sexy, and I’m trying not to look,” Nova huffed as she threw
the book with the cover illustration of a bruised and near-naked woman in a few
rags of lingerie into the trash. “Angie, I’m wondering how legal some of this garbage
is.”
“It’s evident he goes to Dogtown
to buy it,” said Angie as she cried. “That’s the part of town where all the
houses of ill repute are.”
“I know,” said
“I don’t want to know,” said Angie
as she held her stomach. “
“no comment,” he said as Nova opened his suitcase and pulled out three
more dirty books. Those also went in the trash. She looked at the full trash
bag and huffed. “That’s a lot for you to carry, Mister Hartcliffe.”
“I’m carryin’ all this?” he said.
“You thought we were carrying it, you sexist pig?”
Angie snapped. “Hell, no. You’re carrying all of this
out yourself. And when we get home to our apartment, Nova and I will go through
it again to get rid of the rest of your crap like this.”
“Huh?” said
“I won’t have any of it in the
apartment,” she snorted. “If I even let you live
there with me when we reach Earth in two or three weeks, that is.”
“Pick it all up, Mister,” Nova
snapped as
Banished from Angie’s cabin, Bryan
found himself putting his things in a cramped cabin that he would now share
with two pilots named Ensign Kyle Parker and Lieutenant Go Nishiyama; both
males, both grim young men with crewcuts. They were from Second Squadron, and
were men he had formerly commanded. Now, they watched him with contempt and
amusement as he tried to cram his things into the small storage space he now
had. Nishiyama had already heard he was going to be Hartcliffe’s Element Leader
as the man was joining Delta Element in Bravo Flight in the twelfth rank in the
squadron. Nishiyama watched Hartcliffe with contempt as he stumbled around
securing his gear.
He was turning their cabin into a
mess. “Sir, don’t you know how to get a three-man cabin ready for inspection?”
he snapped.
“Right. This cabin has to look perfect,” Nova added. “Get
rid of those music books, Hartcliffe!”
“Wot?” he demanded.
“You’ll have no room for them.
Your guitar will just about fit in that locker,” Angie said. “Consider yourself
fortunate that Nova is not making you give that
up.”
“And you will keep this space
totally clean,” Nova snapped. “Get rid of those extra flight plans and tech
manuals, too! All you get to keep is your regular blue pilot’s binder. And you
will share your PC with those other two men now.”
“I need those, I’m…”
“You’re not a squadron leader any
more, and you probably will not be again for several years,” Nova said. “I’ll take those. I’ll give them to Bangs.”
Hartcliffe looked close to tears
as his extra flight plans, manuals, and reprinted Area 88 mangas and art books were taken away from him. Nova looked
at the manga books and said, “I think we can split these between Derek and
Deke. I think they’d like these, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I think so,” said Angie
with a nasty little smile. “Let’s leave him be for now.”
“Until he has to serve on the
deck,” Nova said as he stumbled out of the cabin in shock. When he left, Nova
whispered, “I’ve got something really nice planned for him for punishment…”
Bryan Hartcliffe was ordered to
report to Nova on the Argo’s foredeck
at 1400 Hours. Hartcliffe was ordered to bring an automatic holystoning unit, a
hose, and shower flipflops.
Mystified, he reported to Nova, to
find a bizarre scene.
Nova was lying on a beach chair in a pink one-piece
swimsuit, flip-flops, and green sunglasses. She had a drink beside her and was reading
a technical manual. She looked relaxed and happy. “Oh! Mister Hartcliffe! I’m
glad you were on time.”
“Why did yer have me bring this
stuff, ma’am?”
“See all of the main deck to the
aft of where I’m sitting; where the teakite board pattern starts on the deck?”
Hartcliffe nodded, not that
familiar with the deck until he spotted the part of the main deck that started
just aft of the blue-grey bare metal portion where Nova had her beach chair.
That part of the deck simulated the old Yamato’s
wooden decking, made of teak wood; but the new ship’s surface duplicated it in
a carbon-fiber and metal mixture called teakite, which had ceramic cladding
over it to help protect the decks on re-entry. It was a rather large space that
went aft many meters down to the first gun turret, and it was where the crew
met when it was mustered for deck calls.
“Yeah, I see the boards,” said
Hartcliffe.
“Take off your boots, put your
sandals on, roll up your pants legs, and start using the hose and the automatic
unit to scrub down the deck and polish it,” Nova ordered. “Derek wants it nice
and shiny for the next muster of the crew tomorrow morning at sunrise. I like
having it clean. When you’re done, I want to be able to see my face in that
polished ceramic surface. Wet the whole deck down first. When it’s wet enough,
take off your shoes and go over it barefoot. Sometimes, we have a Class Three
robot doing it, and sometimes, I like to wash it myself when we’re on a planet.
I like getting my feet wet. However, it’s getting a little rough for me to be
on my feet all afternoon on such a minor job in my condition,” Nova said.
“Also, would you be a sport and refill my drink for me every now and then? It’s
not that much to ask while I watch you and make sure you do this right.”
“Sure, ma’am,” sighed Hartcliffe.
“Okay, get busy,” said Nova with
an impish smile. “We don’t have all day…”
“Aye, aye,” he said.
TWO HOURS LATER…
A puffing Bryan Hartcliffe brought
Nova her second Virgin Mary drink. She seemed to need a fresh glass of tomato
juice, celery salt, and
“How’s this?” he said as he handed
Nova the drink.
“Let me see,” Nova said as she
sipped at it. “Nice. Better than the first one, Bryan. Thank you.”
“No problem, ma’am,” he said. He
was sweaty, his pants legs were a mess, rolled up to his knees, and his bare
calves and feet were getting sunburned above his flip-flops.
“Now, we need to polish that block
over there by the starboard rail all over again,” Nova said. “I got up and ran
the unit a little all by myself by the port rail while you were gone and I got
my feet wet. What took you so long?”
Nova asked, aware that she had ordered the galley crew to be rather…slow…with
“Those Living Group guys in the
galley are slow, ma’am.”
“Probably trying to make dinner,”
Nova said. “I think you may have to fresh-squeeze some tomato juice for the
next drink if they throw you out again. You’ll have to work faster so the
polish doesn’t dry out again.”
“Ma’am, I’m going as fast as I
can,” he said as he got the scrubber unit.
“Then, you’ll just have to work
faster than that,” Nova said. “Oh. Angie might be joining me in an hour to
sunbathe. You know what she likes to drink.”
“What? I ‘ave to
get drinks for both of ‘yer now?”
“Yes, dear, we’re both pregnant,”
Nova said, barely able to keep in her giggles at this punishment she had
devised. “Pregnant women lose fluid very quickly when it is this hot out. I’ve
had to go to the head a lot. While babysitting you, I need to replace those
fluids!” she called out. “Work faster, Mister!”
“Aye, aye, ma’am!” said Hartcliffe
as he worked like a dog.
Now, let’s see how arrogant you remain, and how busy Angie and I can keep
you, Nova thought with a little
smile. This might be fun. Payback is not
a good thing,
VI. CELEBRATION AND
CHAOS
Planet Iscandar, Near
New
Tuesday, July 7, 2207
0600 Hours: Earth
Standard Space-Time
On Iscandar,
Bryan Hartcliffe’s first day of punishment was finished.
His
labors on the Argo’s foredeck had
left it polished as the entire crew mustered at Dawn for what would be their
last muster on Iscandar. They would be leaving the seas of Iscandar in their
last takeoff at 1100, and then, after an evening of celebration, the Argo and her Task Group were due to
begin warping back to Earth at 1800 that evening.
As
most of her crew felt Iscandar’s warm breezes for what would be the very last
time on this cruise, Derek Wildstar stood in his short peacoat addressing the
crew from atop Number One Gun Turret, where the gun stripes had recently been
repainted.
“Ladies
and gentlemen of the First Star Force,” said Derek. “We are seeing our final
sunrise on Iscandar. When we watch the sun rising again, we will be back home again, on Earth.”
Derek
paused and continued. “A small Gamilon Task Force under the command of Admiral
Histenbarger has been tracking Invidia’s Comet and her forces. The Eritz Gatlantis was seen again three
lightyears away from the Sanzar System, but before Desslok could engage it, it
warped again. Since then, the Eritz
Gatlantis and her fleets have been playing a cat and mouse game with the
Gamilons, and were last spotted two thousand, five hundred lightyears away from
here this morning. However, the Gamilons have a course projection in mind for
the enemy forces. They are taking a slow, parabolic course that will partly cut
through the Small Magellenic Cloud, with its endpoint in our Galaxy, at the Sol
System. The enemy is heading for Earth, with all of their fleets this time.”
The
crew was filled with hubbub at this bit of news. “It was noticed that the Comet
was badly damaged in its attempt to attack Earth a few days ago. The Gamilons
believe that it will take between five to six weeks for it to reach the Solar
System at this rate, or, forty-two days. That gives us forty-two days to get
home, mount a defense, and to be ready for Invidia when she comes. To that end,
our orders are to track the Comet as much as possible on our trip home at top
speed. We anticipate being able to make it home in fifteen days, by July 22nd.
Then, we will be repairing the Argo
and resupplying the ship on Earth, so that we can be back in space by August
the sixth, thirty days from now. Then, we hope to be ready to engage the enemy
on time on the eighteenth of August. That battle will be our last battle with
Invidia, and it will decide the fate of Earth. We cannot lose that battle,
ladies and gentlemen. We must win.”
Commodore
Wildstar paused again. “Desslok has said that he anticipates being able to aid
us, and we have received a communication from the Cometine General Radnar that
states that he may offer some aid as well. We appreciate what he did to stop
the enemy near Earth. Earth has also heard from the Rikashans. Lord Cha’rif
hopes he can also send a fleet, and Queen Astrena says she will commit what
remains of the Pellian Fleet to the battle. Finally, my brother, Admiral
Wildstar, has already left Iscandar with the Princess Astra and is on his way back to Earth for heavy repairs
and he anticipates being ready in time to do battle at our side.”
“We
have won a great victory here at the Sanzar System, even though the battle was
fought hard and we lost many comrades,” Derek continued. “Invidia has been
badly weakened, and Ekogaru’s spirit has been put to flight. We have received
intelligence that indicates that the traitor Stovall is dying and that Ekogaru
may soon lose his hold on our reality and vanish. In honor of our victoriies,
we will be saying goodbye to Desslok, Astrena, and Queen Starsha this aftenoon
with a celebration aboard the Argo.
When we are done, we will be business again as we then head back home…to Earth,
and then into battle again a few days later. Some of you may not be joining us
in the final battles after we get home,” said Derek as he glanced at Nova,
Hartcliffe, and some of the others whom he guessed would be remaining behind at
last on Earth after the Argo landed
at the end of the month and then took off again in August. “That is no
disgrace. All of you have fought hard, well above and beyond the call of duty.
For that, I thank you.”
Derek
paused again. “We will meet again aboard ship at 1300 to begin our celebration.
I will see you again at that time. Now, let us salute Iscandar as we make ready
to leave.”
The
crew saluted and left. Back at their posts, an honor salute was fired up in the
sky towards
Then,
the Argo’s engines came up as she
backed away from the dock after weighing anchor. When in the open sea, the ship
began to gather speed, followed by the rest of the Task Force as many of those
left on
Finally,
the Argo reached top cruising speed,
and Kitano pulled back the helm yoke. She blasted up out of the seas of
Iscandar for the final time of this deployment and gathered speed and blasted
off into the sky, followed by the
Soon,
the Argo was back in orbit. There she
would remain until she blasted out of the system later that day after the
celebration.
On the Argo, the crew celebrated with an early
lunch in the messhall at 1045 Hours.
Nova
showed up as Derek and the bridge crew watched; she was quite a pleasant sight
in the dress she had on for today’s celebration and a pair of matching sandals.
Derek smiled at her, noticing that the stretchy dress was the same one she had
worn on the Argo’s first cruise to
Iscandar years before back in 2199. Let out somewhat, it still fitted her
pregnant form beautifully.
“How
do I look, everyone?” Nova sang as she held up part of her dress and turned a
shapely ankle. “My Cardin-style dress, which I’ve altered a little to fit my
shape. Looking good for when Queen Starsha visits the ship?”
The
crew applauded and said, “Way to go, Nova!”
“I
hear you’re gonna give a concert!” Eager called out.
“Yes, me and the rest of the Scarabs. You can
see me on keyboards today beside Derek. He’ll be singing, too!”
The
crew applauded at that. “Hey! Do you do requests?” called out Homer.
“Yes,
after I eat,” Nova said. “I am eating for three, you know…”
The
crew clapped at that.
Then,
IQ-9 came up. “Hello there, sweet cheeks!”
“Sweet
cheeks?” said Nova. “Why are you saying that?”
“Because
I’m about to do this!” he yelled.
Then,
he twirled around Nova and sped by as fast as he could…
…then,
he grabbed at her skirt as he whipped past…
…while
Nova’s skirt flew up and her bare legs and panties showed!
Nova
gasped and went up on her tiptoes. “You pervert!”
she yelled as she threw her empty tray at his dome.
He
burbled happily while the rest of the crew applauded.
“hahahaha!” said Derek. “Just like old times, huh?” he said
as Nova came up a few minutes later with a fresh tray of lunch.
“Yeah! How can I kill that tinwit?” said
Nova. “How can I pay him back for this?”
“Change
into a pantsuit?” teased Kitano.
“Not
an option since we are playing in two hours and I don’t have a pantsuit on this
ship,” Nova said as she began attacking a buttered roll. “Derek, did you
remember to practice?”
“I
sure did,” he said with a smile.
“Rehearsal
is right after we eat,” Nova said. “After you eat, go tune your electric
guitar.”
“Isn’t
that your electric guitar?” teased Derek. “The one you got on our wedding day?”
“Yes,
but it’s yours for today. I’m playing only keyboards.”
Derek
nodded and smiled as he watched Nova eating her salad. It had lots of French
dressing on it. Nova ate it eagerly and then began to work on the Beef
Stroganoff made with mystery meat.
“Is
this meat?” teased Eager.
“Half
of it is,” Nova said with food in her mouth. “Half is soy filler. Sorry, I’m
not being very ladylike now.”
“This
is sushi,” said Derek. “I think.”
“Yours
is made with Iscandarian tuna,” Nova commented. “I don’t remember what they
call it in Iscandarian.”
“Shilana,” said Sasha as she came up in
her band outfit, which consisted of boots, a blue skirt, and a white turtleneck
and blue vest. “It’s leaner than Earth tuna. It lives on Earth, now, too. We’ve
sent some to your reborn oceans to supplement your
food supply.”
“Where’s
Deke?” Nova said as she worked on her Stroganoff.
“Setting up his drum set on the observation deck and
muttering to himself a lot.”
“Hope
he’s not goin’ crazy,” Eager said.
Some
crew members muttered as IQ-9 went through the food line grabbing things.
“Hey!” Nova yelled. “IQ, stop being grabby! You know
you’re incapable of eating!”
“I’m
getting this food for you, Nova…”
“I’m
not hungry for much more!” Nova yelled back. “McCutcheon, take that from him
and put it in the fridges in the galley!”
“No,
I’ll eat it,” Sasha said as she got up and grabbed it from IQ-9. She began
eating like crazy as some crew members laughed.
“How’s
this?” said Sasha as she ate greedily.
“You’re
a pig, dear,” Nova said. “And Deekee might make comments…”
“I
AM NOT FAT!” Sasha yelled as she ate like crazy.
Some
crew members laughed at that.
Later
on, the celebration had begun.
“Would
someone tell me what this is?” said Leader Desslok as he stood sipping some
wine brought by a servant.
“Sir,
it is called Terran rock music, late 20th century, the cut was
arranged by a Jim Steinman…”
“They’re
making a rather interesting noise, one must admit,” said Desslok. The Scarabs
were playing up on a small stage as Nova and Derek sang Nowhere Fast loudly into one mike.
Nova
was on keyboards; Derek was playing first lead guitar and standing next to her
with his scarf flying from his coat. It flew out so far that Nova pulled it out
and threw it away a moment later. Derek was so happy he just grinned at her.
Artwork: “The Scarabs” © 2008 by
M.C. Crump Used By Permission
Not
far away, Paul Rosstowski played bass while Bryan Hartcliffe played rythym guitar,
banging out chords like crazy. Angie was in the crowd, but
Deke
“This
is interesting,” said Queen Starsha as she came over with Lady Novalia. “They
seem to be having a great time, Desslok. Yet, something is telling me I should
leave soon. Our lives may depend upon it.”
Desslok’s
eyebrows went up as he looked at Astrena. “Do you have the same sense of
dread?” he asked.
Astrena
shut her eyes. “It is a vague sense, but…”
“I
am obeying my impulses,” Starsha said. She finished her drink and said,
“Desslok, give my regards to Commodore Wildstar.”
At
that, she left.
Astrena
looked at Desslok and said, “Perhaps we should leave shortly, too….”
“Give
it some time,” said Desslok. “Another few minutes; another drink, then we
leave…”
Desslok
would afterwards regret that he had ever done this; he would come to regret
that he hadn’t listened to Starsha’s warning.
Desslok
noticed Queen Starsha speaking to Captain Mark Venture of the
However,
Bryan Hartcliffe interrupted affairs when he took over the band with his next
number; a twisted version of John Lennon’s I’m
Losing You, that he began to acidly sing right at Angie.
Here
in some stranger's room…
Late in the afternoon…
What am I doing here at all?
Ain't no doubt about it…
I'm losing you…
Angie
turned beet-red and gritted her teeth as she realized that her estranged
husband was singing these lyrics right at her. You slimebucket! You bastard! How dare you embarrass me like that?
The
rest of the band had begun to play along, but Sasha stopped as soon as she saw
the song’s effect upon Angie. Deke also stopped drumming, and Nova and
Rosstowski stopped. Nova pulled the cord out of Derek’s guitar and whispered
urgently to him. Derek nodded, and he plugged in his guitar and tried to ready
himself to play a different song.
For
the moment, Hartcliffe was left all alone, playing his guitar and sneering at
Angie as he sang,
…But I remind you of all that bad, bad, bad stuff
So what the hell am I supposed to do?
Just put a bandaid on it?
And stop the bleeding now…
The crowd began to boo right before
Derek “tripped” over Hartcliffe’s guitar cord, disconnecting it as he turned to
Nova and began to play,
Maybe I’m amazed at the way you love me all
the time…
Maybe I’m afraid of the way I love you..
Baby I’m amazed at the the way you pulled me out of time…
Nova
gave him a thumbs-up, and eagerly began to play the song on keyboards while
Sasha improvised a sax line while Deke came in on the drums. Soon, the rest of
the band was drowning out Hartcliffe’s off-key singing altogether as they
played on and on.
The
party returned to normal. It went on for another thirty minutes as the Scarabs
played three more songs. Finally, Nova and the others were about to call it a
concert as they began to sing Scarlet
Scarf.
They
had begun the first stanza, when, suddenly, the emergency lights came on and
the red-alert klaxons started blowing.
“What
the…?” said Derek as he stopped playing.
“An
alert…NOW?” cried Nova. “But, Derek, what the heck could be…”
Then,
something slammed into the ship’s hull, and a gas began filling the room as
some people screamed.
Nova
played a few more chords, and then stopped when she noticed Black Nebulan
troopers running into the observation deck, followed by some strange purple…
“..GAS!” Nova screamed. “They’re trying to gas us! DEREK!”
Wildstar
unholstered his weapon and began shooting, once, twice. Then, he turned to Nova
and spotted Sandor. “Steve!” he yelled. “The room’s filling up with gas! Get
Nova out of here now!”
Nova
felt herself being pushed towards Sandor by Rosstowski. A minute later, a stray
laser shot hit her keyboards, blowing them to pieces with a loud, jangling
noise and whine of electronic feedback. Nova screamed, but she got down under
cover behind an amplifier and started shooting at the enemy with a fallen
Marine’s AK-01 Carbine laser rifle, pumping shots at the enemy to clear a path
until Sandor grabbed her and pulled her away from the gas cloud.
In
the chaos, Bryan Hartcliffe was using his guitar like a war club, swinging at
the enemy as he vainly tried to protect Angie, who was already retching from
the gas. His guitar broke as it came down over a Black Nebulan’s head.
Some
of the gas hit his lungs, and
“Orders?”
said one of the Black Nebulans.
“Ignore
the rest of them; the Hyperon Torpedo will hit the ship soon enough and they’ll
be dead within in the hour with the time delay. The Princess wants Desslok
taken. Alive.”
They
had focused cruelly on Astrena; she had used her powers to fell about eight
Black Nebulans with lightning bursts that came from her hands; until two enemy
troopers pumped shots through her midsection.
“MOTHER!”
cried Dellar as he saw his mother falling. Braving the gas, the half-Gamilion
boy picked up a dead Star Force member’s Astro-Astromatic and began firing at
the enemy himself to guard his fallen, moaning mother.
Nearby,
Sasha herself was firing like mad into the enemy ranks until the gas caught her
and she fell retching into Deke’s arms.
A
cruel booted foot kicked him over and one rather short Black Nebulan reported
to a slender, somewhat taller comrade in Cometine battle armor, “Do we want the
Princess?”
“Maybe
not, but not yet,” snapped a cold voice from behind the helmet. “I am here to
apprehend Desslok. I
vant him now!”
“Orders
received, Princess,” said a cold voice.
Not
far away, Desslok was trying to hold Commodore Wildstar up. He had gotten a
helmet on Wildstar, but Derek had breathed in enough of the gas to make him
groggy.
“…gotta
find…Nova,” Derek gasped.
“Your
Commander Sandor got her out of here,” Desslok said through a torn cloth he had
put over his nose and mouth. “I’m sure she is safe…we still have to drive these
men off your ship.”
“Where’s
Talan and Venture?” Derek gasped.
“Unconscious,”
said Desslok as he fired several rounds from his own weapon. But then, shots
rang around both men. Desslok’s face cloth fell away as he tried to shield
Wildstar from enemy fire. He took an involuntary breath of the gas and began to
feel woozy even as Derek collapsed.
Astrena
tried to stuggle to her feet, gasping with each breath as the gas and the
effects of the wound drove her into unconsciousness.
She
fired a beam of energy at the thin, armored Cometine who was close to Desslok.
The enemy trooper screamed, but she grabbed Desslok by his collar as he
struggled. Four Black Nebulan troopers ran up. One of them kicked an
unconscious Wildstar aside like a sack of potatoes as he helped his commanding
officer pick up a gasping Desslok.
Desslok
fell into unconsciousness as the Cometine commander’s hands clapped and the enemy
carried him away, stepping on unconscious and dead Star Force members and
Gamilons as they went.
At
that, the attack seemed to break off as the Black Nebulans followed their
leader back to two boarding pods that were slammed into the Argo’s hull about twenty-five meters
away. The enemy fought off a brief counter-attack from some Space Marines who
had gotten into helmets, and Desslok was dragged off the Argo into one of the boarding pods.
A
figure in red armor; a R’Khell R’jkharraz known as Seinar, raised his hand and he used his powers
to close the corridor blast hatches behind them as the boarding party left with
Desslok. Only a few ragged pulse laser shots came from the Argo; before the rest of the Task Force could react, the boarding
pods shimmered and warped back to their mother ship.
The
first part of the raiders’ mission was completed; they had spirited Leader
Desslok off the Argo. He was now a
hostage, and the Star Force was helpless.
Now, for the second part of the
mission, thought the slender Cometine as she pulled off her helmet and laughed. It has been many years since I have
personally led an operation. But, I have the prize I have wanted for all of
these years.
“Now,”
said Princess Invidia as she laughed at the unconcious Desslok. “I…have…you!”
And,
and that, she spat in Desslok’s sleeping face….
Not
far away, down another corridor, something slammed into the Argo’s hull before the woozy Ensign in
Kitano’s place on the first bridge manning the helm could react.
The
object was a single, terrible missile. It had an armor-piercing warhead that
burned its way into the ship’s hull and then stopped when the warhead sensed
air pressure from the Argo’s atmosphere.
A
timer in the warhead began to tick down from twenty-five minutes, ticking relentlessly
down second by second towards zero.
A
moment later, IQ-9 burbled up through the last tendrils of gas. He was dragging
an unconscious Stephen Sandor by one hand and was dragging an equally
unconscious Nova Wildstar by the other hand.
“There
we go,” he said. “Give yourselves five…ten minutes in clean air and both of you
should recover,” he said. Acting with concern rather than any desire for
mischief, he gently lifted the sleeping Nova’s skirt and placed a sensor on her
pregnant stomach. “The babies are drugged but fine,” he said. “If you get fresh
air, they should recover along with you. I wish I could have checked the other
pregnant woman, namely Mrs. Hartcliffe, but you are more important, Nova. If I
lost you, the Commodore would dismantle me. And I could not bear losing you. I
still love you,” he said as he stroked her sleeping cheek. “Even though you
cannot bear to hear it, I love you. I am strong. If the enemy comes back, I
will protect you, Nova. Do not worry.”
A
moment later, Sandor slowly came to. He moaned as he struggled awake. “I wonder
what sort of truck hit me in the head,” he muttered.
“Sandor! You are all right!”
“What
happened?” he asked.
“There
was a great battle. The Black Nebulans boarded the ship, killed a number of
crewmembers, including Ensign Tobias. Miss Tobias, it seems, was trying to
protect Mrs. Hartcliffe and Nova. “
“Is
Nova all right?”
“Yes,
she is right here,” said IQ-9 as he pointed to Nova. “My sensors indicate that
she and the babies are slowly coming to…but we have a great danger to contend
with…”
Nova
yawned, sat up, flexed her toes in her sandals and rubbed her stomach. “They’re
okay. I feel them moving, I…Sandor! Where’s Derek? Is he all right…”
“Yes,
he was near Desslok, when…”
“What
happened?” Nova cried.
“Desslok
was taken prisoner by the enemy, unfortunately,” said IQ-9. “They left the
Captain alone once he was knocked out…but we have worse to worry about…”
Sandor
then noticed the deadly missile. “IQ-9, what is this?”
“My
sensors indicate it is a miniature hyperon bomb, like the sort the enemy put on
Gamilon recently. It seems to have a timer in its nose…”
Sandor
worked with IQ-9 at removing a panel. “That’s it…”
“If
the timer could be stopped, we could remove the priming device and then force
it to launch out of the ship’s hull,” said IQ-9. “However, we have only
nineteen minutes…”
“Hmmm,”
said Sandor. “I think we could do it. Nova. Get me a
tool kit out of the spacesuit lockers if you can walk; a standard kit will do…”
“Right,” Nova
said as she got up. She ran down the passage to the first spacesuit locker she
could find. Then, she ran back with a tool kit. “There’s a blast door over here
by Frame 140,” she said. “When you reverse that missile, we can get behind
there for safety.”
“Good
thinking, Nova,” said Sandor as he opened the tool kit and looked at the enemy
circuits. “Nova, get me that battery pack and a positive and negative set of
jumpers. You and IQ connect them to those terminals while I heat up this
soldering torch...”
Nova
nodded, looking at the connectors that Sandor was pointing at as she brushed
her bangs out of her eyes. “Right. IQ, you reach that
one…”
“Yes,
Nova,” he said. “Sandor, what is your theory?”
“To
see if we can fool this computer into thinking this circuit is closed while we
slowly open it,” he said as he tested voltages with a voltmeter. “Nova, re-set that battery pack to 50 milliamps, 11.2 volts.”
“Right,”
Nova said. “Fifty milliamps, 11.2 on my meter,” she said as she hooked her own
VOM into the circuit. “Now?”
“I’m
going to start cutting wires…pray that I don’t blow us all to the next life
when I do this.”
Nova
nodded, and she began praying.
Artwork: “Reversing the Missile” © 2008 by M.C. Crump. Used
by Permission
“You
two had better hurry,” said IQ-9. “I estimate we have seventeen minutes left.”
Commodore
Wildstar had forced himself awake. The first people he found were Venture,
Sasha Wakefield, and Deke Wakefield.
“What
happened?” he yelled.
Astrena
struggled to her feet…and then fell down again. “They…captured…Desslok…ship’s badly…damaged…”
“Who
took him?” demanded Wildstar.
“The
Black Nebulans,” Astrena moaned. “He’s already halfway out of the system.”
“Well,
let’s pursue him, then!” Derek snapped.
“Derek,
I wouldn’t,” said Venture.
“Mark,
why the hell not?”
“Look,”
Mark Venture said as he dragged Derek to a viewport. “They have some kind of
torpedo in the Argo’s hull, just
maybe twenty frames aft of here…”
“What
the hell?” muttered Derek.
Then,
a moment later, Sandor’s voice came up on the PA. “Commodore Wildstar, are you
awake, yet? This is Sandor! Over!
Contact me on Channel 120A!”
Derek
ran over to an intership phone and contacted that channel. “This is Wildstar.
Sandor, where are you?”
“Aft
near frame 155. The enemy has a Hyperon Torpedo in the ship’s hull. We could be
blown to bits in ten minutes if we can’t back this thing out…”
“Sandor! You were by Nova! Where is she?”
“I’m
assisting Sandor, Derek,” Nova’s voice said over the circuit as Derek breathed
a sigh of relief. “We have IQ-9 with us. Over!”
“How
are you people doing?” Derek yelled.
“Don’t
attempt to move the ship. I think we’re close to getting this thing defused,”
said Sandor as Nova connected a logic circuit to the unit. She yelled out, “IQ,
analyze that logic circuit!”
IQ-9
beeped. “It is reading “GO”. We have the circuit hotwired. Now we can take the
detonator out without the unit blowing up in our faces…”
Sandor
nodded. “Nova, you get the lower anode. I’ll get the upper one.”
Nova
gritted her teeth and worked as Sandor did. Then, they disconnected the primer
unit, and Nova smiled triumphantly as she pulled the primer out. With a little
grin, she squashed it under her sandal sole against the deck and said, “Now, we
just have to stuff these things in the nose cone and convince it to back itself out.”
“What
does this remind you of, Tinwit?” asked Sandor with a grin.
“The
Gamilon drill missile,” he said. “Only we didn’t have Nova there then. She’ll
bring us good luck.”
“I
hope I do,” she said with a blush. “Steve, which wiring harness do we change
the polarity of?”
“That one up there. Be
careful we don’t dislodge those power supplies.”
“I’ll
tape them down,” Nova said as she pulled out a roll of tape from a hip pocket
of her dress.
“What’s
that?” Sandor asked.
“Surgical tape. I always try to carry a
roll,” Nova said. “It’s good for fixing dressings on someone…and other stuff.”
“Glad
I got you here, you’re always prepared,” said Sandor with a grin.
“We’re
not out of the woods yet,” Nova said as she worked.
Derek ran
to the First Bridge and he ran to Combat after removing his jacket, followed by
Venture, Sasha, and by Wakefield, who felt a bit like a fifth wheel until
Wildstar sent him to work the Communications board on the theory that he had
been trained in working a comm board long ago on his midshipman’s cruise. Deke
took a post on the Argo’s first
bridge for the first and last time as he felt that he was way out of his
league. I’d be more comfortable back in
my plane, he thought.
“I
can’t get power up!” said Venture as he worked.
“What
the hell? Several years off this ship and you forget how to run it?”
“Wildstar,
there’s something blocking energy transmission!” snapped Mark as he worked the
familiar old controls.
From
the main radar, Sasha said, “No! This is worse! Uncle, there’s a fleet
approaching us at slow speed! Five Cometine space
battleships, ten destroyers!”
“They’re
sending some kind of visual signal!” said Deke from Communications. Wish I was in my fighter right now, damnit!
Wildstar
nodded as General Talan ran up on the bridge. “Wildstar! What are we doing to
try to rescue Leader Desslok?”
“I
think there’s a field coming from that torpedo,” said Sasha as she scanned. “It
might be interfering with our main engine!”
“CRAP!”
muttered Venture as he banged on the inert board. Then he got up and stamped
his feet.
“We
have a torpedo in our hull, General,” said Wildstar. “We can manuever once we
get rid of it and make that part of the ship airtight.”
The visual
came up a moment later. It was Princess Invidia in armor, laughing her head
off.
Desslok
was there, gritting his teeth in rage as he stood there surrounded by Cometine
and Black Nebulan troopers. A Black Nebulan behind him pushed him forward and
said, “MOVE it, you!”
“I
do not take orders from the likes of you,” hissed Desslok.
“You
move it, Gamilon, or I will blow a hole in your arm,” said the trooper as an
angry Desslok moved up, unable to do much because his wrists were in binders.
Before
him, Invidia smiled, and said, “Hello there, my friends. As you can see, ladies
and gentlemen, I have Leader Desslok in my power. I will let him go if you
surrender or if he surrenders! What say you?”
Desslok’s
eyes met Talan’s and then Wildstar’s, and he shook his
head. “Fight on,” he whispered. “Talan, I leave you in command of the Fleet…”
“Yessir,”
said Talan as tears ran down his cheeks.
“Wildstar,
I charge you with avenging this outrage,” said Desslok as he faced the screen. “Find
where they are…and see if you can get me out of their hands, alive…or dead.
Then, destroy Invidia and her Empire for us…”
Derek
nodded just as something beeped on his board.
Artwork: “Desslok in Trouble” © 2008 by M.C. Crump. Used by
Permission.
“Enough!
The Star Force is doomed!” snapped Invidia, who cut the transmission off at her
end.
Derek
shook his head and hit a switch at his post. “Yes?”
“Derek,
Nova here! We just finished reversing that torpedo,” she said. “It’s going to
back itself out in twenty seconds! Sandor then says we should not have any more
interference with the ship’s systems!”
Wildstar
nodded to Venture, who sat back down at the helm.
Mark
then said, “Derek, power’s coming back up! That field seems to be dead now!”
“Good
job. Sandor, get Nova back up here. Venture, we’re pursuing!
From
the main radar, Sasha said, “It’s backing itself out!”
“Thank
heavens,” Wildstar muttered. “Venture, pursue that fleet, full speed ahead!”
“Roger,”
said Captain Venture, who was temporarily back in his
old seat again on the Argo. “Main
engines, full speed ahead!”
The Argo
then surged forward. A moment later, Sandor, Nova, and IQ-9 reappeared. Sasha
took over the tactical radar while Nova sat back down at her old post.
Derek looked back at his crew. “Together
again, huh, guys?”
“Yeah,” laughed Sandor. “This is gonna be a real
blast,” he said sarcastically as Nishina took his place at Artillery and Diane
Henson completed the bridge complement by sitting down at Engineering.
“Where’s Yamazaki?” Wildstar asked.
“We couldn’t wake him up,” said Henson. “Orion, Jr
ordered me to take his post.”
“Fire
coming in from the enemy fleet!” cried Nova from her post. She looked a little pathetic with some grease
still on her from her work on the torpedo. “Bearing, RPG-130
to starboard. Range, eight megameters!”
“Brace for impact!” yelled Sandor from his post.
The Argo
shook and shivered from the hits she had taken, but she cruised on with only
light damage.
Wildstar had to make a split-second decision. “Nova! Which ship did that transmission come from?”
“The lead space battleship,” she said a moment later
after running the Time Radar. “That must be where Desslok is…”
“I can just barely feel him on that ship,” Sasha
reported a moment later.
“All right..we’ll have to
ram that ship and board her,” said Commodore Wildstar a moment later. After
giving the appropriate orders, he said, “Venture, get ready for a short warp.
It’ll be just like that time we boaded Desslok’s flagship six years ago,” he
said as Talan nodded with reluctant approval at Wildstar’s tactic as he sat
down at Analysis beside Wildstar. “Nova, track that lead ship very carefully!”
“Roger,” she said. “It’s slowing down, range to ship
seven megameters; holding course…”
“Stop all engines, Henson!” barked Wildstar.
From her post, Diane nodded. “Stop,
all engines. Begin energy buildup for short warp.”
“Thirty seconds to warp,” said Venture as he set the
controls while the bridge crew members locked on their restraint harnesses.
Wildstar had to help Talan with his harness.
A moment later, the familiar hyperspatial sensor
began to beep. “Twenty seconds to warp…”“Enemy ship, steady on course,” Nova
said.
“Ten seconds to warp!” said Venture.
“Nine…eight…seven….six…” he said as energy surges from the enemy fleet whizzed
past the Argo. “Prepare for warp…all
hands…three, two, one…zero..WARP!”
The Argo made its short warp, rushing
through hyperspace in a confused roar.
It emerged a few seconds later in empty space.
“What?” said Venture.
“She just warped out!” Nova snapped in frustration. “Damnit!”
“So where the hell is she, Nova?” Derek barked in
equal frustration.
“Trying to calculate,” she sighed. “Estimated
warp-out point, maybe ten lightyears away from here, course uncertain, heading
uncertain, took her whole fleet with her, too. Derek, Desslok’s gone.”
“Do you know your job?” snapped Talan.
“General, she’s the best radar, survey and analysis
officer in the whole Earth Fleet,” snapped Derek angrily as Homer came to the
bridge and relieved
“Orion?” said Wildstar.
He shook his head. “I’m sorry, sir. Yamazaki’s dead.
We lost him at his post in the Engine Room, sir. He…never
quite regained consciousness from that gas.”
Wildstar shook his head. “I’m sorry, Tim. You’re the
new Engine Group Leader now.”
“No I’m not…not yet…” he
said. “Miss Henson is. She has seniority over me, sir. I’ll miss the Chief.”
“What a hell of a way to get promoted,” Diane said
through her tears as Nova got up and hugged her. Both women, once mortal
enemies, cried as they comforted each other in a tight hug. Finally, Nova
patted her on the back and said, “You’ll do all right, Diane. We just carry on,
that’s all. God…I hate this enemy!”
“Yeah, you’re telling me, ma’am,” said Henson as she
tried to get used to the idea that she was suddenly the senior officer of her
Group. “Orion, you’re second in command now…”
“Aye, aye, ma’am,” he said.
Talan then turned. “Not to be disrepectful, but
aren’t we searching for Leader Desslok, Wildstar?”
“We most certainly are, General. You’re requesting
it on behalf of the Empire? As a diplomatic request?”
Talan suddenly realized the weight that had fallen
on his shoulders as he said, “Yes, Commodore. I am so requesting it.”
“Good. Thank you. Our trip home to Earth is
cancelled for the moment,” he said as he turned to Venture. “Ready
for your Task Force to come with us?”
“If the Commander orders us to…yes…”
“Homer, contact the Commander. “Tell him what has
happened in code, and send General Talan’s request. Tell him we need a reply
within the hour.”
“Yessir,” said Homer.
VII. NEW ORDERS AND A
NEW
Space Battleship Argo
The Vicinity of Planet
Iscandar
Tuesday, July 7, 2207
1612 Hours: Earth
Standard Space-Time
“Message from the Commander!” Homer said from his post maybe an
hour later.
The
bridge crew came to attention and saluted. Sasha was now at Nova’s post since
Nova had been summoned below to Sickbay to help Doctor Sane care for gas
victims and wounded from the battle.
“Yes?”
asked Commodore Wildstar.
“Commodore,”
said the Commander. “I am denying part of your request. I still want Task Force
2.0 to return to Earth for debriefing and repairs. However, Captain Venture
will assume temporary command of the Task Force until you return, Commodore. In
light of Gamilon’s request, you are being ordered to leave the Sanzar System at
once with two missions in mind; one, to find Invidia’s Task Force and to
recapture Desslok, if at all possible. Your second mission will be to track the
New Comet and report on its whereabouts. Earth needs warning time to prepare
for another attack, so, for the duration of the war, it will be your job to
track Invidia’s whereabouts. If possible, when and if you can recapture
Desslok, Princess Invidia is to be neutralized…by any means necessary, if at
all possible.”
“Yessir…we’re
clear on that,” said Wildstar as Kitano and Domon came back up to the
“I have
also received a supplemental report from Mrs. Wildstar. In light of your
casualties as per her report, your personnel requests as of 6 July are all
hereby denied,” said Commanding General Singleton with a bowed head. “The four
officers and fourteen crewmembers for which you and she requested reassignment
for will remain on board the Argo on
active duty until your mission is completed. That includes Mrs. Wildstar and
Mrs. Hartcliffe. Are we clear in those regards, Commodore?”
“Yessir,”
said Derek, not sure how he’d tell Nova that she would not be going home
now…and that the likelihood was now firm that she would probably give birth to
their children on the Argo. “My
officers and men will have to adapt…sir..” said
Commodore Wildstar.
“Very
well,” said Singleton. “You will leave within the hour. General Talan,” he
said, addressing Talan directly. “Be assured that the Star Force will do all
they can to locate Leader Desslok…and bring him back home to Gamilon safely.”
“Thank
you,” said Talan as he bowed his head. “Leader Desslok did well when he chose
your people as allies. We appreciate your efforts on Desslok’s behalf.” A
stunned Astrena and Dellar appeared on the bridge a moment later. The Gamilon
Heir was crying as his mother tried to hold and comfort him. “As does the
Imperial Family…”
“I
am glad that we can work together in these regards,” said the Commander. “Wildstar, best of luck in your new mission.”
“Thank
you, sir,” said Derek as he and Venture shook hands as Kitano made ready to
take back his post.
“Hey,
it was good having you back on the ship again,” said Derek as he gave Venture a
friendly pat. “I’ll bet you’re glad you left Holly back on the
“Yeah...I
know she’ll be okay and will turn the bridge back over to me when I get back,”
Venture sighed. “Derek, I hope Nova’s gonna be all right. With that pregnancy
and all…”
Wildstar
sighed. “Yeah, I know…she’ll manage…”
“I
hope so,” sighed Mark. “Derek, I’ve known her for years. She didn’t look that
good. You can tell that she’s getting tired from carrying those twins. Tell her
I’m worried about her.”
Derek
squeezed his hand. “Thanks, Mark. I’ll let her know
what you said.”
Venture
saluted, and he threw back on his peacoat for his trip back to the
Talan
then gathered up Astrena and Dellar and said, “They’ll be with me on the Excelsior. We’ll be a few lightyears
behind you, Wildstar. For the sake of the Empire, send word…when you find out
one way or the other…”
“We
will, General,” Wildstar said as he shook hands with Talan. “Your
plans for Invidia?”
“Vengeance…as
soon as Desslok is back in our hands safe and sound,” said Talan with gritted
teeth.
“That’s
if we don’t get to her first, sir,” said Wildstar.
Talan
smiled for the first time that day. “Why, Commodore. That is most commendable!
Thank you, Wildstar.”
“We
want her dead as much as you guys
do,” said Derek with a conspiratorial grin.
“In
that, we share a goal,” said Talan. “Destiny’s wind at your
back, Commodore.”
“And
you too, General,” said Wildstar as they saluted each other.
Then,
the Gamilons left.
When
their guests had left the Argo,
Commodore Wildstar ordered, “Mister Kitano, warp us two lightyears away from
the Sanzar System. Then, we’ll start looking for that Fleet…”
“Yessir,”
he said. “Argo, take off!”
At
that, the Argo took off.
She
blasted away, on a new, unknown mission.
Destination:
unknown….
Course:
unknown…
Time
of return to Earth: unknown…
Mission…find
Desslok, and track the New Comet to Earth.
Their
job at Iscandar was now done…and now, their job was to race the New Comet.
The
prisoner came to again in a dank cell after a very uneasy sleep.
The
cell door hissed open as Desslok stared with hatred at his inquisitor; Princess
Invidia.
She
smiled at him, tapping a sandal-clad foot on the deck as she tapped her pointer
against the doorway.
“Well,
Desslok. I’m glad to see you here today,” she said with a mocking smile.
“I’m not glad to be here,” replied Desslok.
“Where is this vile place?”
“The brig of the Cometine Space
Battleship Katranga. Don’t
count on the Star Force to come rescue you. They’re dead by now. At least their
crew is. We’ll be salvaging the Argo
shortly. The hyperon bomb blast would most probably have created only minor
damage to the ship. As for your friends Derek Wildstar, Nova Wildstar, Aliscea
of Pellias, poor Astrena, your son, and Talan, they
are all dead by now and I am sure they are now having a nice conversation with
Trelaina of Telezart in the netherworld. At least it was a merciful death,
having their brain matter destroyed in just a quick flash by our prototype
Hyperon Torpedo. The Argo is a mighty
ship. I’m sure it will make a fine addition to our ranks. We need well-built
space battleships even if that old ship is a little dilapidated. Hahahahaha!”
“You rotten bitch,” hissed Desslok as he tried to
get up. He couldn’t. He was chained to the deck.
“Are your accomodations a little inconvenient?” sneered Invidia.
“Let me out of these chains and you’ll see how
quickly I can deal with you, Invidia.”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” laughed Invidia. “I want to
bring you securely back to the Eritz
Gatlantis, where you shall remain
our guest.”
“For how long?”
“The foreseeable future, or the day of your
execution,” sneered Invidia. “Whichever comes first.”
Desslok said no more. Finally, Invidia just laughed
and turned away. “We’ll talk again, Leader Desslok.”
Desslok shut his eyes and thought, There has to be a way out of your vile
clutches, Invidia. But what is it? And why are you holding me?
END
BOOK EIGHT
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BE CONTINUED WITH BOOK NINE “ENDGAME”
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