ALTERNATE
TALES OF THE STAR FORCE
STAR BLAZERS---A ROOT OF BITTERNESS
Being the third part of THE
NEW COMET--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz
This Act is being completed with the
Cooperation and Assistance of Derek A.C. Wakefield (as usual)---Freddo
ACT ONE: A SUDDEN
TAKEOFF
I. PREPARATIONS
Earth
EDF Space Dock Number
Five
Space Battleship Argo
Friday, December 13,
2205
0600 Hours: Earth Time
Ever
since July, Dock Number Five had been the Argo’s
resting place. There, the battered space battleship had been undergoing
repairs and a leisurely, carefully-considered refit; the mighty ship, after
all, had arrived home from her last mission in a rather bad state of repair.
The ship was about seventy percent done in early November,
but still needed some work to be fully space-worthy again. That final work had
been proceeding at a rushed, priority pace ever since about November 15th.
At the same time, the members of the First Star Force had
been recalled from the four corners of the globe and other assignments in
space; and scout ships had been looking for any sign of communications from the
It was known that Aliscea had been alive in early December;
Queen Starsha had sent a priority message through to Earth stating that she had
sensed her presence. Since then, however, there had been nothing but silence.
This bad news hung over Commodore Derek Wildstar’s head as
he prepared the mighty space battleship for launch later that day.
“What’s going on, sir?” asked Lt. Tetsu Kitano from the helm
as he watched Wildstar going over some materials at the Captain’s station.
“I have a lot on my mind,” said Commodore Wildstar. “Would
you attend to your checklist and let me attend to mine?”
Kitano nodded. As he did, he looked at Nova at her post, who caught the question in his eyes and shrugged.
Commodore Wildstar thought, I have to confide in all of you sooner or later. It’s that report I
received earlier this morning at 0500 from the Commander; a report from the
space frigate Heerman. It
wasn’t conclusive, but signals were picked up; possibly in a Cometine code…I….
“Wildstar!” said Homer from his post. “It’s the Commander! Priority One signal!”
“Put
him through,” said Wildstar.
Wildstar sat with one hand on his Captain’s hat (which he
never wore on the bridge) as the Commanding General of the EDF came up on the
main video panel of the Argo.
“Wildstar,” said Singleton. “How are the preparations for
launch going?”
“According to my board, sir, we should be able to take off
at about 0900 Hours. The preparations are eighty-nine percent complete now. We
were about to go onto internal power and begin flooding the dock when you
called, sir.”
“Wildstar, I have grave news. You recall that report that I
sent you this morning?”
“Yessir.
The report from the Heerman?”
“Yes, that. Before we lost touch with the Heerman, Commander Rodriguez confirmed
that they were Cometine…we think he fell under…”
Loud klaxons suddenly sounded behind the Commander on the
image on the Argo’s main screen. It
was now 0618 Hours.
“Sir?” asked Sandor from his post. “What’s going on?”
Domon looked shocked as he saw people in the background
running in all directions at EDF Headquarters. “I’m getting a report,” said the
Commander…hold on…I…”
What
is it? Nova thought from her post. Please don’t tell me it’s started already! But we’re still in undersea
dock!
“Sir,” someone yelled at Headquarters on the transmission as
more people could be seen running about on the screen as the image flickered
out for a moment before coming back on.
“Warp
disturbance?” said Sandor from his instruments.
“Sandor?” snapped Derek.
“My sensors have just picked up a space warp…over the
city…it….”
A thunderclap resounded through the dock, making the Argo shake in her blocks. It was now
0619 hours. Then, Sandor said, “Captain! Request permission
to begin flooding dock immediately!”
“Granted!” said Commodore Wildstar. “Commander!” he yelled
as Singleton came back on the screen.
“Commodore,” said Singleton. “Sensors have just picked up a
large Cometine fleet emerging from warp over Earth!”
“Where?” said Wildstar.
Nova’s radar immediately began to beep as the high-energy
meson sensors came on-line. “Derek…they’re about five hundred kilometers over
the
“Where are they heading?” said Derek. “Nova, I want to know
the answer to that question yesterday!”
“Here,” said Nova. “I don’t know how the heck they know
we’re here…”
“Well, they damn well know it. Sandor, begin flooding the
dock!” snapped Derek, “NOW!”
“Yessir.”
“Commander,” said Derek as he echoed what he had said to
Singleton a bit over four years ago when he had been stealing the Argo. “We’re taking off! Can you get fighters and battle satellites up
until we can engage them and try to get some of First Fleet to cover us?”
“We’ll do our best,” said the Commander. “The nearest major
Fleet unit; the
Wildstar saluted as Sandor said, “Water in the launching
dock!”
Water began to fill the dock at high pressure right after
Sandor hauled in the Argo’s gangway
and sealed the mighty space battleship off from the outside world.
Commodore Wildstar then turned on the intership comm system.
“All hands!” he said. “This is the Captain. I’ve just received intelligence
that indicates the Megalopolis may fall under attack in just a few minutes. I
expect all of you to turn to and prepare the ship for both emergency liftoff and battle! Get us aloft, and then
prepare for combat!”
“Port and starboard boosters balancing well,” said young Tim
Orion from his station on the bridge. Yamazaki hadn’t even arrived aboard ship
yet, as it turned out; that morning, he had been in the hospital with a skin
disease and had been expected to leave and join the Star Force in a day or two.
Orion hadn’t expected a baptism of fire like this as the acting Engine Group Leader, but he was doing a good job
at setting aside his fears to get to work. “Mr. Kitano, we should have
auxiliary power within ten minutes.”
“Prepare to start wave motion engine right after that,”
ordered Wildstar. “Lift all except the third-stage safety measures and use the
overrides to get the main flywheel and supercharger powered up!”
“Yessir,”
said Orion as sweat ran down his face.
“Beginning to power up training mechanisms for main guns,”
said Domon from his post. “Pulse laser houses are now forty percent manned.”
“Water over the navigation bridge,” said Sandor.
“We have clearance from Dockyard Command to open up the
locks when pressure equalizes!” said Homer from his post.
“Good show,” said Lieutenant Pavel Kumyat from his post.
Kumyat was a young Russian EDF officer currently acting as Artillery Officer in
the absence of both Rosstowski and Dash.
“Yeah, baby, thank my freckles!” laughed Eager.
“What’s with you?”
said Nova.
Eager laughed and said, “Remember when we stole the ship
that time, Nova? We were sure breaking the rules and messin’ up the paint when
we rammed through that lock! We don’t have to do that now!”
“Great! I hate bumpy rides,” said Nova. “Especially
when my hair’s still wet from the shower!”
“Lieutenant Commander, you should’ve dried it this morning,” snapped Commodore Wildstar.
Nova gave her husband a look that said the equivalent of “aaaaaaarrrrrggh!” Some of the crew
grinned at the momentary diversion between the young couple before turning back
to their posts.
“Preparing to stabilize gyro, and ready to open chocks when
I have the green,” said Kitano from his post.
“Final status,” said Wildstar. “All hands on bridge,
report!”
The bridge crew began to signal their status as the dock
filled up.
“So, what’s going on?” said Deke Wakefield at the Academy as
he met Sasha on the way to breakfast. Not far away, a clock read 0621 Hours.
“I don’t have a lot of time, Deke. Sorry. We have double
cheerleading practice for the last game of the season today, so we can’t get
together after breakfast,” she said with a sad look on her face.
“Sasha…it’s great you made the squad and all that,” said
Deke as he stared her down while Brew stood nearby in the cold that morning.
“But…I mean…”
“Deke, I have to prove myself! This is only my third start,
and it’s the last major basketball game of the season before finals tomorrow
night. I hope you can be there to see me.”
“I should be there,” said Deke.
“If flight training doesn’t interfere again like last time,
Deke?”
“Sasha, you know we have lives…and this is wartime, you
know. There’s even scuttlebutt we might graduate at the end of this semester
rather than next semester. Heard that? And there will be things more important
than cheerleading, soon.”
“Yes….especially when you graduate and leave me behind,”
sighed Sasha.
“Sasha…I won’t forget you…” said Deke.
“I hope not,” she said with a wan smile. Then, she said,
“Listen….I hear something….”
“I don’t hear anything,” said Deke.
I
can’t tell him all of it; not yet… thought Sasha, but I KNOW something bad is happening. It’s
my senses…I just KNOW it!
“Listen,” she said to Deke. “What do you hear in the
distance?”
Deke cocked his ears. “Sirens?”
“Off in the city…they…”
Then, air-raid sirens began to blow on the grounds of the
Academy.
The midshipmen were stunned by the sirens going off. Then, a
voice said on the PA, “This is the duty officer! The region of the
Megalopolis is under enemy attack! This is no drill! All midshipmen are to take
their pre-arranged action stations by classes and ranks! All senior pilots are
to man trainers at once at the airfield! This is no drill! All
midshipmen to action stations!”
“I have to man a post at my dorm,” snapped Sasha. “You
know….”
“In case they send troops,” said Deke. He pecked her on the
cheek and said, “You know where I’m going…the airfield!”
Sasha nodded as Brew ran out of his dorm buckling up his
pants. “Dekesticks! What the hell is the delay? Here’s
your flight bag, bro! We gotta get going!”
“Right,” said Deke. “Well, it looks like we’re getting some
extra training today,” he said dryly.
“Except it ain’t training!” yelled Brew.
“Right…it isn’t,” said
Deke as he ran off towards the nearest transport vehicle that was headed
towards the airfield.
0625
Hours…
Aboard the flagship of the enemy fleet, the single-deck
carrier Malanga, the Cometine
Commander on the scene, General Higron, smiled as he heard the preparations
going on about him for the attack on Earth.
“Sir, our four battleships are readying their guns for the
bombardment of the Megalopolis with us as part of the first wave. Our ten
destroyers are preparing to back us up with close-range fire. The first
Scorpion attack wave is almost ready for launch.”
“What of the second wave?” asked Higron with a sneering smile.
“They’ve just emerged from warp close to Earth as we just
have and they are preparing to engage the battle satellites behind us. We have
two battleships and eight destroyers on line in the second wave.”
“Good.
Leave Major Barratz in command of the second wave. My strategy has worked
admirably, and it will, if we can get in and out, be the first of many terror
attacks to break the Earthers’ will and deplete their forces prior to the main invasion.”
“We are leaving the troposphere!” said a radar officer as
the Malanga and her fleet began to
break through the clouds above the
“That’s their first wave? That’s pathetic!” laughed Higron. “Launch Squadron Number Four to engage;
continue launch preparations for ground attack squadrons One through Three!
Launch Ground Attack Squadrons after Squadron Four is launched! And…ready our secret weapon!”
“Yessir!” said the
flight officer.
Earth,
today will be a day of terror and dread for you; a sneak attack with no
warning! Higron thought as he laughed to himself while his fleet
sped in at high speed.
0627
Hours…
Beneath the ocean near the Megalopolis, the Argo had just emerged from her undersea
dock and was heading off underwater at high speed to a point near the mouth of
“Latest
location of enemy fleet,” said Nova from her radar. “Three
thousand kilometers to the south, between
“Hmm. Good.
That gives us some time to intercept, but not a lot,” said Commodore Wildstar
as he looked at an old souvenir of his-a digital stopwatch that had once
belonged to Captain Avatar.
“One hundred and twenty seconds to surfacing!” said Kitano. “Preparing for maximum speed to close the range!”
“Wildstar!” said Homer from his post. “Earth Defense reports
that the Red Reapers attack squadron from the
“Got it.
Young Conroy, though? Where’s Hardy? He should be in command!” snapped Derek.
“Last time I spoke with Hardy, he was assigned TDY to an
ROTC Military Science unit at
“Oh boy…Jeff surrounded by all them cute females in short
little skirts!” laughed Eager. “I bet he’s havin’ to keep the girls away with
bug spray!”
“Chris,
last I heard, Hardy still doesn’t date much,” said Nova.
“Why’s that?” said Eager.
“He still has Mio Hoshiyama on his mind from the
war…remember her and how she died? But, enough-we have a battle to fight!” snapped Nova. Then, she looked at her screen and
said, “Enemy fleet, twenty-seven hundred kilometers to the south; altitude,
seven hundred kilometers, speed, sixteen space knots; they’ve passed
“Keep them on track,” said Wildstar. “Kitano, where are we
now in terms of surfacing?”
“We’re one minute to surfacing,” said Kitano from his post.
“Good,” said Wildstar. “Full speed ahead!”
“
Down
in the engine room, the crew repeated the order. “Output up by ten!” snapped
the acting Crew Chief from her post off near the main supercharger panel.
“Aye, aye, ma’am ;ready
supercharger!”
“Switch energy to fifth circuit!”
“Switching energy!” barked a young enlisted man as he worked
a large switch several meters away.
Not
bad, guys, thought Lieutenant Diane Henson as she worked for the
first time as supervising Crew Chief down below.
0628
Hours
The
Enemy Fleet
“The first defense squadron is four hundred kilometers to
our west, and the enemy chatter says they’re ready to fire missiles!” said a
radar officer aboard the Malanga.
“Complete ninety-degree turn!” said Higron.
“Squadron Four ready!” said another Cometine Officer.
“Good,” said Higron as he pulled a handgrip on a coiled wire
up from a compartment in one arm of his command chair. “Activate SMITE!”
A moment later, the SMITE field, a development taken from
the Gamilons in 2201 during their alliance with the Comet Empire, went off.
Twenty Scorpions faded into warp, and emerged from warp a moment later right
before the twelve startled EDF Cosmo Tiger pilots near
“What
the….?,”
said Lt. Richard Ware, the pilot in command of the Reapers. “Those guys have
the Gamilon Matter Transporter…and they’re….”
In the cockpit of one of the Cometine planes, the pilot
laughed as he aimed at the distant Cosmo Tiger and said, “Now, you will DIE,
Earther!”
At that, he blew the unfortunate pilot’s plane apart as
another Scorpion evaded an AA laser battery to begin blasting apart the base
near
“Sir!” yelled another Reaper. “They just shot me up,
I…..AAAAAAARRRGHHH!” yelled an Earth pilot as his plane blew apart,
“Regroup and attack from another corridor!” said Ware.
“Reaper One to Base! The enemy has SMITE! Repeat, the enemy has SMITE!”
0633
Hours…
At the Academy, Deke, Brew, and four other cadet pilots were
the first to reach the airfield. They were using Cosmo Tiger II trainers for
their flight training; these were strike-fighter Tigers with two places without
the aft ball turret behind what was normally the RSO’s rear cockpit place;
these planes allowed for a student pilot and instructor to fly them together.
“Game time, Brew,” said Deke. Brew nodded, and their flight
instructor, Bryan Hartcliffe, ran up and yelled, “Guys, I’m gonna be the bloody
squadron leader! Forget the cadet shit for now, mates! Far as I’m concerned,
you’re fighter pilots! Man yer planes and join up behind me! We’re headin’
south by way o’ Daito-Jima and
“Sir, are we to break the tags in our planes?” said
Midshipman Norris, another cadet whom Deke and Brew knew wasn’t the brightest
man in their training squadron.
“No, we’re playing war games!” snapped Deke irritably. “Of
course we break the tags, jackass!”
“Good goin,
“We need a squadron name,” said Brew. “We shouldn’t be ID’ed
as Training Squadron Five, sir!”
“And we won’t be,” said Hartcliffe. “Something Tigers….”
Then,
Deke looked up at the sunrise as he put on his helmet. “How’s
about calling us the Sun Tigers, sir?”
“Good. We’re the bloody Sun Tigers then,” grinned Hartcliffe
as the other cadets ran up. “Midshipman Shangrao…get to your plane first!” said
Hartcliffe. “Then…”
Suddenly, something like a heat wave shimmered up in the
high sky. There was a high humming, and then the sun was darkened by an ugly
shadow as five Cometine Scorpions appeared from nowhere and began to shoot up
the airfield.
“Whatthebloodyhell?” snapped Hartcliffe as one of them hit a
Tiger with a laser bolt and blew it up, followed by a second and a third.
“Damned bastards! Okay! Use the other runway! Watch yer asses!”
Deke didn’t need much direction. He ducked behind a landing
wheel of another plane just as laser bolts went off all around him. He was
being strafed.
0634
Hours…
The
Great Eastern Sea
A
minute later, the Argo finally
blasted up out of the Pacific, and as soon as she lifted off, she opened her
wings and began to gain altitude.
“The enemy fleet’s splitting up!” cried Nova from her post.
“One battleship and four destroyers have just executed a space warp!”
“Any idea where they’re headed?” asked Derek.
“Calculating it based on last known course and heading,”
said Nova as her gloved fingers rapidly worked a set of keys at her post
punching in coordinates and mathematical data.
“NO!” she cried a moment later 
as
the results came up on her screen a moment later as a trigonometric plot.
“Eager! Confirm my data!”
“Got it, but this don’t sound good,” said Eager as he took a
download from Nova’s post.
“Where are they headed, radar?” snapped Derek.
“Right for the city,” said Nova.
“Confirmed!” said Eager. “Make that double-confirmed!”
“Why?” said Commodore Wildstar with gritted teeth.
“They’re over the city now!”
“CRAP!” yelled Wildstar. “Kitano!
Take us back; one hundred eighty degrees!”
“Commencing turn, one-eighty,” said Kitano angrily.
“Domon…ready main guns,” said Wildstar.
“
0635
Hours…
From
the Malanga, a wave of one-man
Cometine attack planes that were SMITED in and adapted from larger former Black
Nebulan designs suddenly flew down the streets of the Megalopolis in the
half-light of dawn, causing havoc wherever they went as they strafed buildings
and attacked EDF tanks that had been hastily called to duty to help defend the
Earth’s capital city. Some of the buildings they strafed were offices, others
were apartments. Those civilians who hadn’t yet responded to the air-raid
sirens were killed in their apartments as they stumbled about trying to get
clothed and ready to get into shelter. The death toll from the treacherous
enemy attack would prove to be in the thousands.
Not too far away, the Green Hornets were taking off at last
under an enemy barrage, helping to defend the city from the attack planes…and
even from the attack troops that some of the ships had begun to land in the
streets of the Megalopolis itself. Indeed, parts of the city were now
officially battlefields.
Battlefields in which both civilians who were caught out in
the open and EDF troops caught in the open were getting killed right in the
streets of their home city.
In the meantime, civil authorities were having a hard time
keeping people 
from
looking up in fear and anger as the Cometine ships could be seen overhead. Two
of the destroyers had begun to strafe the business district with their heavy
guns, while the battleship sunk an EDF space battleship and cruiser at their
moorings at the dock.
Then, the destroyers made a rendezvous with the battleship,
and the enemy ships flew in a slow formation right towards
On the battleship, which was known as the
“Major, you will have the honor of contacting the Earthers,
“said Higron. “Tell them that our command is that they surrender the Argo to us so we can try and execute her
crew as war criminals. If they do that, we will stop the attack because we will
have a great victory to report to Invidia if we bring the Argo and her crew back to her as captives. If not, we will blow
them apart! Is that clear, Major? That is what Invidia wants, I know, and it
will please her immensely! She wants the head of Derek Wildstar on a stake!”
“I will obey your orders with pleasure, General!” said Samara with a truly wicked grin.
II. THE TRUMPETS OF WAR
Earth
The Vicinity of the EDF
Space Fighters’ Training School
Friday, December 13,
2205
0637 Hours: Earth Time
By some miracle, Deke Wakefield had gotten alive into the
cockpit of Trainer 0508; one of the eight planes that would survive the enemy strafing
that day. He was roaring aloft, and had also reported seeing an enemy squadron
being SMITED in over the airfield.
A moment later, Brew took formation beside Deke, and the two
of them then had enemy Scorpions to deal with over the airfield; two, to be
exact, two that were speeding in right for them.
Hartcliffe had gotten aloft a moment before them, and he
said, “I think you guys know what to do. When y’ get done, meet up behind me so
we can find the ships.”
“Roger that,” said Deke. “Two bandits coming
in now. They just got in range. FIRE!”
Deke squeezed his firing pickle, and two missiles roared off
from his plane and from Brew’s plane. A moment later, Brew was whooping,
“Scratch two green dudes! Earth is kicking ASS!” as the Cometine planes were
blown to bits.
“Not
bad, mate, but there’s six more of ‘em,” said Hartcliffe. “To defend the
Academy, we’ve gotta shoot those bandits down first!”
“Got it!” said
Deke fired again, and down came the Scorpion boat in a huge
and very satisfying explosion. It was great, and it felt good…fighting back at
long last.
“There you go, you green son-of-a-bitch! Take that for
screwing up everyone’s morning!” said Deke, not aware he was talking out loud
as he flew his Tiger like a madman in formation with the others.
“Yo,
bro, what’s that?” said Brew.
“Nothing, Brew, just me being
happy!”
“Look out there, bro…at five o’clock!”
Deke looked, and he smiled when he saw something red and
blue and large roaring past in the distance up from the ocean at very high
speed.
“We’re getting serious if they launched the Argo,” said Deke. “There must be a ton
of them out there!”
“Damn straight, Dekesticks!” said another one of Deke’s
friends, a midshipman named Pat Terrell. “You can see five ships off in the
distance, right over the city! They…”
Then, a signal came in on another channel. “This is
Hartcliffe, people! All opposition has been taken care of over the Academy.
They landed one troop carrier, but that’s but stranded. Our mission is to
rendezvous with the Black Tigers at RRW-12 at 30,000 in one minute and
rendezvous with the Argo! There’s
more opposition in space, and we’re supposed to help cover them! Roger that?”
Deke was the first Sun Tiger to bark “Roger!” followed by
several others. He then looked out over the city, wondering what they and the
Star Force were going to do to the Cometines hanging over the Megalopolis
itself over the inlet.
0641
Hours…
“They’re demanding to talk to you, sir,” said General Stone
in Earth Defense Headquarters.
“Open the channel,” said the Commander in an angry huff.
An officer nodded, and, a moment later, a nasty green visage
framed with dark hair and a black and red uniform appeared on the main screen
in the Operations Room of Earth Defense Headquarters.
“Greetings, Earth People,” said the enemy officer in a
nasty, rasping voice that echoed over the vast room.
“I
am Major Naresh Samara of the House of Gatlantis of the Greater Cometine
Empire. Your Regional Governor, Field Marshal Balkal, has been ordered by
Princess Invidia to take control of this sector. You agreed to surrender to the
Greater Cometine Empire back in November of your year 2201, a little over four
of your years ago. Do not forget that you have surrendered to us and are under
our authority!”
Like
hell we have, thought Singleton as he clenched his
fist.
Samara continued to rasp, “The fact that you exist at all
right now is due to the mercy of Princess Invidia. Unless you complete your
duly agreed-to surrender, there shall soon come a day when the Princess’ mercy
shall run out and she will remember your role in the genocide of our people
aboard the original
Stone came up to Singleton and got his attention by tapping
at a screen on his post and grinning. He mouthed the words, Star Force.
Singleton looked at the readout and grinned a little. Then,
he looked up at Samara and said, “I believe you are over the water right now?”
“Yes we are! What does that matter to us?”
Singleton himself tapped out a quick coded message at the
board. Then, he said, “I think you will have your answer in a moment, Major.
Just sit back and wait.”
“Wait? For what, Singleton? I am a busy
man!”
0646
Hours…
As
the Argo hung over the Megalopolis in
the bleak and cold early winter morning sky with the enemy fleet visible in the
distance, Homer excitedly said, “Captain! Message in code
from the Commander!”
“What is he saying?”
“Wildstar, they are
over the inlet near
“Confirmed!” said Eager from his post.
“Range, two thousand meters,” said Nova. “Well within our
firing range.”
“Main guns, lower angle to the lowest possible,” said
Wildstar. “Kitano, turn us about on our ventral axis ninety degrees. Then,
Domon, fire at will!”
“Yessir!” said Domon with a tight grin. “Ready
to fire!”
“All guns,” snapped Wildstar, “Open fire!”
At that, the Argo’s
guns spoke as the red and blue space battleship cruised in right over the city
itself. Samara ignored his radar officer, and so, his ship was among the first
caught in Wildstar’s ambush as the Argo’s
main guns tore through her like a knife through hot butter.
The ship was blasted to bits as everyone in EDF Headquarters
cheered just as the view switched to that of the Argo firing again and again, taking out the Cometine destroyers
next. One destroyer fired back at the Argo,
which took a hit and took some damage near her keel. The Argo finished off that destroyer as the rest of the fleet decided
to make a run for it.
The Argo then
turned and began to pursue the enemy fleet off over the
“Yeah, they did it!” someone in one of the crowds yelled.
“We
won’t be spending Christmas down below again!” someone else cried in a part of
the city where people had gathered in a square. Another image of the Commander
live at EDF Headquarters was ignored as people focused on a certain mighty blue
and red space battleship.
“Go, Wildstar! Kick their green asses back where they came
from!”
“Go for it!” yelled some others.
A little boy yelled, “Mommy, I want a model of the Argo for Christmas! The
big 1:500 model!”
“Take them out!” yelled some others.
“Go, Star Force!” yelled others. Then, wild cheering filled
the squares and filled the airwaves as the dramatic footage of the Argo filled the screens while the
announcer spoke with great excitement.
“…It
is now almost ten minutes to seven, and the Earth Government announces that the
main threat to the
0651
Hours…
“…the
Argo has repelled the invasion ships from the Metro Area,”
continued the announcer as, at the Space Fighters’ Training School, a group of
midshipmen cheered at the vidscreen that was on as they stood defending the
wardroom of their dorm building. Sasha “Petrovsky” was among the detail of
twenty cadets who stood in the dayroom with rifles on their shoulders on
straps. The wardroom was secured behind blast shields that covered the windows,
and most of the other midshipmen had combat stations on their respective floors
of their dorm. Sasha and the others were (mostly) in uniform, each of them
armed and tense as they had been expecting Cometine troopers to raid the area.
“Where the hell are those troopers now?” yelled one cadet, a
man named Twindell. “Girls, call home to Mom, it’s over!”
“The Star Force saved our butts again!” yelled another cadet
as he took advantage of being armed to shoot open a soda machine and then begin
handing out cans of Cosmic Cola and Dr. Starpepper.
“Hey, King will be pissed at you for that!” yelled another
midshipman as an uneasy Sasha took a can of soda.
“We’ll tell that asshole Lieutenant King that the Cometines
did it!” laughed a friend of Sasha’s from the cheerleading squad named Sherri
Nesmith. “Hey, Sasha! Why so gloomy?”
“Deke’s still out there in his plane fighting…and they
aren’t off campus yet!”
“What?” said Twindell. “Sasha, how
do you know that? You some kind of Iscandarian or something?”
Sasha bit her tongue at this rude comment as the others
laughed. She said, “No, it’s just a feeling I have! The all-clear hasn’t gone
off yet! And they could be anywhere?”
“Where?” said another midshipman. “Behind the
blast shield?”
An explosion blew the wardroom into a shambles from outside
as something blew apart the blast shield with a direct hit.
A
moment later, Sasha looked up, just in enough time to see a Cometine soldier in
Black Nebulan attack armor coming through the breach, firing at her classmates.
Before Sasha knew it, Nesmith and Twindell were on the deck
with holes blasted through them. Sasha took cover behind a couch and readied
her weapon in a minute. Her training took over as the enemy trooper shot at her
and the three other midshipmen who had taken cover with her. Sasha’s gold
uniform glowed luridly in the light from the fire as she caught a bead on the
enemy trooper and shot him down like a rabid dog. He fell twitching; Sasha only
smiled to herself as she briefly thought, First
blood. I just killed that guy! I’ve actually seen combat!
Three other enemy troopers shot at Sasha and her friends as
they returned fire. One of Sasha’s classmates, a man named Carlson, took a hit
in the head and fell down screaming, but an angry Sasha just returned fire and
killed his attacker with another burst from her laser rifle.
Four more troopers appeared at the window. A classmate of
Sasha’s named Christopher rolled her a grenade. Sasha smiled and threw the grenade,
which exploded satisfyingly as it killed the Cometine troopers.
Suddenly, a minute later, it was quiet. Sasha looked up,
dusting off her boots as she looked at a clock on the undamaged bulkhead of the
wardroom. It was now 0700 on the dot. All was silent except for some soft
moaning.
Sasha ran over to Sherri Nesmith’s side. She was bleeding
heavily from a wound to her head and a wound to her stomach and was in great
pain. Even with little medical training, Sasha could tell that there was
nothing that could be done for her now
“Sasha,” said Sherri. “At least I got one of them before
I…it’s getting real dark…I…”
“Shh…” said Sasha. “Don’t talk.”