Dance With Me

Part Six

Story and Art by Angie Dargo

Chapter One

Nova looked out the window at the people still waiting for news of loved ones that were in Avatar’s fleet. The crowd standing below had certainly thinned out, but there were still quite a few just…standing, waiting. She looked up at the domed underground “sky” and the cylindrical tubes for aircars to pass through. This is September, she thought. Back when I was a child, I was enjoying the very last warm days of Indian summer and I couldn’t wait for the leaves on the trees to start to turn colors. But no more of that. How much longer could Earth take this contamination? How much longer before the radiation sank underground to kill the rest of the human race? How much longer before we humans wilt and die?

She had just attempted to fight a battle of her own with Captain Avatar. The Captain had received a call from headquarters that the message capsule had been deciphered. He had immediately got up and began to get dressed when Nova and Dr. Sane had walked into his room to check on him and give him his medication. They both argued with the stubborn captain, and insisted they could set up a secure video conference here in his room so he could hear the contents of the message in his bed, but he wouldn’t listen. So Nova left the room while Dr. Sane helped him into his uniform.

She rubbed her weary eyes, turned away from the window and noticed one of the EDF cadets sitting on the couch in the waiting area. His shoulders were slumped and he looked as if he wanted to cry. She felt sorry for this young man and wondered if she should approach him. She had heard that he and Captain Avatar had some words over the battle on Pluto, but she didn’t know why. She looked at him and made up her mind to say something to him when she saw his friend come up carrying two cups of coffee. Nova walked over to them.

“I don’t mean to intrude, but is your friend alright? He looks so tired and pale…maybe some time in the sun room? I could arrange for you both to get a little rest while you’re

waiting for your orders,” said Nova. He still looked at her as if looking at someone just raised from the dead.

She was just about to ask the Italian looking cadet just who he thought she looked like when he glanced at his friend sympathetically. “Oh no it’s not that…you see, he lost his only brother in the Pluto Battle.”

“Oh, I am so sorry. What was his brother’s name?” asked Nova.

“Alex Wildstar; that’s Derek Wildstar and I am Mark Venture, Nova.” Nova raised her eyebrow up quizzically. “We asked Dr. Sane your name when we first saw you. You look like a woman we had just found…er met. Anyway, I would shake your hand but…” said Mark gesturing with upheld hands with the coffee cups.

However, it was Nova’s turn to look pale. “That’s…Alex’s brother?”

“Yes, did you know Alex Wildstar?” asked Mark.

“No, I didn’t. I just, um…” Nova stammered as the robot IQ-9 came rolling up behind her. She instinctively held her skirt down in the back as she had already heard rumors from some of the other nurses.

“I HAVE INFORMATION FOR CADETS WILDSTAR AND VENTURE, THE NURSE IS NOT INCLUDED,” said the robot.

“Well, I know when I’m not wanted. I hope everything turns out okay with you two and I hope to see you again someday,” said Nova. She turned away from the cadets and walked down the hallway.

“That was very rude!” said Mark to IQ-9.

“I AM NOT PROGRAMMED TO BE POLITE. THE MESSAGE CAPSULE HAS BEEN DECODED AND YOU ARE WANTED AT EARTH DEFENSE HEADQUARTERS RIGHT AWAY,” and with that the robot rolled away.

______________________________________________________________________

Nova walked over to the nurse’s station and printed out Dr. Sane’s orders for Avatar’s release. Ivy Montgomery, one of the nurses on her Yamato team, was there now instead of Tina. Ivy was not known for being one of the gentlest nurses on the team, but Nova could count on her for handling rowdy men when it was time for their monthly vaccinations. She was punctual, efficient, and mostly easy on the eyes so the men never even saw what was coming to them! She’d jab them with a needle first and say, “this is gonna hurt a bit” right after, then laugh like a hyena. Nova loved it. Ivy was everything Nova wanted to be sometimes, but just couldn’t bring herself to be. It was a whole “good cop, bad cop” routine between the two of them.

“Hey Nova, you’ve been released of duty to go home and rest this morning. The EDF has got something big going on so I’d go now while I can, girl!” said Ivy as she took the release orders out of the printer and took the tablet and stylus out of Nova’s hand.

“Say no more sis, I’m out of here!” said Nova. She got her bag out of Dr. Sane’s office and headed for the elevators.

Chapter Two

Elaine was sound asleep in bed when she heard the videophone ring and she reached down to grab it. She was so tired and groggy that she forgot where she was. She reached a little further than usually had to when it rang again. It was right beside her head! When did Nova put it on the nightstand? she thought as she picked up the phone and said, “Hello?”

“Um, yes…Is this Lieutenant Stephen Sandor’s residence?” said a voice on the other end.

Elaine’s eyes went wide as saucers as she finally remembered where she was! Elaine’s hair was hanging in her face and she couldn’t find her glasses. She just said the first thing that came to her, “No, you have the wrong number!” and she slammed the phone back into its cradle.

Sandor sat up in bed next to her and asked, “Who was calling this early?” He looked at the clock on the nightstand and it glowed 06:34.

“Ohmigosh, Stephen, I’ve messed up, I’ve really messed up!” cried Elaine. She stood up and paced the bedroom. “I think that was headquarters calling you and I just hung up on them! The video is on and I think whoever it was saw me!”

Sandor looked at Elaine and smiled. “So?”

The phone rang again and they both looked at it. Finally, Sandor said, “You want me to get that?”

“Yeah, smartass, I want you to get that!” Elaine slipped into Sandor’s bathroom and closed the door partway and peeked around the edge.

Sandor chuckled to himself as he reached over and picked up the phone. “Hello?”

The headquarters officer smiled on the video panel and he said, “Good morning Lieutenant, I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time…”

“No, not at all,” said Sandor with a big grin on his face. He’s enjoying this! Elaine thought to herself. She made herself known to him and whoever else by slamming the bathroom door.

“Ouch!” said the officer with a laugh. Then he got serious again as he cleared his throat and said, “Lieutenant, I am calling to request that you join us at Earth Defense Headquarters at 0800 hours. This is a top-secret meeting of engineering, mechanical, and gunnery commands of the Battleship Yamato and an air car will be dispatched to pick you up. Do you understand, Lieutenant Sandor?”

“Yes, thank you,” said Sandor as he leaned over to hang up the phone.

“Oh, Lieutenant…one more thing,” said the officer. “Do you think as long as Lieutenant Elaine Hayden is there, you could share that information with her and tell her she has been requested as well?” The officer was grinning from ear to ear and Sandor could hear laughter in the background.

“Oh sure, I could tell her. And why don’t you just send one air car for both of us? But she will need another uniform…her uniform last night got a little torn off,…er messed up!” said Sandor as the other men in the EDF headquarters giggled uncontrollably. “I mean on the ship. We were so busy you see! And she was so tired she decided to just stay here…and well you know…”

“THAT’S IT!” shouted Elaine as she stomped out of the bathroom. She grabbed the phone away from Sandor and said to the EDF officer, “Look sir! You send that air car, but it’s only gonna be for one of us…because I’m going to kill him!” yelled Elaine as she glared at the face on the video panel.

“Yes ma’am. Will you still need a fresh uniform or will you be wearing the Lieutenant’s pajama top to work today?” said the officer trying to keep the giggles in.

“Oh no, go ahead and bring the new uniform,” she said demurely. “I’ll have to wipe up Sandor’s blood with mine.”

She slammed the phone down and Sandor grabbed her down on the bed with him. He started to kiss her on the neck. She playfully punched him on the shoulder and said, “Why did you have to do that? Nothing happened last night and now all of headquarters will think it did! And there’s nothing wrong with my uniform…I just need to run home and get a fresh one.”

“Oh, who cares? The only reason why nothing happened is because we were so damned tired. You just being here with me has made me so happy, Elaine, I just couldn’t help but play around with them at HQ this morning. Besides you’re the one who answered the phone looking all sultry. And you’re not running anywhere! I’ve got you where I want you and until that air car shows up; I’m going to keep you!” She smiled and kissed him on the ear. He sighed and said, “I’ll tell them nothing happened, don’t worry…”his voice trailed off. He was holding her close. She still didn’t have her glasses on, but being so close to him she could see him clearly. He was so beautiful to her. He looked right into her eyes, then down at her mouth. She felt her pulse quicken as he kissed her again.

“Stephen?”

“Uh-huh?”

“I’m not tired anymore, are you?” sighed Elaine. He was kissing her neck again and she moved her leg up as she felt his hand on her thigh.

“Not at all,” he said.

They enjoyed their brief time together until they showered and awaited their air car.

Chapter Three

Several EDF officers sat around a huge conference room waiting for the report to come from Lieutenants Sandor, Hayden, Jambot, Orion, and Ryoko. They also waited for Generals Singleton, and Stone, and Captain Avatar. Everyone had already met together briefly to be told the contents of the message capsule. An alien female, Queen Starsha, of a planet called Iscandar had stated that she had the resources to help Earth and the technology to help them reach Iscandar. Earth could be healed of the deadly radiation with a machine she called “The Cosmo-DNA” and all Earth had to do was find a way to get to Iscandar to retrieve the machine. Iscandar was impossibly far away and the EDF had brought in radiation experts and geologists to speak. Both groups concluded that Earth had about one year to live before the radiation levels became too much to bear. Could a battleship from Earth be equipped with the technology designs from Queen Starsha to get them to Iscandar and back to save Earth?

The promise of a possible cure for their planet had been almost too much to hope for.

The conference had recessed for two hours while the small group of Lieutenants and commanders went over to the inter-space command center. Sandor, Orion, and Ryoko looked at the plans for the Wave-Motion Engine in awe while Elaine and Tony Jambot looked at the possibility of a new type of gunnery unit. Sandor had toyed with ideas for wave motion energy before in his lab, but didn’t know how to go about handling it.

Lieutenant Ryoko looked at the plans on the huge computer screen as if he were in heaven. He asked Sandor, “Can it be done?”

“You bet it can. If this is going on the Battleship Yamato; we’ve already got the best of Earth’s technology there,” said Sandor never taking his eyes off the screen. “All we have to do is tweak what we already have on the Yamato…and I use the word “tweak” cautiously. This technology far surpasses our own by leaps and bounds, but it’s understandable.”

“Yes, and very workable,” said Orion.

Elaine and Lieutenant Jambot came over to a lit worktable with their own blueprints.

Jambot stated, “Hayden and I can rework the mouth of the Yamato from a shock canon to a focused energy wave motion canon. It can be done, but we will need at least a few weeks to do it.” He took a blueprint pencil to the area he was talking about and talked the generals and the captain through it.

Elaine also added that they would need a lot more personnel than they currently had and she wanted only the best. General Singleton nodded to her and said, “We will get you two the best.”

“Thank you, sir” said Elaine as she rolled the blueprints up again.

General Singleton turned to Captain Avatar, “Well Captain? What do you think?”

The captain’s eyes were covered by his hat as he said, “We won’t know until we try. Iscandar is 148,000 light years away from Earth. No one has ever gone that deep into space before. But Earth must be spared. I’ll captain the Yamato and do my best to make it back.”

General Singleton put a hand on the Captain’s shoulders. “But Abraham, you’re injured, and you’ve just lost your son…”

“Enough of that! Let’s go tell the others in the EDF that this mission is underway,” said the Captain as he walked slowly out of the room.

Sandor squeezed Elaine’s hand quickly as he walked beside her. She looked up at him.

“This is pretty exciting isn’t it? Do you really think it can be done,” she asked.

“Well, let’s see…in the past 6 months of my life I’ve been given my own team on the best battleship I’ve ever seen, I’ve learned how to dance, and I’ve fallen completely in love with a smart, beautiful woman who plays with guns…yeah, I’m of the opinion anything can happen right now,” said Sandor as he smiled at her. I even wonder if Alex could still be alive.

But he decided not to say that last thought out loud as they continued walking.

Chapter Four

By the last of September, Mark Venture felt as if he were going to go stir crazy if he didn’t get off the base and soon. He and Derek were told they were to graduate early so they could be stationed on an important mission right away. They were also two of the few people in the room when the communications team had decoded the message capsule that he and Derek had retrieved from Mars. They now knew the information that the message capsule contained, because they had been privy to that information. It was astounding to think that Earth could be free of radioactivity because of another’s planet technology, ability, and need to help people they had never met. Maybe he and Derek would be going on the journey to Iscandar?

After the information had been decoded, however, they had been asked to leave the room. Two officers meet them in another conference room and Derek and Mark were assigned billets on the base and new weapons. They were called every morning at their billets and told to have their communicators with them where ever they went, because they were on stand-by. Stand-by for what? They were never called for anything except training. They were briefed by an EDF commander who told them they were going to train with some of the best commanders they’d ever had the privilege to meet. Mark was training with helmsmen from battleships that had fought the Gamilons in famous battles. He was also being trained on a new type of warp travel and a new top secret wave motion engine that had come up in the message from Iscandar, but he couldn’t even talk to Derek about now.

Derek had to go through all types of training courses on war tactics, combat, and weaponry. And Derek couldn’t talk to Mark about blueprints he had seen involving a huge battleship with a Wave Motion Gun design being installed on it. They barely saw each other except at the cafeteria or at the Academy gym and at those times, Derek just wanted to spar against other cadets or lift weights. He was still so angry about his brother. Mark found it hard to talk to his best friend and he was beginning to feel the loneliness.

Mark walked into a coffee shop one night by himself to have dinner and just get away from the usual. He saw the nurse that had been on duty the night that he and Derek had brought the message capsule back to Earth. Nova had been her name, and Mark found himself thinking about her often. She was so pretty and young looking. She certainly didn’t look old enough to be a registered nurse. But, she didn’t have her nurse’s uniform on tonight, she had on a black leotard with a skirt tied around it and black tights. Her silver high-heeled shoes were in stark contrast to everything else she wore. Her hair was in a pony-tail and she was up at the counter ordering something. Mark walked up beside her and said, “Hi there, remember me?”

“Oh, hello,” she said and smiled. And oh, what a smile! “Sure, you’re Mark Venture? Is that right?”

“You got it!” he said. “Say, why don’t you let me buy you that coffee and whatever else you want and you come over here and sit with me for a while?”

“Well,” she said, “I’ve already paid for my coffee, but I’m meeting a friend in a couple of minutes so we can shoot the breeze until he gets here!”

Great…she said “he”, thought Mark to himself as he led Nova towards his table.

He waited until she sat down and then he sat. He scooted into the little booth and said, “So will your friend be mad that you’re sitting with me? I mean is he the angry, jealous type?”

Nova laughed. “Oh no, he has a gorgeous girlfriend. I’m just meeting with him for a little workout. We’re both quite stressed out and this…exercise helps us to clear our minds and think clearly. It’s really helpful to the two of us.”

“So what does his girlfriend think of you? I mean, you know you’re beautiful don’t you? Surely, she doesn’t know that her man is going out with a knock-out like you dressed like that, and if she does aren’t you a little scared of her?” asked Mark with a gleam in his eye.

Nova blushed and giggled and Mark found this very cute. “She and I are best friends. She knows that he and I are just friends and she also knows he is head over heels in love with her. Besides, when he’s less stressed, she’s less stressed. And thanks for the compliment,” she said as she stared into her cup of coffee. “So, how’s your friend Derek doing?”

“He’s angry and depressed still. He worries me, but he won’t talk to me.”

“Ask him to come to the hospital and look me up. I may be able to find him a grief counselor so he can talk about his…”

Mark interrupted her. “No, that is so not Wildstar. He would rather die than talk about his feelings. He’s like a wall. He’s very hard to get to know.”

“Well, I’m very glad he has a friend like you, Mark,” said Nova as she touched Mark’s hand. He felt as though 10,000 volts of electricity had just went up his arm.

Nova saw Sandor walking towards the door of the little coffee shop and she motioned him in. She grinned when she saw him. He was dressed in a red t-shirt tucked into black jeans with a bag thrown over his shoulder. He even had his ballroom shoes already on. Oh, what a change Elaine had made in him. She never thought she would ever see Sandor in anything but that blue and white uniform, but over the last few weeks, she had seen him relax considerably. He would come over to their apartment every now and then still, but mostly Elaine would visit him. They still argued like demons from hell, but Nova learned that the fights would end with them grabbing each other and kissing like mad. She stayed most of those nights in their little bedroom making her to-do lists for the next day until she heard Sandor leave and sometimes Elaine left with him. Nova didn’t ask questions, but she was dying to know certain things. Like, what was it like….?

Nova blushed to herself as Sandor approached the table. He smiled as he looked at Mark then at Nova.

Mark stood up and Nova introduced him. Lieutenant Stephen Sandor this is EDF cadet Mark Venture.” Sandor shook Mark’s hand and said, “Oh yeah, you’re one of the soldiers that found that message capsule. Good work!”

“Thank you and it is a pleasure meeting you sir,” said Mark. “I’ve been doing some training with warp technology and your name comes up quite a bit.”

Mark and Sandor were sitting there talking when Nova saw a man in a dark, olive green uniform coming into the coffee shop. She stiffened when she saw the Marine and tugged on Sandor’s sleeve. “I’ve got to go,” she said. Sandor felt Nova’s hand trembling and he followed her gaze. He saw the Marine stride up to the counter and lean against it.

“That’s not the one...is it?” asked Sandor.

“I think it is,” said Nova. “Can we please go?”

“Sure. Venture it was a pleasure and maybe we’ll meet again soon,” said Sandor as he stood up out of the booth. Nova was so close to Sandor she could have been his shadow. She clutched Sandor’s bag like she was holding a weapon and she held her head down.

“I’m sorry to leave like this Mark. Thank you for the coffee,” said Nova in a small, child-like voice. They walked out of the coffee shop quickly leaving Mark wondering what in the world just happened.

Two hours later, Sandor sat against the wall of the little studio while Nova stretched. She had worked him so hard he didn’t think he could get up. He had remembered at the last minute that he had brought the holography camera with him so that he could get a 3-D image of this studio room just in case he and Nova were on the Yamato together some day. He turned it on and thought about the last couple of hours.

When they had first got to the studio, she had trembled and held onto his arm until they had come in and she locked the back office door and the front door although no one else was there.

Then she had startled Sandor by grabbing a folding chair and hurling it towards the wall.

“I hate being so weak!” she screamed. Her knees folded under her and she began to cry.

He sat down next to her and pulled her to him. He said, “You are not weak. He was just a little bit stronger and full of lust. All a guy like that knows is how to control a woman. It’s his specialty. You couldn’t have fought that.”

He let her cry for a while, and then he got up and went over to find a piece of music. She stood up and wiped tears from her eyes. He put on a very strong piece to which they danced a Paso Doble, a dance that others know as “the bullfighter’s dance”. He was quick, strong, and precise with her. She closed her eyes, and let him handle her powerfully the way she had taught him too. She returned each movement with lean muscular rhythmic responses that would have made a professional ballroom competitor cry.

After that dance, she gasped for air and smiled at him. She walked over and picked another favorite piece of music of theirs and put it on; this one a tango. Again, two bodies as one they glided and snapped their movements together. He didn’t even have to count steps anymore or listen to her gentle guiding suggestions; all Sandor had to do now was feel the music. He could also feel Nova’s anger in every step she took tonight. She felt different. Like a tigress, her hips swiveled, her legs stretched, the cords on her long neck stood out, and her angry lip snarled like she could bite him at any moment. Her eyes were on fire as he helped her to see she wasn’t weak at all, just a woman in a man’s world. But she had her own defenses; all she had to do was learn how to use them.

After the tango, they pulled away from each other breathing heavily. Nova looked Sandor right in the eye. “Thank you my darling Mr. Sandor.”

“My pleasure, Miss Forrester,” said Sandor as he wiped his brow.

“Would you like to dance some more, or do you and Elaine have a date tonight?” she asked.

“No, Elaine is working on the Yamato tonight, I’m all yours.” He smiled.

Nova put on a waltz and they came together again. This time Nova envisioned herself as a little girl on her daddy’s big feet. It comforted her as they began to dance.

Chapter Five

Elaine came home to find Sandor asleep on their little couch. She woke him up with a kiss on his cheek and he sat up.

“Hey you, when did you get in?” he asked as he looked at his watch. It was 0235 hours and it was pitch black in the little apartment save for the bathroom light being on. Nova had wanted that light kept on tonight.

“Just now,” said Elaine. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to wait up for you, but I gave up about an hour ago. So I had hopes of you coming through the door, seeing me lying here like the innocent guy I am, and you deciding to ravage me,” he said as he stretched and yawned.

“Yeah, well, unless you’re a sandwich or a pizza forget it!” said Elaine. She gave him a peck on the cheek as she got walked into the kitchenette to fix herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

“Here, let me do that for you,” Sandor said, taking the knife from Elaine. “You go take a shower and I’ll have this waiting for you when you get out.”

“Thanks,” said Elaine. She tiptoed into the bedroom and got her pajamas out of the drawer. She looked over at Nova and pulled the covers up on her friend. Nova mumbled something and Elaine leaned closer to her, but she didn’t speak again.

Elaine jumped into the shower and was startled when she heard Stephen’s voice. “So, how was your night?” he asked.

“This wave motion gun is awesome, Stephen! I mean the power behind it, it’s gonna rock those Gamilon’s world! We’ve completed installation but we have no idea where we’re going to test the thing at!” Sandor smiled at his girlfriend’s enthusiasm. Then he grinned even bigger at thinking that he had a girlfriend.

“So how was your workout with Nova?” Elaine asked. She turned off the water and reached out blindly for a towel. Sandor handed it to her and then sat down on the bathroom counter as he told Elaine about seeing Nova at the coffee shop sitting in the booth with a young man. Elaine stepped out and Sandor held out her pajama top for her. Elaine seemed eager to talk about this subject and she asked Sandor questions about what this guy looked like, where was he stationed, was he Nova’s age, and on and on.

“We also saw the marine that attacked her,” said Sandor as Elaine buttoned her top. Elaine stopped in mid-button and looked up at Sandor. She tilted her head to one side as she said, “And how did Nova take this?”

Sandor recounted how Nova had held on to him, trembling like a mouse, until they had got to the studio. He told Elaine how Nova had thrown the chair and cried and he told her how Nova had seemed to work off the anger in the dancing tonight.

“I think she’s going to be okay,” said Sandor.

But just as he said that they heard something break in another room. They heard Nova screech and they took off running toward the little bedroom.

They didn’t have to get to the bedroom, because Nova had walked wide-eyed into the living room with her fists up in the air. She was crooning to herself, “Not this time, not this time, not this time, not this time…” She walked to the window and it looked as though an invisible hand had shoved her face and body into the glass. Nova’s face glared with an angry sneer as she said in an uncharacteristically deep voice, “Hey there little songbird…”

Sandor ran toward Nova, but Elaine pulled him back. “No, she’s sleep-walking, don’t wake her up! It’s got to play out. If you wake her up, she’ll fight us and we’ll have to get her to the hospital with her trying to attack us. I’ll go call Dr. Sane. You just make sure she doesn’t hurt herself,” said Elaine as she walked around Nova to the bedroom and dove for the phone.

Nova had flung herself to the floor and was twisting and writhing and calling for help.

In her nightmare, no help would come. In her reality, Sandor knelt beside her and watched her frail body kick and try to buck off a demon who wanted the only thing she had left to give. She scratched the air and her lip started to bleed where she bit it. Then she said the only coherent thing he could hear as the dream came to an end and she crawled over next to Sandor, “He’ll never want me now.”

Dr. Sane gave Nova a sedative and made her go back to bed. He went back into the living room with Sandor and Elaine sitting on the couch hand in hand. He sat down on one of the little folding chairs.

“I’m going to talk to Nova tomorrow after her shift on the Yamato about hypnotherapy. I think I can hypnotize her and can walk her through this dream of hers,” said Dr. Sane.

“And what will that accomplish?” asked Elaine. “Why would she need to go through that awful dream again?”

“Well, with hypnotherapy; after she goes through the dream, I can tape the session for analysis and then before she awakens from the trance she’s in, I can give her the command not to have the dream anymore,” said the doctor. “Hypnotherapy has come a long way.”

“So you think it’s healthy to just repress the dream? What if it comes again in her later life?” asked Elaine.

“That, I do not know. But Nova is much too talented and of too much worth to you, me, her family, the EDF, and the world at large to have her in a padded cell, don’t you agree?”

Elaine had to agree with him there. “Yes, I see your point. We’ll see you tomorrow, doctor.”

Chapter Six

Elaine told Nova of the hypnotherapy solution that Dr. Sane had suggested and to Elaine’s surprise Nova had agreed to it. She was ready to be rid of the strange dream and the quicker the better. Nova just had to go to the Yamato for some fine tuning on some things first, and then go to the hospital to check in on a few patients. She would ask Dr. Sane about the hypnotherapy at the hospital.

Sandor, Nova, and Elaine received their orders that they would be going on the trip to Iscandar if they chose to, which was a surprise to all of them. Of course they chose to go! Earth depended on them.

Nova spent all morning of October 4^th, checking and rechecking radars, instruments, and panels. She had all of her original team called to be on board with her and, so far, most of them had arrived. She and Elaine left the Yamato mid-morning to pack up some personal belongings to bring aboard. They went into their little apartment and started grabbing stuff up in a whirlwind. Nova was careful to grab a dress for when they met Starsha, an extra leotard, dance shoes, and the beautiful scarf that Sandor had given her. Elaine grabbed something out of her dresser drawer that looked black and lacey and shoved it into the bottom of her bag as Nova walked over to her.

“What was that?” Nova asked.

“What was what?”

“That little black thingie, what was that?” asked Nova again.

“I don’t remember seeing a little black thingie,” said Elaine, still shoving things into her bag.

“Well, I’ll find it and show it to you,” Nova giggled. She covered Elaine’s bag with her body and she thrust an arm deep into the side of the bag where she saw the object in question get hidden. Elaine tried to pull Nova off of the bag by tickling her, but Nova wouldn’t give up. Finally, Nova stood up on the bed, triumphant holding the black lace teddy over her head.

“Aha! What is this?” said Nova again.

“It’s my special polishing cloth,” said Elaine with no hint or trace of a smile on her face.

“What exactly do you intend to polish with this?” asked Nova sarcastically.

“Oh come on, even you can figure that one out,” said Elaine grabbing the teddy away from Nova. Nova put her hands up to her blushing cheeks and ran out of the room.

Elaine laughed until tears came out of her eyes.

Chapter Seven

When Nova got up to her floor at the hospital, she saw Ivy Montgomery there at the nurse’s station. Ivy asked her if she had received her orders yet and Nova confirmed that she and Ivy both would be stationed on the Yamato.

“That’s great! My sister is going to be stationed on the Yamato too!” said Ivy. Nova hadn’t even realized Ivy had a sister. “Since you’re here now, I’m going to go pack. By the way, there’s two wanna-be flyboys in exam room 12 that asked specifically for you. One of them is banged up pretty bad and I think his shoulder’s out of joint although he’s acting all tough like it doesn’t hurt.” Ivy reached over and grabbed a bag from under the desk and darted down the hallway. Nova trailed after her looking at the file Ivy had given her. Nova read the name on the file.

“Derek Wildstar? What happened to him?”

Ivy turned around and said, “They took it upon themselves to chase a Gamilon ship that was bombing around the outside hull of the Yamato. Only thing is, the ship they were flying gave out on them and they crashed. The curly headed kid is fine, but the dark headed shaggy one is bloody and out of joint. Look, I gotta go!” Ivy ran down the hall and grabbed an elevator that had just opened up.

“See ya later,” Nova muttered. She opened the door to exam room 12 and looked up. Derek Wildstar was on the exam table and Mark Venture sat on the chair next to him. What a pal, thought Nova.

“Hello, Mark,” said Nova. “And Wildstar, nice to see you again. What are you here for today?” asked Nova.

“Well, we crashed landed in a top-secret place and I got a little scratch. It’s really nothing, but Venture here insisted that we come and see you or Dr. Sane,” said Derek.

Nova looked at his shoulder as he spoke. Yep, it was out of joint alright.

“Does your shoulder hurt, Lieutenant?” asked Nova. She reached up to touch it but Derek shrank back from her.

“No, no don’t touch the shoulder. We’ll wait to see Dr. Sane about the shoulder, could you just take a look at the scratch?” said Derek. He looked like he could throw up at any minute.

“Sure,” said Nova. “Could you take off your shirt and belt?”

“What? For a scratch? Take off my shirt and belt?” asked Derek with a look of concern on his face. “Why do you need my shirt and belt off?”

Nova looked at him sternly. “Just do it!”

“Okay, okay! Geez! Derek stood up off the exam table and took off his gun belt with his good arm. Nova walked over and whispered in Mark’s ear, “When he gets his arms behind his back to take his shirt off I want you to grab his left arm, I’m going to reset his right shoulder and I don’t want him to hit me.”

Mark looked at her with wide eyes and Derek caught the look.

“What? What did she just say to you?” asked Derek.

“I just asked him where you guys worked out…you look great!” said Nova with a totally disarming smile. She had walked over to the right side of Derek again and looked like she was going to help him undress. Derek had unzipped his shirt and had his left arm partially out. Mark grabbed hold of him and Nova shoved the tip of Derek’s gun belt into Derek’s mouth. A look of confusion hit him and he had no time to think. Nova told Derek to “Bite down!” as Nova put Derek’s right hand between her thighs and with a quick tug at his shoulder and a battle cry of “uuugghhh” she twisted his shoulder hard. Derek’s eyes went wide and he tried to reach out with his left arm to hit her off, but Mark held on to him. Then Derek realized his shoulder felt much better. He spit the belt out of his mouth and gaped at her. He even held up his arm and rotated the elbow and shoulder back and forth while looking at Nova like she was a miracle worker.

“How did you do that?” asked Derek as he grinned at her.

“Hey, it’s what I do,” said Nova as she blew some hair out of her eyes. “That cut is going to need some patching up and bandaging. I’ll be right back.” She took the file off the counter and walked out the door.

Mark almost fell to the floor laughing. “You should have seen your face, man!”

“Oh shut up! How could you let her come at me like that without warning me?” said Derek with a disapproving look.

“Oh, okay. The next time a pretty lady asks you to undress I’ll jump right in front of you and beat the she-beast off,” said Mark.

Derek smiled and looked down at his right hand. “Did you see where she had this hand?”

“Yeah, I saw…you lucky bastard. And you almost sucker punched her.”

“Well, now I know she likes the rough stuff,” said Derek as he and Mark laughed like loons. Nova walked back through the door with IQ-9 behind her holding a tray of bandages and ointments.

“THIS IS NOT WHAT I AM SUPPOSED TO BE DOING. I AM A GENIUS ROBOT.”

“Ignore him,” said Nova. She walked around to Derek and set to work cleansing the wound and dressing it. “So, have you boys seen anymore action since the Mars Base and today’s incident of course.”

“No,” said Mark. “We’re waiting for orders or something that will take us to some battles.”

“Yeah,” said Derek. “I just wish they would use us for something.”

“Well, I heard that they’re making the old Battleship Yamato into a space craft; maybe they’ll be picking some people to take the trip to Iscandar soon,” said Nova.

“Hey how did you know about that?” asked Derek. “You’re just a nurse.”

Just then, a voice came over the hospital loud speakers. “Attention, Cadets Wildstar and Venture. Please board the air car dispatched to pick you up outside the hospital.”

“What did we do now?” asked Mark looking at Derek.

“I don’t know. Thanks Nova!” said Derek as he jumped off the exam table. Mark waved good-bye to her and they ran down the hospital corridor with IQ-9 trailing behind them.

Sure thing boys! Hope to see you soon, smiled Nova to herself.

Nova got a call right after Venture and Wildstar had left. The officer on the other end told her to report immediately to the first bridge on the Yamato for a briefing.

She hung up and called her mom and dad. She told them she would be taking off soon for a trip of a lifetime. She held the phone away from her ear as she heard her mother wailing, “My baby! They’re taking my baby!” All Nova heard her father say was, “Now Mother, she’ll be alright.” Nova told them she loved them and she would send a communication when she could. When she hung-up she went into the nurse’s lounge and took off her dress. She slid into a fresh EDF uniform and zipped it up the back. Looking at herself in the mirror, she said, “I hope you’re ready for this.”

She grabbed her bag and met her own air car outside the hospital.

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To Be Continued…

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