ALTERNATE
TALES OF THE STAR FORCE
STAR BLAZERS---ENDGAME
Being the ninth 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
Thanks to M.C. Crump (Max Damage) for
artwork contributed to this chapter….
ACT FOUR: HELL AND
HEAVEN
I. MESSAGES: INTERRUPTED
Approaching Planet Balan
Space Battleship Argo
Wednesday, August 5,
2207
1100 Hours: Earthtime
The Argo
was now about 74,000 lightyears away from Earth.
There had been several more space warps
as the Star Force pursued the New Comet, which was now roaring towards the
Milky Way Galaxy…and Earth, at an alarmingly quick rate of speed.
As Commodore Wildstar sat eating an
early lunch with Nova in her Sickbay room, (her dental implant was healing
well, and she was able to eat fairly soft food again) he had asked IQ-9 to
bring a computer terminal in there. He was catching up on some work while he
and Nova talked.
“How far away from the Comet are we
now, Derek?” Nova asked.
“Four thousand lightyears,” Wildstar
replied. “If we can get a fix on them, I intend to attack it. We know how to
get a squadron into the Central Vortex of the Comet. If we can jam their
sensors for a few minutes, we can get planes in there and board and attack the
Nova bowed her head. “…if,” she said
quietly. “If they are still alive, and we rescue them, what’s your plan?”
Derek pulled up some computer graphics.
“Attack once with the wave motion gun and blow off that Comet Field after our
men and women are back on the ship with Sasha and Leader Desslok also safe
aboard the ship. Then, I intend to warp out and make them think we are running
away. But it will be a trick on my part. We will just be doing a short warp
beneath the
“It’s risky,” Nova said as she ate her
lunch. It was simulated beef stew, steamed corn, and rice pudding with a
milkshake. “But we’ve been there before, Derek.”
“Yeah,” he said.
A beep came on the computer terminal.
“There’s an e-mail for me?” Derek said. “And two addressed to both of us? Which
one should I open first, Nova?”
“The oldest,” she said.
While Nova slurped on her milkshake in
a styrofoam cup, Derek opened the following e-mail and
began to read out loud:
To: Novawildstar and
Derekwildstar.
From: Teriforrester.
RE: What is going on?
2 August 2207
Nova and Derek:
I am writing to you and
begging you and Derek to forgive me for my rude e-mail of some days back.
You are right. My
suppositions about your husband and Commanding Officer were ridiculous,
out-of-line, and actually obscene.
He is to be the father of
our soon-to-be grandchildren. As such, he is a good man, and I know you love
him.
I never knew, Nova, that you had volunteered to be out there serving us. I
am hoping and praying that you, Derek, and the little ones inside you will be
fine.
I apologize for all of
the mean things I have said and I am so sorry. Both of you,
please forgive me. I want to be in the hospital seeing you both and the two
newest members of the family when they are born. And please accept the gifts I
am giving you both for you and the little ones. And, Nova, dear, please accept
my help with the baby care and the breastfeeding? You know I recently had David
and Aurora not long ago. Please let me help with the twins. I had twins too.
You know I did; you both helped bring them into the world almost five years ago
now.
Derek, Nova, I am so
sorry. I make no excuse and deserve to be spit upon for what I said to both of
you.
I am a very bad woman
and will never treat you two like children again.
Love to you, Nova and
Derek…
MOMMA….
“Is that good enough?” Derek said.
“I demanded her to apologize to you, too, Derek,” Nova said.
“Let’s see if she did it.”
Derek nodded, and he opened up the second e-mail. It was to
him, and it read:
To: Derekwildstar.
From: Teriforrester.
RE: What is going on?
2 August 2207
Derek:
I said many mean things
to you, my dear son-in-law.
I love you and I am
very sorry. I take them all back now.
I am very upset and
frightened about you and Nova out there. You are a good man, and a good Captain,
but I just hope that you and Nova come home safely. Karl told me something
about all of the fighting out there, and it must be
horrible. No wonder my dear daughter volunteered to stay out there helping you
and the Star Force through this. She is quite a young lady, and you are a fine
young man, making these sacrifices.
I know Nova loves you
dearly. She is a good judge of character, so if she loves you, I know you must
be good. I know I have misjudged you in the past, and I…I have had a bad past
few weeks. The change of life is beginning to hit me, and your father-in-law
and I have been arguing a lot.
Please let me see your
son and daughter and be with you and Nova soon after they are born.
I am sure you will be a
great father, and I will pray for you and wish you and Nova all the luck in the
world. You deserve it. My husband told me Nova and you had a hard time
conceiving those little ones, so I hope that…all of you will be well.
I am so sorry. Please
forgive me, both of you…
Love,
MOMMA-IN-LAW TERI (the
idiot)
Derek then sat in silence after reading the e-mail out loud.
Nova asked, “What do you think, Derek?”
“She sounds sincere enough,” he sighed. “It’ll be hard to,
but I think we should forgive her. Nova?”
Nova nodded. “I guess so,” she sighed. “Let’s see what that
last e-mail to us says…open it and read it…”
Derek did so.
This e-mail read:
To: Derekwildstar and
Novawildstar
From: Karlforrester.
BAD NEWS
4 August 2207
Derek and Nova:
I have some bad news to
share about your mother-in-law.
She and I argued
terribly after she sent you both those e-mails and she stormed out of our
apartment in the Megalopolis the next morning and…I have not heard from her
since.
I have no idea where she
is. She has not tried to contact me or the children or anyone else left in the
family.
I just filed a Missing
Persons Report regarding her with the police.
They are looking for
her, just like I am.
I am sorry to bother
you with this, because you two must have much more important things to worry
about.
I am afraid she is
finally losing her mind. She was screaming things at me about hurting herself
before she ran out.
Please send your
prayers and good wishes that your poor mother-in-law and mother comes home safely. I realize she is a very sick woman who
needs help.
Upset, and I am so sorry...
DAD
Nova began to cry softly when Derek
finished reading, “My poor Mom!” she said. “She’s…always been overly emotional
like that. Derek, she needs help!”
Derek held Nova’s hand as he said,
“Yes, she is overly emotional…I agree with you. How come we didn’t see this years beforehand…?”
Then, their conversation was
interrupted by someone kicking at the hatch from outside. “Come in!” Commodore
Wildstar snapped. “You don’t need to kick
the damn thing!”
The hatch whirred open a moment later
as Deke Wakefield stepped in, panting, and with his mouth turned down in rage.
“Oh, look at what the cat dragged in, Derek!” Nova snapped. “
Derek glared at him. “
“There is, ma’am…sir! Sasha! She’s alive!”
“Explain what you mean by that,” said
Derek.
“Sir, I just heard from her!” Deke said
as he ran right up to Wildstar. He yelled in his face, “She’s alive, sir! And
in agony! They’re torturing her on that Comet!”
“I understand you are grieving,
“I just was…sir!”
“Lieutenant Commander, we need to hear this man out!” Derek snapped at
her. “He may have something here. Are we clear on this?”
“Yessir,” Nova said. Derek glared at
her and nodded. Then, he turned to
“Sir, I just told you,” said
Derek put his hand up for silence.
“Nova, you’ve seen Sasha’s powers in play. What would happen if they forced her
to use them against us?”
“Permission to speak
freely, sir?” Nova said.
“Granted.”
“Derek, he’s got some very good points.
If they forced information out of her, it would be a disaster. Even worse, if
they forced her to work against us, we’d be up a nasty brown smelly creek
without a paddle.”
“In other words, ma’am, are you saying
we’d be up Shit Creek?” said Deke.
“Exactly, Deke,” Nova said with a
blush. “I never thought I’d say this while my mouth is still aching from that
punch of his, Derek, but he has some great logic and I agree with Deke. Derek,
let’s bury the hatchet with him and go for it. Put him in command and let’s go
in…”
“Good idea, if we can find that Comet,”
said Derek.
Nova sighed. “Sir, please get Doctor
Sane to spring me from here. I can return to duty and do it, even though my
ankles hurt like crazy…”
“I’ll see what I can do, Nova,” said
Derek.
“Thanks,” she said. “Derek, please go
and talk to Doctor Sane now. I want to speak to Mister Wakefield. Alone.”
“Nova, you’re sure of that?”
“He does not seem to be in Consort Mode
at the moment,” Nova said.
Derek nodded and left.
A moment later, Deke sat alone with
Nova. She looked hard at him and said, “Deke, I don’t want any excuses from
you. No excuses about not being able to control yourself. Do I have an apology
from you for hitting me the other day?”
Deke looked hard at the deck and
sighed. “Ma’am…”
“That’s Nova for the moment. This is a mano e’ mano talk, Deke,” Nova snapped. “And
don’t you ever, ever think I can’t hold my own,
“Yes, ma’am,” sighed Deke. He thought, I guess I had this coming. But what can I
do? I can’t control myself when I get like that…I…
Nova smiled tightly at him. As if she was part Iscandarian and as if she
was reading his thoughts, she said, “And I know what you’re thinking. The answer
is to save your rage and your vindictiveness for the enemy if, God forbid, that ever
happens again. That rage is not for us. It is for them. We were not hurting you the other day. We were just trying to
get you to calm down a little. If it helps, I feel as heartsick over losing
Sasha to them as you do…and I’d love to rip Invidia’s eyes out for ordering her
capture! I’m sure that nasty little snake is behind this along with that
Ekogaru…if he is even still alive. I love that little niece of mine. She is so cute! And if there’s none of them around, go put your fist through a
bulkhead or something,” Nova said as she sat up and grabbed Deke’s hand. Then,
she winked at him. “Is that clear?”
“Yes…Nova,” said Deke.
“Good. Go apologize to Dawn and Hardy later
on, then we’ll forget the whole thing. I think we’ll
have a Princess to rescue today. Then, we’re going to even things up a bit.”
Derek came back in. “Nova, I argued
hard with Doctor Sane, but he says you’re free to go.”
She smiled at him and said, “Thanks,
Derek. I worked things out with Deke, Derek. He’s going to bury the hatchet
with Dawn and with Hardy. Let’s start getting busy.”
“Good idea,” Derek said. “I believe we
have a Princess to find.”
“Damn straight,” said Deke with a
trembling, angry voice.
Wildstar went over to Deke and gave him
a rough embrace. “And I’m gonna make those green assholes regret they ever
touched her, Deke.”
“Thanks, sir,” he said. He stepped
back, saluted Derek and Nova, who both returned his salute, and he turned to go
when he saw Derek kissing his wife and beginning to help her out of bed…
II. THE SPHERE OF JOY
(CONTINUED)
The Eritz Gatlantis
Past Planet Balan
Wednesday, August 5,
2207
1400 Hours: Earthtime
The New Comet, which had just warped, was now just 73,000 lightyears
away from Earth. The dreaded Comet was now warping three thousand lightyears
each day. At that rate, within twenty-five days, it would reach the Solar
System.
Invidia could have gone faster, but the
idea of searching out and finding the Argo
burned in her mind like a mad fever as she looked at the mighty space
battleship on her deck screen at yet another meeting of her dwindling staff.
“So? She is now five hundred lightyears behind
us?” demanded the Princess.
“Yes…and it will probably not be long before
she spots us, or we spot her,” said Gorse. “Then, the real fun can begin.”
“We are also having some fun with
Leader Desslok. Like to see what we do to him next?” Invidia purred.
“Princess. I am not sure we should be wasting any more time with him,
or that Princess Sasha,” said Gorse. “I’ve prepared orders for both of them to
be terminated.”
“You did what?” Invidia snapped.
“Princess, it is for the greater good
of our House,” said Gorse. “With Desslok dead, the Gamilons will no longer have
him to rally around, and may break up into factions. With the Princess Sasha
dead, Ekogaru is kept safe from that little freak and her strange powers. I
suggest we return Desslok and Sasha to the Argo,
of course. As frozen corpses.”
“Desslok will talk to me and he will
work out a surrender!” roared Invidia. “I just know
it! I go to see him now!”
Invidia slapped her pointer against the
deck and she turned away with a swish of her cape and left the room.
“We have had enough of her, sir,” said a General near Gorse known as Havlitz.
“Have that Terran girl who guards her arrested for treason and then we can kill
Invidia. You would be a new Ruling Prince for us, Gorse. Better
than either her or Desslok.”
“I was thinking of that,” said Gorse.
“We just have to find the right time to get her. Or the right man to do it.”
Then, he turned to a second General, known as Pelver. “General. I believe you
have access to the prison levels?”
“I do, Lord,” said Pelver.
“This is the plan. I’d like to have
Sasha tossed in with Desslok at some point today,” said Gorse.
“Sir?”
said Pelver.
“Desslok has a very nasty habit of
breaking prison,” said Gorse. “In fact, he came close to doing so yesterday
before we subdued him with that stun gun. Let’s allow him and Sasha an
opportunity to plot together and yes, to capture the Princess Invidia as a
hostage. Desslok loves that sort of
thing. He did it to us years beforehand. Let the plot go forth. Then, if our
guards kill all three of them in a crossfire, well, I am sorry, it could not be helped, and
we kill the clumsy guards who brought down Invidia in a friendly-fire incident
after they do our work for us.” said
Gorse with a wicked smile.
“Of course, if we let them escape and
take Invidia as a hostage, we’d be rid of her, too,” said Havlitz. “She would
not last long on thieir side. What a pity before we kill all three of them by
crushing the Argo and the Gamilon
Fleet.”
“That is a good backup,” mused Gorse. “But I like my first plan better. Let’s get
some reports from your officers, Pelver. Then…”
Pelver laughed. “We’ll see what we can
do to encourage a little firefight. A great plan, sir.”
At that, all of the Generals laughed.
In the Sphere of Joy, Desslok was
floating in the field.
He was naked, and in utter agony.
They
will not break me, he thought. I am Gamilon. No. Never.
They will not break me!
“Are you going to talk with us about
surrendering, Desslok?” mocked Invidia over the speakers. “How long must this
go on?”
“I’d rather die than consider surrendering!” he roared.
“Level Five,” said Invidia.
Desslok gritted his teeth harder as the
intensity of the field picked up. He thought he could smell his skin just
beginning to burn. He already knew that most of his body hair (save for the
blond locks on his head) was gone. Three sessions in this hellish machine, and they had not broken him yet.
“He is a very unusual man,” said
Invidia as she dispassionately watched the lightning attacking his bottom and
the soles of his feet. “Cut it. I’m going down there with two guards to talk
with him.”
“Of course, Princess,” said Talnaz.
Desslok felt the pain lessening, and
the field lowered his shivering form to the cold deck.
Gamilons
are not supposed to shiver, he thought. We are not supposed to show weakness. Never. Never will they break me. Let them kill me instead.
With the room spinning about him,
Desslok raised his head as the door whirred open. Invidia, in a two-tone red
gown and white sandals, smiled at Desslok as she poked him with her pointer.
“You know that you can’t lie around
on the deck, Desslok!” she said mockingly. “This is not a flophouse for drunken
Gamilons!”
The Gamilon Leader managed to pull up
all of his reserves and he got up and threw himself at Invidia…
….to clamp his
hands around her neck!
Invidia was not expecting this. The guards
undid the safeties on their blaster rifles, prepared to blow holes in Desslok
once he got far away enough from the Princess.
Invidia began to lose her air supply as
Desslok brutally punched her twice in the gut. Then he spat on her sandaled
toes and said, “These sessions stop now…”
“I…” gasped Invidia.
“I am to be decently clothed and fed,
and an arrangement is to be worked out for my release to the Gamilons or the
Earth forces. You have no reason to hold me prisoner. No reason at all. You
will only be released from me, if I choose to release you, when I am on my
way out of here.”
“I…” gasped Invidia.
“Otherwise, I will break your neck,” purred Desslok. “Direct the
guards to show me back to my cell to collect my garments. Then, we leave. Are
we clear?”
Invidia nodded. Then, she gave a hand
signal to the guards, This way…
Invidia could not believe the
humiliation as Desslok forced her to walk to his cell.
Then, he continued to hold onto her as
he dragged her, alone, into the cell.
She got to take a few breaths as he
threw her to the deck and quickly dressed in his garments and boots, which were
now dirty. Then, before she could gather her wits, he had grabbed her again,
and pulled her shoes and cape off. He was forcing her to go barefoot like a
slave!
The guards parted as four more guards
brought in a handcuffed blond-haired waif with no shoes clad in a Cometine
trooper’s uniform that was too big for her. Desslok’s eyebrows went up. “Sasha?” he said.
“Desslok? What is going on?” she said.
“He’s…they’re…brutalizing me…” gasped
Invidia.
“Good!”
snapped Sasha with a big, toothy smile. She then lunged at a guard and took his
weapon, tossing it to Desslok. Then, she smiled, pivoted on her toes…
…and flung pink fire from her hands at
four of the guards.
They died screaming in agony.
She ignored the laser fire that
criss-crossed the area as she screamed, kicked at another guard, and grabbed
his blaster, spinning about again to hold it at Invidia’s neck. Desslok already
had his rifle in the Cometine Princess’ side.
“Needless to say, if any one of you
fire again, she dies,” Desslok
hissed. He looked at Sasha as they began to run with Invidia. “How did you gain
such power?”
She smiled. “A man in a dirty brown
robe showed up in my room. He had this weird growling voice and he looked
half-insane. He put his hands on me, said something about how he was up in a
tree with a killer bee, and then he told me one word.”
“Yes?”
“Diet.”
“Now what would the old Japanese
Parliament have to do with this?” said Desslok.
“He meant ‘don’t eat anything’,” Sasha
giggled. “He said his name was…Melvin. So I didn’t eat or drink anything. Turns
out they were drugging me. I’m very
mad at Invidia right now,” she said as she playfully pulled her hair and she
screamed. “I know the way out of
here,” she said mockingly.
“You do not,” snapped Invidia.
“Yeah?” said Sasha. “Try me, bitch!”
She nodded once.
A moment later, to Desslok’s surprise,
they were all on the flight deck of a Cometine courier shuttle. It was a small,
warp-capable space boat just big enough to hold four. Right now, it held only
three; Desslok, Sasha, and Invidia.
Desslok sat down in the pilot’s seat
himself and said, “Do you remember when I took you for a cruise in one of these
once, Invidia?”
“Yes. It was when Father was alive. You
flew like a maniac! OW!” yelled Invidia. “What are you doing, Sasha?”
“Putting handcuffs on you. What do you
think?” giggled Sasha. “You’ve just been captured by the Earth Defense Forces. Unless you want her,
Leader Desslok.”
“That remains to be seen,” he said as
he noticed troopers running to and fro outside. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Desslok, you will never get away with this!” Invidia cried. “Arishna help me! Ekogaru
help me!“
“Maybe Ekogaru’s taken the day off?”
purred Desslok as he took off. “He seems rather deaf to your pleas, Princess! I
hope you grow accustomed to prison food and a rough jumpsuit, Invidia. You will
be kept locked up until…”
“…until what?” whispered Invidia.
“The day of your execution for both war
crimes and crimes against Intergalactic Humanity,” he purred. “Oh, I assure you
that you shall get a trial. It remains to be seen whether it will be on Earth
or Gamilon, but you will get a very
public trial before you are shot.”
Desslok chuckled. “You might even become very religious when you are in prison.
Most people do.”
Invidia shut her tear-filled eyes in
anger, humiliation and pain as the sudden g-forces pushed her back into her
seat. A few troopers fired at the departing shuttle, but Desslok piloted past
their beams quickly. He used full speed, and he was up in the Comet field
thirty seconds later as Scorpions began to pursue them. Invidia was shocked and
enraged at the notion that they were firing missiles at a ship that she was in. What has become of your loyalty, you idiots? Invidia thought in
utter despair, not aware yet of Gorse’s orders to kill all three of them…orders
which were now just working their way down the ranks.
Desslok made his escape a minute later
into open space as Sasha watched the radar. “Eight more of
them coming, Desslok!”
“Excuse me, I
have to do something that may disturb you!”
Desslok flipped the shuttle around and
flew right at the shocked Scorpion
pilots and the Comet as a one-man attack squadron for a moment. He almost
scraped the paint off a Scorpion in his approach, and then he pulled up hard
and whipped just past the edge of the Comet’s gravitational field as he
executed a sudden space warp.
A moment later, just two lightyears
away, he emerged from warp and said, “Now, Sasha. Where is the Argo, pray tell?”
Sasha shut her eyes and tried to
concentrate her almost-depleted powers towards Deekee. He was all that mattered
now. Deekee.
“Deekee…Deekee…I’m coming home!” she thought through their bond.
Then, she opened her eyes and said,
“Two thousand, nine hundred and ninety-eight lightyears away, point IJR-26.”
“Heading that way now,” said Desslok as
he began to program in coordinates.
Invidia was close to crying as she bit
her lip, but, the lights flickered for a moment in the shuttle. No one thought
much of it, although she noticed that Invidia was sitting there with a totally
evil smirk on her face when the lights came back up.
I
wonder what she is grinning about all of a sudden? Sasha thought. She’s
just sitting there grinning like some hyena or something when we’ve taken her
prisoner? She must really be seriously bent in the head! I hope they don’t let
her off on insanity and just put her in the new hospital for the criminally
insane on Arcturus or something like that…
III. A HOMECOMING WITH
REVELATIONS
Approaching Planet Balan
Space Battleship Argo
Wednesday, August 5,
2207
1418 Hours: Earthtime
“Deekee…Deekee…I’m coming home!”
Lieutenant Deke Wakefield almost
dropped his flight helmet on the way down to the
“Sasha! SASHA!” he yelled out loud as
he stumbled into the
Hardy was working on his plane, and he
just laughed when he heard
“Jeff, you don’t know crap!” barked Deke.
“Whatcha gonna do?” said Hardy. “Come
up here and get me? Wildstar let ya
slide the last time because we know you were wacky with grief, although God
knows why when you had to take pokes at both my wife and Nova! Try anythin’ again, and I might forget we’re battle
brothers and make sure you need more extensive oral surgery than Nova did! Why
do you think Sasha can hear you? I heard rumors through the Fleet through
e-mails to my buddies on other ships that they captured that hotshot Sakamoto
at Sanzar and probably have already cut his head off! People who go into
Cometine jails usually never come out again alive! Hate to say it, but that’s
the hard truth, Deke. And I’m sorry for you. Sasha was a nice girl. Just what you needed.”
“She’s not dead, Hardy,” Deke snapped.
“How…do you know that?” said Hardy.
“I just heard from her, that’s how I know!” barked Deke. “Wildstar gave us
permission to pursue the Comet and to try to rescue them, and…”
“That’s our signal!” yelled Hardy! “
Deke saluted and ran off, going up to
the upper bay as fast as he could get there. He was in his plane a moment
later, and he was out in space with his squadron three minutes later, flying to
starboard. Hardy’s squadron was flying off to port.
“Bandit spotted visually!” Deke barked
a moment later into his mike as he saw the dark blue-grey enemy boat glittering
in the scanty starlight off in the distance. He had his finger on his joystick
trigger, but didn’t do anything at the moment. “Ivan…Puma…hold your fire for
just a minute.”
“Why is that?” said Junior Lieutenant
Andrea “Puma” Perelli.
“Yes, why?” asked Jr. Lt. Michael “Ivan” Demidovsky, who was still active.
“I’ve got a hunch about that boat,”
said Deke. He began to turn to a strange frequency, and then he caught on to a
carrier wave from the ship. “Cometine Scout Boat!”
Deke snapped. “You are approaching an Earth Defense Federation vessel on a
legitimate war patrol! What is your home base and mission? OVER!”
Deke got a one-word response.
A female voice screaming “DEEEKEEE!” as
loud as its owner could, from what sounded like something of a distance.
“Sasha?” he said in shock.
“She is with me,” purred a low, familiar voice. “Is this Mister Wakefield?”
“Uhh…yeah…uhh…affirmative!” said Deke.
“Request permission to fire, Sticks!”
said Puma.
“Puma, you jerkwad!” yelled Deke. “Hold your fire! Switch to 34560 KC! NOW!
That goes for you, too, Ivan!”
“Da,”
said Ivan. He switched frequencies, and was shocked to hear Leader Desslok!
“Uhh…sir, is that who I think it is?”
“Now who do you think I am, young man?” purred Desslok.
“Uh…Desslok,” said Deke. “Is…”
“Hi, Deekee!” said Sasha as she grabbed
the mike.
Tears ran down Deke’s face as he said,
“Sasha? Is that really you?”
“Last time I checked I was,” said
Sasha. “You may not recognize my outfit. I’m in a Cometine Troopers’ uniform.
It’s too big on me. And I need a new pair of boots,” she said as she wiggled
her toes. “They took my shoes and I don’t have any. I also need a new wedding
band, Deke…”
“I’d be happy to have you back if you
just had a paper bag on,” said Deke as his voice hitched. “How did you and
Desslok get out of there?”
“Ask her,” said Desslok as he handed the mike on its long cord to
Invidia. “Invidia? Cat got your tongue?”
“Invidia?” said Deke.
“Yes. We have a problem, Earthman. I am
a prisoner of war. That means you have to be nice to me,” said Invidia with a mean little smirk on her face.
“Yeah, like I’ll be nice to you,” snapped
“I will not dignify your question with
a reply, Deekee,” snapped Invidia
with a smirk.
“Drop dead, bitch. I want to talk to my
wife,” said
Then, Wildstar’s voice came up on his
headset. “
“Captured
space boat, sir,” said Deke. “We don’t need to go get Desslok and Sasha
anymore.”
“Why?”
said Wildstar.
“Because I am flying right to the Argo, Wildstar,” said Desslok. “Unless
you’ve suddenly gone quite mad and want to shoot me down?”
“Desslok!” called Derek. “Is…Sasha
there?”
“Yes, Uncle!” piped Sasha.
Commodore Wildstar found himself wiping
his eyes a moment later. “I bet you’ve got quite
a story to tell, Sasha…we’ve missed you!” he said.
“And we have quite a prisoner for you,
sir. Get some Marines ready to meet us in the lower flight bay. We’re bringing
you another Princess, under arrest.
Except that she has a tacky gown on!” sang Sasha.
“Invidia?” said Commodore Wildstar as
everyone on the Argo’s bridge sat
goggle-eyed.
“That was my name, the last time I checked,” snapped Invidia. “And I am
only required to give you my name, rank, title and service number!”
“Just wait until you have a torture
session on the Excelsior,” said
Desslok. “You’ll have plenty to tell
us after a few hours, Invidia.”
Smiling to himself, Deke said, “Just
wait until Hardy and Brew get a load of this
one! HA!”
Deke’s ship Diamond Girl
and her wingmen flew on, neatly flying the Cometine boat onwards toward the Argo.
“Scanning the Cometine boat,” Nova said
from her post. “Beam: ten meters. Length: twenty-two meters from nose to tail.
Height: four meters. It’ll fit in the lower flight bay, but it will be a little
tight. Hardy’s squadron is in now. Captain, where should we
give them clearance to land?”
“Lower flight bay. Hemsford, are your
Marines down below?”
“Affirmative,” said Hemsford. He and
his entire remaining platoon were waiting in space gear. “Squad One is ready to arrest Invidia. Squad Two is ready to render
honors to Desslok and Sasha.”
“Good,” said Wildstar. “Nova, go get Doctor Sane. You two get down there with a
medical capsule. Invidia is to be taken to Sickbay at once under guard. When
you get to Sickbay, strip her of all of her effects down to the skin and then
scan her from head to toe to make sure she is not some kind of weird human
bomb. Then dress her in a paper gown for her meeting with Peale. We’re going to
interrogate her to find out where that Comet is so we can attack it. And she’d
better damn well talk!”
“Yessir,” said Nova with a slight
smile. She saluted and smiled as a Living Group Ensign named Hamels took over
her post while Bando saluted Sandor and took over his post at
Mechanical/Sciences.
Down below, a few minutes later, Dawn
happened to meet Deke and Hardy in a crowd of people waiting as the Cometine
ship’s engines shut down in the sealed lower flight bay of the Argo.
“This has been one
crazy afternoon,” mused Dawn as she stood there in her Medical whites and
boots.
“Yeah, you’re tellin’ me,” said Hardy.
“Promise me that you won’t beat me up?”
teased Dawn as she smiled at Deke.
“I promise. Am I forgiven yet?” he
said.
“Thinking about it,” mused Dawn as she
smiled.
“People, we have to be a bit more
serious about this,” said Sandor as he appeared. “It’ll be my job to escort Desslok
right to the
“Clear
the way!” yelled Doctor Sane a moment later as he came through in his
Medical whites. Nova followed behind him in her minidress, with IQ-9 pushing
the empty capsule meant for Invidia. “I want that enemy Princess clapped in
here within seconds after she is handcuffed and shackled!” Sane yelled. “This
is very important!”
“Yeah, right, where the hell’s the red
carpet?” said Deke.
Nova smiled and shrugged as if to say,
“Who, me?”
The belly hatch of the Cometine shuttle
opened as a small gangway came down. Something clicked to as everyone heard the
flap of a cape as Desslok strode down the gangway first.
Sandor snapped, “ORDERS!” as everyone present snapped to
attention and saluted Desslok, who came out forcing Invidia to walk along at
blaster-point. Finally, Sasha brought up the rear, poking her Cometine weapon
into Invidia’s butt with a little grin.
ARTWORK: “Invidia at Gunpoint” © 2009 by M.C. Crump (“Max
Damage”)
Desslok returned the salute and said,
in a loud ringing voice, “Officers, men and women of the Argo, I have returned! I have the great honor of being rescued by
the most honored space warship of Earth! And to repay your hospitality, I bring
you your Princess Sasha Wakefield of Iscandar, and Princess Invidia of House
Gatlantis of the Comet Empire. I present Invidia to you as a joint prisoner of
our interstellar nations. The first of many, I am sure, as we humble and defeat
her race at last! Invidia, have you anything to say for yourself?”
“Yes, I do!” she called out. “I want to
make an announcement!”
“Hurry up, we have to examine you,”
barked Doctor Sane as Nova and Dawn stood ready to grab Invidia by the wrists
and help her into the capsule.
“I am Commander Stephen Sandor, First
Officer of this vessel,” said Sandor as he came up. “What do you have to say,
Invidia?”
“Just this,” she said with that
maddening grin. “Desslok and Sasha have been mistaken about my identity for…let
us say…the last forty of your minutes?”
“Explain yourself,”
said Nova.
Invidia grinned right at Nova. “I’d
kill you now. The only problem is; I have more pressing business elsewhere,” Invidia said as her voice
suddenly went unnaturally deep for a woman.
She smiled as her face began to twist
and melt like smoke as she grew taller. Her red gown shriveled, twisted, and
turned to something like smoke as it turned to a black cloak. Her face twisted
into a Black Nebulan troopers’ helmet with red, glowing eyes, but without the
lower breathing apparatus, revealing a mouth with Caucasian-colored skin
twisted into a cruel, cruel smile. Invidia’s “hands” turned into black-gloved
hands, and the tips of her bare toes turned into black-booted feet as a
horrible sense of cold ran over both Nova and Sasha, making them hug each other
and shiver in fright.
A maniacal, deep laugh resounded all
over the flight deck as the foreboding form turned to Desslok, towered over
even him, and said, “Needless to say, fools, you did not bring Invidia here.
You have instead brought Lord Ekogaru the Great here! Desslok, when the lights
dimmed a little while ago, it was I. I saw
to it that Invidia was returned safely to the Eritz Gatlantis. I saw to it that I then took her shape and grinned
at all of you, laughing at your stupidity as you brought me here. Are your
senses that blurred, Sasha of Iscandar, that you never detected my presence
right next to you? What a shame, you poor, poor
little waif. My heart bleeds for you. Nova, I am ashamed of you. Not even you
spotted me.”
Desslok turned his weapon upon Ekogaru
and said, “Not even you are
invulnerable, you monster! You will regret bringing your foul self here. In the
name of my Empire, consider yourself under arrest, you…”
“You!?” laughed Ekogaru. “Arrest me!
Oh, you are amusing! All right. This is a game to me. I grant you and the
Earthlings this round. None of you
shall be hurt. Now, if you will excuse me, it is high time I left this
disgustingly sentimental scene. I already know that your Commodore Wildstar
means to attack the Eritz Gatlantis,
yes? I will even tell you where to find her. She is now two thousand, nine
hundred and ninety-eight lightyears past Balan, heading towards Earth, and
cruising towards the edge of the Imezkia System. Warp there to RXG-225 on your
grid, and then, strike there. I will give you that intelligence…in order to
make this more…interesting. Now, if
you shall excuse me…”
Ekogaru then clapped his hands, and he
vanished with a frightening flash of light.
Everyone on the flight deck stood in
shock, half-blinded…just shaking their heads in utter disbelief….
IV. STANDOFF!
The Eritz Gatlantis
Past Planet Balan
Wednesday, August 5,
2207
1530 Hours: Earthtime
The real
Princess Invidia was hiding in fright and anxiety in her suite with Michelle as
Ekogaru reappeared in her suite with a loud flash of light and a clap of
thunder.
“So what were you doing?” snapped Invidia.
“Did you stay in here?” hissed Ekogaru.
“I did,” said Invidia.
“I had them fooled until I got aboard
the Argo. It was perfect. I looked
just like you. You should have seen
their faces,” laughed Ekogaru.
“I’ll bet it was marvelous. What about
our forces? Why were they shooting at us if they knew I was aboard the
shuttle?” asked Invidia.
“I will talk to Gorse and some of those
Generals of yours,” said Ekogaru. “In the meantime, have your child here call
about one hundred troopers to guard you. I sense that they do not mean well to
you. Come back up to the Command level with your troops when I call for you.”
“Then why not just kill them?” hissed
Invidia.
“Because, disgustingly, we need their
expertise to beat the enemy,” said Ekogaru. “Now, let me deal with Gorse.”
Ekogaru vanished.
ABOUT
FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER…
“Mercy!” yelled Gorse. “Have MERCY!”
yelled Gorse as Ekogaru shook him by the neck like a rag doll.
The Dark Lord had his helmet off, and
he revealed the chiseled, harsh features of Lieutenant Gary Maples as he spat
in Gorse’s face.
“Do you not realize why we are here?” yelled Ekogaru. “Do
you realize why I just killed General
Egan Havlitz? And why I might murder you
next without a thought?”
Gorse looked down at the remains of
General Havlitz. His mouth and eyes were open, and his heart was burned out,
thanks to Ekogaru, who had fired a beam through him after shaking him and
torturing him.
“Disloyalty, Lord,” said Gorse.
“Disloyalty to whom?” roared Ekogaru as he shook him again.
“Invidia, my Lord,” gasped Gorse.
“Call her by her proper title,” hissed Ekogaru.
“Disloyalty to Princess Invidia!”
gasped Gorse.
“If you ever raise a hand to her again,
I prophesy this. You shall die,”
hissed Ekogaru.
“You threaten me,” said Gorse.
Ekogaru smiled. “No. I merely foretell,” said the Dark Lord.
Ekogaru threw Gorse down hard on the
deck screen. “Get up,” he hissed.
“Bow to me like a man, and apologize,
you scum.”
Gorse huffed and puffed and bowed to
Ekogaru. “Lord Ekogaru, I am sorry.”
“Good. Now we are ready for battle.
Velsak, call Invidia’s suite. Tell her to put on her boots and tell her I now
call for her to retake command. Gorse, stand by with all of our weapons. We
shall be fighting the Argo briefly within
a few minutes. They should be here in…maybe ten minutes.”
“How you know they are coming?” asked
Gorse.
“Simple,” said Ekogaru. “I told their
First Officer and Desslok where they could find
us! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!”
Invidia came back to the throne room a
few minutes later, escorted by a phalanx of guards and Michelle, with a fresh
red gown, cape, and boots on. She carried a new pointer, which she swished
fiercely as she came up to before her throne.
“Where are they?” she asked as the
Comet adjusted its course slightly.
An officer came forward and said, “They
have just emerged from warp. They are now forty-five of their megameters away
from the outer coma of the New Comet. I suggest we increase speed so we can
crush them.”
“Let them be,” rumbled Ekogaru. “Do not
increase speed. Steady as she goes.”
Invidia and Gorse and the others looked
at him in shock. Even Michelle was scared.
“Princess!”
said the Earth girl. “If they get too close to us, they will hit us with their
wave motion gun, and…”
“That,” said Ekogaru. “Is exactly what I want! I have a plan in
mind. Do not be alarmed.”
Everyone looked to Invidia for
guidance. “Somehow, I trust you,” she said. “Maintain course and speed.”
The Argo began to
slow slightly as the New Comet loomed closer and closer.
“Twenty-five megameters distance!” Nova
cried from the radar. “They’re holding their course and their speed, Derek.”
“Domon, you are relieved,” said
Wildstar as he got up from his seat at the Captain’s Chair and took off his
peacoat and ascot.
“I stand relieved, sir,” said Domon,
who decided not to protest.
Derek shook his hand and said, “Leave
this one to me. Please.”
“Yessir,” he said.
Derek sat down at the Combat station
while, beside him, Desslok of Gamilon, for the first time ever, sat on the Argo’s bridge during a battle beside him
at Analysis.
“Now, this should be interesting,” he
said. “I’ve never seen you fire the gun from here before, Wildstar.”
“You’ll need these,” Derek said as he
handed Desslok a pair of flash goggles.
Desslok looked quizically at the flash
goggles. “You mean that your windscreen does not block the glare?”
“Nope,” said Derek as he put the
goggles on his head. “Henson! Stop all engines! Prepare to fire the wave motion
gun!”
“All engines,
stop,” said Henson.
The Argo’s
bridge lights momentarily dimmed as Henson began to transfer the tachyon energy
over. From his post, Kitano thought, This is just like when
we attacked that Comet last October at Melezart when they almost killed Nova.
“Energy charge commenced,” said Henson
as the low, deadly hum began to fill the ship. “Energy charge
now at 65%!”
“Open target scope!” snapped Wildstar.
The target scope came up, along with
the firing grip. “Kitano, transfer helm control.”
“Helm control transferred,” said
Kitano.
“Power circuits at nominal,” said
Sandor.
“New Comet, maintaining same speed and
heading,” said Nova. “Now at twenty megameters’ range!”
Desslok smiled as he heard the familiar
pulsing hum that sounded like his own Desslok Cannon picking up in intensity
and speed.
“Energy level, now at seventy-six
percent!” said Henson.
“Final correction, minus one degree
port,” said Derek from his post.
“New Comet at eighteen megameters!”
cried Nova. “Speed and heading, the same!”
“One minute to firing!” barked
Commodore Wildstar. “Open main safety lock!”
“Safety lock open!” said a voice from below over the
speakers. “Magnetic bottle prepared!”
A familiar glow began to build up in
the Argo’s firing gate as Henson
called out, “Energy level, now at ninety percent!”
“Range to New Comet, twelve
megameters!” Nova cried. The ship was beginning to shake just as she was
beginning to feel the first tugs of attraction from the New Comet.
“Thirty seconds to firing!” barked
Derek. “All hands, prepare anti-flash and anti-shock measures!”
Derek lowered his goggles over his
eyes, and Desslok smiled at did the same along with the rest of the
“Energy level, now at one hundred and
twenty percent!” cried Henson.
“Ten seconds to firing!” snapped Derek.
“10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! ZERO! FIRE!”
Wildstar fired the wave motion gun a moment later.
The typical deadly burst of tachyon
energy, glimmering with little bursts of lightning, roared from the Argo’s bow a moment later like the fires
of Hell let loose.
Just as the Argo, the tachyon beam roared down the throat of its central vortex
at nine megameters’ range.
The beam smashed into the heart of the
Comet, and there was a very, very
violent explosion. It was far more violent than what had happened months ago at
Melezart when they had hit the Comet at thirteen megameters’ range.
The Comet began to come apart like a
new star as the Argo frantically
turned about on her thrusters and began to blast away.
Perhaps
we’ve just finished the war here,
Desslok thought in sudden fear for the first time in many years. And perhaps Wildstar just finished all of
us, too. We may have been too close to it!
The New Comet boiled and expanded, coming apart with greater
ferocity as the plasma energy that had formed it turned into a chaotic mess
with the controlling field abruptly kicked out under it at almost suicidally
close range.
The Argo’s
main engines kicked in, and the ship sped away from the holocaust, shaking and
rocking as it fought the bizarre gravitational forces pulling at her from at
least two angles.
From Sandor’s post, red lights kicked
on as he yelled. “Wildstar! Structural integrity is
near the breaking point! We can’t take
this!”
“Kitano! Calculate for a space warp!” yelled Wildstar as the Argo came closer to tumbling into the
insane holocaust it had just unleashed. “Heading, fifty megameters below the
ecleptic of that…thing…”
“Roger! All hands, ready for warp!”
snapped Kitano as he used the helm controls to slowly lower the Argo’s bow down about forty-five
degrees. “Release all overrides, Henson!”
“Yessir!” she said. “Ready
for warp!”
“WARP!” yelled Wildstar.
Desslok shut his eyes and waited for
the sudden burst of vertigo to come.
It came a moment later as the Argo warped away from the holocaust.
On the Eritz Gatlantis
itself, chaos reigned as the ship had taken major damage this time out. Damage even worse than what she had taken at Melezart.
“Energy generators one through four
burned out!” yelled one officer. “Redundant power now down to
two generators!”
Michelle wept in Invidia’s arms, and
even grown men and Generals wept and screamed in the Throne Room as bad news
and damage reports came in.
“Fleet Anchorage Post Six destroyed!
Thirty destroyers crushed along with their crews!” called out one officer.
“Power Generator for the rotating belt
is damaged!” cried an officer as he ran up to Gorse.
Down below, fire roared down one of the
landing strips as officers reported, “Scorpion Squadrons Nineteen through
Twenty-Six wiped out! Paranoia Fighter Squadrons Twelve through Thirty
destroyed! Fighter capacity cut by twenty-five percent!”
“Offensive armament damaged!” yelled
another officer.
“Battle Fleet Squadrons Four and Twelve destroyed at their
moorings!” reported another one on the PA system.
“Communications with the main fleet are
out now!” reported another officer.
“Comet Field Generators completely
destroyed; the Comet cannot now be re-ignited short of work in a dockyard,” reported
an aide as she saluted and came up to Gorse in her skirt and boots. “We also
cannot rotate the main belt now.”
“We cannot raise the shield now?” said
Gorse.
The officer wept and shook her head. “No, sir! Defensive capabilities are severely diminished.
Tell Princess Invidia some ships and personnel are beginning to…abandon the
city-ship and are beginning to flee!”
Then, someone pulled up a graphic of
officers and men screaming and running for their lives down corridors.
In other parts of the ship, views
showed governesses herding fleeing children down still more corridors. In other
deeper parts of the ship, helpless nursing mothers who were barely dressed or
even naked with their babies at their breasts ran yelling and crying for escape
ships. Some would escape successfully to other unoccupied worlds or Cometine
fringe planets. A few would find asylum with Radnar’s forces. Some died
marooned in deep space.
“I recommend retreat, Princess,” said
General Pelver. “Perhaps even surrender to the Argo. Combined civilian and military casualties in the City add up
to twelve thousand killed, maybe twenty thousand injured.”
Invidia turned to Ekogaru, and she hissed, in utter rage “You told us to stay the course! They hit
us at less than nine megameters’ range! You LET them do this to us!” she
screamed. “You set this whole thing up, didn’t
you? WHY? YOU TELL ME WHY! Whose side are you on today? The Star Force’s?”
“I did this to even up the odds somewhat,” he said.
“Why?” cried Invidia
as tears brimmed in her eyes. “Why do you give life and then take it?”
“Life does not evolve unless it is
forced to adapt!” roared Ekogaru as
he lashed out with his power and killed three Cometine officers at random.
Michelle screamed in horror at this
demented bloodbath and hid her face in her hands.
Ekogaru laughed like mad as he cut down
two more officers who fired at him with their weapons. With his demonic
strength, he roared and threw another one across the room, making his skull
fracture when he slammed into a vase on its stand.
“Then why the killing…even of our own
kind, for Arishna’s sake?” screamed Invidia as she held onto Ekogaru’s black
tunic. “Show us mercy! Please!”
He snarled at Invidia and threw her to
the deck. “Fool! Witch! Slime!
Ungrateful piece of garbage! If I kill
a few of you, this will make you stronger and force you to fight the Earthlings
hand-to-hand-to-hand! Your people
love battle, killing, murder, pillage, and conquest! Right? I am just giving you what
you always wanted. The Earthlings are just as dangerous as are the Gamilons!
THEY ARE VERMIN!” he yelled. “If you beat them, you 
are most worthy of becoming my Master Race!”
“So what do we do, Princess?” asked
Gorse.
“Warp out…make ready to retreat a bit
closer to the Milky Way!” said Invidia. “And try to recover some semblance of discipline! Get the
troops, dependents of troops, and those civilian contractors to stop running
off the ship even if you have to start shooting them!”
“You can’t do that to them,” said
Michelle.
“We have to stop this,” said Invidia as
she suddenly noticed that Ekogaru had vanished. “If we have people running, we
cannot warp! If we cannot warp, we cannot get away from…”
“Princess,” said a grim voice. It was
Gorse. “The Argo has just emerged
from warp! She is forty megameters below the underbelly of the Eritz Gatlantis! Sensors are reading
another tachyonic buildup!”
Artwork: “The
Eritz Gatlantis Revealed” © 2009 by M.C. Crump (Max Damage)
“NO!” screamed
Invidia. “WAVE MOTION GUN! NOT AGAIN! NOT
WHILE WE ARE THIS HELPLESS!”
“Thirty seconds to firing, remove final safety lock,” said
Commodore Wildstar as he stared at the bottom of the helpless Eritz Gatlantis through the target scope
of the wave motion gun with goggled eyes.
“Safety lock removed!” said a voice
from below.
“Range to Eritz Gatlantis city-ship; thirty megameters,” said Nova. “They are
launching just a few fighters. Shouldn’t there be more of them, Derek?”
“Maybe we damaged them more severely
than we thought when we destroyed their Comet Field,” said Sandor.
“Energy level, now at ninety-five
percent,” said Diane Henson from her post.
“What a victory party we should have
shortly,” said Desslok. “Invidia, Wildstar awaits with your doom. I wish I
would have been the one bringing it,” he said as he laughed his low, mocking laugh.
“Wildstar, should we send them condolences?” Desslok purred.
“We can send them condolences courtesy
of Hell, Desslok!” snapped Derek.
“Fifteen seconds to firing!”
“Energy level, one hundred and ten
percent,” said Henson.
“Begin ten second countdown! Target, Eritz Gatlantis!” snapped Derek over the
PA over the whining roar of the wave motion gun. “Ten! Nine! EIGHT! Seven! Six!
Five! Four…Three! Two, One! ZERO! FIRE!”
Wildstar fired the gun a split-second
later.
A stream of roaring blue death streaked
right out towards the Eritz Gatlantis’
underbelly. It was a clear shot; nothing was there to stop it except a few
Scorpions and Paranoia Fighters that were beginning to zoom towards the Argo.
Their pilots were the first ones to die
in the field, screaming as their planes dissolved around them like snowflakes
in the fires of Hell.
Two destroyers and a battleship emerged
from the Eritz Gatlantis, and they
were melted into nothingness with their crews ten megameters away from the city-ship.
Just as the deadly light of the Argo’s wave motion gun surge drew closer
and closer to the underbelly of the badly damaged Eritz Gatlantis, its desperate helmsmen peformed one last trick,
and they caused her to warp out, destroying another energy center in the
process.
But, they had gotten away.
Again.
By just the skin of
their teeth…
“CRAP!” yelled Commodore Wildstar as he
stood up and flung his goggles at the deck. “They got away again! I feel like the manager of the 2008 Phillies in that Rainy
Series! So close, and we have to wait again! DAMNIT!”
Kitano grasped his hand and said, “Sir, they’ll give us
another chance…”
“When?” snapped Derek. “I want this war
to end one of these days!”
“Wildstar,” said Desslok as he stood
up. “I could see that they have taken some severe damage. When I return to my
Fleet, I will help you hunt them down and finish that Invidia off for eternity.
They can’t keep on going forever.”
Sandor said, “When they warped out, I
detected that they were leaking a lot of hard radiation. Wildstar, they may not
survive very long even after they emerge from warp…if they emerge from warp.”
“Derek, we’ll keep watch for them,”
said Nova as she got up and walked over to her husband. “One way or another, we
have to win this…and soon…”
Derek nodded as he just embraced his
wife…
TO BE CONTINUED…
To Return to the Introduction to The New Comet, click here