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
ACT FIVE: INVIDIA’S FINAL
CHALLENGE
I.
ONE LAST NIGHT OF JOY
Space
Battleship Argo
Orbiting
Planet Beemira
Thursday,
August 13, 2207
2300
Hours
Now, in the meantime, even in the midst of the continuing
war, the two tiny young lives inside Nova Wildstar continued to flourish and
grow.
Nova’s shoulder wound was well on the way towards healing
now. The much-smaller bandage on her shoulder was now all that she wore as she
cuddled against Derek on her hands and knees as part of a rare quiet evening in
their cabin, whimpering with joy as Derek and she tenderly made love, with his
hands on her beautiful, swelling breasts as she not only accepted him, but
cuddled into the lovemaking they were sharing.
“Yes, darling, yes, my darling, oh…yes…” Nova said as Derek hungrily kissed the back of her neck and
held her while he made her feel absolutely beautiful. He urgently breathed in
her ear, and gasped, “yes…oh…God…oh..God..oh…”
Nova’s toes flexed and spread on the bed while Derek touched
her swelling stomach with light, tender hands. Alex and Ariel kicked inside
their mother, happy with the rythym of their parents’ act of love, love so
reminiscent of how they had been conceived, as Derek and Nova’s bodies exploded
with pleasure and the two of them collapsed laughing and crying at the same
time into their bunk in a heap, with Nova falling on her back with her legs
open while Derek cuddled next to her on her right side.
“How was that, Nova?” whispered Commodore Derek Wildstar,
who was young, sweaty, trim, muscular, taut, and very naked as he held and
cuddled his beautiful naked pregnant wife.
“Heaven,” she whispered as tears ran down her cheeks. “Too
bad that this is the last time we can do this according to Doctor Sane, until…”
Derek
nodded and kissed Nova’s swollen stomach in reply while he tenderly played with
her breasts. “Until they arrive,” Derek replied. “Due date?”
“Sometime in the first week of September, he said,” Nova
replied. “Maybe sooner. That’s why he said we have to let up on the intercourse
soon….until after the birth….I…”
“Well, I can find other
nice things to do to you when you have no clothes on, Mom…” whispered Derek.
Nova blushed and playfully slapped her husband. “You are so
bad, Derek!”
“But don’t you just love it when I’m a bad boy?” Derek
whispered.
Nova blushed harder and nodded.
Derek licked his lips and he smiled at Nova as he crawled
down the bunk a little. “Hmmm,” he said as his tongue licked his lips.
Nova smiled at her husband and shut her eyes to await more
of his attentions.
She would not be disappointed…
Not at all…
THE
NEXT DAY….
The Argo had made
a rendezvous with the 45th Gamilon Battle Fleet, led by a General
Gustaf, just two days ago in order to allow Leader Desslok to return to his own
people to lead his Fleet. By agreement with Wildstar, Desslok left the Argo flying the captured Cometine
shuttle in which he and Sasha had escaped from the Eritz Gatlantis. Of course, Sandor had made a careful analysis of
the captured Cometine ship, and he had a complete set of plans and scans of the
ship, including careful engineering drawings he had made of its Magna-Flame
powered warp engines. Sandor and Desslok thought that someday Earth might build
a new weapon based upon this captured and reverse-engineered technology.
Now, Leader Desslok was back on his flagship, the Excelsior, which was now approaching the
Rainbow Cluster as he led the Grand Fleet on its way towards Earth in order to
help Earth in a possible final batle with Invidia and the Eritz Gatlantis.
On the Excelsior,
Desslok sat on his bed in his quarters with Astrena, who had been very happy to
see him return safely to his people.
“So, then, we are heading towards Earth?” asked Astrena.
Desslok nodded. “Yes. We have been tracking the Eritz Gatlantis, which Wildstar damaged
very badly in combat a few days ago. We have been able to track that ship by
its radiation trail. It is a dying ship. It is my hope that we can catch up
with it and destroy it before it ever gets to the Sol System. I also have word
that several Cometine fleets are gathering ahead of the Eritz Gatlantis itself. We might be able to engage those fleets, as
well, before they ever reach Earth.”
“What is the situation with the Argo?”
“She is ahead of us; at Beemira, dropping off survivors that
she rescued from a crash site some days ago. She is expected to rendezvous with
a combined Earth-Iscandarian Task Force at Pluto at the edge of the Sol System
in eighteen days. The other Earth ships will be led by the space battleship
Astrena kissed Desslok and she said, “Please assure me you
will not leave this ship again until the great battles are over and we win.”
“I shall do my best to remain here leading our people,”
Desslok replied.
“I am glad,” said Astrena as they kissed again.
II.
A DAY OF PAIN
Planet
Earth
The
Iscandarian Embassy
Saturday,
August 15, 2207
1030
Hours
Jonathan Hartnell-Iiyama knew that the time had to come, but
he was not looking forward to this.
He sat in an air-skimmer boat with Alex Wildstar as they
cruised slowly towards the island where the Iscandarian Embassy was.
“I have to leave
you guys on the Princess Astra?” he
sighed.
Alex nodded. “Your mother Astra finally communicated with us
and she said she wanted you back home on Earth.”
“I bet she was not happy about Dad’s death.”
“No, she was not,” said Alex. “I don’t think she blames you
for it anymore, though. Otherwise, I would not have you come here.”
“I have a bad feeling about this,” said Jonathan as he
shivered in his shipboard uniform. “Uncle Alex, don’t take me there to the
Embassy.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want to be there. I have a very bad feeling about
Mom.”
“Then where else would I take you? Back to the Princess Astra? Too dangerous. We’ll be
going into battle in about two weeks. We have intelligence from the Argo and Desslok that the enemy is on
its way here.”
“Take me to Derek and Nova’s house,” he pleaded.
“What?” said Alex.
“I can wait for them there. I…I want them to adopt me. I’m
scared of Mom. You remember how she cut off when I last talked to her three
days ago when we stopped at Saturn-Titan space station? I don’t have a Dad now.
I…I want your brother to be my new Dad, and I want Nova to be my new Mom.
Please, Alex…”
“My oldest daughter loves you,” Alex sighed. “She promised
me you would be cared for. Isn’t that good enough?”
Jonathan nodded, refusing to say any more.
ONE
HOUR LATER….
“Thank you for bringing him home, Father,” said Astra of
Iscandar stiffly as Jonathan stood at attention between Alex Wildstar and
Astra. “I swear to you he will be cared for. Now, please leave us.”
“I’d like to stay,” said Alex.
“We should be fine,” replied Astra. “Please leave us.”
Alex nodded and he squeezed Jonathan’s hands. “I’ll see you
again before the battle, son. I’ll be back to check on you. Be sure you mind
your mother.”
“Don’t go,” Jonathan replied with tears in his eyes as Astra
began to laugh slightly.
“I have to,” he said as he pushed Jonathan towards Astra,
who hugged him stiffly in her purple gown and sandals. “See? She loves you. I
will be back.”
Alex then left.
A moment later, Astra looked down at Jonathan, held him
tighter….
…and then, she abruptly slapped him across the face while
she laughed.
“Mother?” said Jonathan in shock.
“Do not call me that again,” sobbed Astra, who then began to
laugh like a devil as her face twisted. “You killed him. You killed my husband Conor! You killed your
own father!”
“Yes, he died saving me, but…”
“He would not have been where he would have been in that
battle if you had not been interfering and if you had been out of their way as
you had been told to be!” snapped
Astra. “I cannot raise anyone who engages in patricide! I have prophesied into
your future, and all you will be in will be trouble, pain, and you will drag
down everyone who will be around you! Your first set of parents did not want
you! You were a change of life baby from your mother! You were trouble,
trouble, trouble! WOE be unto anyone who
accepts you to their bosom!”
“Don’t you dare talk about my dead
parents!” sobbed Jonathan. “Why are you saying this, Mother?”
Astra grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him as a scary
amount of drool ran down her chin. “You, Jonathan, are trouble! That is why! You were trouble to them, trouble to Conor
and I…”
“I…”
“You only stayed with us because of your adoptive father
Conor! When you began to become ill-mannered, when you began to use your mouth
more, that is when I wanted to have you sent to a boarding school! Conor never
accepted that idea. Now, he is dead because of you! For that, I disown you!”
“What?” cried Jonathan as his adoptive mother slapped him
again and again. Then, she threw him brutally to the crystalline floor and made
a quck call. “Guards,” she said. “The boy was trouble, like I said he would be.
Come for him. He tried to assault me.”
“I DID NOT!” screamed Jonathan into the phone.
Astra slapped him again and pushed him away. “Please come
for him. He is under arrest.”
“Yes, Princess,” said an Embassy guard.
A moment later, two large Embassy guards showed up and
grabbed Jonathan. One put him in handcuffs at a signal from Astra while the
other slammed a billy club into his stomach.
“Take him off this island. I arrest him and he is persona non grata on Royal Iscandarian
territory from this day forth! He is rebellious! I disown him here and now! I never want to see him again!” Astra
snapped. “You know what we arranged for him if he was to grow rebellious and to
try to harm me. He did so. He must pay the price.”
“Yes,” said one of the guardsmen as Jonathan tried to scream
defiance. Jonathan could say nothing more, though, since a third guardsman
showed up and gagged him.
He was dragged away like a sack as Astra wept and laughed.
Then, Astra screamed, cried, and began to tear at her own clothes.
She was becoming utterly unhinged due to her grief over her
husband.
A while later, Astra sat writing in her journal.
Recently, her entries had been becoming stranger and stranger.
This was the latest one:
Conor,
my love, my love, my love, my LOVE.
Where
are you?
I
know where you are. You are in the Spirit World wherein I can see you and speak
to you but not touch you.
I
want your arms around me so badly it hurts!
I
need your love and your attentions more than ever.
But
he took them from me forever.
The
boy.
He
killed you.
Jonathan
killed you!
That
is unforgivable and unpardonable.
Today,
I have disowned him and he is no longer a son of mine. And he never shall be
again.
I
have cast him into Saint Anselm’s Orphanage where he shall suffer the due
penalty of his crimes as a delinquent youth.
Because,
Conor, did you not even say he was too hard to handle? IS NOT THAT WHAT YOU
SAID? Hahahahahahahahahaha!
Oh,
I foresee what will come next. The Earth girl, we know who, shall take pity on
him in a few weeks and take him in and then he will make that family suffer.
I
shall be Queen of Iscandar soon. A lonely Virgin Queen as the Whispering Voice
of the Black Void of Depression I lie in has promised.
I
am sorry, Mother, but he has decreed you must die, die, die.
Conor,
Father shall soon join you in battle, and Mother shall join you when his agents
land on Iscandar and her head is cut off after she is duly tortured for her
resistance to the the the Voice of the Void. O, I will be an orphan, my brother
shall die on Iscandar, and my sister Sasha will die in battle-no great loss!
Little Sister, you were always an airhead anyway! Deekee…really, now!
The
Void calls to me. I listen.
O,
the Void. O, the Voice that promises I shall be QUEEN!
Astra then laughed, cried, and drooled as she continued to
write in her madness and grief.
And, somewhere far, far away, the Dark Lord laughed.
Everything,
Ekogaru thought. Everything continues to
progress just as I have foreseen….yes…..
III.
MORE OF DANA HALL’S STORY
Planet
Earth
Near
The Rio
Saturday,
August 15, 2207
1108
Hours
Dana
Hall, the young widow of the dark hair and slender form, lay in a sort of
free-floating depression on a towel in the sun on the beach not far from the
apartment complex where she lived. She wore a very minimal red and white
bikini, simply to get a good tan.
She was not quite as brave as her friend Marina Carmody,
who, because it was legal here on this clothes-optional beach, lay sunbathing
in the nude. Of course, the fact that the 37-year old
“Where’s
“She said she’d be coming after she did some housework.
She’s also trying to e-mail her daughter again,” Marina said.
“You may not have him latched on right,” said Dana.
“I’m trying,”
grinned
Dana rolled up her eyes a little as a red-headed girl in a
polka-dotted bikini bopped up on her toes and bent down and kissed her mother;
the girl was the Carmodys’ oldest daughter, named Felicia. She was fourteen,
and she thought she knew everything. She grinned at her mother and said, “Put
something on.”
“If you’re going swimming, take that thing off,” said her mother. “The way that
thing ties on you…it doesn’t stay on well in the water, and…well, you were so
embarrassed last month when you lost your yellow bottoms in the water, Felicia.
Remember?”
“That’s because it was in front of Hiroshi-kun,” said
Felicia. “I broke up with him three days later. Remember?”
“He was a smart boy,” said
“He was a dopey
boy, Mom,” said Felicia. “You know, we need more kids around here? Where’d
everybody go?”
“The people around here are Fleet families, many of whom
have been reassigned to other posts and ships,” said Dana sadly, as if by rote.
“People are in and out of here all the time. Fleet brats. You do know that the Graf Spee pulled out yesterday, right? Her
and her whole fleet?”
“Yeah, and there went Freddie Harper. He was cute,” said
Felicia. “I was going to ask him out at the canteen next, Aunt Dana….Mom…”
“That’s nice,” sighed Dana as she tried to keep tears out of
her eyes as she remembered her late husband Alan. Alan, who was still dead and
still floating out in his wrecked Tiger near Uranus.
Lynn Westland showed up a moment later, in a white tank
swimsuit, sandals, and a white hat. “Hi, girls.”
“Hi, Auntie Lynn,” said Felicia dutifully as she bowed a
little on her bare feet while
“The last one I got from Deke was short; they had just been
in combat somewhere and he was tired,” said
“Where?” sang Felicia. “Was it an exciting battle?”
“He couldn’t say where, except that the Star Force is still
well outside our own galaxy someplace,” said
“What did she say?” asked
“She said that they are following a major Cometine unit
towards our solar system, and that when the next battle comes…,”
Dana shivered at that, even though it was very hot in the
sun, and said, “Go on…”
“…she thinks when the next battle comes, it will be a big one. She also says hi to everyone, and says that Nova and
the Commodore say hi to me and all our neighbors…”
“She knows Nova and Commodore Derek Wildstar??” Felicia
screamed. “Wow! Can we get their autographs?”
“She works under them,”
“Cool! What’s it like to be an Iscandarian Princess!? And tell
Dawn to tell Derek I think he’s dishy!”
said Felicia.
“On the
Not far away, some young male Ensign in swim trunks from the
“The reason I’m out here,” said
“ME!” piped out Felicia.
“I’ll come as soon as I get a diaper on James,” said
“Guess I’ll come,” sighed Dana without much interest as she
stood up to dust some sand off her bottom, which was almost bare in her tiny
bikini.
In
the meantime, the Cometine destroyer Vikansha’s
thirteen-day journey to Earth was almost over with.
Sakamoto and Caella sat tensely on the bridge of the ship as
she emerged from her final space warp, right near the Moon.
“Now what do we do?” said Caella as she looked nervously at
the Moon and Earth looming in their windows.
“We wait,” said Captain Vada as he took a deep breath. “I would
establish contact with them as soon as possible before we are shot at. After
all, despite our sentiments, we are
still the enemy to them.”
“They’re gonna jump on us pretty fast,” sighed Sakamoto.
“They always have several squadrons of Tigers on patrol from the Moon Bases,”
he said with a sigh. “It’s not hard to find our ships here in Area One…no, not
at all…”
“Contacts spotted on radar!” cried an officer on the bridge.
“Six contacts, coming at us fast!”
“Video panel change,” said Vada. “Terran deck planes. As I
thought. Hold your fire, men! We are not here to fight, remember.”
Caella and Sakamoto nodded at each other and held hands as
the Comm Officer of the ship, a man in Cometine blue named Vakrendis, said,
“Captain! They are signalling us! Voice only!”
“Speakers on,” sighed Captain Vada. “Open microphones so I
can respond.”
Vakrendis flicked a switch as laser fire whizzed right past
the Vikansha’s bow. “Enemy vessel!” barked the young squadron
leader, a young man named Katz. “We know you’re Cometine! I hope you
son-of-a-bitches can translate me fast!
This is Lieutenant Bernard Katz of the White Lions! State your reasons for
being in Earth’s territorial space! You have about twenty seconds before I blow
you green assholes out of space! What is your mission? OVER!”
Caella nodded and said, “Lieutenant Katz, my name is Duchess
Caella of the House of Gatlantis. Please do not harm us. We are here to
surrender to you. Over…”
Katz’s eyebrows went up as one of his wingmen whooped and
said, “Skipper, I have them in my sights! Ready to blow missiles right up their
bridge! Why the hell aren’t they firin’?”
“They say…they’re surrendering?”
said Katz. “Duchess Caella! Since you can apparently speak our language, what
is going on? Over!”
“I am what you might call a defector from the Eritz Gatlantis. I am bringing an Earth
prisoner back to you as proof of my goodwill, and I have many of the battle
plans of Princess Invidia’s plan of attack upon Earth. They are coming here.
But I had a quarrel with Invidia, and I would like to surrender to you, live on
Earth, and help you stop them. OVER.”
“Defecting,” muttered Katz.
Katz’s CO came up on his headset a moment later. “Katz! This
is Commander Femara! Why haven’t you shot down that Cometine ship yet?”
“Sir, they say they are here to surrender to us; they say
they’re defectors from the Comet Empire! Shall I guide them to a dock at
Moonbase?”
“Surrender?” muttered Femara. “If they have spoken to us,
they must know they will never, ever be
allowed to go back to their own people. Zordar’s rule. Invidia still keeps it.
Katz, hold them there. Make sure this is not a trick. I don’t trust these
bastards! I’m calling some destroyers and cruisers, and we’re taking them
prisoner. They’re coming back here under tow. Order them to stop all engines
and kill all power to their weapons at once and cut power down to minimal
lighting and life support functions. Tell them they are being scanned now to
make sure they comply. I’m reporting to my Captain and then to Earth.”
“Yessir,” said Katz as he relayed Femara’s orders to Caella.
In the meantime, on Earth, Lieutenant Gary Maples stood
quietly at attention in General Stone’s office in Earth Defense Headquarters in
the Tokyo Megalopolis, smiling as Stone turned from some paperwork to look at
him.
“Lieutenant,”
Stone said. “It is most unusual that you are applying for a post as a Roving
Intelligence Officer at this time. You’re a good combat Marine, and your
superiors said that they could use you as a unit commander in what we think is
going to be a major death-struggle for Earth when the Cometine forces hit the
solar system in a few weeks.”
“They’re coming?” said Maples, trying to hide (and hiding
well) the fact that the Darkness within him knew all too well about the coming
Invasion…he had, in fact, been instrumental in engineering it.
“This is classified,” sighed Stone. “But, the Argo and the Gamilons have definite
intelligence that the Eritz Gatlantis
is on a rather slow but relentless course that will lead right for this star
system. The Star Force is hunting their Fortress like a bloodhound. The last
place that it was spotted was the Ormond System, right here….,” Stone said as he pulled up a complex star map of the Local
Group. “That area is right at the old Gamilon Sixth Defense Line, now about
42,000 lightyears away from Earth, and 12,000 lightyears outside of our Galaxy.
They appear to be warping that thing two thousand lightyears a day. At that
rate, the ETA of the Eritz Gatlantis
at the edge of the Sol System will be Friday, 4 September. That is now less
than three weeks away. And we have
intelligence that the enemy is beginning to concentrate more and more fleets
upon our home star system. The R’Khells also seem to have a hand in this too;
the Rikashans have reported that a major enemy fleet under the direct command
of the R’Khell Marshal, their new leader, the traitor Piper Sandberg, is on its
way to Earth. It seems Sandberg became their new Marshal after Lecha Voton died
in his sleep one night.”
“Yes, what a shame,” thought Maples solemnly as Ekogaru
arose in his head and thought, We
strangled Voton on R’Khelleva the other night. Remember? He was getting a bit
too independent for his own good. Too bad that Marshal Sandberg now has his
corpse hanging on a cross, being eaten slowly by the carrion birds. What a
shame for Voton, who is now nice and deep in Hell. Too bad, Lecha.
Stone said, “But, enough, Maples. I am promoting you to the
rank of Major, and you will serve under Colonel Lechmann in the new Special
Services Division as a roving intelligence agent. Do you accept this new
assignment?”
“Yessir,” said Maples.
Stone shook his hand. “I wish you luck, Maples. Now, for
your first assignment…”
The phone on Stone’s desk rang, and he picked it up and
snapped, “Lieutenant Hitchcock, you airhead girl!
I told you that I was not to be
disturbed until 1300…I…”
Maples smiled to himself as he heard the pleading voice of
Stone’s secretary. So, she is here,
he thought. That damned Caella. This
makes things interesting….
A few minutes’ worth of conversation transpired until Stone
banged down the phone. “Maples, we have work for you. Would you like to catch a
shuttle for Moonbase?”
“When, sir?” said Maples.
“Now,” said Stone.
“I’ll have Miss Hitchcock send an aircar right here to Headquarters. You’ll be
briefed by a Captain Koyama at Moonbase. It seems that some members of the
Cometine Hierarchy have just defected to
Earth? I believe they said they have a ship and a great deal of information
to surrender to us. Get me all you can, Maples. Don’t you dare fuck this up on me, Major! Are we clear?”
“Yessir,” said Maples with a grin, as, inside his head, the
Dark Lord himself also grinned.
Dana sat on her haunches on the rug in Lynn Westland’s
apartment, with
“What’s the first?” yelled a hostile reporter from the
crowd.
“This is Mike Solara, NorthAm
Net News. Come on, Singleton! Where the hell is the New Comet Empire?”
“Where’s the enemy fleet?” demanded another reporter, who
was named Vanessa Flager.
“All in good time,” said Wendy quietly. “First, it is my
duty to report that Desslok of Gamilon was recovered by the Star Force and was
returned to his fleet. The Gamilon Empire has vowed to honor its alliance and
to stand by us in this moment of crisis, along with large parts of Iscandar’s
forces, the forces of Pellias, and the Rikashan Federation. The New Comet was
badly damaged in a battle with the Argo
a few days ago. It is being tracked towards Earth now.”
“Where is it?” demanded Flager.
“It is currently twenty days away from Earth at its current
speed, and elements of the Gatlantean and R’Khelleva fleets are also beginning
to converge on Earth. In fact, the first engagement took place between the 21st
Patrol Squadron and a Cometine advance force near Arcturus just yesterday. The
Comet Empire also sent us one of its typical demands for surrender. They said
another one will be coming shortly.”
The room filled with hubbub as Solara yelled, “Why didn’t
they report that?”
“We just learned of the battle this morning, sir,” said
Wendy. “Luckily, the Earth forces won. But more battle is coming. Provisional
evacuation orders are being prepared now as we speak. It is expected that some
elements of humanity will be evacuated to the underground cities, while other
elements of humanity will be evacuated off-planet in cargo vessels and
passenger liners. Fortunately, we have an edge that Invidia may just be
learning of now.”
“What is it?” demanded another reporter as an aide handed
Wendy another folder. She paused to read it, and said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I
am told that a party has just defected from the Comet Empire to Earth.”
“Who is it?” yelled another reporter as Dana sat up, shocked
at the news. She glanced at Lynn, who nodded as she looked hard at the screen while
Wendy continued with, “A noble, sir. I am told she is named Duchess Caella, and
she and her party have just warped in near the Moon and have surrendered to us.
She has reportedly offered intelligence on the enemy attack plans and she has
said that there is major dissension in Princess Invidia’s ranks.”
“How can they not know she escaped?” demanded another
reporter. “And won’t they change their attack plans once they know she turned
them over to us?”
FIVE
HOURS LATER….
Duchess Caella sat exhausted in an interrogation chair on
Moonbase, with a lie detector helmet on her head and an unprecedented amount of
probes on her sweating body. She had been stripped of all of her clothes and
jewelry upon her arrival at Moonbase, and she sat in the chair naked except for
a very thin slip that covered her sweaty body as, ironically, Maples stood
there evaluating her interrogation by an Admiral Renate Silva, a hard woman who
stood there facing the captive in a black peacoat, white skirt and white pumps.
Admiral Silva stared down Caella through her wire-rimmed
glasses, and she said, “They know you ran with this book. They’re going to
change these tactics, now, aren’t they? Don’t feed me any of your bullshit,
Cometine! Isn’t that the truth, Duchess?”
“Yes, but the thinking of the General Staff is not very imaginative,” said
Caella. “That book I gave you? All of the possible attack plans upon Earth were
set forth as case studies. They had decided upon a plan called Gamella Five
before I had my quarrel with Invidia and left. The other ones they were
thinking of were Plans Gamella Eight through Twelve. I just ran thirteen days
ago. They can’t come up with a new attack plan in less than twenty days, I’m
sure. In fact, they had some forces in place for the operation already. They
were calling it “Operation Vengeance” in their thinking.”
“Operation Vengeance?” said Silva.
Caella nodded. “Ma’am, what they mean is Vengeance for the
first loss to you and Trelaina years ago. Invidia, Dyre, Gorse, and their crowd
were planning this attack for years. It was actually supposed to have come off
months ago, but they are most angry that your valiant forces, Desslok’s forces,
and the Star Force have prolonged this war for so long. It is their intent to
defeat Earth so strongly this time out that your standard of living would be
reduced to a near-primitive level. They also intend mass genocide if they find
that they cannot defeat and control Earth to their satisfaction. Many of us in
Invidia’s ranks have had enough of seeing our resources, ships, and men thrown
away by Invidia in such a vindictive cause. There have been plots on Invidia’s
life. I tried to kill her myself.”
Officers and enlisted muttered loudly at this dark
revelation. Silva raised her hand and said, “So that is why you demand asylum?”
“It is. I want to help defeat them. Also, our people have
been subverted by a monster. A monster from the pit of Perdition itself.”
“The mysterious Ekogaru?” asked Maples as he came up behind
Admiral Silva. Caella did not recognize his body as being the new shape of the
Dark Lord since she had left the Eritz
Gatlantis on the same day in which Stovall had died. Ekogaru was not about
to make himself known to Caella now, but he could certainly let Invidia know
the little bitch was spilling her guts to Earth. Yes, he could.
He didn’t intend to let Invidia know how much of their plans that Caella was revealing to them, though.
No, not at all.
Why? He wanted both sides weakened in this conflict….beaten and
weakened so that, in years to come, he could take over what was left.
Ekogaru’s plan, indeed, was to just show up and taunt
Invidia about her ineptitude in letting Caella go….
IV. INVIDIA’S GREAT PLAN
The Eritz Gatlantis
At The Edge of The Milky
Way Galaxy
Friday, August 21, 2207
1200 Hours: Earthtime
The
Eritz Gatlantis, still under heavy
repairs, had plunged at last into the Milky Way Galaxy with their latest space
warp.
Ironically,
it entered the Milky Way Galaxy at the Telezart System, a system which had held
nine planets. With the destruction of one of the planets of the system years
ago by General Torbuk as a test of his power, and the destruction of Telezart
itself by Trelaina, it was now a system that held just seven worlds.
The
Eritz Gatlantis was now in orbit of
the second planet of the Telezartian system.
Admiral
Shandara, the Cometine commander in black whom Invidia had chosen to be the
commanding Admiral of their advance fleet, stood waiting as he was handed a set
of plans. Finally, he said, “My Princess, I am delighted to report that our
flagship for Operation Vengeance will be the Cometine space battleship Krineda, refitted recently with heavier
guns and a new Magna-Flame gun setup. I will be leading the main battle fleet
into action in five days.”
“Give
us the extent of the Fleet,” said Gorse.
“Yessir,”
said Shandara. “We have six hundred and fifty ships under my direct command. Of
those, three hundred ships will be at the rear under my command as the Second
Striking Fleet. The Second Striking Fleet includes my battleship, twenty more
heavy space battleships with two destroyers each as escorts for eighty-one
ships under my command as Squadron One. Squadron Two consists of the Final
Planetary Genocide Force under Admiral Shakra’s command; that force consists of
thirty antimatter missile ships and sixty destroyers. They…”
“Wait,”
said Invidia. “The Planetary Genocide
Force? What are they for?”
“Princess,”
said Gorse in a disdainful voice. “They are intended as a last-ditch measure.
Part of our Gamella-class battle plans. If Earth will not surrender, this time
out, it must be destroyed. Fourteen antimatter missiles would be a sufficient
payload to do the job on a small planet like that. The other ships are intended
as a reserve.”
Michelle
looked horrified as she glanced at Invidia. Invidia shook her head and said, “I
do not want Earth destroyed, Gorse. I want them enslaved. Withdraw those ships from the operation.”
“I…”
“Withdraw
them!” Invidia snapped.
“Very
well,” said Gorse. “The rest of the fleet consists of Squadron Three, with one
hundred and twenty more ships; which is, to say, forty
space battleships and eighty destroyers. The First Striking Fleet, a carrier
force under Admiral Veda’s command, consists of two carrier fleets; a heavy carrier
force and escorts of forty carriers and eighty escorts, and a light carrier
force of eighty carriers and one hundred and fifty escorts; mostly destroyers
and corvettes. We should be able to eliminate their Earth Defense Fleet with
those ships. Earth itself will be bombarded by our light carrier force early in
the operation; they will be joined by two hundred R’Khell ships led into battle
by the new R’Khell leader, Marshal Sandberg.”
“The
Earth traitor,” said Invidia. “How amusing that we have other Earthlings on our
side,” she said as she hugged Michelle, who felt very uncomfortable being here,
even in her splendid uniform. I cannot
believe this. I am with the enemy, she thought. Can I get Invidia to stop all this? Please, God, make her stop this! I don’t
want Earth to be conquered!
“Now?”
said Invidia.
Gorse
looked at her and said, “Let us break this down moment by moment. Then, I
suggest you send Earth a challenge to make sure they take the bait and are
ready to fight us…”
Invidia
smiled at that.
In
the meantime, on the Argo, Commodore
Wildstar looked up at the screen at General Singleton.
“She
defected?” said Derek.
The
Commander nodded. “It would appear so. Caella is now being held with her paramour
Sakamoto in a safe house in the country outside of the Megalopolis. We are
analyzing everything she gave us. So far, it seems to make sense.”
“You
don’t think she’s a plant, then, sir?” asked Sasha, who was at the radar at the
moment in her Black Tiger uniform.
“No,”
said Derek as he turned to Nova, who was at Analysis, and then he looked up at
the Commander. “Sir, can you download the data and codes to us?”
“We
will, as much as possible, as soon as they are all translated.” said the
Commander. “Have you spotted the
Nova
stood up, grimacing a little as she did so. “Sir, we
are tracing a radiation trail and a one-hour old intercept from the Time Radar.
We think they might be in the region where Telezart was. Could you inform
Desslok?”
“We
will do so,” said the Commander. “Do you think you might be ready to engage
them, Commodore Wildstar?”
Derek
said, “We’ve just completed some repairs. How are the preparations regarding
Task Force 2.0, sir?”
“The
Homer
sat bolt upright at his post. “Commodore! Commanding General! We are getting a
message from Desslok!”
“Now?”
said Wildstar.
“Multiplex
him in over our call,” said Singleton. “I’ll be able to speak to him, too…”
“Bringing
him up, sir,” said Homer.
A
moment later, the Commander’s image shrank somewhat on the Argo’s screen as Desslok’s image appeared in a split-screen mode.
“Wildstar,” said Desslok. “I understand you are conferring with your Commanding
General? I can see him, as well..”
“Yes,
Desslok,” said Derek. “What is happening?”
“We
have a fix on where the
Nova’s
heart sped up as she looked up at the Commander from her post. “Granted. Commodore,
I will have Captain Venture and the Task Force warp to
your location. Then you can warp in on Desslok’s coordinates!”
“What
are those coordinates?” asked Derek.
“RPG-212
by RX-322,” said Desslok as Captain Venture’s image appeared on the split
screen. Mark looked confused. “Wildstar?” he asked.
“Venture,
we need you and the Task Force. We’ve got them,” said Derek. “RPG-212 by
RX-322. If you are observant, I’m sure you can see Leader Desslok on your
screen.”
“We
shall be assisting you with over four hundred ships,” said Desslok. “Our job is
to finish off Invidia. Once and for all.”
“Derek?
Commander?” said Venture.
“Those
are my orders,” said Derek. “Mark, don’t screw this up, okay?”
“Yeah,
right,” laughed Venture. “Like I’d mess this up for the world. Once more unto
the breach we…”
“Another
signal coming in!” yelled Homer.
“What
is this? Penn Station?” said Venture irritably.
“Penn
Station?” said Desslok.
“A
place you wouldn’t want to be on Earth,” said Derek. “Long story, Desslok…”
“Good
afternoon, people,” said Invidia as she came up in a fourth panel, sitting
there smiling as she held her phone. “Did I interrupt
something?”
“Princess
Invidia, you’re about as welcome as prostate cancer right now,” snapped Derek.
“What do you want?”
“Yes,
I pray this is good,” said Desslok. “You never were very good at honoring party
invitations, Invidia. You always had this gauche’
habit of crashing parties.”
“Princess
Invidia, what do you want?” said General Singleton. “If this is some idea of a joke…”
“I wish I was
joking,” she said. “However, we know where all of you are now, thanks to his
Lordship doing me a special favor. This is my last peace offer to Earth. I am here to let you know I will be
entering the Sol System on September 4th, 2207 in your reckoning.
That gives you some time to think this over.
I make you one final offer to surrender to us and negotiate an honorable peace.
If you persist in refusing the protection of House Gatlantis of the Comet
Empire, I will be forced to attack your Planet Earth one last time. I would
prefer to enslave you, but some of my men are champing at the bit somewhat. If
we have to attack you, I cannot and will
not guarantee that the Terran race will survive another attack. Nothing and
no one on Earth would be left alive
in such a circumstance. It is not what I want
to do, but we will act if we have to. If you decide to negotiate a surrender, the Argo
will be granted safe passsge to the
Invidia
faded out as several objects appeared on Sasha’s radar. “Captain!” she cried.
“A fleet of thirty vessels just warped in! They’re Cometine ships!”
“We have
the same thing,” said Venture a moment later.
On
Desslok’s side, Talan called out, “Leader Desslok! A
R’Khell fleet has just been picked up on sensors!”
“Then
I had better leave you be,” said Singleton as he bowed his head.
The
Argo shook as several missiles
slammed into her. “First wave of missiles; hit on the starboard bow!” cried
Eager. “Second wave of missiles approachin’!”
“Signature
of vessels indicates a mixed fleet of Cometine destroyers and antimatter
missile cruisers!” cried Nova from her post.
“Range,
twelve megameters,” cried Sasha.
As
the Argo took more damage, Derek
thought, Here we go again…always at the
worst damn time, too. Always!
TO BE CONTINUED…
To Return to the Introduction to The New Comet, click here