Endgame-Act 8

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

Advisory: Includes Mature Content

Major Thanks to M.C. Crump (Max Damage) for artwork contributed to this chapter…

ACT EIGHT: THE TASK FORCES STRIKE BACK

I. EKOGARU AND GORSE GET AN ANSWER

The Vicinity of Planet Earth

The Bridge of the Cometine Antimatter Missile Ship Jajanda

Thursday, September 3, 2207

1239 Hours: Earthtime

Admiral Shakra laughed, and laughed and laughed.

“Four confirmed hits on Earth,” he said. “It won’t be long before we finish them off…no…not at all…”

A moment later, he stopped laughing as something began to phase in right before his ship’s bridge.

It was a white flash of light.

The white flash of light turned into a shape.

The shape turned into a Gamilon-Garuman dive bomber ship.

More of them appeared.

An officer on the antimatter missile ship shook his fist and yelled, “GAMILONS! DAMN YOU!”

Soon, Admiral Shakra’s ship was under attack from the Gamilon planes that had just been transported all around it by the means of SMITE.

All of his other ships were soon in the same predicament, thanks to Leader Desslok’s dive bombers, which had literally arrived in the nick of time for Earth.

Gamilon planes roared in like avenging birds of prey, and soon, many of his antimatter missile ships were burning.

A moment later, two of them were blown apart, along with some of the destroyers escorting them.

The missile barrage abruptly stopped with Earth remaining damaged but more or less intact as the Gamilons, on Desslok’s orders, thanks to precognitive visions from Astrena and Aliscea, worked overtime to begin blasting Admiral Shakra’s fleet to bits.

It also saved Earth at the most dangerous moment of the war.

At any rate, the Cometine attack upon Earth suddenly ground to a halt as the shocked Cometines soon had to face not only Gamilon planes, but Gamilon space mines strewn in their path thanks to Desslok’s SMITE technology, and they were also soon dealing with General Fraken’s interdimensional submarines as torpedoes roared in from nowhere.

Desslok had spent several days being frustrated by his failure to get Invidia, but this payback was almost as satisfying to him as blasting at the Eritz Gatlantis right now would have been.

Desslok smiled in a twisted manner on the bridge of the Excelsior as Talan told him, “Antimatter missile attack upon Earth stopped, Leader Desslok. The Second Fleet of the Earth Defense Forces is ready to back us up and is coming around their Moon, sir. The counterattack was a smashing success, Leader Desslok!”

Desslok laughed. “Excellent job, Talan. Remind me to give Fraken a decoration for his efforts with our submarine forces, my friend.”

“I’ll bet that Invidia cannot be very happy right now,” said Astrena as she came up with a smile.

“No, she is not,” said Desslok. “And I thank you and your daughter for aiding me.”

“Are you calling the Earthlings, yet?” Talan asked.

“Not yet,” said Desslok. “I’d prefer to talk to the enemy first. Connect me to the enemy flagship. Now, if you please!”

“Yessir,” said Talan.

About a minute later, Admiral Shakra received a communication from Leader Desslok from the Excelsior.

Leader Desslok, of course, greeted the Cometine general with a merry, crazed laugh.

“Good afternoon, Admiral,” said Desslok. “I am very sorry that I had to disturb your little surprise party for the Earthlings with a surprise party of my own. I hope you don’t mind the reception. It was all I could work up for you at short notice. I’m so sorry.”

“You dishonorable, vicious, showboating maniac!” yelled Shakra. “Earth had fought us and they had lost! I’ll bet they do not like your meddling in their affairs.”

“They do not mind, at least,” said Desslok. “I made them aware I was coming and they are listening now,” said Desslok on the large screen in a devastated Earth Defense Headquarters as General Singleton looked up at the split screen of their conversation. “Unfortunately, their Great Island took some damage. I will make you responsible for that little hit upon Osaka.”

“Close to another million killed,” said Shakra.

“You harmed my allies, and that makes me quite angry,” said Desslok as he nodded to Talan. Shakra watched in horror as torpedo trails came from nowhere and blew apart another six of his ships. “However, I’m sure the Earthlings are a good deal more upset at you than even I am. So, I will withdraw and leave you to the tender mercies of their Third and Second Fleets. The Aquarius and the Sagittarius and their other ships should have a bead on you right about now. If you’ll excuse me for being rude, I must leave you now. I have a little appointment to keep with my dear friend Commodore Derek Wildstar. We have a little appointment to keep with Invidia and Gorse. Namely, to send them to their funerals. I would have called Earth right now, but I am a bit busy. Please give them my regrets!”

Desslok faded out with a demonic laugh as his fleet warped away.

Shakra shook his head in rage. He thought, The blue bastard has his own sense of style. I have to grant him that!

Shakra stood up to see his Fleet in shambles. Then, he looked out at the Moon and panicked.

An Earth Defense Fleet was on its way in to finish him off.

Then, a few moments later, the Sagittarius was in firing range.

She began to fire, followed by her other escorts and sister space battleships and spacecraft carriers.

Soon, Shakra was about to warp away, but he never got to do so. A direct hit from the Sagittarius blew him and his ship to bits right as the clock ticked around to 1400 Hours Spacetime on Admiral Lee’s bridge.

With Shakra’s death, the immediate threat to Earth was blunted.

Blunted, but not stopped. A few elements of Admiral Shandara’s fleet were still scattered around the Sol System, along with elements of the R’Khell Fleet.

There were maybe seventy-five enemy ships left. At Shandara’s command, for the time being, they left the Sol System and began to retreat back to the Eritz Gatlantis.

Earth had won this battle…but at quite a cost.

II. ANOTHER CALM IN THE STORM

Planet Earth

Tokyo Megalopolis

Earth Defense Headquarters

September 3, 2207

1416 Hours

General Singleton, the Commander of the Earth Defense Forces, caught his breath as he stood alone in the earthquake-damaged Operations Room of Earth Defense Headquarters in the emergency lighting in the Tokyo Megalopolis while a stunned President Mendellsohn came to his feet near him.

“Never do that to me again, Singleton,” he gasped as he held the note in his hands.

He read it over again, shocked as he read the short note from Rear Admiral Gilliam Lee from the Sagittarius. It read:

TO CMNDING GEN SINGLETON

FROM: LEE, ADMIRAL COMBINED FLEET

ASSUMED COMMAND COMBINED FLEET. LEAVING MARS AREA TO COUNTERATTACK ENEMY MISSILE SHIPS.

HAVE RELIABLE INTEL GAMILON FLEET IN SYSTEM NEARBY.

LDR DESSLOK COMMUNICATED WITH MY FLAGSHIP. INTENDS TO USE SMITE TO STOP ANTIMATTER ATTACK UPON EARTH. INTENDS TO EXECUTE IN 320 SECONDS.

EXPECT DAMAGE ON EARTH BUT FLEET NEUTRALIZED.

DESSL ALSO HAS COURSE INTERCEPT OF ERITZ GATLANTIS.

WAR OPERATIONS EXPECTED TO END SOON.

RGRDS

LEE, GILLIAM, CMDR COMBINED FLEET, EDF

“I read that, and then I got knocked out,” said the President. “What happened?”

“Two of those missiles hit Osaka,” said Singleton as an image came up on the main screen. “Estimated death toll, maybe 750,000 in Osaka, with other casualties all throughout the Kanto Plain. We’re here, but the Great Megalopolis has taken a couple of shocks and aftershocks.”

“I wonder what else was hit,” said Mendellsohn.

Stone staggered up with a bloody bandage around his head. “Sir, teletype from the Southern Pacific.”

Singleton looked at the message and sighed. “Indonesia is destroyed, sir. Tsunami waves expected to hit Australia and New Zealand. There also seems to be some odd damage to the Gulf Stream and the energy transmission networks.”

Mendellsohn nodded as Singleton was handed another dispatch as emergency personnel came in and began to clean out the dead and injured. “Lee reports that the enemy fleet has been destroyed. The threat has been neutralized…for the moment, at any rate.”

“Except for the Eritz Gatlantis,” said Singleton.

“Yes, except for their city-ship,” replied Mendellsohn. “Do you have any idea where they went?”

“We have some leads, sir,” said Singleton as an aide came up and said, “Sir, we have word that the former Underground Headquarters has been reactivated and survived the aftershocks. I recommend we head down there.”

“Good idea,” said Singleton. “Mister President, please meet us down there.”

“Of course,” said Mendellsohn.

III. TRACKING THE ENEMY…AGAIN.

Space Battleship Argo

Twelve Lightyears Away From Earth

Thursday, September 3, 2207

2022 Hours: Standard Spacetime

Lieutenant Commander Nova Wildstar yawned hard as she leaned against a console on the Argo’s Second Bridge.

She, Sandor, Eager, and Bando had been trying to get a bead on the Eritz Gatlantis with Sasha’s help ever since about sixteen hundred hours that day.

Nova was tired, and she wondered if the two small lives within her were also tired. She felt less movement than usual, and she felt an odd sense of fullness in her pelvis.

Also, for the time being, she was unable to bear her boots any longer, so she had taken them off as she worked barefoot at a panel.

Sandor watched her working without her shoes on, and he watched her beginning to nod off. It looked rather pathetic.

“What are you doing, Lieutenant Commander?” Sandor asked quietly.

“Trying…to find that darned…Comet City,” Nova said as she yawned like a cavern and drank some more coffee. “I’m analyzing this radio intercept. I’m going to try scanning here in the NGC-53782 System to try to pick up that radiation blip that appears to…be where they show up…”

Nova began scanning, but she found only a weak blip. “They were…there…getting Berthold Radiation…looks like they warped again, darn it!” Nova wiped her eyes after involuntarily sobbing. “They were there, Steve. Now…they’re not…I…”

Sandor held Nova as she fell against him and cried. “I know it’s frustrating,” said Sandor quietly. Sasha came onto the Second Bridge a moment later.

“Is…is Auntie all right?” said Sasha.

“Your Auntie needs sleep,” said Sandor as he picked Nova up like a doll. “Sit down here and take over. It seems like they were last in the NGC-53782 System…ten lightyears away from Earth…”

“Roger,” said Sasha.

A few minutes later, Commodore Wildstar sat working in his cabin when Sandor kicked at the hatch.

Derek opened it to find Sandor standing there with a sobbing, sleepy Nova in his arms.

“What happened?” said Derek.

“Can’t find them,” Nova sobbed brokenly. “I’m useless!”

“I have a very overtired officer who needs sleep,” said Sandor. “She tells me she’s been up for nineteen hours straight now…looking for the enemy…”

“I can do it,” Nova said.

“Like hell you can,” said Derek softly. He finished his work, closed up his desk, moved the chair away, and pulled down their bunk from its stowage area in the bulkhead. “Lay her here, Steve…”

Sandor nodded, and Derek immediately began to open her uniform.

“Why are you stripping me in front of Sandor?” Nova murmured.

“You’re sweaty, and beginning to smell slightly, honey,” said Derek as he kissed Nova, pulled off her top and her bra, and then undid her pants and pulled them off her with her underwear as Sandor respectfully turned his head. Derek kissed his wife’s nude stomach and then tenderly covered her nakedness with the bedsheet. “You’re going to sleep until about…uh…0600 tomorrow morning. Then you are getting a shower and breakfast. Then I’ll see if you’re fit for duty, Nova.”

“I’m fit for duty now. What the frack is wrong with you, Derek?” Nova murmured.

“You…need rest,” said Derek as he kissed her. “Remember, you’re nine months pregnant as of now. You should be home…but…”

“We can’t be home,” Nova muttered. “War to fight…”

“Should I leave you two alone?” Sandor said.

“What is the latest news from Earth?” said Derek.

“Other than the fact that the planet was attacked by the Cometines today? Not much,” said Sandor. “Communications with Headquarters have been short and fragmentary. Something happened to the Capitol. They’re in the old Underground Headquarters now. But I’m told that a ship is on its way. Urgent dispatch for us.”

“What sort of dispatch?” yawned Derek.

“Some enemy communication that was picked up that is now being decoded,” said Sandor. “The EDF destroyer Birmingham is under orders to meet up with us here tomorrow morning…”

“I see,” said Wildstar as he stroked Nova’s hair. She was already asleep. The phone rang a moment later. Derek ran over and picked it up.

“Yes?” Wildstar said.

“This is Eager,” said the voice at the other end. “We spotted the Eritz Gatlantis in the NGC-53782 System. They were there but warped away nine hours ago. Request permission to calculate a course to that system and warp there.”

“Granted,” said Wildstar. “You and Kitano get us there, Eager.”

Derek slammed down the phone. “Another warp. Did Aliscea find anything?”

“Not yet, but we can keep on looking once we get there,” said Sandor. “Wildstar, you look tired yourself. Why don’t you get into the rack with Mrs. Wildstar and get some sleep?”

“Probably a good idea,” yawned Derek.

THE NEXT MORNING….

It was 0800 Hours on Friday, September 4, 2207. The Argo and the Task Force had warped again, and they were now in the NGC-53782 System…ten lightyears away from home.

Friday, September 4^th would be the last full day of the War, but no one knew that yet.

Nova was awake. Derek had cleaned her up and dressed her in a fresh uniform; her top, skirt, and sandals. Nova stood in the Central Strategy Room near Angie Hartcliffe (who was close to tears because she and Bryan had just had another argument even though they still did not room together) and she was trying to console the four-months pregnant young woman who was just beginning to show at her stomach when Wildstar walked in, followed by another officer in the garb of a Captain who looked vaguely familiar to Nova from somewhere.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said Derek as he looked over his officers, accompanied by Captain Mark Venture and Admiral Alex Wildstar, who had come over from their commands. “This is Commander Thomas Williams, the skipper of the destroyer Birmingham. He was in battle yesterday with the Cometine Advance Fleet, now mostly destroyed, when Admiral Yamanami died.”

“No,” Nova whispered. She looked hard at Williams and then she thought, Of course! That’s Tom from high school! I’ve told you about him, Derek. He was the man who gave me my first kiss. Long story, though…

“Captain Williams,” Derek continued, “picked up a clip of a dispatch from the Comet Empire yesterday. We don’t need to chase the Eritz Gatlantis any longer. We know exactly when they will reach the Solar System now. Captain?”

“Sir,” said Williams. “We picked up, decoded, and translated a message from General Gorse yesterday. Gorse was communicating from the Eritz Gatlantis with Admiral Shakra, his antimatter missile ship commander, a man who is now dead thanks to Desslok of Gamilon and Admiral Lee of Third Fleet. I will read you the message. It read as follows: “Shandara has the bulk of their Fleet in a slaughterhouse near their Moon. Fire two missiles at the Earth. One of them is to hit their Capitol. Then, we will hit a population center with the other one. We anticipate that Shandara will have their flagship blown apart. He will then deliver our ultimatum; surrender or die. If they refuse to surrender, then either you will wipe them out, or we will with our Magna-Flame siege cannons after we finish Desslok and the Star Force off near Pluto. We anticipate arriving at Pluto at around 0200 Hours the next day, their Standard Spacetime, after completing our final space warp from a random location. Then, we will begin our final attack…”

“0200 Hours the next day?” said Domon.

“That would be 0200 tomorrow, based on the intercepts we have on the enemy’s course,” said Sandor. “We picked them up again around Luyten 726-8…closer in than Sirius and Procyon at 8.58 lightyears away from Earth. However, Desslok has informed us that he will be waiting near Pluto. Therefore, since we know they will be stopping near Pluto at 0200 tomorrow, I recommend that we warp to the area of Pluto now to wait for them in an ambush. Captain?” he said as he looked at Derek.

“It sounds logical,” said Commodore Wildstar as he looked at Venture, who also nodded, followed by a nod from Alex. “Sandor, bring up a scan of the Eritz Gatlantis.”

Sandor and Bando did so. “It’s bigger than Zordar’s original Gatlantis city-ship,” said Sandor. “Its diameter is one hundred kilometers. Based upon information given to us by the defector Duchess Caella, it has several redundant energy centers. However, it is still trailing radiation behind it, and it has not yet reactivated its Comet Field. It is evidently still damaged from when we almost destroyed her in battle back in late August.”

“How should we attack it?” murmured Nova.

“It has a shield around its upper half,” said Commodore Wildstar. “Our first attack should be here, at its bottom, at long range, while it is stopped,” he said as he tapped the readout of the city-ship with his pointer. “I’d recommend a wave motion gun barrage at the bottom, and I’d recommend beginning by attacking that rotating belt with as many planes as we can manage.”

“The Black Tigers will be ready to go,” said Hardy. Hardy nodded at Wakefield, who then added, “The Trojans will also be ready, sir.”

“We will have many planes to launch from my carrier and the others, and I understand Desslok will aid us again with planes he will be transporting in via SMITE,” added Alex Wildstar. “Once they are stopped, we should get into position to hit the bottom of that ship with our wave motion guns…”

“When we do that, one or two barrages should destroy that city-ship,” said Derek as he tapped the screen with his pointer and a representation of a wave gun blast slammed into the Eritz Gatlantis’ underbelly and caused a computer-generated explosion. “I estimate that we should be able to finish them off some time on September 5, 2207. Then, with our mission completed, we can return to Earth.”

Derek looked his officers and men over. “Do we have any more questions?”

Everyoone stood silent. They knew now that this would be it.

“If that is the case,” said Derek. “Then, we know what to do. We’d better get ready to go into battle. Our next stop will be Pluto.”

“We can warp there at 2300 tonight,” said Nova.

“Good,” said Derek. “Prepare a course to Pluto. We’ll warp later tonight…then…we’ll attack….”

IV. THE LAST MEETING

The Eritz Gatlantis

8.58 Lightyears Away From Earth

Friday, September 4, 2207

1800 Hours: Standard Spacetime

Princess Invidia slowly walked towards what would be the last staff meeting she would share with her officers before they went into battle against the Earth forces and the Gamilons.

“This is it, Michelle,” she said. “Our last meeting with these people.”

“Who’s here?” sighed Michelle.

“Gorse. Admiral Shandara, who came back to us badly defeated. Ekogaru. All that is left of my staff…”

“Oh,” said Michelle.

The two women walked into the Throne Room. Invidia looked around, getting a very weird sense that she would not see it again after a few hours.

Gorse bowed to her and said, “Thanks to Shandara here, and his ineptitude, we have maybe ninety ships left to us, and this Fortress. He did something right, though. Our estimates are that the Earth Defense Forces are now down to something like one hundred and seventy vessels. However, the Gamilons have something like four hundred ships waiting for us in the Sol System, and it is told the Rikashans are also preparing an ambush for us. We will have maybe seven hundred ships hitting this city not long after we arrive in the Sol System, as planned, at 0200 the next morning.”

“Then why go there at all?” said Invidia.

Gorse looked at her as if she had grown two heads. “Because we can still win the war and destroy Earth. That is why. If we attack them hard, we can win. We can easily win,” he said.

Ekogaru smiled, took off his helmet…

…and before Invidia’s shocked eyes, he faded away, melted, and turned into her father! Michelle gasped at seeing this latest trick of the Dark Lord’s as he took on the outward shape of Prince Zordar and then sat down on her throne!

“What brings this on?” snapped Invidia who thought, You are cruel, Ekogaru. Cruel and sick beyond words.

“A little trick of mine,” said Ekogaru in her dead father’s voice as one of his eyes burned a strange green like a burning torch. “Your father’s spirit lives on in Me. Your father would not stop at a moment such as this. Neither will I. I counsel you both to proceed. You can still win. If we win there, then my memory shall be avenged.”

“Where is my father?” hissed Invidia. “You said he was dead!”

“Perhaps,” said Ekogaru. “Perhaps he is dead and in Hell. Perhaps he is in Paradise. Perhaps Trelaina did not kill him at all, but, instead, sent him alive to another dimension. Perhaps I met him in a pizza shop on Earth. I am not sure. I think I was drinking at the time.”

“You’re mad,” said Invidia as tears ran from her eyes at the sight of even a phantom of her father.

“Sanity never was my strong point, some say,” said Ekogaru. “Then, again, when did a Living God ever need to be sane? Now, let us proceed to plot how we might defeat these scum-masters from Earth and Gamilon.”

Gorse did so, never knowing that Ekogaru was planning, in his black heart, to abandon them at last when things would turn their worst for both sides….

V. BEGINNING OF THE LAST BATTLE

Space Battleship Argo

The Solar System

The Vicinity of Pluto

September 5, 2207

0023 Hours: Standard Spacetime

The Argo and Task Force 2.0 warped into the Sol System just a little delayed, just past midnight on September 5, 2207.

Nova Wildstar was at her post, clad again in slacks, her top, and her painful grey space boots, all ready to put on her gloves and space helmet in case the atmosphere was somehow leaked out of the Argo’s First Bridge.

Nova’s back was hurting, but she recognized the feeling by now, and regarded it as nothing more than an annoyance. Braxton-Hicks contractions, she thought in disgust. Why can’t I get a break and be able to forget that I am a pregnant Lump? We have to win this battle…or there won’t be a world for our children to be born into. That is all there is to it!

The Argo, now stripped for combat, led the Task Force around Pluto.

A few minutes later, no one in the Task Force needed the radar to see what was appearing.

Right before the Task Force, the Eritz Gatlantis faded into existence in a sudden, terrible, weird, distorted flash of golden light as it completed its final space warp into the Sol System.

“That’s it!” barked Commodore Wildstar. “Execute the plan! Black Tigers! Trojans! White Tigers and other forces! Attack!”

Klaxons went off on the Argo, the Arizona, and the other ships of the Task Force as the great battle began at 0041 Hours.

By 0102 Hours, the Black Tigers, Trojans, and other forces had been launched against the Eritz Gatlantis, which was busy firing missiles and shooting lasers and particle-beam weapons against the Task Force.

“Okay, guys!” yelled Hardy as he led the Black Tigers in against the Comet City. He found it strange that they hadn’t activated their upper shields yet.

“This should be a pretty good one,” said Gabrielle “Bangs: Capistrano from her plane. “Right, Brew?”

“Damn right,” he replied. “If we make it through this, we gotta talk. I mean, girl, we gotta talk!”

“I’ll talk to you when we’re done fighting these bastards,” laughed Bangs.

“Well, here we go,” said Deke Wakefield as he looked back at Sasha. “This is the big one!”

“I’m scared, but I’m ready,” Sasha replied.

“Ready to screw ‘em up real good, man,” said Hartcliffe from his plane.

Wakefield gave Hartcliffe a thumbs-up as they roared in towards the Eritz Gatlantis and its buildings, followed by what seemed to be hundreds of planes from the other ships.

In the Eritz Gatlantis, klaxons were going off like mad as the Tigers hit both the top of the vast installation as well as its bottom.

Gunners ran to their posts to begin fighting off the Earth planes.

The damage to the Earth forces was major. Tiger after Tiger fell in the great onslaught as missiles and energy beams fired out from the vast city-ship to try to stop the invaders.

A moment later, Gamilon planes also began to SMITE in around the Eritz Gatlantis, heralding the very timely arrival of Desslok’s Fleet.

It was about 0200 when the gas shield began to go up around the upper works of the Eritz Gatlantis as the huge belt began rotating slowly, slowly and then more quickly as the Cometine defenders of the massive Fortress began to swat away their enemies and tormentors. With many buildings burning in the city, the Black Tigers, Trojans, and Sun Tigers began to break off their attacks and began to concentrate on the bottom of the Eritz Gatlantis.

The battle was now well under way, and the Eritz Gatlantis was not about to go anywhere for the moment, especially since a heavy torpedo attack from many Gamilon planes had damaged its maneuvering thrusters.

However, Gorse and Ekogaru had not, by any means, played their last cards…

The battle was far from over…

VI. ON THE HOME FRONT…

Planet Earth

The Tokyo Megalopolis

Underground EDF Headquarters

September 5, 2207

0323 Hours: Standard Spacetime

Earth itself was strangely quiet in the dead of night over Great Island.

“We’d better defeat them, and soon,” said the Commander.

The night was far from dead, thanks to relief operations in the Great Megalopolis, and aid that was being sent to Osaka, which was devastated but far from totally destroyed, as it turned out.

Commanding General Singleton and President Mendellsohn sat drinking cup after cup of coffee as fragmentary reports came in from Pluto from Task Force 2.0.

“Sir,” reported an officer. “We’ve gotten a report in from the Argo. The Shiryu has been destroyed, and they’ve just lost three more cruisers. They are manuvering to the bottom of the Eritz Gatantis to attack it.”

The Commander nodded grimly. He looked at President Mendellsohn and said, “Do you still want to fire me?”

“No, if they can keep that Devil’s Megalopolis from coming anywhere close to Earth,” said the President. “Where is Admiral Lee?”

“We’re calling the Sagittarius now, sir,” said Singleton.

The President nodded, and he watched as Admiral Gilliam Lee, the new commander of the remaining Combined Fleet, came up on the screen.

“Admiral,” said the Commander. “Did you offer to aid Wildstar at Pluto?”

“I did,” said Lee. “He refused us, sir.”

“What?” said the President.

“Sir, Wildstar said they have the situation under control, and that Desslok’s Fleet is operating in the area along with about ten Pellian ships. He said that right now, we would just be in the way. He also said we might be needed if they launch any more fleets towards Earth.”

“A good strategy,” said Singleton.

“But, sir, something strange is going on,” said Lee.

“Which is?” said the Commander.

“Sir, we’ve seen a few Cometine ships here and there. They’ve been surrendering to us.”

“Odd,” said the President.

“Maybe not,” said the Commander. “Maybe they think that Invidia cannot pull it off and they are abandoning her…”

“Hmmm,” said the President. “That might be good…for us….”

In the meantime, at Space Station X-23, in orbit over Barnard’s Star, few of the evacuees gathered there inside the huge space station could sleep. It was much the same at the other space stations and bases to which refugees from Earth had been gathered.

EDF troops were keeping order as best as they could while crowds gathered around to hear the dispatches coming in from Pluto.

Like it or not, much of the population of Earth, both on her colonies and, back home were watching Wildstar, Venture, Desslok and their compatriots fighting the Eritz Gatlantis.

Among the anxious people waiting on Station X-23 were an exhausted Teri and Karl Forrester, who were holding their sleeping children as they heard the news coming in.

“Karl, do you think they are going to do it?” asked Teri.

“Do what?” said a sleepy Karl; since it was close to 4AM on the time scale he was operating under.

“Do you think Derek and our baby and the others can defeat that horrible Princess Invidia?” said Teri.

“Attention, we have another report from the battlefront,” said a voice over the speakers. “At 0402, Standard Earthtime, the Argo began to attack the lower portion of the Eritz Gatlantis. No other news at the moment. You will be updated as to other reports…”

“I hope we win,” said Teri as she wrung her hands. “Oh, please, God, oh PLEASE let us win this war…”

0422 Hours

Near the Eritz Gatlantis

Deke and Sasha Wakefield had their own problems as they roared beneath the Comet City to blast at several of the lower gun turrets.

Namely, a very persistent Scorpion pilot was after them like glue. Even their Marine gunner’s frequent fire could not get him off their six, even as they fired at another Scorpion who was close to attacking Brew.

“Damnit, Sasha, I wish I could get rid of this guy,” Deke snarled.

“Try moving towards the right five degrees,” said Sasha with her eyes closed as she tried to guess the enemy pilot’s next move with her clairivoyance with her eyes closed.

“Jinking five,” said Deke as he pumped missiles into the Scorpion ahead of him. It blew apart, and Deke swung up and about in a hard arc as the enemy plane continued chasing him.

Wakefield gritted his teeth, somehow aware that, one way or another, this would probably be his final battle of the whole war. In the distance, the Eritz Gatlantis was beginning to burn in several places. That both shocked and surprised him, since that horrible Thing had never yet shown any damage to that extent. Maybe we’re finally gonna finish them off, Deke thought.

“It’s going to take a miracle to get rid of this son-of-a-bitch, Sasha,” said Wakefield.

Then, a moment later, Wakefield looked back, and he saw missiles plunging into the enemy boat. “WOOOOEEE!” he yelled. “I got us a miracle, Sasha!”

“Hey, Wakefield,” said Hardy from his cockpit. “We’re wanted back on the Argo. Ah’m told a bunch of Gamilon subs just stopped that rotating belt on that damned Fortress. The fireworks are gonna be starting up soon…they want us back in the ship!”

“Roger that,” said Deke as he unloaded the last of his missiles against the Eritz Gatlantis’ lower section, creating a satisfying explosion before heading back to base.

Then, at last, at a little past 0500 Hours, he and Sasha landed back on the Argo, the tenth plane back in, landing in the upper bay while the Black Tigers landed in the lower bay.

Deke had a feeling as he got out of the Diamond Girl with Sasha that he would not be flying her again in combat…in this war, anyway.

He was right, but he would not know that for several hours…

He would have one last mission to fly, but it would be a somewhat different mission than this particular one.

He did see that there were an awful lot less in the way of Tigers and Trojans landing on the ship this time around. In fact, it turned out only fifteen Black Tigers and twelve Trojans had made it back from this mission.

It looked as if Earth was winning, but at what cost in lives?

0600 Hours Earthtime

The Vicinity of the Eritz Gatlantis

The Argo, Arizona, Princess Astra, and the North Carolina joined forces at a little after 0600 to fly under the Eritz Gatlantis and to begin bombarding the bottom of the ship to disable all of the many gun emplacements on the bottom, which they would need to have defenseless in order to finish off the city-ship at last.

The Argo was smoking from a heavy fire when she roared beneath the Eritz Gatlantis to begin firing at her with her main guns and smokestack missiles at 0608.

“How many gun emplacements are left, Nova?” snapped Derek from his post.

“I estimate maybe thirty-five. Half of them are down, I think, Derek…” Nova said as she wiped sweat off her brow. I feel worse, she thought. Those back pains are really twinging me now and I feel one of the kids kicking away in there. Alex, I think. But I can’t ask to be relieved now…not now!

Behind the Argo, the North Carolina flew on, fighting off Scorpions as she fired missiles up into the guts of the Eritz Gatlantis.

Captain Tucker Allen smiled grimly on the bridge of the North Carolina as his missiles hit home. He watched a Gamilon destroyer near him firing at the massive city-ship, and he thought, Now how long is it gonna Goddamn take us to bring this thing down? Days? Weeks? And suppose they don’t oblige us by starting to fire back something good?

In the meantime, on the Argo, Commodore Wildstar, who had taken over Combat again because Domon had been injured by some flying metal splinters when his board had been damaged, sat at his post and thought, If we can get to an opening, we can fire some wave motion cartridges up into that thing’s innards. Then, if we did that, we’d be one step closer to making this monster more vulnerable.

Derek ground his teeth as he and Sandor visually scanned the bottom of the Eritz Gatlantis for the opening from which the planes departed and entered.

Sasha was next to him at Analysis now, and he said, “You know, Sasha, I wish Desslok had told us exactly where to look this time out.”

“Uncle?” said Sasha.

“Before you were born, when we fought the original Comet City, Desslok told us where we would be able to find its weak point,” Derek explained. “Now, Desslok is helping us fight this thing, but he’s far away with his Fleet, looking for an opening to wave gun this monster like we are. If only we could kill its power at once and make it stop fighting…”

“I can’t do that,” said Sasha. “I’m already tired from helping Deekee fly…”

“I didn’t think so,” said Derek.

“But I think maybe I can tell Aliscea to try something,” said Sasha as she smiled a little.

“Let’s try it,” said Sandor as he walked over. “That Duchess Caella said this ship had several energy centers. Maybe with some or all of them down, it would be easier to fight it…”

Then, a moment later, several turrets aimed at the Argo at once and really began shooting away at her like mad.

A moment later, as Nova cried out the vectors, several Cometine destroyers flew out of the Eritz Gatlantis (revealing the hatch’s location at last; a location that Nova carefully plotted and wrote down in her discomfort) and began blasting at the Argo without mercy, accompanied by about eight of the heavy gun emplacements on the Eritz Gatlantis’ lower half. It was now about 0700 hours.

The Argo’s bridge went dark for a moment as Kitano’s board went up. Derek grabbed him and saved him from a fatal wound. Wildstar himself emerged unwounded, but Kitano moaned from damage to both of his arms.

Eager had been thrown to the deck. Nova ran over to help him while Derek held Kitano.

From her post at Engineering, Diane Henson cried out, “Skipper. The main engine is dead!”

“Get it fixed, PDQ!” snapped Derek.

“Yessir,” she said as she saluted and ran

Then, a moment later, Sandor said, “There’s more trouble, Wildstar. Several electrical circuits are out. We’re only going to have auxiliary engines for the next thirty minutes until Henson, Orion and I get everything fixed.”

“Get to it!” Derek cried.

Then, a moment later, the Argo’s main screen lit up as morbid laughter echoed across the bridge.

“You’re…you’re dead!” yelled Wildstar as he looked up…

..and he saw Prince Zordar glaring down at him with two burning green eyes.

“Am I dead?” said the mocking, deep voice. “Or is it you who are about to die, Wildstar?”

“Ekogaru,” hissed Sasha. “So all of this is your doing?” she demanded as Nova felt the familiar, morbid, dead sense of cold radiating off the main video panel.

“I am the living spirit of Zordar,” mocked the Dark Lord. “Zordar as he should have been. An utter fanatic, believing in spiritual powers and resources that I routinely bend to my will. If Trelaina saw all of the powers of Good, well, I see all of the powers of Evil and of Death. I can hold off Death; I can stopper it forever with my powers and my will. All you have to do is call this off and bow down and worship Me. I really think that you have no alternative right now, Derek and Nova. No. None at all. This is the end for you. The end of the war. Why? Because I am about to win.”

“You’re going to win?” Nova said tiredly. “Don’t you think there are people here who can and will stop you?”

“Ahhh….you read me wrong, you stupid mortal. I know of things that you could never have dreamed of whilst crawling up from the slime and scum of your existence, you insane insect.”

“If I’m insane, what does that make you?” Nova said. “Sane?”

“I am God. I determine what is sane and what is not sane. I am the new arbitrator of good and evil. I am the sole arbitrator of who lives and dies…”

“Ekogaru, I think I liked Zordar better than you,” said Derek. “And that is not saying much…”

To Nova’s shock, Invidia slipped into the edge of the frame and nodded right at her with a smile and a wink.

What is she doing?” Nova thought.

Then, Invidia pointed at Ekogaru-in-the-shape of Zordar, twirled a finger next to her own head as if to say ‘I know he’s crazy’ and then, she nodded at Nova, made a motion with her hand as if to say ‘keep him ranting’, and then, she pointed at Ekogaru and slid a finger across her own throat.

Nova looked at Invidia as if to say, ‘What the heck?” and then, Invidia nodded, smiled, and gave Nova a thumbs-up and slipped out of the frame.

Nova Wildstar ignored her latest set of pains, bit her lip, and thought, She is saying he is crazy, she knows it, keep him talking, she means to kill him, good job?

Nova whispered in Derek’s ear while Ekogaru kept on ranting, “Derek, Invidia told me something?”

“Oh?” he whispered back. “She wasn’t just playing Charades like an idiot?”

Nova whispered back, “I think she said she’s sick of him, knows he’s crazy, keep him ranting, she wants to kill him?”

“I wish her luck,” said Derek sardonically. “Of course, we want her dead, too…”

“Yes, but if she could get rid of him for us, Derek…should I call Aliscea?”

“I already have,” said Sasha in a whisper as Ekogaru continued to rant. “She’s trying to kill the power on that thing while that looner Ekogaru rants…”

“Yes, you fools, I am the Master,” he said. “I am the Greatest of all, you are naught but dirt on my boot. I can give you mortals new life; all you need to do is surrender and recognize how great I am, I…”

“Blah, blah, blah, blah,” whispered Nova. “Liar, liar, pants on fire…”

Maybe if he keeps talking, he won’t realize his own lackeys are plotting against him…and so are we, thought Derek. Keep on talking, big guy!

VII. THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF GATLANTIS

The Vicinity of Pluto

The Eritz Gatlantis

September 5, 2207

0926 Hours: Standard Spacetime

The battle was now nine hours old.

The Eritz Gatlantis had already taken heavy damage.

The armored belt had been stopped, and power had been lost to the Magna-Flame siege cannons, but Gorse had told Invidia that technicians were working on trying to get the heavy siege guns working again.

Princess Invidia did not believe him, especially since she saw ships and fighters slowly beginning to leave the Eritz Gatlantis while the city shook from the occassional explosion.

The city was now burning in about ten places, and smoke was trailing off the massive ship in a long trail.

The great terror of space was slowly becoming a white elephant. Invidia noticed that the Gamilons seemed to be slackening off in their attacks, and were slowly beginning to move their forces down towards the bottom of the Eritz Gatlantis.

I think I know what they’re doing, she thought while nodding at Michelle. They mean to attack us from the bottom while Ekogaru here continues to rant. Now I know he was just using us. If he were here to aid us, he would have done something already. Gorse has tried to get his attention twice and he just shoved him away. Ekogaru is not on our side, and he is not on their side. He is on his own side. And to think I let my people die and had so many of my ships ruined for his sake!

“This stops now,” Invidia whispered in Michelle’s ear. “I’m going to kill him, and kill Gorse. Then, I will assume the shape of Katrina and take you out of here with me, forever.”

“And let them attack?” whispered Michelle.

Invidia nodded. “I release you from your vows to me and from my service,” she whispered. “You are granted your freedom. You can go home to Earth.”

“Where will you go?” whispered Michelle.

“Somewhere,” said Invidia. “I do not know. But this City is doomed. It has sealed its own doom, attacking Earth. We deserve it. I should die with them, perhaps…just go to my quarters and allow them to blow me apart with this ship…”

“I want you to live,” whispered Michelle. “I…I love you, Princess. I want you to leave with me.”

“Where would you go?”

“I don’t know yet,” said Michelle. “Any…anywhere but here…”

“Good plan,” said Invidia as she slowly took off her Royal Pin and put it in a small pocket of her cape. Then, she slipped up behind Ekogaru, who was holding up a Crystal Sphere as he ranted.

That thing is important to him, Invidia thought. If I smash it, maybe he dies…

Invidia jostled Ekogaru, almost as if she was hugging her “father” again.

He stopped ranting as, before the eyes of the Star Force, Invidia took his Sphere from his hands….

And then, as he roared, howled, and the features of Zordar began to blur and melt, Invidia threw the Sphere into the deck as hard as she could.

It clinked, clanked, and rolled away.

Ekogaru melted into the shape of something that looked like a Monster and he jumped for his precious Sphere.

Invidia rolled onto her butt, kicked the Dark Lord as hard as she could, and then she grabbed the Sphere again, ignoring, in her rage, all of the weird feelings and sensations that went through her as she prepared to throw the Sphere as hard as she could against one of the marble walls.

Right as she did so, she screamed and fell…because Gorse had just shot her.

“PRINCESS!” screamed Michelle as the lights went out in the Throne Room and dim light came up from the emergency lights. The lights indicating that a comm signal was going out went out as guards ran into the room and sirens began to go off.

“WHERE IS SHE???” roared Ekogaru as he came up before Michelle, looking like a Spectre of Living Death with a skull for a face.

Michelle could not speak. Ekogaru struck her twice across the face in the near-dark. Then light filled the room again as more shots rang out.

Michelle screamed as Ekogaru’s Shade vanished, taking the Sphere with him. She was expecting to find Invidia dead.

Instead, coughing up blood, but leaning over Gorse with triumph written across her face was Invidia, who had Changed into Katrina in the near-darkness.

Katrina then grabbed Michelle and said, “We have to go to my suite…for one last time,” she said as she began to undo Invidia’s cape and ball it up.

“Where are we going?” cried Michelle.

“Earth,” said Invidia. “I’ll use that warping fighter we have left over from the Pellians. If Caella was able to run and find asylum on Earth, then I can run with you and I can find asylum as Katrina Savela.”

The Eritz Gatlantis shook hard as even the emergency lights flickered. “What was that?” screamed Michelle.

“Where is the Princess?” yelled one of the guards. “The energy centers are going up! And all of the fleets are gathering at the bottom of the ship!”

“She left,” lied Katrina. “Ekogaru and Gorse tried to depose her, but she kept her Throne to the end,” said Katrina as some of the curtains in the Throne Room began to burn. “We should run before it is too late!”

“Yes, Leftenant Savela,” said the guard, who did not question why the Pellian was still wearing Invidia’s red and pink gown.

At that, Katrina and Michelle ran.

A moment later, thanks to the psychic power expended by Aliscea from the Arizona, the last energy center in the Eritz Gatlantis went dead forever in a massive explosion. It was one of three that had been on line, and it had been the last one functioning.

The mighty, terrible city-ship was now running on batteries and energy cells, and it was slowly shutting down and dying like a sickened beast at last.

It was 1100 Hours, Standard Earth Space-Time.

And, the Eritz Gatlantis was finally going dark.

The ship finally began to shut down at that point.

And, at that point, many of her crew began to abandon her like rats.

Other crew members committed suicide.

Still others fought on.

Somehow, a few ragged missiles were fired from the Eritz Gatlantis at around 1102 Hours as the rotating belt started up again, powered by some auxiliary power source.

One of them hit the Nagato, which took severe damage and had to retire at last from the battle.

A battle was going on in space near Pluto and near the stricken ship, because some Rikashan ships, led by Lord Anton Cha’rif, had arrived to aid the Terrans, Gamilons, and the Iscandarians in the great battle.

However, some R’Khells had arrived on the scene instead.

They had gone berserk and had begun to attack everyone, even Cometines who had signalled their non-hostile intentions to the Earthlings with white lights and tried to flee.

Wildstar had let a few of them flee until some of them had started shooting at the Argo, which had just had its main engine repaired, thanks to great work by Sandor and by Diane Henson, who would later be decorated for their great work under fire.

The Cometine ships, though, kept right on coming.

They got no mercy from the First Star Force a few minutes later as the Argo fired back at them, accompanied by her escorts, namely, the faithful EDF destroyers Birmingham and Stuttgart.

Again and again the Argo fired, manuevering again at speed with Nova at the helm now, since Eager was at the radar.

A few enemy ships were demolished as the Argo went back on the offensive.

Nova ignored the pains in her back and her lower stomach now, and she ignored how much her boots hurt her as she worked the helm hard at Derek’s barked orders. As pale as she looked, and as sick as the heavily pregnant woman looked, she was a very good navigator-pilot.

The Princess Astra backed the Argo and the Arizona up as the three ships manuevered under the Eritz Gatlantis and found the North Carolina, several cruisers, and some Gamilon-Garuman Desslok-gun equipped ships waiting for them along with some Gamilon destroyers.

Soon, their last resistance was forced away. A few fighters emerged from the Eritz Gatlantis, but Derek ignored them as he stood up and barked, “For the last time! Nishina! Aim all guns at the Comet Empire! ALL GUNS!”

The Argo and her escorts blasted away in a massive broadside that finally destroyed the armored belt for good.

Then, Derek ordered a heavy, general bombardment of the Eritz Gatlantis from all sides that lasted for several minutes.

It was a great, terrible, massive bombardment that blew apart towers, buildings, tubeways, and knocked out emergency power stations, workshops, housing facilities, dockyards, hangars, and command centers all throughout the Eritz Gatlantis.

Approaching the battle scene at last, even Desslok was shocked and surprised by the ferocious attack of the approximately thirty-two remaining ships of Task Force 2.0, which had taken heavy losses in this campaign.

They were soon joined by the Rikashans, and by other Gamilon ships that broke off from Desslok’s fleet to aid the Task Force against the dying Fortress.

But, the greatest damage was yet to come, even as the Eritz Gatlantis slowly continued to die…

VIII. A FINAL DEVASTATION

The Vicinity of Pluto

The Eritz Gatlantis

September 5, 2207

1202 Hours: Standard Spacetime

In a suite that she knew she would never be returning to again, Princess Invidia, still in the shape of Katrina Savela, savagely threw her Royal Pin on her bed and she then tore off all of her clothes, dress, boots, slip, undergarments, everything.

She shocked Michelle when she stood there naked and very alone.

“Do you mean to flee here like that?” said Michelle.

“No, but I am taking off almost everything that can trace me back to this place,” she said. She then threw her Royal Pin into a small flight bag and began to dress in the deceased pilot Katrina Savela’s underwear, socks, flight suit, and boots. Invidia ignored a horrible, bloody wound in her side (from the shot that Gorse had given her) as she dressed, and then connected a small data unit to a computer. It bleeped, buzzed, and then the readout went green.

“That is?” said Michelle.

“My wealth,” said Katrina. “Credits I transferred out of our central bank. I will take them to Earth with me. Now, get out of that uniform and into your Terran clothes. Do it as quickly as you can! We do not have much time!” yelled Katrina as she gritted her teeth when she saw the Argo firing at a tower a few hundred meters below theirs.

Michelle also stripped off all of her Cometine clothes and dressed again in a skirt, her sandals, and a sweater. Then, she helped Katrina out of the room and they took off for a lift.

When they were down several levels, a direct hit from one of the Argo’s guns blasted through the glassteel window into what had been Invidia’s suite, destroying her Cometine gowns, dresses, slips, wine glasses, and bath in a holocaust of fire that was horrible. Invidia had just escaped the holocaust by maybe five minutes.

Katrina and Michelle found an aircar and sped down one of the tubeways, with Invidia driving as fast as she could since the Arizona had found the tubeway above them, and she was blasting at it like crazy.

Katrina and Michelle then went down a lift deep into the Eritz Gatlantis’ vitals even as the Task Force kept on firing at the stricken vessel.

“Finish off the upper portion!” yelled Commodore Wildstar on the Argo’s bridge.

Derek stood and continued yelling as he snapped,

“Still all of those damned guns and missiles forever! Make that thing unable to do anything! Make it helpless! Take out your revenge on that damned thing!”

The Task Force kept on blasting onwards as it slowly went below the ecleptic of the Eritz Gatlantis for the final time as the ship was surrounded by a ring of fire.

The Task Force surrounded the ship, as Desslok’s forces took formation below it behind the mighty, terrible shape of the Excelsior.

“Now, Talan, comes the final moment we have waited for for years,” said Desslok.

“Yessir,” Talan replied.

Dellar ran onto the bridge, utterly excited. “Father! What are you doing?”

“Ending the war at last,” said Desslok. “As soon as Wildstar and the Rikashans are ready…I intend to fire the Hyper-Desslok gun.”

“Bring up the Hyper-Desslok gun!” snapped Talan.

The deadly firing grip whizzed up on its motor.

“Target, Eritz Gatlantis,” said Desslok. “Talan, connect me through to the Argo and to Lord Cha’rif’s Rikashan flagship, the B’eoneraze. I want this done just right!”

“Yessir,” said Talan.

“Incoming call from Desslok,” said Homer.

Derek and Nova stood up as they looked up at the Gamilon Leader. “Yes, Desslok?” said Derek.

“Wildstar,” said Desslok with a bowed head. “The time has come. Get your forces below the Eritz Gatlantis at RPX-212 and fire right into that opening in the center. I will fire behind you at an angle, and Lord Cha’rif has agreed to take the other side. The Eritz Gatlantis must be destroyed now before it can ever rise again. This war must end today. I have had enough of it.”

“As have I, Desslok,” said Derek.

Desslok smiled and the screen went dark.

Nova smiled at Derek as she nodded. “Take us down to RPX-212, Nova. Then, let Eager take the helm. You have done enough flying for today…”

More pain hit Nova as a slow conclusion began to come to her mind. These may not be Braxton-Hicks Contractions, she thought. I might actually be…no…can’t stop now! Have to finish this!” she thought. Nova smiled weakly and said, “Derek, what do you want me to do?”

“Help me fire the wave gun,” said Derek.

“I will help you,” Nova said as she smiled.

Katrina and Michelle had found the Pellian warp fighter. They boarded it as the lights went bright and dark all around them and as people panicked and began to run.

“We’re in,” gasped Katrina. “Let’s go…”

“Takeoff!” cried Michelle.

The warp fighter roared down the runway at full power, its exhaust terribly bright in the darkened landing bay as it roared up, down, and out of the Eritz Gatlantis forever.

A moment later, Michelle looked at the radar and cried out. “Someone’s chasing us!”

“Who?” gasped Katrina.

A hated voice came over the radio a moment later. “Invidia. We know what you are up to. You will never escape!”

“GORSE!” cried Invidia.

“Yes,” he said as he roared after them in a Scorpion fighter. “I have left Admiral Shandara in command. As your new Prince, I have sentenced you to death for treason for attacking Lord Ekogaru and myself. The sentence will be executed at once!”

“NO!” cried Katrina. “NO!”

Katrina and Gorse flew right towards the Argo.

From his post at the Cosmo-Radar, Eager cried out, “Two ships approachin’ the Argo at high speed on our port side, headin’ from the bow to the stern! I’m readin’ one as a Pellian fighter, the other as a Comet ship!”

“Pulse lasers, open fire!” barked Derek. “Let the Pellian ship pass first!”

A moment later, the pulse lasers began to fire.

Gorse’s ship was hit and blown apart. General Gorse finally died screaming in flames.

The fireball that had been his Scorpion blew apart. Part of the debris hit Katrina’s plane and knocked it spinning right into the port side upper fighter bay in a fireball as it shattered.

Jefferson Hardy, who had been sitting at Deke Wakefield’s desk completing some paperwork, heard a blast and looked up just in time to see Katrina, her flight suit on fire, flung onto his desk with a loud thump by the explosion.

Katrina’s helmet flew off and she looked right into Hardy’s eyes with a very dazed, pain-filled look on her face.

“What the hell is goin’ on?” yelled Hardy.

“I have crashed…” gasped Katrina. “Ran from the Comet Empire…prisoner…an officer chased me…please help….Earth girl I rescued…”

Hardy sprayed Katrina with a fire extinguisher right before she passed out. Then, he saw Michelle lying at the door of his office like a broken doll, unconscious and pitiable, with her sweater halfway torn off. She was bleeding all over the place.

Hardy immediately picked up his phone, punched in Sickbay and said, “This is the upper port fightuh bay! We need medics, fast! Two wounded women in mah office! Looks like some kinda Pellian plane crashed out in the bay! Get damage control up heahg, too! Theh’s burnin’ fuel of some kind all over the damn place!”

Hardy’s report of the crashed Pellian fighter (and the would-be refugee Cometine Princess in disguise who had landed on his desk!) was barely heeded on the Argo’s First Bridge.

The reason why was because Task Force 2.0 was finally assembled to begin firing their wave motion guns at the bottom of the Eritz Gatlantis at last.

On the First Bridge, the whining charge-up sequence had just begun with the power level at 75%.

“All ships,” barked Commodore Wildstar in what would be a ship-to-ship linkup. “Prepare to fire on my mark! Our target is the lower portion of the Eritz Gatlantis!”

At the helm, Nova held back another sharp pain as she flicked some switches and said, “Control is transferred to your station, Derek.”

“Right on target,” he said as he looked through the target scope with his flash goggles on. “Nova, come here now and kneel down by me.”

Nova nodded, pulling down her goggles and holding Derek’s hand as it was around the firing grip. “Yes?” she said.

“Nova, this might be the end of the War at last,” he said. “Pray they don’t get away this time. Pray that these shots that our fleet, Desslok’s fleet, and the Rikashans will fire into this ship will finish it off for good!”

“I will, Derek…I love you,” Nova gasped as she gritted her teeth while hugging him.

“Are you all right?” Derek whispered.

“False labor pains…I’m fine…but my ankles hurt…please let me take off these boots when we get done…and just go barefoot until I have our babies,” she whispered. “I do not think it will be long now…”

“I’ll take those boots off you right when we’re finished and we stand down,” Derek whispered. “Then, later on, I will personally paint your toenails for you because everyone will see them…”

“Thanks,” Nova whispered back as she pointed to the energy indicator.

“Energy level at eighty percent!” Derek barked. “Two minutes to firing! Open safety lock!”

“Main safety lock open!” barked a voice from below.

“Leader Desslok, we are in position!” said Talan on the bridge of the Excelsior. “Two minutes to firing,”

“Now, Invidia,” said Desslok. “Your arrogance…your House’s arrogance, it will end forever. I intend to take command of what remains of your forces as the reigning Prince of House Gatlantis and add your worlds to my domain. I have finally triumphed!”

Desslok stared into his Hyper-Desslok cannon’s firing scope as Astrena ran up with a message. “Desslok!” she said. “A call is coming in! Another ship intends to help us attack the Eritz Gatlantis.”

“Another ship?” said Desslok. “It will be welcome, I guess. He had better not get into our firing path…Wildstar and Cha’rif and I planned this carefully.”

“Desslok…they are out of our path…at the Eritz Gatlantis’ ecleptic. It is the Purification…”

“Radnar?” said Desslok with his eyebrows going up.

“Yes, Radnar,” said Astrena. “He says…he intends to swear fealty to you when this is over, Desslok…”

“Now, this makes things interesting,” said Desslok.

“This is it!” said Paul Rosstowski on the Arizona as a tired Aliscea knelt by him, hugging him with her goggles on above her black dress as he prepared to fire. “Thirty seconds to firing!”

“Hold course, steady as she goes,” said Captain Mark Venture from his post.

On the Argo, Derek Wildstar cried out, “Mark! Alex! Everyone else! Begin ten-second countdown! Ten…nine…eight…seven…six…”

On the Excelsior, Desslok said, “five…four…three…two…one…”

Then, aboard many Terran, Gamilon, one Iscandarian, many Rikashan, and one Cometine ship, many voices; the voices of Derek Wildstar, Alex Wildstar, Mark Venture, Leader Desslok, Lord Anton Cha’rif, and Baron Radnar all cried out at once, “FIRE!”

And, on several ships at once, a large group of Wave Motion Guns, Hyper-Desslok Cannons, DI‘ATS Cannons, and one Cometine Magna-Flame Siege Cannon all went off at once.

Many beams of energy blasted fourth and combined into four great energy beams; blue for the Terrans and Iscandarians, pink for the Gamilons, green for the Rikashans, and orange-white for the Cometines now loyal to Desslok.

Many beams of energy smashed into the Eritz Gatlantis at long last.

Aboard the Eritz Gatlantis, Admiral Shandara screamed as he felt his body melting into nothingness.

Soon, the Eritz Gatlantis went up, quickly and dramatically, turning into a literal new star that was now in orbit of Pluto as the first of many sudden sunrises came up on the cold little planet; a planet that, while cold, would become far warmer, with an average surface temperature around 32 degrees Fahrenheit, or about zero degrees Centigrade.

The reason why?

The Eritz Gatlantis was smashed, destroyed, and compressed into a critical mass by all of its enemies’ beams slamming into her at once.

The Eritz Gatlantis, indeed, would seem to endure forever…

…but it would endure forever as a brand-new artificial sun.

A sun created when the Second Cometine War finally ended at last at 1305 Hours Standard Spacetime on September 5, 2207.

And, with that explosive ending, the threat to many planets was gone.

Dyre and Gorse were dead.

Invidia was a critically wounded exile.

And Ekogaru had vanished for parts unknown.

At last…peace had begun.

And peace felt great.

There was great cheering on the Argo as Derek and Nova pulled each other’s goggles off, kissed, and twirled around in a hug in great happiness. Then, Derek carried Nova back to her usual post at the radar, pushed her chair back, and sat her down, and tenderly removed her boots just as he had promised.

Nova smiled, close to sobbing in Derek’s arms as she felt another twinge in her stomach.

“It’s over?” she whispered.

“It’s over,” Derek said.

“Good,” Nova said. “Now take me home so we can have our children…”

“I’ll do it as soon as I can manage,” he said. “We have a lot to clean up. The crew is pretty battered from this battle, and so is the ship. But, we’re on our way home now. The mission is over, Nova. I promise you that.”

“I love you,” Nova whispered.

“I love you too…Mom…” said Derek.

“Dad,” she whispered back.

IX. GASPING FOR BREATH AT LAST

The Vicinity of Neptune

Space Battleship Argo

Saturday, September 5, 2207

1550 Hours: Earthtime

All told, the defeat of the Ertiz Gatlantis took somewhere around twelve hours.

Aboard the Argo, when Commodore Wildstar and Task Force 2.0 were finally staring at burning gas and debris, Sandor said, “What a cost in lives…a hundred and thirty-five ships lost here, before us…and the Gamilons lost…how many, Nova?”

Nova took a deep breath; she shut her eyes as a cramp ran through her body, all the way down to her toes, which were still bare. To her, the footplate under her radar suddenly felt a little cold. Annoying, this false labor, she thought. Wish we could have had this battle two weeks ago? “I’ve been keeping count, Steve,” she said. “The Gamilons and Garuman lost one hundred and forty ships; the Pellians lost thirty, and the Rikashans lost eighty-two. I’m glad we delivered the last blow, but if it wasn’t for them…and we had met that fleet and Invidia by ourselves…”

“I don’ wanna think about that?” said Eager from the helm. “Nova, you all right? Ya look real pale!”

“Hmmmmhhh,” she said. “I think my son just gave me a good shot,” she added.

“How do you know it was our son?” said Derek as he came up after he shrugged his peacoat and ascot off.

“You’ve seen the ultrasound, silly. Our son is the impatient one, like you,” said Nova as she wiggled her toes under the radar console. “Our daughter’s the quieter one, like…”

“Who says you’re quiet?” teased Nishina from the Artillery console. “Hey, Homer, is your girlfriend gonna be like that?”

Homer shrugged. “I haven’t even gotten to third base with Wendy, yet. The Wildstars are picking up a grand slam from out of the stands.”

“Very funny,” snapped Derek. “Nova, are you okay?”

Nova’s face contorted a little. “I’m fine…the kids must be really active. Barring a head break, you know I’ve been here for the entire battle. Now I can’t wear shoes…my ankles are so swollen…”

“We don’t mind,” said Eager. “We’ve stood down from alert. Nothin’s gonna hurt us now…”

“Good thing they sent food up here,” said Commodore Wildstar.

“Communication from Lord Cha’rif,” said Homer.

“Switch it to the video panel,” said Wildstar.

The crew was shocked, a moment later, when an image came up on the screen. It was the bridge of the B’eoneraze, which, of course, was still Lord Anton Cha’rif’s flagship after all of these years. They were shocked because it looked as if fires were burning in the background. They shivered as they saw Rikashans carrying a dead crewman from his post. They could tell he was dead because half of his head was gone.

The Lord of the Rikashan Federation was still in his white and black uniform, but he held a bandage to a bleeding head wound. “Forgive my appearance, Commodore,” he said formally. “I was personally wounded in the final stage of the battle, when we took that barrage from the Comet ship as we attempted to attack her. The barrage, which killed so many of my…”

“Lord Cha’rif, no one blames you,” said Derek. “You’ve more than done your part. Desslok and I might not be here now if you hadn’t warped in behind that R’Khell fleet and attacked them…”

“Aye, then it goes well, does it not?” said Cha’rif with a smile. “But, you are aware I should have seen it coming. Are my powers declining?”

“I can’t say,” said Derek.

“I correct myself. My powers are not declining. I sense that the Argo and her crew are badly wounded. Correct?”

“Yes,” said Derek. “We had intended to remain here, make repairs, and oversee the repairs to my own fleet…and aid the…”

“You need not worry about the Gamilons. Desslok and I, at long last, have finally learned to trust each other with our lives. We are assisting each other with repairs. He is talking about placing us deeper in the structure of the Alliance. So Rikasha redeems itself fully in the eyes of the Cosmos, at last. If I were you, I would get your wounded back to Earth, and turn command of your Fleet over to your Captain Venture…Argo is damaged, and I do sense that soon you will have plenty to concern you, on a more personal level.”

Nova nodded. “I see what he means.” She shakily stood up. “Let me get down to Sick….”

“No,” said Derek.

Nova looked at him oddly as her face contorted again. “What?”

“By all that is holy,” said Cha’rif. “She is still with child?”

“Two of them, and they’re frisky,” said Nova. “Remember, I had to go into freeze after Invidia tried to kill us and Desslok in the open at the Melezart Conference?”

Cha’rif smiled. “More than frisky. “

Nova raised an eyebrow.

“Some things, you shall soon discover on your own. I shall speak to Desslok on your behalf. He can meet you on Earth tomorrow…”

“We’re not expecting to go to Earth,” snapped Derek.

“Your ship is badly damaged. I would advise it. As a friend. I strongly advise it!”

“Why?” said Derek.

“A hunch. A hunch from an old R’jkharraz of Rikasha. Farewell, my friend.”

At that, Cha’rif cut off.

“I can’t relinquish my command of this Task Force,” said Derek. “There might still be enemies about…”

“I’ve been looking at the damage to the ship,” said Sandor. “Our #1 and #3 oxygen supply units are damaged, and I’ve had to cut them down to 20% load. #2 is supplying most of the atmosphere for this ship. The first and third main turrets are badly damaged, and the radar and sonar systems were damaged. And we can no longer launch planes from the lower hangar bay, and one main power switching board is out. If #2 goes dead, we’d be on battery power with a dying ship. I strongly advise you to husband the Argo’s resources to get her home to a dockyard, Wildstar. Venture’s ship is now in far better condition to act as a flagship than we are…”

“Then I can transfer my flag to the Arizona,” said Derek.

“The battle’s over,” said Sandor as Nova’s lips curled again. “We only have to worry about getting everyone home and the mechanics of Radnar and Desslok making peace. Venture can do that.”

Derek stood quietly for a moment, lost in thought. Then, holding Nova’s hand as they walked over to Domon’s post, Derek shifted the young man aside so he could activate the intership comm unit as he called Sickbay. “Doctor Sane, final count of casualties?”

“Twenty-nine wounded, eighteen of them seriously, and sixteen dead. I have seven men and women waiting to go into surgery now. Where’s Nova?”

Derek looked at his wife’s pale face and made what would later prove to be a very wise decision. “On the bridge. But…”

“DEREK!” cried Nova as a look of shock, horror, fear, and delight all at once ran across her face as tears sprang from her eyes.

“Nova?”

She laughed nervously and trembled as she walked a few shaky steps and then abruptly fell to her knees on the deck near her post and then lay on her back, grasping at the deck. And, as Derek knelt near her, he suddenly noticed wet trails going down her legs, even under her pants. And she was she was gasping for air.

“What’s wrong with Nova?” screamed Sane over the speakers. “I’m very busy down here.”

Nova’s face contorted, and she fell onto her butt onto the deck in sudden pain, trembling as her body reacted again and a sudden strong smell came up.

In her pants, Nova’s bowels and bladder had just let go like a baby’s. Yet, she was smiling a little.

It’s happening! Nova thought with mixed fear and delight. It’s finally happening! I’m….

I’m in labor, she thought in awe. I’m going to have these kids! RIGHT NOW!

Derek ran to his wife, his face filled with sudden concern. He was followed by the rest of the bridge crew.

Nova then bit her lip and looked up, and said, “Derek, there are things you have to do. Now.”

“What…what things?” he said as part of his mind connected with the reason why the crotch of her uniform pants was suddenly very wet, and why a clear fluid was running out of the cuffs of her pants, even down to the tips of her toes, mixed with bits of other substances even less pleasant.

Nova contorted again, squeezed her husband’s hand, and said, “Derek, you have to get me out of here. NOW!”

“Why?”

She looked at him, weakly, and then smiled a little as she said. “Derek, I’m in labor. I’m having heavy contractions! The babies are on their way! RIGHT NOW!”

ACT NINE WILL BE CONCLUDED WITH THE NEXT CHAPTER: “BIRTHDAY!! (NOVA’S SMILES, NOVA’S TEARS)”

To Return to the Introduction to The New Comet, click here