ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE

STAR BLAZERS---A STRANGE INTERLUDE…

Being the fifth 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 THREE: A NEW TERROR IN THE SKIES…


I. SNEAK ATTACK

Space Battleship Argo

EDF Saturn-Titan Space Station

Saturday October 4, 2206

1823 Hours: Earthtime


The Argo was caught in the worst of possible situations as the ship fell under attack while she was locked into space dock, and under repairs.

“Second bridge hit!” called out Sandor. “Heavy damage!”

“The cruiser next to us just took another hit from enemy missiles,” said Becker from the Cosmo-Radar as Wildstar ran onto the bridge.

“The main deck has just taken a hit ahead of the forward gun turret,” said Sandor. “Damage repair parties to the deck level.”

“Port side pulse lasers ready. Smokestack missiles ready,” said Domon.

“Open fire,” said Wildstar. “Defend the ship and the base!”

The Argo fired her pulse lasers and missiles at a wave of approaching Scorpions. Many were hit, but one of them kamikazed right into the Argo’s side, causing more damage even as Yamazaki worked to bring up power.

“We have to sortie and get away from this dock!” snapped Wildstar.

“I’m working on auxiliary power now,” said Yamazaki. “I can’t get power on the wave motion engine until we finish installing that manifold!”

“Is it aboard?”

“Yes, luckily,” said Sandor. “Henson, Bando, and IQ-8.9 are working on putting it in now. But the best power we can give you are the auxiliary engines and keel jets.”

The sound of the auxiliaries coming up resounded through the Argo’s superstructure as another missile hit the ship. “I can get us aloft in a hundred and eighty seconds,” said Yamazaki.

“We may not have a hundred and eighty seconds!” said Wildstar.

“I’m doing our best,” said Yamazaki as he sweated and worked. “Kitano, make ready to free us from the dock and give her all you’ve got when we have power!”

Wildstar added, “All hands! When we sortie, we’ll attack that enemy fleet…and then…see what is going on near Earth!”

“Aye, aye,” said Kitano as he wiped sweat from his brow.

Soon, enemy planes came at the Argo from above. Domon said, “Main guns on target!”

“Fire!” said Wildstar.

The ship’s guns went off, and many of the enemy planes were blown apart in Titan’s murky atmosphere.

A moment later, the Argo began to lift off.


“Sir,” said General Stone a terrible forty-five minutes later as he turned to Commander Singleton while a huge group of officers watched the devastation over Earth. “The Second Fleet reports they are seven minutes away from intercept of the enemy fleet. We just tried an attack with a bank of battle satellites, but have achieved only minor damage. The defense missile battery in Southern New Jersey is almost ready to be fired.”

“Stone, where is the Star Force?” demanded Singleton.

“The Argo reports they are under attack on Titan but are attempting to sortie,” said another officer. “They report medium damage to the Argo, and the loss of two cruisers near them at their moorings.”

“Sir, another burst of energy is about to hit Earth!” reported another officer in Earth Defense Headquarters. “Projected impact point; the Pocono Mountains.”

The energy burst slammed into one of Earth’s forests a moment later as Singleton bowed his head and ground his teeth. “This is outrageous,” he said. “I never thought that they would strike quite like this…I thought only Zordar and Ekogaru were that mad…”

“Sir, the President is on the line,” said General Stone.

Singleton and the others saluted as President Mendellsohn came on the videophone. “Hiram, where’s the Earth fleet?” he demanded.

“Second Fleet is five minutes away from the enemy now,” said Singleton. “Contact estimated at 1905 Hours. Other units are regrouping to warp towards Earth. We’re firing nuclear-tipped missiles at the enemy fleet now.”

“Missiles fiired!” said Stone.

A huge wave of missiles flew towards the enemy fleet, their warheads separating when they reached enough altitude.

Some of the Cometine destroyers and carriers were caught in the barrage, but others went on as they launched planes as if nothing had happened. The Devastation fired her guns again, and destroyed many of the missiles before they even got close to the fleet.

“So, they’re still fighting, Pishda?” sneered Gernitz. “I thought taking out one city would be enough. Evidently Earthlings are slow learners,” he sneered. “Target the enemy base from which these missiles came and flatten it!”

“When do we send our message to them?” asked Pishda.

“You do it, Pishda. And wait until enough of them are dead! Fire the siege cannon again!” snarled Gernitz.

The Devastation’s siege cannon went off again, blasting apart the EDF base in Southern New Jersey from which the missiles had come.

“Dead-on hit!” roared Pishda.

Gernitz laughed again, sounding like a complete maniac.

“We will send Invidia plenty of pictures when we are done,” said Gernitz.

“Sir, long-range sensors have picked up an enemy fleet approaching us at two thousand gerad distance,” barked a helmeted Cometine officer.

“We’ll play along for a bit,” said Gernitz. “Have General Edig’s destroyers and cruisers engage them first. We’ll see how long they can last against us.”

“Yessir!” said Pishda.


1905 Hours…

The flagship of the EDF Second Fleet was the huge Andromeda-class space battleship Scorpio. She was accompanied by four Jamaica-class space battleships, two Prince of Wales-class space battleships, a Yorktown-class spacecraft carrier, fifteen New York-class space cruisers, and fifty Warsaw-class space destroyers and twenty-five Valkyrie-class space gunboats. All in all, ninety-nine vessels had risen up like angry angels to oppose the Cometine Fleet.

“Admiral Deramus!” said the First Officer aboard the Scorpio, a man named Captain Maurer. “Our battleships and the carrier have launched the first wave of attacking Cosmo Tigers. The gunboats are also backing them up. They are one minute away from contact.”

“Very good,” said Deramus. “Order half the cruisers to spread out before us and help ten of the destroyers out with torpedoes. Have the Sixteenth through Eighteenth Battleship squadrons ready their main guns to engage any enemy destroyers that get through our screen. “

“Yessir,” said Maurer.

“Admiral!” said a young woman at the radar of the Scorpio known as Lieutenant Farris. “Enemy battleships approaching us! They’ve done a space warp!”

“Ready main guns!” snapped Deramus. “Target, enemy fleet.”

The main guns of the Scorpio and her nearest escorting battleships and cruisers locked on target. “Enemy squadron in firing range!” said Maurer.

“Open fire!” barked Admiral Deramus.

The guns of the Scorpio and her escorts spoke, blasting cataracts of energy right into the guts of the enemy fleet. Many Cometine ships perished at once before they could press their attack upon the EDF vessels.

Three squadrons of Scorpion gunboats blasted into the midst of the Earth fleet a moment later, and they were also greeted by the guns of the Earth vessels. Some died, others inflicted damage upon the EDF ships. Two EDF cruisers, the Guam and the New South Wales, perished as they were blasted apart by Cometine missiles.

But the guns of many of the Earth ships took care of many of the Scorpions. Others were destroyed by the Cosmo Tigers that wheeled about in the midst of the Fleet, helping to screen the battleships and the carrier.

Gernitz was so arrogant that he was not expecting massive reistance from the Earth Fleet. He was a little stunned, as a matter of fact, by the ferocity of their defense.

“They’re not scared…not at all,” said Gernitz. “What is with these Earthlings? Are they all suicidal? They may have us outnumbered but with those old ships of theirs and our newer ships, we have them outgunned by five factors.”

“They are tremendously arrogant,” said Pishda. “Should I call them yet?”

“Not yet,” said Gernitz. “We have bombers hitting two of their cities, and we have their fleet at our mercy. Let the game play out here for a while longer before I make them taste our Magna-Flame siege cannon again!”

“Yessir!”


At Alpha Sirius, the Arizona was being attacked in a straight-on gun battle by several enemy space battleships and destroyers.

 

“Enemy fleet, locked on target!” said Rosstowski from his post. “Ready to fire forward guns!”

 

“Fire!” said Captain Venture.

 

The Arizona fired, but, at the same moment, more enemy fire from the battleships hit her. As Nova braced her booted feet hard against the deck behind her radar, the ship trembled hard.

 

Four of the enemy vessels were destroyed in the Arizona’s counterattack.

 

However, four more of them wheeled about and hit the Arizona from above the ecleptic. Holly Venture evaded their fire, and Rosstowski managed to lock on target again to fire another barrage.

 

We’re holding our own, thought Captain Mark Venture. But for how long?

 

 


1928 Hours…

“So, what is going on?” demanded President Mendellsohn to Singleton.

“Sir, Second Fleet has engaged the enemy fleet over the Atlantic Ocean. Admiral Deramus reports that he is inflicting heavy damage. Fleet Admiral Yamanami is on the Combined Fleet flagship Pennsylvania gathering First Fleet near the Venus orbit, and he reports that Third and Fifth Fleets are gathering under Admiral Jacobi’s command near Jupiter. Fourth Fleet is being held in reserve. We’ll get them, sir.”

“Where is the First Star Force? The enemy is bombing Berlin. We could use Wildstar now.”

“No word from them,” said Singleton as he bowed his head. “I have heard that they’re pinned down at Saturn-Titan in battle with a force attacking that base.”

“What about the Arizona?” said Mendellsohn.

“Pinned down at Sirius,” said Singleton sadly. “We just heard from them.”

“Hmm,” said the President. “We just called the Gamilon Ambassador and advised him of the situation. He is trying to raise Desslok.”

“I don’t know if we can count on them coming quickly enough,” said Singleton. “Like it or not, this is our problem, for now…”


Deramus received a report from one of his Captains. “Sir, sensors indicate that half the enemy fleet is destroyed. The enemy dreadnought is just keeping back. They haven’t engaged us yet.”

“Good. Mister Maurer….have the Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-First Battleship squadrons accompany us at the rear. Order them to prepare wave motion guns. And ready our own!”

“The target?” said Maurer as the Scorpio began to reduce speed.

“The enemy dreadnought! We’ll need a mass barrage to bring that damn thing down!”

“Yessir!” said Maurer with a smile. “Stop all engines!” he ordered. “Transfer energy to wave motion guns!”

The Scorpio and the space battleships Peru, Burma, and Iron Duke all slowed down as one as the massive Andromeda, two main-class Jamaicas, and one Prince of Wales class stopped all engines and began the deadly energy buildup along with their accompanying cruisers.

“One minute to firing!” said Admiral Deramus. “Target, the enemy dreadnought!”

Deadly glows of energy began to appear near the muzzles of the space battleships and cruisers as they made ready to fire.

Aboard the ships, the hum of the engines began to build to an oscillating whine as power came up deep within the Earth vessels.

It was now exactly 2000 Hours, Earthtime.


“Are we scared yet?” hissed Pishda on the Devastation. “Our ships are falling like insects on a dry day!”

“Commence forty-five degree turn,” said Gernitz with a smile. “Make sure that they are properly targeted…”

“Yessir!”

“The energy surge is rapidly building up in the Earth vessels!” said an officer on the Devastation.

“Do not be concerned,” said Gernitz. “We have time.”

The Devastation finished its turn and made sure that the siege cannon was facing the Earth fleet.

On the Scorpio, Deramus smiled as Maurer said, “Twenty seconds to firing! Prepare all anti-shock and anti-flash measures!” he said as he lowered his goggles and gripped his firing pistol. “Enemy flagship twenty-one megameters dead ahead! Energy count at one hundred and twenty percent! Open safety locks!”

“Safety locks open!” said an officer from below in the Scorpio’s bows.

The communications officer on the Scorpio said, “Admiral, battle line ready to fire in fifteen seconds!”

“Commence ten-second countdown in five,” said Deramus. After a pause, he said, “All ships! Battle line prepare to fire at my mark! Ten…Nine…Eight…Seven…Six…Five…Four…”

The glows at the muzzles of the Earth battleships and cruisers began to glow very bright as Gernitz just smiled at the spectacle.

“Wonderful,” he said. He stood on his bridge with the firing grip of his siege cannon in his hand. “Magna-Flame gun…energy buildup completed…all hands…brace for shock…”

“How long do we wait?” wailed Pishda.

“Let them fire…two..one…FIRE!”

Gernitz smiled and fired.

Just as the EDF vessels fired, Gernitz fired his gun.

The Devastation’s Magna-Flame cannon went off, blasting an accelerated beam of energy into the heart of the Earth fleet just as the wave energy of Deramus’ battle line was let loose. The orange energy beam blasted through space, repelling the combined rage of the Earth vessels like a horrible typhoon, and then, before Deramus could react, the beam slammed into the Peru and the Burma and caused a holocaust as a ball of white energy roared through the midst of the Second Fleet.

Before Deramus could react, the mighty Scorpio was blown about like a feather in the wind and was torn to bits a moment later.

A short time after that, the horrible Magna-Flame beam that had destroyed the Fleet, not yet expended, blasted down into Earth’s atmosphere, and slammed into the coast of Portugal. Two villages were devastated, and several thousands died screaming in pain and terror as the beam boiled away a bit of the Atlantic Ocean near the coast. Soon, another mushroom cloud was hanging over the western coast of Europe.

“All surviving Earth ships!” yelled Captain Osterhoff, the skipper of the Earth carrier Courageous. “Retreat and regroup at full speed for a second attack! Hard about one hundred and eighty degrees!”

“What do we do?” said Pishda.

“Let them run!” laughed Gernitz. “There’s only twenty of them left! Now, we will speak to the Earth Command. Open up a channel to the Great Megalopolis!”


2020 Hours….

“Sir,” said General Stone. “The enemy says they want to talk to you.”

“What?” said Singleton. “Open the channel.”

An image of a sneering Cometine officer came up on the main screen in the Operations Room of Earth Defense Headquarters a moment later.

The large-nosed officer said, “I am General Pishda, the second-in-command of Marshal Gernitz, commander of this operation appointed by Princess Invidia. If you cease your resistance, we are inclined to be merciful. Are you the Commander of the Earth Defense Forces?”

Singleton replied, “I am Commanding General Hiram Singleton, commanding officer of the Earth Defense Forces. I would hardly call the deaths of almost seven million people in an hour merciful, General. What is your game?”

“You have been resisting us ever since you agreed to surrender almost five years ago, Singleton. Is your Government mad as well as suicidal, sir?  I estimate you have lost 8.25 million people, both civilian and military, in fighting that was needless since we would have peacefully integrated you into our glorious Empire if you had surrendered as you had agreed, traitor!”

“Zordar was the one who began the genocide,” snapped Singleton. “I see you are just following in his sickening footsteps.”

“Those people could have lived as our subjects,” said Pishda.

“Or suffered as your slaves?” said Janlits as he came up behind the Commander.

“What are you doing there, you Melezartian scum?” hissed Pishda.

“Earth does not stand alone,” said Janlits. “Iscandar, Earth, Gamilon, Pellias, Melezart, Rikasha. We all oppose you and your slavery, Pishda. Tell your Princess Invidia that we will not readily give in to you.”

“You can tell her yourself,” snapped Pishda. “Singleton. I make an offer to you, Desslok, and the rest of your so-called pitiable alliance on behalf of Princess Invidia. Invidia is merciful. She is offering you a truce that will last for twelve of your days. During that truce, we would like to meet with repesentatives from your races under flag of truce at Melezart. In that conference, Invidia is interested in offering a treaty of peace that will bring this war to an end. While we have the power to destroy you, as we have demonstrated again today, we will forbear if we can come to a peace that will be acceptable to all of us.”

“If this “peace” involves surrender to you…” snapped Singleton.

“You agreed to surrender years ago. Before you agreed to unconditional surrender to us, you had asked for negotiations. In the name of mercy, Invidia is prepared to forget what has transpired and she would wish to negotiate. I am sure that we might be able to come to terms.”

“That remains to be seen,” said Singleton. “I cannot approve this myself. Our Parliament must meet, and…”

“We give you twelve of your hours to reply,” said Pishda. “We leave now. Communicate with us on this frequency. If you agree, the truce stands. If not, we will be back to begin with the rest of your cities and towns, and…”

“General Pishda? Marshal Gernitz!” yelled an officer. “The Argo has been spotted off our stern! It is is the midst of an energy buildup!”

“The Argo,” sneered Pishda. “It looks like your Star Force is about to fire its wave motion gun at us. Tell that Wildstar we do not want him at the negotiations, but we would meet with one of the other murderers who helped kill Zordar. Now, we depart!”

And, at that, with a suddenness that surprised even Wildstar as the Argo drifted in with her wave gun powering up, the Cometine dreadnought and what remained of her fleet warped away in dramatic flashes of light. At that, the battle was over.

“Well, Wildstar?” said Sandor as the energy buildup was stopped.

“I would love to know why they did that,” said Wildstar.

“I’m sure there has to be some kind of explanation,” said Domon. “But what is it?”

“If I knew, I’d tell you,” said Kitano with a shake of his head.

“What is the time?” said Homer.

“Exactly Twenty-Thirty Hours,” said Sandor.

“Homer, contact Earth Defense,” said Wildstar.

“Yessir.”


II. AFTER THE BATTLE

Space Battleship Arizona

The Region of Alpha Sirius

Sunday, October 5, 2206

0015 Hours: Earthtime


“I don’t understand this,” said Captain Mark Venture as he sat in his quarters with his wife Holly and with Paul and Aliscea Rosstowski. “One minute, they were on the attack…the next minute, they ran from us.”

“I read a lot of confusion in the mind of the enemy commander,” said Aliscea after she paused for a moment. “It seems as if he received orders to retreat that he did not like.”

“Paul, how badly damaged are we?” asked Venture.

“We have damage to two main turrets, to the observation deck on the port side, to one of the auxiliary engines, and one of the upper fighter bays took a hit. We’re down two more planes from that hit due to fires.”

Venture sighed. “We’re down to thirty-six planes, now, even with the replacements we received from Alpha Sirius. Nine planes per squadron. If we are in many more major battles like this, we may have to be withdrawn due to simple battle damage.”

“How much longer can we remain on station like this?” asked Holly as she sipped at her coffee.

“I really don’t know,” said Captain Venture. “I really don’t know…”


0315 Hours…

On Earth, in the Tokyo Megalopolis, Parliament was meeting in an emergency joint session in the Federation Senate Chamber that night on the orders of the President. The session was not going well.

“I would recommend that we accept the Cometines’ offer for a truce,” said Senator Renate Hiller, a Senator from North America. “Three of our cities were attacked tonight. One was totally annihilated.”

“We always swore we would stand firm, Senator,” said Senator Hu’an Chin, a Senator from China. “My country has a war going on inside its borders thanks to the Josiahites and thanks to R’Khell raiders we have recently spotted on Earth. If we stop fighting with the Cometines now, we give any other enemies an open pass to attack us.”

“But how can we stand if that fleet will be back?” said Hiller.

“How will our alliances suffer if we accept the offer to negotiate?” said a Representative from South America.

A figure came in with a stricken-looking face…it was the Gamilon Ambassador. He came over to a Senator and whispered something. The senator then stood. “I have been told that Gamilon itself was attacked tonight and they are considering negotiations if we agree to them,” said another Senator from Europe.

As General Singleton bowed his head, the President went back to the rostrum. “The time for debate is running out. I would ask if we could make a vote now.”

“Floor has no objections,” said the Speaker of the Senate. “You have thirty minutes to consider your decisions and then vote on the motion submitted by Senator Hiller proposing an acceptance of the Cometines’ offer to negotiate. May God help you in those decisions, because we are today considering…the very future of the human race.

General Singleton whispered to the President. He was given permission to leave. “I’ll be waiting in one of the conference rooms, sir. Tell me how the vote went…”


Fortty-five long minutes later, the President came into the room. “Hiram,” he said quietly. “The motion passed. We have agreed to accept the Cometines’ offer to negotiate. You are to communicate our acceptance of their offer to the Comet Empire by morning, and you are also to order all EDF units to begin a twelve-day truce, contingent, of course, on the enemy accepting the same. We should be able to negotiate something during this cease-fire.”

“Since it is Parliament’s decision, I hope we do,” said Singleton. “We had better not be surrendering, though…”

“Surrender is not part of the plan,” said President Mendellsohn. “Obtaining an honorable peace is…”


Later that dark Sunday morning, a very exhausted President Mendellsohn was talking with Singleton and the Gamilon and Iscandarian Ambassadors and the Prime Minister, who were all  closeted in Mendellsohn’s office in Presidential House, where they were avoiding the reporters and their shouted demands for more information.

“Gentlemen and ladies,” said President Mendellsohn after he stood in silence with his eyes closed for a moment. “Now that we have made our decision to negotiate, we need to determine how we will proceed next. We need to know what the situations were on your homeworlds…those of you who have come here from deep space to help us reason together on our alliance.”

“How bad was it on Gamilon?” asked the current Prime Minister, who was a Representative from Poland named Pitor Kopechne.

Count Von Dalberg, the recently-appointed Ambassador from Gamilon, said, “My report came from Talan. The Cometines showed up and came suicidially out of warp with three carrier squadrons. They attacked the cities of Gamilstadt, Hochstadt, Zedig, and Zankal. They used anti-matter missiles on Zankal and destroyed it. Desslok is outraged, I am told.”

“They went after Iscandar, as well,” said Astra of Iscandar as she sat there in her purple gown with her eyes closed.

“Did they destroy any cities?” asked Von Dalberg.

“No, just a few small villages, Count Von Dalberg,” snapped Astra as she gave the bearded Gamilon officer a black look. It seemed clear to Singleton that the two of them had some history between them; history that didn’t seem to be happy. “Still we lost lives to those monsters, just as you did.”

“That is why Desslok thinks we should negotiate and gain a truce at the very least,” said Von Dalberg. “Then, gentlemen, we can rebuild our forces, bury our dead, and even if they give us only a short truce, we can eventually strike back at an opportune time and destroy Invidia and her rotten New Comet.”

“That is our thinking, as well, sir,” said Kopechne. “That is why the Parliament and the President have empowered me to pick a representative to meet their demands to send to the negotiations.”

“Then you have responded?” said Astra.

“Our acceptance went to them half an hour ago,” said Singleton. “Marshal Gernitz, who was waiting near Neptune, personally accepted our terms, and his fleet has left the Sol System. He has promised that the truce shall begin at once.”

“We are still unsure whom our representative should be,” said Prime Minister Kopechne.

“Desslok will appear in person at the conference with Talan,” said Von Dalberg. “Perhaps your Prime Minister should go.”

“I know Astrena will represent the Pellians, and that Lord Cha’rif will represent Rikasha,” said Astra. “My mother has called upon me to represent Iscandar’s interests.”

“Janlits will represent Melezart,” said Mendellsohn. “Now, who should represent us?”

“Perhaps, sir, myself, General Singleton, Admiral Yamanami, or Commodore Wildstar,” said Kopechne.

“They made a request…or, a demand,” said Singleton. “I remember it from when General Pishda first spoke to us. He said, ‘Tell that Wildstar we do not want him at the negotiations, but we would meet with one of the other murderers who helped kill Zordar.’ I think he wants a member of the First Star Force there.”

“But which one helped kill Zordar?” said Mendellsohn, thoughtfully.

“There were only three people left on the Argo at that point in late 2201 when they were about to attack Zordar and Trelaina intervened,” said Singleton. “Namely, Derek Wildstar, Mark Venture, who was unconscious…and the woman who was then named Nova Forrester…”

“If Venture was unconscious,” said Astra. “That leaves only Derek Wildstar and Nova Wildstar.”

“Eliminating the Commodore, it leaves Nova Wildstar,” said Prime Minister Kopechne. “Mister President?”

“Singleton, she is young. Can she handle it?”

“She helped negotiate before with the Rikashan Council back in 2202 on Rikasha,” said Singleton. “So, Lieutenant Commander Wildstar already has negotiated once…”

“She would be the obvious candidate,” said the President. “General Singleton, clear her for a compartmented “Q” clearance and then submit her name to the Cometines as our special envoy. I intend to contact her at once aboard the Arizona in two days on a secure channel to begin briefing her for the negotiations. I’m sure she will follow our agenda.”

“Yessir,” said Singleton as he nodded his head.


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