The New Comet-The Net Tightens- Part One

ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE

STAR BLAZERS---THE NET TIGHTENS

Being the fourth 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 ONE: A CAPTURE AND REVELATIONS…

I. A STRATEGIC REVIEW

Planet Gamilon

The Imperial City of Gamilstadt

Desslok’s Palace

Friday, February 28, 2206

1502 Hours: Earth Time

Desslok’s troops and civilians cheered the Leader’s armored limousine with repeated chants of “Desslok, Desslok, DESSLOK!” as the Leader arrived back at his palace in the rebuilt city of Gamilstadt on the rebuilt planet of Gamilon.

Gamilon, while no longer as geologically overactive as it had once been, was still something of a foreboding world. The continents and landmasses outnumbered oceans by about sixty-nine percent. The landmasses were now either covered with greenish, craggy stone, or with thick foliage from forests or from farmlands which covered the planet. The sky was greenish, and much of the land was covered with large cities that glittered brightly from deep space; these were the administrative centers, shipyards, military bases, and factories of the growing Gamilon-Galman Empire, which spanned worlds in both Magellenic Clouds and a few worlds in the Milky Way. Yet, even though the Empire was growing, its purpose now was ostensibly defensive, intended to defend the interests of Gamilon and her allies.

Even though war raged around the Empire, Desslok was more popular than ever as he saluted his people. In just a few years, thanks, partially to the events of the Rikasha Incident, Desslok had successfully rebuilt Gamilon, reunited the Race, found brothers of the Race in the domains of the former Galman Empire that Desslok had conquered after the partition and contraction of the Rikashan Star Empire. Desslok smiled to himself as he noticed a scattering of orange faces in the sea of blue and Caucasian faces of his people; some of the Rikashans, after the defeat of Zaden, had actually decided to voluntarily join the Gamilon cause when Lord Cha’rif had reconstituted what remained of the Rikashan Empire as the Rikashan Federation of Free Planets and granted his former subject worlds self-determination. Desslok found it a novel concept that, after free elections, nine Rikashan worlds had voluntarily petitioned Desslok for inclusion in the Empire. As long as they were loyal, Desslok didn’t mind the influx of new blood and new resources into the Empire. One of these Rikashan worlds, D’Ervash, had just joined the Empire in the past month.

A military band playing “The Gathering of the Fleet” very loudly (and with lots of drums and donner) as Desslok and his guards strode from the staff car into the Palace. Desslok acknowledged the cheers with a quick salute, and then he walked past his saluting guardsmen into his General Staff Meeting Chamber.

As usual, Talan was the first to stand and salute Desslok as he entered, followed by the other Generals and Admirals of the General Staff.

“Leader Desslok, we have the latest reports from the border regions,” said Talan as Desslok sat down upon his throne at the head of the table.

“And how is it going?” asked Desslok as he accepted some wine from a female guardsman and sipped at the goblet.

“The major commanders from the battlefronts are here with their reports, sir,” said Talan. “First, there is Gedig of the Eastern Milky Way Command.”

Desslok nodded as an aged General stood. “How goes it in the hinterlands?”

“Shortly after D’Ervash joined the Empire, Lord,” said Gedig. ”There were five organized attacks from the R’Khells as the transition from Rikashan to Gamilon stewardship took place. Luckily, the Rikashan Federation helped us in the suppression of planet-side dissent, and the former Rikashan Legate, Purvis, approved of our Provincial Governor’s recommendation to ban the R’Khell/Josiahite heresy. Only a few thousand dissenters had to be killed, Lord. We had Rikashan aid, luckily, on both the planet surface and in space.”

“Too bad they aren’t just worshippers of Queen Guardiana,” said Desslok. “That heresy, I can live with, so long as they don’t keep us from doing what we have to in order to arm ourselves. R’Khell fanatics should be crushed by the harshest measures we can think of.”

“Also, the Cometines launched a raid at Planet Negarda, sire,” said Gerda.

“That far out? Why was I not informed?” snapped Desslok.

“Lord, at that time, you were at the battlefront yourself at Beta Nikaldis,” said Gerda. “It was a small raid; just ten space submarines. And we lost only two destroyers.”

“Have the Rikashan worlds been reinforced?”

“We are working on it.”

“See to it,” said Desslok.

Desslok nodded as Gedig sat down and General Fraken stood. “Fraken, Southern Milky Way Command, my Lord.”

“My right arm, as of late,” said Desslok with a smile. “How have things gone since we came home?”

“Cometine resistance in the Sirius area, the Terran regions, the Nikaldian Belt, and the Valentis and Arcturus Regions has been crushed for the time being thanks to our valiant forces and the aid of the Earthlings,” said Fraken. “We do have reports of minor Josiahite resistance on Earth, but the Earth Federation authorities are confident that these annoyances can be forestalled soon. The Earth Defense Forces are continued their mobilization, and the Argo and Arizona are undergoing repairs and refit on Earth, Leader. The Federation reports to us that they are ready to face any further incursions, and that if they are allowed to build up forces over a few months, they should be able to stand with us when the great onslaught comes. They have also been aiding us by adding to the garrisons they have on Iscandar, Leader Desslok. Our Ambassador on Earth agrees with this assessment.”

Fraken had nothing further to report. Next, a Garuman officer, General Keeling, of the Great Magellenic Outer Rim regions, stood to make his report.

“Our intelligence forces have discovered something quite disturbing as of late in the regions between the Great Magellenic Cloud and the Andromeda Galaxy, Leader Desslok. Those regions, as you know, were once your outer defensive shield in the days before the war with Earth and the incursions of the Star Force took place. Prince Zordar subsequently conquered them, but they fell into anarchy after Zordar’s death. Princess Invidia has been trying to recapture these regions and establish a permanent foothold there to endanger our interests and those of Earth. Indeed, it is from these regions of space that the vessels that have been attacking Earth interests and our interests have come from. I would like to summarize, if I may, Zordar’s conquests in these regions and the reconquests that have been taking place under Invidia. We also recently sent a similar report to Earth for presentation to the Earth President by our Ambassador.”

Desslok nodded. An aide caused a computer screen to light up on the conference table with the following data in the Gamilon language:

Known Major Comet Imperial conquests during the reign of Prince Zordar, House Gatlantis.

1. “Black Fox” (Dark) Nebula: conq. 3521.6 (2197 Terran) (“Conquest” by Alliance) Distance; 500,000 Lightyears Imperial Centre/Gamilon

2. Magna Star Cluster (Dervardius Cluster): conq. 3522.8 (2198 Terran) Distance; 412,000 Lightyears Imperial Centre/Gamilon

3 Planet Petronia System Region: conq. 3523.6 (2199 Terran) Distance; 298,000 Lightyears Imperial Centre/Gamilon

4 Planet Rotella System region: conq. 3524.2: (2200 Terran) Distance; 92,000 Lightyears Imperial Centre/Gamilon

“A graphical representation of Invidia’s reconquests follows,” said Keeling as he lectured.

“As you can see, “ said Keeling, “The Eritz Gatlantis has activated its Comet Field, and it is estimated to be 110,000 lightyears away from Gamilon at the moment, between the Petronia Cluster region, which they have recently reconquered, and the Rotella Cluster region, which they are working on reconquering. They have again secured what remains of the Dark Nebula and signed a new treaty with what remains of the Dark Nebulan Race, and the Magna Star Cluster has not only been reconquered but is also being equipped as a major garrison area, major concentration of shipyards, and major aggregate of enslaved worlds. They have more in slaves on the Magna Star Cluster alone than we have in the way of free Gamilons and allies amongst all of our worlds in the two Magellenic Clouds and in the Milky Way. That is not counting the resources they have remobilized in the ruins of the Black Nebula and in the Petronia region.”

“How long do we have at the moment?” said Desslok.

“It should take Invidia several months to retake Rotella, since they are putting up a major resistance. Plus, if they reconquer it, it should be about a year before the region would be useful to them as a forward base. If we can somehow ally with the resistance and send them aid, and perhaps persuade Earth and Rikasha to also aid them, we might be able to forestall Invidia for another year, allowing us more time to build up our forces and solidify our own conquests in the Magellenic Regions and the Eastern and Western sectors of the Milky Way. I think the thrust of the war should be there, at Rotella.”

“It’s a risky strategy, Keeling,” said Desslok. “But if we can hold them back, it will buy us time. We will begin to implement this strategy. See what sort of contacts you can make with the Rotellan underground through our agents, and offer our aid.”

At that, Desslok relaxed a little. There may be a way out of this yet… he thought. “Next report?”

II. FLIGHT TRAINING CONTINUES

The Vicinity of Planet Earth

Spacecraft Carrier Wasp

Friday, March 7, 2206

0938 Hours: Earth Time

After the holidays, Deke Wakefield didn’t see very much of Sasha.

The reason wasn’t due to a conscious cooling of their relationship, but due to an increase in their duties.

Sasha was a Cadet Section Leader this semester in her dorm, which meant that she had a lot more to do in the way of paperwork and riding herd on her dorm deck as a cadet CO.

Deke, on the other hand, was still living in his BOQ quarters at the Academy, but he didn’t see much of them. He was on active flight training with his Sun Tigers Group, both as an advanced student and as a section leader/ assistant training officer. He ran into Brew every now and then, but they were both very busy.

Deke and Brew and the others were learning active Fleet flight ops, largely on the go, in many different environments. They practiced landings at different bases on Earth so as to get accustomed to landing in different climactic conditions and in storms. Then, in February, they took off on the spacecraft carrier Wasp to practice takeoffs from the carrier’s deck and landings at different ports of call, like Moonbase, Mars, Saturn-Titan Space Station, Jupiter Station, Neptune, and Pluto.

Their training officers during this period were Bryan Hartcliffe…and (Deke liked this part) Jefferson Hardy, who was back at the Academy again. Although, of course, Brew (when he was chilling out one night with Deke in their cabin on the Wasp) said “If this is training, it’s sure pretty realistic.”

“Well, what do you think?” said Deke. “You’ve heard the scuttlebutt; they’re building more ships, and there’s been either a Cometine or R’Khell attack somewhere in the solar system every damn week now.”

“It’s just a sub or two, and we get it…”

“Some of the time,” said Deke. “You know we’ve lost patrol ships, frigates, freighters, even a whole damn destroyer to those idiots. Heck, we were in a working Anti-Submarine Warfare drill again last week out near Uranus. Something’s up.”

“You hear from Sasha much?”

“She writes; I write. We haven’t been home since Valentine’s Day; and even though I know this is the life we’ll be leading, I sort of can’t wait to get back home…for a bit…”

“To look at Sasha’s butt,” teased Brew as he looked over at the new picture on Deke’s desk; it was a picture of Sasha in her cheerleader’s garb.

“No, to talk with her and find out how she’s doing,” said Deke angrily.

“Look at that honey pot,” said Brew. “I bet that with all that honey, she’s having to keep away lots of flies.”

“She sure is,” said Deke. “She told me that two guys hit on her last week, and she had to learn three new ways of saying ‘no’.”

“She’s gonna have to say that a lot,” said Brew.

“Definitely,” said Deke. “Also, you notice Hardy’s been doing more work lately…and delegating more of the routine training stuff to us? We’re not seeing that much of Hartcliffe…”

“I heard Hardy ranking him out through a hatch the other day. He was reading that Brit the riot act about something, but…”

Suddenly, the ship’s speakers blared.

“Attention, all hands! The Sun Tigers Group are to report to the main hangar deck in ten minutes ready for flight ops,” said Hardy over the intership system. “This is not a drill, and this is no BS! Report to the hangar deck at once!”

“Forget the speculation,” said Deke as he threw down his book.

“Damn, I need my pants on,” said Brew.

“Yeah, that would help,” said Deke as Brew pulled on his Standard Blues.

“Okay,” said Hardy. “We’re out of the solar system now; heading for Centaurus where we’ll practice more flight ops,” he said. The flight students nodded; some of their butts still hurt from yesterday’s Line Crossing ceremonies in which they passed from Wogs to Shellbacks with all of the traditional hazing and humiliation administered to green officers and men who left the solar system for the first time. “We’re doing some more landing ops tonight; you’ll notice that there are no bases around here for hundreds of megameters. Where are we gonna land, then, people?”

“In your hair, sir,” said a wiseass pilot as a few people chuckled.

“Not funny,” snapped Hardy. “See me later about that, Ensign Blankowitz! Okay, second try, geniuses. Where are we gonna land our Tigers tonight if there’s no bases after we leave the ship?”

Wakefield raised his hand. “Back on the boat, sir. On the flight deck, to be precise,” said Deke as butterflies flew in his stomach.

“Right. We trained all those weeks on different strips and in the simulator for this purpose. Tonight, we are putting our birds back down on the deck. That is why I told all of you to make sure your life insurance was in ohduh this mornin’! Sometimes we lose people in crashes doing this. Just wanna make damn sure yoah ready for this. Ready to go?”

“Yessir!” they all yelled as they snapped an EDF salute.

“Good. And bear in mind, we’ll be doing this quite a BIT in the next couple of weeks.”

A while later, Deke and Brew were in their Cosmo Tigers, flying about and doing routine maneuvers. They had taken off from the carrier deck without any glitches or irregularities.

The landing, Deke knew, would be the really tough part.

After they were done with flying practice, Hardy said,”Okay, people, we’re formin’ up, and then we’re gonna land! Follow me in!”

Deke took a deep breath, and he noticed that Brew was right in formation behind him; he was right behind Hardy. Hardy’s Tiger flew in towards the Wasp’s flight deck and zoomed in for a landing that seemed effortless as Deke saw his plane slowed by the magnetic arresting field as he hit the deck.

Wakefield exhaled and then inhaled again as he worked his stick. The Wasp’s aft flight deck came up very quickly as he made sure he was focused on the center line as he kicked on his reverse thrusters, space brake, and made sure his landing gear was locked down. A second later, his wheels hit the deck with a loud bang and screech as the arresting field kicked in, working together with his thrusters to slow him down in a rapid kick that threw him against his flying harness. A second later, it was over as he throttled down and followed the spacesuited deckmaster’s illuminated wands to turn left as he stopped at the elevator, which dropped him down below the deck as he saw Brew’s Tiger taxing up into his place, with Brew having successfully landed just as he had.

A few minutes later, Hardy debriefed him; his landing was a possible 8.95 out of 10.00. He had a lot to learn, but, as Hardy told him, “Yuh just reached and made the hardest hurdle of bein’ a space fighter pilot today, Wakefield. Congratulations! And mah first landin’ on the Argo wasn’t as good as yours.”

“What do you mean, sir?”

Hardy smiled and said, “They didn’t grade mah first landing since I sorta crashed. You ask Wildstah sometime.”

“Oh…when will I have the chance to do that?”

“Two weeks from now….when we practice on the Argo.”

“The Argo?”

“Damn straight. You think this is the only ship yoah gonna have to land on? No way, Ensign. No way…”

Deke felt a little nauseated at that one…until he realized he had landed on the Argo once before….

And it was in combat, too, he said to himself. This might be easier than it looks, Wakefield…

Two weeks later, on exactly March the 21^st, Deke and Brew were again to make another landing…aboard the Argo.

This time, they were holding manuevers out around Mars. The time was 0930 Hours.

The first landing that Deke and Brew made aboard the Argo was in the ship’s lower flight bay. It was a routine mission; Deke and Brew had left the Wasp, with their seabag and Flight Gear bags carried in a pair of small compartments in their Tigers.

Deke’s first landing on the Argo was relatively problem-free; it was in the lower hangar bay and it was graded a 9.01 out of 10.00. Wakefield was getting better at lining up with the aiming device (which was still, like in the sea-going navies of old, called the ‘meatball’ and in manuevering his plane in for a landing. Brew was getting better at the game, as well, as he learned.

“Not bad,” said Hardy as he clapped Wakefield and Marrable on their backs after they landed. “Shit, you might be qualifyin’ for the Black Tigers, next, if you keep on landing aboard the ol’ grey lady like that.”

“Thanks for the compliment, sir,” said Deke.

“Course, you know you gotta help out with lecturin’ the troops around 1400,” said Hardy with a grin.

“Yessir, I know that,” said Deke.

“You and Marrable here were the only ones who got nines in today’s landings, so, of course, you’ll be imparting your wisdom and technique to them later, mah friends.”

“Thanks,” said Brew.

“In the meantime, we’re takin’ the tour,” said Hardy with a smile. “First stop for you two is the First Bridge…”

Hardy wore Standard Blues, but was still greeted with nods and salutes as he rapidly went through the corridors of the Argo with Ensigns Wakefield and Marrable in tow; Deke and Brew felt a little strange following him in Standard Blues, although one thing that Deke was conscious of as he saw a crewman or two in their navy blue peacoats was that he hadn’t been issued a blue dress coat yet (and wouldn’t be until graduation day a few weeks from now). Still, it looked as if Hardy belonged here.

They went into a lift and then came out in a small foyer. Hardy paused before stepping into the hatch. And, then, he stopped as he noticed Wildstar and many of the others at attention before the large viewscreen.

There was a good reason that they were at attention; the Commander of the Earth Defense Forces was on the video panel, speaking to Wildstar as he said, “How strong were the signals you picked up, Wildstar?”

“Not terribly so,but they’re at the edge of the solar system.”

“You said they were Cometine?”

Deke and Brew glanced at each other as Hardy nodded grimly. “Homer and Nova confirmed it, sir. We’re still working on a translation.”

“Get that information to us as soon as possible,” said Singleton. “It’s important. It goes without saying that you might have a change of orders in the next twenty-four hours.”

“Of course, sir,” said Wildstar.

Wakefield then saw a young man in a yellow Star Force uniform with sandy hair coming to his feet. “Sir, I have to break the coding, first,” said Homer Glitchmann. “When I have that done, Lieutenant Commander Wildstar will…”

Then, Wakefield saw another figure stepping away from her seat. She was also in gold and black, and quite recognizable in her form-fitting uniform and boots from the back. “Sir, I know what you’re thinking,” she said in her alto voice. “I can have the linguistic meaning up soon after the coding is broken. Cometine is harder to translate than Gamilon.”

“So, the green guys…” whispered Brew.

Hardy gave him a look that could freeze stone. “You two are to give no sign you heard any of this,” he said in a harsh whisper.

“Of course…sir,” said Deke as he looked meaningfully at Brew and Hardy.

A moment later, the conversation ended. Hardy led the way, saluting as he greeted the rest of the Star Force officers on the First Bridge.

Deke had to take a deep breath before he realized that he was actually looking at and was on the very same space battleship bridge where so much history had been made over the past few years. It looked smaller than the bridge on the Wasp, but it had a somewhat more well-worn look to it. To Wakefield, the smells of hot circuitry, canned air, and the lingering smells of hot oil in the ship’s older systems and hot coffee coming from a mug or two sitting near some of the officers’ stations made him more aware than ever that he was aboard a ship that was really still an old naval vessel at heart.

At that moment, Wildstar turned around. “Ah, Hardy.I see you’ve brought our resident geniuses aboard,” he said.

“I sure did,” said Hardy as Deke and Brew felt quite abashed at knowing they were the center of attention of all of the veterans on the Argo’s bridge. “You guys wanna introduce yourselves?”

Homer was the first one to nod. He shook their hands and said, “Senior Lieutenant Homer Glitchmann, Communications Group Leader.”

Then, the Artillery Officer stood, extending his hand, “Lieutenant Pavel Kumyat, Artillery Section Leader.”

Another man in red and white turned to them; they noticed he looked quite young. “Senior Lieutenant Ryusuke Domon, Combat Group Leader.”

A man in white and green then introduced himself, “Senior Lieutenant Tetsu Kitano, Navigation Group Leader.”

As Wakefield shook his hand, he was greeted by a chubby man in green and white, “Lieutenant Chris Eager, Assistant Pilot.”

Then, a heavyset man with brown hair in a white and orange uniform introduced himself. “Lieutenant Commander Joe Yamazaki, Engineering Chief.”

As Deke had his hand shaken, he smiled and then turned to a smiling feminine face he already knew well. “Lieutenant Commander Nova Wildstar, Radar and Analysis, and Living Group Leader.”

“Of course, ma’am,” said Brew as he shook her hand.

Then, Deke found himself being confronted by a figure in blue and white who was far taller than Nova…or anyone else there. He gulped a little as he realized he was meeting the famous Stephen Sandor for the first time, even as Sandor introduced himself as, “Commander Stephen Sandor, Ph.D., Mechanical Group Leader and First Officer.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Wakefield and Marrable as they finally turned to face a somewhat shorter figure in a rumpled red and white uniform with a mop of unruly dark-brown hair. “Commodore Derek Wildstar…commander of this vessel and of the First Star Force. We’ve already met, gentlemen.”

Both of them nodded. Then, as an afterthought, a little red robot popped up out of the Analysis seat next to Domon’s station. “I’m IQ-9,” he said. “I’m a genius robot, smarter than anyone here, Nova included.”

“Oh, great,” said Deke. “Not another one of those.”

“What?” said Brew.

“Ninth class analysis robots,” said Deke. “One of them used to follow an old girlfriend of mine around, all the time.”

“Whoever she is, I can sympathize with her already,” said Nova as she rolled up her eyes and skipped away from IQ-9. “Would you stop that? I know damn well where you want to put that hand!”

Then, Wildstar said, “Hardy, how were their first official landings aboard ship?”

“Both nines, sir,” said Hardy.

“Not bad,” said Wildstar as he cracked a slight smile as Nova slapped IQ-9 over the head with a rolled-up spare issue of Janes’ Naval Aerospace Magazine from her post. “Of course, if things go as I think they will….well….it is a possibility that your landings today and tomorrow will not be your last landings aboard this ship. Sandor, you have the conn. Nova, let’s get some early lunch until Homer gets his job done. Then it’ll be your turn at the computer.”

“Derek, I’m supposed to give all of them a tour at 1145.”

“You still can. Just as long as you remember we need those translations,” said Derek.

“You can meet us down below in the messhall,” said Nova. ”I’ll be waiting there at 1145 for your group.”

At that, Deke nodded.”Thanks, ma’am.”

“Watch out for the robot, ma’am,” said Brew with a wink.

“Don’t encourage him, Ensign,” snapped Nova.

Later on that morning, Wakefield and Brew settled into their quarters on the Argo; they would be aboard ship for about a day or so, so Nova had assigned them and the others cabins after they had been through their tour.

“What are you so paranoid about, Dekesticks?” asked Brew as he began to post pictures of ladies’ behinds on the bulkheads with some tape.

“My bag,” said Wakefield. “I’ve had this crap for years, and I’d hate to lose it.”

“What’s in that damn old B-4 bag that’s so important?” said Brew.

“Just DJ and her magazines, for a start,” he said as he pulled out his old weapon, while snapping it open and closed. He transferred DJ and the magazines to his seabag while he went through the rest of his stuff. “Putting the picture of Sasha in here…checking the other things…”

“Like?”

“My sticks, my surfboard wax, picture of Dawn,” he said in a morose voice.

“Oh…,” said Brew, not wanting to start that discussion up again. “What else?”

“Socks, first-aid kit, meds, radio, handi-talkie, flashlight, compass, Army knife, Leatherman-type multi-tool, second pair o’ drumsticks, blanket, poncho, spare flight helmet, spare power supply, belt, matches, water packs, binoculars, caffiene tabs, the usual crap…”

“Got the same crap in mine, minus the sticks and picture of Dawn….”

Then, the PA system went off. It was Hardy’s voice. “All Sun Tigers, assemble in the lower hangar bay in ten minutes at 1500 Hours. Repeat, all Sun Tigers, assemble in the lower hangar bay, ten minutes, 1500…”

“Wonder what’s up?” said Wakefield.

“Damned if I know,” said Brew.

When they got below, they were a bit shocked to see Hardy standing there…in a Black Tiger uniform.

“Sir?” said another pilot.”Is this old home week?”

“Shut the hell up, ah’ve been reassigned,” snapped Hardy. “Wakefield, I’ve been just reassigned to this vessel….effective at once. I’m in command of the whole workin’ Flight Group, which you are a part of until 0600 Hours tomorrow morning. Until then, Mister Wakefield, you’re actin’ squadron leader until you get back to the Wasp and relinquish back command to Mistuh Hartcliffe. Got that?”

“Yessir,” said Wakefield.

“Good. At 1600, we will practice landings in both upper hangar bays, port and starboard. We will do this together…mah squadron and yours. Then, we’ll all debrief together at 1700, and then, gentlemen, we’ll warp. Don’t worry, the Wasp will be followin’ us. You will then act as FORCAP for a shift startin’ at 2100 Hours and goin’ six hours. Get used to it, people…it’s life in the Fleet. People are dependin’ on you. Got that?”

“Yessir!” yelled the pilots, young officers and midshipmen alike.

They debriefed later on that day, at 1700. “Okay,” said Wakefield as Hardy briefed them. “Those landings in those upper tubes were tough, but, sir…”

“That wasn’t the most important thing we did today,” said Hardy. “The most important thing was that intercept that Miss Franklin picked up in Second Squadron of Black Tigers. Miss Franklin, report.”

A young Ensign assigned to the Black Tigers who was one year ahead of them at school said, “Sir, I spotted a radar signature at RXB-156, speed, twenty-two space knots, on an intercept course towards our task force. It was radiating multi-spectrum cosmo radar waves.”

“Did you get a visual on it?”

Franklin nodded. “I did, sir. Visual on main screen now.”

Wakefield immediately gritted his teeth when he saw the image.

“Who wants to identify that?” said Hardy. A hand went up from Wakefield’s group. It was a midshipman.

“Sir, it’s the green dickheads. Flying a Type 25 Recon Scorpion, to be exact.”

“Miss Franklin, what did the bogie do when he spotted your flight?”

“He ran, sir. But chances are, he’ll be back.”

Hardy nodded. “That’s why I’ve been reassigned. Signals were picked up and translated earlier today. A Cometine Squadron is operating out near the edge of the solar system, around the Brumus Asteroid Belt. Wildstar thinks they’re up to no good, and I agree with him. Make sure your lasers and weapons are working tonight when you fly patrol. You may need them, people. That’s all for now. Get ready for a warp to Jupiter. Dismissed.”

III. REPORTS

The Eritz Gatlantis

Petronia Cluster Region

About 250,000 Lightyears Away From Earth

Friday, March 21, 2206

2200 Hours: Earth Time

“So what do you have to report, General Dalkon?” snapped Princess Invidia as she looked down haughtily from her dais in one of her new Comet ship’s throne rooms upon a screen. A Cometine officer was reporting on that screen.

“While we were performing reconnaissance out near Centaurus, Princess, my fleet picked up some signals, so we warped. We have found the Argo, Princess. I now have a Task Group near the edge of their solar system and beg leave to attack the Argo. I am sure they are investigating my signals.”

“Permission denied, for now.”

“Denied?”

“Observe them, only. Maybe harass them somewhat,” said Invidia. “But I need you near Rotella. They have a fleet that they are preparing, and I want you to help Marshal Balkal in attacking that fleet. I want them broken. For now, Rotella is more important than the Star Force.”

“Understood,” said Dalkon with a harsh nod. But no one says I have to like this, he thought.

“You have your orders,” said Invidia. “See to it they are carried out. I expect to hear your intelligence tomorrow morning.”

“Of course, Princess…”

At that, Dalkon cut off the transmission.

“We shall do our best…within the limits you have set for us,” muttered Dalkon as he whipped a glass across the bridge of his command carrier. “Again, Invidia, no one said I had to fancy your orders. Just obey them.”

Deke Wakefield was on patrol, listening to surf music at low volume as he flew along with Brew as one wingman and a midshipman pilot named Tolland flying as his other wingman. They had a nice view of Jupiter as they flew along in formation.

“So what have we spotted in four hours?” he said over the circuit to Brew.

“Five asteroids, one piece of Gamilon wreckage, two space rocks, and a partridge in a pear tree,” said Brew with a laugh.

“The partridge was deep-frozen, sir,” said Tolland.

“I’ve got a bogie on my scope,” said Brew.

“Location?” snapped Wakefield, who was all business now.

“RXC-152, speed eighteen space knots and slowing; she’s just five megameters away….not a natural object.”

“Okay, crew,” said Deke as he headed off towards the bogie. “Let’s check it out…”

They found a black Cometine Scorpion boat that was smoking slightly. It seemed to be dead in space.

“Okay,” said Wakefield after he and the others flew around the enemy boat a few times. “What do we do with it?”

“Let’s take it in; see if anyone’s alive in that thing…”

“All right,” said Wakefield. “Prepare capture cables on my mark….”

They readied cables. A moment later, the three Tigers locked on and took the boat. With the enemy ship captured, they towed her back to the Argo.

Deke, Brew, and Tolland waited as the ship was secured to the Argo a while later. A spacesuit-clad group consisting of Sandor, Hemsford and four other Space Marines, Dr. Sane, Nova and another spacesuit-clad nurse checked out the alien ship.

The first thing that Wakefield saw was Nova and IQ-9 hustling along a sealed litter with an armored figure in it. Nova stopped to catch her breath while the others took a look.

Wakefield was a bit shocked to see that the enemy pilot (who had been stripped of a helmet beneath the coccoon) was female! But, otherwise, the pilot was green, with dark green hair.

Wakefield said to Nova “A woman?”

Nova said, “Yes. What does she look like?”

“You’re gonna interrogate her?”

“No…autopsy,” said Nova. “We’re not sure how, but it looks as if she and the rest of her crew committed suicide somehow when they detected your Tigers. I don’t think they wanted to be captured alive. Luckily, Sandor is going over the boat for intelligence. They didn’t succeed in blowing the computers.”

At that, Nova and IQ continued to hustle the Cometine corpse on towards Sickbay.

Deke was ordered to get some sleep. However, he heard someone banging at his hatch at about 0400 the next morning. He got up first and found Hardy at the hatch.

“Sir?” he said in a sleep-filled voice.

“You and Mister Marrable are wanted at a briefing. They’ve been up all night studying the ship and her crew. They want you there to discuss how you captured them.”

“Got it,” said Wakefield. “Brew, wake up! They want us!”

“Uhhh…that’s cool…any gals with big butts present? Or do they have any brew?”

“They have lots of coffee, Mistuh,” said Hardy. “Now, up!”

They got up to a conference room in the Argo’s bridge tower around 0420. When they were there, they found Commodore Wildstar up nursing a huge mug of coffee at the head of the table, with Doctor Sane in a bloody set of Medical scrubs to one side and Sandor in a greasy uniform to the other side. Nova and the other nurse sat there in stained nurses’ tunics and clogs near Sane, and two other Mechanical Officers sat at the table looking at a collection of greasy parts and computer boards and disks, probably stripped from the alien ship. At the moment, Nova was speaking; Deke noticed she seemed to have some light circles under her eyes as she said, “My autopsy of the pilot detected that she seems to have killed herself with a quick-acting form of poison from a syringe built into her flight armor.”

“You’d guess that since it seems that when we captured that pilot in 2201 that they didn’t seem to want him back in their Fleet…?” said Derek.

“Yes. It’s our guess this is a new doctrine the Cometines developed in case of capture. I guess they think it’s better to kill themselves than to be taken alive,” said Doctor Sane.

“Sandor, did yiou pick up anything from the ship?”

“They destroyed a lot of their systems,” said Sandor. “But, they recently received communications that their business near Earth was currently not as important as the invasion of a world known as Rotella…”

“I wonder where that is,” said Commodore Wildstar. Then, a moment later, he noticed Wakefield and Marrable. “Ah! Hadn’t noticed you two…sorry. Mister Wakefield, would you mind telling me about how you and Mister Marrable captured this boat?”

Later, after Deke and Brew had retold their story, they were up having their breakfast at 0600 on what was now Saturday, March 22, 2206. Hardy came down, and he seemed to be in a rush.

“Glad to see you, Wakefield. Have everyone get yoah gear. You’re supposed to return to the Wasp by 0700.”

“Sir, I thought we were going to do some more…”

“The Captain’s new ohduhs have just caused a change in plans. The Argo is headin’ outta here as soon as you guys are gone in ohduh to take on another mission.”

“We were at the briefing, sir,” said Brew. “Is it about the enemy?”

“Can’t say, but I’ll bet you two can guess,” said Hardy. “We’d love to have you aboard, but ohduhs are ohduhs. Remember, almost half yoah squadron is still midshipmen. But the way this war is going, you’ll probably get yoah shot soon as you graduate.”

“Yessir,” said Deke. “C’mon, Brew, let’s fionish breakfast. Then we’ll have to brief the others…”

“Yeah…”

At 0655, Deke was in his plane, flying back to the Wasp along with the rest of the Sun Tigers. Soon after landing, he and the others watched the Argo through a viewport. It seemed as soon as the last Sun Tiger was checked in on the Wasp, the Argo turned about on a heading right out of the solar system. Then, the space battleship abruptly roared off at what seemed to be full speed ahead.

“Well, they’re gone,” said Brew a moment later. “Let’s get our planes unpacked.”

“Yeah,” said Deke, who was disappointed at being “beached” aboard the Wasp. Deke opened a compartment on his plane and got his seabag, but he could not find his gear bag.

“Brew?” he said.

“Yeah?”

“Is my B-4 bag in your plane?”

“Hell no, Dekesticks. I could smell that thing from a mile away…”

“It’s not in my bird,” said Deke. His stomach dropped. “In the rush to get back here, I think I left it on the damn Argo!”

“You’ll get it back at some point…”

“Probably not,” said Deke as he kicked the landing gear of his plane. “It had my picture of Dawn in it…and my old white sticks. I have my picture of Sasha…and…”

“And what?”

“I wonder if this is an omen of some kind…like…’forget Dawn?’”

“Could be, Deke,” said Brew. “Could be…”

TO BE CONTINUED…

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