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 FOUR: ENTER ROTELLA
I. INVESTIGATIONS
Space Battleship Argo
50,000 Lightyears Away
from Earth
Friday, May 30, 2206
1235 Hours: Earth Time
“Okay,
close it up!” said Homer. On the Argo’s
“We
can call Earth now, Captain,” said Sandor.
Commodore
Wildstar nodded as he threw on his peacoat and sat down at the Captain’s
station. “Homer, call Earth from here. Use the Gamilon net that is about five
hundred lightyears away and use the access code Desslok gave us.”
“Understood,”
said Homer. After a few minutes, an image of Commanding General Singleton
appeared on the Argo’s main screen.
“We’ve
been trying to contact you for days, Wildstar.” said Singleton. “What
happened?”
“Our
comm system was damaged in our last battle, sir,” said Commodore Wildstar.
“What was left of the Cometine Fleet that we mostly defeated near Alpha
Michealis warped out towards the Andromeda Galaxy. We’re 30,000 lightyears past
the site of Telezart now, sir. Our heading is…towards the Andromeda Galaxy.
We’re tracking them home.”
“I
gave you latitude to investigate, but I’m surprised you’ve warped out this far.
We thought you were the Gamilons at first. Why are you out of our galactic
space?”
“I’m
taking a risk, sir…we’ve passed some enemy picket satellites and so, I’ve just
discovered we’re in Cometine space now…but we’re drawing closer to what we
think is the location of General Dalkon’s base…we think we’re maybe one hundred
lightyears away from it.”
“And
you think you can stop the attacks upon Earth if you can cripple that base?”
said the Commander.
“We
believe so, sir. Where’s the
“On
patrol near the Pluto orbit for now. Some R’Khell submarines have attacked more
of our ore frieghters and escorts around that area. The Sun Tigers have been
busy doing anti-submarine warfare for the past few days.”
“So
you can’t send them out here?”
“Not
at this time, Commodore,” said the Commander. “I’m glad to hear from you. Keep
me posted on how your mission goes. You have permission to attack the enemy
base when you find it. Also, try to find out all you can about Invidia’s
plans.”
“We
wiill, sir,” said Wildstar as he stood up and saluted.
Singleton
returned the salute, and then said, “Star Force, good luck.”
II. DAWN’S ASSIGNMENT
Earth
Saturday June 7, 2206
1435 Hours: Earth Time
“Boy,
my feet hurt today,” said Dawn Westland as she kicked off her clogs in a
nurses’ locker room at
“You’re
telling me,” said a fellow World Health Organization nurse, a friend of hers named
Clarissa Wellington. “Of course, we’ve been on rounds since 0500.”
“But
this is the last day of First Phase WHO on-the-job training and
familiarization,” said Dawn as she slipped into pumps and put her dress jacket
on over her WHO nurse’s uniform. Her uniform was, as she noticed, different
from the slightly longer regular dress worn by regular EDF nurses, but longer
than the distinctive minidress worn by some of the EDF Fleet nurses who also
worked here. “Hopefully, Doc Morrison will let us know where we’re going for
good when we meet with her today.”
“I
wanna go back to
“I
want to go back home to
“Yeah…I
hope I get what I asked for, too,” said
“Same
here,” said Dawn with a smile, who didn’t much like the idea of saying goodbye
to her friend. But, she knew that life changed, and life took different people
to different places.
I wonder how Deke’s doing? Dawn
thought as she stepped through the door.
I should have been there to say goodbye to him for good at the Academy, except
I was still in San Diego then…getting ready to graduate myself….oh well…he’s
probably just as aggressive as ever…I wonder how Hardy is doing? Haven’t
written to him in a bit…I wonder where he is?
A
few minutes later, Dawn sat outside the office of Doctor Jane Morrison, the WHO
Captain who was in charge of their training here at Central Hospital. After
another nurse that Dawn knew came out of her office, Dawn entered her office.
Since WHO was a paramilitary organization, she saluted Morrison before sitting
down. The grey-haired doctor returned the salute, and then she said, “Ensign
Westland. You’re an interesting study, here.”
“Ma’am?”
“High
grades, high level of familiarity with flight operations and aerospace
medicine, top clinical observation grades, good at giving medical care in
paramedical situations, great with helping to sustain battle injuries. You’re
an easy nurse to assign, actually. You know that some of our nurses are being
sent to assignments with other agencies on a liasion basis?”
“Yes,
ma’am…but, with all respect, I did
ask to be assigned to
“Please, let me finish,” said Doctor
Morrison in a soft tone that still brooked no opposition. “We are at war. You
do remember that?”
“Yes,
ma’am.”
“I’m
glad to hear that. You’ll need some more training where you’re going…that’s why
you’d better make sure you have more than enough summerweight uniforms…since you’re
going to Pensacola.”
“Why?”
said Dawn.
“You’re
going to be liasioned to the Earth Defense Forces, Ensign,” smiled Morrison.
“You’ll be going to
Dawn
sat with her eyes closed. “Ma’am, I respectfully decline.”
“Decline?”
“I’m
sorry, ma’am…I was hoping to serve at
“You
do see the Ensign’s pin on your jacket, young lady?” snapped Doctor Morrison.
“I
do, ma’am.”
“Well,
as long as you are with WHO, you will go
where we send you. Unless you wish to
tender your resignation and give up your commission, that is?” said Morrison.
“Of course, there is a third alternative, known as a board of inquiry, for
failure to obey lawful orders. I’m sure you don’t want that, do you?”
“No,
ma’am!” snapped Dawn.
“Good.
Then you will pack your bags for
Dawn
could barely salute through her tears of frustration, but she hid them well as
she stepped out into the corridor. Then, once outside, she avoided Clarissa,
ran right for the ladies’ head, and cried her eyes out in a stall. In the stall,
she cried out, “What did I do? I DON’T
WANT TO JOIN THE FRIGGING MILITARY! I
DON’T! I DON’T WANT TO END UP LIKE DEKE!”
III. PENETRATING
COMETINE SPACE….
Space Battleship Argo
Deep Space: 80,000
Lightyears Away From Earth
Sunday June 8, 2206
1035 Hours: Earth Time
The
Argo was now near General Dalkon’s
base, having practicially traced his fleet home.
“Wildstar,
we’re closer to that base than we think,” said Sandor.
“How
far are we?” said Wildstar.
“Well,
we’re near the eighth planet of this system, and I’ve picked up transmissions
coming in from the third planet,” said Homer. “I…”
“Missiles approachin’!” yelled Eager. A
moment later, three Cometine missiles slammed into the Argo’s main deck near the second main gun turret.
“How
badly were we hit?” demanded Wildstar as Domon held onto his panel near the
forward bridge windows.
“Minimal
impact, luckily,” said Sandor as the alert klaxons came up.
At
her post at the Cosmo-Radar, Lieutenant Victoria Becker said, “Captain! Three
missile ships detected to port! Range, twelve megameters, and approaching
fast!”
“Main
guns, ninety degrees port,” snapped Domon. “Horizontal elevation set! Captain,
ready to fire in ten seconds!”
“Good
going!” said Wildstar. “Mister Kitano, get ready to…”
The
Argo shook again from another hit a
moment later. In that hit, the Artillery station blew apart. Lieutenant Kumyat
was thrown across the bridge screaming, and he crashed into the Astro-Compass,
which shattered under him.
Homer
sat coughing as smoke blew all around him from the fire. Somehow, he maintained
the presence of mind to put on a helmet and gloves set and get a fire
extinguisher as Sandor did the same. Wildstar then gave the order, “All hands,
don space protection as soon as possible! Doctor Sane, come up to the first
bridge!”
“
“Fire!”
yelled Wildstar.
The
forward main guns on turret #1 and auxilary turret #1 went off; but there was
only an explosion from below as fire blasted out of main gun turret #2.
“Damn!”
yelled Sandor. “A short circuit set off coolant gasses in Main Turret #2,
Wildstar!”
“All
hands in main turret #2 must be dead,” said Domon. “I’m getting no response…I…”
Becker
had left her post to try to tend to a moaning Kumyat. “Becker!” snapped
Wildstar. “Back to your post! You’re not trained as a nurse!”
“Sir,”
said Becker, “He’s barely breathing,” she said as the Argo’s new Ninth Class robot rolled over to Kumyat. “Captain!” said the robot in a voice flatter
than the usual chipper tones of IQ-9 (which surprised Wildstar immensely).
“This human is dying. There is no hope for him…”
“Please
pray for me,” gasped Kumyat. “I…”
“Prayer
is an illogical exercise,” said the cold-sounding robot. “My sentience is the
result of random electro-chemical reactions, and so is yours.”
“How
can you talk like that?” gasped Kumyat as the remaining main guns went off
again. Becker said, “Captain! One of the enemy ships is destroyed!”
“I
am a logical robot. You are an illogical human, Mister Kumyat.” said the robot.
“Captain, I am an upgraded version of the Ninth Class. I have been stripped of
emotion so that I can think faster. You may call me IQ-Nine point Seven. I am
one hundred more times efficient than that old IQ-Nine Point Zero who followed
Nova Wildstar in a foolish sentimental action to the
A
moment later, Doctor Sane ran onto the bridge, followed by two nurses pushing a
litter. He looked at IQ and said, “Why the hell aren’t you doing anything, you
Goddamn bucket of bolts? Do you miss Nova that badly?”
“I
miss no one,” said IQ-9.7 in a cold voice that surprised Sane. “My sensors
indicate that the human unit is beyond repair and has ceased to function. He
can now be dissected for medical research purposes.”
“You’re
damn right,” said Sane after he examined Kumyat. “Wildstar, this man is dead.”
“Where
did you come from?” demanded Wildstar as he looked at IQ-9.7. “You could have
saved him.”
“From
the
“No,
before that!” said Wildstar.
“The
flagships
“That
explains it,” huffed Sane. “Just as cold as the flying computer was, Skipper.”
As
the Argo’s main guns went off again
and blew apart the remaining Cometine ships, IQ-9.7 reported, “My long-range
sensors read six hundred Cometine enemy troops dead and twenty-eight of our own
dead. It was a profitable battle. Our kill ratio was six hundred to
twenty-eight. An acceptable loss.”
The
robot then followed the nurses out with Kumyat’s corpse as Sane drank a deep
draught from his sake bottle. “I feel like kicking that damn thing out an
airlock, Wildstar!”
“Believe
me, Doc,” said Wildstar. “After having heard him, you aren’t the only one.”
“Sir,”
said Becker with tears in her eyes. “You should have let me save him. Or at
least try to.”
“Maybe
you’re right,” said Wildstar as he shut his eyes.
IV. DALKON’S WRATH….
Cometine Base GG-1
Deep Space: 80,000
Lightyears Away From Earth
Sunday June 8, 2206
1249 Hours: Earth Time
“So,
what do our sensors indicate?” said General Dalkon as he spoke with Captain
Megara, who was beside him on the bridge of his spacecraft carrier, the Dekgavis.
“The
Eye in the Sky Satellite Number 666 indicated that we lost the First Picket
Squadron to the Star Force, my lord. The Argo
took some major damage, sir. We see that her offensive armament has been
damaged. Do you think she will still come here?”
“If
they dare to come here, they’re idiots,” said Dalkon. “Send them a message
commanding them to leave Cometine space at once. Give them three hours to leave
the system and warp back thirty thousand lightyears to the Prince Zordar Line
of Demarcation or we shall destroy them. Include the usual verbiage about our
supremacy and the like. My bet is they’ll flee like rats since they are
damaged, and so forth. They’re not fanatics like the Rotellans.”
“Ninth
Squadron had to deal with the Rotellans today near Automated Base F-7 near the
ninth planet, lord.”
“Damned
fanatics. What happened?”
“Ninth
Squadron took heavy damage; so did the Rotellans. Three Rotellan Corvettes
escaped!”
“Hmm…if
they meet up with the Star Force…and they do battle, maybe problem is solved?
Megara, order Brigadier General Holvaya to maintain the fort here while we
leave to crush these flies.”
At
that, Dalkon laughed a cold and evil laugh.
Three
hours later, the Argo drifted near
the eighth planet, with the Mechanical Group out on the ship’s hull trying to
make repairs as quickly as possible while the rest of the crew was gathered on
the foredeck in the shadow of Main Gun Turret Number One before twenty-eight
cold space caskets. Each casket, of course, held a Star Force member who had
died today. After the chaplain said his words and prayers, Captain Wildstar
took front and center and said, “This is a sad day for us, but it remains
incumbent upon us to continue fighting so that none of these men and women, our
comrades, will have died in vain. To those of you who have passed on, it is my
prayer you will find rest and eternal peace, and I wish to tell you we will
remember you all again soon at Heroes’ Hill…back home…gunners…do your duty.”
All
of the surviving members of the First Star Force snapped to and saluted while a
team of riflemen fired salutes as the bodies were committed over the rail into
deep space. Soon, they were trailing the ship as the last of the salutes faded
away.
Then,
to the surprise of the Star Force, three battered-looking ships in a
battered-looking royal blue and sky blue color scheme faded in out of warp
before the Argo’s bow. They looked a
little like EDF cruisers in size and in the configuration of their twin-gun gun
turrets, although the shapes of their hulls and conning towers were quite
different than those of any EDF ship. Or, for that matter, they were quite
different from any Cometine, Gamilon, Pellian, Rikashan, Bolar, R’Khell,
Technomugar, or Dark Nebulan ship they had ever encountered in their seven
years of war since 2199.
“What
the heck are those?” said Wildstar.
“I’ve
never seen anything like that before, sir,” said Ensign Dale Hersh, who would
be the Argo’s new Artillery officer
on Bridge # 1.
“Me,
neither,” said Sandor as most of the crew began to head back into the ship upon
Wildstar’s orders. “At least they aren’t taking any aggressive action.”
“We’d
better order an alert,” said Wildstar. “Sandor, get your repair crews inside on
the double. Homer, try to establish a link with them…Eager, Becker, see if you
two can find anything in the libraries that matches those ships. We might have
been given information on something like that by the Gamilons that we haven’t
analyzed yet.”
The
other officers saluted and headed back inside the ship.
Back
on the Argo, Wildstar took his seat
at the Captain’s command station while Homer said, “Captain Wildstar, I’ve
established a link with the lead ship. Opening the channel.”
A
short time later, an image came up of a very Terran-looking man with somewhat
pinkish looking skin and sandy brown hair. He wore a khaki-colored uniform and
said, in halting Terran, “You are the Terrans of the Star Force?”
“We
are,” said Wildstar. “I am Commodore Derek Wildstar, Captain of the Argo. Are you allied with the Comet
Empire?”
“One
could say that, but only by force. We are former slaves of theirs from a planet
about five hundred lightyears away known as Rotella. We gained our freedom
after the demise of Zordar, but Invidia has been working on again enslaving us.
We know of you by reputation and have admired your bravery in holding off the
forces of Zordar and Invidia. I am Captain Brazel of the Rotellan Federal Navy,
commander of the corvette Pavonia.
Many cities on Rotella have been attacked, but, still, those of us who remain
have kept up the fight. ”
“How
do you know our language?”
“Zordar
forced us to learn it. We were to be part of the second wave of conquerors
(under Cometine orders, of course) to help enslave and occupy Earth. We were
actually boarding transports to come towards Earth when Zordar was killed by
you and Trelaina of Telezart. We were glad to hear this, since we had once had
dealings with Telezart some time in the past. We have a common enemy to fight,
Commodore Wildstar.”
“So,
how can you help us?” said Wildstar after a long pause in which he guessed that
he could trust these aliens. They seemed to be enemies of the same enemy.
“I
tell you that you are in great danger. This system is filled with Cometine
forces. Still, we have been harassing the enemy as we can in hit and run raids.
It has been some time since we have seen a battleship as large as yours,
though; the enemy has destroyed most of our heavy battleships.”
“Do
you know where the enemy base is on their third planet?”
Brazel
paused. He stood in thought for a moment. “Yes, I know, I can lead you right to
it. How would you propose to assault them?”
“We
have heavy weapons you may not know of,” said Wildstar with an evil grin. “We
have a means of attacking the base from above and destroying it with one
well-placed shot.”
“Impressive,”
said Brazel. “We can act as your escorts if you’d like to try such an
attack…we…have two other ships, the Eriteria
and the Fashika, and…”
At
that, the transmission faded out as another voice blew across the band. It
said, “FOOLS, you think you can….plot…against…”
“Homer!
Get them back!” snapped Wildstar.
“I
can’t! There’s a heavy jamming wave and a counter-data stream being forced in
over the jamming! Trying to get back the Rotellans, but…”
The
image of Brazel faded out, to be replaced with the sneering image of General
Dalkon. He had a heavy beard and an evil face. He said, “Greetings, Commodore
Wildstar! I spit upon you and your Captain Avatar and hold you fools both in
utter contempt! I am General Dalkon, and I am supreme here. No one else plots
in my system, you idiot! It is not good for you scum-addled, pustulous,
stinking rebels to be talking to each other. It is very tiresome and
dangerous.”
“That’s
a nice, happy greeting,” said Wildstar sarcastically. “What do you want, you
fat pig? I was just having a very nice talk with our new friends that your
glorious Empire seems to be having a very hard time defeating. It’s a shame
that you seem to be having such a hard time defeating just a few ships. I
wonder why that is?”
“Your
words will soon be wiped out of your smart mouth by our glorious forces,
Wildstar!”
“When?”
“I
will show you mercy. You have three hours to leave this space and begin warping
back thirty thousand lightyears back to the chain of stars you passed at the
Hyperion Nebula at your MP-515. We call that the Prince Zordar Line. At the
moment, it is our border. You have violated our territorial rights and our
territorial space by coming here. We cannot allow this.”
“What
about your raids into our space, Dalkon? We followed your fleet here to give
you the doom that you deserve.”
“Never.
You have three hours to make repairs and then leave. If you are not gone by
then, we attack. Three hours, Wildstar. This is your last warning.”
At
that, Dalkon faded out.
V. CONTINUED PURSUIT
The Vicinity of Alpha
Centauri
Space Battleship
Sunday, June 8, 2206
1612 Hours: Earth Time
In
the meantime, the crew of the
Right
now, in a lull in the fighting, Deke Wakefield stood with the rest of the crew
in the
“As
it is at this time, it’s been two days since we last had contact with the enemy…right
here, in orbit around Centaurus,” said Venture as he pointed to a graphic on
the deck screen with a pointer. “Mister Conroy, would you describe the action?”
“Yessir,”
said Conroy. “Three of our patrol flights spotted the subs trying to attack the
main base here at Centaurus. We scrambled, and we caused the enemy to flee
within about ten minutes’ worth of battle. We detected damage thanks to our
standard ASW tactics. We haven’t seen them since, sir.”
I was there in that battle, thought
“To
mess up our shipping,” said Paul Rosstowski. “They want to wreck our supply
lines.”
“Then
why did they attack a base?” said Nova Wildstar. “That’s not one hundred
percent consistent. I think they’re trying to weaken our morale with these
raids.”
“What
purpose would that serve?” asked Rosstowski.
“At
the beginning of the first war we fought with them, they were attacking our
escort and patrol fleets and they also attacked our solar energy station near
Venus,” said Nova. “They caused a huge blackout on Earth, probably to rattle
us.”
“Good
point,” said Venture. “I remember them doing that.”
“I’ve
also picked up an enormous amount of malice coming from them,” said Aliscea
Rosstowski. “They really want to knock us down; to ruin our pride…to teach whom
they consider to be boss. That is consistent with sadists,” said Aliscea.
Nova
nodded sadly as Lt. Alex Nelson said, “Captain, the ship is finally in top
condition, for once. Unless the enemy returns, all we need to do is wait.”
“Wait,”
said Holly Venture. “All this is is a waiting game. I wish we were doing
something.”
“Being
in space won’t always be exciting,” said Mark. “I’d say the consensus is that
the enemy wants to rattle us, ruin our supply lines, and harm us, all at once.”
“They
want to hurt us, sir,” said
“Yes,
The
discussion continued on for a few more minutes until everyone was dismissed.
When they were dismissed, Deke and Brew began to leave, but Nova ran up beside
Deke and said, “I’d like you to meet with me in my office at 1700, Mister
Wakefield.”
“Did
I do something wrong?”
“No…there
are just…some things I want to ask you about,” Nova said with a blush as her
stomach gurgled. “I’ll…I’ll see you later…excuse me…”
What
Nova left unsaid was that his friend Brew had set the appointment up for Deke
because he had noticed him looking “as depressed as an old hunk of wood”
recently. With that done, Nova had penciled in the appointment for Deke.
In
the meantime, Nova walked at a brisk pace towards the nearest head. When she
got in, she went into a stall, slammed the hatch behind her, locked it, and let
a good part of her dinner heave itself up from a protesting stomach as she
hacked and coughed. When she was done throwing up, she primly wiped her mouth
and thought, Well, at least I made it to
the head this time. I wonder what could be causing this? Jitters? Or…something
else. I did a pregnancy test the other day and it seemed to come up negative?
I’d better check it again…and eat something light for dinner. A salad might do
it.
She
looked up towards the overhead after she flushed the WC and said, softly, “Derek,
after all our trying, wouldn’t it be ironic if I’m pregnant now, in the middle
of a war, thousands of lightyears away from you? I hope it’s not
true…please…let it not be true…I don’t want to have our baby apart from you…I…”
Then,
Nova gave in to her emotions and sat down on the WC and cried. A tap on the
hatch brought her out of her cry as she angrily pulled open the hatch to be
greeted with Holly Venture’s concerned face.
“All
you all right, Nova?”
“I’m
fine, Holly. Just…stress. I haven’t taken it to Doctor Bradford, yet. Maybe I
should. I can’t go to myself for counseling, of course,” she said with a sad
smile.
“Don’t
feel bad, I don’t like this war much, either, even with Mark being here with
me. We don’t sleep together that often, but…”
“I
was through the same thing with Derek…but it helps even when they can just hold
you when you fall asleep…let alone…”
Holly
blushed at that. “Aha! Miss Nova admits she’s a big girl! So what’s your love
life like?”
“It’s
sucked since the 18th of May. That’s the last time I was with Derek,
ever since then…”
“Oh,
so that’s why you’ve been barfing,”
teased Holly.
“I
hope it’s something else. It would not be terribly convenient to be pregnant
right now, in the middle of a war…”
“But
not unprecedented…they do have a very cute maternity uniform, you know…well,
two of them. One’s a dress, the other’s a jumpsuit…”
Nova
rolled her eyes at that. “You’re no help.” Then, she laughed.
“Hey,
madeja laugh!” said Holly as she coaxed Nova to her feet and gave her a hug.
“Go see the doctor…then, you’ll know…”
“Aye,
aye, ma’am,” said Nova with a smile.
At
1700, Deke Wakefield showed up at Nova Wildstar’s office with a reluctant heart
for his counseling appointment. When he was admitted, he was a little surprised
to see her standing near her desk with her clothes changed (she had changed out
of her gold uniform into a nurse’s dress and sandals) pouring some tea into a
cup.
“I
hope you don’t mind tea?” said Nova as she stirred some sugar into a cup.
“Not
at all, ma’am,” said Deke. Nova picked up the cup, set it down, and then she
crossed her ankles, and stretched like a cat and yawned before sitting down. In
her nurse’s tunic, the gesture reminded him powerfully of a gesture that Dawn
used to make. She stretched again. Deke shivered within for a moment as he
remembered how lovely Dawn’s legs had looked in a similar outfit as a
candy-striper in high school; with Nova’s taller and more willowy build, Deke
vaguely wondered how Commodore Wildstar could keep his hands off his wife for
much longer than a moment when they were together.
Nova
then pushed one of the cups of tea towards Deke. “Here you go. Now, let’s sit
down for a bit.”
“Ma’am,
why the salad?”
“This?”
said Nova as she dug a fork into a small salad bowl before her on the desk.
“Uh…”
“Sorry,
ma’am…I saw you at dinner before.”
“I
got a little woozy and pecid, so I needed some more,” said Nova.
“Ma’am,
permission to speak freely?”
“Granted,”
said Nova with an impish grin.
“Why
the…dress?”
“The
nurse’s outfit is because I’m going into surgery in ninety minutes, after we’re
done, and the tea is for you.”
Deke
nodded, adding just a little more sugar and artificial lemon to his tea.
“I
put sugar in there already; you’ll make yourself sick with that much.”
“So,
does it matter? My heart’s sick.”
“That
does not sound cheery,” said Nova as she talked around her lettuce on purpose
to hide the shock and apprehension in her voice. “What’s the problem?”
“One
you’ve probably never had. May I assume, ma’am, you’ve virtually always been
carrying a torch for Commodore Wildstar?”
“You’re
about right, since I basically married my first serious boyfriend, yes. What’s
the problem?”
“Okay..”
said Deke after a long pause. “Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that you
are falling in love with someone, someone right now. This person wants you and
makes no secret whatsoever of it. You find this person pleasant, sweet, kind,
easy on the eyes, a little kooky, maybe, but very cute. The problem is that you
have a ghost living in your head.”
“A
ghost?” said Nova. “Does it look like Jacob Marley’s ghost and come out of your
head once a year at Christmas?”
“I
wish it did,” said Deke, shivering as he remembered for a moment how much that sounded
like something Sasha might say. His guilt and apprehension increased when he
saw Nova flipping her head back casually and wiping her bangs out of her
eyes…in just the same way that Sasha did. “This ghost is the memory of an old
girlfriend.”
“She
must have been pretty special if she is that hard to shake,” said Nova with a
little nervousness as she realized that she seemed to be getting to the heart
of Deke’s issues with commitment.
“She
was. I grew up around her in childhood. We went through grammar school, middle
school, and high school together. She was the first woman I slept with…that
alone is something special…”
“It
always is,” said Nova obliquely as she realized she was flushing with heat
herself. “I mean…that always is…I should know, I…”
“Ma’am?”
Nova
smiled, knowing that she was blushing
now. Too much information, girl,
thought Nova. Even if Derek was the first
man I’ve slept with and may have also possibly made me pregnant twenty days
ago, she thought. “Nothing, she said. “Now, about this mystery girl.”
“All
right. One day, after we were really close, about to get married, we thought,
things went South in a hurry and we split up. I spent the next three years of
my life pining for her and hoping maybe I could get her back. When I saw it
might be a fool’s hope, I began dating someone else. So, what would you do?”
“What
would I do?”
Deke
nodded.
“The
logical thing, maybe. Date my new love and tell myself to stop living in the
past. Except I can’t really say how I’d react in that situation.”
“Why
not?” said Deke.
Nova
looked down at the desk. “I’ve never been there and I don’t want to be there,
myself. Knowing Derek for all these years has given me a sort of sheltered
existence.”
“Okay.
Suppose he leaves you? What would you do?”
“He
won’t ever leave me,” huffed Nova. “He’s too much the honorable samurai for that.”
“Okay,
suppose…uh, Derek gets his head clonked against the side of his Super Star in some
battle. He comes home whacky with a 100 percent service-connected disability
and he decides he wants to throw you over for Cindi at the local diner.”
“Cindi?”
said Nova with some disgust.
“A
waitress there who wears a very short French Maid uniform.”
“He
wouldn’t do that,” said Nova.
“This
is an assumption,” said Deke. “Let’s assume he thinks you weigh as much as a
Cosmo Tiger and want to eat bon-bons all day at home.”
“If
I ever got like that, I’d take the honorable way out and commit seppuku,” said Nova dryly.
“Assuming,”
said Deke.
“All
right,” said Nova, not liking the thread of this conversation at all. “I’d wait
for Derek, see if he came to his senses. If he divorced me, I’d try to fight
it. If it went through, I’d mourn for a bit but then eventually go on living.
And that is what you should do, Deke. Go
on living. Especially…since you said you have a girl there who’s crazy
about you. If you have her, why worship at the shrine of your lost love
forever?”
Deke
took a deep breath. “You have a good point.”
“There
is such a thing, Deke, as being committed. The girl you are with now, or trying
to be with, will love the fact that you are committing to her. But make that
commitment! And don’t look back! Forget the past! For all we know, that girl
you used to love may be with someone else by now.”
“I
don’t know…I haven’t heard from her in so long, I…”
“That
would appear to be a good sign she’s
moved on,” said Nova as Deke sat thunderstruck. “How long has it been since you
last heard from her?”
“I
don’t know….it’s been ages…I write to her mother, though…”
“Write
a letter to her mother, then. Tell her you need to know if this girl is with
someone else or not. Tell her you need this for a sense of closure in your
life.”
Deke
nodded his head, dully. He knew this was the logical thing to do. He didn’t
know if he could bring himself to do it.
He
exchanged a few more pleasantries with Nova and then left. She invited him to
come up again sometime, and he said he’d be happy to do so.
As
he left, Nova thought, Sasha is not in a
good situation in the middle of this. I can tell Deke wants to be true to her,
but how can he be if he’s dragging around his old life like some kind of lead
weight behind him? And I can’t break therapist-patient cofidentiality by
writing Sasha a letter about this, either. For better or for worse, Deke’s
going to have to work through this…on his own…
VI. DALKON’S RAGE…
Space Battleship Argo
The Vicinity of Cometine
Base GG-1
Deep Space: 80,000
Lightyears Away From Earth
Sunday June 8, 2206
1930 Hours: Earth Time
“Commodore
Wildstar,” said General Dalkon’s sneering face on the Argo’s main screen. “I demand your reply. Your three hours is up.”
“We’re
still here, General,” said Wildstar as the Argo
cruised along in formation near the Cometine Base World GG-1 escorted by
the Pavonia, the Eriteria, and the Fashika.
“You figure it out.”
“Okay,
then, prepare to meet Death!” hissed Dalkon. He disappeared from the screen
while the Argo’s main klaxons came
up.
“Skipper,
Captain Brazel indicates that he’s in position,” said Homer.
“All
weapons armed and ready,” said Domon.
“We’re
right on course,” said Kitano.
“Enemy
fleet approaching,” said Becker. “Three carriers, three battleships, three
missile cruisers, sixteen destroyers. They’re coming in very fast from around
the far side of the planet.”
“That’s
where Brazel said the base was,” said Sandor.
Wildstar
nodded. “All hands,” he said. “Prepare for combat!”
TO
BE CONTINUED…
To Return to
the Introduction to The New Comet, click here