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 First Bridge, Sandor shut the Communications panel. “It should be working now.”
“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 Arizona?”
“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
Tokyo Megalopolis
Federation Central Hospital
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 Central Hospital.
“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 New York Central Hospital,” yawned Clarissa as she ran a hand over her milk chocolate-colored cheek. “I can’t stand sushi.”
“I want to go back home to San Diego,” said Dawn with a shake of her head. “All my life, I wanted to serve as a nurse at San Diego Central. I hope I finally get assigned there today…for good.”
“Yeah…I hope I get what I asked for, too,” said Wellington as both young women left the locker room. “It was quite a trip going through school with you at Pan-Am, though.”
“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 San Diego…”
“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 Pensacola to train as a flight nurse as part of a Rescue Boat crew. Then, you’ll be joining the Fleet. Congratulations.”
Dawn sat with her eyes closed. “Ma’am, I respectfully decline.”
“Decline?”
“I’m sorry, ma’am…I was hoping to serve at San Diego Central Hospital. Near my mother, and….”
“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 Eastern America. That’s all. I expected better of you, you know. Dismissed,” snapped Morrison as she handed Westland her orders.
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!”
“Main guns ready!” snapped Domon as he pulled on his heavy gloves while the Argo shook again.
“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 Arizona. I can assure you this human unit is beyond repair.”
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 Arizona, Captain.”
“No, before that!” said Wildstar.
“The flagships Pennsylvania and both versions of the Andromeda, sir. I was built five years ago as part of the original Andromeda project as an upgrade and served under Admiral Gideon until before the battle at Saturn-Titan, sir.”
“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. Megara saluted and ordered the flagship Dekgavis to lift off from the base along with a fleet of twenty-five more vessels. They were preparing for action, to crush the annoying enemies that were in the sanctuary of Invidia’s sacred space, although they knew not yet for what purpose they had come there.
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 Arizona
Sunday, June 8, 2206
1612 Hours: Earth Time
In the meantime, the crew of the Arizona had troubles of its own as the space battleship had pursued Cometine sub squadrons out beyond the solar system. It had been trying to find them, and then had a few days where they had no contacts until they had received distress signals from Earth vessels near Alpha Centauri. So, the Arizona had pursued the enemy to Alpha Centauri.
Right now, in a lull in the fighting, Deke Wakefield stood with the rest of the crew in the Arizona’s briefing room, hearing Captain Mark Venture brief the crew on their current situation to date.
“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 Wakefield. I even fired one of the missiles…Brew fired the other one at the same time. Brew and I argued for hours about who got him until Conroy gave both of us credit….
Wakefield’s attention was drawn back to the briefing as he heard Venture saying, “I’m opening up the floor to discussion. Why do you people think the enemy is doing this?”
“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 Wakefield. “That’s the basic point.”
“Yes, Wakefield,” said Venture. “They want to hurt us. You’re right.”
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.
Wakefield saluted as Nova left.
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…
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