ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE

STAR BLAZERS---IT NEVER RAINS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA…

A Postscript to THE NEW COMET--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz

This Story is being completed with the Cooperation and Assistance of Derek A.C. Wakefield (as usual)---Freddo

Thanks to Yuki Wildstar for permission to allow me to use her character Jessica Springer in this chapter. Also, thanks to Gail Kopetz, Yuki Wildstar, and Ami Meitsu for ideas used in this chapter.

Also thanks to LadyLear for some input on tweaking a point with the Hardy clan….

PART TWELVE: YOU CAN’T GO BACK TO HIGH SCHOOL (PART TWO: HARDY’S RAGE)

 

I. BACK TO SAN DIEGO

Earth

The San Diego Megalopolis

Space Battleship Argo

Wednesday June 1, 2208

1230 Hours Local Time

 

 

The Argo’s First Bridge was very quiet this time of the day, with only four present; namely, Stephen Sandor, who was at his post, Nova, who was at hers, Commodore Derek Wildstar, who sat at his post, and IQ-9, who sat at Analysis.

 

Derek had come aboard the docked ship to check over his logs and reports, and to check on the most recent progress of Steve and Nova’s project of reconfiguing the ship’s computer systems. Derek had been alone at the house with the babies for about a day, since Nova had been in the Tokyo Megalopolis by herself the previous day, doing similar work for him and for Captain Mark Venture on the Arizona. Nova had just flown her Cosmo Tiger back from Great Island at dawn, where she had gone home, checked on Derek, Jonathan, and the babies, and then took the little ones with her to drop off at day care at the hospital in San Diego, make her rounds, and then change from her nurse’s garb to her crew uniform to come back to the Argo.

 

“How is the computer work going?” Derek asked.

 

Sandor stood up and saluted. “The hardware upgrades are going well, sir. The new hardware firewalls are up and running at eighty percent efficiency, and we’ve rebuilt the computer core and have all of the uplinks repaired aagin. The software rewrite is Nova’s baby, so I’m going to have her reporting next. But, my job is close to done. If everything goes as planned, I think we can expect a full power-up simulation to be ready to run by July the first.”

 

“That’s great news,” said Derek. Nova had gotten up next, and as Derek glanced at her, she saluted. Derek was seeing the ghosts of dark circles under her eyes  again, and he was getting worried about her health. Are we pushing her too hard? Derek thought. She’s done enough work in forty-eight hours that would make most men sick with exhaustion. And I didn’t even push her to go back to Japan. She volunteered.

 

“How is the security rewrite going, Commander Wildstar?” Derek asked.

 

“That work is seventy-five percent completed, sir,” Nova said. “May I go over to Central Control to pull up a full schema of the structure? I can’t pull it all up at the radar.”

 

“Permission granted,” said Derek.

 

Nova went over to Central Control at the starboard aft part of the bridge abaft of Eager’s vacant post, cleared her throat, and opened a number of screens and looked at a large amount of dials.

 

Then, she said, pointing at a screen with a with cotton glove she was wearing, “I’ve rewritten the software firewall so that we have a number of shells of security surrounding different parts of the software structure, somewhat like the shell patterns of electrons in a more complex atom with high atomic weight,” Nova said. “I have the core systems and BIOS surrounded with two interlocking security shells, followed by a global shell protecting all of the inner-level systems. Those shells are completed and up on-line now. A feature of these shells is an advanced sort of self-correcting, self-healing code I have written to protect these core systems. The principle is like that written in the DNA and RNA code of a higher organism that allows a cell to, to a certain extent, heal itself. This code is also supposed to be self-healing.”

 

“Which means?”

 

“The idea is that if the system is attacked again, code modules I have written in the code in fifteen locations will act like antibodies to stop the incursion within nanoseconds,” Nova said. “I tried to base the principle upon that of T-cells and leukocyutes in the bloodstream; except that these do not surround biological incursions, but they scan for and catch code incursions, weird checksums, things that don’t add up, et cetera,” Nova said.

 

“What do you guys think of this?” Derek said. “Sounds pretty impressive to me.”

 

“It is impressive,” said IQ-9. “It’s amazing that this sort of work, with the sort of genius more akin to my superior mind than human wetware, can come out of two humans such as Stephen and Nova. Particularly out of the mind of a beautiful woman with Nova with an illogical mind I have never quite grasped.”

 

“Thanks a lot, Tinwit,” Nova huffed. “Let us suppose that I was of the male gender, all right? Would you be coming up with that sort of illogical baloney then?”

 

 

“I am not illogical!” said IQ-9. “I am a thousand more times logical than you, Nova! You were going on about hair ribbons and your pedicure flying in here with me this morning,” said IQ-9.

 

“That’s because discussing systems architecture was getting boring after six hours straight, even with you, IQ,” Nova said. “Geez, you have to give a person a chance to rest their mind!”

 

“What about Scrabble?” demanded IQ-9.

 

“You cheat at Scrabble,” Nova said.

 

“Why?”

 

“GIGO is not a word, IQ. It is an acronym,” Nova said. Derek looked puzzled so Nova explained, “Ancient computer programming term, dear. It stands for Garbage In, Garbage Out. Feed a computer bad data and you get bad data out of it. We see this principle in your electronic brain, IQ-9. We feed junk into to your mind and you regurgitate junk.”

 

“I am an artist! I am not a dumb machine, Nova! You are a hack!”

 

“I’m a hack? Derek, do you believe this? He’s insulting me!”

 

“I am merely pointing out the illogic of your wetware, Nova,” said IQ-9 as Derek and Sandor both rolled up their eyes at IQ-9’s bizarre verbal fencing. To date, Nova had proven to be the only woman that IQ had ever met who could give him a good takedown in an argument. Nova knew how he thought, and she knew which buttons she could push in his brain when the situation called for it. Now, the most bizarre part of this was that the squat little AI and the woman were good friends, in spite of the robot’s bizarre “crush” on her. Yet, they could duel in an argument like fencing partners. Sometimes, Derek wondered if IQ was really as much as a “genius” as he claimed to be.

 

Then, the Comm panel went off. Nova and Derek ran to answer it, and, to their surprise, Doctor Sane’s face came up on it. “Doctor?” Nova said as Derek leaned in over her. “Aren’t you still at the hospital? What do you need?”

 

“Yes I am,” Sane said. “Captain, with all respect, I need Nova at the hospital in the next two hours for an emergency meeting. Nova, you know Dawn showed up for work, prematurely, after you left?”

 

“Why?” Nova said. “Doctor, she’s still on leave.”

 

“Yes, but…well, she thought she’d be you and check things out early. She got in trouble two hours later with a patient. The business was partially witnessed by our friend Tasha Cleveland and the whole thing was witnessed by a new nurse just transferred down here from Los Angeles known as…Jessica Springer.”

 

“What?” Nova said. “Don’t tell me they’re putting Springer here at the hospital in San Diego?”

 

“Unfortunately, yes,” Sane said. “Her father, the cosmetic surgeon Doctor Lee Springer, pulled some strings and got her reassigned up here with him,” Doctor Sane sighed. He looked hard at Nova and said, “You know she has a reputation, Nova. Maybe she…”

 

“Yes. LA would suit her far better than San Diego,” Nova snapped. “Or maybe she just wants to enjoy the surfing and the nude beaches? And all the cabana boys hanging around?”

 

“Why are you two talking about this Springer as if she is poison?” said Derek.

 

“Let Nova tell you,” said Sane.

 

“It’s because she is poison,” Nova said. “I worked with her for a little while four years ago, Derek, when I was filling in for one of the nursing instructors at Los Angeles Central when you were in space around the time when I had those miserable TDY assignments. Denise was one of the nursing students in the class I was a substitute instructor with. I never forgot her, Derek….even though I wish I could forget her…and Los Angeles. I don’t think she ever should have completed nursing school…she…she’s unfocused, a gossip-monger extraordinare, and she finds trouble like iron finds an electromagnet. She also has really poor taste. Anyhow, Doctor, I’ll be along in a while,” Nova sighed. “Let me get my work done here on board ship, and then get into a nurse’s uniform again. Talk in a while..okay?”

 

Sane nodded at Nova and said to Wildstar, “Don’t worry, Wildstar. You can have the missus back in a while. Let her figure out this business with Mrs. Hardy, and give me her opinion…and calm down the patient.”

 

“Who’s the patient?” Nova said.

 

“A young woman about to have her baby. Dawn…said things.”

 

Nova breathed a deep sigh. “Doc, knowing Dawn, I think I can figure out what was said already…”

 

AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER….

 

After parking her Fiat, Nova Wildstar left the San Diego Central Hospital parking deck and entered the hospital, with her crepe-soled sandals whispering against the polished floors as she entered the hospital, wearing a fresh new set of scrubs intended for her entry to Medical School in a few weeks. Nova had already showed up at some summer orientation classes and seminars at Central Medical School in the Tokyo Megalopolis, so her status and new hospital rank as a Medical Student put her on a somewhat higher strata than the other nurses as she now occupied the world between the ranks of doctor and nurse. Yet, in those times, given the shortages of qualified medical personnel, it was not uncommon to see experienced Medical Students doing summer work and TDYs as charge nurses, Unit Commanders, or even WHO or EDF Assistant Medical Officers right below senior doctors.

 

Nova rode the lift up to the Maternity Ward she had become quite familiar with in the past few months, and she was greeted by Ensign Jessica Springer, who blew a kiss at her rather than saluting.

 

God, Nova thought. Nova looked hard at Springer and said, “Miss Springer, I believe you hold the Earth Defense Forces rank of Ensign?”

 

“Yes, I do,” said Springer. “Cute scrubs, ma’am! Like my pedicure? I spent three hours at Max’s last nght getting it,” said Jessica as she stuck out one of her sandaled feet. Springer had on tights, but they were footless, exposing her bare feet and a lime-green pedicure that matched her eyes. Nova also wore sandals but she simply went bare-legged and wore rather inconspicuous clear nail polish on her toes.


“Cute, but we aren’t here to discuss your pedicure, Ensign. Number one, I’m a Commander. When you see me, you salute. Number two, I am your charge nurse and one of your section chiefs. When you see me, you are to be ready to answer questions. My first question is; where is Mrs. Hardy?”

 

Jessica held back a nasty look and saluted Nova belatedly, thinking, She’s still one of those. All professional. No sense of fun, probably still a stick in the mud in bed with her husband and a Missionary Position girl. When she sleeps with him, that is. Bitch! Springer than said, “Ma’am, Mrs. Hardy is sitting in the lounge with Doctor Sane and with Miss Cleveland. But I can tell you most everything she said to this lady, who is named Mrs. Gitano. Like to know what she said? Like to know what she’s been saying about her behind everyone’s back, ma’am? It’s great gossip!” giggled Springer.

 

“I don’t recommend penalties based on hearsay evidence, Ensign,” Nova said. “Let’s hear everyone’s side. Including Mrs. Hardy’s.”

 

“Yeah, let’s hear everyone’s side,” said Jessica, who thought, Ma’am, this is such bullshit. You know she is as guilty as sin. But what? Trying to cover up for your little friend?

 

A moment later, Nova and Jessica walked together into the office, where they found Doctor Sane sitting there with his bottle, Dawn sitting with her hands in her lap looking very depressed, and Tasha Cleveland sitting there in a pink uniform, stockings, and sandals, finishing up a cup of coffee.

 

“This coffee’s better than yours, ma’am,” said Cleveland as she looked at Nova.

 

“Very amusing,” Nova said tartly. “Doctor Sane, I’m here. What do you want me to do?”

 

“Nova, sit there at the head of the table, listen, and take notes,” said Sane. “Open and then give me the floor.”

 

“Understood,” Nova said as she got a yellow legal pad and a pen and began to write fast. “Maternity Ward Section Two professional ethics meeting, 1 June 2208, commenced. Sakezo Sane MD in charge of informal board, Nova Wildstar RN second in charge and opening for Doctor Sane. Who is the highest-ranking floor nurse here?”

 

Tasha raised her hand before sipping again at her coffee. Nova paused and then said, “Junior Lieutenant Cleveland, please report the basic narrative to Doctor Sane. Doctor Sane, the floor is yours for interrogatories, sir.”

 

Sane nodded once as Cleveland finished her coffee and then turned to them. “The incident happened about three hours ago, at about eleven hundred hours. Mrs. Hardy had returned to work at ten-thirty hours. After being briefed, Mrs. Dawn Hardy was assigned to take vitals from patient Melanie Gitano in Room 305. Mrs. Gitano is expected to deliver in the next forty-eight hours but is here on bedrest because she presented with minor bleeding and spotting, so her pregnancy is somewhat high-risk. Mrs. Gitano is a dependent of a Gunnery Lieutenant known as Lieutenant Dan Gitano, serving on the space destroyer Reuben James, in dock for a minor refit here in San Diego. This is Mrs. Gitano’s first child. Scans indicate the child is a girl and close to full-term, Doctor.”

 

“What did Ensign Hardy say to Mrs. Gitano?”

 

Tasha sighed and said, “I was in the room for a little of it; I was called in by Ensign Springer. From what I heard, Mrs. Gitano was crying, highly agitated, and trying to throw things at Ensign Hardy. Mrs. Hardy was gesticulating and pointing at Mrs. Gitano’s stomach beneath her hospital gown, saying, “The way it sounds, you’re probably going to lose your baby, the same way I lost one of my twins. Fate and God seem to hate pregnant women these days, lady.”

 

“My God,” Nova said as she looked very hard at Dawn.

 

“Ensign Springer, let’s hear your side?” said Doctor Sane.

 

“I got in there right behind Dawn, carrying the stupid bedpan,” sang Jessica. “Dawn was looking at the patient with her gown hitched up behind the privacy curtain, and I was trying to put the bedpan on the bed. The patient was half-naked, and it looked like maybe something nasty was going on in there,” giggled Jessica. “She…”

 

“Was probably about to go the bedpan?” Nova asked. “Not that unusual in a hospital if you are a patient. Mrs. Hardy, were you checking the patient’s pending birth area?”

 

“I was,” said Dawn. “I was checking for spotting and bleeding. She asked me if the baby would make it, and I just spoke my mind and said I wasn’t sure…I…”

 

“She told her she’d probably lose the baby and had better buy a coffin,” sang Jessica.

 

“”Really?” said Doctor Sane with a high squeak as Nova wrote furiously. “Ensign Hardy…did you really say that?”

 

“I heard it all so you can’t deny it,” said Jessica.

 

“Springer…be quiet!” snapped Doctor Sane. “Mrs. Hardy? Did you say that? Be honest.”

 

Dawn was crying now. She said, “Yes! I said it! I…”

 

“You admit to patient abuse?” said Doctor Sane.

 

Dawn nodded her head and began to cry harder and bang the table with her fists. Nova got up, got behind her, and said, “Dawn…please calm down. Thank you for being honest, but…”

 

“So, I did it all!” said Dawn. “Fire me! Court-martial me! I fucked up!”

 

“You’re World Health Organization, so I can’t do that,” snapped Doctor Sane. “We will give a report to your commanding officer, though. I feel an appropriate penalty is suspension, and a requirement that you seek counseling before reporting back to work. Nova, what do you recommend?”

 

Nova sighed and said, “I recommend a twenty-one day suspension, Doctor. I also recommend she sit a Board before being allowed to return to full and regular unsupervised practice. After her suspension, she will serve on a limited student basis until she passes her Board Review. There will also be an ethics review class running this month beginning on the tenth. I recommend that both her and Ensign Springer be recommended to attend this class.”

 

Dawn cried and cried. Finally, Nova looked at her and said, “Mrs. Hardy, please surrender your badge and credentials to me. They’ll be held for you until you return. Please go home to Jefferson and David. Don’t think about this place for a while. Just rest,” Nova said as she got up and patted her on her back. “If you want me to, I’ll walk you to your car.”

 

“I don’t want you to walk me anywhere, ma’am!” Dawn yelled. She threw her badge and WHO credentials on the table and ran off towards the elevators crying loudly. Dr. Sane picked up Dawn’s credentials and said, “Nova?”

 

“Let me lock those up in my desk in my nurse’s station cubicle,” Nova sighed, going into the charge nurse’s small office/cubicle behind the counter. There, she locked Dawn’s badge and items up in her drawer with a note attached that read, Please e-mail World Health Organization Commander Misha Donnelly about Dawn and her problems.

 

Then, as the meeting broke up, Nova began to compose the e-mail.

 

 

HALF AN HOUR LATER…

Commander Misha Donnelly, at thirty-three, was a severe-looking but gentle and professional nurse who ran the World Health Organization nursing contingent assigned to Central Hospital in San Diego.

 

Misha usually liked to dress in blue; blue dress, blue stockings, but white nurse’s cap and sandals. Her computer dinged at her desk, and, with a sigh, the woman adjusted her glasses and looked at the screen, pulling up her e-mail client.

 

Hmmm, she thought. A message from the EDF Fleet Contingent…Commander Wildstar? Is that the Star Force vet? Donnelly thought. Now what could this be about from EDF? Those people are our professional rivals, so to speak. Well, let’s open it, and….

 

It read as follows:

 

Commander Donmnelly:

 

Good afternoon. I’m Commander Nova Wildstar; EDF Reserves, assigned to the 456th upstairs in Maternity at the moment on a part-time basis as I am still on partial family leave (had two babies last September). I see by your time in rank and grade that you are senior to me, so I will refer to you as ma’am. The reason I am writing is because of a mutual colleague, one Ensign Dawn Hardy, on contract right now to the 456th, but we were recently veterans together on the Argo during the War.

 

I have attached the minutes of a preliminary professional board I co-chaired earlier today. Ensign Hardy was found guilty of patient abuse in comments made to a pregnant patient, to make it brief. BTW, this is a second offense on her part over the past few weeks since we know she had an incident during her pregnancy where he had to be Reprimanded.

I recommended a 21-day suspension followed by a full Board I would ask you to chair. I also recommend various classes that may help the Ensign. I feel the Ensign should be treated severely but that she may be able to become a useful officer. Kindly send your recommendations to myself or Sakezo Sane MD ASAP. Also we may want to rethink her EDF Flight Nurse Contract pendent upon the Board’s decision.

 

Yours,

CMDR WILDSTAR, NOVA, RN, LNP, MD Candidate

 

Donnelly then opened Nova’s minutes and read them, biting on her pen as she read how bad it was. When done, Misha thought for a moment as she sat back in her office chair. Dawn Hardy, formely known as Westland, thought Donnelly. She was fairly stable when serving under me, but her prior record and one or two small incidents while she was a student show she has a tendency to go off half-baked at time. I am familiar with her medical record; I know she had some major post-partum depression, so I think she showed some horrible judgment in returning to work so early, especially while still so emotionally unstable. I agree with Wildstar that she should be reprimanded, but I don’t know about pulling her Flight Nurse contract…yet…unless she shows other examples of not being able to work with others….

 

Donnelly sighed, put down her pen, and began sending Nova a response via e-mail. It read:

 

Commander Wildstar:

 

Best wishes to you and good luck upon your pending entry to Medical School at the end of August.

 

I am familiar with both Ensign Hardy’s service record and recent medical record. She is suffering, as you know, from severe post-partum depression. As we are supposed to police ourselves as health professionals in terms of preparedness and ethics, Ensign Hardy should have known that she was not yet fit to return to duty. And I am aware of her Reprimand, Commander. YOU need not remind me again. I forgive you for the impertinence due to your youth and zeal, though.

 

I concur with your recommendation for the suspension and will chair the Inquiry Board. I will see to it she is enrolled in the classes you recommend upon her return to duty. However, knowing our personnel situation, I would not be too hasty in pulling her EDF Contract…unless she shows further egregious conduct or severe evidence of instability.

 

Yours in Fellowship and Harmony,

 

CMDR DONNELLY, MISHA, RN, LNP, MS, Permanent Supervisory Nurse, WHO

 

PS-Wildstar, I believe you will make an excellent doctor someday when you survive Medical School, Internship, and Residency. However, remember, that like Caesar of old, thou art mortal, and you shall someday end up leaving this mortal plane like all of us, perhaps with your soul in Heaven, your flesh nourishing the Earth, and your bones in a cabinet in the Medical School with Samantha the Skeleton. In other words, don’t be a Cheeky Baby! Take care!

 

Nova read the e-mail a while later, and she thought, Well, at least I got some of what I wanted. Believe it or not, though, I am worried about Dawn. I hope she’s all right…she and David….

 

 

II. BACK AT HOME…

Earth

The San Diego Megalopolis

Rio Amarillo Apartments

The Wildstar Townhouse

Wednesday June 1, 2208

1742 Hours Local Time

 

 

Back home at Derek and Nova’s townhouse, the usual playful chaos ensued in the late afternoon.

 

Derek was playing with Alex in the lving room (on the floor) and was watching Ariel with amusement. The baby girl was getting more intrepid at nearly nine months of age, and he and Nova had noticed her pulling herself up on her chubby little feet at times, standing, and then wobbily going back on all fours.

 

Jonathan had just gotten home, and he was watching Ariel with amusement. “Dad, it looks like she’s trying to walk.”

 

“It sure does,” said Derek with a father’s pride as he picked Ariel up and gave her a big kiss. IQ-9 came into the room and he said, “You guys might like this. I borrowed some of your toys, Jonathan, and I’m putting them to a good use…ha ha ha ha ha ha…” he said as he put up his antennas and beeped.

 

“What are you doing with my stuff?” said Jonathan.

 

“Puttiing it to a good use, ha ha,” he said as a remote-controlled model of a Japanese Zero buzzed into the room, buzzed around their heads, and buzzed back into the bedroom.

 

“IQ-9, you’re not supposed to fly those in the house!” barked Derek. “That’s a house rule that Jonathan follows to the letter. Jonathan, where’s your mother?”

 

“Taking a bath, Dad. She said she was stiff all over when she came in. She said she had a bad day at the hospital…”

 

In the meantime, Nova was trying (and we stress trying) to take a relaxing bath when, suddenly, a toy of the 1944-era Yamato surfaced like a submarine from the bathtub.

 

It began to cruise around. Nova smiled a little at the toy battleship, expecting that either Derek or Jonathan was controlling the little vessel by radio control from a nearby room of the townhouse. This has to be one of their toys, she thought with amusement. They’re not supposed to play with them in the house, but, I bet that soon, one of them will be in here with the R/C unit, grinning their heads off. They’re both teenagers at times. Cute, but they drive me out of my mind….

 

Then, there was a buzzing sound.

 

Little blue American World War II warplanes flew into the room and began to circle the tub.

 

One of them dropped a little “bomb” near the Yamato, and Nova screeched as a tiny geyser of water came up and spattered on the edge of the tub.

 

A moment later, two miniature Japanese fighters appeared from nowhere, and began to “fight” the American planes, shooting tiny, tiny tracers at the tiny Grumman Avengers that were still attacking the little Yamato somewhere near her toes.

 

“DEREK! JONATHAN!” Nova screamed. “Which one of you guys is messing around with the remote control unit? House rule! We don’t play with these toys in the house! Take them outside…and one of you retrieve the Yamato and sail her out in the complex swimming pool! My bathtub is not the East China Sea in April 1945!”

 

A moment later, IQ-9 came in and said, “Hi, Nova! You’re the target of the attack!”

 

“YOU TINWIT!” she screeched. “I am not Fleet Number Taffy Six! And how are you controlling these little birds, anyway?” she snapped as she grabbed a Zero out of midair in her hand like a giant and held the little R/C plane as it buzzed and trembled in her hand.

 

“I am using my own radio transmitter. I figured out all of the frequencies! I am ten thousand times more efficient than a human, Nova!” he burbled as he made the Yamato turn all of its gun turrets on Nova and then made it “fire” its miniature Airsoft cannons with a loud POP.

 

Nova got mad and she shoved the toy Yamato underwater with both hands, just in time to notice Jonathan running in with Derek. Jonathan looked at Nova and said, “Awww…MOM! You sunk my battleship!”

 

Nova got up holding the Yamato by her bow before shoving it back into the water, while dodging a Grumman and then dodging a Japanese Nakajima in green, and she said, “IQ, QUIT IT! Jonathan! Pick up your toys! Derek! Get me my beach cover-up!”

 

IQ-9 looked at Nova, who was just glowering at him, and he lowered his antennae and all of the planes and the ship went dead. The Yamato had turned turtle, and she bobbed in the tub upside-down as Nova pulled out the plug and began to drain the water. Derek tossed her a towel and her cover-up, and she began to dry off and covered herself with a towel as she threw a roll of toilet paper at IQ-9. The chastened robot said, “Sorry, Nova!”

 

“Sometimes, you are NOT funny!” Nova said as she went back out into the living room in a huff.

 

A few minutes later, Nova was on the floor, tickling Ariel as the baby lay there bottomless getting her diaper changed while Alex played in his playpen, clad in just his diaper. “Look at how big she’s getting, Derek!” Nova said as she wiped Ariel off, and then watched her stand up on her little bare feet. Ariel looked at her, then said, “Wan’ DADDY!”

 

And, to everyone’s shock, glee, and surprise, Ariel took her first steps, and then ran towards her father!

 

“Ohmigod, she’s walking!” yelled Jonathan. “Look!”  He ran for a camera, and got a picture of Ariel from behind taking her first few baby steps in just her little t-shirt, todding towards her father with her little tush out until she fell down near his knees as Alex made a loud squeal and watched from the playpen with great interest. The picture of Ariel taking her first steps with a bare bottom would later be considered adorable by her parents, but would be very embarrassing to Ariel herself as she grew up.

 

“Do you want to try, too?” Nova said as she picked up Alex and put him on the floor. He pulled himself up a little as he watched his sister, who had gotten up again and was running around again. He tried to take a step, but he just fell down and began to cry.

 

“Poor dear…you can’t do that yet,” Nova said as she picked up Alex, who said, “Wanna run! Wanna wanna wanna!”

 

Ariel blew raspberries at Alex and said, “Dummy dopeball!”

 

“That is not a nice thing to say about your brother!” snapped Derek. He turned to Ariel and said, “Tell him “sorry”!”

 

“Me sorry, Alexander,” said Ariel, who made everyone smile as they caught her first complete sentence.

 

“IQ-9, do you see this?” said Nova. “These babies are going to be smarter than you, soon.”

 

“I don’t think I like that development,” said IQ-9.

 

“Babies grow up, IQ-9,” said Derek as Nova played with Ariel while she put a fresh diaper on the baby. “Live with it…”

 

 

About thirty-five minutes later, a few townhouses down, Dawn and Jefferson were arguing loudly as David sat on the floor on a towel with nothing on, crying and hungry.

 

“Dawn, I don’t care about your being depressed over being suspended from the hospital,” said Jeff. “Right now, David is hungry, and he needs yuh!”

 

Dawn stalked around in just a sleep shirt as she snapped back, “I’m not a machine, Jeff!”

 

“You’re his mother!” Jefferson yelled back. “And why did you throw the bottles out again?”

 

“Because I thought I could feed them myself…”

 

“So why aren’t you pullin’ up yoah shirt and doin’ so right now?”

 

“Because then I won’t have any clothes on and I’ll look ugly!” sobbed Dawn.

 

“For heaven’s sakes,” said Jeff. “We’ve got four other mothers with babies around here; namely, Nova, Sasha, Angie Hartcliffe, and Mrs.Carmody! You can see often one of them out on the beach every day with their kids, nursing them either topless or naked! Routine occurrence!”

 

“Then, find someone to give him a bottle or a boob, because right NOW I am NOT doing it!” yelled Dawn.

 

Hardy glared angrily at Dawn as he left.

 

So, Hardy took off with a crying, screaming, hungry little David in his arms, hoping that he could find another one of the young mothers around to provide milk either from:

 

a) A bottle of formula…

 

b) A breast….

 

It turned out that after he checked Deke and Sasha’s place and found they weren’t home, Hardy then checked Derek and Nova’s place. He found only Jonathan there, who said, “Oh, hi there, Mister Hardy. Are you looking for my mom?”

 

“Yeah. Where is yoah mom?”


“Out on the beach with Dad and the two rugrats,” Jonathan said teasingly. “She’s feeding them milk before dinner….and, incidentially, sunbathing, Is he hungry again ?” Jonathan asked.

 

“Yeah,” said Hardy.

 

“Poor thing. And she’s refusing to feed him again?” Jonathan asked quietly.

“How wouldja know…?”

 

“Everyone around here hears her screaming,” sighed Jonathan. “And the last time my mother had to do what she said “she can learn to do for herself” she was the closest to cursing a blue streak I….Oh, go see my Mom. She’ll help ya. She knows Dawn’s attitude ain’t your fault, Mister Hardy, sir.”

 

“Thanks, Huck Finn,” teased Jeff, unaware that Jonathan had been bugging his parents to take him to Hanniball, Missouri at some point, and also unaware than Derek and Nova had just made reservations for a weekend hotel trip to Missouri that would happen in mid-July.

 

So, Hardy went down on the beach. It didn’t take him long to find Nova. She was sitting on a beach towel, tickling her own daughter as Derek sat beside her in a fundoshi rubbing tanning oil on Nova’s back.

 

Hardy noticed that Alex wore a diaper, Derek wore a fundoshi…

 

…and that both Ariel and Nova just went naked in the humidity, where it was over one hundred degrees Fahernheit in the sun. Nova turned to Hardy and said, “Oh! Hi!” as she sat there offering Ariel one of her breasts in the sun. The baby girl giggled, took her mother’s right breast, and then began to nurse. 

 

“Did I catch you at a bad time, ma’am?” Hardy said.

 

“No, not at all,” said Nova as she shushed Derek and then heard David’s whimpers and cries. “Is he hungry?”

 

“He is…and  Dawn’s not wantin’ to….”

 

“Ohhhh.. give him to me for a minute,” Nova sighed. Then, she talked to David and cooed, “Are you hungry again, little one? Hmmm? Do you want milkie?”

 

“Nova, I…” began Derek.

 

 

“Derek, he’s hungry. I can’t blame Jeff for this,” she said as she sat up on the towel and tenderly offered her naked breast to little David. David latched right on, and sucked hungrily as tears came to Nova’s eyes. “Yes, he’s hungry, all right. Poor thing. What’s Dawn’s problem this time, Jeff? What’s her excuse for not being a mother to her child and coming out to sit out here in the sun with me with him? This had better be a good one. No offense to you, but neither Sasha nor I are on retainer as David’s wet nurse.”

 

“Nova, you know, she’s just being…”

 

“Unreasonable?” Nova said carefully, even though that was not the first thing that came to her mind. The first thing that came to her mind was the thought, She’s being an adolescent little bitch again? Nova sat up, kicked her bare feet into her flip-flops, and threw her gauze minidress coverup on over her shoulders and said as she clothed herself the best she possibly could with two babies nursing at her breasts, “Well, let’s take him home. I’m going to give Dawn another nursing lesson, and she’d better damn well listen to me this time,” Nova said. “Or…”

 

“Or what?”

 

Nova looked at Derek and nodded. Then, she said, “I’d rather not get into that, Jeff,” knowing that she might have to report Dawn for neglect if this continued. Nova stopped walking and looked at Derek. She grabbed at his fundoshi with a free hand as she said, “Derek, sorry, but this is ready to fall off you. Let me get it fixed. There…much better,” Nova said. “Maybe I should have worn mine out here, but I thought I’d have enough time to throw on my cover-up if anyone came around…”


Finally, they got to Dawn and Hardy’s place. In their spare bedroom, a few minutes later, Dawn reluctantly sat naked on the bed on a baby blanket with little David. Nova sat beside her, again nude herself as she fed Ariel and gently watched Dawn nursing her little son and again offered tips on how to hold him, latch him on, and even on how to caress and tickle him as he fed basking in his mother’s bare warmth, gently using her own exposed body and breasts as examples.

 

“How am I getting on with him now?” Dawn asked, needing reassurance at her mothering techniques.

 

“You’re doing just fine, Dawn,” Nova said. Despite their past quarrels, Dawn liked receiving mothering tips from Nova because there was something about her that seemed to be a calming influence on every baby she held, bathed, or cared for. Dawn could see that even in the past, when Nova had been angered at her, she had simply been trying to get her to face up to her responsibilities as a mother. “Just adjust him a little on your nipple….he might irritate it in that position.” Nova then looked at Dawn’s other breast. “When you get done, keep your shirt off and just go outside in just your shorts and flip-flops or just wear a swimsuit bottom or stay naked. The sun on your bare breasts will toughen the nipples up a bit to make this easier, and when the baby is bare, I like to be bare too, especially when it’s this hot outside..” Then, David cooed, kicked, and then Dawn squealed as he weed all over her stomach, breasts, and bare thighs. Dawn laughed. “This is why you recommend going naked when he’s nakee, right?”

 

Nova nodded. “Uh-huh,” she said as she got a cool rag from out of the bathroom. Nova then squealed herself as Ariel suddenly decided she had to do the same thing all over her mother. She laughed and used another rag to clean herself and Ariel without even breaking stride or taking the baby away from her breast and Nova said, “If baby doesn’t have anything on and he does, this, you see that cleaning yourself up is very easy if you’re undressed, too.” Nova then looked at David and said, “Does he have a shirt on him that much?”

 

“No,” Dawn said. “Is that okay? Also, he has no socks and maybe just two pairs of sandals for dressup. Is that okay?”

 

“Sure,” Nova said. “Lately, in this hot weather, I just take Alex and Ariel out in only their diapers and shirts or onesies. They have a lot of nice little shorts and skirts, but lately, except for church, I don’t even bother putting them on them. Some days, I put them in nothing but sunsuits….and some days, I don’t clothe them in shirts, either. In fact, that one really hot day we had…I put them in their baby carrier pack on towels in nothing at all but sun hats!”

 

“Awww…that sounds so cute,” Dawn said. “And what did you have on, Nova?”

 

“Flip-flops…an Aussie-style hat, a very small fundoshi, and my smallest and lightest bikini top.” Nova said.  “Derek’s eyes nearly popped out when he saw me stripped down that far in the park when we met for lunch. Of course, when the kids wanted dinner, we all matched for a bit in the park,” Nova said with a blush. Then she said, “Derek has come to…like it when I undress to feed them. How does Jeff feel about it?

 

Dawn said, “He used to get weird about it, but, the other day, he was so kind and helpful when he helped to undress me out of my sundress and Roman sandals.” Dawn then looked around and whispered, “We did it in our backyard; I made him undress me all the way and then when David was asleep, we made love right afterwards. Was that weird?”

 

Nova shook her head. “That is a good sign. Sometimes, lately, we’re both so busy, that the only time Derek and I have for each other is right after a baby feed. It’s a good time since I usually have little or nothing on then anyway….I…okay…I confess. I almost always feed them in the nude now in this heat,” Nova said. “Especially when they both want both of these at once,” Nova said, as she pointed to her breasts and laughed.

 

“You think Hardy would go as gaga over me as Derek does with you if I got tan all over like that?” Dawn said.

 

“I can’t guarantee it, but it would help,” Nova said. Then, she said, “Did you want to practice some old cheerleading moves on the beach again like you were talikng about? Remember, you and I are supposed to be appearing with our old squads at the Pan-Am University versus Colorado exhibition football halftime shows in a few days…on Saturday, as a matter of fact.”

 

“Okay,” said Dawn as Nova pulled her coverup on over herself after she burped Ariel. The little white and pink garment was about the length of a cheerleaders’ dress on Nova. “Let me get them home and get my pom-poms, sunglasses, and the shoes I’ll be wearing. Didn’t your squad wear a two-piece?”

 

Dawn nodded. “I don’t have it back, but I’ll put a bikini on. We didn’t ever wear shoes since we always did our cheerleading barefoot. Did you guys have to wear sneakers?” Dawn said with her eyes rolled up.

 

Nova gave her a look and said, “No, we wore flat sandals, although sometimes, we’d also go barefoot for forming pyramids. See you in a few minutes.”

 

When Nova came back after tucking Ariel in for her nap. She had on pink sunglasses, white sandals, and carried her pom-poms. Dawn had on her pink bikini.

 

Together, the young women ran out to the beach and began to practice their cheers and dance routines…then they began to practice singing some songs, such as I’m Still Standing, Nowhere Fast, My Angel Put The Devil In Me, and other numbers they would be working on.

 

Sasha ran out on the beach a while later with Deke and Star and watched them with an amused look on her face. She said, “Auntie, you look great. Dawn, half your dance steps are out of step! Do you really know how to cheerlead?” she mocked.

 

 

“I’ve been doing this for longer than you!” Dawn yelled back.

 

“Yeah?” said Sasha.

 

“Yeah,” said Deke, taking up Dawn’s side for once, which flabbergasted Sasha. “Deekee, she’s awful! She couldn’t have been…”

 

“She was cheerleading before you were born, Sasha. She was picked to be a Cheerleader at Rancho Carne high in May 2200…”

 

“While we were on our way home from Iscandar,” Nova commented. “At a point on the mission where I was not thinking very much about cheerleading.”

 

“I remember watching you come home on video that day,” Dawn mused. “I was surprised at how young you and many of the others looked…”

 

“Yeah,” said Deke. “Remember what I said that day, Dawn?” he said, freezing Sasha out of the conversation for a moment.

 

“What?”

 

“I said our future depended upon a bunch of college kids, by the looks of them. Turns out I was not that far from the truth?” said Deke as he sat down on the sand and began to drum with his sticks.

 

“You weren’t that far from the truth,” Nova said, remembering how her relationship with Derek had blossomed then, remembering the Gamilons’ last attack upon the Argo, remembering how she had felt when she had turned on the Cosmo-DNA, thinking, And if I hadn’t done that, none of us would be here now, she thought as she smiled at Sasha.

 

Deke and Dawn whispered an old private joke to each other, and began to snort giggles as Sasha said to Nova in a low voice, “They’ve been doing that more often now, Auntie…”

 

“Doing what?” Nova said as she sat on the beach messing around with one of her pom-poms.

 

“Fraternizing with each other and remembering high school,” grunted Sasha. “They’ve not been kissing or messing around or anything. I’d be giving Deke a headache if they did that. They’ve just been mentally going back to high school. That is not helping Dawn one bit, Nova. She is supposed to be learning how to mother her baby right now. But what is she doing? Listen to them a minute…”

 

Nova nodded and listened to Deke and Dawn as they recalled a story from their childhood.

 

“Remember back in 2193, Dawn?” said Deke. “That time at our old place?”

 

Dawn nodded and said, “As I heard my father saying, “I’m shocked by this development…”

 

“Then,” said Deke. “Your mother Lynn said….’C'mon, Cal...the way he's been ogling her ever since she got her bangs frosted, don't tell me you didn't see this coming?"

And then your mother Jess said, “Yes…Not to mention how long they've been playing 'house' together?"

Deke paused while Sasha glared at them and Nova looked on with some interest, saying, “I sort of remember your father Cal, Dawn….he…”

Dawn said, “I heard Dad saying about me, ‘She's too young to have a boyfriend, Lynn…’

At that, Lynn herself came out onto the beach in a pink swimsuit and sandals and she looked at Dawn and said, “Recalling ancient history?”

“Yeah,” said Deke. “That time we were playing house?”

“Yes, I sure remember that,” sighed Lynn. “All too many times, you two were found playing house…”

“How old were those two then?” demanded Sasha.

“Ten or so,” said Lynn. “Ancient history, Sasha. No need to get jealous…”

“No need to get jealous, and she’s hanging around her old high school again?” said Sasha.

“Why are you doing that?” asked Lynn. “You’re grown up, Dawn…you have responsibilities…”

“Can’t I think about the past?” Dawn whined. “My thing with Deke….oh, I wish…”

Lynn said, “I remember saying about you two, ‘Cal, it's puppy love. They probably don't even know there's a difference between them.’”

“Did they know there was a difference?” Nova said. “I remember being that age, and briefly thinking my cousin Samuel was the Prince who would sweep in from out of the clouds and take me on adventures…of course, that ended up being someone else,” Nova said as she looked back at Derek, who came up carrying Ariel, freshly dressed in a nice sunsuit and sunhat.

“As we were saying, Nova?” said Deke, who was sort of reminiscing about this old trip back into Memory Lane himself (as he hugged Sasha and Star, trying to assure them they were not frozen out). “We were saying, Lynn, about what you guys thought about Dawn and I?”

“Oh, yes,” said Lynn Westland. “I remember, Deke, that your mother Jess said, “Well, actually they do know about the difference between boys and girls. They were playing house last year when I walked in on them and found them playing 'show and tell'’”

“You two sound like you were really bad,” said Derek Wildstar. “And when was ‘last year’, Mrs. Westland?” he asked.

“I said, Derek, call me ‘Lynn’,” Lynn said. Dawn’s mother turned back to them and said, “Last year, as I told my late husband Cal and Deke’s father Alex, was back in 2192….I remember Cal saying, ‘Last Year…’” Then, I remember your mother Jess, Deke, saying, ‘Yeeeah, but if it's any consolation, I don't think they've realized that peg A fits in slot B yet.’”

“Actually, we did,” said Dawn with a big, toothy grin.

“You terrible little girl,” said Lynn as she grabbed Dawn’s ear under her hair and tweaked it. “Did you ever?”

“No comment,” said Dawn, looking at Deke a certain way while remembering that she had lost her virginity with him back in high school…when they did know how to put peg A into slot B.

Lynn then continued with, “I remember telling everyone, ‘Well, at least we don't have to worry about them going out on car dates anytime soon, right?’ Then,” said Lynn, “It happened. About that time, the door swung open and there was Deke and Dawn, sitting (tandem - front to back) in his solar powered toy AstroStang. Deke was wearing his flight jacket, and was sporting sunglasses, with a candy cigarette in the corner of his mouth. He looked at Jess, and said, ‘Hey Mom. Dawn and me are gonna cruise down to the Gedunk for a soda. I'll have her back by supper time, Mr Westland.’”

 

“Oh, my God,” said Nova with a laugh.  “Sasha, this is so cute!”

 

“It makes me want to vomit,” Sasha muttered as she looked at Deke and Dawn through narrowed eyes. She looked at Lynn Westland, and said, “Then, Mrs. Westland, what else happened with these two lovebirds?”

 

“Well,” said Lynn. “Before we could say anything, Deke flipped on a disk player, a tune akin to the Peter Gunn Theme began to play, heavy on the bass guitar notes, and they zoomed off out into the corridor, with Dawn letting out a ‘Wheeee!’”

 

“That sounds funny,” Nova laughed.

 

Lynn added, “I remember Cal looking back at Jess and saying, ‘That was my daughter in the back seat of your son's sports car.’”

 

“Then what happened, Mom?” laughed Dawn as she smiled at Deke. The big, toothy grin was back, and Sasha felt very uncomfortable seeing that.

 

Lynn said, “Well, Jess Wakefield said, ‘Yeah, but...’Then,  Cal said to me: ‘You better not tell me, Lynn that boy has an erector set I don't know about.’”

 

“What kind of toys did you have?” said Sasha, deciding to chime in the hopes of embarrassing Deke so that he’d drop this stupid conversation, and quit hanging around stupid Dawn.

 

“I had a Tinker Toy set,” said Deke.

 

“At which time,” said Lynn, “I said, ‘Greeeat...just what he needs to know...how to put pegs into slots….’”

 

Nova then looked at Derek, rolled up her eyes, and said, “Tinker Toy sets. Derek, this is getting sort of thick out here…”

 

“Yeah,” said Deke. “Like the humidity…”

 

 

III. CHAOTIC MEMORIES

Lynn Westland’s Apartment

San Diego Megalopolis

Rio Amarillo Apartment Complex

June 2, 2208

1505 Hours

 

 

“Hard to believe I’m back here again banging on drums with you,” said Deke Wakefield as he looked at Dawn. Lynn rolled up her eyes as both Dawn and Deke were practicing their cadences on electronic practice pads on the floor. She was dressed for the weather; Lynn wore a light pink blouse, black skirt, and black sandals.

 

Dawn looked a little better to Deke; she was playing with her son David, who was just over a month old. Given the sticky heat, little David wore only his diaper. Deke, in his t-shirt and baggies, looked over at Dawn and asked, “Why do you still have that on?”

 

“Have what on?” said Dawn, who was barefoot, in shorts, and in a button-down shirt that she was in the midst of closing up because she had just been nursing David a little. However, over all, she still wore her Rancho Carne High School Letterman’s Jacket with her cheerleader’s letter, with her name “Dawn” in script on one breast of the jacket along with her graduation year of ’03.

 

“Your high school jacket,” said Deke. “I don’t even have mine anymore,” he said. Deke addressed the assembly sitting around on couches or the floor drinking either soft drinks or beer in Lynn’s living room, and said, “Which one of you guys still has anything even left over from high school?”

 

Nova, sitting barefoot beside Derek in that funny pink hot pants and top jumpsuit she liked, said, “I still have my old yearbook. Lost everything else in the bombings and moves, sadly.”

 

“My high school, for what it was worth, sucked,” snapped Derek Wildstar angrily as he let his son Alex crawl on his denim cutoffs and into his lap, pulling at his muscle shirt as he said, “No, Alex…you gotta go to Mom for that! NOT ME!”

 

Dawn somehow thought that the Cowboy of Outer Space looked a little like a deranged hippie with his hair in his eyes (like Jeff’s; I wish he’d get back from the airbase already) she thought as she heard Nova grabbing up Alex and letting down her zipper as she offered her son one of those pretty, firm, lightly suntanned boobs that looked to Dawn like an impossible act of nature. Alex began to slurp away at his mother as Dawn said, “Sasha…do you have anything from high school?”

 

“Never went,” Sasha shrugged as she bounced Star around in her lap; Deke’s beloved was dressed in only a very scanty string bikini. “Mother and Earth books taught me so many of the things I had to….EXCUSE ME!” yelled Sasha as Star began to scream as she pulled at her mother’s bikini top…hard. “OUCH!” Sasha yelled as, a moment later, Star grabbed her breast and then simply pulled off her mother’s top in her zeal to get at some milk. “okay, okay,” Sasha said, blushing a little after her daughter made her topless.

 

“She’s funny,” said Deke.

 

“You’re worse when you want me out of my tiger-skinned bikini every year,” said Sasha.

 

“Funny how most of us, Derek and Sasha and the babies excepted, had our paths crossing in the…,” began Lynn. A knock came at the door, and a youngish-looking nurse with dark brown hair came in, kicking off her sandals at the door. “Hi, Mrs. Westland?” she said.

 

“Natalie!” Nova yelled, laughing as she got up and hugged her old friend. “How are you? Glad you could make it!”

 

“Who’s she?” Sasha asked.

 

“Natalie Fisher, Nova’s old college roommate, partner in crime, and bridesmaid at our wedding,” Derek said.

 

“Nice to see you!” cried Lynn as she laughed and gave Natalie a hug. “Our paths have crossed before, Derek…Sasha…she and Nova were in this place a few times when they were little…”

 

“Where do you work at?” Sasha asked.

 

“She works with me at Central Hospital, San Diego,” Nova said.

 

Natalie added, “I’m finally engaged, too. More on that later. Mrs. Westland?”

 

Lynn stood up, smoothing down her black skirt as she did so, and said, “Okay…excepting the Commodore and Sasha, me, you, Natalie, Nova, Deke, and Dawn were all in this room together a few times. How well do you remember that?” said Lynn.

 

Deke said, “Well, Nova tells me that once she was playing with me in the sandbox; when she was about eight when she was in San Diego, and I…went pee all over her. I don’t remember that!”

 

“I do,” Nova said. “After you made your mess, I brought you in, and Lynn asked me to just undress, put my sundress in the washer, and I’d give you a bath. I did that, and then..I don’t remember what I did next…”

 

“I do,” said Lynn. “And I have proof,” she said as she opened up an old photo album and handed Derek a picture. “The love of your life at eight and a half with Deke and my late husband Cal on a very hot day.”

 

Derek smiled at the picture, and began to laugh. It had been taken on a swing at the playground near the edge of the beach. Cal Westland was in the background, in baggies, with one hand on little Nova’s bare knee and the other on Deke’s shoulder. Beside him, stroking Nova’s cheek, was Karl Forrester, her father, in an old t-shirt and a pair of ridiculous-looking striped swim trunks. Deke wore nothing at all and was very obviously a boy. Nova wore only a sun hat and a goofy smile as she held Deke in her lap on one side and the sand bucket they had been using at the beach on the other side

 

Nova grabbed the picture out of Derek’s hand and bopped him on the head with it as Alex chose that moment to let go of Nova’s breast and to begin playing with it. “No, no, no, no, no, no, Alexander…find something else to play with!” Nova said as the others laughed good-naturedly at her predicament. “Okay, Derek, pass it around….it’s not much worse than the way I look now…”

 

“Is he still hungry?” Derek asked.

 

“I don’t know,” Nova replied. “Don’t think so…he’s feeding less and less now,” she said as she closed her outfit back up after Alex seemed to lose interest in his food and drink supply.

 

“Which is good,” Lynn said. “He seems to be weaning himself….”

 

“I know,” Nova replied. “Lynn, any other embarrassing stories about us?”

 

“There was the time, a year later, when you and Natalie were in town again and you tried to teach Deke and Dawn how to play Monopoly.”

 

“Yeah, that,” Nova huffed.

 

“I remember!” said Dawn. “I needed a memory jog, but I remember throwing Deke’s Starventura doll at your head! You big kids were messing with our playing house! And I remember you cheated, Nova!”

 

“Did not,” she sid

 

“And I remember hitting you with my sticks,” said Deke as he drew close to Dawn, just remembering. Sasha, still nearly naked, gave Deke a very black look as he and Dawn began to tap drumsticks and play a cadence against each other’s sticks. Not far away, Natalie began to slap out a rhythm against both Derek and Nova’s shoulders. Derek wanted to tell Natalie to stop it, but Nova was going right along with it, slapping her knee. Then, she got up, put Alex in his portable playpen beside Ariel, and looked at Sasha. “May I?” she said as she looked at an alligator-skinned case on the floor near Sasha.

 

Sasha nodded, and Nova opened the case, got out an alto sax, and began playing some kind of goofy run around the cadence.

 

“Yeah, all we need now is a color guard,” Derek said.

 

“How did the Rancho Carne song go again?” asked Deke.

 

“I’ll remember in a minute,” said Dawn brightly.

 

“I hope you don’t,” Sasha snapped as Star still nursed. What do I have to do, Dekee? Sasha thought. Take off my bottoms in Mrs. Westland’s living room to get you to notice me? This is ridiculous! You and this high school stuff with Dawn, Deekee! GRRR! 

 

Then, the phone went off. Lynn picked up and said, “Derek, it’s for you…it’s Hardy…”

 

Commodore Wildstar picked up the phone and said, “Yes? Hi, Hardy…I…oh…Sandor got orders? And so did you? And my orders are sealed? Roger that….,” Derek said. “We’re needed at the base when? Okay, that’ll give us two hours…we’ll make the arrangements…yes, I know Dawn will be staying home. She’s on…you know..right. See you soon. Out.”

 

Derek hung up and said, “Nova, we have to leave. We have to be at the airbase in the next few hours. Good thing Jonathan just finished the school year…he’ll need to watch the kids.” Derek then turned to Sasha. “Are you still on maternity leave?”

 

“Yessir,” said Sasha.

 

“Okay, you can stay with Star and maybe help Jonathan out if he needs it. Let’s get the kids home…”

 

“What is it, if I can ask?” Lynn said as Nova gave Derek a very worried look.

 

“Short-term reactivation of the Argo; can’t say any more,” Derek said. “Nova, you’re also wanted at the airbase…that’s why I said Jonathan had to look after the kids with Ms. Eloise. We have to be there by seventeen hundred. Deke, get ready for some flying tonight; one squadron of the Tigers has been called up…”

 

“Gotcha,” said Deke, who kissed Sasha and Star goodbye after he helped Sasha get decent. He wondered what was going on that the Argo had to be reactivated at such short notice….and he wondered what they would be doing….

 

 

III. …A LITTLE BIT OF FLYING

Earth

The Pacific Ocean

Off the Coast of the San Diego Megalopolis

Space Battleship Argo

Friday June 3, 2208

0910 Hours Local Time

 

 

It was supposed to be a sudden test mission….it turned out to be one which, however, turned very strange.

 

The Argo had slipped her moorings under sealed orders at about 2000 Hours the previous night with only twelve fighter planes aboard her, in one of the upper flight bays, and she was now cruising along slowly on the surface of the Pacific Ocean like an ordinary sea-going battlewagon, maybe a hundred kilometers away from San Diego.

 

While the ship was not yet supposed to be space-worthy, the EDF Command wanted a test of the computers under simulated combat conditions. However, Derek, Steve, and Nova made sure that there was enough security on the computers and that enough was working so that the space battleship could be launched and put into action at a moment’s notice if needed. Such were the sealed orders that Wildstar had received the previous night. He wondered what sort of intel they had received.

 

At the moment, there was only a skeleton crew aboard her; maybe just seventy persons; enough to man the First Bridge, the Engine Room, the three Main Gun Turrets, the Wave Motion Gun firing room, the starboard side upper flight bay, and a little bit of Sickbay.

 

Jefferson Hardy had flown aboard his Cosmo Tiger II Astrofighter the previous night, along with Deke Wakefield, Brew, Bangs, both Clive and Angie Hartcliffe (who were supposed to get married later this month), and four other pilots. Finally, two Super Star Fighters had landed behind the ten Tigers. One was flown by the Skipper, and the other, a brand-new one, was flown by Nova and assigned to her. Word had it that Nova’s new bird had some sort of special recon sensor packet built into it; its purpose as of yet unknown to anyone except the Captain and Nova, who were not talking to anyone about the new ship.

 

Now, as the Argo cruised along in the water, the Scuttlebutt Express was really going in the morning as Hardy walked around his Tiger, making a pre-flight checkout.

 

While walking around, Jeff noticed a lot of activity around Nova’s shiny new Super Star. He found that the Commander was seated in the cockpit, sans helmet, making some moves with the control stick and looking at a few readouts in the cockpit that not even Hardy recognized when he went up on a maintenace ladder to talk to her.

 

“What’s goin’ on?” asked Hardy.

 

“They’re checking her out,” Nova said quietly. Jefferson then noticed Sandor, Derek himself, Frank Carmody, and two other men he didn’t recognize working on what looked like a sensor pod slung under the midsection of the Super Star. He heard Wildstar’s voice saying, “Do you have sync with the main computer and command frequencies?”

 

“We do, Wildstar,” Sandor said. “We’re going to have some of the results beamed back to the ship; while other bits of the telemetry stream are going right to EDF Headquarters….”

 

“What about the duplicate, encrypted stream to ISO?” said someone with a very deep, authoritative voice crawling around under the Super Star with a white labcoat on.

 

“Doc,” said a much younger voice, whom, as Hardy discovered, was attached to a young bearded man with long hair, “If I told you once, I told you a thousand times, sir…Rockwell International shipped this item out of the factory with that duplicate stream set up and ready to go. Specific orders…and very strange ones…they…”

“Good,” said the man with the authoritative voice. “I see my orders were carried out to a “T”. You and Carmody don’t need to be questioned any further, then, Kantalkos. When we take off again, I want the young Commander here to scan the San Diego coastline very thoroughly in that test flight.”

 

Hardy noticed the man getting out from under the plane; everyone there seemed to be impressed by him except for Wildstar and Sandor. The civilian didn’t look that out of the ordinary; he looked to be Sandor’s age, wore glasses, had somewhat longish hair, a moustache, and he wore a very nicely tailored suit under his lab coat.

 

“If I can ask,” said Hardy as he looked at Commodore Wildstar. “Who are these three civilians crawlin’ around my flight bay?”

 

Derek nodded and said, “You already know Frank Carmody; he’s the chief liasion engineer with both Rockwell International and Contrail Enterprises, and has been working with us on the computer upgrades. This young man is his assistant from Rockwell, Kyle Kantalkos. The last man here is a scientist from the paramilitary International Scientific Organization, Doctor James B. Anderson.”

 

Doctor Anderson said, “I know that my presence here is something of a shock to you, but we’re testing a new type of experimental sensor pod that may eventually be fitted to more planes or ships in the Fleet someday…maybe even a special light anti-insurgent vessel that I’m designing in my head as we speak. This one is a specialized bio-research pod, and our young lady here has been chosen to test this device because she’s one of the few people I could find in Earth Defense with both a degree in Biology and a punched-up, current fighter/recon pilot’s license.”

 

“The thing with machinery,” said Sandor as he looked at Anderson, “…is that it’s a two-edged sword. We have machines…they do many good things for us. We have to be sure, though, that the technology we create remains in our hands, under our control, and that we don’t let it control us,” he said.

 

“Let’s go up to the upper radar control room to discuss this,” said Derek as he adjusted his Captain’s hat. “Nova, finish your checkout....but you have the conn until Steve and I get back. Get these people ready to go in thirty minutes!”

 

“Yessir,” Nova said as she saluted while sitting in the cockpit. Then, she said, “EVERYONE! You heard the Captain! Finish your checkouts and get ready to brief in thirty minutes! We’re here to do some flying, people! Got that?”

 

Wildstar, Sandor, and Anderson went up into the upper flght bay control room as Sandor looked over a few instruments. Derek sat down and opened his peacoat, exposing a dark-blue t-shirt and his ascot beneath his Captain’s hat. “As you were saying, Sandor?” Derek said.

 

“We were talking about technology,” said Sandor.

“Yes. Technology can be our servant…you’re right,” said Anderson. “But there’s times when we have to stretch the envelope a bit. One of my specialities is anti-terrorist strategy. I have a sense that with this Spectra bunch, that we all have to think outside the box a bit. I wonder at times if we can hold them back with a fleet…or even your ship…particularly since we have to worry about the Bolars, the R’Khell, and about your mad friend Ekogaru.”

 

“So what are you thinking?” said Wildstar as he looked at Anderson. “Are you telling me that we’re guinea pigs for your private damn…?”

 

“Not at all; it’s supposed to be for your benefit as well as ISO’s. After all, you do get to keep the sensor pod prototype…we just need the data on what we pick up with it,” said Anderson, who didn’t want to tell Wildstar that he was actually financing part of the development of his planned project himself. Anderson was a very wealthy man; he was so wealthy that he actually had a bit more money than Kazuo Foxworth-Savela. Sandor had almost as much as he had, though, owing to the royalties that Steve had received on his many patents. He had just let Diane know that when they got married in early August, she would be marrying into quite a bit of money. Steve had been pleased to see that Diane had little reaction to this; she was obviously not after his money like some other passing girlfriends he had dated.

 

“All right,” said Derek as he stared hard at Anderson for a moment. “Steve, you, Nova and I know that with the intel we received this morning, that these test flights might lead to actual people being killed in actual battles if the bad guys show up like we think they might. We had better not be shedding our blood just to benefit your private schemes! Are we clear on that?” Wildstar snapped.

 

“We are,” said Anderson. “Abundantly clear, sir,” he said as Derek stood up and shrugged off his peacoat after taking off his cap and throwing it across the room. “Commodore, what are you doing?”

 

Derek grabbed his regular Star Force white shirt and pulled it on, followed by a pair of spacer’s gloves. “Getting ready to fly a mission with my crew, what the hell does it look like?” he snapped. He put on a helmet, tapped at the lip mike, and said, “Nova, make sure the techs have my plane up and ready to fly in forty. You’re going to be one of my wingmen…Clive Hartcliffe will be my other wingman. Got that?”

 

“Roger,” Nova said in his headset. “Just got my helmet on, by the way.”

 

“Good.” Derek turned to Sandor and said, “When I leave, you’ve got the conn. You know what we’re doing next…”

 

“Yessir,“ said Sandor.

 

Anderson scratched his moustache as Wildstar and Sandor left. I hope I can get the military to think my way about my project, he thought. It looks like we have two regular wars brewing and one unconventional war. My project, is for the unconventional war. You guys have the conventional war…and all the luck in the world to you….

 

 

AN HOUR LATER….

 

Commodore Wildstar was out leading the single squadron of the Black Tigers that had blasted off bit by bit by way of the aft catapult on the Argo.

 

Nova, as one of his wingmen, flew to his right.  Clive Hartcliffe flew to his left in a Cosmo Tiger II. Hardy flew behind them leading another flight. Wakefield flew behind him leading the third flight, and the final flight was led by Brew.

 

Derek looked at his radar, and then he looked thorugh his cockpit, and gave a thumbs-up to Nova, and then to Clive Hartcliffe. Wildstar was pleased to see that the supplemental training Nova had been through some years ago had remained in her head; with some recent practice under her belt, she flew a Super Star surprisingly well, while Clive Hartcliffe flew fast and hard but professionally, in a fashion that was minus his dead cousin Bryan’s insane hot-dogging and showing off.

 

Commodore Wildstar then said, “Nova, how’s the sensor pack working?”

 

“Well, we’re fifty kilometers away from the San Diego coastline, and I’m picking up concentrations of people on the beach. It must be pretty hot out today; the beaches are full of people,” Nova said.

 

“Sounds good…how much data are you getting?”

 

“Lots,” Nova said. “I’m getting more and more data the closer we get to the coast, and…”

 

Suddenly, Nova cut off, since something was pinging in her cockpit.

 

“What is it?” asked Derek. “I hear something at your end but I’m not getting anything yet…”

 

“Derek, are there supposed to be other ships flying in the area today?” Nova asked as their ships touched the edge of space; the sky outside was turning a dark indigo shade.

 

“No,” he said. “Why is that?”

 

 “I’ve picked up something up above us at one hundred and fifty thousand meters and diving fast. It’s something large and….” Nova ran a scan and picked up some blurred but important life sign data. “I’m picking up that the ship above us is crewed by people with a body temperature two degrees above average baseline, Derek! ALIENS!”

 

“Hartcliffe, are you getting that?” demanded Wildstar.

 

“Roger that, I’m also picking up the object….”

 

“Object above us is launching smaller craft!” said Hardy as he burst in on the conversation. “Ten objects launched off the big object! Range, forty-five thousand meters, speed, thirty-one space knots…they’re divin’…fast’!”

 

A minute passed as the Tigers climbed further. Then Angie Hartcliffe snapped in, yelling, “Captain Wildstar! One of them just jinked down to forty thousand meters like some mad dive-bomber…and it looks like he’s attacking the city! Oh, GOD! He just shot a missile into an elementary school! And another one just slammed into the Federation Tower Building downtown!”

 

Damn, Wildstar thought. It’s a good thing Jonathan just finished up the high school year early this week due to this heat….but what about those other children getting out later this week? Damnit! “Mrs. Hartcliffe! Pursue him and knock him down with as little collateral damage as possible; we’ll be meeting you down towards the deck in a minute!”

“We’ve got company, man!” yelled Brew as he dodged a missile.

 

“SCRAMBLE!” snapped Derek over his command frequency.”They’ve jumped us! Turn about and fight them off! All planes maintain formation behind your flight leaders!”

 

Derek gritted his teeth and flipped his plane about, followed by Nova and Clive. “Lots of data on them now,” Nova said. “Physical profile seems to match that of Spectran agents that we engaged some weeks ago in that mecha we fought. They have a slightly higher body temperatrure than ours, so they’re easy to pick up on sensors. I’m reading a large amount of data for later analysis on them. Heads up!” Nova yelled as her breathing rasped in her space helmet. “Two of them are coming right for us!”

 

“Ready to engage!” yelled Clive over Derek’s headset.

 

Nova gave Derek a thumbs-up, which he returned, and then gave to Hardy’s plane as they peeled off to engage the enemy, heading up into the sky as the enemy planes rushed down to meet them.

 

The Spectran planes, as it turned out, were nasty-looking little things in gold and black, painted up in a pattern similar to but different from the old Black Tigers they had once flown. Derek spotted one of them firing at Deke’s plane, but Wakefield evaded the enemy fight as it peeled off, trying to get the advantage as the enemy had attacked first.

 

Wildstar soon got a signal in his headset. It was a high, piercing tone that made him grit his teeth.

 

Then, a rough, nasty voice said, “Are you the enemy commander?”

 

“I am. State your mission and your reason for intruding upon Earth Federation airspace!” Wildstar demanded.

 

“We are here to study you, our inferiors,” barked the enemy pilot as he spoke into his lip mike under his ugly demon-head helmet. “I am Leftenant Gramis, of the Spectran Imperial Forces. Your forces are going to be so easy to beat that it makes me sick!”

 

“Gramis, you are to turn about and leave our airspace!” Derek demanded.

 

“Not bloody likely, asshole,” Gramis replied in a sneering voice. “Take this!”

 

Soon, Gramis himself shot a missile between Derek and Nova’s Super Stars, and was greeted with forward cannon fire from both Wildstars as he fired at them and then tried to pull away. Caught in a crossfire from both Derek’s and Nova’s planes, the enemy ship blew apart, with Gramis screaming “LONG LIVE THE LUMINOUS ONE! LONG LIVE THE GREAT SPIRIT!!” over the circuit as he perished.

 

“We shut him up in a hurry, Derek!” Nova said over the circuit with a grin on her face….a grin which hid her nausea in realizing that these killers, terrorists, and madmen seemed to be religious zealots of some type.

 

“Good shooting…remind me to buy you a malted later on,” Derek teased.

 

“Malted? Haha! Make that a Prime Rib dinner with a salad and sparkling cider, Derek!” Nova snapped back.

 

“If we get out of this alive, I’ll buy you whatever you want, Commander,” Derek said.

 

Behind them, there was a scream over the comm circuits as one of the alien planes killed a young Black Tiger known as Higashi.

 

A moment later, Hardy was heard over the circuit as he followed another plane back up to the edge of space, saying, “Wildstah! They got Higashi and Manning’s plane has taken damage! I’m gonna make ‘em pay foh that!” he barked back. “How are you doin’?”

 

“Nova and I got one, joint kill,” said Commodore Wildstar.

 

“Good job,” said Hardy.

 

A moment later, they heard a yell as a pilot named Ensign Louise Kelly was surrounded by two of the alien planes; one of which fired at her, making her scream as her plane was damaged and shrapnel rammed into her lower leg. Before she could react, they both fired capture cables at her, and grabbed her Tiger and began to haul it off.

 

Kelly was one of Wakefield’s pilots. Derek heard him yelling, “Kelly! Punch out now! We can get you later! We can‘t let them take in your bird! Punch out and then let us blow your plane apart!”

 

 “Having…hard time…plane’s damaged…I’m…wounded…can’t move foot…on one of the rudder pedals…hurts!”

 

“KELLY!” yelled Deke as he gritted his teeth. He slammed his dashboard with frustration as he saw Ensign Kelly’s damaged plane being dragged away by the Spectrans as a prisoner, even as she yelled, “Wakefield! Sir! I can’t punch out, but I don’t want them getting my plane! Shoot me down, please!” she cried.

 

Brew, with tears of rage running down his cheeks, tried to fire at Kelly’s plane as per her wishes, but he missed.

 

Then, a moment later, Wakefield heard a loud scream on his circuit….

 

..as he saw that one of the enemy planes had caught Nova’s Super Star with a capture cable!

 

“Damn them!” he yelled. “Wildstar! I’m plunging in! One of them’s captured Nova!”

 

In her plane, Nova jinked hard; she had been caught by one capture cable, but she had evaded the other one by manuevering like a maniac. She managed to get on an even plane with the second bird, which was trying again come around to capture her, when she pumped some fire into the ship and blew it apart.

 

A moment later, Wakefield caught Nova’s tormentor (which was being lashed around quite a bit on the cable because Nova was not ready to roll over and say die by any means) in his sights, and a nice burst of fire cut the capture cable. Bereft of its power source, the remainder of the electromagnetic capture cable came off Nova’s wing, and the enemy ship peeled off, trying to run with the others when Derek Wildstar caught it in his sights and he blew it apart.

 

“They’re runnin!” yelled Clive Hartcliffe.

 

“Yes, they’re definitely running,” said Angie from her plane as she flew back into formation. “Got the one who attacked the school…he was strafing innocent damn civilians! Clive, they tried to capture me, too, but Brew saved my bacon. They dragged Kelly off, but…”

 

“I see a nasty pattern here,” Commodore Wildstar sighed as he thought; They captured Louise Kelly, and they tried to capture Angie Hartcliffe and Nova. They focused on all our women. But how would they know that?

 

“I got two more, but they’re runnin’,” said Hardy. “Estimated height up to their mothership, two hundred thousand meters….request permission to pursue and attack their mothership…”

 

Commodore Wildstar breathed hard and then he said, “All planes, form up behind your flight leaders…we’re pursuing them….repeat…we’re pursuing them! Let’s see if we can rescue Ensign Kelly, we…”

 

The remaining seven Tigers and two Super Stars regrouped, and roared up into the clouds high over the Pacific to pursue the enemy. The sky began to turn dark around them aagin as they all approached the edge of space.

 

They glimpsed a large, flat, ugly spacecraft carrier that looked something like a massive green slug. A number of small dots that appeared to be the enemy planes gathered around it and then vanished.

 

A moment later, it warped away in a flash of light.

 

“Well?” said Hardy.

 

“Kuso!” hissed Derek as he punched his dashboard. “Bastards got away…..with the Ensign and one of our planes. “DAMNIT!”

 

 

SIX HOURS LATER….

 

“Well, it could have been worse,” Wildstar said aboard the Argo a few hours later. The Black Tigers and some of the bridge crew had gathered for dinner at the Captain’s Table, and there, Nova was getting the Prime Rib she had requested…along with some of the other officers. Rosstowski, Nova noticed, was smearing a lot of horseradish on his cut of beef. Nova teased him with, “Paul, are you having some meat with horseradish, or a ton of horseradish with a little bit of meat? Ugggh!”

 

“I’ve always liked spicy crap, Nova, you know that. Goes back to our first mission together.”

 

“Paul, be careful or I may have to pump your stomach later,” Nova teased. “Where’s Aliscea?”

 

“Back at the Embassy. She is not in a good mood,” Rosstowski said.

 

“Oh…sorry,” Nova said as she picked at her Rice Pilaf.

 

“So what did everyone think of our disaster up there today?” Commodore Wildstar said. 

 

“We were fairly lucky this time, in spite of our losses,’ said Sandor. “Only one of them peeled off to attack the ship, but we had enough computer function up and running that we were able to get the pulse lasers going to fight them off.”

 

Paul Rosstowski added, “The pulse lasers had to be fired in auto mode from my bridge station at Combat, but they worked. Great job in gettiing the computers up and running, Nova.”

 

“Thanks,” she said with a slight blush. “I had a close call out there today; Derek, Deke…thank you for helping to save my bacon. I feel awful about what happened to Ensign Kelly.”

 

“Hopefully, she’ll remember her training and won’t break and give them too much information,” Sandor said sadly as he looked at Diane.

 

“Yeah…but this didn’t save that school…nor the Federation Tower…nor the one hundred people who died out there on Knox Boulevard,” said Derek as he dipped some tempura shrimp into his soy sauce in a desultory fashion. He had taken the “B” Entrée, while most of the crew had taken the “A” Entrée of the Prime Rib.

 

Sasha looked at Deke and the others and said, “You know I was at the Cosmo-Radar during the battle…the rage…the utter hatred that I picked up in my spirit from that bunch…it was sickening.”

 

IQ-9, who had been manning Artillery during the battle, said, “You and Miss Henson looked very ill during the battle.”

 

“We felt ill during the battle,” said Lieutenant Solomon Harper, a new officer assigned to the Argo at the last minute as Navigation Group Leader in the absence of both Kitano and Eager, who were assigned to other commands at the moment. Harper was such a new Star Force member that he still had his Standard Duty Blues on, not having had enough time to be fitted for the traditional white and green uniform yet. Nova had discovered in talking with him that he had a son named Desmond who had just turned six and was crazy about ships, boats, and aviation. Solomon, Desmond, and the rest of the family lived in a small fishing village in one of Japan’s Southern Islands, one of many expats evacuated to the relatively radiation-free (until later in the war) Great Island region during the Gamilon War who had never left.

 

Dinner went on as the rest of the crew talked, and exchanged pleasantries. Nova noticed that Derek was still not smiling….yet.

 

I think I know how I can make him smile, Nova thought with an impish smile as she worked on her broccoli. But it’s going to have to wait until we get to our quarters….

 

 

“Man, I’m beat,” Derek Wildstar said about an hour later as he got rid of his boots and lay down on their bunk up in the Argo’s Captain’s Quarters. “Nova, what are you doing?”


“Putting away some stuff,” she said as she threw her flight helmet and gloves into her locker and shut it. “Now, the problem is…you look miserable…”

 

“Nova, I’m sorry…I’m tired, I feel like crap…I feel defeated, and I am miserable,” he sighed. “We all should have been able to do more up there in that battle today. Instead, we let three of those damn planes wreak havoc. When I heard from the Commander earlier, he was upset about everything…”

 

“I was there. But, Derek, did he blame you?”

 

“No, he didn’t. He denied us permission to go off into space and search for the ship, though…”

 

“For good reason,” Nova sighed. “The computers are not as ready as I would like them to be yet so we can be sure we can warp safely. And Steve agrees with me, Derek,” she said. She walked over to the edge of the bunk and said, “Now what do I have to do to make you smile? Hmmm…” Nova thought. Then, she pivoted around and hit the switch that would close the privacy curtains on the big windows.

 

As they were beginning to close, Nova jumped up onto the bunk with Derek, startling him a little.  “Uh, Derek?” she said.

 

“Yes?”

 

“We haven’t had a lot of time to be together the past few days,” she said. “We’re not expected back home yet,” Nova whispered. “Would you like to dance with me?” she whispered.

 

“Yes, Nova…I’ll dance with you anytime…” he replied.

 

Nova then curled up on top of her husband, hugged him, and began to stroke his hair.

 

Then, she moved in closer, the scene of her violet perfume intoxicating Derek as she began to breathe against the side of his neck and then began to kiss him with a deep, deep tenderness.

 

Derek put an arm around her and began to smile as she caressed his cheek with her other hand, and kissed him again and again.

 

Finally, Derek kissed back.

 

Their tongues met as they kissed, and Nova began to sigh softly as she ran her hand over Derek’s uniform-clad chest.

 

Finally, after a few minutes of this, Derek began to stroke his lover’s back, feeling every muscle and every curve through her skintight gold uniform.

 

“Mmmmmm…I love you,” Nova whispered in his ear as she curled her legs around him like a cat.

 

“Nova…I am so glad they didn’t capture you today…you had a close call there…how did you handle it?”


“Easy. I know you need me…I know Alex and Ariel and Jonathan need me…all four of my big kids,” Nova whispered. “I know damn well none of you would be able to live without me for long.” Nova sat up, with tears running down her face even as she smiled, and said, “And even if they had taken me, I would fight tooth, nail and claw to get back to you. Nothing will keep me from my work, my mission or from you, Derek. Not Ekogaru, not Zoltar, not the Gates of Hell, and even if I died young before my time, I’d be begging the Almighty Himself to send me back home to you! I’m not leaving you, the kids, or our friends on this crew until my work is done and I am really, really old, and can lie down and die in peace.”

 

“And if I died before you? And went to Hell?” Derek asked.

 

“If you went down there,” Nova said as she held Derek. “I would go to Hell to follow you and rescue you, even if I had to kick Master Lucifer himself right in the crotch to get you back!”

 

“You’re one determined young lady,” Derek said as he kissed her and their touching grew more passionate.

 

“Oh, God…I know….is the hatch locked? God..I just remembered. We don’t need anyone walking in on us….”

 

“Let’s get up and check,” Derek said as he held Nova and she showered him with passionate kisses. After he saw it was locked, he did the same as she began to pull open his shirt.

 

Derek, in the meantime, took Nova’s gunbelt off and set it and her weapon aside. Then, he unzipped her uniform part of the way from the front as they stood there kissing and she somehow got out of her boots. Then, up on her bare toes, Nova danced with her husband in his embrace as he undid her bra from the front and began to tease her breasts as she sighed…

 

 

IV. …A BIT OF HALFTIME

Earth

The San Diego Megalopolis

Space Battleship Argo

Saturday, June 4, 2208

0410 Hours Local Time

 

 

The Pan-Am University/University of Colorado football match had originally been scheduled for June the 4th.  Because of the shock of the attack upon San Diego, it was rescheduled to June the 11th.

 

During the week, the two ad hoc rock bands that would perform with the cheerleading squads and special guests of both teams spent some time rehearsing in between their normal lives. All of the medical personnel in San Diego were tired and on edge. In fact, after Derek and Nova Wildstar got home on the night of the third, Nova got maybe two hours’ worth of sleep before an urgent phone call from Doctor Sane awakened her and forced her to head off to Central Hospital San Diego at 0300 in the morning on the 4th for one eighteen-hour shift up to 2100 Hours that night. During that shift, Nova and Sane were called upon to do a delivery…and, at that time, Wendy and Homer’s twin sons Aaron and Joshua came into the world. When they were born, though, they were found to have a bleeding condition, so they had to stay hospitalized for a time with their mother Wendy.

 

Then, Nova changed into her Star Force uniform and flew Doctor Sane, IQ-9 and some badly wounded patients in one of the Argo’s Medical Boats (Boat #21107, as a matter of fact; the very space boat she had given birth to Alex and Ariel in) in a sub-orbital trajectory in a trip to the Tokyo Megalopolis that took maybe forty-five minutes, escorted by Derek’s fighter on one side and Hardy’s on the other. While they were flying there, Nova called Derek (as soon as she saw him) and asked, “Derek, you’re up there, I’m here..who’s with Alex and Ariel?”

 

“Jonathan and Ms. Eloise,” he said back. “But Jonathan’s really tired, and while he loves his baby brother and sister, he can only do so much…”

 

“Mmmm,” Nova nodded. Doctor Sane was riding along beside her, sipping at some sake from his bottle. “Doctor Sane, any idea how long this might go on?”

 

“There were a lot of injured in San Diego, Nova. It might be days…weeks…”

 

“Derek, mind if I call Mom and have her and Dad stay with us for a few days with Aurora and David?” Nova asked.

 

“Where are they?”

 

“Their apartment in the Megalopolis.”

 

“Okay…call away, then,” Derek sighed, while realizing this would probably be necessary. Nova and her mother had made up…but only somewhat.

 

Nova had EDF Comm Central patch her through to her mother as she flew. Nova caught Teri reading a book. When Nova explained to her mother what was going on and offered to fly them back to San Diego with her (since she had orders to deadhead the boat back , after Teri talked with her father, she came back and said, “I understand what’s going on. I was gettiing worried when we didn’t hear from you from San Diego. Aurora and David are in their jammies, but I’ll get them dressed and pack some things and we’ll all meet at the hospital. You’ll be landing on one of those landing pads on top of the hospital? I see things going in and out of there all the time…”

 

“I sure will be,” Nova said. “See you then, Mom.”  Nova blew her mother a kiss, talked to Derek for a bit, found out that he would be escorting them home, too, and then asked, “When we get back to San Diego, where are we landing?”

 

“Right on the Argo,” he said. “She’s in dock now, but Lieutenant Harper will be taking her out under Sandor’s command in a while and heading her out about ten kilometers off shore to allow us to land, and then we’ll cruise back to the dock. I’ll call Jonathan and tell him to be ready.”

 

“Okay,” Nova said.

 

A few minutes later, Teri and Karl Forrester arrived, with David and Aurora coming up with them. Teri had on a skirt, white top, and sandals, and Karl had on a sports shirt, jeans, and boots. David had on a t-shirt, shorts, and sneakers without socks, while little Aurora had on a sundress, hat, and sandals. “Sorry we took so long,” said Nova’s father as he hugged his daughter. “Aurora wanted the hat on.”

 

“You look cute,” Nova said as she kissed her sister on the nose. She also hugged and kissed David, and then said, “You’ll be flying back here….strap in until we’re airborne.”

 

“Roger,” said Karl.

 

“You’re flying this ship all by yourself, dear?” said Teri. Nova nodded and said, “I think you’ll like the view…”

 

After Nova saw to it her passengers were bucled in, she called Ground Control and took off.

 

Ten minutes later, as the boat left at about 2200 Tokyo Megalopolis time, Nova allowed her passengers to walk around. David and Aurora were fascinated by the view of Derek and Jeff’s planes that could be seen out the portholes, while Teri was entranced by the view of the sky and the curvature of the Earth seen out the main cockpit windows as Nova flew the ship.

 

“I think I’m beginning to understand why you love the military,” Teri said. “If I could see a view like this every day…”

 

“Mom…this is just part of my job,” Nova said. “But isn’t it beautiful?”

 

“It sure is,” said Karl. “And I can see you’re a great pilot from the way you’re handling this ship…”

 

“Thanks,” Nova said with a blush.

 

 

The ship and planes arrived on the Argo at 0400 in San Diego on the same morning, going back several hours due to the vagaries of different time zones.

 

Nova landed in one of the aft bays, where IQ-9 was waiting to escort her parents, brother and sister to the First Bridge after they met up with Jonathan, Ms. Eloise, and Alex and Ariel, who were elsewhere in the ship.

 

Derek reunited with Nova a few minutes later, and they went up to the bridge together as Hardy turned in his flight plan with the radar controller on the ship.

 

The Wildstars arrived on the First Bridge at close to 0430 Hours. On the bridge were Sandor, and Lieutenant Solomon Harper.

 

“How is it going?” asked Wildstar as he took command from Sandor with a salute.


“It’s been quiet since you left earlier,” Sandor said. “Diane’s on board but asleep.”

 

“Do you want me to make some coffee?” Nova said with a yawn.

 

“In a while,” said Sandor. A moment later, something began to beep at the empty Communications station.

 

“A message is coming on,” Nova said.

 

“Go and open the circuit, Nova,” Derek ordered.

 

A moment later, after opening the comm circuit herself (because the only four military officers on the Argo’s bridge this hour were herself, Derek, Harper, and Sandor) Nova ran back beside Derek and saluted as the Commander came on the screen.

 

“At ease,” he said. “Commodore Wildstar, how is the Argo’s computer system holding up?”

 

“Not bad considering that not everything is fully hooked up yet, sir,” said Derek. “If you need us deployed, sir…we could have the ship up and running in…” as he looked at Sandor.

 

Sandor then said, “About twenty-eight hours.”

 

“We don’t need you deployed…yet,” said Commanding General Singleton. “I’m calling to inform you that the Danube got a fix on that Spectran carrier…it warped out beyond the Minerva-Brumus Asteroid Belt as soon as they spotted them. But, based on what you told me before, I’m going to finish cutting crew orders to get you a full First Star Force by the early or middle part of August, Commodore. By the way, Commander Wildstar, I heard about your performance in that battle. Great work.”

 

“Thank you, sir!” Nova said with a small grin.

 

“Sir?” said Lieutenant Harper as he stood and saluted. “Am I going to be permanently assigned to the Star Force?”

 

“That will remain to be seen, Mister Harper,” he said. “Commodore, since I know that Commander Sandor will not be available for the patrol in August, I am trying to find you a new Mechanical/Science Officer, a new First Officer, and a new Engineering Officer to take the places of the future Commander and Mrs. Sandor on this upcoming mission.”

 

“Thank you, sir. Is there anything else?” Derek said.

 

“I’ve been told by Medical Command that you and Commander Wildstar and your pilots are granted eighteen hours off-duty, starting now…” said Singleton. “You can take advantage of this time to do whatever you wish…consider it a short liberty.”

 

“Anything else, sir?” Nova asked.

 

“Just good luck in the repair work in San Diego. Over and out.”

 

“Sir,” said Derek and the others as they saluted.

 

 

 

The Wildstars had eighteen hours’ worth of R and R with the kids and Nova’s parents after Derek came home from the Argo for a bit, where he supervised repairs and flew a another brief patrol himself with the Tigers while Nova slept. When he took her and the babies home later on, she had changed into a summer top that bared her shoulders, shorts, and flip-flops. Then Nova saw the need to leave them again at 1500 Hours on the fifth and then the sixth of June  for a sixteen-hour shift that included multiple surgeries and another flight in a Medical Boat as the pilot in charge….flying some badly wounded people to Central Hospital in the Tokyo Megalopolis, escorted by Derek on one side and Deke Wakefield on the other as Hardy and Brew escorted another Medical Boat. Then, Nova and the rest of the staff assisted in those surgeries after changing from regular uniforms to Medical gear.

 

Then, after some rest (which consisted of Nova crashed out almost fully clothed in her Medical gear, lying barefoot in Derek’s lap on a couch in a lounge in the hospital) Nova got up, stretched, and told Derek, “You need a shave and a shower before you go back in that cockpit.”

 

“Are you pausing for a shower?” Derek said.

 

“No,” Nova said a moment later as she heard Doctor Sane being paged yet again for a dual-leg bionic replacement.

 

Ensign Jessica Springer ran in a moment later, in her smock and sandals, whining, “Ma’am, do we have to go back in again? My feet hurt! My shoes are killing me!” she whined.

 

“Just loosen the buckles a little,” Nova sighed as she adjusted her own sandals slightly before putting them back on and pulling on a fresh set of paper shoe covers while guzzling down some coffee. “Derek, if I get an ulcer right now, blame those damned terrorists!”

 

“Damn right I’ll blame them!” Derek snapped. “It’s their fault you haven’t been home since Saturday and your parents are watching the kids!”

 

“It’s their fault we haven’t been home since Saturday, not mine, sir!” Nova snapped back….not so much angry at him, but at the situation. “Don’t you think I want to see our children?”

 

Derek then shot back, “Commander, you got a complaint? Send it air mail to Ibn Von Zoltar out your ass, not to me! I just work here!”

 

“Ooooo,” Nova said in what Derek knew was a teasing tone but which Springer thought was nasty. “Cowboy of Outer Space has a burr up his ass?”

 

“Yeah, from dealing with bitchy Commanders who make shitty coffee!” he snapped back as he sloshed the coffee in his paper cup at her with a big grin. “I’ve served with you for nine years now! When the Hell are you gonna learn you use eight scoops when making a pot and not friggin’ twenty?”

 

“When Hell freezes over, Flyboy!” Nova shot back, giving him a wink that Springer didn’t notice. 

 

Of course, as Springer heard this, she licked her lips as she heard Derek and Nova bitching some more in the way that only long-time servicemen and women could bitch about something to blow off steam about a tough mission. It was done in a time-honored manner that went straight back to when Caesar and his Top Centurion bitched each other out in the Roman Army maybe 2300 years ago. Jessica thought, Oooooo, their marriage is on the rocks. Look at them go! Wait until I tell everyone! The great couple is on the verge of divorce! And I got to see it!

 

“Are you two really mad at each other?” Jessica said.

 

“Not yet,” Nova said.

 

“Yeah, when she gets really mad at me, she makes me drink a whole pot of coffee!” Derek yelled.

 

“Up yours, jackass!” Nova said.

 

“Do you kiss your mother with a mouth like that, Peppermint?” he teased.

 

“No, because the last time I saw my mother right before I left, we got into a little fight and I wanted to throw something at her!” Nova snapped. “Keep it up and you’re next on the list, Derek!”

 

“Is that a threat?” he said.

 

“It’s a promise,” Nova said back with a smile, giving him a cheeky kiss on the nose before saying, “Work beckons. See ya later!”

 

“Yeah, bye,” Derek said. “Don’t give yourself a stroke, Novelle!” he shot back.

 

“I’ll try not to, sir, “ Nova said back. “C’mon, Springer,” Nova said. “What are you doing? Writing notes in your head for a soap opera? We need to get in there and scrub!” Nova yelled as Springer looked hard at Derek in a way that Nova did not like. Stop ogling my husband, you tramp, Nova thought irritably as she grabbed Springer’s hand and pulled her into the operating suite.

 

 

And so it went until about Wednesday, when things began to sort of go back to a semi-normal state. On Wednesday, the Wildstars were given the day off after having been on duty for over fifty hours in the past four days. They spent part of the day in bed…catching up on sleep. When Derek got up, he found he had soaked his pillow with blood from a stress-induced nosebleed that had hit him in his sleep. Nova took care of him, finding nothing new or unusual about this, since she had experienced a nosebleed like that herself while napping at Central Hospital San Diego the previous day.

 

It got very, very hot again the next day. So hot, as a matter of fact, that when Derek and Nova went out to shop for food, they did their trip in sandals…and swimwear. They found Dawn and Jefferson Hardy at the store with David, clad in a similar fashion. Jeff was as tired as the Wildstars, while Dawn felt utterly useless, having had nothing to do the past few days on her suspension except to care for David, watch the video reports, and pray that Jefferson came back all right.

 

On Friday, it rained like crazy and the heat broke somewhat. That led up to the current morning, where Dawn, as the “guest” cheerleader and singer (a role she felt a little out of her league in) for Pan-Am University, worked on being up front with her band, dancing, and singing with Kathi Allison, the current cheerleading captain of the Pan-Am Dolphins while she was accompanied by an ad hoc band consisting of Deke Wakefield on drums, Clive Hartcliffe on rhythm guitar, Derek on bass, Nova towards the back on keyboards, Sasha on sax, and Paul Rosstowski on lead guitar.

 

Dawn was already in her cheerleading outfit, which was a spare two-piece in blue, white and red, with a minimal but cute top, bikini bottoms, and a short, kicky skirt. Her midriff, legs, and feet were bare, and Hardy (as he watched her) had to admit that, whatever had happened, Dawn had done just enough exercise and PT (even in her depression) so that she didn’t look fat by any means. In fact, she actually looked rather cute.

 

They were trying to do Holding Out For A Hero…(originated by Bonnie Tyler in the 20th Century) with Dawn picked to sing lead. Dawn would have preferred to be on drums, but as a Star Force veteran, she was one of those who had been picked by her school to come back in her old cheerleading uniform and to represent the EDF. However, Dawn kept on flubbing notes.

 

The band ground to a halt, and Kathi looked hard at Dawn and said, “Ma’am, when was the last time that you sang?”

 

“It’s been a while, okay?” said Dawn as she stood there dazed in her cheerleader’s oufit. “Trying to get it…”

 

“Let’s try from the third bar,” said Sasha as Dawn did all she could to keep from snarling at her.

 

“Righto!” said Nova in a fashion that struck Dawn as sarcastic. “One…two…three….”

 

“I need a Hero!” Dawn belted out as the band played behind her. “I’m Holdin’ Out for a Hero at the End of the Night….I…”

 

They ground to a halt again while Kathi gave her a very dirty look. “Let me try the lead…you do the harmonies…no one’s gonna notice…okay?”

 

Dawn made a pair of fists and held back tears as she said, “Okay, let’s take it again…”

 

“One, two!” yelled Sasha as Dawn just wanted to kill her….

 

They went into the song again, but, even though Dawn danced halfway well and lip-synched the vocals along with Kathi, her actual harmonies were horrible….

 

“cut CUT!” yelled Rosstowski. He ran up to Nova and Derek and muttered, “In case you guys didn’t notice, she sucks!”

 

“Noticed,” Nova said quietly. Then, she ran up to behind the sound board and flicked a few sliders around. Then, she came up to Dawn and quietly said, “Dawn, when you dance, concentrate on the dance moves. Just lip-synch, and when you get to your harmonies, just sing in a very soft voice. It’ll sound better in the mix,” she said very, very diplomatically.

 

Dawn nodded, biting her lip as they went on and did the song again. She sang the harmonies softly, surprised to hear a near-perfect harmony part coming out through the foldback speakers….because Nova had quietly had her mike turned up behind her keyboards and was singing the part for her.

 

Finally, someone came up from the school and asked, “What’s this band called?”

 

“The Bloody Band with No Name,” said Clive Hartcliffe.

 

“Shit!” yelled Paul Rosstowski.

 

“Paul!” yelled Nova. “That’s horrible! Dawn?”

 

“I have no idea,” she said with a peeved look on her face.

 

“Derek?” Nova demanded. He said, “Call it the Noisemakers! I can’t think of anything else! HUNGRY!”

 

“Oooo, you PEOPLE!” Nova snapped. Then, she ran up to Deke’s bass drum (part of Deke’s Ludwig Pearl Oyster drum kit), knelt before the skin, and grabbed up a can of black spray paint from the scaffolding to draw a sideways “eight” on the blank white drum skin below the Ludwig emblem so that it looked like this:

 

Thus named (while Deke hoped Nova’s impulsive paint job didn’t royally mess up this finish on his kit), Nova stomped off and said, “I need something to eat, too! A hero sandwich sounds good about now, as we were just singing about heroes!”

 

“That’s a stupid pun, Nova!” Derek said.

 

She smiled at him and said, “Go soak your head, Derek!” with a giggle in her voice.

 

You go soak YOUR head! Dawn thought angrily as she glared at Nova.

 

 

 

Several hours later, Dawn was doing her act again, only, at halftime of the football game (Pan-Am was ahead, 21-17) before a full house of sixty thousand in the stadium and untold millions watching across the planet on video as she managed to dance and sing her way through “Holding Out For A Hero” and “You’re My Best Friend” (sung with most of the Pan-Am cheerleading squad). The latter was sung to Hardy as he was brought out to many, many cheers in his Black Tiger uniform. Despite the strains in her marriage, Dawn tried to seductively give Jeff her toothiest of toothy grins as she smiled and danced with him for a moment before she ended to song with a kiss as she threw her arms around him. Jeff and Dawn looked very passionate, even though he and Dawn, given the go-ahead by her doctor, had just managed to clumsily become initimate again last night. They had made each other happy, even though they felt a sense of great dissatisfaction.

 

Finally, the ad hoc lineup of “Infinity” changed. Dawn threw on a warm-up jacket after the crowd cheered her, and she smiled a toothy grin at Deke as she sat down beside the drum kit, putting a set of bongos on her knees. She would be assisting with the percussion for Colorado’s bit, and she did all she could to avoid what she felt were the giggles and sneers of the Frontierettes as they came running up in their cute black, white, and gold tops and skirts with white sandals. Dawn tried not to look at Kelli Feldman, the blond, gorgeous Captain of the Frontierettes that year, since she and Kelly had had words before…and only Nova had broken up the fight.

 

Dawn knew the way that Colorado’s act would go, of course, so she didn’t see Nova for the moment as another one of the Colorado girls took her place behind the keyboards as two of the Colorado Golden Buffalo mascots came out. One Buffalo took off for the wings as the introductions were made. Then, as Kelli got up, clapped her hands, and yelled “Let’s go!” into the mike to some cheers but a lot of boos throughout the Pan-Am football stadium, the band started playing an extended intro for “I’m Still Standing” as Colorado’s Golden Buffalo mascot got up, danced behind the cheerleaders, and then did a bump for a moment with Kelli as she twirled in her sandals and laughed.

 

Then, a second Golden Buffalo got up, and did three clumsy bumps with the other Golden Buffalo, finally kicking that Buffalo out of the way as the Colorado cheerleaders booed good-naturedly. A moment later, the Buffalo mascot then made the band pause, threw off the Buffalo headpiece, and then quickly unzipped the costume while the Buffalo turned its back to the crowd.

 

Then, the Buffalo flipped around as the costume fell away, revealing Nova as she knelt there for a moment in a cheerleader’s dress on the Buffalo’s skin, shaking her poms a little as she surveyed the crowd, which began to cheer as she was recognized. Nova pulled out the piano bench and did a hop and then a crazed jump behind the white grand piano as she began to get ready to play as she nodded once at the band.

 

The band started again as Nova hit the piano keys and then started to play “I’m Still Standing” as she took a confident lead on the vocals as Kelli and Derek joined her from behind her at the mike, doing harmonies as they drew in close to the vocalist and pianst. However, Kelly stepped back a little when she recognized the young couple quickly shutting their eyes and shaking their hair in a very Beatlesque fashion as they sang together into the mike, looking hard at each other with a searching look that captured a fire and passion somehow lacking in the way that Dawn and Jeff looked at each other.

 

Something about the way they sang was just infectious…soon, they had even the potentially hostile Pan-Am crowd clapping and stomping along with their song, complete with a dance that seemed instinctive. The crowd cheered as they kissed before Nova went into the bridge with the guitar solo playing over her, and then the main part of the song came up, where she played her heart out as if she was possessed in a performance that even her mother Teri appreciated! 

 

Then, a moment later, the band segued into “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” after Nova shyly dedicated the song to the victims of the recent attack while strapping on her guitar and catching her breath from the previous song. As Derek and Kelli harmonized with her, Nova played along, and made her guitar cry very effectively as she thought of what she had seen for the past few days at the hospital and let the tears flow herself, choking up visibly as she hitched on a few of the words before letting her guitar again weep for San Diego in a moment that unified the stadium, and unified the planet.

 

Nova then played a few more flourishes, kissed Derek again, yelled into the mike, “In case anyone is listening…the spirit of this planet is NOT broken today!” and then, she bowed and took off her guitar and ran off as fast as she could.

 

Derek found her crying her eyes out in the green room behind the improvised stage on the field about two minutes later. Dawn slipped in, and suddenly realized that maybe her presence wasn’t wanted there as Derek hugged Nova…before she got up and began banging her fists against a locker door as Derek said, “They love you…you didn’t do anything wrong…”

 

“It’s not that! I can’t get the faces of those children I treated out of my mind!” Nova screamed. “What do those hyenas out there have to cheer about? Derek, what the HELL has happened to the human race? We suffer a tragedy, and what do they do? They turn it into an event! Damn this crap!” Nova yelled as she punched the locker again, not even caring that one of her hands was bleeding now. Derek hugged her as she just cried in his arms.

 

Then, she saw Dawn standing there and said, “Dawn, help him give me a hug, for crying out loud! Come on!”

 

Dawn then hugged Nova as she was being hugged by both her and Derek. Nova hugged her back and then smiled a little and said, “We go on…we move on…that’s what we do! C’mon, Derek,” she said as she smiled at him. “I believe we have some things to do?”

 

Derek kissed her and they nodded. Then, Nova kissed Dawn on the cheek and said, “Jeff’s waiting for you. You did great, all things considered. Come on, Dawn….let’s go.”

 

Dawn nodded and went on, not knowing that Nova’s friendly hug would be the last hug she would receive from her for many weeks…as things turned out….

 

 

V. DAWN AND THE EVIL FAIRIES

Earth

The San Diego Megalopolis

Pan-Am University

Monday, June 13, 2208

1600 Hours Local Time

 

 

The day began innocently enough for Dawn.

 

She was out shopping at the university for nursing textbooks for her review courses with Jeff and little David when Dawn looked at Jeff and said, “Jefferson?”

 

“Yeah?” he said.

 

“Let’s decide that today is the day we start over again. Let’s forget all the bad stuff that happened over the past few weeks, and go to Greatland’s for coffee again….just like we did when we were dating. The difference is…we have David with us…and we’re a family. Just us. No Wildstars. No weird Katrina. No Deke. No Sasha! Just us! Okay?”

 

“Sounds great,” said Hardy with a smile.

 

They went to the coffee shop, and laughed as a couple and again enjoyed themselves.

 

Until Caella Sakamoto, Jade Foster, and Jessica Springer showed up, laughing their heads off, and getting a lot of disapproving looks from the other customers at the quiet coffee shop on the college campus.

 

Caella and Jessica looked at Dawn and said, “Hey, Hardy! Wanna go to a party later on?”

 

“I’m not in the mood to go to any parties,” said Dawn as she kicked a sandal off her black-stockinged foot under the table. It had gotten a little cooler today (high 70’s) so Dawn had on an elaborate, almost little-girly dress with black stockings and a toy rabbit for David (who was nearby in a baby carrier on a chair) who was kicking away as he gurgled and gooed. “I’m with my husband, as you can see, and we’re buying schoolbooks.”

 

“Oooooo, you don’t have any fun anyone now that you’ve got a family,” sneered Jessica as the others laughed. “Too bad, Mrs. Hardy! Did you hear that the Wildstars’ marriage is breaking up? It’s such great gossip. I’m selling it to a tabloid. I really heard them yelling at each other the other day!”

 

“So? We just suffahed an attack,” said Hardy. “We’re all kinda on edge. We were all on the front line and we’re all tired.”

 

“Too bad you have to live with a plain, fat girl like her, Hardy,” sneered Jade as the others laughed again.

 

“Why, you!” Dawn snapped. “Don’t you dare call me fat!”

 

“Which army’s gonna stop us?” said Caella. “You and your hubby and your freaky friend Katrina Savela? That woman is soooo freaky!”

 

Dawn (to her credit) rolled up her eyes as they began to chant, “Freaky, freaky, FREAKY! Freaky, freaky, FREAKY!”

 

A moment later, as Dawn got up to take the argument further, a young woman in a white top, faded olive-drab military-issue vest, short black skirt, and sandals came up and said in her low, alto voice, “Don’t you ladies think you’re wearing out your welcome? Mrs. Hardy has a lot going on, and she does not need to be bothered!”

 

Dawn smiled, never so glad, for once, to see Nova showing up in her life.  Dawn picked up David’s rabbit as Nova kicked her backless sandals off. She looked at Caella and the others and said, “I really think you should be going. Dawn and I need to talk, and what we have to discuss is really none of your damn business. In fact, it’s classified. Now go?”

 

The three bad girls gave Nova a very dirty look as they left. Nova thought she heard Jade saying, “You wait, I’ll get that bitch in troble with General Stone for this!”  but she wasn’t sure. A strong, smart woman like her often had to face the slings and arrows of the bleached-blonde airhead type, and since all three of those girls were bleached-blondes, Nova didn’t worry all that much about it. Nova did not have a high opinion of bleached blondes.

 

“How are you doing?” Nova asked, honestly concerned about Dawn. “Derek and I, and even Deke and Sasha, were worried about you when we didn’t hear from you the other day.”

 

“Things are..fine,” said Dawn as she waved to Hardy, motioned Nova aside and sat down on the grass nearby, holding her comm device.

 

Nova’s phone rang a moment later, and after she answered, she said, “Derek? How are the kids? Awww…that’s cute. Yeah. I’m sitting here with Dawn…actually touching shoulders with her. She looks…tired…but okay. Yeah, I know we’re tired. They said my plane’s fixed? Great! I want to get some more flight hours in today. Make sure they have the second place set up in it…I want to take Sasha up and give her a little bit of flying practice. Good…love you. I…oh…since we can’t go to that Embassy Ball in the Megalopolis because we both have to work tonight after being with the kids for a bit, can I give Dawn our tickets? I’ll see if she has a gown for it. Take care. Love you!”

 

“He calls at the worst times,” Nova said. “Love him anyway. Does Hardy ever drive you up the wall like that?”

 

“He sure as hell fucking does,” Dawn said as Nova cleared her throat loudly and said, “Dawn. Locker-room talk. I don’t like that!”

 

“Sorry, ma’am,” Dawn said.

 

“It’s nothing, so long as you don’t do it again,” Nova said. She dug in her vest pockets, finally finding the tickets and invitation. Nova thought for a moment, and then scrawled a quck note on the back of the invitation before she put it in an envelope with the tickets. “Here you go, and you and Jeff use them in good health,” Nova said as she kicked her sandals back on.  Then, she looked at Dawn and said, “I’d like you two to go together, of course. Do you have a gown or nice dress to wear?”

 

“No…”

 

Nova sighed as she dug in her pockets. “Here’s a spare key to my house in the Tokyo Megalopolis. We’re close to the same size so I think you can find something in my closet….put your foot up here,” Nova said as she compared her bare foot with Dawn’s stockinged one. “Hmmm…looks like I’m half a size bigger than you,” Nova commented,. “”Won’t matter that much if you grab a pair of my formal sandals or something. I have a black pair you can adjust with a thong-type front you can wear with almost anything. You’ll have to lose the stockings but that won’t matter much. Now, I have to be going to the base…”

 

“We’ll be followin’ yuh,” Hardy said. “I have to check mah plane out, too….”

 

“Sounds like we have a bloody plan,” Nova said with a grin. “See you guys there.”

 

At that, she left as Dawn kicked her shoes back on….

 

At the base, Dawn waved as Nova’s Super Star cruised away from the tarmac a while later. She was flying the plane, but Sasha was in the back place with her; Nova was going to be giving her some flying lessons. Dawn and Sasha had said hello, but the greetings had been rather tart and frosty.

 

“Where are they going?” Dawn sneered as Deke came up.

 

“I saw the flight plan,” Wakefield said. “She’s taking Sasha to the middle of nowhere; some little automated dirt strip near Lehighton, Pennsylvania. She and Derek were out on another flight and he took her up there to nowhere. I think those two found a new place to neck or something, knowing them,” Deke chuckled. “Maybe she’s taking Sasha out there to pick flowers or buy a six-pack of Pepsi,” said Wakefield as he rolled up his eyes.

 

“How would they buy a six-pack of Pepsi in the middle of nowhere?” Hardy asked.

 

“Easy. Wildstar told me they found an old bike with a package shelf on the back and a basket sitting abandoned up there. They kind of appropriated it and Derek pedals around with Nova clingin’ to him like a kid,” laughed Hardy. “Presumably, Nova and Sasha are gonna do the two gals on a bike bit or somethin’. Nova told me she did it with her befoah. For a gal with all those brains in her head, she acts awful squirrelly, girly, and teenage at times…just like you, Dawn!”

 

“Thanks, Jeff,” sneered Dawn. Deke rolled up his eyes, imagining Nova riding the bike in the middle of Lehighton going to some podunk hole in the wall store someplace with Sasha hanging on and laughing her head off.

 

“I’m going to a ball tonight,” said Dawn. “With Jefferson, darling. Rght, Jeffey?” she said as she gave Hardy a big-toothy smile.

 

“Right,” said Hardy, wondering why she was calling him…”Jeffey” Well, better than her calling Wakefield ‘Deekee’, he thought….

 

 

That night, Katrina sat at a table in the ballroom of the Pellian Embassy at the edge of the Megalopolis with Foxy.

 

Both of them were in fashionable black. Foxy had on a black tuxedo, while Katrina wore a backless short halter-top black dress with black sandals. She also had a red ribbon tied in her hair; it was a touch Michelle had added to her outfit. While Katrina did not really like it that much, she wore it so that she would make Michelle happy.

 

“I am looking forward to zis night,” said Katrina as she danced with Foxy. “I talked with Aliscea before?”

 

“And?” said Foxy.

 

“It is said a secret guest will be appearing here tonight; it appears he is staying at another one of the Embassies,” said Katrina in an excited whisper (which would not have been so excited if she had known who the mystery guest would turn out to be….). “Aliscea and her mate Paul Rosstowski are hosting this whole thing. A lot of the EDF is invited, too….”

 

“Your buddies are coming,” said Foxy.

 

“Who?”

 

“Derek and Nova are supposed to be putting in one of their appearances tonight,” said Foxy. “I got a tip from a little bird here at the Embassy. You know that other magazine you’ve been working for…the fashion one?”

 

“Yes?” whispered Katrina.

 

“A photographer named Jacqui is supposed to be here tonight…she’d like you to write some blurbs under the photos she wants to get of Nova’s and Aliscea’s outfits, as well as the outfit that our mystery guest’s escort will be wearing. And you’ll get a byline.”

 

“I like zat,” smiled Katrina. “I really like zat! And I know Nova and Aliscea will love to talk to me about their clothes,” said Katrina with a big, big grin. She was gettiing to like the way that both women dressed, and she guessed that they would both really look good tonight, especially on the arms of the handsome military officers escorting them.

 

Foxy and Katrina got up to dance, and then, after they danced, they waved to Aliscea, who looked gorgeous in a black gown and sandals. She wore a black choker with a gorgeous black jewel on it that glittered as she walked.

 

She spotted Katrina, waved, and called out, “Mrs. Foxworth-Savela!” as she made a come-hither gesture with her hand. “May I see you and Foxy for a moment…in private?”

 

Confused, Katrina nodded and followed Aliscea, Paul, and Foxy out.

 

In a side room, a few minutes later, Aliscea said, “Katrina, we will need your help again in a few days. Probably about two or three…”

 

“Why?” asked Katrina.

 

Aliscea cleared her throat. “My mother….the ruler of the Pellians, will be here on Earth personally by the end of the week. We’ve asked you to be a special envoy for us…for Pellias…before. Mother needs another set of ears in a very private conference to help look after our interests. I can’t be there since I will be off Earth tomorrow morning with Paul in an EDF Patrol Ship heading to an undisclosed location where Paul and I are presenting a set of demands to a hostile government. This conference will be held in great secrecy at Government House in the Earth President’s Office very early in the morning on Thursday. Derek and Nova Wildstar will actually be negotiating right before the President with my mother Astrena, a representative from another planet, and with a secret representative from the Gamilon Empire. You will be helping them. Are you up to this?”

 

Katrina’s eyes filled with tears as she thought, Now it begins. They spoke of this weeks ago, but… “Yes,” said Katrina. “I will assist you.”

 

“I am glad, and we thank you,” said Aliscea. “Leave us.”

 

Aliscea looked at Paul as he said, “Aliscea, I don’t trust her. You told me the other day she seems to be establishing some shady links with the Comet Empire….wouldn’t that be like having the green bastards in there with us?”

 

“But that’s what Mother and I want,” said Aliscea tartly. “If she whispers this to the ears of her connections in the Cometine forces, they’ll know. That’s why I never called her on what I know of her involvement. She is a backchannel…a little connection we have going back and forth between Pellias and the Cometine race,” said Aliscea, who was not telling Paul all she knew about Katrina. There was a good reason for this…a very, very good reason.

 

Astrena had learned from Trelaina who Katrina really was! And Astrena had told Aliscea, after swearing her to the greatest of secrecy. Astrena had made it very clear why in this conversation, some days ago:

 

“MOTHER! She’s really that bitch Invidia?” snapped Aliscea.

 

“She is,” said Astrena as they spoke together on the Astral Plane. “Trelaina told me, and I was also told that her existence is to be kept secret on Earth. She will have two great parts to play someday in our war against the Dark Lord Ekogaru.”

 

“They are?”

 

“One will be as a provocateur, setting events in motion. The other will be to bring the Cometines into the war against the Nameless. But, this time, on our side. She was used by Ekogaru. Cruelly, cruelly used. She has a great personal interest in wanting to see him die. She will be very, very useful to us someday, daughter! She will also be a Right Hand to Earth when He brings His Forces there someday to attempt to destroy it.”

 

“Destroy Earth?” said Aliscea.

 

Astrena nodded. “First, he intends to humiliate the Terran Race. Then, to enslave it. Then, to destroy it and turn planet Earth into nothing but a few grains of dust…along with their entire star system…even their star.”

 

“How do we know this?”

 

“HE told me Himself out of His rotten, demonic, maggot-ridden mouth in a vision he taunted me with. The madman is building forces again in the Blackeye Galaxy to do this. And a new Grand Fortress. When His Grand Fortress and Fleet are complete, and when He is again embodied, HE WILL STRIKE against Earth and against ALL sentient life in the galaxies. In the end, He intends to have no one left alive but His Cyborgs, ruling over a dead universe. We have one hope. We will fight a long delaying action, up, daughter, until the day you join our ancestors in the next life. Then, the White Orchid will appear out of the ashes…out of nowhere. Invidia must live to protect her, since her greatest authority and power will be spiritual.”

 

“But how do we stop His War Machine? By praying, Mother?”

 

“No. Do not be absurd! There will be a great physical battle left to bring down His War Machine, a battle where many great Generals and Admirals shall rise and fall…a battle in which Invidia shall have a great role as she reclaims something of her heritage that was lost…but the last battle will be only Him against the White Orchid and a very few of her protectors. There will also come a day, I have foreseen, where the Presidency of Earth shall fall without warning, right before the war, into the hands of one who will also appear from nowhere. No one on Earth is EVER to be told who Katrina really is. EVER, Aliscea! Earth is not to learn the truth until the TIME IS RIGHT! It is intended that right before the White Orchid arises, in the Great War, that Trelaina will personally appear on an Earth warship before the President to tell the Earth President who Katrina is.”

 

“But can the Earth President handle that sort of thing?” demanded Aliscea. “Politicians….if this President is a typical one…he’ll put Katrina right in jail to score political points…he’ll have polls to satisfy….constituents to suck up to…he’ll be a cynical, political, son-of-a-bitch!”

 

“No, Aliscea,” said Astrena. “She whom we have foreseen will be President someday will not have that luxury! A President in Exile, not even a professional politician, on the run in space with a little of her Government…on the run for her very skin against Him…no…she will have no opinion polls to satisfy, and almost no one to “suck up to”. She will be even more alone against Him than I was,…than I am.”

 

“Who will she be?”

 

Astrena made a vision appear before Aliscea in the Astral Realm.

 

First, she saw a video screen in a house. The date on the screen read: JULY 1, 2231 BREAKING NEWS TERRORIST ATTACK UPON PARLIAMENT

 

Aliscea then saw a huge building in the center of the Tokyo Megalopolis burning as an announcer said, “We’ve confirned it. The destruction is complete and total. The President….the Prime Miinster…most of the Cabinet, Earth Defense Council, and Parliament..all dead. All blown apart by a massive bomb.”

 

“Who’s left of the Goverment?” said another commentator.

 

“Supposedly….a few low-ranking members of the Cabinet…recently appointed by the new Prime Minister and President Conway. They’re both dead….”

 

Aliscea then heard the loud crying of a woman in the foreground as their point of view shifted to a living room Aliscea was very familiar with….she had been there numerous times….there was a bit more furniture, and a few more diplomas on a wall, but Aliscea’s mouth fell open as she beheld a woman in a white and pink bathrobe crying her eyes out as her husband, in pajamas, held her close and a gentle, compassionate, grey-haired old Judge in his black judicial robes held a Bible in his hand and said, “Ma’am….you’re the highest-ranking one left…we know you do not feel well, and could not be there tonight, thank God, and we know you’ve just suffered a horrible loss on live television, but you need to wipe away your tears and lead us now…and take the Oath…”

 

Aliscea bowed her head as she heard a familiar voice, hoarse with illness, softly and haltingly beginning to repeat the Oath of Office of the Presidency of the Earth Federation and she said, “I see now why we need to be so secret about Invidia now…My God…that woman….that, poor, poor woman….I agree with you. She cannot know who and where Invidia is until the time is right.”

 

“Yes. Especially because Earth’s first female President will be the one to pardon Invidia…”

 

 

 Aliscea and Paul came back out to the ball a moment later….

 

….to find that things were turning weird, in a hurry.

 

Katrina was yelling, “Vat is this? You show up here in one on the gowns from the back of Nova’s closet, and you, Dawn are doing what?” She noticed Dawn Hardy running around, wearing a bridesmaids’ gown from a wedding Nova had attended months ago…a gown she knew Nova hadn’t liked much, so she had consigned it to the back of her closet.

 

“Dawn?” asked Paul with raised eyebrows.

 

“I didn’t invite her,” snapped Aliscea. She turned on her heel and ran up to one of the Pellian butlers guarding the door. “You! Meshinsky! How did she get in here?”

 

“Lady Aliscea!” he said with a deep bow. “She showed up with a friend of hers, and she presented this invitation. It is entirely legitimate, ma’am. The woman told me that the original invitee gave it to her with the understanding she and her husband would attend.”

 

“The Wildstars’ invitation?” said Aliscea. Meshinsky nodded and looked at the note in the back, in Nova’s printed handwriting. It read:

 

To whom this may concern:

 

Kindly admit the couple of Commander Jefferson Davis Hardy and Mrs. Dawn Hardy in our place tonight, since we are unable to attend due to pressing concerns in San Diego due to the recent Terrorist attack. Please admit Dawn only if she is in Commander Hardy’s company, as I expect I will be.

 

I look forward to negotiating with you in a few days in the city and pray you will excuse this sudden breach in protocol.

 

I remain yours…..

 

Your faithful Servant….

 

Cmdr, Nova Wildstar, EDF

 

“Is Commander Hardy with her?” demanded Aliscea. “Where is he?”

 

“Ma’am, Mrs. Hardy came in with another woman, and a young man….we thought the young man was Commander Hardy…he…”

 

“ALL RIGHT!” yelled a drunken, giggly voice as a woman in shocking pink ran in, her high heels clicking on the floor as she ran in with a big dog on a rope.

 

The dog barked once and lay down, followed by a chicken and a duck. The dog looked like a drunken Saint Bernard. Caella yelled, “Ya stay there till we need ya, Brutus!”

 

Katrina heard that voice and snarled as soon as she noticed Caella running around. “Vat is this?” she yelled. “Vat are you doing here?”

 

“I remember you!” giggled Caella as she looked at Katrina. “You’re my childhood friend!”

 

She began to run up to Katrina as she yelled. “Heeeeey, Princess! We gotta talk! And I gotta pull your hair!”

 

“Princess?” demanded Katrina, outraged as she stood at the buffet table near Foxy after having just speared a meatball. “Why is it that you refer to me as a Princess?”

 

A moment later, a giggly, drunken Dawn came up to Katrina and Foxy at the buffet table with Aliscea on her tail. “Mrs. Hardy?” demanded Aliscea. “Where is Commander Hardy? Nova only said you could attend the ball if you two are together. Where is he, and why did you bring additional people?”

 

“Aaaaaaaa,” said Dawn as she hiccupped and grabbed a glass of wine off the table and chugged it and then threw it across the room before the shocked dancers, who were trying to avoid the stupid dog as Caella yelled, “Hey! Disk Jockey! Shigeru and I have a request! Put on Come Together! The Aerosmith version!

 

“Yes, dear,” said the disk jockey. The quiet music came off, replaced by blasting Heavy Metal as Dawn giggled, put up one of her sandaled feet, and began grabbing food like crazy, letting a hamster loose from her purse with a grin, followed by a small snake.

 

Dawn giggled, “I want this, and I want this, and I want THIS!”

 

“Wait!” yelled Katrina. “You boorish fool! That food is for everyone, not just you!”

 

“And why are you here without your husband?” demanded Aliscea as the Disk Jockey took a cue from someone and stopped the music.

 

“We had a big fight because the kid had the Croup or some crap like that and I wanted to run, so I came out myself with Jade and we met up with Sakamoto at the airbase and then he flew us from Diego to here and now I get to look at Katrina and see how FREAKY she is!” giggled Dawn.

 

 

“Freaky?” said Katrina, who was beginning to get outraged. “What do you mean I am freaky?”

 

“Anyone with a face like yours is FREAKY!” squealed Dawn. “Especially because you have a snakie on your wrist!”

 

“A snake?” demanded Katrina, who screamed when she saw the snake on her wrist. She shook it off and said, “YOU DO NOT GET ME NEAR A SNAKE, IDIOT!”

 

“You callin’ me an idiot, freaky?” Dawn said belligerently.

 

“And you are to stop calling me freaky!” demanded Katrina as Foxy looked at her and walked over and grabbed Dawn by the wrist. “You’re not supposed to be here, and word has it that we have an important guest from Gamilon on the way, so, you will leave now and stop harassing my wife!” Foxy snapped. “Besides, you are so drunk it is not even funny! Aliscea?”

 

“Guards, would you please escort this foolish woman out, but very…” began Aliscea as Dawn screamed, slapped Foxy in the face, and turned to bellow at Katrina, “You are so freaky!”

 

“And you are so FAT!” snapped Katrina. “That twice-used bridesmaid gown makes you look fat! Nova told me she was contributing it to charity. Are you the poor sweet woman’s fat charity case?”

 

“I’m not a charity case and I ain’t fat!” yelled back Dawn as she threw a drink into Katrina’s face and then slapped her.

 

Katrina snarled loudly and grabbed Dawn’s wrists just as Dawn kicked her with one of the tie-on platform sandals she had on. Katrina screamed again and threw Dawn on the floor, but Dawn caught her by the hair and punched her in the face.

 

Katrina saw her mouth bleeding and belted Dawn as she tried to get up. Dawn screamed and tried to gouge out one of Katrina’s eyes, but Katrina kicked off her sandals and kicked Dawn with a high-kick in the crotch just as some new music came up. It was a Bolero.

 

Some people began to applaud as a couple made a very grand entrance down a staircase as a number of Pellian…and Gamilon guards appeared.

 

It just happened to be Queen Astrena of Pellias….

 

…on the arm of Leader Desslok of Gamilon himself!

 

Aliscea stepped aside, mortified as she yelled, “Guards, guards! Over here! Stop this now!”

 

“To Desslok of Gamilon!” yelled a drunken Jade Foster as she got up on a table and made a mock toast to him. “May he always stay blue!”

 

“Desslok, we’re so blue without you!” yelled Jessica Springer as she and Jade broke out in crazy giggles!

 

Then, Caella hit Brutus in the butt as Katrina and Dawn fought, and she said, “GET ‘IM, Brutus!”

 

Brutus thus saw Desslok, snarled, and ran for him as Astrena screamed at the big barking dog’s advance and hid behind her husband, too scared even to use her powers.

 

Desslok smiled slightly, coolly appraised the barking, crazed beast, and right before it sprang at him and Astrena, the Leader of Gamilon flipped back his cape, drew his weapon, got a quick bead on the stupid beast…

 

…and calmly pumped a shot into it, killing it right as it sprang at him!

 

“What is that thing?” demanded Katrina after she hit Dawn in the mouth and knocked out two of her teeth and then gave her a sharp kick as she just whimpered. The guards grabbed Dawn at that moment as Astrena yelled, “Desslok, what was that creature?”

 

Desslok blew the smoke away from his weapon, holstered it, and walked up to the dog and kicked it smartly with a jackboot. “Astrena, dear, and Miss Katrina, it used to be a dog,” he said in his cool, dulcet tones. “I used to hunt wolf-like creatures like him on the highlands of Gamilon’s upper crust for my amusement when I was young. If I find out who made this beast spring at me, they may be next, as no mangy dog bites Desslok of Gamilon! Now, Mrs. Katrina Foxworth-Savela, Pellian pilot and agent I am aware of, who is that stupid woman fighting with you? Her boorishness has just insulted me! It should also insult you, especially here on your sovereign territory…”

 

“She is trouble, Leader Desslok,” said Katrina as she choked down bile at seeing him again even as she realized he apparently had no idea who she really was as he had addressed her as ‘Katrina’. “She is Earth woman I have problems with! What will you do with her?”

 

“I assure you,” Desslok said with a bow. “She will never trouble you again! Her very presence is an insult to me, so…”

 

Dawn’s eyes went wide with terror as she saw Desslok calmly reaching for his weapon and realized that she was perhaps seconds away from death at the dark-eyed Emperor’s hands. She began to whine with her face in her hands as she wet herself like a baby!

 

Astrena looked at Desslok and said, “Please don’t! She’s a drunken barbarian, Leader Desslok! She does not know any better!”

 

“Since you are not a noble savage like my Terran friends from the Argo, I will allow you to live, fool,” said Desslok as Dawn looked up. “But my mercy comes only once. If ever you cross me again, your miserable life will be forfeit. I leave her to you, Astrena…,” Desslok said as he turned away from Dawn with a look as if she was something nasty and vile on the bottom of his boot…a look matched by the look that Katrina gave her as, wonder of wonders, Desslok and Invidia were in full agreement on a topic for once as Desslok turned to Katrina and quietly kissed her hand before bowing to Foxy and turning away with a smart snap of his cape. Of course, if Desslok knew who Katrina really was (and neither Astrena nor Aliscea were about to tell him), Katrina would have been on the floor dead along with Brutus at this point in the dangerous, vengeful Leader’s life, as he still remembered everything that House Gatlantis had done to him. 

 

Astrena walked up to Dawn, who snarled at the queenly figure in her gown with undisguised hatred. Astrena took off a long glove, slapped her across the face with it, and said, “Guards, take this Terran away and hold her and her idiotic friends in the holding cells here in the Embassy! They are to pay dearly for their deeds and their insult to my presence and are thus and henceforth and forever persona non grata on Pellian sovereign territory anywhere in our Federation of worlds. Take them away! And catch those stupid animals!”

 

 

Dawn, Sakamoto, Caella, Jade, and Springer all found themselves yelling at each other in a cell in the basement of the Pellian Embassy a few hours later, as the cell door was opened, and a number of Pellian guards came in, along with Astrena, Aliscea, and Katrina.

 

Astrena looked at all of them and said, “I have been made aware of all of your deeds. You will not be held for further trial, since you are to be cast from Pellian territory, and, for those of you in the military, letters of reprimand will be sent from me to your commanders. You are henceforth persona non grata here in my domain and your will never set foot on any Pellian world, Free City, Embassy, or warship again under a suspended sentence of death. You will sign these papers undertaking to pay me a fine of two hundred thousand credits each, and then you will depart from my sight. Dawn Hardy, you will remain. I have a different penalty in mind for you,” said Astrena.

 

“Yes, ma’am?” Dawn said in a very scared, small voice.

 

“Since you offended my brave pilot, Katrina Foxworth-Savela, you will make amends to her directly. She will determine your doom.”

 

Oh my God, I am dead, thought Dawn as she looked with fear at a cold-eyed Katrina. But, the woman was smiling.

 

“I understand that you own, or about to own, your home?” said Katrina. “Kazuo here,” she said, pointing to Foxy. “Has made me aware of that.”

 

“Yeah…we’re buying our unit at the Rio Amarillo complex from the management as a condo,” said Dawn. “What is that to you?”

 

“The unit now belongs to me,” sneered Katrina.

 

“What?” said Dawn, terrified.

 

“Yes. I now own your home, and I will hold it for two years before giving it back to you. You will pay me rent at the rate of one thousand credits per month, and I shall inspect the unit monthly, in person, to be sure it is not being abused. If you offend me or are late with your rent payments, you are evicted. Are we clear?”


“Yes, ma’am,” said Dawn, who later realized that she was getting off lightly, having to pay Katrina only twenty-four thousand credits. However, the humiliation of having her as her landlady for the next two years really made her shiver. In some measure of clarity, Dawn also thought to herself, How am I going to break this to Jeff? He was longing to own our house!

 

 

A while later, Dawn and her drunken friends all reconvened at the Wildstars’ house, where the drunken party really got under way in the empty house that poor Nova had been both kind and naïve about loaning Dawn the keys to.

 

Dawn was several sheets to the wind, wearing only her slip while banging away at Nova’s piano-thiser in the living room even though she could barely play the piano. She soon put the musical instrument out of tune while Jade used a magic marker to draw a moustache on a painting of Alex Wildstar that hung near Derek’s bookshelves in the living room.

 

It reminded Dawn of a crazy night at her college sorority house or a night after cheerleading practice as Caella managed to figure out what the password was for Derek and Nova’s Tri-D remote so that she and Sakamoto could access a porn flick while they rolled around drunkenly on the floor of Nova and Derek’s living room getting naked with people watching them and cheering and clapping at their lewd, open progress.

 

Jessica Springer giggled and let the hamster from the party loose in the beautiful house. Nova would find him a week later in the bathroom crawling up inside a leg of her blue jeans while answering Nature’s call.

 

A boyfriend of Jessica’s named Chuck Michaels (a rather strange pilot) soon showed up and before long, Jessica and Chuck had run into Derek and Nova’s master bedroom, where they began to avail themselves of the Wildstars’ bed! They made the nice bed into a total mess as they got naked and rolled around in utter abandon on the bedspread making love.

 

And, thus, the partying continued into the night….

 

…while the phone rang and rang as Jefferson Hardy desperately tried to reach his wife, wondering if she was there or not…

 

….as he held David and wondered where the hell Dawn was!

 


Dawn came to at 0600 in the morning, wondering where the hell she was.

 

“What’s…what’s going on? I feel sick!:

 

Caella punched her. “We’re in a Jet Recon Boat, and we’ve just landed in San Diego on the base. A lot of people want to talk to you, you dumb bitch! You got us all in a ton of trouble and we have to kiss a lot of fucking butts because of YOU!”

 

“What?” said Dawn.

 

She shook her head and saw the sun coming up above the open canopy. A very angry Jeff was staring right at her as he held David, acompanied by a positively livid-looking Commodore Wildstar, a fuming Nova, and an angry Deke Wakefield standing there with Lynn.

 

“Good morning, everyone..hee hee..heee.heee..heee.heeeee….you guys look kind of…mad,” said Dawn weakly.

 

“You have not heard from Desslok or Astrena!” snapped Derek as he looked at her. “While Nova and I were supposed to be sleeping, we were up half the night negotiating Earth’s way out of an interstellar diplomatic incident!”

 

“You were only supposed to go to the ball with Jeff!” Nova snapped. “Not with your…drunken girlfriends…and you were NOT to leave them into OUR HOUSE! Damnit, when I gave you the key to my house, Dawn..I trusted you! I trusted that you and Hardy would treat the place with the same respect Deke and Sasha do when they stay over! It appears I’ve made the biggest mistake of my life now…trusting you to take care of our house when you went and wrecked it after we just bought it from the Government to renovate it and add on rooms! Do you know how many times I’ve had to apologize to Derek for being naïve enough to think you would behave? Now I can never trust you in there again, Dawn! Not with the way you and your idiot friends wrecked our place!”

 

“How…how…did ya hear?” said Dawn.

 

“Easy,” Deke snapped. “Sandor showed up at the house after a burglar alarm went off in the garage. A drunken Astro-Fighter pilot was found out there trying to break into Commodore Wildstar’s aircar!”

 

“Then Steve and Diane found the rest of the mess you made of MY BEAUTIFUL HOUSE!” Nova cried as tears of rage ran down her face as she held back the urge to just slap Dawn across the face. “You are going to pay for the repairs to my electric piano, young lady! And you will get my wedding dress cleaned, especially because you were walking around in it dead drunk slopping a glass of my Cooking Sherry on it! My wedding dress is intended for Ariel to wear someday…and for me to wear in my casket when I’m dead!”

 

“How did you know that…I can’t remember it?” moaned Dawn.

 

“Security cameras in our house that go on automatically when none of us are home,” Derek snapped. “And you are getting an art restorer to fix the painting Sandor painted of my brother!”

 

“And you are not allowed out of our house for the next two weeks except to go to classes!” yelled Jeff. “And you are going to learn to mother our baby!”

 

“And you are going to Alcoholics Anonymous!” cried Lynn. 

 

“And you are writing Desslok a letter of apology!” hissed Nova. “And you are getting our living room rug cleaned, SAKAMOTO!”

 

“And you are going to grow up now, or else!” snapped Derek as he jabbed a finger into Dawn’s chest. Nova, significantly, did not stop him!

 

Dawn looked at the angry circle of people…even Sakamoto and Caella were angry at her (because the Wildstars had ranked them out for their role in the hijinks while she was out, as well!) Then, everyone got up and walked off, talking amongst themselves.

 

Then, all she did was began to cry.

 

She was left to cry in the Jet Recon Boat.

 

Alone.

 

 

VI. MRS. HARDY’S DOWNFALL

Earth

The San Diego Megalopolis

Wednesday, June 15, 2208

1302 Hours Local Time

 

 

Dawn Hardy was now just about barely free.

 

The Wildstars had held back on criminal mischief charges against Dawn and the others because she had agreed to pay for everything, having been forced to withdraw much of her own savings that she had accumulated for several years to repay all of the people she had angered.

 

She had to see a psychiatrist three times a week now and see a psychologist every two days. Jeff made her keep those appointments.

 

He made it clear to her that if she did anything again…a jail term might be waiting for her….or a long stay in a psychiatric ward.

 

And Jeff made it clear that if she ever pulled anything like that again…HE would walk away from her and separate…taking David with him! Nova had helped him quietly accumulate some rationed baby formula, for that very purpose. She also refused to nurse David any longer, and she had asked Sasha to do the same. Dawn could only nurse during the day now, when the concentrations of the psychiatric drugs she now had to take were low in her system.

 

“And if we separate?” sniffed Dawn that morning as they came out of the psychiatrist’s office.

 

“Then, Dawm, Ah may have to reconsider the very wisdom of this marriage,” said Jeff in a low voice. “Wildstah is so pissed at me that you would not believe it. Nova talks to me, but barely. She even asked me ‘why can’t you control her?’ She asked Lynn the same thing.”

 

“I don’t know, Jeff…I don’t know…maybe I wasn’t ready to be a mother, okay?”

 

“No excuse,” said Jeff.

 

“Jeff?”

 

“Look at our circle of friends for a minute,” said Hardy. “Mostly my friends, because you have ticked off so many people that it is not even funny. Derek and Nova are practically the only ones in our group who wanted a family. The timin’ just ended up bein’ off. What we have is that Derek is an exceptionally good father and Nova adores her children and juggles motherhood along with all her otuh duties. I do not know how she does it, but she is the best mother in our Group, and her kids are talkin’ and walkin’ befoah anyone else’s! Sasha and Deke’s baby was an accident like ours, yet Star is so doted ovuh by her mother that it is just incredible! That baby is loved and really wanted! And Wendy and Homer are about to have twins! And even Angie Hartcliffe’s baby is being loved to death by his mothuh and his stepfather Clive! And then, there’s me….and there’s you! Dawn, you lost one of our babies. Why don’t you love the one we have left?”

 

“Jeff, I DO love him!” she snapped, looking downright petulant in her summer outfit.

 

“You don’t act like it, sad to say,” sighed Jeff. “Look at the way you’re holding him now, for heaven’s sakes! He’s cute! That blond hair that’s getting’ darker, his little Black Tiger outfit, his little face….his ten little fingers…his ten little toes, that little cry of his? Dawn, our son’s a sweet baby that you made!”

 

“WE made,” said Dawn. “Takes two to tango, Jeff!”

 

“Then why do you dislike him so much?” sighed Jeff.

 

Dawn stared hard at him and said, “Maybe I should have realized my teenage years were over with when I found out Deke had her. Her….meaning that damned Sasha! Everyone loves her!” Dawn whined. “You hear what they all say! ‘She’s special! She has powers! She’s the future of Earth and Iscandar! She’s pretty! She’s sexy! She has the perfect husband!’ Jeff, she makes me sick! The only other two people who make me sicker are her Aunt Nova, who was the person who was born being able to do everything and anything, and that Goddamned weird Katrina, whom everyone loves even though no one seems to know why because she is the most abrasive and nasty piece of shit I’ve ever met!” Dawn raged. “Why do we love someone that creepy? At least Mrs. Aunt Hypocrite Space Poet Nova tries to be nice, even though to me it seems ‘so condescending’!”

 

“All right,” sighed Hardy. “You’re jealous of Deke, jealous of Sasha, jealous of Katrina, and jealous as hell of Nova!”

 

“And to top it off, Sasha and Nova have figures I’d die to have!” yelled Dawn. “I wish I could look that downright cute every time I strip down and bare my boobs to nurse him!”

 

“Okay…you’re jealous,” said Jeff. “Forget them for a minute. You are downright cute! But what are you doing to improve Dawn Westland Hardy?” he demanded. “You’ve screwed up so much of your life in the past month, ain’t even funny,” he said. “But you still have me, David, most of your money, your freedom, and a career you can go back to once you straighten out your life,” said Hardy. “You’re in a flat spin right now, but if you pull up your nose and recover and fly right, you can get out of it. Just like me in my Tiger,” he said.

 

“I’ll think about it,” Dawn said as she bowed her head.

 

“Good,” said Jeff with a smile. He kissed her and whispered, “You look downright hot in those short shorts, tube top, and little flip-flops,” he said. “Wanna take it all off tonight when you nurse David? Then after you run around our townhouse naked with him, because you know it turns me on when you do that…you put him to bed…we can go to bed. And catch up on some serious stuff,” he whispered in her ear as he kissed her.

 

Then, Jeff looked around, pulled her close, and felt under the waist band of her shorts. He whispered, “Looks like someone forgot their panties today….that little butt feels so cute…”

 

“You like it better than David’s?” Dawn whispered.

 

“Hell, yeah,” said Hardy.

 

“Thank you, Jeff…I’ll remember that,” whispered Dawn as she got up on tiptoe in her thongs to kiss him. Then, they went off together as Jeff rested his hand affectionately on Dawn’s tail.

 

It seemed as if their marriage was again beginning to heal up.

 

If only that were so for them….

 

 

VII. THE LAST STRAW

Earth

The Tokyo Megalopolis

Government House

President James Mendellsohn’s Office

Friday, June 17, 2208

1302 Hours Local Time

 

 

Leader Desslok of Gamilon sipped at the wine in his goblet as Talan, President Mendellsohn, Prime Minister Gonjin, Commodore Derek Wildstar, and Nova Wildstar sat with Astrena watching Desslok sip at the wine. Sasha was also there, representing Iscandar, as she sat there with Deke. Katrina and Foxy also sat there, assisting Astrena in the representation of Pellias in the meeting. Thankfully, Desslok was still unaware of who Katrina really was. He thought her accent sounded somewhat hauntingly familiar, but he had heard plenty of Pellian officials with similar accents as he and Astrena had been working with the Pellian High Command to actually cede them a planet in the Gamilon-Garuman Empire…and they were also working with Radnar and House Gatlantis to turn over a Cometine world in the Great Magellenic Cloud to the Pellians!

 

The Gamilon world would be for a base and shipyard for the wandering Pellian Fleet, and the Cometine planet would be used as a possible New Pellias…a homeworld for the Pellians at long last. Katrina had started a little but hit it well when she discovered that the Cometine planet was a small world known as Calbrisa…which had been one of her father’s last conquests before they had turned their sights on Planet Earth years ago.

 

“Excellent vintage, Nova. I thank you,” Desslok purred as Katrina excused herself and left the office for a moment, escorted out by a Secret Service official.

 

Nova stood up, resplendent in a pretty royal blue dress with a scoop neck, and she bowed and smiled. “Thank you, Desslok. How did you like our house last night?”

 

“A little small and disorganized compared to my Palace on Gamilon, but I see you and Derek have a very happy and tasteful little house. Your custom of wearing house slippers or going shoeless in your house is curious, but I guess it keeps your rugs clean?”

 

“It’s a local custom of Great Island,” said Derek.

 

“You remember we do something similar on Iscandar,” said Sasha, who stood up in her sundress, holding a magazine she had found on the President’s desk. Desslok noticed she was barely shod in light sandals, and that her gauzy dress seemed to be as light as a dream. He smiled a little at Wakefield, who stood and held Sasha protectively before she sat down.

 

“I do it in my home,” said Prime Minister Gonjin. He and his wife lived in a traditional Japanese house with quite a few tatami rooms and some wood-and-paper inner walls. Nova had been there once and had liked it; she had it in her head to have a room like that built in the addition they were planning for their house in the Megalopolis; the house she had purchased from the Earth Government and had largely partially paid for already by selling part of her stock portfolio.

 

“It’s sort of cute,” said Astrena. Dellar was back home on Gamilon with his governesses, so Desslok and Astrena had actually slept in Derek and Nova’s guest room the previous night, and they would do so again tonight before touring the Argo and then leaving Earth at high speed in his new Command Cruiser, the Gamilstadt II, which he had brought with a small fleet because it was a bit more maneuverable and easier to hide than his huge Imperial Battleship Excelsior.

 

The Gamilstadt II was actually on Earth, having landed in an underground dock in Yokosuka next to the Arizona by night the previous night. The larger dock next to the Arizona was being repaired and rebuilt to become the new secure secret dock for the Argo herself, which would leave San Diego in the dead of night sometime next month when her repairs neared completion. The Star Force and maintenance personnel were already altered to the move so that the permanent party people who needed to be with the ancient battleship could resettle in the Great Megalopolis.

 

Desslok remembered all of these things…Derek and Nova had discussed them with him and Astrena over dinner in their house. He smiled at them, and asked, “Before we get back to negotiating, why is it that you have only one robotic servant in your home? Someone in your honored position should have more…”

 

“Yes. Wouldn’t you have more servants?” Talan said.

 

“We don’t need them,” Derek said.

 

“Desslok, Talan, you’ve seen that I like to do things for myself,” Nova said. He had caught her cooking dinner with a frilly apron on over her simple tube top and shorts, worn with her hair in a ponytail while she had wooden house sandals on her feet.

 

“You looked a bit like a teenage house servant handing out the food on those simple earthenware plates you use,” purred Desslok. He added, to himself only, You enchanting little barbarian….quite estheticially pleasing for someone less advanced than we…

 

“Yes, my best china!” Nova snapped. “And I was up late the other night polishing all of the silver for you,” she added, pushing back her chair and stretching out her bare legs under her sky-blue dress, worn with a matching choker and the white open-toe pumps that went with her summer Headquarters Uniform. “Let’s get back to the negotiations, please!” She was blushing a bit as she hoped that Desslok would not mention how he had caught her in the yard, her top partially down, nursing Ariel in her lap.

 

“Yes, those,” said Desslok. Desslok looked at President Mendellsohn and Derek and said, “It appears that we have to expand our joint defense to include the contingency of attacks by this Bolar Federation and by this terrorist world Spectra. Incidentially, we have finished our first scientific survey of your Sun. It appears that you were all very fortunate.”

“Explain,” said the President as Katrina came back into the room, nodded at Foxy, and sat down next to him.

 

“We are, of course, initimately familiar with the uses and capabilities of proton missiles,” said Desslok. “Both our own and some captured samples of the Bolars’ handiwork. We have tested our missiles recently on uninhabited planets and even star systems. In one case, firing off a missile into a G-class star like your primary Sol caused an incredible increase in fusion that soon went off the scale. The star in the test system that we used is even now beginning to expand into a red giant and it has consumed one of its innermost planets already. We attempted another similar test with two captured Bolar weapons. We have found that Bolar proton missiles are, at best, crude copies of ours and the sort used by the Rikashan Federation. Their detonators have a tendency not to work very well,” said Desslok as he sipped at his wine.

 

“A most unaesthetic and vile means of destruction. One missile of theirs we used had a detonator that didn’t even work correctly when it hit the test star we used. In your parlance, it was a ‘dud’,” purred Desslok. “Our test was performed six months ago. The test star simply is roiling away right now in a somewhat hyperactive state a just little worse than a standard stellar maximum sunspot cycle. Temperatures on the test planet in its habitable zone are about eighty to ninety Karak in our system of temperature measurement, which equates to around thrty-nine degrees Centigrade to about one hundred and five to one hundred and twenty five degrees Fahrenheit in your scales. This may go one for between one year to maybe five years in your system of temporal measurments, with the usual violent weather that sometimes results.”

 

“So, you’re saying, it’s not that bad?” said a sweating Prime Minister Gonjin.

 

“You have escaped a major cataclysm,” said Talan. “Consider yourselves fortunate,” he said.

 

“Wow, so I won’t lose my money,” said Foxy as Katrina slapped him on the wrist. “Foxy one! We are before the PRESIDENT of Earth!”

 

“Him, I know,” sniffed President Mendellsohn with a laugh. He had actually offered Foxy a post in his Administration years ago but he had turned it down. However, he still called upon Kazuo at times for advice on various sticky matters (which was how Kazuo “Foxy” Foxworth-Savela had gotten into this high-level secret meeting which didn’t even formally exist on any Government register). Foxy would stay Connected after President Mendellsohn left office, and he would end up being a failrly close advisor to two more Presidents in the future…and one of a small group of very close advisors to another future President who would serve in one of Earth’s very darkest hours….an hour that Astrena could forsee even now as she shut her eyes and gazed into the future in her spirit.

 

“So, you’re saying we were hit by a ‘dud?” Derek said.

 

“Exactly,” said Talan.

 

“Summing it up,” said President Mendellsohn. “We’re now in a low-level war with the Bolar Federation, R’Khell, and Spectra.”

 

Katrina then added, “Yes. They’ve been attacking Pellian shipping, all three of those accursed powers, and ve have some word they’ve even dared to attack some of Radnar’s ships.”

 

“Yes, Radnar informed me of that,” Desslok said. “Radnar feels they’re quite mad. Luckily, he is aiding us.”

 

Sasha then said, “And Mother told me an Iscandarian survey corvette was attacked four days ago! Those bastards are after all of us!” she cried, banging a fist on the President’s desk.

 

“Dear…please remember where we are,” Nova said nervously as she stood up and held Sasha’s fist. “Even though I am not in disagreement with you.”

 

“Meaning?” snapped Talan.

 

Nova got a look on her face as if she was about to spit out some distasteful fish bone and she said, “I agree with Sasha…that they’re…bastards. We’ve got to do something!”

 

“Let’s hire some of our own pirates, hon,” Derek quipped. “I hear rumors that the Great Pirate Harlock has his price.”

 

“That sounds horrible, Derek!” Nova said. “Even though the mysterious Space Pirate Captain Harlock is a decent man. We haven’t seen him for many years, ever since the war with Rikasha.” Nova had sort of a soft spot for Harlock, remembering how he had rescued her and Derek from being hanged back on Heavy Melder during the war.

 

“We could revive the custom of using Letters of Marque, sir,” said Prime Minister Gonjin. “If anyone can contact Harlock, that is. I don’t believe he has a published phone number on the Arcadia, sir.”

 

“WE already use Letters of Marque, as much as it disgusts me,” Desslok said. “I gain some of my best information from mercenaries….”

 

 

Later on, Desslok, Astrena, Talan, Derek and Nova, and Deke and Sasha returned back to the Wildstars’ home.

 

After another dinner made by Nova, Talan ended up in the living room in the conversation pit having a conversation with Derek and Deke. Sasha had momentarily disappeared, along with Desslok and Astrena.

 

Nova came out guiding along Alex and Ariel (both of whom were walking, or…running quite well) as Nova (now barefoot for the house) said, “Guys, I’m going to be a while. I’m getting the kids their bath and then, they’ll get the pajamas on for bed. See you in a while.”

 

“Okay,” said Derek. Talan nodded, stating, “Leader Desslok and I will depart and return to our flagship in the morning…we thank you for your hospitality.” Nova smiled and said “You’re welcome” as she disappeared.

 

A few minutes later, Nova disappeared into their master bedroom with Alex and Ariel. In there, with some squirming and giggling, she undressed the two toddlers for their bath and then undressed herself, putting on only a towel over herself.

 

Nova then went towards the bathroom that adjoined their bedroom, carrying a whimpering Ariel in her arms as she adjusted and spread open her towel a bit on her right side, baring a bit of her right side, and her right breast, which was what Ariel had been whimpering for. A picture of contentment, the semi-naked young mother carried Ariel into the bathroom as she encouraged Alex to go ahead….

 

…until she got in there and Alex saw what was going on as he said, “Mommy! Lookie! Uncle Desslok’s in tubbie!”

 

Nova just gasped as she looked on and saw Desslok languidly lying back in the tub against Astrena, who was rubbing tension out of his shoulders and chest.

 

He looked up at Nova and said, “Oh? Did we surprise you? We love your bath, Nova. I’m sorry. We should have made you aware we wished to use it, but you did say ‘make yourself at home?’”

 

“Yes, I did….” Nova said. Both Desslok and Astrena smiled at her as she began to blush from her shoulders down to her toes with embarrassment. The blush only grew deeper as Nova knelt down a bit on the floor to try to coax Alex away from splashing at the water as she said, “No, dear…we don’t want to play splashie games with Uncle Desslok and Auntie Astrena….this isn’t Daddy or Jonathan in the tub waiting to play with you!”

 

Nova left, hearing Desslok laughing softly as she padded out of the room on her bare feet. After she left, Astrena said, “Remember, Desslok…the Terrans are a bit more squeamish about nudity than we are. Although I must say that I noticed a bit of a suntan on her before she began blushing like crazy? She has no tan marks on her form, so she must obviously enjoy sunning herself in her natural state.”

 

“I’ve seen the way the dear Commodore looks at her,” Desslok said. “The attraction and magnetism between them is perfectly obvious. And I told you of that day on my flagship. After she pointed a weapon at me, she actually covered Wildstar with her own body as a shield rather than allowing me to harm him as they mourned over the state of their Earth, which had just been conquerered by Zordar. Their love is a very pure, sweet thing. And those children are pert, a bit annoying, perhaps, but adorable. And given how Nova looks at her Derek, there will probably be more coming soon unless this squalid low-level conflict intervenes.” Desslok sighed and said, “It will take some time, Astrena, as we have these other enemies to deal with on many other battlefronts, but I should like to prepare some harsh words for our eventual envoy to share with the Spectrans, backed up by harsher actions if they do not cease and desist from their madness?”

 

“And those are?” asked Astrena.

 

“Perhaps a test or two of a proton missile might be in order?” purred Desslok.”Anything to aid our allies so they can have their children and rebuild this world’s population in peace…” Then, Desslok smiled.

 

In the distance, he could just barely make out, coming through several walls, the soft sounds of toddlers giggling and splashing water as, with his keen Gamilon hearing, could just about make out Nova singing a funny song to her son…and her daughter.

 

 

Back in San Diego, time passed, and Desslok left the Megalopolis and returned to his flagship with Astrena the next day after their shuttle left the Gamilon Embassy, looking like a routine flight to one of the colony platforms orbiting the Earth, although it was heading to meet the Gamilstadt II, which had left Earth the previous evening in the dead of night and was secretly orbiting the Earth. One of the colonies was a large facility being built with the aid of the Gamilons, and the shuttle “stopped over” there just lomg enough to allow Desslok to inspect his troops before he returned to his cruiser flagship.

 

It was about 1300 Hours, Local Time, on Friday, June 18th, 2208, when a Jet Recon boat came to a landing at the air base near the docks where the Argo lay. It was the Wildstar family; Derek, Nova, Alex, Ariel, and Jonathan, flying from the Tokyo Megalopolis, where it was 0600 Hours, Earthtime on Saturday, June 19th.

 

They found Hardy there in the canteen with little David, looking very annoyed as the young family went in together. “Where’s Dawn?” asked Derek.

 

“We had a big argument again!” snapped Jeff as he sat there with David near him in a stroller. “I’m sorry to tell ya this, but I’m about to call my parents. My mom and dad, who have never met Dawn, want to give her a real good talking-to. Especially mah mother.”

 

“I remember your mother,” Nova said. “My God, I remember your mother, Jeff! Mrs. Juliet Hardy. Magnolia with a spine of steel!”

 

“Where’d we meet her?” Derek asked.

 

“Our wedding?” Nova said as she gestured at Derek in a slightly peeved fashion after handing Ariel to Jonathan. “You forgot already?”

 

“Sorry, Nova…uhh….we must have had half the planet there. I don’t have your photographic memory for faces.”

 

“It’s hard to miss Mrs. Juliet Hardy,” Nova said. “Long brown hair, intense dark eyes, very energetic, handles administrative stuff very well at the plantation, beautiful Southern accent…and I get the impression that if you cross her, may God help you!”

 

“Okay, what does Mister Hardy look like?” Derek asked.

 

Jefferson then said, “My father, Nathaniel Clinton Hardy, runs a medium-sized Georgia plantation in Tarrant County manned by mostly ag-robots known as Victoria. It has a main house with four pillars down a tree-lined drive. My father himself is taller than I am, very refined, very quiet, and he has chestnut brown hair going grey at the temples. He is very down to Earth, loves the plantation and farming, but does not care that much about the social aspects unless Mother makes him host a ball or cotillon there. He likes his whiskey and cigars, but in moderation. Last time I saw him, he was workin’ on a moustache, and was takin’ to wearing a hat.”

 

“I remember he was quite the gentleman,” Nova said. “He knew my father once?”

 

Jefferson nodded. “A long time ago, before we were even born. He said it was around the time they were in the Academy together….”

 

Derek said, “The problem is…can we help Dawn?”

 

“Yes, Derek…that’s the big problem,” Nova said, looking very grim as she spoke. “Especially since at times she does not want to accept or receive our help?”

 

 

LATER THAT EVENING….

 

AT RANCHO CARNE HIGH SCHOOL…..

 

“Ladies and Gentlemen!” called out the disk jockey at the Saturday night dance, which would be the last dance of the school year at Rancho Carne High School in San Diego. The Class of 2208 was set to graduate next week, and the students clapped, laughed, and applauded as Lex Talmadge, a Big Man on Campus, who was smart, strong, and recruited to play football at the Space Fighters’ Training School, did a move and yelled, “Let’s go, ladies and gentlemen! Which one of you is going to be joining the EDF this next year to fight those alien sons-of-bitches?”

 

A lot of cheers went up, as one of the girls in the typical group of dancing students (where most of the girls were at one side of the gym, and the guys were at the other side of the gym) jumped up and yelled, “Let’s get all those guys! And let’s make the Gamilons pay, too! Damn blue Gamilon bastards!”

 

The girl next to her, who had sunglasses on, along with an artsy-looking peasant blouse in white and black, blue t-shirt, grey cargo jeans, and pink flip-flops, cringed a little and said, “I don’t know if they’re all like that…”

 

“What are you? Some kind of LIBERAL?” yelled the girl, who was dressed in a skirt, Letterman’s coat in gold and purple with a cheerleader’s emblem on it, and seemed to be a little drunk. The girl in the peasant blouse figured out that she had been at the punch bowl. Most definitely spiked and turned into Gamilon Sea Water Punch, thought the “teenager”, who was really thirty years old but sometimes felt like she was sixty inside.

 

“No, just someone who sees things differently. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m looking for my friends,” she said.

 

“Ain’t no friend of mine, ya liberal BITCH!” yelled the drunken cheerleader as she yelled, “Where’s that weird girl I was dancing with?”

 

In the meantime, the “weird girl”, who had waist-length blonde hair, and burgundy-brown eyes, danced a dance with her ‘steady” for the night, a guy with wild-looking surfer’s hair, glasses, a Letterman’s jacket with band and Junior Space Cadet Corps emblems on it, along with the emblems of his other sports as he whispered, “You find her yet? Hardy’s getting worried…”

 

“This is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life, Deekee,” she whispered as she looked around. “Why don’t they stop these kids from hitting that punch bowl? Why don’t they check it?”

 

“Sasha,” whispered Deke Wakefield. “They have five hundred kids in here…and four chaperones, most of whom are trying to keep couples from going too far on the dance floor, and…”

 

“I didn’t find her yet,” said the “artsy” girl as she ran up.

 

“Nova, ya gotta look harder,” whispered Deke.

 

“I usually have a good memory for faces,” Nova Wildstar whispered. “Go above four hundred in one night and even I start to go fuzzy.”

 

“Hardy said we’re supposed to be looking for a girl in a skirt and Rancho Carne High letterman’s jacket with flip-flops,” Sasha whispered.

 

“Matches a quarter of the girls here,” Deke said, as it hit him that, several years ago, if someone told him he would be coming back to Rancho Carne High to look for Dawn for someone else, accompanied by a famous, cute combat veteran of the Star Force whom he was also related to by marriage, and a drop-dead gorgeous half-Iscandarian Princess that he just happened to be married to…he would have asked them, “What are you smoking, man?”

 

Finally, Deke’s heart dropped when he heard loud, braying laughter. “Found her,” he said,

 

“All I hear is a dopey-sounding girl laughing, Deekee,” said Sasha.

 

“That’s her, all right,” groaned Deke. “You were never around her when she decided to go wacko at dances and sometimes embarrassed me when we were dating. Fun, fun, fun until Daddy takes the T-Bird away was her motto at times…”

 

“What’s a T-Bird?” said Sasha with a blank look on her face. On Iscandar, they had no such thing as Ford Thunderbirds.

 

Nova looked at her and whispered, “Remind me to teach you about classic cars one of these days. I’m working on restoring a Fiat and you really have to get your hands dirty under the hood with me.”

 

“What kind of hood?” Sasha said.

 

Nova threw up her hands and sighed as suddenly, the laughter grew louder…

 

…and Dawn ran right out of the crowd to face Deke!

 

She had on a Letterman’s jacket (her old one) with a blue t-shirt, short, rumpled, pleated miniskirt, and black flip-flops (like about two thirds of the girls there; this was, after all, June, and a very hot one at that). She ran right up to Deke, pushed aside Sasha without even an apology, and said, “Hi, Deekee! Let’s close-dance!”

 

“No,” said Deke firmly, as he noticed she had on her damn Star Pendant. “Dawn, we are not in 2201 anymore,” he said as she took his hands and almost began to drag him across the dance floor, stopping to wink at Sasha…

 

…and then to step right on her bare toes in her brown sandals as she said, “Hi, Iscanadian Floozie! Let me have my boyfriend back, at least for now!”

 

Dawn breathed in Deke’s face, and he recoiled.

 

While Sasha angrily rubbed her toes, Dawn looked at Deke and cried, “Deekee, what’s wrong?”

 

“Dawn, you smell like a friggin’ distillery! Nova has the car, and she’s not drinking anything but soda tonight. Let’s cut the crap and take you home to Jeff, Dawn! You can’t go back to high school, and that’s that!”

 

“YEAH?” yelled Dawn as they escorted her out. “Deke, High School was better than my life right now!” she yelled. “I had you, a crazy person. Now I have a guy from Georgia who is too nice, a kid I do not quite want or enjoy, and a job on Earth that I hate…and I’m fat!”

 

“Nice we agree on something,” smirked Sasha.

 

“Sasha!” snapped Deke.

 

“Well, she is getting fat!” laughed Sasha.

 

That set Dawn off.

 

Dawn snarled like a crazy woman, jumped out of her flip-flops, and she tackled Sasha in the grass as she began to punch her in the face, knocking Sasha out of her backless sandals. “I’ll mess up your face!” she screamed as she punched away on top of Sasha, who cursed and yelled as she pulled Dawn’s hair. Deke was impressed that his Tigress had some claws as she grabbed Dawn and the two crazed women yelled in the grass like two fighting cats, yellling, cursing, snarling and punching at each other as Nova tried to see if she could separate the two crazed young women as the kids outside began to clap and yell. Other kids ran into the gym as others came out, yelling, “THERE’S A FIGHT!”

 

“Fight! Fight! Fight!” chanted the kids as a teacher ran up to Nova and said, “Who started it?”

 

“They both did,” Nova said, confused, and angry as the teacher grabbed her arm. Nova pulled away, screaming a little as she pushed the teacher and then stepped back as the teacher said, “Whoever YOU are, young lady, you’re not going to graduate! I’ll see to it!”

 

“I’m not a high school student and neither are they!” Nova snapped as she opened her purse and shoved her EDF ID card in the fat teacher’s surprised face as he took in the famous name and rank and the ID picture of Nova in her Star Force uniform. “I’m one of the commanding officers of these…girls…and I’m responsible for both of them since neither my XO or Captain are here!”

 

“Take care of them, ma’am,” said the teacher. “I’ll get Principal Melman!”

 

“Who’s he?” Nova asked as she tried to get between Sasha and Dawn.

 

“Our principal when we were going to school here,” Deke snapped. “He was a prick then and I hear he’s a prick now!”

 

“No matter. Deke. I have to stop this! They’re up now, punching at each other!”

 

Nova stepped between Dawn and Sasha on the front lawn of Rancho Carne High School as they fought, screamed, yelled, cursed each other, pulled each other’s hair and clothing, and went berserk. All of the sheer hatred the two of them had for each other came out as they flailed away, around and over Nova’s shoulders as they screamed,

 

“Iscandarian floozie!”

 

“Bitch from hell grabbing at my husband!”

 

“Blonde bitch taking MY boyfriend!”

 

Nova yelled, as Deke came up, “Dawn, you idiot! Deke has not been your boyfriend for years!”

 

“Eat shit and die, Nova!” Dawn yelled in her face.

 

“What?” yelled Nova as Sasha tried to reach over Nova’s shoulder to pull Dawn’s hair again. “Ensign, do you realize what you and Mrs. Wakefield are doing?”

 

“Let me at her, Nova! Deke! Stop pulling me back!” yelled Sasha. “I want to zap her so bad!” Sasha yelled as an unearthly flame began to burn in her eyes. “Auntie, move it, or you’ll get parboiled too!”

 

“STIFLE IT, SASHA!” Nova yelled as she glared at Sasha and gently pushed her back. “AND YOU TAKE A DEEP BREATH!” she yelled at Dawn as she gently pushed her back with her other hand; the slightly older woman standing with her legs spread separating the two very enraged young women. “Quit it!”

 

“What’s going on here?” yelled Principal Melman as he ran up with a school security guard and a member of the Junior Space Cadet Corps contingent at his sides. “Dawn! Deke!” the long-time principal yelled at them. “You two are grown millitary officers! Your behavior is atrocious!” Then, he recognized Nova Wildstar standing in the dark and said, “Commander, with all respect, ma’am, these two former students are not the best of Rancho Carne High School; not when they were here, and not now. Wakefield, I should have figured you would have been involved in this! What’s the story?”

 

Deke remembered his old principal; he had always been something of a prick. “It’s simple, Principal. My wife Sasha was being pushed around when her fist happened to meet Dawn’s jaw. Unfortunately, things are not so cool right now between Dawn and her husband and new son. The three of us were trying to get her to come home, and…”

 

“The three of you ain’t worth my TOENAIL!” yellled Dawn. “Especially you, ya clone of Starsha!” she yelled drunkenly at Nova. “Lookit her, Deke! Don’t she look JUST LIKE STARSHA! And you hate the little bitch because she made us suffer…you…”

 

“YOU are talking about my MOTHER!” snapped Sasha as she glared regally at Dawn. “And my Auntie there is the most decorated woman in the EDF!”

 

“My GOD, Dawn. You are drunk out of your mind!” Nova snapped.

 

The Junior Space Cadet Corps Midshipman and the security guard were about to move in on Dawn and Sasha to make sure they left school grounds, just when Nova turned her head a little to look at the approaching midshipman. “Midshipman!” Nova snapped with all of her command voice. “You…”

 

Nova never finished, because that was when Dawn pivoted on her toes and sucker-punched Commander Nova Wildstar right in the head. With a loud gasp from the crowd, Nova sank slowly to her knees with a sudden glazed look in her eyes. Her lower lip was cut, and she dully wiped away some of her own blood.

 

The JSCC Cadet grabbed Dawn by the waist, but she fought him off with the crazed strength of a drunk, and then kicked one of her bare feet right into Nova’s side. For a moment, the sight of the woman in her t-shirt, rumpled pleated skirt and old high school Varsity jacket kicking the much neater, slightly artsy-looking figure of Nova really nauseated Deke as he realized that Dawn was now acting more like one of the bullies who had menaced them both in school than like half of the tight couple they had once been.

 

Nova rolled slowly, moaned, slowly got her bearings as Dawn danced around her, drunkenly yelling, “Ya like that ya smarty-pants hypocrite bitch? Ya like that, ya intellectual! Ya like that, Mrs. Half-Japanese Godzilla?” she yelled. “If you’re such a fucking Samurai, get up and fight me! Or is your fame way overrated, lady?”

 

Nova jumped out of her thongs as she got up, pivoted on the balls of her bare feet in the grass and said with her fists up in a cold, clear voice with a fire raging in her eyes, “Get back, Dawn and sit down, or I’ll make you regret the day you were born!”

 

“TRY IT!” raved Dawn as she tried to head-butt Nova in the stomach. She missed.

 

Then, she attacked Nova with a box cutter she pulled out from her pocket. Some girls and guys on the sidelines yelled, “Fight fair, you thug!” “Nova’s not even armed!” “Put the damn knife down, bitch!”

 

Dawn waved her knife at Nova and screamed, “You come closer, bitch, I’ll slice your face open, and then Derek will never want you any more! Want to look like a space pirate for the rest of your life, BITCH?”

 

Nova jumped away, evading Dawn’s drunken onslaught, but as Dawn approached her again, Nova caught her by the shoulders of her jacket, screamed “HIYYYAA!” and threw Dawn off-balance and down on her back in a sudden aikido throw that scratched Dawn’s cheek and drew blood from HER.

 

Dawn was stunned, but she got up and tried to punch Nova in the face. Nova caught her fist, threw it back with one hand, and screamed an unearthly scream again as HER fist caught the side of Dawn’s head. Then, as she fell, Nova deftly plucked the box cutter out of Dawn’s hand, shoved it into her purse, and gave Dawn a kick in the ankle that made her stumble.

 

Dawn, with her ears ringing, staggered back as Nova came on like a machine, still screaming, slamming a fist into Dawn’s stomach, and then slamming another fast blow into her throat, following it up by a blow to her head as she then shoved in a foot and tripped her.

 

As Dawn fell to the grass, Nova then gave her a good kick that made Sasha scream and bite her fists, followed by a kick to her head! “Auntie Nova! You’ll kill her!” Sasha screamed.

 

“No, it won’t be like that! I’m just teaching her a lesson! If I were out to kill her, she would have already been dead!” Nova yelled as she grabbed Dawn by the front of her Varsity Jacket and rapidly backhanded her ear and then slapped her in the mouth. “Give it up!  I’ve taken your knife, you lousy, dirty fighter! Surrender!” Nova yelled.

 

“I’ll see you in Hell!” Dawn hissed. She tried to punch Nova, but Nova just grabbed the punch, threw it back, and then slapped Dawn in the mouth again, drawing more blood and finally making her whine like an overgrown teenager as she began to cry. Then, she looked at Nova and screamed, “I’m sorry!”

 

“This is beyond sorry!” Nova snapped. “Your EDF Contract will be pulled as of tomorrow morning, and I’m recommending you for Commander’s Mast before Donnelly for all of this garbage!” Nova then noticed several policemen arriving, so she grabbed Dawn’s wrists and marched her before the policemen, who had just received a rapid-fire description of what had happened from Principal Melman. Nova looked at them and said, “Officers, this is the culprit…kindly take this trash away, would you?”

 

“Wildstar, what did you do to her?” demanded one of the policemen.

 

“Sergeant, I saw it all; she was trying to stop it when Mrs. Hardy here assaulted her after getting done with Mrs. Wakefield,” said Principal Melman. “This lady was only trying to defend herself from this little punk,” he hissed at Dawn.

 

“I see. Commander Wildstar, are you remanding her to us or waiting for the Shore Patrol?” asked the SDPD Sergeant.

 

“You can take her,” Nova said, as she whispered to the Sergeant, “This woman has severe post-partum depression, bordering on psychosis, and is drunk. I would ask you to take her to Psych Unit at Central and commit her for observation.”

 

“An Act 252?” asked the Sergeant. Nova nodded, and the Sergeant looked at Dawn and said, “Miss, turn around and let us cuff you. You are now under arrest. I am charged with reading you your rights.”

 

Dawn looked at Nova with pleading eyes. “Get me out of this,” she pleaded. “Ma’am, we’re friends!”

 

“Unless things change for you, not as of now!,” Nova snapped. “You need professional help to salvage your career, World Health Organization Ensign. That is, if Commander Donnelly does not recommend you for immediate dismissal from the Corps. And, I am sorry, but you can expect a long inquiry from a social worker about your treatment of David when you get home, because I am reporting you for neglect given this night. And I’m calling Jeff to let him know where you are and how you got there.”

 

“You wouldn’t!” screamed Dawn.

 

“I have to,” Nova said. “He’s still my friend. Unlike you. Now get out of my sight! I’m sick of looking at you! Beat it!”

 

Tears ran down Dawn’s face as she looked pleadingly at Deke, who looked away from her as Sasha squeezed his hands and glared at Dawn. It would be a long time before Dawn talked to either of them again.

 

Truly alone and without any allies or friends left in this group, Dawn was bundled into a police car and driven away to the hospital.

 

 

TEN DAYS LATER….

 

June 28, 2208

 

San Diego Megalopolis

 

Dawn Hardy had never been so alone in her life.

 

She had been in the hospital, in the Psych Ward, for ten days; three of them under heavy sedation because she suffered a complete psychotic break with reality, constantly tore off her hospital gowns and went naked, and tried to attack every nurse, doctor, or orderly who came in to tend to her, attacking literally like a wild animal.

 

For part of one day, she actually got loose from her room and roamed the ward naked, snapping at people like a rabid dog, attacking the garbage for food (they constantly brought her food but she refused it) and she tried to throw herself out a window twice.

 

She spent a few days in bed, tied down with restraints as they tried medication after medication on her. Finally, they tried a new form of advanced electroshock therapy that targeted selected parts of her brain as she lay strapped down in a huge apparatus that took three technicians to operate….with panels covered with screens, controls, and Matsumoto Meters out the gazoo.

 

By the tenth day, Dawn was finally calm enough to lie in a daze, wondering when Jefferson would come in to see her.

 

After lunch, Dawn had a visitor. It was her mother Lynn. Her face was very, very grim, and she was holding two envelopes.

 

“They say you can talk now,” Lynn said. “Are you well enough to hear news?”

 

“I think I can,” said Dawn. “How’s Jeff? I’m so sorry that I…”

 

“He understands…that you’re sick. Your performance at that high school appalled all of us. First of all, you are banned forever from the grounds of your old high school. You are to be arrested for trespassing and criminal mischief if you ever go back there again. Secondly, you are not to attend any Star Force-related social gatherings…at least for the immediate future, and Commodore Wildstar has banned you from boarding the Argo. Your EDF Contract has been pulled due to your behavior and illnesses, and your pilots’ license has also been suspended, and it will probably be revoked.”

 

Lynn stared hard at Dawn, letting her take all of this in. Then, she said, “Third. You said a lot of bizarre things about Deke. He does not want to see you again in the foreseeable future. You are not to write him, call him, or speak to him in person and he does not want you in his home, He has had enough of you. The few things he had that reminded him of you, he has given back. He demands that you give back everything and anything of his you still hold. Including the Star Pendant. He is giving that to Sasha when he gets it back.”

 

“How is Sasha?” Dawn said quietly.

 

“She is fine. But she told me VERY clearly to tell you that she never wants you near her again, and that you and she are enemies, just as she is aware that you and that poor alien woman Katrina Savela are enemies. You will probably never go to Iscandar again, because she intervened with her mother, and because of that, Queen Starsha told us to tell you you are persona non grata on Iscandar and are not to set foot on that world, any of their vessels, or their Embassies or Consulates.”

 

“What about Commodore Wildstar?”

 

“He doesn’t want to see you.”

 

“Brew? Bangs?”

 

“They don’t want to see you either.”

 

“My old co-workers?”

 

“They’ll probably see you for a little while; but they will be very cool to you. And…”

 

“How does Nova feel about me?”

 

Lynn sighed. “She told me to tell you that you and she are not on a friendly basis anymore, at least for the time being. She told me to give you this official letter. She said she has everything she wants to say to you in this letter:”

 

Dawn opened the envelope, on San Diego Central Hospital stationary, and scanned the letter, taking note that it had been typed up by a robotic secretary. It read:

 

Ensign Hardy:

 

This letter is being given to you due to your recent unstable and appalling personal behavior. It will be filed in your Personnel Jacket as part of your permanent record.

 

I must remind you that assault upon a superior officer, under EDF Regulation 3241.2A, will not by any means be tolerated, nor can it be countenanced, even in a situation that now arises like the present one, where the two service members are of different uniformed services of the United Earth Federal Government.

 

You were serving under one suspension when you personally assaulted this writer and several other people in the course of a few days while you were publicly intoxicated. Regulations dictate that you must be suspended from duty and pay for at least five more working days for additional offenses. Usually, suspensions under these circumstances are far more severe. This said, I have conferred with Commander Donnelly, and have intervened in your behalf, owing to your difficult family situation and medical diagnosis. We agreed that you will continue to be suspended for an additional five days and then granted mandatory unpaid rest leave, and she and I have agreed not to tender formal charges against you for your behavior. We will do this for you once and only once, to allow you time to recuperate. You are not to mistake my patience for leniency.

 

You are hereby placed on notice that any further behavior of this type from you, on or off World Health Organization Grounds, is hereby prohibited. Should such conduct ever arise again,full paramilitary charges will be lodged against you, and you will stand trial, and you will also be considered for medical discharge after you satisfy the penalties imposed upon you by a Commander’s Mast or due trial, unless such penalties also include dismissal from the Service. 

 

You are scheduled to return to duty on 11 July, 2208. Upon your return to duty, you will eventually be reassigned to another section of the Hospital where your contact with patients and those you have had differences with will be strictly regulated. You are also advised that upon your return to work in my section, fraternization with me and your other superiors will not be permitted or tolerated, and all legal orders given to you are to be obeyed without question or dissent. You are also not welcome at any of our social events off-site.

 

Regards,

 

CMDR WILDSTAR, NOVA, RN, LNP, MD Candidate

 

Dawn took the letter and threw it on the bed as her face turned into something like a mask. “She hates me. I deserve it.”

 

“I would not say she hates you…you’ll note she intervened for you? It is because of Jeff and the baby, she said. She will not come up to see you, and things will be very cool between you and her, but the woman is not your enemy, and God knows why! I heard all of the things you said to that fine young woman, and while she is not perfect, what you have done to her makes me sick! You’re worse than you were in that Sorority back in college, Dawn. When off those meds, you are a depressive, angry, vicious, scheming, and appalling drunk; and you are such a vile person, that if I think we could make Princess Invidia alive again and have her stand here, I’d rather speak to the scheming Princess than to you! I am ready to wash my damn hands of you, Dawn. And, read this letter!”

 

Dawn looked at the blank envelope and asked. “Who is it from?”

 

“Jefferson. By the way, when you get out of here, you will NOT find him and David residing with you in the townhouse!”

 

Dawn’s mouth fell open. “He…he…left me?”

 

Lynn nodded. “Yes. But he hopes it is to be on a temporary basis. He and David are currently staying with the Wildstars in the Tokyo Megalopolis, although he is planning to go out to take David to meet his grandparents at his father’s plantation in Georgia known as Victoria. Nova is helping Jeff care for your son, although he is being checked weekly by a social worker for signs of long-term neglect. Jeff has made it clear that you are not to see David again until your condition has stablized and until such time as he moves back into your apartment again. He will probably see you in a few days for a visit that I will supervise.”

 

“I can’t believe he…” Dawn sobbed.

 

“Between you and I, you are lucky that he didn’t just divorce you now. Would you like to read his letter?”

 

“Sure,” Dawn said listlessly.

 

She opened his letter and read:

 

Dawn:

 

Our relationship is not over. Yet. But owing to everything you have done, it is very severely strained.

 

I had to take David and move out of our apartment for a while. He and I are safe in a spare room at the Wildstars’ house, which is good, because David adores Nova and Derek. Nova gives him a sort of mixture between formula and some of her own milk, which is beginning to dry up now since Ariel and Alex have almost moved on entirely to solid food. But he is well-nourished and happier and calmer now, since you no longer are there to scream at him. Nova can see hr is a very nervous and easily startled baby and everything she does is in a soft, soothing voice. She has told Derek and I to handle him the same way, and we are doing that.

 

I won’t be seeing you for some days, and I would prefer not to receive any phone calls or e-mails from you for a few days. I need time alone to think out our relationship. Everyone, bluntly, has advised me to just cut you loose and divorce you. Should that prove necessary, I would either take a ground assignment and raise David as a single father, or if anything happened to me, I would let his Godparents, the Wildstars, care for him until such time as my parents could and would take custody, as we have all agreed. You may not be aware ofthis, but our clan sticks together. Blood is literally thicker than water to us. David was born as a Hardy and he’ll take his last breath as one of us.

 

I do not want to divorce you. Not yet. If we come together, and if we stay together…that depends upon you at this point. You need to get better, and then, in the parlance of the South, you need to get some religion, girl.

 

I will be in touch regardless of what I decide, or what we decide.

 

Fondly,

 

Jefferson

 

“Well?” said Lynn.

 

“What am I supposed to think?” Dawn sobbed. “He left me! And it’s all my own fault!”

 

“That is the first honest thing you’ve said in weeks, Dawn,” Lynn said.

 

“What?”

 

“That it’s your own fault. Because…it is.”

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED….

 

“It Never Rains in Southern California” will conclude next chapter with Part Thirteen, “TWILIGHT”

 

Note:

 

I am trying something new with this installment….

 

In the past, I have been posting links to YouTube on a discussion board or two so some there could hear the songs.

 

To that end, I’ve decided to post links to some YouTube clips of some of the songs referred to in this chapter (so you can hear part of the “soundtrack/BGM/OST” for this story)

 

The songs for this chapter are:

 

“Nowhere Fast” (original version by Fire, Inc., arranged by Jim Steinmann: music for Dawn’s fistfight with Sasha and Nova)  CLICK HERE TO PLAY VIDEO

 

“Come Together” (original version by The Beatles, cover by Aerosmith: music for Dawn’s wrecking of the Embassy Ball and fistfight with Katrina) CLICK HERE TO PLAY VIDEO

 

“Holding Out for a Hero” (original version by Bonnie Tyler: first song destroyed by Dawn with Infinity at the Pan-Am/Colorado football game) CLICK HERE TO PLAY VIIDEO

 

“You’re My Best Friend” (original version by Queen: second song “performed” by Dawn with Infinity at the Pan-Am/Colorado football game) CLICK HERE TO PLAY VIDEO

 

“I’m Still Standin’” (original version by Elton John: first song performed by Nova with Infinity at the Pam-Am/Colorado football game) CLICK HERE TO PLAY VIDEO

 

“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (original version by The Beatles, cover by G. Harrison, Ringo Starr & Eric Clapton: second song performed by Nova at the Pan-Am/Colorado football game) CLICK HERE TO PLAY VIDEO