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. Thanks to SAMANTHA NOCERA (aka Steel Hyaena) for artwork and ideas contributed to this chapter. Ms. Nocera’s artwork of Derek Wildstar is © 2010 by her and used by permission. Also, thanks to Gail Kopetz, Yuki Wildstar, and Ami Meitsu for ideas used in this chapter.

PART THIRTEEN: TWILIGHT (CONCLUSION---part one “several journeys”) (PG version of the tale…)

 

I. HEADING OFF EARTH…AGAIN

Earth

The San Diego Megalopolis

Space Battleship Argo

Saturday, July 2, 2208

0730 Hours Local Time

 

 

The Argo was again ready to leave San Diego; only this time, she was stepping cautiously back into space for the first time in weeks in a set of space trials in which the mighty vessel would do almost everything done on a regular mission; except execute a space warp and fire the wave motion gun, since the work on those computer subroutines was still going on. However, Sandor and Nova had repaired the system to such an extent that the Argo was capable of executing the old-style space warps in a “limp-home” mode, and the wave motion gun was actually operational in its regular mode only and not in the Hyper-Mode. So, if the Argo was needed in some sudden battle, she could at least jump into combat. Nova was on this mission with Derek; her parents were staying at the Wildstar residence in the Tokyo Megalopolis for a few days to watch Alex and Ariel. Nova’s mother agreed to help while wishing that Nova would put in for only ground assignments, not quite understanding that Command had done a lot of convincing to get Mrs. Wildstar to rejoin the ship’s company on these trials.

 

Jefferson Hardy got to visit the First Bridge shortly before takeoff; he was carrying little David, who would be left on the ship with Nova, Jonathan, and Doctor Sane for a time while he and the rest of the Black Tigers flew up from the airbase and boarded the ship in the high atmosphere. Jonathan’s Junior Space Cadet Corps squadron had received permission to board the ship for a week of very special training that impressed the squadron, for the kids would be serving limited duty in some of the Argo’s minor posts under very careful supervision.

 

The reason David was with his father was because Jeff and Dawn were still separated, and David would be heading to Victoria, the Hardys’ plantation in Georgia, for a two-day visit with his grandparents.

 

At the moment, before leaving the ship for launch, Hardy was standing before Commodore Wildstar to discuss his plans. Because of the fact that this was a skeleton crew, Derek himself was again manning the Combat station. The Navigation and Living Group complements were likewise low, so Nova was temporarily serving as Group Leader for both sections…she would be sharing the Chief Pilot’s duties with Eager and with Derek himself. As such, Nova herself sat at the helm awaiting orders for takeoff….and she sat facing Hardy, who was holding David.

 

“How long do you expect to be at Victoria?” Derek asked. “I hate to say this, but this is one of the worst times, Hardy, that you could ask for leave…so…”

 

“Sir, I know that this is poor timing,” Hardy said. “But, I plan to be off the ship next week…on the fifth and the sixth….”

 

“Derek,” Nova said from the helm. “Unless our schedule changes, the Argo is supposed to be Earthbound for those two days, anyway. Remember? We’re supposed to put in at Savannah at the dockyard there, and then we’re set to cruise up the Eastern Seaboard coast to Wilmington, North Carolina, and then up the coast at high speed underwater to Philadelphia. It’s going to be on the fifth and the sixth, anyway. Hardy can meet up with the ship again on the sixth when we put it in Philadelphia after we surface in Chesapeake Bay that morning.”

 

“I guess that would work,” sighed Derek. “Hardy, permission granted.” Derek looked at Deke Wakefield, who was also on the First Bridge. “Wakefield, while Hardy’s off the ship, you’ll be Acting Flight Group Leader of the Black Tigers.”

 

“Yessir,” said Deke.

 

Derek then stood up. “Hardy, before we take off, go check on David . Mrs. Wakefield, assist Hardy in checking on his son; I need Nova up here for now,” said Derek, looking at Sasha, who was at the Cosmo-Radar wearing the two-toned blue of a Torpedo Squadron known as the Black Aces that she was assigned to as both a Radar Intercept Officer and Trainee Pilot, as well as one of the Cosmo-Radar officers for this cruise. Thus, Sasha left, and, at Nova’s orders, Eager took over at the Cosmo Radar for launch preparations.

 

Down below, Hardy and Sasha found that David was sleeping.

 

“Thank heavens for small favors,” said Hardy with a smile as he looked on on his sleeping son in his bassinet.

 

“He has some milk available here in the fridge,” Sasha said. “Some came from me, some came from Nova. We both contributed to this little endeavor.”

 

Jeff smiled at his boy and let him sleep.

 

 

Dawn Hardy came home that day from the hospital…all alone.

 

When she arrived in the quiet townhouse in San Diego, she found a very brief e-mail from Jeff in her Inbox. It read:

 

2 July 2208

 

Dawn:

 

This is Jeff, again. The Argo is leaving Earth for a few days’ worth of space trials, since the refit is almost completed. David is with me. Sasha and Nova are helping me take care of him.

 

I’m going to be seeing my parents at their plantation, Victoria, in Georgia later in the week. I need to speak with them on some issues. There will, of course, be a cotillon there one night. Nova has agreed to come to Victoria overnight with me as a guest and she will be escorting me at the dance like a cousin…she’s agreed to help with David, anyhow. No need to get jealous; Derek, Nova, and myself all agree that this will be a platonic visit.

 

I belive that I will be seeing you in a few days, and so will my parents. I need to see how you are doing, and my parents have decided that they have to talk to you before we can consider an end to our separation.

 

Hoping you are well….

 

Jeff.

 

Another, calm, cold clinical note, Dawn thought as she sat numb and alone in her townhouse. Then, she found another note in there…from Katrina Savela.

 

It was a note reminding her that she would be by to personally collect rent and inspect the townhouse in a week.

 

Damn her, Dawn thought. Thanks to my own foolishness and her bitchiness, I don’t even own the place I live in. Well, better start cleaning up.

 

Dawn started to clean; tears ran down her cheeks as she worked…alone.

 

 

Some time before launch, Derek met Nova, alone, on the ship’s aft observation deck in the bridge tower.

 

He found her leaning on the wood rail, looking out at the sea off the California coast.

 

“What are you thinking of?” Derek asked.

 

“Everything,” she sighed. “You know, they pretty much drafted me to come aboard this cruise. And, with Sandor in the hospital, guess who your new XO is? Except when I have to run off with Hardy for that overnight visit to Victoria and help with his son and play Southern Belle that night?”

 

“Nova, we’ve been over this before. You’re going to be a great First Officer. Everyone on the crew respects you…and most of the crew…well, most of the crew adores you, honestly.” He ran his finger over her mouth. “All you’re going to have to do to get what you want out of these guys is give that cute little smile of yours. Then…”

 

“But, Derek. I’m a mother…I’m training to be a ship’s Doctor, not a Captain. Yet, Singleton tells me I’m now on the promotion list! We know that when you move up to Rear Admiral, you’re probably going to be placed in a Staff Job for a few years…and rumor has it that Venture will then be bumped up the Commodore and given command of Star Force Special Ops…right?”

 

“Not if I can help it,” Derek said. Then, he looked hard at Nova. “Unless I’m either drafted by the Commander or you beg me to do it so that I can be home all the time with the kids for a few years. Maybe that’s what I really need. Between you and me and the gatepost….running out into space is starting to get…a little old. And you want me home…”

 

“Yes…and for a few years, I want to be home, too. I’ve pretty much decided that when things…settle down, I wouldn’t mind being pregnant again…” Nova said with a smile. “This time under far more quiet and stable circumstances than the last time…”

 

“Nova, darling….I like the sound of that,” Derek said as he pulled her close and hugged her hard.

 

“But Derek. Well….if Mark gets that command, regardless of whether he takes the Argo as his new flagship, or if he stays with the Arizona….they’ll need a new Captain for one of those ships soon. I hope they make it Steve. Because if they want to give me the Captain’s Chair of either the Arizona or the Argo…I’m not sure I want it! Even though they’d probably love to see you turning command of this vessel over to another Captain Wildstar in a few years….” Nova said with an ironic smile.

 

“Nova…you’re going to make a great Captain if they ever make you one,” Derek said. “You know why?”

 

“Why?”

 

“Number one, you’re far smarter than I am; we both know that. Number two; I know you. You get scared when you look at new things, then you screw yourself up, think it’s going to be another adventure, and you go for the gusto and do it, Nova. I know you do not give up easily. Hell, in some ways, you’re more stubborn than I am. And that’s saying a lot.”

 

“So?”

 

“Don’t be frightened of it..when and if the time comes, someday,” Derek said as he held her close, and then kissed her. “Now, XO, go make the announcement. That’s an order.”

 

“Aye, sir,” Nova said, with tears brimming a little in her eyes as she stepped back from her husband and saluted, hand to heart.

 

Then, she grabbed a mike off the bulkhead and said, “Attention all hands! Attention, all hands! This is the First Officer and Deputy Captain speaking. We are going to be launching at 0830 Hours, Sharp! All hands take your positions for launch, and begin securing all stations!”

 

Nova then put back the mike and said, “Captain, lead the way.”

 

Derek nodded. And, at that, they left.

 

 

SOME TIME LATER…

Finally, after the launch preparations were made, the Argo blasted off right on schedule.

 

The lineup of the First Bridge crew was as follows:

 

Communications was again manned by Homer Glitchman.

 

At the tactical radar was Chris Eager, who would also be filling as ship’s Navigator-Pilot when needed.

 

At the Artillery Station, a young new officer named Ensign Minoru Haragi sat ready to work the guns and other weapons systems under Wildstar’s command.

 

Anaylsis was staffed by IQ-9.

 

Engneering was staffed by Diane Henson, soon to be Diane Sandor, who was worried to death because Sandor was still in the hospital, recovering from the recently-done surgery that would make him able to conceive children at last.

 

Commodore Derek Wildstar sat at Combat, while Commander Nova Wildstar worked the ship’s helm behind the flight yoke, which she graped with crispness and authority as the space battleship cruised up out of the ocean in a roaring ascent. When the Argo had reached the right altitude, Nova snapped, “All clear ahead for cruising speed! Main wings, open!”

 

The wings opened as Sasha Wakefield manned the radar, pretty in the two-tone blue uniform she wore as a member of the Black Aces. The torpedo planes were already aboard the Argo in one of the upper fighter bays.

 

“Nova, what’s our altitide?” Derek asked from beside her.

 

“Eighty thousand meters,” Nova said as she looked at her instruments.

 

“Where’s the kids, ma’am?” Eager asked.

 

“With my parents,” Nova said. “This will only be a short cruise, so they should be fine…”

 

Finally, the last member of the first bridge crew was another new officer who scowled a little at Nova, Sasha, and Diane as he worked some computer screens in Sandor’s usual spot as Mechanical Group Leader. He was Lieutenant Commander Hiro Nakajima, and he was a very cold, callous individual.

 

He was thirty-four years old, and he had quite a bit of experience, although this was only the second time he had ever been a Group Leader and full science officer. He had been Science Section Leader on two different commands, Mechanical Group Leader on the space battleship Madagascar, and he had also served as the Commanding Officer of the Space Patrol Cruiser Ainur during the Second Cometine War.

 

“Kids,” said Nakajima. “The place kids should be is with thir mother…”

 

“In the best of situations, I agree,” Nova said. “The unfortunate thing is…we do not have the best of situations right now.” Nova looked at some readouts as the stars appeared in the Argo’s windows as she cruised to the edge of space. “Captain, request permission to retract wings and accelerate.”

 

“Granted,” said Derek. “Go to second and then third space speed, Nova. Give us seventeen space knots. Then render the usual solemn charge to our home.”

 

“Roger that,” Nova said with a smile as she put her thumb up. Nova worked the right controls, retrtacted the Argo’s wings, and soon, the ship was cruising away from Earth towards the Moon. Nova pulled up a view of the receding Earth on the main screen. She looked at Derek, who nodded.

 

Nova then stood, opened an internal comm circuit, and said, “This is the Deputy Captain. We are departing Earth. Attention to render honors! HONORS!” she snapped as she came to attention and saluted Earth with her first up to her chest, followed by all of the rest of the Bridge crew..all except Nakajima.

 

“Mister Nakajima!” Nova said. “Aren’t you going to render honors to Earth?”

 

“I’d prefer that the order come from the Captain,” snapped Nakajima.

 

“Mister Nakajima!” Derek snapped. “Commander Wildstar is our Deputy Captain, and I gave her a direct order to render the honors in my stead. You know the regs. When a First Officer is assigned by the Captain to handle a duty, he or she stands in the Captain’s shoes for that moment. Obey Nova’s order!”

 

Nakajima glared hard at Nova, and he looked up at Earth and saluted.

 

Then, Nova made everyone hold the salute a little longer than necessary, and then, she said, “All hands, as you were. Stations!”

 

Nakajima glared a little at Nova and said, “I’ve been through a few things. Give me a moment to…get acclimated to life in the Star Force.”

 

“We will do that,” Nova said. “But I want to talk with you later. Alone,” Nova stressed.

 

 

Hardy, Wakefield, and Marrable boarded the Argo a while later with their two squadrons of Cosmo Tiger II’s and one Type 52 Super Star squadron, which comprised the Black Tigers on this mission. Hardy and Wakefield led the two Tiger squadrons, while Jere “Brew” Marrable was in command of the Super Star interceptor squadron.

 

The Black Aces; a squadron of twelve upgraded Cosmo Panther torpedo planes, was under the command of Lt. Shigeru Sakamoto. Sakamoto, of course, had a major history with Derek, Nova, and many of the others on the Argo. When Derek found his name on the crew roster, he made an appointment to speak with him ASAP, feeling that he had to lay down the law to the troublesome pilot to behave or become dog food.

 

In the meantime, under Nova’s hand, the Argo cruised farther and farther away from Earth.

 

Within an hour, the Argo had slipped beyond the orbit of the Moon, and Commodore Wildstar ordered the Black Tigers and the Black Aces launched.

 

The mighty space battleship manuevered near the Moon as Hardy’s, Wakefield’s, Marrable’s, and Sakamoto’s squadron attacked a target range on the dark side of the Moon.

 

Sasha flew in that mission in the aft place of one of the torpedo planes, running the Radar/Signals position again under the command of a young officer known as Lieutenant Nyssa Wapner, a young African-American woman who was Nova’s age. She had also left a child behind on Earth for the mission with her parents, who lived in North Carolina. Her husband, a young man named Lenhard Wapner, was maybe two years older than she was, and he currently served as the Combat Group Leader on the space battleship New Zealand, which was on patrol far beyond Pluto.

 

As they flew near the Moon, a strange sensation hit Sasha in the gut. She felt horrible. She immediately know something bad was going to happen, and, with a trembling hand, she focused on her controls.

 

“Miss Wakefield…you look sick back there!” said Nyssa. “May I ask what’s….?”

 

“Watch that!” yelled Sasha.

 

Nyssa looked up, and just as it came on her radar, a strange, ugly red fighter plane appeared, shooting at the torpedo plane, nearly hitting it point-blank. Sasha’s head whiplashed, and her helmnet came undone and flew off while Nyssa jinked and fired back, yelling out a report as Sasha cried out, “Ma’am, there’s four of them on us…they’re…!”

 

Sasha screamed as there was a bright flash in the cockpit and a gout of smoke. She got a fire extinguisher and put out the flames near Nyssa’s arms. Sasha also found Nyssa was unconscious and unable to fly the plane any longer. With a hissed curse of “DAMN!” Sasha flicked a few controls, and took full control of a fighter for what would be her first solo…in battle!

 

 “Where are they, where are they?” Sasha cursed to herself as she worked the controls in her Cosmo Panther torpedo ship.

 

She found out a moment later. Two of them were on her, and two more were coming. Sasha fired a spread of missiles at the two coming towards her while she spun hard, flipped about, and then faced the other two pilots head-on, snarling as she pumped shots into their cockpits.

 

Sasha saw the enemy pilots flying out of their cockpits to become frozen corpses in space as she hit them and she recognized the uniforms from intel briefings based on what they had learned from the Gamilons and their own recent experiences. “Sakamoto!” she cried into her mike as she got her helmet back on and got plugged in again into the comm circuits of the Cosmo Panther. 

 

“Wakefield, where the hell are you and Wapner? She hasn’t responded for three frackin’ minutes and neither have you! What the hell’s goin’ on?”

 

“We’re being shot at!”

 

“This is a training exercise, you idiot! Of course yer gonna be shot at! With simulated crap!”

 

“With live missiles and ammo?” Sasha snapped as she was shot at again by the Bolars and just avoided getting her torpedo boat turned into razor blades with her in it. “That makes five down!” she yelled.

 

“Who’s flying?” demanded Sakamoto.

 

“ME!” Sasha snapped back.

 

“You’re not checked out, certified, or licensed to fly a bath sponge, Mrs. Sasha fuckin’ Wakefield!” yelled Sakamoto. “Sit back down and let Wapner fly it! I’m gonna make sure you have a nice big Captain’s Mast when we get back to base, you blonde halfbreed chowderhead!”

 

“Wapner can’t fly a thing! She’s unconscious!” roared back Sasha. “Or would you prefer I just go ‘woe is me’ and let them kill me?”

 

“Then go back to base!” demanded Sakamoto. “And let the professionals handle this!”

 

“Drop dead, Sakamoto!” Sasha snapped back as she saw forward into time a little with her power and quickly brought down another Bolar ship and turned off her radio. “ooooo, that felt good,” she said with a smile.

 

She immedately felt Deke’s fear and anger through her bond, and she sent to him, * I’m fine, Deekee! Situation Normal, all Fouled Up! Wapner’s unconscious or dead and I’m getting to fly my first solo with Bolars shooting live ammo at me! You’d better certify me to fly after this! *

 

Deke thought back (and Sasha picked it up) Why is your radio off?

 

Sasha sent back, * I had words with Sakamoto and cursed him out! He threatened to have me up on charges, the jackass!! *

 

Deke thought back, Sasha, turn the radio back on and get up frequency 4543.222. Our private channel. The Argo got shot at twice by a Bolar carrier and destroyer squadron which they dispatched, and we got a distress call from Venus that some kind of huge Bolar fleet is attacking the power station there and has shot at the Nagato’s battle group. Wildstar says Nova’s warping out in nine minutes! We have to get back to base! I’ll talk ya in!

 

Sasha smiled a little and said, “Roger that, sir!” as she pulled up Deke’s frequency. “Just one problem,” Sasha sang.

 

“Yeah?” said Deke.

 

“I have never done a carrier landing before. You and Nova were supposed to show me how at some point on this little cruise, but….”

 

“Sasha, you’ll learn how in about the next nine minutes. We’ll talk you in!”

 

“Thanks,” Sasha said as she flew on with butterflies in her stomach. The Princess really wondered how she was going to get out of this fine mess!

 

 

Nakajima shook his head at Wildstar. “Sir, cutting our warp short to rescure one ineptly flown plane makes no sense! We should leave Wakefield behind; I think she has just enough fuel to get her little butt to Moonbase. They can then court-martial the silly girl there!”

 

“You’re talking nonsense!” Nova snapped from her post. “I can hold the warp countdown back. We’ve done such things before…even with the un-supercharged warp mechanism, which is what we’re down to right now until we fix that computer!”

 

“You stupid woman,” snapped Nakajima.

 

“Quiet, Mister! This is the Deputy Captain speaking. She has a right to state her mind! Nova, how long would we have to wait to warp again if you stopped the countdown now, figured a new course, and laid it in again?” Derek demanded,

 

“Eight more minutes, sir,” Nova said as she watched the dimensional sensor clicking up and down the valleys and peaks of hyperspace. “It would not hold us up that much and it would buy Sasha more time. Should I abort the sequence and begin to recalibrate?”

 

“Permission denied,” Derek said. “Until I get more data…that is. Homer, can you contact Mrs.Wakefield?”

 

“Yessir,” Homer replied. “Mister Wakefield has already brought in the Diamond Girl with minor damage and three confirmed Bolar kills.”

 

“Good. Get me Sasha on the horn now.”

 

“Yessir,” said Homer.

 

“Sasha!” Wildstar demanded. “How is your fuel holding up?”

 

“Low. I have enough for maybe only seven minutes worth of flying, sir. I had to use the turboburner a lot to evade the enemy in the running fight I got into. I calculate I can make two attempts to land; that’s it. If I can’t land before you warp, please leave me here!”

 

“Sasha, we’re all going to try to talk you in,” Nova said as she got up, keeping her eye on the helm. When it reached four minutes away, she would have to run back to the controls. Nova ran to the tactical radar and said, “I’m tracking you at eight megameters’ distance from the Argo. Cut down your throttle to forty-five percent and put your thrusters into ‘cruising’ mode and keep them there until you are thirty seconds away from the ship.”

 

“Why are we doing that?” demanded Deke on the comm circuit.

 

“She’s trying to conserve her fuel until she needs it to make those approaches,” Derek replied just as Eager said, “The enemy fleet that pulled back before seems to be turning about! And I just picked up on the Time Radar that they began this turnabout two minutes ago!” Eager made the image come up on the screen on the overhead.

 

 “This is not good,” Derek said as he stood up and looked up at the Time Radar.

 

“You’re telling me!” Nova added as she stood beside him. “Advancing in attack formation, too. They were trying to make us think they were running. Pretty sneaky tactic.”

 

“Good one, too,” Derek said. “I wonder who their commanding officer is?”

 

“Whoever it is…we’ll soon find out,” Nova said.

 

“Sasha is three minutes away from landin’!” said Eager from his post.

 

“She’d better be able to get here ASAP,” said Diane Henson from her post. “I can’t keep on cooling down and bringing up the engines!”

 

“No one asked for this battle, Diane,” Derek snapped. “We just have to live with it!”

 

 

 

II. A DESPERATE LANDING

The Sol System: Beyond the Orbit of Earth’s Moon

Space Battleship Argo

Saturday, July 2, 2208

1103 Hours Earthtime

 

 

The Argo had taken some damage in the battle; Nakajima had his men working like machines down inside the Argo’s bowels to put out the fires and repair all of the damage.

 

“This is Ensign Wakefield!” Sasha cried. “Deekee…I’m ninety seconds away from landing!”

 

“We have two tries at a landing,” said Deke  as he sat with Hardy, sweating as he tried to talk Sasha in. “You’ll be approaching the lower fighter bay…landing back in the port upper bay would be too difficult for you with your level of expertise. Set the ICS for Frequency 5431 and switch to semi-remote mode…you’ll be approaching the lower bay on the beam…”

 

“Right,” Sasha said as she worried about the health of Nyssa up front. “Caught the nav-beam,” she said as she heard a low tone in her helmet. “Letting the boat’s computer and nav systems go semi-auto pilot,” she said as she let go the control yoke and watched as it began to move on its own as the Cosmo Panther responded to the navigation beam and began to turn and change course for a nice approach to the lower flight bay of the Argo.”

 

“When you are exactly nine hundred meters away from the Argo’s stern, you’ll have to cut off, throttle down, and get your nose up so you can be caught by the magnetic arresting field,” Deke said. “Put on your forward thrusters and prepare to do a burn two seconds after you are nine hundred meters from the stern.”

 

“Right, nine hundred meters,” said Sasha.

 

“Reading enemy fleet approachin!” said Eager. “Bolar Fleet distance….twenty megameters and closing…”

 

“Four and a half minutes to space warp,” Nova said from the helm. “Commit to warp?”

 

Derek shut his eyes and nodded, hoping, Sasha, I pray we have not just signed your death warrant. Then, he said, “Miss Henson, commence final energy buildup for space warp. Nova, prepare the crew. We have to get to the Venus Area as soon as possible to see what became of the Venus Station….and to assist the Nagato’s battle group….”

“Yessir,” she said with a heavy heart. She gave Derek a look…guessing he didn’t like this any more than she did.

 

And she was right.

 

 

Sasha gritted her teeth and made her first approach. “Sasha!” said Deke in her headset. “Get your nose up ten degrees! You’re going to flub this approach, damnit!”

 

“At nine hundred meters distance….Trying…also trying to reduce the speed!” Sasha said as she worked the controls. “Damn!” she cried. “Deke, my speed is not coming down enough! Can I try it?”

 

“Negative…you’re gonna crash it!” Deke yelled. “Go around and make one more try!”

 

“Is she in yet?” Nova’s voice demanded in Deke’s headset. “I’m down to three and a half minutes!”

 

“No…she had to go around again…”

 

“Damn,” Nova muttered. She looked over to Derek. “Seek permission to talk Sasha in! I can see the course intercepts here on my screen, and…”

 

“Denied, Number One, your place is at the helm!”

 

“Derek?” Nova said.

 

“Enemy Fleet…twelve megameters’ distance!” Eager cried. “First wave o’ missiles screamin’ in!”

 

“We’re locked in for the warp,” Nova said. “I can’t give you evasive, Derek!”

 

“All hands, brace for impacts…and make final preparations for warp!” Commodore Wildstar snapped.

 

The missiles roared in a moment later, one of them just missing Sasha as she went around for her second and final approach.

 

One hit the Argo near the aft auxilary gun turret, knocking out two pulse laser mounts.

 

“Moderate damage to aft portion!” snapped Nakajima from his place at Mechanical. “If we sit here for much longer, we’re probably going to take greater damage! Captain, order the XO to accelerate the warp sequence and leave that damn plane behind!”

 

“Denied, both requests,” Derek hissed. “Wakefield, get me Hardy!”

 

“Yessir,” said Deke. Hardy’s voice came up a moment later, saying, “Captaiin?”

 

“Talk Sasha in,” said Derek. “Even with everything that’s…happened recently…we’d do the same for Dawn if she was in the same spot. Beside him, Nova nodded once, emphatically.

 

Remembering his personal situation, and looking into the pleading eyes of Deke near his, Hardy nodded and said, “Gentlemen don’t let women die for no good reason…no matter what. Sasha! This is Hardy! Slow down, take a deep breath…and…we’ll try this again,” he said, trying to be as soothing as possible in his dulcet Southern accent.

 

“Yessir,” said Sasha. “Going back around on the beam…slowing speed by proper percentage; nose up….timing thruster burn….committed to landing…”

 

“Two minutes to space warp,” Nova said from her post.

 

“Energy level for warp, eighty-five percent,” said Henson from her post.

 

“Bringing the ship in…am I on course?” said Sasha.

 

“On course, get your nose down just a little, Sasha….”

 

Sasha made a last-minute adjustment, and as her Cosmo-Panther flew into the hatch, its upper stabilizer hitting the edge of the hatch as it came in.

 

Just as had happened to Sergeant Knox’s near-identical Cosmo-Panther nearly seven years beforehand at Brumus, Sasha’s plane slammed in for its landing, trailing sparks as it went down the deck, and techs and pilots fled. It finally came to a stop, a smoking mess, but with her cockpit intact.

 

Sasha popped the canopy, threw off her helmet, and stood for a moment with her eyes closed. “Good,” she said. “I can sense that Miss Wapner is all right. Would you get a crew here to help? MEDICS!”

 

Deke picked up Sasha and twirled her around laughing as Sakamoto glared at them.

 

“Wakefield. This stupid woman just wrecked thirty million credits worth of government property! And she…”

 

“She brought your pilot back alive and she brought herself back alive! Now, what matters more, Sakamoto?” Deke barked. “Your damn plane or the pilot and RSO?”

 

“No comment, buddy…we have to warp shortly….and we have more battles to fight, Wakefield!”

 

 

“Preparations for warp completed!” Nova said from her post, relieved that Sasha had landed safely.

 

“Execute warp to Venus,” said Commodore Wildstar.”

 

Nova nodded and said, “Ten seconds to warp……10…9…8…7…6….5…4….three, two…one. ZERO! WARP!”

 

“WARP!” repeated Derek.

 

Nova pulled back the lever, and the Argo faded out of existence just as another wave of Bolar missiles went through the fading phantom of the ship.

 


The Argo passed into subspace, and the psychedelic effects incident with the fact that the old warp mechanism had to be used began to happen.

 

In a twenty-second period that seemed to stretch for eternity, the following bizarre things seemed to happen to the crew, to wit…..

 

Nakajima suddenly felt as if he was at a dinner-dance with his dead, lost wife Fujiko, who had been mortally injured aboard another vessel in the Second Cometine War in 2205. He had been an embittered man ever since his wife had been brought off that ship, only to die in his arms two weeks later from radiation sickness in the Sickbay of the Ainur.  Even the fact that he had been the Skipper of that cruiser could not bring his beloved Fujiko back to him…

 

Derek suffered the illusion of losing his shirt, and getting into a snowball fight with Venture in two feet of snow somewhere in the Japan Alps.

 

Nova felt as if she was drifting in space. 

Eager just felt as if he was at his post. Then at the Tactical Radar. Then on top of Nakajima’s shoulders. Then, in Nova’s lap (thankfully, for her, her clothing had reappeared) and then, he was behind Wildstar, on top of Henson’s desk, and then in Homer’s lap.

 

When Eager felt as if he was back at the Cosmo-Radar, the warp ended and he felt very, very sick to his stomach.

 

“Hey, Nakajima…hey, Nova?”

 

“Yes?” said Nakajima. Nova said nothing as she made sure she was intact and her cheek-curls were intact as she checked her systems. “Warp completed! All systems normal! We are near Venus…begin scanning! Eager, what is it?”

 

“When are you gonna get that computer fixed?”

 

“As soon as possible,” Nova said dryly as she spotted some plasma bolts flying past the Argo. “Hang on, doing evasive manuevers, guys!!” she snapped as she moved the ship about and went into a tight roll.

 

“You could have warned me a minute earlier,” snapped Derek at Nova.

 

“Oh, you be quiet, Derek! Go yell at the Bolars for attacking us!” she snapped back.

 

“Number One, you’re awfully mouthy today!” Derek said.

 

“Ohhhhhhh, Derek, are we ready to strike back yet?”

 

“Prepare main guns for firing!” Derek snapped. “Eager, where are they?”

 

“Eight Megameters’ distance, off the starboard bow!” replied Eager. “They’re at absolute coordinate Romeo Papa 231!”

 

“Changing course to Romeo Papa 231!” said Nova from her post with a nod.

 

As the Argo turned to face the enemy, Homer said, “We have a commication coming in from the enemy flagship!”

 

“Put it on the main video panel,” said Commodore Wildstar.

 

A moment later, the image of a cruel-looking face with dead light ice-blue skin appeared on the Argo’s main screen. Its owner was bald, with heavy, arrogant cheekbones, squinting dark eyes, a mean-looking thin-lipped mouth, and a vicious-looking old scar going across one cheek and up to the bridge of his nose. He wore an alien-looking uniform in two-tone grey trimmed with bright scarlet markings, and he looked dangerous.

 

“There is no need for translation protocols,” he snarled in a heavily Slavic-sounding voice that sounded as if he was from the interior of the USSR. “The R’Khell psionics helped me to learn your common tongue, as unlovely and as blunt and decadent as it is compared to the literary sounds of the Bolar language. Young man with the long hair. Where is your commander?”

 

“I am he,” Derek snapped as he saluted. “Commodore Derek Wildstar, Commanding Officer of the Space Battleship Argo, as well as Comamnding Officer of the First Star Force. And you are?”

 

“I am Fleet Captain Nikita Ilyich Rosskovsky, of the Bolar Federation, our sacred Motherland. We also see you are allied with that madman Desslok of Gamilon. He is a most arrogant idiot, and partly because of him, you will learn that truth of the proverb that if you sleep with the dogs, you shall get the fleas, ticks and other vermin!”

 

“Fleet Captain Rosskovsky, your observations are beyond the point right now,” Derek replied. “Before we do battle, I demand an explanation for your presence here in our territorial space and I also demand to know why you have attacked a group of our fighters and some of our capital ships and facilities without provocation. All of these actions are considered acts of war, Rosskovsky!”

 

“Commodore Wildstar, I have heard from the R’Khells and Rikashans, and even some Garuman-Gamilon personnel that we have captured, of the bravery and honor of your unit.  It is to my sorrow I inform you that your decadent planet stands in the way of the ordained expansion of the Bolar Federation and that you resist assimilation into the R’Khell Union even though they have been pursuing a jihad against you for several years! We have been asked by a High Dignitary of the R’Khells of great power to make peace with them and assist them in their efforts to conquer you. So, even though I do not subscribe to their religion, as I am, in fact, an atheist, upon the orders of my Presidium, led by Prime Minister Halleze, who recently deposed a previous Prime Minister, I must order you to heave to and surrender your vessel.” He grinned hard at Nova as he said, “Your pet mishka here beside you is most beautiful. I assure you that if you surrender, she will be well-treated in my own dacha on the Homeworld and kept warm. Although not as warm as she would be on Earth, which, I understand, is becoming very warm indeed thanks to our proton missiles in your star.”

 

Derek gritted his teeth and said. “Commmander Wildstar here is my First Officer and she is already joined to another. Myself. And we already have a quite adequate home. We will not surrender. I order you to leave our space or face the consequences, Fleet Captain Rosskovsky!”

 

“Damn you, Wildstar!” snapped Rosskovsky. “Very well, then! Be assured that we will bury your decadent culture! Stand ready for battle!”

 

A moment later, five Bolar space battleships were firing hard upon the Argo. The energy beams from the enemy vessels were living green, and the blunt-looking grey warships did not look at all lovely. They looked as heavy and ponderous as Rosskovsky himself as they fired upon the Argo, which was backed up by the smoking form of the EDF space battleship Nagato as she came up with her escorts. The screening destroyers and cruisers soon formed a screen around both the Argo and Nagato, which bought time for the mighty EDF vessels to lock their main guns on Rosskovsky’s fleet.

 

“Nova, bring our speed down two space knots.”

“Two knots, aye,” Commander Wildstar said from her helm. “Derek, I don’t like the sound of that commander. And the nerve of him! I do not want to go to anyone’s dacha!”

 

“Nova, you know that by the time we finish with him, he’s not going to go anywhere,” Derek replied with a big grin. Then, he said, “Mister, Haragi, are our main guns locked on target?”

 

“Yessir,” said Haragi. “Main guns ready and locked on target!”

 

“FIRE!” said Derek as he pressed the trigger on his firing pistol.

 

Soon, the Argo’s main guns were responding to the Bolar onslaught, followed by the guns of the Nagato, which fired a barrage next, along with their cruisers. The EDF cruisers, having rapid-firing guns, pumped another barrage into the enemy fleet just as the Argo and Nagato fired again, and then fired again for a third barrage.

 

“Hits right on target!” cried Eager from the Cosmo-Radar even as an EDF destroyer and cruiser not far away blew apart from being targeted by the Bolars. “Confirmed, two enemy battleships destroyed, along with one cruiser and four destroyers. Two cruisers pulling back alomg with one of the battleships….looks like they’re damaged! Second wave o’ missiles comin’’ in from the remainin’ enemy force of nine battleships, five cruisers, and twelve destroyers!”

 

“We’re just outnumbered two to one, Derek,” Nova said. “We’ve had worse odds! Eager, where are the missiles coming from?”

 

“Romeo Papa Juliet three-twenty!” Eager said, as Nova manuevered the ship abouut hard. All of the missiles hit except one, which impacted near Engineering on the starboard side as the Argo shook from a fresh hit.

 

“Power to ship’s systems is dropping off!” said Henson, who ordered, “Engine room, increase flywheel speed to 4000! We need to compensate!”

 

“Helm’s getting a little sluggish, Derek!” Nova said as she visibly strained to work the controls while some of the EDF destroyers in their fleet responded with a barrage of torpedoes. Haragi then suggested to Wildstar that they fire their smokestack missiles. Derek gave the order, and, a moment later, both the Argo and the Nagato had fired a barrage of stack missiles at the enemy. The missile barrage put paid to another enemy space battleship and one cruiser.

 

“Eager! Take over as ship’s pilot to let Commander Wildstar rest her back!” Derek ordered. “Nova, take your former station at the Cosmo-Radar!”

 

“Yessir!” snapped both officers as they traded places. Nova looked at a pattern on the radar and said. “No! Space net!”

 

“What?” said Nakajima. “What kind of analysis is that, ma’am?” he barked.

 

“They’re forming an energy net of some kind around their fleet!” Nova said. “I calculate they’re not going to allow us to hit them with any more missiles!”

 

A moment later, Nova’s prediction came out to be correct when the forward screening EDF destroyers Jacquard and Hamlin fired torepoes at the Bolar Fleet, which were promptly caught in the net. The net also did not seem to stop enemy fire as the Bolar destroyers fired back and blew apart the Jacquard, and left the Hamlin smoking in several places with her speed reduced.

 

Homer said, a moment later, “Captain, a call from Captain Heinlein of the Hamlin. He requests permission to retire from the battle and to warp to the Number Four Orbital Base near Venus to make repairs. Says he can barely get eight space knots out of his ship now and he won’t be any good to us.”

 

“Homer, let him know he’s granted permission to pull out and save his men and women…if he can…” Derek said with his head bowed. Now we’re down to eleven ships, he thought. Our two battleships, three cruisers, six destroyers….

 

“Nova, analyze the space net and bring up a tactical on the main screen,” said Derek.

 

“Yessir,” she said. Nova’s fingers flew over the keyboard since she was a bit faster at math than Eager, and, a moment later, a graphic appeared on the main screen. Eager looked up and said, “Seems to be comin’ from those six destroyers surroundin’ their fleet like a ring!!”

“My guess,” Nova said. “If we target them, we lose the net!”

 

“Homer, tell our escorts to concentrate all fire on those three forward destroyers,” Commodore Wildstar snapped.

 

The escorts fired their guns, and soon, the space net began to drop.

 

In the meantime, Derek sat in thought for a moment and said, “Haragi, order the gun crews to prepare a spread of wave motion cartridges!”

 

“Yessir,” he said. Haragi ordered, “All main gun crews, stand by to fire wave motion cartridges!”

 

A moment later, inside the Argo’s three main turrets, the crews were working like mad to bring up the heavy wave motion shells and to lock them into place.

 

Jonathan Hartnell-Wildstar was actually one of the Junior Space Cadet Corps cadets serving in one of those turrets; he was serving in Turret Number One working the far port side gun. He had already received his baptism of fire in combat before when he had seen and heard that big gun going off at close range. But, this was the first time he was seeing wave motion cartridges fired as he opened the breech by remote control from his post after making sure the air-seal hatch was locked in the forward part of the breech. He called out, “Sir! Autolift records shell picked up!”

 

“Raise shell, Acting Midshipman!” barked the Turret Captain.

 

“Aye, sir!” said Jonathan. He watched as his lift raised the shell and then he took the steps to lock it into the breech. “Raised and primed!

 

“Open number one gun!” snapped the turret captain!

 

Jonathan worked the interlocks and switches. “Number one gun opened!” His turret mates called out the same for their guns, and the turret captain flicked some switches and reported, “All guns in Turret One opened and ready to fire wave motion cartridges!”

 

A similar scene was going on aboard the Nagato in her turrets.

Haragi said after he received his last report, “Captain, all guns opened and ready!”

 

“FIRE!” snapped Commodore Wildstar.

 

A short time later, the Argo’s turrets went off, followed by the Nagato’s main turrets. A nasty barrage of energy was soon flying towards the Bolar Federation Fleet as the fire of the EDF escorts brought down the last of the enemy destroyers generating the space net.

 

What followed was a holocaust. The major part of Rosskovsky’s space battleships was caught in the barrage, and his own flagship was hit and slowed down by shrapnel. When it was all over, the Bolar Fleet had been reduced to four space ships; his own flagship, known as the Rediniya, her sister ship, the Palski, and the cruisers Dakal and Siranvich.

 

“Second barrage, sir?” said Haragi.

 

Derek looked back as Nova said, “No need! The enemy flagship just warped out! So did the others! Ladies and Gentlemen, we’re not fully repaired yet, but we just won a major battle!”

 

Derek smiled at her and turned on the intership. “Attention, all hands! The battle is over! Repeat, the battle is over! The enemy has fled, and we’ve won! First Squadron of Black Tigers, go on patrol with the Black Aces. Make sure those bastards don’t come back with reinforcements! Homer, get me General Singleton…we need to let him know we’ve won! Commendation recommended for Captain Shiro Kurita of the Nagato; he gave us good backup!”

 

“Yessir!” said Homer as the bridge crew cheered. Derek sat back and smiled at Nova. Another space battle won, and we weren’t even quite ready to fight the ship yet. Great work, everyone!

 

 

III. AFTER THE BATTLE

In Earth Orbit

Space Battleship Argo

Saturday, July 2, 2208

1754 Hours Earthtime

 

 

After the battle, Commodore Wildstar put Nakajima to work on some repairs while the Black Tigers and Black Aces flew some patrols. The new Mechanical Group Leader grumbled at that, but Wildstar made it clear to him that his behavior was beginning to get a bit…difficult.

 

Nakajima had to be ordered to see Derek and Nova later in the Captain’s quarters. Before they parted (to allow Derek to inspect the ship and to allow Nova to do some navigation work and fine-tuning of the computers on Bridge Number Two) they agreed to meet in the Captain’s quarters at 1830, after the Argo warped back to Earth after leaving some supplies behind for the crews in the Venus Area to begin fixing the daamged orbiting power stations. Derek had learned from the Commander that the loss of two of the Venus Stations thanks to the Bolar attack had caused some running brownouts and blackouts on Earth that would probably continue for a few days….with major parts of the planet sweltering under temperatures between one hundred and ten and one hundred and twenty degrees because the Sun also chose this time to go somewhat haywire again.

 

Nova then called her mother to check on Alex and Ariel and got a “when are you going to be home?” lecture from her…but she noticed that Alex and Ariel looked OK; her mother had them dressed in nothing but diapers and Teri herself was walking around the Wildstar house barefoot in swimwear. Nova smiled since the toddlers recognized her through the video screen and were squealing. “Mommy! Where Daddy at?”

 

 

Nova’s eyes nearly melted when she said, “Daddy’s up on the First Bridge of the Argo, helping to protect us. So is Mommy. We’ll be home in a few days!”

 

Nova also asked her mother to bring Star out of her crib so she could check on her for Sasha. It turned out Star was not in her crib, but was, instead, being given a bath by her own father Karl in the kitchen. Nova waved “hi” to Star enthusiastically and then she went to check on David Hardy while wondering idly if they shouldn’t have brought all of the kids along.

 

Commodore Wildstar found himself looking for Nova a while later; he finally found her in Sasha and Deke’s cabin….boots off, lying on the bunk with a leg up, sharing candy with Sasha.

 

Derek smiled at Sasha and his wife and said, “Glad to see you’re okay, Ensign Wakefield. You had a close one out there today.”

 

“Thanks, Uncle,” said Sasha softy while Nova shoved some more candy in her mouth. “Auntie Nova took me out again a while ago in her Super Star and had me land the plane in the lower bay for practice. I did much better with my second landing and I didn’t wreck Auntie’s plane.”

 

“Is that why you’re eating all that junk, Nova?” Derek teased. “Keep that up, and you won’t fit in that cute uniform anymore!”

 

“Derek, you are not to mention the word ‘fat’ around me unless I happen to be pregnant again,” Nova teased back. “I don’t know when that’s going to happen with this new Cold War, though. I think we taught the Bolar Federation a little lesson today?”

 

“Yeah. Don’t mess with Texas,” said Deke as he came in. He saluted Derek and Nova briskly and then said to Nova, “Ma’am, with all respect, what are you doing on our bunk?” while observing that this was the first time he had ever seen a Fleet Executive Officer suffering a chocolate attack.

 

“Eating candy,” Nova said sweetly. “Sasha tends to hoard this stuff in her suitcase like a chipmunk.”

 

“Princess,” teased Deke. “You’ll get fat on that stuff!”

“No I won’t, Deekee!” sang Sasha.

 

“Derek, we were just over this, so I won’t repeat it,” Nova said. “Where did I throw my boots again?”

 

“Under the bunk with mine,” Sasha said. “Request permission to wear my flip-flops to dinner, sir,” she said to Derek with big eyes.

 

“Guess it’s okay as long as we don’t get attacked,” said Derek again. “You’re not going in your new plane or on one of my bridges with flip-flops on, though.”

 

“Wish I could wear mine to dinner,” Nova said as she got her boots and pulled them back on. “However, we are having dinner in our cabin tonight. We have to bitch out Mister Nakajima, the substitute Mechanical Group Leader taking Sandor’s place on this trip. The man is really being a pain, and I’m not appearing before him out of uniform in any sense unless I’m swabbing a deck outside on Earth in nice weather. You two are family, so it’s different,” Nova said. “Are we clear?”

 

“Aye, aye,” said Sasha as she smiled and kicked into her blue flip-flops, which actually looked cute with her blue uniform. “See you two later!”

 

“See you later,” said Nova with a wink to Deke and Sasha as she walked out of the cabin arm-in-arm with Derek.

 

 

Artwork Below: “Wildstar” © 2010 by Samantha Nocera, aka Steel Hyaena. Used by permission.

 

It was 1830 when Hiro Nakajima banged on the hatch of Derek and Nova’s cabin high on the bridge tower of the Argo.

 

When he came in, he saluted Commodore Wildstar, who was seated at the small dinner table that was part of the furniture of the Captain’s Cabin. He and Nova returned his salute. Nova herself was seated at the other side of the table, somewhat closer to the forward part of the Captain’s cabin, near the computer screens and readouts. She was eating a plate of Tempura shrimp and Chicken with some rice and Gyoza (or steamed dumplings) as side dishes with chopsticks along with some tea. Derek had apparently just finished a plate of the stuff; and a third plate was set out (with a cover over it) for Nakajima.

 

“You got me the same stuff, ma’am?” he said carefully, not noticing much as Derek got up, pushed a button on one of his consoles, and then sat down while a small red light blinked on the console.

 

“I did, Nakajima. I made this stuff up for us myself in the galley, special order,” Nova said.

 

Nakajima pulled off the cover and said, “I don’t like Tempura anything, lady, but thanks anyway.”

 

Derek gave him a baleful stare and said, “Nakajima, let’s cut the crap and get right to the chase. Why don’t you like my First Officer? You’ve got to work closely with her as well as me this deployment…even if it is just a set of glorified space trials.”

 

“Do you two want the standard Fleet answer or the real answer?” sneered Nakajima.

 

“The real answer,” Nova said as she fixed her dark brown eyes on him like laser rangefinders.

 

“Ma’am, I don’t think you belong here. It’s…it’s neither chivalrous nor safe for a woman on a ship. We learned that result today with Miss Wakefield. We were in danger in combat because of her…because we had to let the young lady make two passes to land her ship, a ship she was not even trained or checked out to pilot. Did you put her up on Mast for that, sir?” said Nakajima.

 

“No need to,” said Derek. “It was an emergency; her pilot was knocked unconscious, and luckily, she had received some flying lessons from Commander Hardy, Lieutenant Commander Wakefield, Commander Wildstar here,” Derek said as he gestured to Nova, “and…last of all, myself. All four or us are competent fighter pilots and certified instructors, and we have all made kills in combat, and all of us could go out there right now and command a squadron each if we had to. Would you like to see our service jackets?” Derek said mildly while staring very hard at Nakajima.

 

“Let me get this straight,” said Nakajima as he looked around and saw some of Nova’s things in the cabin, such as her acoustic guitar with its Day-Glo flower sticker hanging on a strap near the two lockers along with her white peacoat and a pair of white ladies’ summer heels left near the locker. “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but do I get the impression you two room together?”

 

“PRP Waiver…had it ever since 2201,” Nova said without comment as she dipped one of her Gyoza in soy sauce and popped it into her mouth with her chopsticks. “Not bad for ersatz pork,” she said. 

 

“Do you two…well, sir, does she get any special privileges?”

 

“No, except for those incident to being married to me and rooming with me,” Derek said. “She works the same schedule as any XO, on any command. In fact, she usually puts in twenty plus hours per day. You were a ship’s Captain. You know what it’s like. She messed up a few times since I have been her commander, and I’ve punished her like anyone else. She’s also saved this ship a few times over, sometimes in the Captain’s chair as Officer of the Deck. A few times she ran this command in my stead in combat and won victories. She was also Captain of the Patrol Cruiser Danube in ’05. She was actually out on the line when the Second Cometine War started.”

 

“What did you do when you were Captain of the Ainur?” Nova asked pleasantly.

 

“Won a few victories,” said Nakajima through tight lips. “One at a heavy cost to myself. More victories than you did, I believe…Captain Wildstar…,” he said as he stared Nova down. “Or maybe that should be Captain Forrester?”

 

“What are you insinuating?” Nova said calmly.

 

“I’d be very careful with the tone I take with her, Mister,” Derek said as he began making a fist under the table. “The Commander here is one of a very small, select group of people I would trust, without an ounce of hesitation, with my life, the existence of this vessel, and the lives of my crew. The others are Commander Stephen Sandor, my usual XO and Captain Mark Venture of the Arizona. We were all part of the Class of 2199, and our teacher was Admiral Abraham Avatar, first Captain of this command. I’m the second Captain, and, someday, their protests to the contrary, future Star Force members may well probably serve on this ship under Captain Venture, Captain Sandor, and Captain Nova Wildstar. Nova, stop looking at me like that…I know you desire to be a doctor, but the way history is going, you’ll probably have your seat in that chair in a black peacoat like all of us for a bit someday. Those two men and one woman are in a very unique class. They have served on every post on the First Bridge at some point or another, even if only to fill in. With these three, I almost share a sort of telepathy. I just have to nod at them or make a certain noise and they know what I want. Unless you went to Iscandar with us, fought two White Comets like we did, and fought off Ekogaru and his legions, you have no right to say boo to us, Nakajima. Are we clear?”

 

Nakajima sat in silence. Then, he said. “I still do not think women should serve on EDF commands, Commodore….Commander.”

 

“Why?” Nova said in a calm voice.

 

Nakajima said, “My wife, Fujiko. When I was skipper of the Ainur, she was serving aboard another command in my patrol squadron; the destroyer Heerman. In the middle of 2205, the Heerman got chewed up by Cometine Scorpion boats on picket duty. Fujiko was Chief Engineer and was serving in the engine room when it was hit. The Heerman saved us by absorbing all that enemy impact that could have hit us.”

 

Nova sighed. “I remember her now. When I served for a little while as a flight instructor at Idlewild Base in the Megalopolis in 2203, Fujiko was one of my students. Very cute girl. Had you two just gotten married then?” Nova said, almost sympathetically.

 

“She never told me you were her instructor…that’s news,” said Nakajima. “Fujiko is no longer with us. But she didn’t die in that engine room. It might have been better if she had. She got a huge dose of hard radiation in her face and chest when the magnetic bottle began to go for a moment inside the Heerman’s wave motion engine. She was medevaced to the little Sickbay on the Ainur. I visited her every day for the two weeks she had left. The last time I held her was right after one of the nurses gave her her bath. She was bald then…maybe weighed sixty pounds, covered with radiation burns, she cried when she even put anything on her ruined body because it hurt her. She used to be a willowy, curvy little thing like you who looked adorable in a jazz dance leotard. When I held her for that last time, she looked like a Halloween skeleton with some dried skin over it. She died in my arms wetting herself like a baby with all of her beautiful reddish brown hair gone,” Nakajima said, his voice hitching a little. “Commodore Wildstar, let’s be blunt. Do you want that to happen to this lady here?” he said, gesturing to Nova.

 

“We’ve seen a lot of people die,” said Nova sadly. “I’ve had to help cut open, autopsy, and embalm a lot of my friends. Derek and I face that possibility every time we board this ship…the possibility we may not make it back. We came to terms with that years ago.”

Nakajima sighed, and got up with his hands balled up like fists. “Looks like I’ll never convince you two, then. Wait until it happens! Mark my words. Just wait!”

 

“Nova, would you see him out?” said Derek.

 

Nova nodded, sympathetically putting an arm around Nakajima. “I’m so sorry to hear about everything. We don’t see eye to eye….but…I understand how you feel. For this cruise, you aren’t going anywhere. Neither am I. Let’s just agree to disagree, okay?”

 

“Fine, ma’am. If you tell me one thing. Just between us. I hope it won’t get the Commodore mad.”

 

“What is it?” Nova sighed as she opened the hatch for Nakajima. Derek sat in his chair listening carefully.

 

“Ma’am,, answer me honestly. I know you two have kids now…those little squirts are all over the news now and again. Ma’am, did you get to be First Officer of this ship because of your great service record…or…because you two sleep together?”

 

“The forner,” Nova said in very icy tones as she stared very hard at Nakajima.

 

“I thought it was the latter, ma’am. Everyone can see you can barely even pull on that helm yoke and had to be spelled once by that Texan half-wit!”

 

Nova glared hard at Nakajima and abruptly slapped him in the face. “That’s a MAJOR insult to me, both personally, and as First Officer of this vessel! Never say anything like that to me again, you son-of-a-bitch!” Nova said in cold, even tones. “If you ever refuse to obey one of my orders again, by the way, you will be on report so fast it will make your head spin! Now, get out of my face! Dismissed!”

 

Nakajima glared at Nova and Derek, saluted, and left the cabin, slamming the hatch behind him. When he was gone, Derek came up to Nova and said, “I’m sorry…”

 

“No need to apologize,” Nova sighed. “I’ve heard that sort of garbage before in this “Man’s Navy”, Derek. I got the same stuff from two men I commanded on the Danube. They shut up when I made them do a few laps of my cruiser in their underwear. It also looked to me as if you wanted to punch him?”

 

“Yes, I was…”

 

“This First Officer can take care of herself, dear,” Nova said as she gave Derek a kiss. “Remember that time I threw Sergeant Knox around in zero-gee when he thought it would be funny to grab at my breasts? I could do the same to someone like him in regular gee now; I almost have my aikido and karate black belts now. Thanks to you…”

 

“You are one of the smartest, toughest, and yet most tender ladies I know in the whole fleet…hell, on the whole planet,” Derek said. “Hell…you…you’ve got balls!”

 

“I do?” Nova said as she looked down. “Didn’t ever notice! I….actually, what you said was weird…but I’ll take it as a compliment, sir. Let me finish my Gyoza. They’re getting cold.”

 

“About you and him?” Derek said as she went to eat. “Should I…put him on report?”

 

“No,” Nova said sweetly. “I’m in command tonight on the First Bridge on Dog Watch, remember? He’s going to have to turn command over to me then, and he’ll have another watch to serve. I’ll keep him quite busy,” Nova said calmly.

 

 

Nakajima really had to work that night.

 

When he turned command over to Nova, she said upon sitting in the Captain’s chair at the aft part of the bridge, “Would you mind getting me a complete precis, in hardcopy, of all of the work that your Group has performed on this vessel in the past forty-five days?”

 

Nakajima was staggered. “Ma’am, I have the regular logs and reports to check over, items to calibrate, and…”

 

Nova just said, “I had no trouble printing out the entire log of all of the modifications I have made to the computer in the past forty-five days, and Miss Henson gave me such a log yesterday. The Captain needs this tomorrow morning by 0900, and I intend to assemble that report for the Captain even if I get no sleep tonight. The slower you are, the less sleep you get, because I will keep you up until I get that report. You’ll be able to manage it. Get to work.”

 

“Ma’am…Sandor…”

 

“If Sandor was here, we would not be having this conversation, Mister,” Nova said dryly. “Get busy. That is an order.”

 

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” said Nakajima as he gritted his teeth. Damned nasty female, he thought.

 

And, he continued to curse Nova under his breath as the wee hours of the morning of July 3, 2208, continued.

 

 

IV. TOWARDS VICTORIA…

Earth

EDF Space Dock Facility

Port of Savannah

Space Battleship Argo

Tuesday, July 5, 2208

0910 Hours Earthtime

 

 

It was thus, that after more trial runs, more small warps, and more tests and manuevers that the Argo finally made planetfall on Earth again, docking at the largest dock available at the EDF Base in Savannah, Georgia, on the East Coast of North America.

 

Some of the Black Tigers would be lifting off later that day as the Argo cruised back out to the open sea for a bit. However, today, Wakefield would be the acting squadron commander, and Homer would be the acting XO.

 

The reason why was because Jefferson Hardy and Nova Wildstar were about to leave the ship for a short time, probably overnight, at the Hardy Plantation of Victoria in Georgia. Little David was coming with them, carried in Nova’s arms as she tickled the baby boy in Sickbay and began to dress him as Hardy arrived.

 

“Sorry I haven’t been able to get below here today, Nova. How is he?”

 

“Growing, burbling, happy, and hungry,” Nova giggled. “He was so hungry that I had to do some of my work down here with him in the same carrying sling that I use to nurse my kids,” Nova added as she patted the front of her gold and black uniform. She also had a bag of formula and other such incidentals packed. “I hope no one minds that I put on a dress when I get there. I have some suiitably light sundresses and shoes packed in my bag.”

 

“No one will mind at all. In fact, it’ll flatter mah mom,” said Hardy. “It’s mah understanding Wildstar will be picking you up tomorrow morning?”

 

“Yes…he’ll be there early tomorrow to get me,” Nova said. “We have a staff meeting that we have to do tomorrow morning before you even leave Victoria with David; we’ll be expecting you back aboard ship at 0900.”

 

“We’ve got a lot planned for twenty-four hours,” Hardy said. The worst of it, he knew, would be his first call to Dawn, who was back home alone in San Diego at the Rio Amarillo Complex. He would want both his mother and Nova sitting with him when he made that call….with his mother to advise him on the family’s attitude towards her, and Nova to help keep him calm in her gentle manner.

 

A few minutes later, in the lower flight bay near the Mechanical Group’s Section and workshops, Hardy was putting his bags in the small carrying bay installed in the back of the Jet Recon Boat that he and Nova would be flying to Victoria in. Another place in the front had a baby seat in it. David would go in there, with Hardy flying at the far left, while Nova would sit between them in the middle, ready to alternate between co-piloting and navigation and baby care and amusement. Nova had a bag of charts and a diaper and toy bag for that double duty as it hit her again, I know the situation…but it is so sad that you two couldn’t reconcile yet so Dawn could do this. Nova smiled at David as she put him in the seat, thinking he looked adorable in the tiny white shirt, shorty coveralls, and sandals he would be wearing to meet his grandparents for the first time.

 

Derek came up to them and gave Nova a hug as she worked on buckling David into his seat. He whispered in her ear, “Don’t you wish that was our Alex?”

 

“I sure do…in fact…this is his spare seat,” Nova said softly. “He said we could borrow it when I talked to him on the communicator before.”

 

“In what words?” Derek said.

 

Nova smiled and repeated, “ba ba ga gee go glar sploritz igy okay mommy takee bo bo seat!”

 

“Bo bo seat?” said Hardy.

 

“That’s what he calls any vehicle he’s in at this stage, a bo bo,” Derek said with amusement in his eyes as he thought of the son that he and Nova had produced in love after much pain and angst and a long wait.

 

Derek said to Nova, “You’ll be dancing with Jeff at the barbecue?”

 

“Yes, I am his..escort,” Nova said. She then whispered, “They couldn’t get his Cousin Deanna to come, so they asked me to accompany him at the cotillon as his friend.”

 

“Yeah,” said Derek. “Don’t dance too close with him, Nova.”

 

“Oh, I sure won’t! Too bad that you can’t leave the ship, Derek. I’d much rather be down there dancing with you.”

 

“Same here,” Derek said. Then, he turned and took Nova in his arms and began to kiss her. She smiled, and put her lips full onto Derek’s, unself-consciously and confidently giving her husband a sweet, hot kiss in front of the others during which their tongues met and a spark of passion built inside Nova’s and Derek’s breasts. They broke the kiss gently as they reluctantly parted.

 

 

A while later, the Jet Recon Boat was flying through the cloud cover as it began to come in for a landing in Georgia. Hardy was flying, and, even though he was watching the instruments, he swore that he could have brought his ship down to the old homestead blindfolded.

 

When he was given landing clearance a few minutes later, he flew the small ship down towards some farmland.

 

“Do you have your own landing pad there?” Nova asked, familiar with such situations siince she and Derek had their own small landing pad at their home in the Great Megalopolis.

 

“We do,” said Jeff as he smiled at David, who was asleep. “Mah father’s a licensed private pilot, and he owns two ships….a little sub-orbital passenger skyhopper bird, and a slightly bigger skipjack that goes out with his overseer and a robot crew to pick up seed and sometimes deliver crops to various points on Earth if he has a small order; or he escorts a small freighter if he has a bigger crop to sell. The skyhopper can’t warp but the skipjack can, albeit with an old first-gen wave engine. He’s been thinking of upgradin’ it so he can make deliveries to some of the closer interstellar colonies.”

 

“Is he at the point of selling to any alien races yet?” Nova asked.

 

Hardy sighed. “Do not talk about this around mah Mom, because she is dead set against it, but he’s been negotiating at arms’ length with an agent who represents the Gamilons. The Empire is interested in purchasing some grain for one of its bases near the Sirius/Procyon area. They’re offerin’ Dad a price that would leave him set for the rest of his life! Right now, it’s held up with both Gamilon and Terran bureaucrats, but…well…”

 

Nova looked at Hardy and said, “It would be a great boost to interstellar relations with Gamilon if we could make that deal. If he wants to, you know Derek and I could talk straight to Desslok! If he got involved, he’d get the bureaucracy on his side to act…I’m not sure I’d want to know how,” Nova said, aware of Desslok’s sometimes radical methods to motivate his people to action, “….but he’d break any such logjam in a week or two if he got involved. Do you want us to call him, Jeff?”

 

Hardy sat up, both fascinated and repelled by Nova’s suggestion. Fascinated because he knew that his commanding officer and his beautiful spouse were the two Terrans most admired by the Gamilon dictator and among the few Terrans who could actually call the Emperor a personal friend. On the other hand, he was a little repelled because he wasn’t sure what his father, a very independent sort, would think of his deal being secured through an unofficial back-channel contact of this sort. Finally, he said, “We’ll have to talk to my father before you and Wildstah go ahead with callin’ Gamilon…okay?”

 

“Okay,” Nova said as she smiled at David.

 

Soon, the small ship landed at Victoria. The cockpit opened, and Hardy and Nova soon smelled the rich smells of the North American Southland in the summer…the magnolias, the other rich flowers, the smell of water from a nearby creek, and the healthy smells of farmland and fresh-turned earth. Both Jefferson and Nova unzipped their uniforms slightly at the collar as they beheld the sights and smells of the modern plantation. Victoria was built in such a fashion that the barns, blockhouses, and machinery were of the most modern architecture, but the plantation house, while throughly modern and fully set up with the computers and tri-d entertainment screens that were a staple of any fairly well-equipped home of the twenty-third century, looked like something from the mid-nineteenth century on the outside, looking like a typical old two-story four column plantation mansion, with a couple of smaller wings running along the back.

 

While Jeff and Nova walked around the landing pad, she saw the semi-streamlined but slightly beaten-up looking form of the skipjack and said, “That’s the ship you were talking about?”

 

“Yeah…that’s the skipjack....she’s named the Starlight…sweet little ship. I flew her on a run out to Arcturus once to help Dad when I was on leave a few years ago. She handles nicely for such an old boat…,” Jeff said as he took David from Nova for a moment to give her arm a rest.

 

“Something like this might make a nice family yacht, if…” Nova said, and then she just smiled.

 

“You like it?”

 

“Well, you and your father probably are going to need her for many years, but tell your dad if he ever wants to sell it, I think I can get him a buyer really fast,” Nova said with a wink as she ran a hand lovingly over its hull and Jeff could immediately tell that if his Dad would ever sell and Nova got her way, she’d probably be piloting the Starlight back off to the Megalopolis someday…if she could win an affectionate fight with a certain Commodore, of course. Hardy had no idea how much money Nova had, but he heard heard rumors that she and Derek had somehow managed to set aside a pretty fair amount of it. Then, they turned back towards the plantation house again.

 

As Nova picked up David and carried him with his bag over one slender shoulder, she thought that the pattern of the wings looked somewhat like the plans Derek and she had set up on a smaller scale for additions to their own home in the Megalopolis (if they ever would have a few weeks to just settle down there) but she thought that the house looked suitably impressive.

 

“It’s big,” she said to Jeff as they walked down the tree-lined path that led to the front door.

 

“The Wilkerson spread down the county road is way bigger,” said Jeff in a self-deprecating way.

 

“It’s magnificent,” Nova said as she looked around at the live oaks and the willows.

 

“There’s mansions in San Diego and Tokyo that are way bigger than this spread,” Jeff laughed. “The Commander’s Residence would make this look like a dump.”

 

“Well, it still looks nice,” Nova said. “Not something I’m used to. I’d expect Scarlett O’Hara or India Wilkes to come out of that entranceway any moment.”

 

Hardy laughed. “That’s somethin’ I like about you…you’re a romantic. Dawn used to be like that…before…”

 

Nova sighed and patted him on the arm. “I’m sure she’ll be that way again at some point in the next few weeks, Jeff. In spite of everything she’s pulled, I don’t hate her, and I’m hoping that she can get over this bump in the road of her life so that you two can be happy again with David…”

 

“Yeah,” said Jeff with a sigh. “Ah hope so….”

 

Both of them entered the house, with its magnificent entranceway and sweeping staircase. David screeched happily as he looked up at the chandelier. Nova got up on tiptoes and gave one of the lower-hanging crystals a tap so that it would glitter patterns of light as it caught the sun in the foyer. David burbled happily as a tall, slightly weather-beaten looking man came up, wearing a wide-brimmed light beige hat that matched his beige suit, brownish plaid-pattered vest, and dark brown string tie.

 

“Dad, so pleased to see you again!” said Jeff as his father took his hands and then gave his son a quick, rough hug. Nathaniel Hardy was, indeed, taller than Jeff, and his son noticed that he looked a little older but was still a hale and hearty man.

 

“Can’t say I’m displeased to see you again, or your dear friend,” said Nathaniel as he turned to Nova and lifted his hat to her. Nova made him smile as, while holding David, she managed a little curtsey and said, “I remember you, Mister Hardy!”

 

“Yeah…that big weddin’ you had,” chuckled Nathaniel as he smiled at his grandson. “Is your dashin’ Captain taking good care of you and your young ‘uns?”

 

“He sure is, even though he’s a Commodore now!” Nova said as she held up David. “Say hi to your grandfather, David…”

 

David Hardy giggled and promptly pulled at Nathaniel’s bushy moustache. “Ouch! You’re a strong ol’ tyke!” he said in his deep accent as Nova and Jeff laughed. “Jefferson, the boy’s got your looks, but ah also think he’s got his mother’s eyes. You sent me a picture of Dawn, and I get the sense she’s quite a nice lady…when she wants to be. And therein lies the whole problem. How does the family get her to be the good sort ah’m sure she is, rather than the Dark Horse we’re all hearin’ about? Unless you made the wrong choice with her, son…”

 

Jeff sighed as he took David from Nova for a moment. “Yeah…that’s what I’m trying to figure out. When I talk with her later on…well…when we talk with her later on…we’ll figure out how we’re handlin’ this. Where’s Mom?”

 

“Finishing up on a teleconference with the accountant in her office; she’ll be a few minutes,” said Nathaniel. “Mrs Wildstar…?”

 

“Nova’s just fine,” she said with a pert little laugh as Jeff handed David back to her.

 

“Okay, then, Nova, dear,” said Nathaniel with a smile as a serving robot came up and bowed to the humans. “She’s one of our Third Series house robots…she’ll show you where your room is. Juliet and I set up the largest guest bedroom for you and David to stay in. There’s a big four-poster bed for you, and a nice soft chair and coverlet you can curl up in to nurse him, and we also have a crib in there for him. We also have a little changing table, and Juliet even has a dress in there for the barbecue tonight that she thinks may fit you. Since he seems to be fussing a little, you may want to go up there and see what’s ailin’ him while I talk in private with Jefferson. Also, did you bring an afternoon dress?”

 

“I did; they’re sundresses, but…”

 

“Perfectly fine,” said Nathaniel. “Even though I daresay you look right purty in that uniform, Juliet prefers to see a lady in a skirt rather than pants. Okay?”

 

“Thank you, that sounds wonderful,” Nova laughed. “It’s too hot for me to be comfortable in my uniform anyway. Do you have a commset up there in case I’d like to call my husband in Savannah? I’m afraid I left my portable back on the ship.”

 

“No problem…since he’s also your commanding officer, call him whenever you need to,” said Nathaniel. “We’ll see you and David in a bit, then we’ll call Dawn.”

 

“All right,” Nova said, her face turning a bit more serious at the mention of Dawn. “See you soon.” The robot said, “This way, Miss,” to Nova as she led her and David up the stairs.

 

Nathaniel then turned to Jefferson as Jeff asked, “How’s business?”

 

“It’s goin’ well,” said Nathaniel. “We have one contract with Earth Defense for some provisions for Pluto Base that’ll ship this month right after we harvest it that’ll finish coverin’ expenses for the year and put the figures firmly in the black, and Juliet’s just signed another one with a university in Berlin that’ll just be pure profit when we harvest that one in September. Plus…well…you know….we have that pendin’ deal to sell off all the snap peas we have in one of the elevators….we have that deal to sell ‘em off-world to that other supplier through that agent Murchison,” Nathaniel sighed. “You know what I mean. The one they’re thinking of payin’ me that ridiculously high price for. But that’s still held up with some ministry or another of their generals in their damned alien Empire, and…”

 

Jeff sighed. “Dad, ah’m not sure I’d be tellin’ you this, but…”

 

“Yes?”

 

“I was talkin’ with Nova before and I told her about that planned deal with the Gamilon Empire.” Jeff sighed and said. “She offered to talk with the Commodore about it because she thinks it’s a great idea for fostering ties with the Gamilons. She and Wildstar could easily talk right to the Throne itself and hammer out a deal with Desslok in a phone call or two. Desslok respects them and would do darn near anythin’ for ‘em…within reason, of course. Then, he’d get his generals moving to make it happen. Do you think…?”

 

Nathaniel and Jeff walked through a doorway into the smaller living room that was off the side of the larger ballroom, and he sat down on a big wicker chair near a large ebony grand piano and sighed. “Between you and I…if I could swallow mah scruples a little, I’d jump at the chance, take the money, and let Wildstar and his sweet missus have anything they want from us. They’re David’s godparents, right?”

 

“They sure are,” said Hardy, remembering how Derek and Nova had sponsored them in their home Episcopal church in San Diego at the christening when Sasha and Deke had refused….mostly because Dawn had just had another one of her fights with Sasha, and there had been words between Dawn and the Baptist minister she and her mother had used for Sara’s funeral some time after the services had ended that had made Dawn rather unwelcome in that church. 

 

“But, you know how Juliet feels about anything connected with the Gamilons….she…”

 

A moment later, Juliet Hardy swept into the room in a swish of light yellow cotton. She looked ageless, being trim and well-kept for a woman in her mid-forties, dressed this afternoon in a simple yellow sundress with a floral print pattern and very feminine open-toe flat slippers woven from straw; her long dark hair swept around her as she came into the room in a brisk walk and then stopped. She smiled at Jeff and gave him a warm hug, and said, “Well, my wandering son has returned home from his travels just long enough to say hello to his mother! How are you, dear?”

 

“I’m doing fine, mother,” he said formally as he kissed her hand.

 

“Have you and your lady patched up affairs enough so that she can be here with us?” Juliet said.

 

“Well…no,” said Jeff as he looked down at his booted feet. “She’s still in San Diego; and I’ve been horribly busy. I…we…we haven’t even spoken face-to-face yet since everything happened and we separated. I’ve had David, and…”

 

“I know…your two lady friends have been helping you with him?” sighed Juliet.

 

“Juliet, I tried to tell you before, but you were on the phone with Mister Murchison about something,” Nathaniel said firmly. “I…”

 

“Is David here?” snapped Juliet as she sat down in the other wicker chair, her hands on the arms of the chair as she interrogated her son.

 

“Yes…..he’s upstairs with Mrs. Nova Wildstar right now, who flew in with me from the Argo.” said Jeff. “I’m sure you remember her from her wedding. She’s being an absolute angel in helping to take care of mah son, and I owe her an eternal debt for that.”

 

“Yes, she’s a very gallant and bright girl, and I understand she has three of her own right now?” said Juliet. “I guess she has her family looking after them until she and her distinguished husband get back to their homestead? Or she should, if’n she has half a brain in that pretty blonde head?”

 

“Yes, she does, Mother,” said Jefferson. “She and her husband consented to the notion of her taking liberty with me to help with David and to escort me to the barbecue later…:”

 

Juliet sighed. “It’s very kind of Miss Nova to consent to be your escort tonight…but Miss Dawn couldn’t be bothered with it?”

 

“I’m not sure she’s ready yet,” said Jefferson. “However, I asked her if she could consider meeting me out here in my last note to her, but she never responded to it.”

 

“If she wants to be your wife, she needs to be ready to face up to her responsibilties!” said Juliet. “If she wants to mother the one child God gave her to mother after He took the other child, she had better be ready to do it, or, barring that, she’d better step aside and take any suitable settlement you offer her and then let us care for him!” Juliet said with a look of steel in her eyes. “At least until we help find a more suitable belle for Jefferson if it comes down to that, Nathaniel! Preferably a mature Southern girl suitable for our clan, with the looks of an angel and a mind like a steel trap…why, the looks of that Dawn Westland girl…in that picture you sent me of her…those blonde bangs…land sakes…what were you thinking?”

 

“Mother, we fell in love, and ah never knew about all her problems when we were datin’,” said Jefferson as he pulled at his collar, uncomfortable at the way his mother’s dark eyes were boring into his soul.

 

“Then you should have asked her more about herself…and eloping in Las Vegas? For land’s sakes, that earned you trouble-and-a-half, Jefferson!” snapped Juliet. “But, even after I was appalled, I thought ‘Jefferson’s a war hero, let him sow his wild oats with his new lady for a bit, considerin’ how he was hurt when his last major belle was captured and killed by the enemy in space…but then, she’d better settle down with him to a more normal life!’ Which, I see, Jefferson, she did not!”

 

“I…well, Mother, do you think I’m happy with her right now? Tell me honestly…” said Jefferson.

 

“No, you look downright miserable,” said Juliet. “I…”

 

Then, a moment later, a soft voice came from behind them and said, “May I come in? I have David…”

 

Juliet turned to see Nova Wildstar standing in the doorway by one of the French doors holding a much-happier looking David. Nova had taken off his shirt and had left him bare-backed in his little coverall, but he looked somewhat happier as he explored Nova’s collarbones with hir hand. Nova herself had changed into a white sundress trimmed in pink that left her shoulders, arms, and upper chest bare. The dress came down to just above her knees, and her legs were bare, and she wore very light sandals.

 

“Jefferson, I declare you may need to find a new belle like her,” Juliet said as she got up and embraced Nova softly. Then, she stepped back and kissed David on the cheek. “My GOD, Jefferson, my grandchild is beautiful! And I see he has a lovely escort this afternoon,” she said as she gave Nova a kiss on the cheek. “You’re a sweetheart, Mrs. Wildstar. Thank you so much for helping Jefferson with David.”

 

“You’re welcome, Mrs. Hardy,” Nova said formally and politely.

 

“You can call me Juliet, dear,” said Juliet.

 

“And likewise, you can call me Nova,” Nova said as she smiled at Juliet. “Jeff, can you hold David while I say hello to your father?”

 

“Sure,” said Jeff as he took his son back from Nova. Nova then swept over to Nathaniel and introduced herself. Soon, Nova was making small talk about what she had seen in the garden out her window while she had been bathing and nursing David, and she and Nathaniel were discussing gardening and farming.

 

“She’s practical in some ways,” said Juliet as she knelt down by Jeff to play with David. “Dreamy in others. How long have you known her?”

 

“Ever since our first mission to Iscandar,” said Jeff.

 

“Why didn’t you make a try for her hand, Jefferson?” whispered Juliet. “You served with her…she would’ve been quite a catch!”

 

“”Well….everyone else could see from early on that she was going to end up either with Venture or Wildstar, so no one else ever really tried,” whispered Jeff with a blush. “That was, of course, except the three of them, at first. They were very tight, and in some ways, still are. She’s loved Derek Wildstar for nearly ten years now, and she’s gonna be with him until death do them part, I’ll bet.”

 

“If, and that is if…because I think you and she have a responsibility to try, Jefferson….if you and the lady you have already, can’t reconcile, you need to find a girl like her. And I’m not giving Dawn much time to make up her mind, Jefferson, because my grandchild needs a full-time mother. Not one with issues,” she said with steel in her gaze.

 

Jefferson already guessed how the talk with Dawn would go….Dawn would be on trial…with Juliet as the judge. If Juliet approved, they might have a chance at a reconciliation. If not….Jefferson guessed he would be firmly advised after their talk to cut his losses with her…and move on….

 

Nova then finished talking with Nathaniel, and noticed their piano. “Juliet, Nathaniel, do you mind if I play for a bit?”

 

“Not at all,” said Juliet. She got up and opened the piano as Nova sat down at the bench. Nova closed her eyes and said, “I’m going to play something old…but beautiful. It’s a rendition I have in my mind…and I sing a little, too…”

 

Juliet nodded, and Nova put her hands on the keys and gently began to play an almost classical-sounding rendition of the Beatles’ waltz-like, haunting, “I, Me, Mine”. The way she played it made it sound almost like something written by Schubert as she shut her eyes and mostly played, singing a little, but mostly playing, as a tear or two formed in the corners of her eyes. She had overheard a little of what Jeff and Juliet had been discussing, and she felt very sad for him, while she missed Derek more than ever as his face swam before her in her mind, followed by the faces of her their children. Nova wondered for a bit if she could even dry her tears and dance with Jeff at that barbecue tonight while wanting to be in her Derek’s arms so badly that she could taste it.

 

Her sensitive playing provided a sad little counterpoint to the proceedings as Nathaniel looked at his son and said, “I sort of heard you talkin’ to Jefferson, Juliet. I agree with you, but it has to be his decision. At some point, he either has to fix things up with her and make her see reason, or, he has to be a man and tell her how he feels all on his own. I think that after we all talk to him and his lady, we should leave them be to make their final decision, whatever it is.”

 

“When should we call her, then?” said Jeff.

 

“Son, I think we should resolve this as soon as your sensitive lady friend there finishes her song. Then, we’ll contact San Diego….”

 

“And then?” said Jeff.

 

“We will let the chips fall where they may…”

 

 

AN HOUR LATER….

 

In San Diego, Dawn Hardy was very surprised when the phone rang near the latter part of her morning, and she flicked on the video and saw Jeff looking out quietly at her, with an unreadable look in his eyes as the small camera focused on his face.

 

“Jeff!” cried Dawn, who was caught in an old but neat T-shirt and cutoffs. “This is nice! I’ve…I’ve…missed you! Where are you?”

 

“Victoria…my parents’ place,” Jeff said calmly as he worked a control, and the camera zoomed back to reveal him sitting in a chair with David in his lap, with a strong-looking man standing there with one hand on Jeff’s shoulder, and a very determined looking woman in early middle age, Dawn guessed, standing there in a sundress with her hand on little David’s shoulder. But, Dawn’s heart dropped when she noticed Nova standing beside the middle-aged woman, with a gentle but otherwise unreadable expression on her face. “Dawn, I stood back to give you some time, but my parents and Nova all agree that we all have to talk. Not later, not some other day…but now, Dawn.”

 

“What…what will we talk about?” said Dawn.

 

“Your future as a member of this family,” said Juliet, cutting right to the chase. “I do not know if you have seen my picture yet, but my name is Juliet Hardy. I am your mother-in-law, young lady. I wish our first meeting would be more pleasant, but considering the way you have reacted towards my son and my grandson, I don’t see why it needs to be. You are a most unpleasant, troubled, young lady. Even Mrs. Wildstar here agrees with me.”

 

“I…?” said Dawn. “Nova?”

 

“Dawn, I have not told them everything, but I have told them most of it,” Nova said in a level, firm voice. “I know you are very troubled, but I am as appalled at you as Mrs. Hardy is. Still I consented to be here, and I consented to talk to you and I interceded with your superiors because I think you might be redeemable. That is….if you grow up a great deal.”


Dawn nodded as Juliet looked at her and said, “Jefferson’s father does not have much to say, because he agrees with me, but this is what I have to say to you. If I had known when you and Jefferson were dating what you were, how you had acted in the past when you were in that sorority at Pan-Am university, and how you treated your former intended, Derek Wakefield, I would never have assented to Jefferson marrying you, since my clan does not accept those of your sort, with your sort of issues. Yet, you have married Jefferson, and the two of you have a child here,” said Juliet as she played with David. “For the sake of that child, if you wish to continue acting as his mother, you will toe the line of this family, and you will begin to live like a young woman worthy to share the Hardy name and not like same damned drunken trashy guttersnipe in high school. Are we clear on this, young lady?”

 

Juliet just stared hard at Dawn, and Dawn stared back. But, she broke the gaze, and finally said, “Yes, Mrs. Hardy. I…I’d like to continue to be with Jefferson…and to be a good mother to David.”

 

“Good,” said Jefferson. “There are my terms for returnin’ to you,” he said, looking at his father as Nathaniel nodded. “One. You will not consume any alcohol other than maybe one social drink once in a blue moon. Two. No more attending any events intended for teenagers. Three. No more attempts to romantically contact Deke Wakefield or any of your other fomer boyfriends. Four. You will act as an exemplary nurse and officer of the World Health Organization, no more guff to any of your patients or your superiors. Five. You will treat me with all of the respect, love, and courtesy due me as your husband. Six. You will mother our son David as you are supposed to. Seven. You will continue with your therapy, and you will make restitution to all of those you have wronged in the past few weeks, and make apologies. Beginning with me, and I mean, right now. Dawn?”

 

Dawn looked at Jefferson with glistening eyes. “Jeff, I’m so sorry about all the pain I’ve caused you. I really promise to get help and be a better wife to you and mother to David….”

 

Jeff nodded and held up David. “Apologize to our son.”

 

Dawn held back tears and looked at David, who just blinked at her. “David…baby…honey…darling…I’m…I’m so sorry! I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you…to love you…hug you…hold you…..I’m so sorry, David! Mommy wants to be with you….and Mommy wants to make it all up to you…..”

 

David looked at her, looked puzzled, and then looked to his side…to Nova. He urgently began to wail to her, and, true to form, she came and picked him up. Dawn then just wanted to cry when she saw David throwing his arms around her, holding on, and cooing at Nova. The message from her son to her was clear; “You’re not my mommy! This is my mommy!’

 

Nova just looked at Dawn and said, “I know, Dawn…I’ve been caring for him so much he’s starting to bond to me now. As well as to Sasha. You…really need to change before you can come back to us and then David can recognize you as his mommy. And you owe me an apology, Dawn. A major one. I’ve done nothing but help you…look out for you and Jefferson and David…I’ve interceded to the authorities on your behalf…and what did you do? You tried to sucker-punch me into unconsciousness. Are you ready to apologize, Dawn?”

 

“Yes, Nova, I’m sorry…I’m so sorry….so, so, sorry…please forgive me!” said Dawn as she wept.

 

“You’re forgiven so long as you never do that again. But I don’t think you should be asking me to forgive you. Look at your husband and your son, Dawn. Then look to your family…ask them to forgive you.”

 

“Mister Hardy?” pleaded Dawn. “I’ll…I’l act like a young lady from now on. I…”

 

“We’ll see,” said Nathaniel. “Juliet?”

 

“Mrs. Hardy…I…I’m so sorry that I….”

 

“It also remains to be seen whether I forgive you or not, young lady. Or accept you. But it is not my call right now. Jefferson?”

 

Dawn then looked hard at Jeff with pleading eyes. “Jeff?” she whispered. “Please? Will you take me back? Will you come home to me?”

 

“Will you come home to our marriage?” asked Jeff. “And agree to my terms?”

 

Dawn finally nodded. “Yes, Jefferson…I will. And I’m so sorry! Please forgive me,Jeff.”

 

“Ah do,” said Hardy a long moment later. “Provided you act like a young lady from now on, and not like a teenager, I will come back to you. With David.”

 

“Thank you!” sobbed Dawn. “Nova, are we friends again?”

 

“Yes, provided you don’t want to go ten rounds with me again for the Flyweight Ladies’ Championship belt,” Nova said with a wink. Dawn smiled at Nova, relieved to have her as a friend again. Then, she looked at Juliet. “When can I meet you, Ms. Hardy? Can I come out to Victoria to reunite with Jeff and my son?”

 

“We’ll have to see about that,” Juliet said frostily.

 

“Please?” said Dawn.

 

“You haven’t apologized to me yet, young lady,” said Juliet.

 

“Mrs. Hardy…I’m so sorry! Can you ever forgive me?”

 

“I’ll entertain the notion if Nathaniel does. Until then, you will never set foot onto Victoria. Nathaniel?”

 

Mister Hardy bit his lip, looking from Jeff, who was saying “yes” with his eyes, and then to Nova, who nodded a slow “yes” to him, and then to Juliet, who almost impercepibly shook her head ‘no’.

 

Then, Nathaniel looked at little David, who was looking hard at his mother. Then, the baby boy put up his arms, cooed a little, and tried to kiss his mother’s image on the screen. He looked at Juliet and whispered in her ear, “That baby needs his mother, Juliet. Please, Juliet. I’m entertaining the notion. In fact…”

 

Juliet gave Nathaniel a look and said, “Nathaniel, if you call this wrong, you will regret it. All right, young lady,” said Juliet to Dawn. “If you can come out here, tend to your husband, and properly mother your son…”

 

“Yes?” said Dawn.

 

“If you can and will do that, welcome to the family, and welcome to Victoria, Mrs. Dawn Hardy,” said Juliet. “Do you promise?”

 

“I do,” said Juliet. “On my honor.”

 

“Then, on your word, you are welcome here. But if you do one thing to offend me, I will have you escorted from our property by the Sheriff. Are we clear?”

 

“Yes, ma’am,” said Dawn firmly.

 

“Can you fly out here tonight?” said Juliet.

 

“I can try…”

 

“Then, come out here and be with your husband. You won’t mind Mrs. Wildstar escorting your husband at the barbecue until you arrive?” Juliet asked.

 

“Not at all,” said Dawn.

 

“Then I expect to see you,” said Juliet. “And we will have more to say.”

 

 

V. THE BARBECUE…

Earth

Jefferson Davis County

The Hardy Plantation of “Victoria”

Tuesday, July 5, 2208

1900 Hours Earthtime

 

 

The afternoon light was beginning to fade just a little as, up in her guest bedroom at Victoria, Nova Wildstar held onto her husband Derek and kissed him. Derek had just arrived at the plantation a few minutes ago in his Super Star Fighter, flying with, of all people, Dawn Hardy, who had been allowed back aboard the Argo at Nova’s request.


“I’m so happy to see you again!” Nova said as she kissed her husband, who stood there in his Star Force whites holding a garment bag.

 

“Glad to be back,” Derek said as he kissed back. “Dawn came with me. She and Hardy are having their reunion in the other room. Where’s her dress and shoes?”

 

“I left them in there for her,” Nova said. “Now, we need to get you to look like a dashing Southern gentleman in a military uniform in the next fifteen minutes so you can escort me down the staircase like you should be doing.” At that, Nova began helping Derek dress.

 

In the meantime, in another one of the spare bedrooms, Dawn was standing in Jeff’s arms, holding him, and crying softly as they celebrated their reunion. As they cuddled, little David began to cry. Dawn picked him up and asked him, “Hungry?”

 

“Can you nurse him now?” Jeff asked.

 

“Yes! They have me on a new medication that won’t pass through his milk,” Dawn said as she let Jeff unbutton the sundress she had worn there. Beneath it, for coolness, she had worn nothing at all. Soon, Dawn stood there in Jeff’s arms, in only her open dress and sandals as she held David close on her bare chest, letting the baby hear her heartbeat as she tenderly let him nurse. Jeff also hugged David as he hugged his wife, and he said, “I’ve seen Sasha nurse him…I’ve seen Nova nurse him, but you look the best doing it because he’s ours…”

 

“I’m not bitter any more, Jeff,” whispered Dawn. “I’m so grateful to have you and him back that I’d do anything for both of you now….”

 

“Ah know you would,” said Jefferson Davis Hardy as he rocked his wife and son, and touched Dawn’s stomach near her navel. She felt a sweet stirring in her loins as she burped David, who was getting sleepy. Then, she put him in his crib while Jeff kissed her. “I love you, Jefferson…”

 

“I love you, too, Dawn. Forever?”

 

“Forever,” whispered Dawn. Their lips met. The lovemaking that resulted was wonderful. There was a small bathroom in there, and they took a romantic shower together, as they suddenly realized they were quite late…

 

 

“I wonder where Hardy and Dawn are?” Derek asked as he waited with Nova at the head of the staircase as music played downstairs.

 

“I have an idea,” Nova said as she traced a heart on her husband’s chest above his medals. “And if they take much longer…” she said as she looked into his eyes. “Maybe we can be late, too?”

 

Before Derek could answer, Hardy and Dawn swept in. Dawn now had on a light blue hoop dress, with sandals, and Hardy had on his Black Tiger uniform, blue peacoat, medals, and cutlass, and he carried his cover in one gloved hand, as did Derek.

 

The two couples came down the stairs together, with applause growing as they were announced in the ballroom and then, they swept into the dance…dancing with each other, at last…and all very much in love.

 

It was, indeed, a magical night.

 

 

When the night ended, Nova and Derek dressed again in their uniforms and they left Jeff, Dawn, and everyone else on cordial terms, even skywriting a messsage “GOOD LUCK TO JEFF & DAWN” in the fading light in the sky before they left.

 

Later that night, Dawn and Jefferson went to bed with David nearby in his crib in the large guest bedroom that Derek and Nova had vacated. Jeff and David went to sleep quickly, but old fears and uncertainties filled Dawn’s mind as she lay there in the night next to her husband.

 

She thought, What if this is all a farce? What if Jeff and his family hate me and they all send me away in the morning because I’m not Southern enough and don’t fit their ways?

 

What if Commodore Wildstar talks to them at the hospital and gets me up on charges?

 

Nova seems tight with that Katrina Savela girl? What if Nova really hates me? And what if she is being two-faced and plotting with Sasha and Deke to ruin me?

 

Oh, I’m just so scared….and what if this family takes David away from me?

 

Dawn fell into an uneasy sleep, filled with dark thoughts.

 

As she began to dream, she found herself in a grey void somewhere….

 

The void was filled with fog…..and it was cold.

 

All Dawn had on was a light white shift….and she seemed to have a flashlight in her hand.

 

Dawn shivered as she heard rasping, unnatural mechanical breathing coming at her.

 

“Who are you?” Dawn demanded, her bare feet gripping the cold floor of the dark dreamscape.

 

Then, a cold mechanical voice came. It was female, but unnaturally deep. It said, “Dawn Hardy, when you undertook the foolish idea to beat me, I demolished you. I have since grown in powers and influence. See things my way, Dawn Westland Hardy. Don’t make me destroy you….”

 

Dawn looked at the fog. The breathing grew louder, and, suddenly, a form at least a foot and a half taller than her height appeared, all in black, with a black cloak, black leather and metal environemental suit, control boxes that glowed with status lights, and an imposing ebony breath mask.

 

Dawn recognized the monster. She was the fictional Sith Lord Darth Vader. Except that Dawn thought, Maybe she should be a Sith Lady…the bitch in that suit is definitely female…..

 

In Vader’s right hand, appeared a handle, that ignited into a fierce, pink lightsaber. It hummed with menace as Dawn somehow turned on her own lightsaber. It was light blue, and it looked ineffectual against the Dark Lady’s saber.

 

Vader advanced, moving fast in the boots wrought of black leather and metal that she wore. She swung at Dawn, almost taking her head off.

 

Dawn ducked, and, in a panic, she swung, parried, and then tried to behead the mechanical monster that faced her.

 

Dawn only hit the breath mask, which exploded in a shower of sparks. There was a groan and roar of rage from the Sith, and Dawn somehow moved in for the kill.

 

But, what happened next shocked her.

 

It shocked her to her core.

 

The Sith Lady ripped away the remains of her helmet and breath mask and threw them at the ground in disgust. The mechanical breathing continued, and the Sith apparition regarded Dawn with baleful, burning dark eyes as her honey-blonde hair blew in a wind.

 

The Sith Lady  was very familiar to Dawn. Frighteningly familiar.

 

The Sith Lady’s true face was that of Nova Wildstar!

 

“Dawn, you have not yet realized your importance,” Nova said in her own voice over that horrid breathing. “Join me, and I shall complete your training. You shall carry a weapon at all times, and be ready to attack your true enemies, those who mock you. Those who deride you,” said the apparition of Nova as she forced the lightsaber to Dawn’s throat. “But you can never beat ME! Divest thyself of that notion, thou fool!” Nova said, as her voice grew deeper. It grew very, very cold in the dream. “For, I am not your life. I am your DEATH unless you repent! Join me! Worship me!”

 

“Who are you?” said Dawn.

 

“I am the Dark Lord,” said the apparition as the face changed to that of a male with a moustache. “I live within Nova! To stop me, you must KILL her! YES!”

 

And, cold, demonic laughter came as Dawn realized who she had just met.

 

She had just met Lord Ekogaru.

 

And he was Death personified.

 

Dawn lay there thinking, What if Nova does have him living in her? What do I do? What do we do? I am starting to like her again! I can’t kill one of my few friends!

 

And, the Dark One just laughed.

 

Oh, yes, He/She laughed!

 

 

 

 

TO BE CONCLUDED with the next chapter….