ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE

STAR BLAZERS---IT NEVER RAINS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

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


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


PART FIVE: TESTING


 

I. A LAST MORNING

Earth

The Wildstar Residence

Saturday, April 2, 2208

0630 Hours Local Time

 


 

20060121[1]It was going to be a very hot day on Great Island. An unusually hot day.

 

With the temperature close to 85 degrees Fahrenheit, Nova was splashing in the shallow end of their swimming pool with little Alex, who giggled as his mother played with him in the water.

 

Nova wore a sky-blue bikini, while little Alex wore nothing but inflatable yellow water wings on his arms as his mother bounced him up out of the water and then dangled him over the water.

 

“You’re getting big,” she said as she tickled his tummy and his legs dangled over the water.

 

“Big,” Alex gurgled right back as his toes skimmed the surface of the water.

 

“That’s right…big!” Nova said. She touched his stomach and said, “Tummy. That’s your tummy. This is your tushie,” she said, patting his wet, bare bottom.

 

His father walked up, wearing only a pair of grey slacks, scratching at his waistband in the morning heat, and watched as Nova tickled their son. “Thigh….knee….” she said. Running her hand over his tummy, she made him giggle when she said “Belly button,” and he giggled more when she said, “wee-wee,” touching him with a finger as she checked for diaper rash. He smiled as Nova ran down his leg and went. “Foot! Toes!” as she tickled his feet and made him giggle his head off as she swam over to the access ladder with the almost seven-month old baby boy in her arms. Nova went up the ladder while Derek said, “Ariel’s still asleep.”

 

“Who’s watching her?” Nova said as she pushed some of her wet locks out of her eyes while Derek took his son from her.

 

“Sasha was, but I put her in the playpen in the poolhouse so she could have breakfast with Deke. Dawn’s still out like a light in Hardy’s room.”

 

“I heard them going at it last night,” Nova said with a cracked grin. “Not a bad thing, but…they were noisy…”

 

“You too?” Derek said. Nova nodded as Derek took the water wings off of Alex’s arms.

 

“Do you think they’re ready to watch our kids?” said Derek as he also checked Alex’s crotch and bottom for diaper rash. “You sure keep him clean,” Derek said with admiration.

 

“Well, you help a lot,” Nova replied. She took him back and he began to grab for one of his mother’s breasts as he whimpered. “Awww…thirsty?” Nova said as Derek cuddled up to her and undid the bow that held on her bikini top. Nova smiled as her top slid off while she offered Alex a breast, which he gladly accepted as Nova rubbed his back and bottom. Derek, still hugging his young wife, looked around, and then began to rub her bottom and lower back. Then, with a sly grin, Derek pulled her bikini bottoms down.

 

Derek!” Nova said, giving her husband a playful slap as he laughed; but the damage was done as her bottoms slipped down around her polished toenails on the grass. “Now why did you do that, Tinwit?”

 

“His bottom is cute, but yours is cuter,” Derek said as he kissed Nova and picked up her wet swimwear. Then, with a squeal, Derek picked up Nova and his son and carried all of them into the poolhouse.

 

A while later, after all three of them (Derek, Nova and Alex) took a shower, Nova dried off Alex and diapered him and laid him in the playpen in the poolhouse with his sleeping sister as Derek followed her around, tickling her, poking at her, and making her giggle. In the warm privacy of the poolhouse, she made no effort to get dressed, noticing the time was about 0718.

 

Finally, she and Derek gave up all pretense that they were playing, and she ended up in his lap on a chaise lounge in the warm poolhouse, smiling and gasping in another sort of play as he began to make tender love to her.

 

A long period of heaven followed.

 

But then…a sound came that interrupted their happiness and revelry, namely….a high-pitched cry.

 

Nova and Derek stopped, rolled off each other, and Nova said, “Ariel!” She ran over to the playpen and picked up the screaming diaper-clad baby girl as she cooed at her and comforted her. Derek grinned as the little girl went right for a breast and latched on.

 

A few minutes later, while Nova was throwing on a kimono, someone banged at the door of the poolhouse.

 

“Now, who is it?” yelled Derek. He opened the door and found Dawn standing there, crying her eyes out, wearing one of Nova’s old maternity t-shirts and underpants.

 

“What’s going on?” Derek asked.

 

“He hates me!” yelled Dawn.

 

“Who hates you?” Derek said.

 

“Jeff hates me!” screamed Dawn. “I’m fat! I’m ugly! These babies in me kick and hurt my innards all the time! I want to be dead!” She turned to Nova and asked, “What are you doing?”

 

“I was feeding my daughter; thank Heavens, I’m done now,” Nova said.

 

“So?” Dawn retorted.

 

“The kids. You can still watch them, but you are coming with us on the Argo…to help us watch them as they come with us on the Argo and stay with us or in Sickbay,” Derek said. “The cruise is just one week, and we’ll be home soon. Do you have uniforms with you?”

 

“No..” said Dawn.

 

“I’ll get you fitted with some when we get aboard ship,” Nova said. “You have nice legs. You’ll look very cute in a skirt. How are your ankles?”

 

“Hurt,” mumbled Dawn. “Can barely wear any shoes. I’m disgusting!”

 

“I’ll get you fitted with a nice pair of new sandals, then,” Nova said reassuringly. “They’ll be comfortable, and Jeff will love them.”

 

Someone knocked at the door, and Derek said, “Come in!” as Nova drew Ariel closer to herself. It was Jeff. “Dawn! What’ja doin’ in here?”

 

“HIDING! BECAUSE YOU SAID I WAS FAT!” roared Dawn.

 

“Ah just said you were getting’ bigguh,” Hardy said. “Which is a fact of Nature right now. I couldn’t say I loved it because you just belted me and ran off.”

 

“You should be belted for getting me like this,” said Dawn. “And soon, I’ll be doing that with these miscreants in my tummy. One’s a boy, the other’s a girl…”

 

Nova then said, “Dawn, since you’re due at the end of the month…”

 

“Don’t remind me!” Dawn yelled.

 

“Dawn, it’s a fact of life,” said Jefferson. “You’uh getting’ bigger every day, shall we say. No dishonor in that; you’re a pregnant young woman. Didn’t I tell yuh you have a certain glow about you right now?”

 

“Yeah, like a 25-watt light bulb!” screamed Dawn. “And Sasha’s not helping! That floozie!”

 

“I thought we agreed long ago you would stop calling her that,” Nova said. “What’s she saying?”

 

“I’m cute but I need to grow up! Grow up?!? I never wanted to be pregnant to begin with!”

 

“Now, Dawn,” said Hardy.

 

“Don’t ‘now Dawn’ me!” screamed Dawn. “And don’t touch me, either!” she yelled. Then, a moment later, as he tried to caress her cheek to comfort her, she glared at him and slapped him across the face. Then, she ran off, crying her eyes out.

 

Hardy rolled up his visible eye and said, “Ah’m sorry. So sorry!”

 

“Not your fault!” Derek said as he patted and caressed a suddenly screaming Alex. “Go follow her and calm her down and then help her get into some decent clothes. That’s an order!”

 

Yessuh,” Hardy said with a salute.

 


 

II. ARRIVAL

Earth

The Tokyo Megalopolis

Space Battleship Argo

Saturday, April 2, 2208

0930 Hours Local Time

 


 

argo1bridge “Nice to be back,” said Kitano as he and Domon shook hands on the Argo’s bridge.

 

“She looks like she’s never suffered any damage at all,” said Homer as he looked around the First Bridge.

 

Paul Rosstowski, who had returned to the First Star Force as the Artillery Officer, sat at his post beside Homer and he said, “They’ve increased the range of the main guns to twelve megameters. I didn’t think that was possible. How’s Wendy?”

 

“She’s OK,” said Homer. “She chose to stay in San Diego with a girlfriend of hers. She’s six months along now with her kids, and she knew she’d never be able to survive space warps. Heck, driving in a car is making her nauseated.”

 

The doors whizzed open, and a slightly harried-looking Nova appeared on the bridge, trim in her gold uniform. Eager turned to her and said, “Hey, you’re lookin’ good! What’s wrong?”

 

“Ask me later after I just haven’t broken up an argument between Dawn and Sasha. Again,” Nova sighed as she slid into her chair. “Thank heavens Alex and Ariel are sleeping.”

 

From her post at Engineering, Diane Henson raised her eyebrows and said, “They’re with us?”

 

Nova nodded. “They’ll be in Sickbay most of the time. We decided our babysitters needed babysitters. So, we got them to bring the kids with us. This is just a week’s cruise. And with the armistice, there are no enemies around that we know of.”

 

From Analysis, IQ-9 said, “And what about the enemies we don’t know of?”

 

“If we knew of them, well, then they would not be enemies we didn’t know about,” Nova said. “That is a tautology, IQ.”

 

“Many things are tautologies, but I am not one,” said IQ-9. “I have been studying and upgrading my sensors. I am more of a genius robot than ever!”

 

“Yeah, right, Tinwit,” chuckled Sandor from his post. Some lights flashed at his post on a screen, and he said, “Engineering, we’re one hour away from our first all-up power test. Launch should be on time at 1100.”

 


 

Some time passed. The engines had been started and then run back down. Other reports came, and other stations were readied. Finally, it was 1045 Hours.

 

“It’s almost time,” Sandor said as he checked a readout. “Right on schedule.”

 

Diane nodded, and then Sandor heard a clunk up in the overhead. A moment later, he was on his feet, snapping, “Captain on the bridge!” as he saluted.

 

Wildstarbridge2208The others snapped to as Commodore Wildstar descended from the Captain’s Quarters on his lift, resplendent in his black peacoat and cap in the glare from the morning light that came through the bridge windows. He returned his officers’ salutes, and then snapped, “Bridge crew, report! By the numbers!”

 

“Yessir,” said Sandor. “As First Officer, I am pleased to report that launch preparations are ninety-seven percent complete. All main systems are ready for power-up, and the ship is at ninety-eight percent known readiness. The computer systems have just passed their boot tests, and they are ready to go. Diagnostic systems are up. The new wiring redundancy trunk measures are up and running perfectly. Captain, the Argo has not been in this sort of good condition since the war started.”

 

“Check and recheck and get us at one hundred percent,” said Derek. “Second Officer!”

 

Nova cleared her throat and came to attention. “The cosmo-radar and sensors are up and running, sir. Main computer core is ready for programming for warp test. Course?”

 

“Program a course for the Jupiter orbit. The ship needs a more extensive test than usual. If I read the reports correctly, warping us to the Jupiter Area from the Moon Orbit should be a simple matter. And if anyone’s watching, let’s keep them guessing a bit about what the Argo can do now.”

 

“Yessir,” Nova said.

 

“Engineering!” barked Derek.

 

Henson turned her head and said, “Sir!”

 

“Report on engine status.”

 

“Yessir. Both port and starboard boosters are on line and balancing well. Wave motion engine and supercharger are ready to have starting procedure initiated.”

 

“Artillery,” said Wildstar.

 

Rosstowski stood up and saluted as he said, “Captain, all three main turrets are manned and ready for firing in trials today. Auxilary turrets ready.”

 

“Domon, combat systems status?”

 

“Systems all ready and nominal, sir,” said Domon.

 

“Navigation?”

 

Kitano said, “Sir, Astro-compass up and running, ready for other commands.”

 

“Tactical radar?”

 

Eager said, “Scannin’ and ready, sir!”

 

“Analysis?”

 

“Nominal and ready.”

 

“Communications?” said Wildstar.

 

“Sir, the Black Tigers are on standby and ready to launch, Hardy reports. Headquarters has given us launch clearance. Sir?”

 

“Mrs. Wildstar, are all hands on board?” said Derek.

 

Nova checked several Living Group readouts. “All section chiefs report all hands are present and on board, except for the Black Tigers, sir.”

 

Sandor turned his head. “Captain, all systems check out at one hundred percent.”

 

“Time?” said Derek.

 

“1047,” replied Sandor.

 

“Haul in the gangway, ready for takeoff!” snapped Derek.

 

“Gangway in,” said Sandor as Henson worked at her post, bringing the engines up on line. Commodore Wildstar sat back and listened to his crew going through the checkout list as the reassuring thrum of the auxilary engines built up in the bowels of the ship under the sound of the takeoff warning klaxon. Finally, Wildstar said, “Mister Kitano, raise the anchors. Ahead, slow speed!”

 

“Weighing anchor,” said Kitano as the Argo’s huge anchors came up at 1051, nine minutes ahead of time. “Ahead, slow speed.”

 

The auxiliary engines ignited underwater as the Argo crept away from the dock at the edge of the Megalopolis, sailing out confidently into Tokyo Bay as every civilian and military vessel in the harbor stopped and began blowing their whistles. The mighty space battleship gained speed, and she was soon on the open sea, majestically sailing along on the surface, braving the waves as if they were nothing.

 

“Energy buildup in wave motion engine commencing,” said Henson. “Energy level, eighty percent.”

 

“Minutes to full power?” said Kitano.

 

“Two minutes, estimated,” said Henson.

 

“Radar reports negative,” Nova said. “Captain, preparing calculations for warp to Jupiter Area. Calculations will be finalized when we clear the Moon Orbit.”

 

“Wave motion energy level, ninety percent,” said Henson. “Engine room crew, ready for flywheel and energy point contact.”

 

Orion yelled at some men and women in the Engine Room. “Ready for contact at your command, Bridge.”

 

“Approaching takeoff point; speed sixty statute knots and increasing,” said Kitano.

 

“Energy level, ninety-five percent!” said Henson. “Start the flywheel!”

 

The flywheels began to rotate in the engine room as the energy built up. Thirty seconds later, Henson said over the PA, “Energy Level, one hundred percent!”

 

“Energy point contact!” said Orion.

 

Sealaunch1The engine ignited. Then, Wildstar ordered, “Argo, ascend!”

 

Argo, beginning ascent!” said Kitano.

 

The Argo blasted up out of the ocean with a spectacular roar and spray of water. Kitano said, “Helm answering well! Ascending angle, thirty degrees; main wings, open!”

 

The ship’s wings opened as she roared up into the skies, ascending quickly towards the morning cloud cover.

 

It didn’t take long until the sky around the ship began to darken as she gained altitude.

 

Two minutes passed; three minutes passed. Four minutes later, the Argo’s wings closed as she settled into orbit to await the imminent arrival of Hardy, Deke Wakefield, and the rest of the Black Tigers.

 

The refitted ship was finally back in space again.

 

So far, the trials were going smoothly. As Commodore Wildstar observed the ship’s routine around him, he smiled to himself, hoping that they would be able to reach the Minerva Belt by the end of the afternoon to drop off at the prison asteroid their unwanted “guest”, the disgraced Bryan Hartcliffe, who was still locked in the brig.

 

That’ll be a great test of our warp systems, Derek thought. I just hope this warping won’t affect our kids too badly…why didn’t Nova and I arrange to have them go off with her parents? Poor Nova…she’s going to have a rough time…being an officer and a mother at the same time. Poor me…I’m going to have a rough time being a father and an officer at the same time. We’ll check them around lunch….

 

Wildstar put those thoughts out of his mind as the Argo cruised on….

 


 

TO BE CONTINUED….