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

Notes: This tale contains some crossover elements from an (incomplete) crossover story of mine later in this timeline called Plausible Deniability that includes retconned elements from an altered conception of the Battle of the Planets/Gatchaman universe. Battle of the Planets/Gatchaman is © 2008 by Sandy Frank Productions/Tatsunoko Studios  This is put here so the evil lawyers won’t send 7-Zark-7 after me. This story also includes one rather sweet but spicy bit of fan artwork that fellow writer “Yuki Wildstar”gave me. It was just too cute not to be used somewhere!


PART SIX: SPACE TRIALS AND A PULP NOIR TALE (1)


 

I. WARP!

The Moon Orbit

Saturday, April 2, 2208

1230 Hours Local Time

 


 

At her post, Nova shook her head slightly as she entered figures and data for the Argo’s scheduled warp test to the Jupiter region.

 

Six hours ago, I was up and in my pool with little Alex, she thought. Now, six hours later, back on the ship, to see what she’ll do. The power ratings seem higher, she thought as she typed in more parameters. After the warp, around lunch, we can check on the kids. 

 

“Captain,” said Homer. “Commander Hardy reports the last of the planes are both on board and secured.”

 

“Have the Tigers meet us in the Briefing Room at 1430,” said Derek. “They’re going to have some flying to do later on.”

 

“Yessir,” said Homer.

 

At his post, Derek jumped a little as an instant message came in on his screen…from Sickbay.

 

It was Sasha, being her turn with the kids until she would be detailed to help check out the Diamond Girl and some of the other Tigers.

 

In her message, she typed:

 

Hi, Uncle, sir.

 

Situation normal, all fouled up.

 

Ariel is up, and is very cranky. I diagnosed the problem; it’s her diaper. Over.

 

Derek sighed and forwarded the message to Nova, with a note to her,

 

Nova (Yes, I mean you…)

 

Now hear this; confused Princess. Explanation? Reassure the Princess.

 

Don’t take too much time, Peppermint. You are supposed to be preparing to warp us out of here.

 

-Skipper.

 

Nova smiled a little, rolled up her eyes, and put in PI to the 12th place in one window, and in another window, she typed an IM that read;

 

Skipper—

 

Ariel had split peas from a bowl this morning at 0400 before I nursed her. Forgetting already, Dad? She woke you up.

 

Sasha:

 

Babies’ poop is usually green when they eat split pea junk.

 

Both of you:

 

I am preparing this space warp…or trying to. Do you want me to send us to the Andromeda Galaxy? And stop calling me Peppermint.

 

--Nova.

 

Nova then finished and said, “Captain, calculations completed for the space warp. Transmitting data to Navigation. The status gauges read split pea green, sir.”

 

“Split pea green?” said Eager. “What the hell ya mean by that?”

 

“Classical reference for the Captain, Lieutenant,” said Nova frostily as she looked back at Derek’s post and winked. Derek smiled and typed,

 

Nice job: Peppermint.

 

Nova smiled and typed back:

 

Up yours, Derek!

 

“Captain, ready to make preparations for space warp,” said Kitano.

 

“Proceed with warp preparations,” Derek said. He nodded at Nova, who then said over the PA, “All hands, secure all stations for warp!”

 


 

Down below in Sickbay, Sasha was closing up Ariel’s diaper and putting a clean shirt on her when the announcement came to prepare for warp.

 

Nearby, Dawn was futzing around with Alex’s diaper. He was screeching because she kept on sticking him with a safety pin.

 

“What do I do with this kid!? Sasha, what the hell do I do with this screaming brat of a kid?”

 

“Let me,” said Sasha. She sighed, reached out with her powers, and crooned, “”Do I look like your Mommy? IQ-9 thinks I look like your Mommy. That’s why he lifted my skirt before. Bad robot. Good baby,” cooed Sasha. “Good little cousin Alexander! Where’s your thingie? Oopsie! Diaper’s over it.”

 

“Sasha mama?” said Alex as he bit at his own toes.

 

“Why does he do that?” said Dawn. “Biting at his own feet is so gross!”

 

“He’s a baby, that’s why,” said Sasha. Alex repeated, “Sasha-mama?”

 

“That’s right, I’m your Sasha-mama! Mama-mama is up on the bridge.”

 

“Wan’ mommy. Hungy!” gurgled Alex as he tried to grab one of Sasha’s boobs, clad in his diaper and nothing else.

 

“No, I don’t give that much yet,” said Sasha with a giggle as she tickled his stomach, deciding to keep him out of his clothes for a bit. “You need mama-mama!”

 

Doctor Sane came in with his bottle. “Do you girls need a drink?”

 

Nooooooo,” they said together, both being about eight months pregnant.

 

“But this one is Spring Water.”

 

“We’re not sure, sir,” said Dawn, who looked better clad in her nurse’s tunic and white clogs.

 

“We don’t trust you,” said Sasha, who looked as military as possible in her Black Tiger top and skirt as she held Alex.

 

The door to Sickbay whirred open and Deke Wakefield came in and gave Sasha a smooch. “Sasha, after we warp, my plane needs to have its computer checked out. Nav was off a little when I flew in.”

 

“Where are you going to sit to warp, Dekee?” said Sasha.

 

“Dekee,” muttered Dawn. “Yeah, make me barf, you two. And where’s Jefferson?” she snapped. “Where’s my smooch from your commander, sir?”

 

“Dawn, he’s busy getting fifty pilots checked out,” said Deke as he ran his hands through his hair. “You damn well know that.”

 

“It’s tough caring for kids,” she whined.

 

“We would have left you home if both you and Sasha could have behaved,” said Deke. “Consider it your punishment; a weeks’ worth of extra duty. For God’s sakes, we’re warping in thirty seconds! Get the damn junior cadets strapped down!”

 

Ariel, now dressed, was placed in her little plastic crib by Sasha, who gently strapped her in with the little car-seat like harness for the warp. Dawn fumbled with Alex’s, and Deke had to help her (to Sasha’s annoyance as the young officer found a seat and strapped herself in). Finally, Deke strapped down between Sasha and Dawn, and he said, “Looks like I’m stuck in the middle.”

 

“Dekee,” whispered Sasha.

 

“Quit it,” said Dawn.

 

Sasha stuck out her tongue at her.

 


 

On the main bridge, a short time later, Kitano counted down to warp. “Ready for warp. Warp preparations! Five…four…three…two..one…zero…WARP!”

 

ArgowarpsHe pulled back the lever. The Argo kicked off, blasting into the Fourth Dimension in a spectacular display of colors and lights.

 

In Sickbay, Sasha shut her eyes while little Ariel gurgled, fascinated at the feeling that made her feel as if she was flying out of her crib.

 

Sasha hadn’t quite reckoned upon a simple fact; Alex and Ariel were already sort of familiar with this phenomenon, having experienced quite a few warps inside their mother’s womb when Nova had been pregnant with them. This time, Ariel really giggled at the lights and stars, because there was nothing soft and warm (mommy) to hold her in place with bro-bro.

 

Ariel tried to grab a galaxy as it streaked past, and began to screech for a second when she couldn’t catch it. She giggled when a star lit up and cooed at the pretty colors.

 

Nearby, Alex was babbling as he talked to the stars. “gagaggagaga aba aba aba starries get you ga ga boo boo toesies tickle…”

 

He tried to catch a star with his toes but giggled as it flew past. The light show did a good job at distracting the babies from their funny feelings in their tummies as the Argo roared on through the Fourth Dimension.

 

Finally, there was the usual “slam” and then the usual humming noise came as the Argo reappeared in the Jupiter Region,

 

The Argo was far at the edge of the region, fay beyond the orbit of any of the 72 known moons of Jupiter, many of which were very small, and many of which had just been discovered around the beginning of the 21st century, between 1999 to 2003. The most recently discovered satellite, S/2207 J 5, had just been mapped and discovered by the North Carolina in late 2207.

 

“Warp completed,” said Kitano.

 

“Nearest object, Sierra 2207 Juliet Five, spotted at two hundred megameters’ range,” said Nova from her post.

 

“I suggest we stop around here,” said Sandor.

 

“Good idea. We can have the Tigers “attack” the laser mapping stations that the North Carolina placed here last December. Any idea what the Science Committee is going to name this new mini-moon yet?” Derek asked.

 

“It’s still being considered,” said Sandor.

 

Derek nodded and said, “Sandor, you have the conn until 1500, barring incident. Mrs. Wildstar, get Ensign Hall up here to man your post; she’ll be delighted to take it. Then, meet me in the mess hall.”

 

“Yessir,” said Nova.

 


 

II. SPACE TRIALS UNDER POWER

Space Battleship Argo

The Jupiter Region

Saturday, April 2, 2208

1340 Hours Local Time

 


 

A while later, in the Messhall, Commodore Wildstar sat with Diane Henson, who was asking, “Well, how has fatherhood changed your life, sir?“

 

“It’s certainly made things…more unpredictable,” Derek said. “Nova and I have quite an age group to deal with at home, what with a 15-year old and two crawly, playful smart little seven-month olds…we love all of them, of course. I know the Government really propagandizes things to encourage people to become parents, these days, but…”

 

“You once told me, when we were dating, that you didn’t want to have kids until we had peace. Not to impugn your judgment, nor Nova’s…hell, she’s a wonderfully sweet kid, I’d think you would have waited until the war was over.”

 

“Well,” said Derek as he ate his fried pastrami sandwich, “we thought we had a period of peace there, so we were trying like crazy. Then, the war started up, and when we weren’t trying, Nova found herself very pregnant. You know what she was going through…”

 

“I never told you, Derek, but some of the women on this ship were putting her through hell then, as well as some of the men. She just lost it at one point and talked to me about wanting to go home. I got her to buck up and stay with the program, and, well, she was here until the last day of the war, when I understand she gave you a fine young son and daughter in the shuttle on the way home.”

 

“Yeah, she did,” said Derek, blushing at the memories. “I hope the same thing doesn’t happen with my niece.”


“Sasha won’t; she’s a trouper,” said Diane. “I know her. She’s going to be able to hold out for six days, I think. That Dawn is the one I worry about. That is, if she doesn’t throw herself out the friggin’ airlock. I…”

 

Diane stopped when a set of hands went over Derek’s eyes while he heard some people saying, “awwww…”

 

“Hey, who’s that?” he yelled. “This is assault upon the person of the Captain!”

 

“Is this assault?” said a dulcet, familiar alto voice as a set of soft lips kissed Derek’s neck.

 

Wildstar turned around, beholding Nova standing there in an off-the shoulder white peasant blouse that buttoned down, short corduroy skirt, and white rubber shower flip-flops.

 

“What happened to your uniform?” Derek said. “And what kept you?”

 

“Work,” Nova sighed. “Sorry. I had one unpleasant duty and one pleasant one, both of which messed my uniform up, so I had to change in a hurry. They’re still breaking out the nurses’ uniforms, so everything on my back right now came courtesy of Sasha.”

 

“What was the unpleasant duty?” sighed Diane.

 

“Hi, Diane. The unpleasant duty was having to do a physical on a certain Private they dredged up from the brig.”

 

“Hartcliffe?” hissed Derek.

 

Nova nodded. “While I was helping Doctor Sane look at what the Marines left of his teeth, he thought it would be funny to throw up on me. I was not amused! In fact, I think I cost him two more teeth.”

 

“That’s my girl, that’s my girl,” said Diane as she grabbed Nova by the shoulders and laughed with her. “Then?”

 

“Well, I think he won’t be able to have kids, either,” Nova said conspiratorially. “Not after IQ-9 and I got finished with him. The Tinwit went nuts when he threw up on me! After he and I punched that scum in the crotch after he tried to assault me, I had to pull IQ off of him. Not that I was very nice to him, either, when I got the handcuffs back on him. And they’re staying on him, Derek. I don’t care if he gets presented to the authorities on that asteroid in his skivvies!”

 

“Handcuffs…back on him?” said Derek.

 

“The little snake got one hand out and tried to punch me,” Nova said. “He’s back in the cooler now. Lucky for him.”

 

“Okay, that’s the unpleasant duty. The pleasant duty?”

 

“Alex got hungry. I tried giving him some bacon and beans, and he ate some of them and decorated me with the others. So, I slipped off to that side room and gave him some milk…when he burped, more came up on my uniform. When Sasha found me, everything I had on was off while I finished with him and Ariel. Just too messy. She got me a spare outfit of hers that I got into by tightening everything up. So, here I am,” Nova said. “If you two will excuse me, I think I’ll get some of that pastrami, Derek. I’m ravenous.”

 

Derek kissed his wife and said, “Go right ahead. I’ll save this seat for you.”

 

“Thanks.”

 


 

“HEY!” yelled Bryan Hartcliffe as he sat in his cell in the Brig after his handcuffs had been removed. “GET ME SOME FRIGGIN’ FOOD! NOW! ME FRIGGIN TEETH HURT! AND PUT THAT IDIOT WOMAN IN ‘ERE WITH ME!”

 

“You don’t deserve any solid food,” said the Space Marine guarding his cell. “They had to extract some of your teeth, wiseass!”

“This is brutaility t’ prisoners, man! Brutal!" Bryan looked at a Gideon Bible that was left in his cell. He opened the Bible and sneered as his eyes fell on a page which had the heading "HOW TO RECEIVE JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND SAVIOUR"

"I don't need this crap!" yelled Hartcliffe. "Here's what I think of your reading, Sarge!"

He threw the Bible against the wall. The Marine Segreant slapped him and said, "Ya weirdo! There's some stuff even I respect! You should have your ass kicked in and hard!”

Hartcliffe snarled with a weird look in his eyes as he took the Bible and tore its cover off. "Lookit this cross on the front of it, mate! This cross, which I just turned upside down. I just decided I wanta worship the Other Dude today. The Man Downstairs!"

“You creep!” yelled the Marine as he threw open the cell door and waded in with a nightstick. He bashed Hartcliffe in the head three times and kicked him against the bulkhead. Then, he stalked out and slammed the cell door shut. “Forget that soup they were going to bring you! As long as I’m on duty, you’ll STARVE, Private!”

Bryan Hartcliffe spat blood against the bulkhead of his cell and then began to crawl on his hands and knees to the bed.

 

Then, he lay there moaning like some kind of animal.

 

When we get you to that asteroid, you’re going to learn a few things, thought the Marine Sergeant as he sat back in his chair reading a magazine.

 


 

Nova had been a little confused when Homer had told her that a call was coming in for her from home. I hope Jonathan’s all right, she thought as she went into the communications booth. I really do hope Mother is not calling to complain about Jonathan or that he’s not sick or something….

 

So, Nova took the call…to find a young woman with very dark, slightly purplish hair and a dark red dress waiting for her on the other side of the line!

 

Katrina?” Nova said.

 

“Interesting uniform, Nova…cute,” said Katrina Savela (aka Princess Invidia) as she smiled at Nova.

 

“Uhh,…this is not my uniform,” said Nova, looking at her skirt and blouse. “Sorry..I can only talk for a few minutes. I put this on because two babies made a mess on me.”

 

“Both Alex and Ariel?”

 

“No, one of the babies is named Bryan Hartcliffe. The criminal we had on trial. Katrina, how did you find me here on the Argo?”

 

“My contacts,” said Katrina. “Foxy and I wanted to see how you were.”

 

“Fine…we’re just out here for a few days.”

 

”Michelle was trying to reach Jonathan but no one answers there. Where is your son?”

 

“Uh…he’s with my parents,” said Nova. Nova gave the portable vidphone number of her mother and said, “He’s away camping. You can reach him there. He’ll probably love to hear from you, Foxy and Michelle.”

 

“Thanks,” said Katrina. As Invidia, she thought of some rumors she’d heard about the House Dezaria being on the move again, and she said, “Is there any trouble out there?”

 

Nova laughed, “Oh…no…not at all!” I couldn’t tell you if there was, of course, Nova added to herself. “It’s a test and training cruise and we’ll be back soon.”

 

“I hope you are well, Nova. Love to the little ones and Derek.”

 

Nova nodded and blew a kiss at Katrina. Katrina did likewise, and the screen went blank.

 


 

Back on Earth, in Foxworth Manor, Foxy came into the room just as Invidia was getting done. “Who were you calling?”

 

“Nova.”

 

“How is she?”

 

“They’re out in space. I got the number of where Jonathan is from Nova so Michelle can call him up. As soon as she gets back from that event with that boy she went out for ice cream sodas with. Why is she noticing boys?”

 

“It’s normal. Would you prefer she is noticing girls?”

 

No,” said Katrina as she blushed fiercely.

 

So, are you jealous that Michelle is getting older?”

 

“No…maybe…I don’t know. We were through so much together a few months ago,” Katrina was quiet for a moment before Changing back to Invidia. “I’d like to have the ability to lead and guide this world and do wonderful things with it; but I’ve had quite enough of the blood and pain of war. They won’t give up this world easily. And who can blame them for fighting hard?”

 

“We fought for and fight on for that which we want to preserve,” said Foxy as he looked hard at Invidia. “We’ve grown a lot in the past few months; the past few weeks.”

 

“I’d like to have a peaceful merger of this world into our Greater Empire,” said Invidia. “Or a peaceful permanent agreement, and…”

 

Suddenly, Invidia’s personal comm device rang. She took the phone out of a pocket of the dress she wore and said, “Yes?”

 

“Princess,” said the voice at the other end; the voice of a deep undercover Cometine agent she knew named Helgrem. “I can’t talk for long. This is heavily encrypted.”

 

“Where are you?” Invidia demanded.

 

“Deep space. The region of the Crab Nebula, 6500 lightyears away from your location. We’ve located a civilization here at its edge at a star they call Vikerneh. The primary occupied world of the system is heavily polluted and occupied by a humanoid race not that different from the Earthlings, but with far different traditions. They seem to be rather aggressive; my ship was attacked once by one of their mecha, which I shot down. The place bears investigation. Oddly enough, the Pellians have an exploration ship in the region. I’ve contacted the ship, but it is rather cagey about what it is up to. Orders?”

 

“Continue recon there, and keep quiet. Out,” said Invidia as she put away her comm device and then looked out the window. “Michelle’s coming back; with a friend.” She Changed back into Katrina and whispered, “She is bringing the boy back. Be sure we keep this conversation quiet.”

 

Foxy smiled and nodded.

 


 

Paul Rosstowski stood alone on the observation deck, looking out to the stars.

 

He had told everyone Aliscea was back home and simply hadn’t wanted to come on the mission with them. That was a half-truth. She had actually been away for about two and a half weeks, aboard the Pellian exploration ship Talinghaver.

 

Suddenly Aliscea called to Paul in his mind. “Paul, love?”

 

“Where are you?” he said.

 

“Around the edge of a Nebula. My mother and Desslok asked me to go on this mission to investigate a planet in the region. It’s a dangerous place that I’ve heard has an interest in the Orion Arm for some reason. We have also found a small belt of stars beyond the Crab Nebula that is in about a hundred-light-year radius of it. Some of the stars seem to have planets about them and some of those worlds seem to be occupied.”

 

“Why is the place dangerous?” Paul asked.

 

“The planet appears to be the nucleus of a possible Imperial movement of some kind. We visited a planet of the region called Bela. Bela has a small defense force that has had a few skirmishes with the aggressor world. We’ve also seen signs the Cometines are active in the region,” Aliscea said in his mind.

 

“Doing what?” demanded Paul.


“Exploration, they say. One of those ships contacted us. They say exploration. I say spying. Watch out. The Argo may have to come to this region sometime in the next few weeks or months. Maybe. I expect to be home in a month or three weeks. Love and prayers.”

 

“Love and prayers,” said Paul as he wiped tears from his eyes. Aliscea, he thought. You’d better be all right out there. 

 


 

NeptuneilloLater that afternoon, after Commodore Wildstar called in the Black Tigers, the Argo made another warp, heading out towards the region of Neptune. 

 

When she emerged from warp, Wildstar called a briefing after the Argo was placed in orbit around Neptune. The briefing took place at 1730, with all of the Command Staff present.

 

“First,” said Wildstar, “We have a schedule. After we do our trials today, we will cruise for a while in the Neptune region for a rest period.” Derek pointed at the deck screen with his pointer and said, “Right now, we are here. We are going to be taking some high-speed measurement runs near the planet’s ring system. Neptune, as you know, has thirteen moons and a fragmentary ring system. The ring of Neptune is nowhere near as dense as the ice ring of Saturn, so it is easier to negotiate in. We will be making three runs along the edge of the ring…here…here, and here,” said Derek as he pointed at three spots on the chart. “We will be launching transponder shells from the auxiliary guns that will implant themselves in the ice fragments to provide marker points for our speed runs. We need to have exact figures on the acceleration, burn latency and reaction time on the engines, and other such figures so we can calibrate the ship for combat simulations later. I do want to let you know that Captain Venture has also recently left Earth with the Arizona; which is also undergoing space trials like ours.”

 

“That’s good…it’ll be nice to see Mark again,” Nova said. “When will the rendezvous be?”

 

“Ah…that is the point I do not know,” said Commodore Wildstar. “The reason being that when we meet the Arizona, it’s going to be in a war game simulation. She’s going to be “attacking” us at some point. When, we do not know, since it is to be a surprise attack that will take place at some point after April the Fifth, and we’ll get together for coffee and juice with Venture after we kick his butt back to Venus,” said Derek. “Dash is on the ship as Combat Group Leader, so I’m sure he’s got some stuff up his sleeve.”

 

“We have some stuff up our sleeves,” said Domon as he nodded at Rosstowski. “Sir, when are we testing the wave motion gun?”

 

Sandorinvades“We can’t safely test it at full power in the solar system,” said Sandor as he took the pointer from Wildstar and nodded at IQ-9. He still had a helmet and space gear on because he and IQ-9 had been working together with Nova on installing some sensors out on the open foredeck of the ship in space just a few minutes beforehand. “The range and power of the weapon have been vastly increased because I found a way to improve the tachyon compression rate and release rate,” he said as he pointed at a graphic of the wave engine and gun’s inner workings. “I have estimates for the power of the Gun, but we won’t be able to prove them for sure until after we leave the Solar System. The reason being that when we destroy something, we want to avoid navigational hazards. Nova’s found us a star system nearby for us to play around with it, and now I’ll give her the floor,” said Sandor.

 

Nova took the pointer and took over. “We have found a small star system a short distance out beyond Alpha Centauri. The star is an aging red star that was named Mikanus in the middle of the last century; it was discovered by the automated Galileo XXVI Probe of 2136. You know from your history that right before that probe was lost in 2142, it sent us back some of our clearest pictures of Gamilon space warships to date, which were kept classified for many years.Then, we finally had an idea of who was destroying our probes and some of the first deep space manned missions we never heard from again. In the Mikanus System, there are ten known planets. One of the smallest is Mikanus VIII; which at 2800 kilometers diameter, is maybe a bit bigger than Ganymede,” Nova said as she pulled up a graphic of the system and the rocky little planet. “Mikanus VIII has a highly eccentric retrograde orbit. Prior missions have ascertained that it has an atmosphere of methane compounds, and is lifeless,” she said with an uneasy smile as she handed IQ-9 the pointer so he could call up other graphics as she spoke.

 

Novatalking

“It’s isolated; our shipping never goes there, the system is uninhabited, and it’s really like…the middle of nowhere,” Nova said with an uneasy laugh and the hint of a smile as some of the crew chuckled while she tapped her booted foot nervously against the deck for a moment as she thought about moral variables that she didn’t want to get into for the moment. Nova’s smile faded as she said, “ It’ll be safe for…what I think we’ll be doing with it when we hit it with the wave motion gun tomorrow,” said Nova as she looked uneasily at Derek.

 

“So what are we doing?” said Deke Wakefield as he stood there with Sasha. Dawn had baby duty at the moment. “We know how the wave motion gun works, right? If I remember correctly, didn’t we and some of our other allies use it to turn the Eritz Gatlantis into an artificial sun now in permanent orbit of Pluto?”

 

Wildstar nodded. “We sure did. We’re also making a port call on Pluto tomorrow for a few hours on our way back into the Solar System after we drop our prisoner off for good at his prison in the Minerva Asteroid Belt; when we finish that unpleasantness and get to Pluto, you’ll be damn surprised to see what we’re doing with the base there now now that we have a sun orbiting the planet. When we test the gun tomorrow afternoon, I will be taking the controls myself. Domon, I would like you to take Analysis at the time we do so. I’d like a weapons officer doing the readings.”

 

Domon nodded as IQ-9 protested, “I am perfectly suitable for the job! Why am I getting demoted?”

 

“IQ, I’m putting you down in the wave gun firing room for the test,” said Commodore Wildstar. “We need a genius there at close range taking internal readings of the gun. That’ll be your job.”

 

“Acknowledged,” said IQ-9.

 

Sasha raised her hand. “Captain, permission to speak?”

 

gamemio2“Granted,” he said as he looked at the pregnant young officer.

 

“I could tell what my Aunt was thinking…sorry for intruding on your mind, Nova, but to me, you were giving off moral doubt like a 300-Watt light bulb. The wave motion gun is already a horribly destructive weapon. I know this happened before I was born, but I understand that you were…forced to use it devastate Gamilon. In the right set of variables, the Gun can already wipe a civilization out. Why do we have to make it an even more morbid weapon than it already is? I know where this is going, and I don’t like it!” she said.

 

Sandor spoke up, “Sasha, you know that as our weapons have gotten stronger, our enemies have gotten stronger, too. I know you read your history in the Academy and had a good idea of what nearly happened to Earth close to six years ago this month when Ekogaru and his Fortress entered the solar system. As we can all tell you, it was only the intervention of Aliscea and her power that made the Argo strong enough to destroy the Grand Technomugar Fortress. And we had a hard time winning against the Eritz Gatlantis. What’s going to happen when and if Ekogaru comes back someday in our lifetime, or someday when we are gone and our children have taken up the torch we will someday have to pass to them as we retire? With the medical advances we have, our lifespans are lengthening slowly, and we might be able to be hale and hearty up until our sixties or eighties with proper care and diet and some of the ideas that our up and coming doctors and soon to be doctors have; if they can make them a reality in the lab. There is a good shot that, barring accident, many of the younger ones in this room might see a hundred or a hundred and ten years before they have to go the way of all flesh and die and meet their Maker. But, when that happens, Sasha, the daughter inside you will be one of those keeping watch for when Ekogaru returns someday with an even bigger Fortress. For we know he will, and you know it, too…”

 

Sasha nodded her head miserably. “I know that‘s true, Steve. We have to…accept this….but that does not mean we have to like it!”

 


 

III. AN UNEXPECTED “PARTY”

Space Battleship Argo

The Neptune Orbit

Sunday, April 3, 2208

0351 Hours Local Time

 


 

It was one of the early-morning watches, and Sandor was now Officer of the Deck as the Argo cruised out beyond Neptune’s farthest satellite. At 0630, when free of Neptune’s gravity, another space warp was scheduled to take place. They would be bypassing Pluto for the moment to warp out to the Mikanus System for the test firing of the wave motion gun, which was scheduled for exactly 0700 Hours this morning.

 

Sandor sat at the Captain’s station drinking some space java while a younger officer named Cunningham manned his usual post. Kitano was in bed, so Eager was at the helm. Paul Rosstowski was manning Combat next to him, and a pair of young Ensigns were manning Artillery and Communications. Engineering was being manned by Diane Henson, while Sasha Wakefield was yawning as she sat at the Cosmo-Radar. “I hate these late watches,” she said.

 

“You know it’s part of life here,” said Sandor. “If it’ll make you feel better, your aunt will be Officer of the Deck this same watch in twenty-four hours from now on Monday, and you’ll have a rotation coming up as Officer of the Deck in about two days.”

 

“I forgot how tired this made me,” yawned Sasha. “Okay, maybe it’s worse due to my current condition.”

 

A moment later, an IM came up at Sasha’s post. It said:

 

Sasha! Damnit, I need your help! Kids! They won’t stop crying! Tried changing their diapers, playing with them, feeding them some bottles Nova got together…what do I do?

 

Dawn!!! (MAD!!!)

 

Sasha typed back:

 

I’m on watch and can’t leave the Bridge. Call Nova up in her cabin. You know her number. They’ve woken her and Derek up before.

 

PS-act like you have a brain!

 

SASHA

 

Sasha waited for a response, but there was none.

 

Nova got the rough side of Dawn’s tongue as she woke up in Derek’s arms in her cabin when the phone went off. “Capn’s quarters…yes?” she mumbled.

 

“Nova, get your butt down here! These are your kids and they are screaming their heads off! How dare you leave me alone with two screaming little...?”

 

Nova yawned and extricated herself gently from her husband’s arms. “Dawn, never call my children Goddamned kids again, or I’ll be so mad at you that you won’t want to guess what’ll happen! I’ll be down in a minute…OVER AND OUT!” she barked as she slammed down the phone. “Damn teenager mentality!” Nova mumbled.

 

“Derek?” Nova said as she kissed her husband and got out from under the sheet and blanket, shivering a little as the cold air made goose pimples appear from head to toe on her nude body.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Baby call. I’ll bring them up here with us…Dawn’s too agitated and tired to deal with this. God knows how she’ll deal with her own kids at 0300 in the morning when she brings them home with Jefferson. Where’s my robe again?”

 

“Locker,” yawned Derek.

 

Nova opened the locker, stepped into her thongs, and clad herself in a knee-length white robe. “There’d better be an alert in the next hour…see you in a bit...”

 

“Bye, Peppermint,” muttered Derek.

 

Nova yawned and said, “I need space java right now in a major way…”

 


 

A few minutes passed on the Bridge while, elsewhere on the ship, Nova went down to see Dawn, gave her the rough side of her tongue, and collected her children, calming Alex casually with one of her breasts as the worst of his hunger and thirst was taken care of by Mommy as Nova watched Dawn diapering Ariel. Then, she left to take the kids back up to their cabin.

 

Back on the Bridge, Henson asked Sandor, “Should I power down one of the auxiliary engines for a check now?”

 

“Not yet,” Sandor replied. “It’s possible we may need it later this watch. I…”

 

“I have a weird feeling about this,” muttered Sasha.

 

Rosstowski sat up, hard, as he said, “What sort of feeling?”

 

“Yeah, what?” said Eager. “An Iscandarian flash of some kind?”

 

“A vague feeling of unease, and…”

 

At that, the Time Radar began to go off. “I’ve just picked up an intercept!” Sasha barked. “This was in this space two point five hours ago…have a look?”

 

Sasha pulled up an image. It was of a rather large-looking spacecraft, an odd design that none of them had ever seen before. It looked like some kind of…centipede?”

 

“That thing’s ugly..” said Sasha. “It…”

 

“I’m seeing a cargo ship nearby,” said Rosstowski as he pointed up. “Look!”

 

Sasha’s mouth fell open as the centipede quickly attacked the cargo vessel, blowing it to pieces before it warped out in a shimmer and glare of light. Sasha then said, “I’m reading debris! Metal…plastic…and…I think…bodies! NO!”

 

“Miss Reiter,” said Sandor. “Have you picked up a distress signal?”

 

“No…nothing…”

 

“Nothing to pick up….that ship destroyed them,” said Sasha as she tried to choke back tears. “Ident says that ship was a Parkesburg-class ore vessel. Crew of twenty, all dead!”

 

“Hmmm,” said Sandor as he pushed aside his relief and looked some controls. “That thing had Magna-Power engines. It could be from the Comet Empire! This is NOT good!”

 

“Should we have an alert?” said Rosstowski.

 

“What if they come back, sir?” said Henson.

 

Sandor stood up, sweating slightly as he said, “No alert…yet…..but I am getting the Captain! He and Nova need to see this. We might be dealing with a new enemy….another new enemy! Or maybe an old enemy who has just thrown an armistice agreement out the window!”

 

“Not good,” said Eager.

 

“Sasha, keep on watching that radar until we get the Lieutenant Commander down here to make some scans! I’ll be right back! Rosstowski, you have the conn!

 

“Yessir,” replied Paul, who suddenly realized that until they got back…he was now in command of the legendary Argo.

 


 

In the meantime, in a growing frazzle because of the unknown enemy, and unaware of (and indifferent to) what might be happening in the Wildstars’ lives at 0430 in the morning, Sandor banged at the hatch to the Captain’s quarters, and then just pulled it open, yelling, “Captain! With all respect, we need you!” but regretting his choice as soon as he heard a baby gurgling.

 

Nova snapped in a sleepy voice, as she sat there with her robe open and Ariel at her breast, “Steve, it’s 0430! What is it? I’m sorry, but…I’m…we’re…kind of busy!”

 

“Yeah, this had better be good!” Derek snapped as he was suddenly aware of Sandor’s presence as he stood there while his barely dressed wife held Ariel and fed her.

 

“Uh….a radar trace we picked up on the Time Radar…a ship that attacked and destroyed a freighter….was in our space recently, sir. I didn’t call an alert, but if the size of this thing is…right…”

 

Derek threw a blanket over Nova’s chest (now, he was more mindful of his young wife’s nakedness than she was, occupied with the babies) as she continued to feed and snuggle their daughter. “Is it attacking the ship now?”

 

“No, but….it looks like it’s 1500 meters long, and…”

 

Ariel’s whimper reminded Sandor of where he was. He felt worse as her heard Nova cooing, “Is that still what you want, Ariel…there?” and then, since he was trying not to stare too much, he nonetheless saw her getting up, holding the blanket to her waist with one hand and holding her baby girl to her breast with her other hand. The tender scene looked…adorable. Sandor felt more alone than ever as he glanced at Nova feeding the baby that her love and Derek’s had produced. That’s something I’ll probably never know, he thought mournfully for a moment. Diane knows…I…I can’t conceive a child…damn that accident I had as a boy!

 

“Sorry I caught you and Nova at a bad time, sir, I…”

 

“Steve, beat it!” Derek snapped.

 

“Derek, wait. Steve, send the video right to my desk up here in a feed. I’ll look at it while I’m finishing with the kids. I…I do stuff like this all the time at home…you’ll understand someday when you and Diane get married, especially if you have twins… and…oh, darn, I…”

 

Sandor stepped back, saluted, and walked out the hatch backwards…the last he saw of Wildstar was of him picking up the blanket.

 

Poor Nova had dropped it. Again.

 

He was trying not to chuckle as the hatch closed.

 


 

Four minutes later, still in their cabin, Nova was studying the Time Radar feed at her desk as she sat in her chair with Ariel in her lap with her robe closed while she burped Ariel while she tried to be a mother and an officer at the same time.

 

“Now why the hell was he panicking like that?” Wildstar snapped. “I felt like punching him! He knows better! Call us first! You should have belted him!”

 

“I might have slapped him, except…. Besides, Derek, he was panicking for a good reason! It’s because this thing is 1.5 kilometers long. I’ve never seen a mecha like this before in my life; take a look! If the Gamilons weren’t on our side, you’d think they would have built this ship. It looks organic! And look at how it wiped out that ship! I feel so bad for those people!”

 

Derek leaned over his wife’s shoulder, making her giggle a little when he kissed her neck. “It looks like…some kind of Centipede? Nova, what are you reading on this thing?”

 

“I’m reading old traces of cordite and propellant,” she said as she simultaneously burped Ariel. “Those legs on that thing are missiles. About a hundred and fifty of them,” Nova said, using her toes to point to the screen since her hands were full with Ariel. Somehow (Derek never knew how she had the flexibility to do so), Nova used her big toe to hit “ENTER” on her keyboard and said, “Close-up view. See the fins on that thing? Get us uniforms, please. When she’s full, I’m dropping her off and we’re heading to the First Bridge.”

 

Derek nodded, helping Nova to slip off her robe and then to step into her underthings and tights and the rest of her uniform as she ran to the bed, still with Ariel in her lap, alternating between putting on her boots and pulling a fresh shirt over her baby girl’s little bare chest. “Derek, what’s Alex doing?”

 

“Sleeping,” he said as he pulled on his trousers. “I noticed he wasn’t hungry.”

 

“Good guy,” Nova whispered as Derek tucked him into his carrier. Nova kissed his nose and said, “Mommy is taking you two back to Sickbay, where, hopefully, Auntie Dawn is being a good girl now and has calmed down. Okay?”

 

“Momma uniform funny,” Ariel said as Nova slowly zipped her suit up.

 

“Shh,” Nova said. “You’ll have Mommy again later. Want to try split peas again?”

 

Ariel caught the screen and giggled, “bugbugbugbugbugbug, BUG!”

 

“That’s right, it’s a bug mecha,” said Derek as he closed his peacoat and pulled on his cap. “Hopefully, Daddy and Mommy don’t have to exterminate it…”

 


 

Ten minutes later, the Captain and Nova arrived together on the bridge. Some kind of alert must have been called, for they saw regular crewmembers coming back to their posts. Eager was at her radar, and he said, “The ship’s getting closer! Following us at twelve megameters’ range.”

 

Nova took back her post, flicked switches, and said, “Eager, was this the best you could get of it?”

 

“It’s got electronic counter measures up its butt someplace,” he drawled. “Good thing you stuck the Time Radar on cook setting or we never mighta found it!”

 

“Cook setting,” Nova mumbled. “That’s a new one. Its energy source seems to be magna-power of some kind. I’m getting a clearer trace of it now!”

 

“Cometines,” said Sandor flatly as Nova sent him the data. “It has to be!”

 

“Excuse me?” said Wildstar from the Captain’s station after he sat down.

 

“They’re the only race we know of that uses Magna-Energy,” said Sandor. “Wildstar, if it’s them, they just breached the cease-fire and armistice. You know the legalities. They are not supposed to bring any new armed types of spacecraft into the solar system, nor are they supposed to be running recon on us.”

 

“Recon?” Derek said.

 

Nova hit some buttons and  said, “I’m trying to jam it, Derek, but they’re snooping. They’ve painted us with three kinds of sensors in the last thirty seconds plus two kinds of sensors I don’t even know about! And they’re coming in closer; range, ten megameters! Make that nine megameters! Make that eight! Speed, twenty-nine space knots and sharply increasing! That bug’s being really aggressive!”

 

“Damn thing’s on an intercept course!” yelled Eager. “They ain’t playin’ games!”

 

“Taking evasive action!” snapped Kitano from his post

051[1]

“That’s it!” Wildstar snapped as he hit the alert switch and grabbed his microphone. “Attention all hands, attention, all hands, this is the Captain! All hands to combat stations! Repeat, all hands to combat stations! This is not a drill, I repeat, this is NOT a drill! All hands to…”

 

“Missiles approaching!” barked Eager.

 

The Argo dodged the missiles while Domon nodded to Rosstowski. Paul said, “Open gun turrets number one and two! Target; enemy vessel! Turret aberration, plus five! Locking on target!” he said as the Argo’s main guns raised and locked on, ready to fire in authentic anger for the first time in months. “Ready to fire on your orders, Captain!”

 

“Domon, arm all forward weapons, ready to fire on my…”

 

“It’s sending some kind of communication!” said Homer. “Voice-only!”

 

“Switch to the main speakers!” Wildstar ordered.

 

A loud hum came up, and then the sound of someone clearing their voice. Then, an arrogant, cold voice said, “You big ugly vessel! What reason do you have for approaching us in this fashion?“

 

You big, ugly vessel,” repeated Wildstar mockingly. “That’s a new one. You’re intruding in our territorial space and you fired upon my ship once, and we also have information indicating that you just wiped out an unarmed, unescorted cargo vessel a few hours ago like a space pirate! State your identity and planet of origin at once!”

 

“Tell me yours,” said the mocking voice. “And tell me what sort of undeveloped dump of a star system this is?”

 

“This is the Sol System, and you have entered into the territorial space of the Earth Federation! You are speaking to the space battleship Argo. My name is Commodore Derek Wildstar, commander of this vessel and commander of the elite First Star Force Special Unit. Where are you from, and do you have anything to do with the Cometine Empire, OVER!?!”

 

“My, my, my, kiddo, do you have high blood pressure?” said the mocking voice. “You must have a high anxiety level. Don’t worry. Spectra can do all sorts of things to help you. We can sell you lots of pills, after you bow to the Great Spirit and enter our Dominion, of course!”

 

“They’ve got video coming in!” said Homer.

 

“Well, switch it to the main screen!”

 

“The gain’s really weird. It’s distorted!” Homer said.

 

“Well, put it up!” Derek ordered.

 

“Yessir,” said Homer.

 

Spectrabunch1An image came up of a group of about nine Terran-looking men, all of whom wore masks in a strange Bridge or Control Room that Wildstar assumed was that of the centipede mecha. It was so distorted that it made the grid lines on the Argo’s screen look totally distorted.

 

The man who was evidently their commander was a very weird-looking individual who wore a purple cloak lined with red satin, strange high brown boots, and a mask that made him look like some weird cross between a purple mountain lion and a purple Doberman. Derek also noticed that the weird-looking commander seemed to have pink lipstick on.

 

Lipstick? Derek thought with distaste. The only men I’ve ever seen in lipstick were in costume at the midnight Rocky Horror Picture Show Nova took me to once for a laugh. He looks like something from some ancient anime series.

 

“Okay, you,” Wildstar said. “First, take off that stupid mask. I don’t normally talk to people wearing masks.”

 

You take off that stupid yachting cap, hippie-boy,” mocked the enemy commander.

 

“Like hell,” said Wildstar. “This is a symbol of my rank.”

 

“My mask is a symbol of my rank, Wildhair,” snapped the enemy commander. “For your information, my name is General Ibn Zoltar the Illustrious, probably to be the next Grand Chairman of Spectra soon since our lord lies on his deathbed. I am doing his bidding. That is why I wiped that ship out, for your information! I demanded their surrender and they refused, so I jammed their transmissions and dealt with them as they deserved to be dealt with, so it is now upon their own heads as they burn in Hell! Anyone ever tell you that you have a stupid-looking crew, son? The kid in the front next to the droid looks like he stuck his finger in a socket and thus all of his hair is standing on end, the kid next to him in green and white looks retarded, the guy in blue and white has no eyebrows, the guy next to him in green and white looks like he overeats, while the blonde chick near him in the yellow catsuit looks anorexic. The girl in the orange and white outfit has grease on her face and looks idiotic, the guy in yellow looks like he is gay, and the guy beside him with the messy brown hair looks like a jerk from South Philly! And your droid looks like a red trashcan!”

 

IQ-9 got up and said, “I am not a trashcan! I am a genius robot! Take back what you said about Nova! I am in love with her! She is the most beautiful woman in the universe! If you hate her, you hate all women! Men and women are equal! Are you a man or a woman?”

 

“None of your business!” yelled Zoltar. “Will you surrender, Wildhair?”

 

“You should be the one who is surrendering,” said Wildstar. “You are the one intruding in our space, you terrorist!”

 

“And you are the one who offends me with your stupid dress sense!” yelled Zoltar. “Peacoats went out in the Napoleonic Wars! And don’t you know that red and black clash? Who dresses you in the morning, lover-boy? The anorexic chick, or the fat one?”

 

Zoltar laughed insanely as he cut off.

 

“I’m not anorexic,” Nova huffed.

 

“I’m not fat,” said Diane.

 

As the ship fired more missiles, Nova said, “Recommend evasive! And he’s getting closer! Range, seven megameters!”

 

“I have the feeling that man is insane, Wildstar,” said Sandor. “He can’t be reasoned with, or negotiated with.”

 

“Good for us,” said Wildstar as he folded his arms, “Mister Domon, fire at will! Let’s send that madman to Hell where he belongs!”

 

“We gave him his chance,” said Domon. “Main guns, OPEN FIRE!”

 

The Argo’s guns fired one, two, three times.

 

The third salvo blew off the centipede’s tail and about five of its segments.

 

On board the enemy vessel, one of the crewmen said, “General Zoltar. We’ve lost four segments and the supply of poison gas for their homeworld! We have to abort the mission! That ship is very strong and has heavy firepower! Just as we were warned!”

 

“It’s just under a fifth as big as we are. If we hit those naval turrets on that floating nightmare, we can capture it!” Zoltar said. “Then we can do what I should have done to that freighter and her crew, namely captured them and turned them all into slaves!”

 

The centipede shook again as more segments were blown off of it.

 

“Lordship! That big ugly ship is launching space interceptors!”

 

“Interceptors would tie us down too long,” said Zoltar. “Fire missiles at them and the big ugly boat and let’s warp out of here! We can scavenge upon them another day!”

 

The centipede fired twelve missiles….six at Hardy’s and Wakefield’s approaching squadrons, and six at the Argo. There were multiple hits to the Tigers and to the ship.

 

But the strange ship just ran, warping away right as Hardy and his wingmen fired missiles at it.

 

Damn them!” said Hardy as he banged a gloved hand on his dashboard.

 


 

FOUR HOURS LATER….

 

Commodore Wildstar visited Sickbay. “How’s things?”

 

Doctor Sane sighed. “Casualties could have been heavier. Three dead, ten injured, mostly shrapnel and radiation burns. We’ve warped to the Mikanus System already?”

 

Derek nodded his head. “We have to go on with these trials and test the wave motion gun. We can’t be interrupted in any more tests. Not now! Any more interruptions while we do so will make our test results for that phase useless!”

 

Nova came up, saluting as she stood there in a slightly bloody nurses’ smock. “Our injured are okay. Dawn and Sasha are not among them. Luckily, neither Alexander nor Ariel are among them, either. They’re sleeping now. God bless them. They slept right through a battle!  Poor dears,” Nova said as she wiped her eyes and Derek hugged her.

 

“We’ll be fine,” said Derek. “I think we gave that enemy unit a scare. They shouldn’t be coming back. I hope. It’s whoever sent them that worries me!”

 

“Derek, do they have guest quarters on that prison asteroid?” Nova asked.

 

“Why?”

 

“Request permission to be relieved of duty and dropped off there later today with Alex, Ariel, Dawn and Sasha until you finish the trials in five days. Then you can pick us up.”

 

“Nova…they have guest quarters there…but near the Second Cellblock! Would you want to subject our children to the sights and sounds of a prison?”

 

“It might be safer there than here,” Nova said sadly.

 

“Nova, yes, there is a threat of enemy attack, but here, you are as safe as possible. The babies are either in Sickbay or our cabin, and those are among the most well-armored parts of the ship by design. No one will hurt any of you here, unless, God forbid, we get boarded. In that prison, you would be just meters away from cutthroats and madmen like Hartcliffe, or even worse. And it is a men’s prison. Women would not be safe there. In fact, regs keep you from even going into the place! I could relieve you from duty if you feel you can’t be a mother and my officer at the same time, but, no…you are not leaving this ship until we make the next safe port, which is home. Do you want me to relieve you of duty?”

 

Nova looked down at her white boots and shook her head “No, Derek. I didn’t know all of that about that asteroid. Thank you, and you need not relieve me of duty. I am…capable of doing my job…I…”

 

Nova grabbed a tissue from a dispenser and sneezed into it.

 

“You okay?” Derek said.

 

“Sinuses…I think. That attack must’ve shaken up some dirt from the refit. Let me go check on the kids.”

 

Nova kissed Derek and took off.

 

Okay, I wonder what’s going to be on the agenda next? Wildstar thought. Those jokers had better not come back.

 


 

TO BE CONTINUED….