ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE
STAR BLAZERS---PASSICAGLIA AND FUGUE IN C MINOR
Being the eighth part of THE RIKASHA INCIDENT--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz
NOTE: (1)
ACT TWO--DIAMONDS ARE
FOREVER
I. SECRETS AND SCROLLS
Planet Iscandar
Thursday, February 25,
2202
1222 Hours: Spacetime
Days had passed.
With the party over with,
Starsha's peace was being disturbed by the Black Tigers flying drill after
drill. Of course, she knew the reason why; it was because of a possible
impending Rikashan attack on the planet, as well as due to Ekogaru's approach.
According to Aliscea, the
Dark Lord was now only 70,000 light-years away from Iscandar.
Aliscea, of course, knew
what Ekogaru had done to Planet Dej'jat IV and its people. It was her guess
that he would arrive in seven days, on March 4th. She wanted Iscandar...and
herself...to be ready to stop him.
And the young woman was
livid.
"You need to rest at
some point, Aliscea," said Paul in a break between attack drills on the Argo
as he watched her poring over scrolls, taking notes, and occasionally muttering
strange poems...or, incantations? "You haven't slept for thirty
hours!"
"I can live without
sleep," she hissed. "I love you, but I can fight this battle without
anyone else worrying about it! I am getting closer to knowing how we can stop
him. And, stopped he must be...before he kills other innocents. He destroyed a
whole world and civilization in just twenty minutes. This creature cannot be
negotiated with, nor reasoned with. It can only be slain and sent back to the
Pit of Hell where it belongs."
"Even Starsha needs to
rest," said Paul Rosstowski. "C'mon, Aliscea!"
Nova, in her usual uniform,
came into the library a moment later, walking as quietly as possible. "I
made coffee if you need it, Aliscea."
"Did you sleep?"
"I had to. Derek
insisted upon it."
"Well, I don't need to
sleep, Nova. I am running on a spiritual energy that I don't even think you can
comprehend," she said as she took the coffee with a shaking hand.
"You need rest. You're mortal. I am more than mortal."
"I'm on duty, Aliscea.
I'm here to check on you on the Captain's orders."
"Then what do you have
to do?"
"Return to the Argo
and work on calibrating the radar, what else?" said Nova with a shrug.
"I'm an officer in the Earth Defense Forces. I've taken an oath that won't
allow me to rest now, even though my body just wants to sleep, and my soul
wants to be at peace with my husband, who can't rest either right now. But you
didn't take any such oath. And you do need to rest at some point,
Aliscea," she said as she stopped to rub the black-clad woman's sagging
shoulders. "Your eyes are so red from reading, Aliscea. At some point,
you'd better get to sleep."
"Nova,
thank you. If I
rest just like...if you rest too long, people will die. Give me that coffee.
Besides, who says I haven't taken an oath?"
"You're not in the
service, Aliscea," said Nova. She began to pour some coffee at a table
while Aliscea silently walked out to a balcony in the crystalline library.
Kneeling bare-kneed on the cool crystal, Aliscea shut her eyes, and abruptly
put up her hands.
Fire came out of both of
her palms. She shut her eyes, muttered something that sounded like a prayer,
and the fire streaked forth into the sky, roaring out like a wave-motion gun
energy surge far, far up into Iscandar's atmosphere, and out into deep space.
Nova came out onto the
balcony and nearly dropped the coffee.
"Uh...thank Heavens
you're on our side," she stammered.
"Not enough,
yet," said the trembling Aliscea. "Not far enough. Not far enough. I
need that coffee."
Nova handed Aliscea a cup
of coffee. She sipped at it as Paul ran out. "Weak," muttered the
Pellian. "Too weak. Nova,
damnit, make this stuff stronger, would you? I need to stay
awake...Need...to...stay....aw...."
Aliscea abruptly fell down
in her tracks like a dead thing. "I...didn't find what we need...not
here...not here. Need to go to the colleges...of...Arandia, Nova."
"We'll get you what
you need," said Nova in a soft but firm voice as Paul ran up. "Right
now, you'd better let us get you out of here and to a bed. Before
you...go into a coma or something."
Paul Rosstowski came up
just as Nova, with a bit of a struggle, lifted up the young Pellian, who was
almost her own weight.
"I can take her,
Nova."
"You're more exhausted
than she is," Nova snapped. "I can carry her back to the palace.
There, Starsha and I can put her to bed. And you, too."
"Nova, you're going to
rip some muscles someplace. She's nearly as heavy as you are, you stupid woman.
Maybe heavier."
"Well, if you're so
bloody worried, help me by getting her ankles or something. C'mon!"
A shaky Rosstowski held his
wife by her ankles. Together, he and Nova carried Aliscea back to Starsha's
palace.
A while
later, Nova dabbed at the sleeping Aliscea's forehead with a washcloth. "She'll be all right,
Derek."
"What about you?"
he said. "Nova, you've damn near sweated through your uniform...it's
soaked."
"I'll live. Just
pretend you sent me out there to do punishment drills or something like
that."
"But you can't walk
around in that...uh....
"So? I can take it off
and wash up," she said. "I know where Starsha's tub is by now. I have
a spare uniform here. Why don't you join me, Captain? We need a short breather
before we go back to those drills and then dive off
"Sure you're all
right?" he said as Nova leaned over a chair and panted.
"I'll survive. I've
had four hours' worth of sleep."
"You're all driving
yourselves so hard," said Starsha. She threw a light shawl over Nova’s
shoulders.
"Stop coddling
us!" said Derek. "I mean no disrespect, Queen Starsha, but we're
warriors. We have an enemy coming in a few days that can eat Gamilon and
Iscandar for lunch and then dine on Earth for dessert. This isn't like our last
time on Iscandar where we could rest for a month. We took advantage of your
hospitality and rested for a few days. We had a few laughs. But, now, it's time
to get back to work. Nothing...uh...meant...but...it's our job to help defend
you. Ours, Desslok's and Aliscea's. And yours,
too."
"You should
understand, both of you, that this is a battle that will not be fought with
weapons."
"Yes, Starsha, but
there's a Rikashan Fleet coming!" said Nova. "They did so many
terrible things at Pellias. They...they killed children and ravished women,
Queen Starsha. They set fire to people's homes for fun. Do you want to see an
invasion force marching on
Starsha just stood in
silence. "It won't come to that, Nova. I've made up my mind. So has
Aliscea. Now, please go, both of you." She looked at them with a sad smile.
"Do what you need to do. I shall speak to you later."
Then, Starsha left.
"Derek, I can take a
shower on the ship," said Nova after a moment. "Five minutes, and
I'll be back on the bridge."
Captain Wildstar stood in
silence. "Let's at least use that bath as long as we're here. The tea is
good."
Nova smiled at him.
"Let's go."
A few minutes later, their
uniforms were off in a pile, with Nova's fresh uniform laid out in on the floor
of one of Starsha's hot spring rooms beneath the palace. The room was lined
with reddish rock.
"Not bad," said
Derek as he lowered himself into the steaming water. "Nice
of her and Alex to point this room out to us."
Nova nodded as she lay back
in the water. "What I don't need is to fall asleep and miss that drill.
What I do need is to get some of that pain out of my legs. Mmmmm.
When do we have to be back again?" she asked.
Derek looked at his
chronometer. "Thirteen hundred."
"Do you...hmmm?"
said Nova softly as she cuddled against him.
"Not this afternoon,
Nova. I have a headache."
"Is that headache
about 62,000 metric tons and about 263 meters long?" asked Nova with a
hint of mischief.
Derek nodded.
"That headache,"
smiled Nova. "I've got my own headache. She sent me an e-mail today."
"Your
mother?"
"Nope," smiled
Nova. "My cousin Allison."
"The ditzy
blonde?" teased Derek.
"I take some exception
to that," said Nova with a half-annoyed expression. "I am a blonde.
Okay...it's honey or ash-blonde...but," she said
as she looked at her hair.
"Okay. Allison is a
full blonde. And she's ditzy."
"Bubbly,
yes. Ditzy, no."
"I might take issue to
that," said Derek. "But...there was the one time I met her...when she
came by our house after we got back from our honeymoon?"
"Derek, she's had a
hard life. She lost her parents too, you know. Maybe that's part of why I
relate to you so well. Having her live with us from about the time I was ten
until I left for college...and she moved in with us later in the summer after I
came back from that trip to Aunt Yvona's..."
"Seriously," said
Derek. "I remember what she was like the one time I met her...I remember
she was kind of like you...cute, somewhat smart...but sad..."
Fan-art: "Allison Forrester" (c) 2003 by Frederick P. Kopetz
Flashback: Wednesday,
January 6, 2202
AT Derek and Nova Wildstar's Residence
The Great Megalopolis...
It was in the afternoon...
"Derek, what are you doing?" asked
Nova from the kitchen.
"Working on this table in the dining
room," replied Derek. "Leaves are weird. Do you know how hard it is to
polish these artificial wood tables, Nova?"
"Let me see," said Nova as she came
into the room. She had on a black sweater, white apron, corduroy slacks, and
went barefoot. Derek wore jeans, a red sweater, and had his socks on. She ran a
finger over the tabletop. "Still some dust."
"Hey, that's not fair!"
Nova giggled. "Remember how you burned
me during that inspection that time on the way to Iscandar? Turnabout is fair
play, Skipper!"
At that, their doorbell rang.
"Who can that be?" said
Captain Wildstar.
"I'll get it, Derek."
He followed Nova, and when the door opened,
he beheld a young woman with waist-length golden-blonde hair who looked very
young, maybe twenty-one. She was carrying a brown simulated suede jacket in one
hand, and wore a pink sweater, brown faux suede jumper, faded denim skirt, and
sandals.
"Allison!" cried Nova. "When
did you get leave?"
"I got liberty last night," said
Allison as she threw her coat on a chair in the foyer and hugged her cousin.
Nova then closed the door and ended up giggling as Allison swept her up off her
feet and twirled her around for a moment.
"Hey! You've gotten strong!"
laughed Nova as she held hands with her slightly shorter cousin. "First
time you've been able to pick me up! And what's this, wearing sandals in
January with snow on the ground out there? Are you nuts?"
"I got a staff car for my leave,"
said Allison. "Besides, you're running around barefoot!"
"Oh, I'm in the house cooking. Allison,
get rid of those shoes and meet us in the kitchen."
"Okay," she said, smiling as she
noticed Derek while taking her shoes off. "Nova, is this your famous booooyfrriend?"
Derek cleared his throat. "Miss
Forrester, we are married."
"Just teasing my cousin, sir,"
smiled Allison.
"You don't just tease me, you drive me
up the wall!" laughed Nova.
"Nova, what are you up to in
there?" said Derek.
"Trying to learn how
to make a Hollandaise sauce the right way. Never done it before."
"You never made that on the Argo?"
"Haven't you heard?" said Allison.
"She has a habit of making ovens explode."
"I do not!" cried Nova as she
stirred a pot of sauce on the stove.
"Do too."
"Do not!" cried Nova, shaking a
spoon at her cousin. Derek looked rather bemused. "Funny, you treat her
the same way Alex treated me at times."
"Well, who's older?" said Nova.
"If she gets into the 'I'm prettier than
you' bit, I'm gonna barf," laughed Allison. "Seriously, you get the
blender I sent for the wedding yet?"
"We did," said Nova.
"What about your Aussie hat?" said Allison.
"Excuse me," said Nova. "Derek,
you watch that," she said, leaving a spoon in his hand. She ran into the
master bedroom and came back a moment later wearing a brown bush campaign hat.
"You mean this?"
Allison laughed. "Oh, it looks good on
you, cuz!"
"Looks good on you, too," said Nova
as she smiled and put it on Allison's head.
At that, all three of them had laughed...
"Nice memory,"
said Derek as he leaned back in the water. "Earth.
Our house."
"Home," said Nova
quietly. She looked at him with glistening eyes. "We've had a lot of
adventures, but...I wish we were home now. I wish this war was over. We're
facing the possible extinction of the human race again, Derek! This is
horrible! When does it end?"
Derek held his wife in the
steaming water for a minute. "Nova, I don't know. C'mon...let's get back
to the ship. We have that drill."
Nova shut her eyes, wiped
away the tears, and got out of the water. Then, she stood there while Derek
began to dry her off, and smiled as she dried him.
Illustration: “Sweet Love” by “Meixiang” Illustration originally appeared on “Kodaism” at http://homepage2.nifty.com/kodaism/love.html.
Artwork used by permission.
As they dried each other, Nova giggled
as Derek began to kiss her and tickle her. Finally, they fell down laughing
together on top of the towels, looking into each other’s eyes after they
exchanged a sweet kiss.
“I thought you said you had
a headache, Derek!” Nova said as her
husband ran his hands up and down her smooth back.
“You’re curing that
headache.”
“We’re…running out of
time,” said Nova as she received some more kisses, and caresses.
“I know we’re running out
of time. We can be quick about this!”
“What if Alex comes down
here?” said Nova.
“He won’t.”
“Why?”
“The door’s closed. And locked.”
“You devil,” said Nova as
she stroked her husband’s hair and went back to kissing him.
A precious few minutes
passed, during which they forgot about everything, everything, that is, except
for each other, as they enjoyed each other in the warm, steaming room in an
interlude that was just as steamy as the room. Finally, when they were done,
both of them finished drying off, they dressed, and then left to get back to
work for the rest of this day and the beginning of the next day...
II. BLOOD AND HONOR
Earth's Solar System
Beyond the Oort Cloud
Friday, February 26,
2202
1116 Hours: Spacetime
The EDF space battleship Cassiopeia
led her task group through a lane of asteroids and space trash.
"So far, so
good," said Commodore Ryu Hoshiyama on the bridge of his flagship.
"Continue to assume standard formation."
"Sir," said the
communications officer of the Andromeda-class space battleship.
"Captain Siegel from the Akagi called in. Routine report," he
said as he read from the tape. "The spacecraft carrier is about to change
squadrons. They're receiving their BARCAP back in and are about to launch
another one as planned."
"Excellent. Tell the
rest of the task group to keep pace and speed."
"Roger."
On the Akagi, Dac
Windfield's plane had just hit the deck. Dac smiled a smug, self-confident,
almost arrogant smile as his plane hit the magnetic arresting field. Damn
fun flying amongst all of those asteroids, he thought. Feels like
nothing can go wrong today. I'm on top of the world! I'm hot!
As he steered his plane
into the hangar deck, he grinned a little as he saw a slender figure with
flowing blonde hair running up to his plane.
"Anya! What are you
doing down here?"
Anya leaned up and kissed
Dac as he began to climb out of the cockpit. "Just your wife saying that
she got her watch done a little early and would like you to meet her for a talk
in our cabin. Our cabin," she smiled. "Funny
concept."
"Feels like the whole
universe has just gone damn weird," he said. "Stick around...have to
check in."
"Noisy down
here," said Anya, covering her ears as another plane banged its way in.
"That's because this
is a Tigers' Den. Just like Hardy always said..."
"And what did he
always say...?"
On the Cassiopeia, a
spread of objects suddenly appeared on the radar. "Radar contacts, at
least forty objects..." said her radar officer, Fujiko Abe. "Port, and starboard, twenty-five degrees. Range,
fifteen megameters, speed twenty space knots. What the....? Energy surge from one of those ships? Switching to video
panel..."
They looked up and suddenly
saw a Rikashan fleet spread out before them. The lead ship was ugly and black.
A light was growing at its bow.
"What..? said Hoshiyama. "All ships...battle stations, battle
stations, helm prepare for evasive..."
The helmsman began to
evade, and the sirens went on for just a moment. But, a moment later, the
greenish light grew brighter.
"DI'ATS cannon ready,
Baron!" said Ter'garv triumphantly aboard the B'eoneraze.
"At last," smiled
Baron Anton Cha'rif. "Target practice before we begin
the invasion of Earth. Let's see how those pale scum
like our surge cannon!"
"Begin ten-second
countdown on rapid charge!" he yelled. "Ten. Nine! Eight! Seven. Six. Five.
Four. Three. Two...One...FIRE!"
yelled Cha'rif as he hit the firing levers on his ornate, evil-looking,
motorcycle-like firing handlebars."
The B'eoneraze's
Rikashan equivalent of the wave motion gun fired, blasting livid greenish-blue
death into the Earth task force.
"Helm, I said, evasive
maneuvers...!" cried Hoshiyama on the Cassiopeia as the space
battleship began to dissolve like ice cream on a hot day in the livid green
blast. "NOOO!"
On the Akagi, Dac
Windfield put down the clipboard holding the flight plan for what would be the
very last time. All of a sudden, as he was beginning to take Anya's hand, the
klaxons went off. He jumped back, startled while Anya looked at him like a
frightened deer. "Dac?" she asked. "What's going...? Is this a drill?"
"Anya, we'd better get
to our combat..." said Dac. Anya tensed to run off to the computer bloc.
Dac took a deep breath, preparing to run to his fighter, but then had no time
to take another as the whole flight deck suddenly and abruptly burst into a
weird white hell. Dac Windfield began to feel as if he was spinning.
"Anya?" he called. "Anya?"
"I'm right here,"
she said. "Where are we?"
"Not dead, that's for
sure...This is weird..."
They felt their existence
spinning around them, and thought they saw a shadowy glimpse of a female face
smiling at them.
"Who are you?"
All they saw was a
wink...and then, suddenly, they disappeared, strangely alive and intact. They
flew off together to their final destination like startled birds. So ends their
place in this tale, and in this universe. Their Maker, perhaps, was chuckling
over this rather...odd...turn of events.
Somewhere in the space
between universes, a man smoking a pipe, a former travelling salesman, now a
servant of a mad space computer, saw the events, smiled, and said, "Way to
Go... Mistress. Bob thanks you."
Unfortunately, this oddball
salvation did not apply to the rest of the Akagi's crew.
A moment later, with a roar and a
scream of grinding metal, without a chance to fight or fire a shot, the
spacecraft carrier Akagi tumbled in the energy surge, her stern
dissolving into oblivion, followed by her bow. Captain Siegel cried out in a
roaring scream of agony and then died along with his ship as the Akagi
met her end like her ancient namesake, the difference being that this Akagi
never sank...instead, she merely dissolved, melting into nothingness in a few
seconds.
Indeed, the whole task
force dissolved into nothingness. The ships farthest from the maelstrom had
enough time to send a few blips of distress calls back to Earth before likewise
fading into nothingness in agony like the crews and flight group of the Cassiopeia
and Akagi. The surge of energy spread out into space, with a residual
beam roaring off with explosion after explosion into the Oort Cloud as countless asteroids died along with the Earth task
group.
The beam faded into
nothingness. "Fine move," said Ter'garv with a smile.
"They were just
beginning to fight," said Cha'rif. "My mentally controlled warp put
us in just the right spot. Exhausting, but it will be worth it when we start
the war. That, and our tachyonic supercharger has just
enabled us to catch an Earth Fleet and worst them by surprise with their own
greatest weapon!" The Rikashan Baron threw back his head and laughed.
"When we go further into this system, they shall be easy to defeat."
"Destination?"
said Ter'garv.
"Warp us back out
towards Procyon. We cut off that Cometine group...what was left of it, at
Sirius and my other forces are turning that base into Rikashan territory now.
We have work to do at Procyon to take a second base. Then, with our two bases,
we can pick off the Terrans in raids at our leisure."
"Yes, like rats,"
said Ter'garv. "But what about the Star Force?"
"I need to meditate to
find out where they are. Perhaps they're at Iscandar? If so...we must head
there. Aliscea is waiting for us, so we must be careful. But, nothing to
bolster my confidence like a sweet victory!"
"Yes...a
massacre," said Ter'garv with a grin.
At that, both men laughed.
III. INVESTIGATIONS
Planet Iscandar
Space Battleship Argo
Central Tactics Room
Saturday, February 27,
2202
1000 Hours: Spacetime
"Captain Wildstar, in
case something happens, the ship is now full battle-ready," said Stephen
Sandor as the crew stood around a graphic in the Central Tactics Room.
"How are we doing with
the Black Tigers, Conroy?" asked Derek.
"Our remaining planes
are as ready for battle as they ever will be," said Conroy.
"Good. Continue the
practice flights."
"If we have Iscandar's
approval?" said Conroy.
Not far away, Alex Wildstar,
invited as an observer and as Starsha's representative, nodded. "Starsha
approves. Also, in the next day or so, we're going to begin long range-scans
from our two surviving exploration corvettes. We'll set up a protocol for that
information to be downloaded to the Argo along with what you're getting from
the...the Gamilons."
"Thank you," said
Derek. "General Helmeyer?" he asked, looking towards the Gamilon
liaison whom Starsha had finally permitted on Iscandar
as of yesterday. Aliscea and Alex had finally convinced her that it was
necessary to cooperate with Gamilon, at least for the duration of this crisis.
"Yes, Captain,"
said the chubby brown-haired Gamilon officer. "On Leader Desslok's orders,
now that we have a modus operandi with the Government of Iscandar we
have begun both organized patrols of the Sanzar System, as well as regular
scans from our base at the edge of the System. The scan results are regularly
being downloaded to both the Argo and a computer system in
"For what
purpose?" asked Alex.
"To
establish a permanent fighter base here on Iscandar. That way, after the Argo
leaves, eventually, there could be a permanent fighter screen around
Iscandar."
"That will be taken
under consultation, General," said Alex in a formal voice.
"Consort," said
Derek formally. "I have heard from the Earth Government. We would like to
make a similar offer. It is my understanding that an Earth Task Force at the
edge of our solar system could be diverted here to Iscandar to..."
An enlisted man from
Communications stopped before Captain Wildstar. "Sir, I hate to interrupt,
but we've just received this message from Earth through the Gamilon relay net
system, accounting for the two-hour delay, of course..."
"Hand me the
message," said Derek. He read the message and said, "Ladies and
Gentlemen, I regret to inform you that the First Special Task Force was
destroyed by the Rikashans in a sneak attack at the edge of our solar system
yesterday. Twenty ships and over a thousand men and women lost."
"Oh, no!" cried
Nova.
"Are the
Texans...lost?" asked Hardy.
Derek nodded.
"Damn!" said
Hardy. "I had some friends in that squadrohn!" Poor Windfield,
he thought with gritted teeth.
"I know," said
Captain Wildstar. "A lot of those men and women would have made good Black
Tigers. All hands, a salute and moment of silence for the First Special Task
Force."
The Terran soldiers present
saluted. Finally, they turned back towards Captain Wildstar. "Well, we
can't divert that Task Force here to Iscandar now. But, the Earth Government
would still...at some point, I am assuming...I am not sure when...like to base
some planes here on Iscandar...if we can manage it."
"You'd better consult
with them first," said Alex. "Earth might need every plane it can
get."
"But we can't forget
about Iscandar!" said Nova.
"True, but you can't
forget your own defenses, either," said Alex.
"About our
defenses," said Aliscea. "I think I know how I can attack Ekogaru's
Fortress."
Every eye turned to her.
"I know how, but I need to know where on the Fortress I need to hit
it...and the Dark Lord. The libraries of
"That's
dangerous," said Alex.
"But, it's the only
way we can do it," said Derek. "I have two divers volunteered for
this mission already. When we're done here, I'll send them over to the Palace
in
"All right...I shall
inform Queen Starsha," said Alex. "When can the divers be
ready?"
"In a while," said
Derek.
IV.
Planet Iscandar
Saturday, February 27,
2202
1230 Hours: Spacetime
"You know I'm opposed to this," said Queen
Starsha a while later as she confronted Derek, Nova, IQ-9 and Alex in her
palace.
"We really have no
choice, Queen Starsha," said Derek. He wore a diving hood, one-piece
wetsuit jacket with crotch strap in red and white, but his legs would be bare
in the ocean on account of the very warm tropical waters; thus, his leggings
and aqua boots were left behind. Nova also wore similar attire, save that her
wetsuit was gold and black. (Derek thought she looked far better bare-legged in
her brief wetsuit than he did, but that was beside the point) Both of them were
ready to go diving; their fins, masks, and air tanks were outside in a Jet
Recon Boat.
"It's very unsafe
around Arandia," stressed Starsha. "
"But we have no other
place to go to get the information we need," said Nova. "And, at
least, I've been on
Queen Starsha shut her eyes
and sighed. "It's very dangerous..."
"But Starsha,"
said Alex. "We'll be in more danger if Ekogaru can't be stopped. And
Aliscea requires the information to stop him."
Starsha sat back down in
her chair. Finally, she said, "In the libraries that Aliscea was going
through, you can find maps of the ancient psionic colleges of Arandia. The
college you would need to investigate would be that of the Latraxian Order.
They had an extensive library; much of which was on crystalline holographic
tablets. Luckily, a catalogue of that information still exists. The library
should still be accessible underwater. Please try to move quickly and be
careful about this."
"Queen Starsha, I shall
be diving with them," said IQ-9. "I would do anything to protect Nova
and the Captain."
"You be careful down there," said Nova. "No
games today."
"I know the difference
between work and fun, Nova," said IQ. "I also can carry a large spear
gun."
"Thanks," said
Derek. "Queen Starsha, please tell us which library we need to
investigate, and we can go..."
"I will certainly do
that," she said.
A while later, the man,
woman and robot sat in the Great Library of Mother Town, poring over old books
and maps.
"That's it," said
Nova as she excitedly jumped up and stood up on tiptoes to point at something
on the map. She went barefoot without her swim fins in the cool,
crystalline-walled library. "Derek, this is exactly where we need to look
on the island. There was a small peninsula in the city at the edge of the
island. The College of the Latraxians is right here at the southeastern edge.
We know where to find the site of
"Then, let's go when
you're done," he said. "You're copying this onto waterproof film,
Nova?"
She nodded; she was tracing
the map onto something like a sheet of clear acrylic. "I'm making two
copies...one for me, and one for you. IQ, record this map in your memory,
please."
"I will," he
said, floating his upper done up over the table so he could memorize the map.
"This will be
interesting," said Derek. "I've never gone scuba diving with you on a
mission before."
"Remember; we can't
come up too fast," added Nova. "And we may have to watch out for
undersea growth. Especially the odd plant life. That's
what I'm worried about."
"What about the animal
life?"
"We can handle
that," she said. "We both know how to survive underwater, don't
we?"
"I hope you're not
missing anything, Nova," said IQ-9.
"I don't think I am. We're
set on air; we have all the supplies we need. I even know which file drawer to
open when we get into that submerged library."
"Okay, then, let's
go," said Derek.
On the Argo, a
simulation was nearing its end on the first bridge. On the first bridge, the
protective shield was closed and simulations of space were showing on the main
screen, so it looked to them as if the ship had been in space. "Radar says
that we've taken care of the enemy fleet with our guns, sir," said Raiden.
"No damage to the helm;
all systems normal," said Parsons at the Argo's helm.
"Good, take us back to
Iscandar," said Venture, who was commanding the ship from the Captain's
console at the aft part of the bridge. It felt odd for him to be sitting there,
but Captain Wildstar had deviated the normal Officer
of the Deck procedure so that the commanding officer had some familiarity with
the Captain's controls. In other such simulations during the week, Yamazaki,
Dash, and Nova had also been introduced to the Captain's station when Derek had
stuck them in command.
"Engines normal,"
said Yamazaki.
"Good. We're going to
do this again as a practice-intensity exercise later on today between Iscandar
and Gamilon with a Gamilon Fleet opposing us," said Venture.
"Who's going to
command the ship then?" said Rosstowski.
"No one knows,"
said Venture. "The way the Captain's been going lately, it could even be
you."
"Great," said
Paul.
"This is weird,"
said Homer. "Why's he doing this?"
"Wildstar wants any
one of us to be able to assume command ASAP if we're in battle and any one of
us gets killed," said Venture. "Homer, I wouldn't do this if I were the Captain, but Wildstar's probably going to give you
your turn at some point."
"Now, let me give you
your grades," said Venture as he hit some keys on his console. "All
of you were in the nineties except for Voorhees at the tactical radar. Todd,
you only get an eighty-nine. You should be more alert next time we have you on
station up here."
"I'm sorry, sir,"
said Voorhees.
Doctor Sane showed up a
moment later. "First Officer, we've completed our psychiatric examination
of Mister Hartcliffe as to his fitness to stand trial."
"And what have you
learned?"
"He's ready for
Court-Martial, sir," said Doctor Sane. "I'd recommend that the
Court-Martial board begin his trial tomorrow before anything else can happen.
I'd have them do it today, but we can't do that with Nova on that survey
mission around the site of
"Thanks for letting me
know," said Venture.
Down in the brig, Bryan
Hartcliffe sat moping in nothing but his boxer shorts. Now, he had no writing
instruments, no books, no glasses...nothing except for the minimal underpants
he had on, and he ate his meals under the watchful eye of a Marine guard and a
medic and had to return all of the plastic utensils when he was done.
He heard a bang on the
door. "Mister Hartcliffe, you have a visitor," said a cold voice.
"Stand to attention."
Hartcliffe came to
attention but smiled a little as the door whizzed open and Angie was revealed.
"Hi,
"Yes?"
"I'd like to give our
marriage another shot. I've heard you still might have a career after all of
this is over with, so I wanted to say that I forgive you for all the asinine
stuff you've done in the past few weeks. Permission to hug
the prisoner, Sergeant?"
"I'll grant it just
this once," said the big African-American guarding Hartcliffe. "Just
don't pass the man anything, Mrs. Hartcliffe."
Angie then hugged
"Thanks," said
"God knows why, but I
do," she said, hugging him tighter.
"Break the
cinch," snapped the Marine. Angie stepped back. "By the way, I've
heard you go on trial tomorrow,
"Hmmh," he said.
"Hope they give me a chance to prepare a good defense..."
"What do you
mean?" she said.
"I want to be me own
lawyer."
"Oh...
"I would..."
"Please,
"Maybe I won't,"
he said. "Dunno."
"Your time's over Mrs.
Hartcliffe," said the medic. "Mister Hartcliffe, drop your skivvies
and bend over to be searched."
"Goodbye,
"Bye, Angie,"
said
"You too," she
said as she was led away by another Marine guard.
A while later, a Jet Recon
Boat bobbed in the
"IQ-9," said
Captain Wildstar. "I've decided I want you to stay with the ship but keep
in touch with us via UHF radio in case we need assistance, he said. He had on
his mask, wet hood with built-in headset, breathing mask and regulator with the
appropriate radio mike, as well as a weight belt, divers' knife, gas gun and
mesh carryall bag. He was putting his swim fins on over his own wet bare feet.
Nova was already in the
water; she had on an identical setup, but she carried a spear gun, and, of
course, she also had the all-important map. "Remember, you two have only
sixty minutes' worth of air," said IQ. "Do what you have to do
quickly, and watch out for seismic disturbances. Be careful."
"Thanks," said
Nova over her radio uplink. Derek joined her in the water a moment later.
"It is warm," he said, feeling the ocean on his bare legs.
"Yes, it feels good!
But this is no pleasure dive. Let's move as quickly as we can, Derek."
"Good idea," he
said. "I'll swim point."
They released in air in the
buoyancy bladders in their belts and went down beneath the waves, with Derek
leading the way in his white and red wetsuit, followed by Nova in her gold and
black wetsuit.
Underwater, the area around
"How do you like the
view?" asked Derek.
"Beautiful," said
Nova in awe. "We didn't go down this deep when we dove off our island the
other day..."
"Considering we had on
nothing but snorkels and ordinary swimwear, we couldn't go that deep,"
said Derek. "I think I see Arandia up ahead."
They looked down.
"Where did
"Down there, by the
mouth of that cave," said Nova softly. "They said...they said I was
going to have my wedding night with all of them in there."
"Not a nice
place," said Derek.
"They said they were
going to just...strip me...and make me service them right on the floor of the
cave," said Nova. "They were sort of starting to cut my uniform off
when the quake hit."
"That's why you looked
disheveled when you were rescued," said Derek as they swam past the cave.
Nova just said.
"Uh-huh..." in a depressed voice. As she looked at the cave for a
moment, one of her swim fins struck something. With dust drifting up against
her toes, which were exposed in her swim fins, she picked up the
growth-encrusted object. She looked at it with curiosity, and then a gasp of
revulsion escaped her lips.
"Nova, what's
wrong?" he asked.
Nova just silently held up
the object; with the growth off, it was revealed to be a crumbling human skull.
"I just found
"How do you know it's
him?"
"The pattern of the
fillings and dental work," she said, looking at the teeth. "I still
remember it. He had pretty bad teeth. I helped Doctor Sane work on them
once."
"Should we take him
with us?" said Derek quietly.
Nova looked at the
skull...it was crumbling away as she held it. "No," she said.
"The seas of Iscandar have most of him now...let this much of him go back
to its resting place," she said as she let go of the skull.
"So, if things were
different..."
"I'd be buried down
here, too," said Nova. "Let's get out of here, Derek. This place is a
graveyard. Almost like that shipwreck I investigated."
With bubbles going up
around them, they swam on.
Finally, after about twenty
minutes, they had entered the lost city of
"What we need is right
here," said Nova. She flicked on a small light at her belt, and Derek
followed her towards some submerged file drawers.
"First epoch,"
murmured Nova softly. "First era, tenth century," she said as she
scrubbed some gunk off one of the labels on the drawers. "It'd be in
here."
Nova and Derek pulled the
drawer open; all sorts of bubbles and dust came up.
The crystalline tablets
were intact.
"I can't see much on
these except for a few runes," said Derek.
"They're holographic;
that's why," said Nova. "We'll have to put them in the reader back in
the Great Library in
"Now we just have to
hope that we can read these and that Aliscea can make sense of them in the next
few days," said Derek.
"I hope so, too,"
said Nova. She gave her husband a quick hug underwater. "This is the first
glimmer of hope that we can stop the Dark Lord. Let's go!"
After Derek secured his
tablets, and Nova secured hers, they began to swim out of the library. Then,
with a few kicks of their fins, Arandia was left behind in its watery grave.
The couple slowly began to head for the surface.
But, as they swam along,
Nova felt something go around her bare calf. She gasped, and looked down.
Some Iscandarian sea
creature, which looked like an aquatic version of a Protozoan of Pluto, had
Nova in its grasp.
"Derek!" she
cried.
"Are you all
right?"
"It's heavy. Pulling me
down! Luckily, it's not stinging or anything...I don't want to use the spear
gun on it unless I have to! A spear would kill it."
Artwork:
"Nova Underwater" Based upon artwork from "Space Pirate Captain
Harlock" computer-altered by Frederick P. Kopetz
Derek got his cue. He fired
a dart from his gas gun at the creature. When it hit it, it let go of Nova,
writhing before her vigilant eyes for a moment before it became drowsy thanks
to the injection of anesthetic and was carried away on the warm currents of the
blue water. The diving lantern at her belt shone against it as it drifted off;
it would have looked beautiful if it hadn't been a threat.
"That was a close
one," she said. "I don't like this."
As if to punctuate her
point, the island shook. They felt the tremor underwater, and saw a few diamond
pebbles collapsing around them.
"Derek, this whole
place is coming down!"
"I know," said
Derek as he swam harder.
"This is getting too
damn close for comfort," said Nova.
"Yeah...too
close," replied Derek. "Luckily, nothing else alive is around."
He read his chronometer. "We have fifteen minutes' of air left. Let's get
out of here."
Nova nodded, watching her
husband's toes flex in his swim fins as his strong legs propelled him away.
Nova followed, pleased for the exercise; she liked swimming a tad more than
Derek did.
However, she was to have
plenty more exercise in a moment.
"Derek," she
cried as something grabbed the swim fin off her right foot. "Are you
playing games?"
."I'm ahead of
you," he said irritably. "Nova, what's..."
Nova turned her head and
screamed.
She was looking right down
the mouth of a shark.
She turned as fast as she
could in one swim fin and one bare foot. The shark snapped at her bottom. She
undid the safety on her spear gun and flipped around
"Derek!" she
cried. "HELP!"
Derek swam up, just in
enough time to see the brute snapping at the front of her wetsuit. It tore a
rip in it, and Nova thrashed and struggled as she tried to get a bead on the
creature; it was hard to see because everything was bubbles. Her leg and one
buttock were also bleeding from nicks; the shark grew more enraged as it
smelled Nova's blood.
Another shark came along
and pulled one of Derek's swim fins off. Then, it attacked his wetsuit, ripping
it open at the stomach in almost the same place that Nova's suit was torn. In
rage and anger, he turned, firing a gas charge at the shark that was attacking
him. The plechette hit the shark, and, in a moment,
it took hold; the groggy beast got away. Derek then
turned to help his partner. Nova just barely evaded her shark as it came at her
again. With gritted teeth inside her mask, she fired her spear gun at it. The
spear went through the creature, killing it just before it killed Nova.
Derek looked her over and
tried to comfort her in the water.
"It's all right,"
he said. "Nova, honey, it's all right. My God, your clothes are
torn..."
"Yours too, hon. Damn
these creatures!" she cried. "At least I'm alive...and I still have
the tablets."
"Nova, let's
go..."
Finally, after a while, they
both broke the surface near the Jet Recon Boat.
"You took too
long," said IQ-9. "I was getting worried about both of you.
I...Nova...your...suit is...torn...nice..."
"No cracks,"
yelled Nova. "Shark almost got us! Look at me! I'm...I'm bleeding!"
"It's all right,
Nova," said IQ. He tried to comfort her with a hug.
Nova pushed IQ's hand away
from her exposed and cut abdomen. "IQ, please...it hurts!!"
"Please let her go!
We're all right," said Derek. He and Nova got into the Jet Recon Boat with
their tablets with IQ's help and got rid of their swim fins, tanks, and weight
belts.
"What was that other
creature, Nova...before the shark?" asked Derek.
"I think that was just
a Dellanz," she sobbed as Derek cleaned her wounds with materials
from the first-aid kit. "Ouch!"
"You okay?"
"Yeah..." said
Nova in a pained tone of voice.
"A Dellanz?"
asked Derek. "Uh, what's that?"
"A
stingless sort of jellyfish, Derek. They're native only to Iscandar. They're curious but
harmless. I met one once while diving here back in 2200. Luckily, I had one of
your gas guns on me that day. I should have brought one, but I thought you
should've taken it. I was worried about sharks...like the sort we met down
there!"
"Like him?"
pointed out IQ-9.
Nova gasped as a huge, gaping
mouth opened near the Jet Recon Boat. "Not again!"
"Your blood must have
started a feeding frenzy!"
"Get us out of
here...my GOD!" cried Nova.
Derek closed the canopy in
a hurry, and he started the engines. The boat roared away at its full speed,
soon outrunning the shark before it gained enough speed to lift off out of the
water.
Nova winced as the boat
bounced around.
"Are you in
pain?" said IQ-9. "Both of you are bleeding."
"No, I'm getting a big
thrill out of this!" said Nova in a very sarcastic voice as tears
ran down her cheeks. "YES, I'm in pain!" she cried as she held her
torn wetsuit closed. It was a bit difficult, since it was torn a little more
than her husband's was. "You don't know what it's like to be in pain and
embarrassed, Tinwit."
"Actually, I am
embarrassed," said IQ-9 as he turned his visual sensors away.
"Why, IQ? I
mean, you're always trying to look at me," sobbed Nova as she held her
suit closed, trying to keep decent.
"I am strong, and I
have to help the Captain protect you. I am very embarrassed that I have to see
you like this," said IQ in an almost morose tone of voice. "I wish I
could go somewhere and leave you two alone with each other."
"Why do you say
that?" said Derek while he dabbed at a nick on Nova's cheek near her nose.
"I see that she likes
being touched by you. That is why...."
An angry Derek then reached
for the robot's emergency switch (it was the central knob on his back in a row
of three) and shut him off.
"There, that'll stop
the damn Tinwit!" said Derek.
"I wish we could go
away...make the whole world go away," said Nova as Derek held her while he
tenderly removed her torn wetsuit.
"we
can...we can go to our villa...in private."
"Thanks. You can fix
me up there," she said with a sniff. "Thank heavens I left some
clothes there the other day."
At that, with IQ-9
"asleep", Nova held her husband as she began to help him out of his
wetsuit…
Later on that day, back on dry
land, Helmeyer, Alex, Derek, and Starsha stood in the Great Library in
Aliscea noticed that Nova
and Derek had changed back into their uniforms again; she wasn't sure where
they had gotten them from, since she saw they had left in wetsuits. She
thought, Maybe they had them on the island at their place? Neither
Wildstar had mentioned anything about the shark attack, of course. Queen
Starsha shivered a little in her light, filmy dress as she looked at Helmeyer. I
know...Aliscea said it's necessary for us to have their cooperation...but,
still...the thought of a Gamilon walking on Iscandar, after all that has
happened...the idea makes me sick!
"There's a
vulnerability right there, in the warp transducer circuit," said Astra.
"See? It'd be right near the surface of the artificial planet at that
point. They would need to have that open to serve as a cooling vent."
"Even Ekogaru couldn't
armor that," said Aliscea. "In my memory, I mean...the three thousand
years' worth of memories I have in my head in the Pellian Matrix, is the memory
of an engineer of Ekogaru's who turned back to our side five hundred years ago.
Before he committed suicide since he couldn't live without the Dark Lord's
warped "feedings" from other worlds, he told us that this
vulnerability would be right near the Phased Density Cannon deep inside the Fortress.
He thought a direct hit of enough energy into that accursed gun would bring
down the entire Fortress. These plans prove it."
"So what do we
do?" said Starsha.
"Queen Starsha, there
were techniques in your tablets to mask our life-forces from Ekogaru. Just show
me how to use those disciplines, and I have a plan. We can lure him to Iscandar
by making him think the planet is dead. When he is close enough, I can
psionicially attack the Fortress and Ekogaru through his Cannon."
"So what role would
the Star Force play in all this?" said Derek, who felt a little odd in his
Iscandarian clothes.
"A
diversion, along with Desslok. If his space fleet, or a good part of it, is lured away
into battle, it can't attack Iscandar," said Aliscea. "That'd leave
me free to do my work with Paul as moral support here on the planet while you
fight. Could that be arranged?"
"I guess we
could," said Derek.
"We may have to
sacrifice ourselves to buy time for Aliscea to do her work," said Nova.
"We might never see home again."
"I know," said
Derek. "And we'd better get back to the ship."
"Okay," said Nova.
Derek nodded. "Yeah. Let's go. General Helmeyer, we'll be back in a
few minutes."
"I understand,"
he said.
About a half hour later,
Derek and Nova returned to the library. "What you were saying," said
Paul. "Are you saying we might all have to die?"
"Yes. That's part of
the oath we took. But at least Earth would be safe," said Derek.
"General Helmeyer?"
The Gamilon motioned them outside for a moment. A
park was near the library, and it looked quite beautiful. "Desslok, I
believe, would understand. We would sacrifice ourselves, if it came to that, to
allow our peoples to live on. But, I assure you, Captain Wildstar; Gamilon
would put up enough of a fight to ensure, if possible, that neither you nor
Leader Desslok would have to sacrifice themselves. As
for me, I've already reconciled myself to the possibility that I could die in
this war. But, together, our peoples could assure a future...a future of some
kind, for both Gamilon and Earth."
"Thank you,
General," said Derek quietly.
Sandor came up.
"Wildstar, it's time to return to the ship to begin that fleet
exercise."
"Good luck," said
Helmeyer. "I hope that both of our sides get a good workout, as you call
it."
"Thank you,
General," said Derek.
At that, he, Nova and
Sandor returned back to the Argo.
I hope we have enough
time to beat them...and win, thought Derek.
Indeed, time was beginning
to run out.
TO BE CONTINUED WITH ACT
THREE: "Aliscea's
THERE ARE NOW 89 DAYS
TO THE ARRIVAL OF EKOGARU IN EARTH'S SOLAR SYSTEM
To return to the Introduction to the Rikasha Incident please click here