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
ACT SEVEN--THE
I. A COMMAND PERFORMANCE
Space Battleship Argo
1500 Lightyears Away
from the Wishing Star of Voton
Tuesday, April 6, 2202
2202 Hours Spacetime
That Tuesday went down in
the history of the Star Force as the first time Homer picked up the weird fugue
on the radio.
It was near the end of a
watch on the Argo's
At that time, Wildstar was
concluding a conversation with the Commander, who had just called in.
"So, you and Aliscea
feel that Ekogaru might be alive after all?" said Singleton.
"Yessir, we do," replied
Captain Wildstar as he looked up at the main screen to catch Singleton's
expression. It was a little hard to see at times…since there was intermittent
interference from a nearby quasar that gave off radio pulses.
The Commander took a deep
breath. "Based on the information you told me, this sounds as if it might
be worth checking out. We were hoping that you could return to Earth soon so that
you could be present for debriefing, inspection, and also be present at the
planning sessions for our defense against the Rikashan Fleet. The war is
picking up; while there hasn't been a full-scale attack yet, there have been
two more Rikashan raids in the past three days, one upon our base at
At that, Singleton's voice
and image faded out in a burst of static.
"Homer, try
again," said Wildstar. "Try pulling it in on maximum gain."
"Yessir."
Homer turned some dials,
and the Commander came back a moment later. "What happened?" asked
Singleton.
"Just
interference from a nearby quasar, Commander. As I was saying, we still are
planning to return as we scheduled. We're aware that it's important. Besides,
another refrigeration unit failed; our provisions are running a bit low again.
We only gathered so much on Beemira before that battle."
"That, too," said
the Commander. "It appears that Ekogaru or someone in his name may be
guiding the efforts of these Technomugar and their allies, and members of
Yvona's cult recently bombed a mall in the Megalopolis and killed two hundred
innocent men, women, and children. When do you expect to return home?"
The signal faded out again,
to be brought back by Homer. When the Commander reappeared, Captain Wildstar
said, "We expect to be back in our solar system by the ninth or tenth,
sir, after we make that rendezvous with the
"Very
well. See what
you can do to discover any information you can about the Dark Lord by then.
We're especially interested in knowing if that Fortress survived the cataclysm
at Iscandar or not. We have also been in touch with Gamilon through the relay
network. It seems that Desslok's work to rebuild his civilization on Gamilon is
going well. The Gamilon general we spoke to said they will also keep watch for
Ekogaru and his Fortress as well."
"Thank you, sir,"
said Wildstar. "Any further orders?"
The signal faded out again.
After it came back, Singleton said, "None for now. See to it that Mrs.
Voorhees is returned safely. Good luck, Captain Wildstar."
And, at that, the
transmission ended.
Some time passed on the
The contacts had proved to
be nothing, but Captain Wildstar felt that one still couldn't be too cautious.
The ship, therefore, had been on yellow alert until 2158, right before the
Commander had called in.
"So what do you think?" said Homer.
"About what?"
asked Dash.
"Eager
coming back in two days?"
"Anyone explain how
you guys are fitting him in?" asked Holly Parsons.
"It's easy," said
Venture. "Todd Voorhees will be leaving the Star Force in a few days when
we get home. He'll train you as his replacement Commander for the
"Well, I guess it's
all right," she grunted. "Of course, that means that you'll be losing
half your female contingent from up here."
"Ahh,
we'll still have Nova to look at. She doesn't look half bad," said Dash.
"I think that's a
compliment, so thanks," said Nova. She was ambivalent about this change.
On one hand, she'd miss the joking camaraderie she had shared with Holly. She
knew the men couldn't understand the special rapport that two women could have
in a workplace. On the other hand, she'd be glad to have her old friend Eager
back, even if that meant that Eager, Dash and Homer would again be joined at
the hip like they had been in the old days. They're probably going to start
playing DungeonQuest all over again, thought Nova
to herself. I hope they don't ask me to sit on one of their role-playing
games again as an Elven Thief character in a brass
bikini and nothing else. That did not work, thank you.
"Huh?" said Homer at his post as he worked
his board and a strange pattern ran across his oscilloscope. "What's
this?"
"Well, c'mon, Homer,
don't keep it a secret from us!" said Venture.
"He's keeping it a
secret because he has a girlfriend," said Dash. "Hey, Homer, you got
a girlfriend?" he said as he walked over.
"Oh, shut up,"
said Homer.
"What is it?"
asked Captain Wildstar as he walked over.
"Music."
"What kind?" said
Holly as Nova jumped up, followed by Yamazaki. Sandor and Venture were the last
two to join them.
"Sounds like some
maniac playing a harpsichord," said Homer. "And it's really clear.
This is weird!"
"Harpsichord?" asked Nova. She grabbed Homer's
headset off his head and began to listen.
"Hey, who do you think
you are?" cried Homer. "Mark Venture?"
"Shhhh,"
said Nova. "I'm trying to figure out what this is. My Mom made me take
piano lessons as a kid." Luckily, Nova had the presence of mind to push
aside Homer's hand and push the "record" key on his board.
"Now the whole
crew's messing with my board!" yelled Homer. "Captain, they
learned this all from Venture! Now they're all picking on me! Even Nova!"
"Homer, cool it,"
said Derek. He recognized a certain look on Nova's face. She was both puzzled
and intrigued by the music.
"What is it?"
said Derek.
"Listen," she
said as she flicked a switch. The melody was soon playing on the bridge
speakers. Filled with noise and static, it sounded like…well, a madman playing
a harpsichord.
"Sounds like an Earth
melody, oddly enough," said Venture. "Homer, what's the directional
heading on this?"
"Huh?"
"Where's it coming
from so we can get a navigational fix on it?"
"You and your
navigational crap!" yelled Homer.
"That's enough!"
snapped Derek. "Glitchman, you're relieved!"
"What the…I…?"
"Homer, if you're not
going to help us, the Captain feels you'll get in our way up here." said
Nova. "Wish that melodic line would play again, it sounds like Bach."
"Bach?" said
Sandor.
"Johann
Sebastian," said Nova. There was a pause in the melody as she gently
pushed Homer out of his seat and sat down behind the console. Then, she and
Venture worked as a team to run a navigational direction finder scan on the
signal.
"That's it!"
snapped Venture. "RLX-225 by NT-82, twenty minutes, four seconds. Right
there at the far edge of the Orion Arm, about 30,000 lightyears up along that
spiral arm of the Galaxy, and thirty thousand lightyears away from Earth."
"And they're playing
Bach 30,000 lightyears away from Earth?" said Derek.
"Sounds like it,"
said Nova. "I think I got it! It's one of his fugues!"
"Which one?"
asked Sandor.
"Passicaglia
and Fugue in C Minor," said Nova. "But…whoever is playing it…is
playing it like some kind of madman. Chilling!"
"So we’ve got some
crazy dude on a harpsichord 30,000 lightyears away," said Dash. "Hey,
Rosstowski, he must've gotten around."
"Who?"
"Bach."
"Not funny,
Dash," said Rosstowski.
"Can't you take a
joke?" said Yamazaki.
"This may be too
serious to joke about," said Captain Wildstar. "You know, ever since
those nightmares and that experience that Aliscea had where she said she was aware
that Ekogaru had survived, I began thinking…"
"Yeah?" said
Venture.
"What if that Fortress
is still working? Even if Ekogaru lived, that ship could be a wreck…or, then
again, what if it's not? What if that melody is coming from that
Fortress?"
"That might be our
answer," said Nova. "What else could transmit a melody across space
like that, through all that interference? It should be difficult to pick up
signals here; we had a hard time getting the Commander. Aren't we right near a
quasar, Sandor?"
Sandor nodded. "We
are, Nova. NGC-10456, to be exact. Normally, all we
would be picking up on this band should be that quasar and a burst of noise
that would be interfering with our communications, such as just happened with
the Commander's message. We won't really have good communications again from
here until after we make our next two space warps and reach the Voton
stars."
"Weird," said
Dash. "The mystery gets thicker as we get right near home. Rosstowski,
think Aliscea might know anything?"
"I'm asking her now
through our link, Dash."
"What is she
saying?" asked Captain Wildstar as Venture and Parsons held hands.
"She said she doesn't
know," said Rosstowski.
"Boy,
doesn't that stink?" said Dash.
Paul just nodded.
The melody faded out, but
just before the noise of the quasar returned, Derek's eyebrows went up as they
heard…
…a voice.
It was deep, sepulchral,
and cold. It simply said, "You shall find your answers…when you Come
to Me…"
"Oh, my God,"
muttered Dash. "I think I recognize that voice."
"Me too," said
Holly fearfully.
Captain Wildstar's lips
curled back from his teeth. He snapped, "Do you think we're coming to you
like that? I'm heading back to Earth, whoever the hell YOU are! But be assured,
we will find you somehow!"
The fugue ended, over a
soft, unmistakable sound.
The sound of laughter;
laughter as cold as the grave…
A while
later, Aliscea listened to the tape in the small briefing room in the bridge
tower. There,
the entire regular bridge crew of Captain Wildstar, Nova, Venture, Holly,
Sandor, Yamazaki, Homer, Dash, and Rosstowski, accompanied by Doctor Sane and
Rabbi Greenberg, were gathered to hear her opinion of the tape. Luckily, Homer
had calmed down. He would need all of the calm, for the tape was the most
chilling thing he thought he had heard in his life. When it got to the
laughter, she signaled for it to be turned off.
Homer did so. Gratefully.
"I know that's
him," Aliscea said. "I don't need to hear any more. I'd recognize
that damnable Voice anywhere. It seems the Dark Lord himself has our phone
number, so to speak. It's unusual for him to speak directly like that, and so
openly. He usually uses his emissaries or dreams, or other weird methods. But
calling us up on the radio?"
"How do you know it's
him?" asked Sandor.
"Yes? How do you know?"
cried Sane as his voice went very high on the last word.
"Hmmh?" said
Aliscea with an annoyed look in her eyes.
"I mean…couldn't
someone be imitating him?" said Nova. "Couldn't this be a Rikashan
trick…an elaborate sick joke of theirs? I know you've felt his presence lately,
but is he like…everywhere?"
"If he has his
Fortress…he could have arrived at that point by now," said Aliscea.
"Even I really don't know how fast he can travel when he is in full
command of his faculties. And if his Fortress is working, he seems to have some
bizarre symbiosis with it. I can't do much right now to tell, one way or the other.
My powers are still drained from that fight I had with him the other day, when
I had to kill that Technomugar trooper and bring Nova back from the brink of
death. It'll take me a few days to recover and tell you for sure."
"He's toying with us
if he is," said Captain Wildstar.
"That he is,"
said Aliscea. Then, she said, "His power is getting greater. I can feel it
in my bones." Then, even though she wore both her black dress and a
Pellian serape-like wrap in black of some kind over it, she shivered and put up
her legs, clenching her toes hard in her sandals. Paul hugged her, trying,
somehow, to ward off the cold. Then, Aliscea's eyes seemed to go dark. It
looked as if she was able to see things that the rest of them were unable to
see. Her head flew back onto the headrest of her chair, and she looked up into
space and howled, "STOP TOYING WITH US, YOU BASTARD! STOP IT! SHOW
YOURSELF!"
"How do you know the
voice is his, Aliscea?" asked Venture.
"Yes? How do we know
what's going on?" asked Rabbi Greenberg.
"Don't patronize me,
you two!" snapped Aliscea. "I know that Voice. I feel his presence in
me, through me, and around me. And, as Paul knows, I once met the
Whoremaster."
"In person?"
asked Captain Wildstar. "You never told us this."
"It was in the past, I
thought it unimportant to our current concerns and worries and too personal to
share with you. I can tell you, Paul, and Nova, but not these others."
sobbed Aliscea. "Not even your Chaplain can hear this!"
Wildstar knew what to do.
"Venture, would you lead Parsons, the Rabbi and everyone else out of the
room for a moment? Aliscea needs to speak to Nova, Paul and myself alone."
"Yessir," said
Venture. Mark looked at Sandor and then at Holly. "C'mon,
everyone. Let's go."
The others left, leaving
the Wildstars and Rosstowskis all alone. Rabbi
Greenberg was that last one out. He looked at Aliscea with concern as he walked
through the hatch. After a pause, Aliscea continued to speak to the small
group.
"It was five years
ago, when he said that he wanted peace and an armistice with the Pellian
Federation. He said he was going to send an emissary to meet with a delegation
of ours on a planet in the Blackeye Galaxy in what had been our territorial
space. That planet is now destroyed; he did it, of course."
Aliscea paused to wipe away
tears. "My father, Shardovan Gralnacz, led the delegation. We were to meet
with them in a room in the governmental hall on that world, which was called Bavarden. The Bavardini Council
was there, all eight of them, my father was there, my mother was there, and I
was there. Then, I was just fifteen."
"Ekogaru's Fortress
was not far away. I saw it there for the first time with my own eyes. Ekogaru
sent a delegation to Bavarden. The man who led the
delegation was some general of theirs named Vergar. He looked insane and hard.
He gave me the creeps. Said he had come straight from the Dark Throne itself
and knew Ekogaru's mind better than any being alive. My father, who was
supposed to be leading the delegation as representative of my mother's sister, the
Queen, actually seemed pleased to see him. It shocked everyone. Vergar and my
father spoke as if they were old friends. It turned out they were."
"Then?" asked
Derek.
"Then, in the middle
of the meeting, things did not go well for Vergar. He began to cry out and
writhe in torment, speaking to an unseen presence. Then, a minute later, the
Unseen became seen. Ekogaru himself appeared in a blaze of multi-colored light
in that room, and stood on the conference table right near me."
"I remember him
well," said Aliscea. "In your measure, he stood about a bit more than
two meters tall, maybe seven or eight feet. He seemed to be about three hundred
pounds in girth, and he was robed in black with shadow surrounding him. Yet, we
could see his face. It was a strong but very ancient-looking face of pale
green, wreathed by long black hair flecked with grey. Strength and corruption
combined in one man. What a bizarre picture. He wore black boots and had a dark
mustache and the most sardonic expression I have ever seen on a sentient's face before or since. He told us that he had
been there all the time and he apologized for Vergar's conduct as he kicked him
in the chest. Then, he said he was going to negotiate with us himself. The
negotiations then grew worse. There was no peace. He made threats and left.
But, before he left, he smiled at my father. My father then smiled back."
"That night, as I
slept…" continued Aliscea. She had to pause to catch her breath.
Time passed.
Outside, Mark Venture heard
sobs…then cries, and then he heard screams from within the room.
The door abruptly opened,
and Derek and Nova came out alone. Aliscea was left alone to sob out her
memories and secrets (secrets Paul already knew through their bond) into her
mate's tender, kind, loving arms.
"What happened?"
asked Venture.
"Aliscea was raped
years ago," said Nova with tears in her eyes.
"By who?" said Venture.
"By
her father…and by Ekogaru. That's how she knows him so well," said Wildstar.
"My God, I feel sick. Let's go!"
II. THE EVENTS AT THE ORION
NEBULA
Space Battleship Argo
700 Lightyears Away from
the Wishing Star of Voton
Wednesday, April 7, 2202
0316 Hours Spacetime
It was well past 0300 on
the next day.
Nova was serving as Officer
of the Deck that watch and was in command of the Argo.
The watch had been
mind-numbingly routine after the events of the
briefing room and the bridge crew's talk thereafter. Nova had chugged down two
more cups of coffee to stay awake.
She felt strange sitting at
Avatar's old command station at the aft part of the bridge, but the new
standard operating procedure that Derek had reluctantly adopted for all command
personnel a few weeks ago required the acting skipper to be there to monitor
everything.
"How are we on keeping
on course, Parsons?" asked Nova.
"Steady as she goes,
ma'am," said Holly from the helm. "When do we warp again? And are we
going after that message?"
"Not until 0800
tomorrow morning." By then, I'll be in bed, thought Nova. Kind of a good
thing….I've
been awake for about twenty hours straight now.
"What about the
message, ma'am?" said Holly.
"The Captain hasn't
decided yet. Derek…he…he's calling the Commander in the morning."
"I see, ma'am."
"Engine's
normal," said Diane Henson from her post at Engineering. "Hey, ma'am? Wanna hear a joke?"
"What kind of
joke?" mumbled Nova as she stifled a yawn.
"It's not dirty."
"Good. I don't need to
hear any dirty Navy jokes for a while. Not after what I heard tonight. Go
ahead, Diane."
"There's
these three guys at the Pearly Gates," said Henson. "One's a
minister, the second guy is the Pope, and the third guy is a lawyer. They're
all standing before Saint Peter on line waiting to see if they get in or not.
The minister comes up; Saint Pete looks in the book. "I see you've had an
impressive record…lots of service for mankind, great deeds for your church.
You're admitted, this angel will show you to your heavenly mansion.
Welcome." Then, the Pope comes up. Saint Peter says to him,
"Wonderful record, you've worked hard and prayed hard, led your part of
the Church Eternal well, and you didn't molest any kids. You get a palace near
the Big Guy's House. Enter into the joy of your Lord.""
Then, Diane paused.
"Then the lawyer comes up. Saint Peter looks through the book on this guy.
"Nice record, you didn't cheat, lie, or steal…amazing…and you helped
orphans and widows. You get a log cabin near the edge of the city, and you are
about to witness a great miracle."
The lawyer gets mad.
"Why do I just get a log cabin?"
"Well, your deeds
weren't as great as those of Pastor Crenshaw or the Pope. You didn't bring
anyone to the Lord, you didn't spread the Word around, you were a lousy fisher
of men, and you didn't fish very well. That's important, my son; I used to be a
fisherman back in
"Okay, what's the
miracle?"
"Behold, the miracle
is that a lawyer gets into Heaven at all," said Saint Peter.
The crew chuckled at that
one. Nova smiled but rolled up her eyes. "Typical lawyer joke," she
muttered. "I heard a zillion of them growing up, Diane."
"Why's that?"
"My dad is a lawyer.
Not a bad guy, either. He served a few years in the JAG Corps during part of
the Gamilon war and he knew the Commander when he was just a Captain."
An older man named Master
Sergeant Riley was manning Gunnery. "I was his Marine orderly then when he
commanded the space battleship
"What kind of
story?" asked Nova.
"Ma'am, I met you when
you were a rugrat. A rugrat in diapers."
"Oh?" sighed Nova. She was always a little embarrassed when people
began telling stories of her childhood. It was worse when she was trying to
maintain a command presence of some kind on the bridge of what was, for this
watch, her ship. "Go ahead. Hope this isn't too bad."
"Well, you know your
dad and Singleton were classmates in law school or something together or
college…don't remember which."
"Okay."
"I was with Singleton
in about 2179, early spring. You were just over a year old, in a little
sundress and a diaper. You were on your dad's lap pulling his mustache."
"Yeah, I was told that
I had a habit of doing that. Most people do when they're toddlers. Go on."
"Well, you were there
on your dad's lap babbling away. One cute little girl.
Then, you crawled into Singleton's lap and looked hard at him. Hiram oohed and
ahhed over your and he tickled your chin. You were so cute."
"Then?"
"Then you bit
him."
"Okay…uh…I bit my
future commanding officer. Then?"
Holly was sitting there,
looking over the back of her chair with a smirk. She thought this was turning
out to be pretty funny.
"Then, ma'am…not sure
how to say this…your little bladder went, and part of your diaper was loose.
You peed right on Singleton."
Nova shut her eyes and put
her head on the console as the bridge crew laughed their butts off. My God,
this is horrible, thought Nova. They don't need to know that!
"Thank you," said
Nova. "Now, Sergeant, can we stop this…I…"
"Radar contact,"
said the man at the cosmo-radar, a Corporal DeFalco.
"Thirteen contacts at TD-118 off the port bow, range, twenty-two
megameters, speed, thirty space knots. They're coming in fast."
"Identify them
better," snapped Nova as she flicked on a klaxon. The klaxon began to go
off, and she raised her intercom mike. "General quarters, general
quarters, all hands," she said over the PA. "All hands to General
Quarters. Captain to the Bridge."
DeFalco then said, "Ma'am, I have them
identified. One space fortress, six battleships, six cruisers, and they're all
Technomugar. Switching to video panel."
Nova looked up. "A Technomugar Goraizu Fortress! Riley, Nishina,"
she said, speaking to the men at Gunnery and Combat. "Open main guns! Target, the enemy fleet. But, don't fire yet!"
"Missiles
approaching!" cried DeFalco as a spread of
missiles roared out of the Fortress before Riley could even begin turning the
main guns.
The spread of missiles
roared towards the Argo and hit a moment later, buffeting the ship and
the bridge tower.
Below them, the briefing
room they had been using a few hours ago was torn apart.
Above them, the port side
radar aerial was torn off as the missile tapped the rear edge of the Captain's
Quarters.
Up in the Captain's
Quarters, a portion of the false overhead and some support beams tore loose,
crashing into Derek and Nova's bathroom and the lobby outside their cabin with
a loud crash.
Captain Wildstar awoke with
a start when he heard the crash and smelled wisps of smoke coming through the
hatch. He jumped out of his bunk, pulled on his pants, and frantically tried to
open the hatch to his cabin. He couldn't; the hatch's outer pull handle had
jammed on some of the debris outside, holding the hatch tight, even though it
pulled into the cabin to open.
"Damn!" he
roared, hitting the hatch in frustration. "I’m trapped up
here…unless…"
A moment later, fire roared
into his cabin through an access hatch. He grabbed a fire extinguisher from an
access hatch and began to fight the small fire clad in only his pants.
He began to cough from the
smoke. He thought, God, am I gonna make it through this?
Then, the Argo
tilted beneath him, and there was a bang, and Derek Wildstar heard and saw no
more for a bit as he crashed to the deck in his cabin…
Royster was at Sandor's
post, calling out damage reports as Nova, assisted by a Master Sergeant from
Navigation named Tyrone Carrolly, fought a fire near
the short-range combat radar that Parsons usually manned.
"Good thing I jumped
up in time, ma'am."
"Yes, otherwise, you
might have been full of glass, Sergeant."
Nova and the taller
African-American stopped for a moment to wipe their brows. Nova coughed; the
smoke was getting to her slightly.
"Can you handle that,
ma'am?" asked Carrolly.
Nova just nodded. "Nishina! Contact Conroy! Have him launch the Black
Tigers!"
"Trying," he
said. A minute later, he then said. "Ma'am.
Conroy says they've lost power to the flight decks. Without power, they can't
lower the planes on the elevators."
"Damnit," said
Nova in frustration. "Then what do we have?"
The ship shook. Nishina ran
over to help Holly with the helm. "We have main guns, ma'am. I can get
them ready in a minute…"
"Good," replied
Nova. She coughed again. Smoke's getting bad, she thought.
In the meantime, Parsons
and Nishina held hands on the helm, fighting to keep the Argo under
control as she took hit after hit.
"The crew's quarters
are hit and there's a bad fire!" cried Royster. "Part of the
Captain's Quarters has been hit! The central computer room has been hit! I'm
sending damage control parties now!"
"Oh, no!" cried
Nova as she sprayed some pressurized fire suppressant into the Combat Radar
board. "Sergeant Chang!" Nova yelled at the woman who was manning
Communications. "Call the Captain's quarters! Try to see if he's all
right!"
"I'm trying…"
said Chang after she shook some hair out of her eyes. "No
answer, ma'am!"
"Great," said
Nova, fighting to keep back tears. Derek! My God! Nova thought. Will
I ever see you again? And where's Venture and the others? Am I the
highest-ranking officer left on this ship now? "Royster!
Get those damage control teams up there ASAP!"
"Yes,
ma'am."
A minute later, part of the
Combat Radar blew up in Nova's face. Carrolly threw
her to the deck just as she also shielded her face with her right arm. She felt
a sudden pain in her arm. When she struggled up a second later, she saw that
the sleeve of her uniform had been shredded, and that there was a bad cut on
the inner crook of her elbow. The blood soon stained the remainder of the
form-fitting gold sleeve of her uniform.
"Ma'am, your arm's
bleeding," said Carrolly. At least that
Goddamn electrical fire's out now, he thought.
"Better
than my eyes being put out. I don't know if Doctor Sane has bionic replacements in my
shade of brown or not."
Nova ignored the flow of
blood for the moment as she ran to her post at the Captain's console to check
status reports. She coughed again, feeling a bit light-headed.
"What's going on out
there? I can't open the hatch to my cabin!" yelled Venture into a
microphone as he stood in his cabin in his Star Force pants and an undershirt.
There was no response.
Communications were out. "First bridge!
Hello!"
His phone rang a minute
later. Mark ran from his desk to get the phone in the bulkhead. "Deputy Captain's Quarters!"
"Venture, this is
Sandor. The crew's quarters were hit. I'll be there in a few minutes with a
damage-control team to get you free. In the meantime, hold tight. "
"I can't reach the
bridge! Who's in command up there?"
"Officer
of the deck.
Wildstar's trapped in his cabin, too."
"Crap! Who's the OOD
on duty tonight?"
"Nova."
"Well, maybe we’ll
survive this," said Venture as he heard an explosion and then a scream
somewhere in the bowels of his ship. "Maybe."
Riley said, "Ma'am,
we're ready to fire…" when another spread of missiles roared in.
There was a sheet of flame
at the front of the bridge, and Holly's chair was thrown back as the Navigation
console exploded. Of course, Holly was in her chair. Parsons and her chair
crashed to the deck near Nova's usual cosmo-radar post, just a few centimeters
away from an edge of the Astro-Compass. Holly screamed in pain. "Damn!!
My back!"
Ignoring her own bleeding
(which she was trying to staunch with a crude pressure bandage she was tying
around her arm), Nova ran over, her boots skidding on the deck for a moment in
a patch of fire retardant mixed with blood. "What's wrong?"
"My back hurts!"
screamed Holly. "And I can't feel anything in my legs or move them!"
"Don't move,"
said Nova as she held Holly in her chair. "It'll just make it worse. Carrolly! Get over here and relieve me. Help hold her in
place, like this!"
"Yes, ma'am,"
said Carrolly. He ran over to help Nova, who was now
taking Holly's pulse. Getting a little weak, she thought. Not good.
But she's not strapped in, and we can't move her without a back board.
"I hurt so much,"
sobbed Holly. "And I can't move my damn legs! Oh, GOD! Please help me,
Nova!"
"I'm doing all I
can," said Nova in a soft voice. "I'll get you to Sickbay ASAP."
"Chang!" cried
Nova. "Get medics up here and get them to the Captain's Quarters to check
on the skipper! Hurry!" She then spoke into a
microphone at Royster's post. "Third
bridge! Assume control of the helm from your board! Stand by for
directions from the first bridge."
"Aye, aye,
ma'am!" said a voice from below over the speakers.
Chang nodded as she carried
out Nova's command. "Medics! We need medics!
"Helm!" called
out Nova to the
"Aye, aye," said
a voice over the speakers.
The Argo began to turn, trailing smoke as she
did.
"Turrets one and two
corrected bearing, plus five," said Riley.
"Great!"
cried Nova. "FIRE!"
Coughing like crazy as
smoke billowed around him, Nishina said. "Firing main
gun turrets one and two! Fire!"
Nishina and Riley fired.
One of the battleships was hit, but Nova gritted her teeth in rage and
frustration when she noticed the heavy energy beams just bouncing off the
Goraizu Fortress.
"Fire again! Get those
battleships and cruisers!" snapped Nova as two cruisers wheeled around and
hit the stern. "Helm! Five degrees port! And
return that fire to aft!" barked Nova, conning the Argo on her
knees as she tried to make a second pressure bandage out of the remains of the
sleeve of her uniform; she had torn the sleeve entirely off, baring her whole
arm. Her arm burned like fire, but she refused to let anyone see that she was
in pain.
"Aye, aye, ma'am. Aft gun turrets, fire!"
Nishina fired again, taking
out a battleship and a cruiser. Another barrage took out a second cruiser. The Argo
was now manuevering through a field of debris and gas
from the destroyed Technomugar warships.
"I called the medics,
they're on their way" said Chang.
Good, now we're getting
somewhere, thought
Nova to herself with a grim smile as she realized she had just taken out her
first enemy vessels as the Argo's acting skipper. She then added to
herself, But we've gotta do more! "Fire again!"
"Fire!" yelled
Nishina.
The Argo's guns
spoke again, both fore and aft. Another Technomugar cruiser and another battleship
were both hit even as the Argo herself was hit again. The time, one of
the gun turrets was hit.
"Forward fire's down thirty-three percent," said Nishina.
At that moment, two medics
arrived; one had a back board.
"Get Parsons strapped
down; she has a spinal injury," snapped Nova.
"Yes, ma'am,"
said the medic. "Ma'am…you want that arm looked at?"
"I'll be okay. Just
give me some gauze and a fresh bandage. Tend to Miss Parsons. Okay, Nishina,
fire bow torpedoes at them," said Nova. "Maybe torpedoes will do some
damage to that fortress."
"Aye,
aye. Readying torpedoes!"
"Damage control is now
working on the Captain's quarters and main computer room," said Royster.
"Ma'am!" cried
Chang. "Signal coming in from the enemy flagship!"
"Put it on
video," cried Nova.
They looked up at the
panel. Nova ran back to her post at Command (a seat that both she and Derek
used reluctantly because of the memory of Captain Avatar). She staggered as she
clutched her bleeding arm. As she sat down, breathing quite hard with exertion,
an image appeared on the main screen.
"Well, Star Force, I
bet you're glad to see me," said a sarcastically sweet voice. The
woman had brown hair, dark eyes, and wore a pink outfit with an EDF peacoat
over it. "Nova, my darling! It's been such a long
time since you had a chat with your poor Aunt Yvona, isn't it? You're not
looking well. Did I give you a nasty boo-boo?"
"So that's what she
looks like," muttered Chang.
"My God," said
Royster in a low voice.
Nova ignored the pain in
her arm and her lightheadedness. She gasped out one more deep breath and then
looked up at her aunt with burning eyes. "You shouldn't speak to me that
way, Yvona. I'm acting commander of this vessel at the moment. Unfortunately,
you chose the wrong ship to pick on." Nishina nodded at Nova. "Good.
Nishina, fire those torpedoes at that fortress!"
"Fire!" said
Nishina.
The Argo's bow missiles fired just as Yvona
said, "Nice try there with those missiles, dear. Too bad they can't hurt
me!"
The missiles took out
another battleship.
The crew cheered as, off in
space, a few plumes of smoke, gas, and flame appeared on the surface of the
hated Goraizu Fortress as two torpedoes slammed home. However, Yvona just
smiled, and the ugly ship didn't explode. "Tell me, Nova, why did I choose
the wrong ship to pick on? You can’t hurt me, but, as you have seen, I can hurt
you!"
"Because
we're going to finish you off in about a minute. Mark my words,
I'll do it, Yvona. Nishina! Get ready, on my mark!"
"Aye,
ma'am!"
"Brave words, you
stupid little piece of crud," hissed Yvona. "Where's Derek? Did I
kill your hubby?"
"That's unimportant at
the moment," said Nova as she blinked tears out of her eyes. "What's
important is beating you. And I don't care to keep this conversation going, you
treasonous bitch! Goodbye! Chang, cut her off!"
Chang nodded and cut Yvona
off.
On her Fortress, Yvona
screamed with rage. "You don't hang up on me, you damned idiot! Gunners!
Open our belt guns and begin charging! We're taking out that ship; I don't care
what the Dark Lord ordered!"
"Yes, ma'am,"
said a crewman.
Nova then looked at Henson
as Parsons moaned. "Only one thing to do, Diane."
"What's that?"
"Stop all engines.
Transfer all of our energy to the wave motion gun."
On the deck, Holly
screamed. "Don't move!" cried Nova. "Medics are coming…don't
worry."
In his cabin, Captain
Wildstar came to. The smoke had mostly cleared; Derek thought it was a miracle
that he hadn't suffocated up here. His head hurt, and some blood came away from
a cut after he put his hand to his brow. He heard banging outside. "I'm in
here!" he yelled.
"Good. Give us
time…we'll get you out, sir," said someone right outside his hatch.
Captain Wildstar then
thought he heard the pulsing thrum of the wave motion gun beginning to come up.
What the hell? Derek thought. He coughed again, then
he got up. Staggering over to the nearest comm unit, he called up the bridge.
"Hello?
In her pain, Nova's face
lit up like a neon sign when she heard that voice. "DEREK!" she
cried. "Thank Heavens you're all right! I'm still in command here. Venture
and the others haven't gotten here yet. Crew's quarters have taken a hit."
"Why are you ordering
the wave gun fired?"
"It's a Goraizu
Fortress, Derek. Yvona's in command of it."
"Yvona? DAMN! How are you doing with that
fortress of hers?"
"Well, we tried
hitting it with the main guns, but nothing happened, and torpedoes just nicked
it. The Black Tigers are grounded; no power in the flight bays. Did anyone get
to you yet? I sent damage control and medics up there to get you."
"The damage control
guys are here now. Seems that the cabin took a hit outside
our hatch by the head. I can't open the hatch."
"Then how will you get
down? It'll take too long for them to remove that debris…I…hmmm…"
"An idea?" said
Derek. "I've got one too. You'll have to get someone to move Captain
Avatar's portrait…"
"I think I know what
you're planning. The chair lift?"
"Yeah."
"We'll get right on
it," said Nova with brimming eyes. "But, remember, I am fighting a
battle down here for us. I've gotta get that Yvona."
"Good luck until I can
get there to relieve you. You're doing the right thing, firing the wave gun. In
fact, there's nothing else you can do now."
"Thanks," said
Nova. She then looked up. "Carrolly!
Riley! Move the Captain's portrait off the bulkhead! We need the lift
working!"
"Yes, ma'am,"
said Carrolly. "Riley! Move yo' butt over here
and help me!"
"Gotcha," said
Riley as he left his post.
"Henson?" said
Nova.
"Energy level's at
eighty percent. I think we can fire in about two minutes."
"Good. Nishina, open
the safety lock."
"Safety lock open."
The Argo shook again
as Yvona fired more bursts at her. Nova got her goggles, and then ran up to
carefully put a pair on Holly. "Don anti-flash defenses," she yelled
as she slid her goggles on. The bandage slipped, and a stream of dark red blood
flowed from her arm as she did so, spattering on the deck a moment later.
Must've nicked a vein, she thought. If I don’t get
help, I'm gonna be on the deck soon. A very light-headed Nova staggered to
her post to help Riley and Carrolly detach the chair.
The plaque of Avatar was already moved.
"Okay, Derek,
c'mon!" cried Nova into the mike.
Venture and Sandor ran up
onto the bridge just as Derek's chair came down.
"What the…?" said
Venture.
"Firing the wave
gun," murmured Nova. She smiled and managed a shaky salute as Derek came
down on the chair lift. The Star Force had last used it when Captain Avatar was
on the ship. Derek had told Mark and Nova once that when the Argo had
been on patrol for nearly a year, it had never been used. Derek looked
disheveled; he needed a shave and he was both bare-chested and barefoot, still
wearing only his Star Force pants. "Am…am I relieved?" asked Nova.
"You're
relieved," he said patting her hand. "Take your regular post...if you
can…"
"I'll try," she
said, but then she passed out, falling into Derek's lap like a discarded toy.
The loss of blood from her arm had finally overwhelmed her.
In the meantime, Venture
noticed Parsons being worked on by the medics. She was strapped in a backboard,
almost ready to be moved. "Holly…" he said. "My
God…no…!"
He ran over to Holly and
held her hand. Four more medics came in with two gurneys.
"We hear you've got
wounded, sir," said one of the medics.
"We do," said
Derek, who stood there with a limp Nova in his arms.
"We have to hurry,
sir. She might be going into shock."
Derek held back a sob and
squeezed Nova's hands as the medics put her on the gurney. "Get them out
of here…fast! We're still fighting."
"Yessir."
A sobbing Venture openly
wept as Holly was put on the other gurney strapped to her backboard. "My
legs!" she cried. "I still can't move them! I'm paralyzed!"
"NOOO!" sobbed
Mark.
"Don't worry, we'll
get you fixed up," said a medic. The other two ran out with Nova; one was
working on her arm as they ran into the lift.
Derek shook his head.
"Mark…we'll go on… we have to."
Venture wept as he leaned
against the Captain's console. "Couldn't Nova have done more? She's a
nurse!"
"Mark, she was trying
to fight a battle. Like we are. Get those goggles on
and go sit over in Analysis."
Venture gritted his teeth
and nodded.
"Energy
level now at 90%.
Thirty seconds to go," said Henson.
Nishina raised the target
scope. "Enemy Fortress locked on target."
A breath of time passed.
The remainder of the Technomugar Fleet fired again, a
grim Captain Wildstar ignored the enemy fire. "Energy level at 120%!"
said Henson.
"Begin ten-second
countdown!" snapped Derek.
"Wave motion gun, huh?
Nice try, Nova… you've got some nerve! But you won't get me with that! How's
our guns?" smirked Yvona.
"Still
charging, ma'am!"
"Damnit, they can
charge that thing faster than I can charge our DI'ATS battery. Stop charging!
Looks like I have to run…Nova darling! I'll slap you across the face for daring
to try to wave-gun me later! Helm, ready us for a warp, leave the others here
to die and cover our escape."
"Where are we going,
ma'am?"
"The
edge of Earth's solar system. I have some business there before we go back to Carufax and
report to Ekogaru."
"You mean you'll let
them live?"
"Yes. I'm going back
to His Lordship's original plan…let him drive them to Planet Carufax. He has
his ways!"
"Yes, ma'am…ready to
warp!"
Captain Wildstar called out
the end of the countdown as Nishina sat with his hand on the wave gun firing
grip. "Five…four…three…two…one…zero. FIRE!"
Nishina fired the wave motion gun.
A beam of roaring energy
blasted out of the Argo once again, just as it had far too many times on
this desperate and difficult mission. The beam of energy blasted towards the
Technomugar Fleet, blasting apart a battleship and a cruiser as soon as it hit.
As the enemy ships began to
explode, Yvona's Fortress warped out…just in time. A mere second later, a
roaring beam of energy blasted into the spot where it had been as the rest of
the enemy fleet went up around it in a brilliant display of fireworks.
"We got them!"
cried Royster as he and Sandor stood together at Sandor's usual scientific
station. He took off his glasses to wipe tears out of his eyes, and received a
hug from Laurel Hartmann. The Black Tiger pilot had come up onto the bridge to
meet him, and she and Royster looked at each other with happiness. Rumor had it
that they had grown closer, and that there might even be an engagement
announcement soon after the war was over.
"No, we didn't,"
said Sandor grimly. "She warped out, and sacrificed her own fleet to cover
her escape."
"Damn her!" cried
Carrolly. Behind him, Diane Henson came up, giving
the NCO from Navigation a sad hug from behind.
"Yeah," muttered
Diane. "Damn her."
"At least the battle's
over," said Captain Wildstar.
"Yeah," said
Venture sadly as he stared hard at the empty, discarded chair where his fiancée
had been…
III. ANOTHER GRIM AFTERMATH
Sickbay
Space Battleship Argo
700 Lightyears Away from
the Wishing Star of Voton
Wednesday, April 7, 2202
0429 Hours Spacetime
Sickbay was a room filled
with moaning, injured people. It was a grim scene, but one that Captain Derek
Wildstar had, sadly, become accustomed to as he stood in chaos near some
gurneys that had been pushed near a partition.
Wildstar himself had been
considered 'walking wounded'…he had been examined for his smoke inhalation,
given some medication, and, then, some nurse had thrown a towel over his bare
shoulders. He knew it wasn't Nova…Dr. Bradford had told him she was still being
worked on.
He staggered over to a
gurney beside which his best friend mourned.
"Holly…Holly,"
sobbed Venture.
"Mark, am I ever going
to walk again?" Holly said in a small, weak voice.
"I don't know,"
said Dr. Sane. "I can't answer that yet."
Captain Wildstar walked
over and turned away, focusing on Venture's face. Holly was on her side on the
gurney being examined by Doctor Sane and two nurses. Her uniform had been cut
off and thrown on the deck, and she had been stripped to her undergarments for
emergency treatment; she already had several tubes and wires coming out of her.
The tubes ran to an IV, portable heart monitor, and other such instruments. Her
stomach had a bandage over it. The bandage was bloody.
Holly, thought Mark. You're beautiful,
and I always dreamed of seeing you like this, but its was
supposed to be on our wedding night…not here. Not like this with you broken and
in agony! You can't even move those beautiful legs! What the hell is wrong with
this Universe? Does everything and everyone I touch end up dying? Are
you going to die like Trelaina did?
"Don't look at her,
Wildstar," said Venture. "They're working on her. They can't cover
her up!"
"I know," said
Derek, looking around at his injured crewmembers so that he could look away
from the suffering form of Holly. Some had on hospital gowns, some were partly
clothed, others were undressed like Holly in the
chaos. An unfortunate few had bloody sheets over them, and they would soon go
to the morgue. "They stripped Nova, too. She's still unconscious."
"This is her
fault," sobbed Venture.
"What do you
mean?" snapped Derek.
"Nova could've done
more for me; she's a nurse!" gasped Holly.
"Yeah," said
Mark. "I hear Nova was more concerned with winning that battle than with
treating Holly. I heard that she just looked at her and got back to
fighting."
"As it should have
been; she was in command. She had the whole ship to look after, Mark."
"Wildstar! You cold, indifferent…"
"Mark. If you were in
command, wouldn't you have done the same thing?" said Derek as he put a
hand on Venture's shoulder. "Sometimes, aren't there times when the needs
of two hundred outweigh the needs of one?"
"I don't know," said Mark as he sat down in
a nearby chair, shaking and on the verge of tears. It's hard for me to figure
that out…there's only one way for me to find out for sure…"
At that, Mark rose,
stalking towards Nova's gurney like an angry, avenging angel.
"Venture!" yelled
Wildstar. "At least let her wake up and get treated and covered up,
first!"
"Is she awake
yet?" he snapped at one of the nurses working on her.
"She's halfway
awake," said Natalie Fisher, who tried to cover her friend up with a tan-colored
blanket. Like Holly, Nova lay in very little on the gurney with a heart monitor
on and tubes running into her body. "We're almost done bandaging that arm,
and she's getting a transfusion! Can't it wait, sir?"
"Venture, let it
wait…." said Derek.
But Mark just waked up to
Nova, stared hard into her semi-coherent eyes, and snapped, "Did you do
all that you could for Holly? She's paralyzed!"
"Mark…that's
you?" said Nova.
Venture nodded, while
closing his fists.
"Did everything I
possibly could have…feel terrible," muttered Nova. "I couldn't move
her…we didn't have a back board…I didn't want to aggravate that injury…had to
save the ship…we…I.."
Nova sat up, with her blanket falling down to her lap
as she moved. For a heartbreaking second, her battered form was almost fully
exposed before she grabbed the blanket and hastily covered herself. "Can
you just go away, Mark?" said Nova in an angry, trembling voice.
"I'm cold…and I have nearly nothing on!"
"Nova…I…"
muttered Venture.
"Derek!" sobbed
Nova. "Just hold me…my arm hurts so much…so does my chest."
Derek came up and hugged
his wife, trying as best he could to make her fully decent.
"Venture, just go
away," snapped Wildstar. "That's a direct order. We'll talk
later."
"Robots," snapped
Mark. "Both of you! Nothing but
robots!"
"Mark," said
Nova, as she gazed at Venture with deep hurt in her eyes.
"What?"
"You're becoming
driven again; just like you were with Trelaina. You're too driven. Don't
you know that this can destroy you? I don't like seeing you like this!"
Then, she began to cry again while clenching her fists.
"She's my fiancée,
Nova…you…you…oh, I don't know what to
say!"
"Mark, get out of
here, or, I swear, I'll…" snapped Derek.
"You'll what?"
"You know."
"You two, stop
it! Do I have to get up like this to break you two up again?" snapped
Nova. "Derek, you and Mark are both acting ridiculous! This doesn't have to come to physical violence! Don't you know
how upset I get when I see you two going at each other like that?"
Dr. Sane then came up.
"You'd better get out of my Sickbay, Venture!" he said. "I'll
talk to you later in my office. For now…you're just getting in the way…"
"Doc…"
"You too,
Wildstar!" yelled Sane. "For Heaven's sake…let my nurse finish
treating Nova. Hands off! Let her go! You can talk to her later in your cabin;
I'm releasing here there after that transfusion's finished."
"Okay…yeah," said
Derek.
"Yeah," said
Venture.
Both Wildstar and Venture
stood together, refusing to look at each other. But, even though they were
angry at each other, they were like brothers for one reason; they were both
filled with heartbreaking concern for their loved ones.
A few hours later, Dr. Sane talked to Venture. Sane
was sitting cross-legged in a chair in his office, with a bottle of sake in one
hand. He had been drinking. Mark had declined the liquor the first time that
Sane had offered it, so Sane was drinking alone. Beside him, Mimi sat on the
deck and yawned before climbing up into his lap for warmth; her feline thoughts
didn't reckon much upon the scene that was taking place here in old Sane's
office.
"Can't Aliscea do
anything for her?" asked Venture.
Sane sighed. "Not
right now. Aliscea's still drained, like she said at that briefing earlier.
Don't you remember what she said?"
Venture gritted his teeth,
thinking back to Aliscea's comment earlier:
"If he has his Fortress…he could have
arrived at that point by now," said Aliscea. "Even I really don't
know how fast he can travel when he is in full command of his faculties. And if
his Fortress is working, he seems to have some bizarre symbiosis with it. I
can't do much right now to tell, one way or the other. My powers are still
drained from that fight I had with him the other day, when I had to kill that
Technomugar trooper and bring Nova back from the brink of death. It'll take me
a few days to recover and tell you for sure."
"Yeah. She had the energy to save Nova,
but not for Holly…right?"
"Before she could even
do anything, Venture, we'd have to open up Holly and get that glass out of her
spine. That would be a very dangerous operation that could claim her life, but
we'll have to do it if she can ever have any hope at walking again."
"How much sensation
and ability to move does she have?"
"Just down to about
the tops of her thighs, and that's it. Luckily, she's not incontinent, and
well…she can still completely feel things like a woman. Not all is lost. At the
very worst, she could still be a wife to you; but she'd be in a wheelchair if
we can't restore her ability to walk."
"Is there anything you
could do, Doc?" sobbed Venture. "I'd even donate some of my own
nervous tissue if it'd help her. Even a bit of my own spinal cord."
Dr. Sane breathed a deep
sigh and poured some sake for Venture. "Drink that," he said. "Doctor's orders."
"Thanks." He and
Sane drank, and then Mark muttered. "That damned Wildstar and Nova. You'd
think they could be more sympathetic."
"Oh, they are,"
said Sane. "You don't want to know what Nova offered before when we were
moving her up to the Captain's Quarters to rest."
"What'd she
offer?"
"She said, and I
quote, 'If you need to operate on Holly, you can take some of my spinal cord
for growth hormones. I could learn to get around on crutches if I needed to.'
Unquote."
"What about
Wildstar?"
"He agreed with her.
Think about that before you condemn your best friends, Venture. Those two would
cut off their own right arms to help you…even if they want to punch you in the
nose at the moment; a punch you probably deserve."
"You think I should go
see them now?'
"I
wouldn't…not now.
Nova, remember, has been up for close to twenty-four hours. She's catching up
on sleep. So is Captain Wildstar."
"How'd you manage
that?"
"Some
hot chocolate; with a little addition of my own. Now, Sandor has command of the
ship. I recommend you get something."
"What?"
"Sleep. Now, drink up."
"Thanks."
"You know what this
reminds me of?" said Sane.
"What?"
"Our first journey to
Iscandar, when Wildstar blamed Avatar for what he thought was Alex's death.
Luckily, Holly didn't die, but Holly is sort of in Alex's role. You're in
Wildstar's. And Nova is in Avatar's role, right down to that wound in her arm
and having to make very tough decisions. You know, the old Captain had a hard
choice when he was choosing his Deputy Captain on that voyage."
"Why?"
"He told me it could
have been Wildstar, which it was, or you, or even Nova. He had a bit of a time
choosing among the three of you. Do you think he made the right choice?"
Venture sighed. If it
had gone differently, he thought. I might be Captain now. I've been
there. It's a tough place to be, that seat. You do have to kind of turn
yourself into a robot. I know what Nova's like. Making the choices she had to
make in that battle…it must have been like hell for her.
"I think he did. I
don't know if I could do that every day or not."
"Nova told me she
couldn't do that every day, either. She's filled with guilt over what she had
to do, as a matter of fact. So? Do you think Captain
Avatar made the right choice?"
"I think he did."
"I'm glad you realized
that. Oh, one last thing, Venture."
"Yes?"
"Robots don't have
nightmares over what they have to do every day; over the decisions they have to
make as Captain. Derek does, Mark. He's still very much a human being, and very
much your friend. He wants to see you and Holly being happy together, too. I hope
you remember that."
"Thanks, Doctor
Sane," said Mark. He finished his drink. "Can I go now?"
"Yes, you can
go."
"Thanks."
IV. HOMELAND SECURITY
Earth
The Federal Megalopolis
Thursday, April 8, 2202
1105 Hours Spacetime
"So, what's the status
of the Argo at the current time?" asked General Hidalgo Camacho of
the Earth Defense Council. The Council was meeting today in a larger meeting
room than usual because they had guests, namely, Admiral Falworth and the other
four main Fleet Commanders of the Earth Defense Forces, as well as the
Commanders of Interplanetary Defense Command and Patrol Fleet Command.
"They're supposed to
be home by the tenth," said the Commander.
"And with them home,
we will have a full Fleet again, since our Fleet Construction plan is now
complete," said General Weller.
"I would like all of
you to introduce yourselves, if you would, gentlemen," said Singleton,
looking towards Falworth and his men.
"Yessir," said Falworth. The mustachioed
older man sat up erect in his chair. "Admiral Jeremy Falworth, commander
of the Combined Earth Defense Fleet. My flagship is the new space battleship Andromeda,
which is the Flagship of First Fleet, in command of Area One."
"Do you think that the
Fleet is ready for action?" asked the Commander.
"Well, we've just
replaced the Third and Fourth Fleet commanders and put them in a new flagship.
But, all of the primary ships we need have passed trials, and the whole new
Fleet is one line. We've had a few skirmishes with the Rikashans, but we're
expecting to hold a set of wargames late next week so that we can work together
as a unit, sir."
"Good," said
Singleton. "May I ask the rest of your subordinates to introduce
themselves?"
"Yessir," he
said. "Gentlemen?"
A younger looking
dark-haired man in a blue and gold peacoat somewhat like Falworth's
sat up. "Members of the Council," he said with a slight Italian
accent, "I am Vice-Admiral Alberto Manella,
commander of Second Fleet in Area Two. My flagship is the Andromeda-class
Space Battleship Perseus. We're ready
to go."
Then, Falworth nodded
towards a snowy-haired African-American man who sat in a black and red peacoat.
"Thanks, sir. My name is Rear Admiral Terrell Spears, commander of the
Third Fleet, Earth Defense Forces." Spears adjusted his peacoat and said,
"My flagship is the space battleship Aphrodite, ladies and
gentlemen. And we've already seen action. So, I know we’re ready to go when the
balloon goes up."
Falworth then nodded towards a somewhat dark-skinned
Japanese man who looked quite a bit like the late Admiral Gideon. He sat in a
black and red peacoat, and he had a very grizzled appearance. "Members of
the Council, a lot of you know me. I am Rear Admiral Ryu Yamanami. I've had
action before; and I've just been called back to active service after sitting
around for too long. I'm in command of the Cepheus, flagship of Fourth
Fleet, in Area Four. We lost a cruiser recently around
Then, Falworth nodded
towards a fifth man, a grey-haired man in a black and red peacoat. "My
name is Rear Admiral Nikolai Perulov, the skipper of
the new Space Battleship Scorpio. It’s a shame we lost Hoshiyama in
battle a few weeks ago. I'm ready to fill his shoes with my new ship, though,
and to go out there and do what we have to do in Area Five, or wherever we're
ordered to go."
Falworth nodded towards a sixth man, who was another
grey-haired man in a red and black peacoat. "My name is Rear Admiral Daijiro Kobayashi. As Head of Interplanetary Defense
Command, my job is patrol and escort. I've been doing that from the bridge of
my flagship, the Jamaica-class space battleship
"Finally, the last man
with us is the commander of Patrol Fleet Operations," said Falworth. "Commodore Burkhardt?"
"My name is Commodore
Joseph Burkhardt," said the youngest-looking of
the Fleet commanders assembled there…a dark-haired man with intelligent eyes
who looked a bit like Pete Conroy of the Argo. He was also Angie
Hartcliffe's father and Bryan Hartcliffe's father-in-law. As
"What about our eighth
skipper?" asked Stone. "When's Wildstar
supposed to be back again?"
"By the tenth, maybe
the ninth," said Singleton.
"Not bad," said
Falworth. "Now, would you like to hear about our defense plan?"
"Go ahead," said
Singleton.
Falworth called up a
graphic. "I plan a flexible defense. We won't put everything into one
basket or two like we did at Titan. Instead, our new defense fleets are
prepared to strike the enemy fleet from one of a number of decentralized
locations to reduce their strength before the main battle begins. That was the
best part of Gideon's defense at Saturn-Titan in my opinion. As such, Singleton
and I plan for Captain Wildstar and the Star Force to be a vital part of our
defense. I hope that her role will be providing the intelligence we need, as
she has been doing, and then acting as an independent unit on her own with a
few escorts so she can strike the enemy at her weakest spot before it even
enters the inner solar system. If she and that super-powered space princess
that the Argo is bringing back home can strike at the Dark Lord's
strength again before he enters our space and break the head of the enemy
attack there, so much the better. If not, I hope she can provide the information
we need to take out Ekogaru by ourselves so we can then break the will of the
Rikashans, who depend upon the Dark Lord like a god."
"What would be the
role of the Gamilons in this effort?" asked Weller.
"We hope that Desslok
can provide a fleet to attack the Rikashan Fleet before it reaches our space
and blunt part of its thrust there," said Singleton. "I understand
the Gamilons are sending patrol units into the Far Eastern Arm to watch the
Rikashans and let us and Desslok know when they'll strike. As such, the
Gamilons are acting as a second advance patrol fleet for us."
"It sounds like a good
strategy, sir," said Camacho. "There's just one thing…"
"Yes?" said
Singleton.
"I hope it
works."
"So do I…so do
I…," sighed Singleton.
After a morning deposition,
Karl Forrester had returned to his Megalopolis apartment a little earlier than
usual, having no other work for the day at his firm.
He stepped through the door
of his apartment and found Teri at home waiting for him, with a candlelight
lunch ready.
"Teri?" he asked.
"What's the occasion?"
"I was at the doctor
today," she said with a smile.
"How'd it go?
Okay?"
"I'm okay, but the
results weren't what we expected. It's not an early change of life or
exhaustion or anything like that?"
"Well, what is
it?" laughed Karl.
Teri tiptoed up to Karl in her house slippers and
gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. "You're quite a devil, you know
that?"
"What do you mean?' he
laughed, although he was getting an idea where this conversation might be
leading. He was beginning to sweat a little.
"Nothing bad,"
said Teri as she looked out towards space for a minute. "But I wonder how
we're going to tell Nova?"
"Tell her what?"
"That she has a
brother and sister on the way," crooned Teri. "Congratulations, Karl.
In late February, it seems, you made me a mother again. It won't be long until
we hear the patter of little feet around here. All over
again."
"Oh, Teri!"
sobbed Karl in happiness and surprise.
At that, she and Karl
kissed.
Once again, the Forresters
were going to be parents…in their forties, rather than in their twenties….
Later on that day, on the Argo,
the helm was repaired, along with part of rest of the
Todd Voorhees sat at the
Cosmo-radar, and Becky sat at the battle radar, underscoring the absence of
Nova and Holly by their very presence.
Dash was also absent; he
had actually lost a leg in the fighting, and was being fitted with a cyborg
replacement in Sickbay. As a result, Captain Wildstar was back at the Combat
station, seated next to Venture.
He and Mark weren't getting
along well. Sandor, of course, knew exactly what was going on. The others only
knew from scuttlebutt that they had recently had a serious argument in Sickbay.
"So, how close are we
to Red Star?" asked Wildstar.
"About
two hundred lightyears now. One more warp will do it, sir," said Venture.
"Is that all?"
asked Wildstar.
"Hey, sir, I gave you
the report you wanted," said Venture. "What more do you want
from me?"
"A
bit of respect." Derek stood up. Everyone tensed; here was the explosion they were
expecting. "You know, Venture, we have a lot to talk about."
"I've thought about it
a bit, and I'm sorry for what I said about Nova. Are you sorry for what you
did?"
"For
what I did?"
"Yeah. You looked at my fiancée down
there, all exposed like that!"
"So? You saw my wife
in her underwear, Venture, and you didn't seem to mind!"
"Hey! What the hell is
that supposed to mean?"
"Everyone knows the obvious.
When you aren't looking at Holly, you're looking at her!"
"She's one of my best
friends, Derek."
"Or she was,"
said Wildstar. "Last time I heard, she wasn't exactly looking forward to
talking to you again!"
"How would you like it if I just came up to you and gave you a
punch in the nose, then talked some sense into you?" snapped
Venture.
"Hey,
you two! Cut it
out!" snapped Sandor. "Derek, you think Nova would like to see you
going at Venture like that?"
"She would, Steve. She
would know I'm defending her honor."
"She wouldn't like
that, and Holly wouldn't like the way you're carrying on, either, Venture. Why
don't you two just chill out?"
"Yeah, I've got a ship
to run," said Wildstar. He sat down, banging his behind very hard into the
chair.
"You mean we
have a ship to run," snapped Venture.
"Oh, bug off!"
snarled Derek.
V. TRANSITIONS
Space Battleship Argo
The Aft Observation Deck
Friday, April 9, 2202