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 EIGHT--CARUFAX
I. MEETING WITH THE
Space Battleship
Near the Wishing Star of
Voton
Friday, April 9, 2202
1300 Hours Spacetime
Captain Jorge Peronada smiled as his squadron approached the
Wishing Star of Voton.
Now, we're almost there,
he thought. Soon, we shall see what the Argo looks like after her long, long journey.
Walsh sat up at his post.
"Sir, I have Captain Wildstar on the line."
"Switch him to
visual."
The signal switched, and Peronada saw Wildstar standing up at the Combat Station to
greet him. Derek had a peacoat on, but, otherwise, it looked to Peronada as if he was serving as his own Combat Group
Leader. That's strange, thought Peronada.
"Captain Jorge Peronada, I assume?" said Wildstar
"Yes, I am Captain Peronada. You're right on time, Wildstar. How has it been
out there?"
Wildstar took a deep breath.
"Not that good, sir. We've met the enemy; many, many times. As a matter of
fact, you can still see the damage on my bridge. My Combat Group Leader is in
Sickbay being fitted with a bionic leg. Yvona Josiah, who is now a cyborg of
the Technomugar, recently attacked us with a large Technomugar space fortress
known as a Goraizu Fortress. It was a huge ship; a very heavy space battleship.
I have a lot to report to you."
"I see."
"I'll be pulling up
alongside your ship for the duration of our rendezvous. Would you like to set
up docking tunnels?"
"Yes, of course."
"Then, we shall be
seeing you soon. Thank you, Captain Peronada."
Wildstar cut off. A moment
later, the radar officer on duty said, "I've captured the Argo on
radar. She's approaching at slow speed. Switching to video
panel."
"My God,"
murmured
Petersen muttered.
"They look terrible."
"They look so beat
up," said the radar officer.
Peronada snapped to attention and saluted. A
moment later, so did the rest of the bridge crew.
"Walsh, send an order
throughout the task force for all hands to salute the Argo. They deserve
it."
"Yessir," said
Walsh.
Moments later aboard the Valkyrie,
both Captain Denise Carroway and Eager were on their feet saluting with the
rest of the crew.
"Damn! I'm almost glad
I wasn't aboard," said Eager. "Look at her! She's so
damaged!"
"I wonder if that's
the way we're going to end up," murmured Carroway. "That is,
if this task force even makes it to Iscandar and back. How
did they even warp her that far?"
"The Argo's a
tough old ship," said Eager. "We've taken her through worse
before."
"Yes, but it looks
so…tired now."
"She'll look better
once she makes port for a few days. She's on her way home."
"And you'd better be
going, too," said Carroway. "I'll hate to lose you."
"I know."
A while later, the Argo
and
On the Argo, two Marines
presented salutes as Captain Peronada and a lovely
young woman in EDF blues with long black hair stood together in the docking
tunnel. Two others stood behind them.
"Permission to come
aboard for all of us?" asked Captain Peronada.
Todd Voorhees, who was
serving as Officer of the Deck, intoned "Permission granted, sir…ma'am.
May I ask who the young woman is?"
"Senior Lieutenant
Maria Vasquez Peronada," she said with a smile.
"You may call me Mrs. Peronada. I'm the
"I'm a guest,"
said Captain Carroway. "This is my first visit to the legendary Argo."
"And you're
a…skipper?" asked Voorhees.
Denise rolled up her eyes.
"Of course I am. I'm the captain of the Valkyrie. We've seen combat,
too."
"I was her First
Officer," said Eager. "But now, I'm comin' home."
"Eager!"
yelled Voorhees, laughing and slapping his back. The Officer of the Deck
promptly picked up a phone and placed a quick call. "Hey, Becky," he
said. "Let everyone know that Eager's back! This
is great!"
"Looks like you got a
homecoming," said Carroway. "Sir," she said to Captain Peronada. "Shall we finish boarding?"
"Why, of course,"
said Voorhees. "Sergeant Hassan, escort them to
the Captain's Quarters."
"This way," said
the tall Space Marine guard.
A while later, (while
looking at the damage to the foyer of the Argo's Captain's Quarters,
only some of which had been repaired), Hassan tapped
at the hatch. "Captain. Your
visitors."
"Enter," said
Wildstar's voice.
Eager, as junior-most
officer, opened the hatch. Peronada was pleased and
surprised at the sight of Captain Wildstar standing there in his peacoat, and
Lieutenant Wildstar standing there in her favorite pink dress and sandals. It
looked as if Nova had just finished laying a lunch out on the small table in
the cabin.
"Welcome aboard,
ladies and gentlemen," said Captain Wildstar as salutes were exchanged and
formal introductions were made. "The four of you can sit down at the
table; Nova and I have seats over here by the desk."
"Where's the bunk,
sir?" asked Carroway.
"It folds down,"
said Derek. "Right now, it's up."
"So, you're the famous
Nova Wildstar," said Carroway while looking at her. "I've always
wanted to meet you and your husband." One thing that surprised Carroway
was how ordinary the legendary hero and heroine looked when one met them in
person.
"I've heard about
you," said Nova. "And everything I've heard has been good, Captain.
Congratulations on your new command."
"Thank you," said
Denise. "Of course, my real rank is Lieutenant. By seniority, you probably
outrank me by a few weeks, ma'am."
"But you've had more
time commanding a ship than I've had," said Nova. "And I know it's a
tough job. Oh, Eager! Glad you're back. Don't let me think I'm neglecting
you!" she said with a low chuckle while she gave Eager a quick hug.
"Nova, you got a
bandage on under this dress?" asked Eager as he returned the hug and
touched her arm.
"Yes. Just a little
battle wound," she said with a slightly pained look clouding her face for
a moment. "I'll be all right, Eager. Thanks for asking."
"Welcome back,"
said Derek as he gave Eager a quick pat on the shoulder. "Looks
like we'll have to get you back into a proper Star Force uniform before you
report to the bridge."
"I can take him down
to Supply in a few minutes," said Nova. "It won't be too bad as long
as I'm back to Sickbay by 1400 to help Holly get ready."
"What's the
occasion?" said Maria Peronada. "Surely you
didn't put on a dress and heels for us, ma'am?"
"We're having a
wedding on board ship at 1500," said Captain Wildstar. "You're all
invited."
"Great excuse for a
party," chuckled Nova. "I'm the matron of
honor. Funny; this'll be the second wedding I've been to as a bridesmaid since
I got married."
"Sit down and eat with
us, Lieutenant," said Peronada.
"I was a bit…
busy," said Nova as she squeezed Derek's hand for a minute.
"Both of you,"
insisted Maria. "You both look a bit famished."
Derek and Nova looked at
each other and then took some sandwiches and coffee. They sat down together at
Derek's desk, facing their guests.
"So…uh…it looks like
you've seen some action," said Captain Peronada.
"You could say
that," said Captain Wildstar. "Have you been briefed on the threat of
the Technomugar and the Rikashans?"
"I have been,"
said Jorge. "But I didn't know how pervasive or vicious the threat was myself until we had that battle at Procyon on the way out
here. Did the Commander brief you on what happened?"
"He did. It was
interesting to hear about your short-lived truce with the Cometines."
"Yes; I was surprised
myself by General Devat's actions," said Peronada. "I have the feeling he's probably reporting
this threat to his superiors by now. I wonder if they think the Technomugar are
a threat to them, too?"
"It'd be interesting
to find out," said Captain Wildstar. "Who led the attack at
Procyon?"
"An Yvona
Josiah," said Captain Peronada. "Isn't she
the traitor who ran from Earth and joined them?"
"She is," said
Derek.
"What's wrong?"
asked Denise as she looked at Nova, who had just gone pale.
"Yvona attacked us,
too," said Nova. "It was just a while ago…and I was Officer of the
Deck then on a night watch. Before the Captain could get to the bridge, I had
just barely managed to begin beating off a frenzied attack by that woman."
"Excuse me," said
Maria. "This sounds personal. Have you met her before, Nova?"
"I have,
unfortunately," said Nova. "Before she defected, Yvona was one
of my mother's older sisters. I was nearly killed the other night by my own
insane aunt."
"Oh my God, I'm so
sorry," said Maria.
"How crazy is
she?" asked Denise.
"Mad as a
hatter," said Captain Wildstar. "She tried to attack us at our own
housewarming before she defected. That was the last time we saw her
face-to-face."
"Until those battles,
Derek," said Nova. She finished her sandwich and looked at the chronometer
on the bulkhead. "I'd better get going with Eager. I'll see all of you
later."
"Take care," said
Captain Carroway.
"Be careful,"
said Maria.
"Take it easy,
Lieutenant," said Captain Peronada.
As Eager got up, Nova said,
"Oh, I have nothing to worry about except IQ-9."
"You have one of those
old robots on this ship?" asked Carroway.
Nova nodded. "This
one's base AI programming has gone a bit funny. I think I've trained him not to
pick on me anymore, but he can be very unpredictable. He likes to do really rude
things, and he has a horrible crush on me. It can be a bit embarrassing when
you're married."
"I once heard about a
Ninth class robot like that who thought he was an opera singer," said
Maria Peronada.
"I heard about him,
too," said Nova. "Italian arias?"
Maria nodded.
"Never met him,"
said Nova. "See you later. C'mon, Eager."
"Be sure you don't
kiss him next," teased Derek.
"Derek, you're
impossible!" giggled Nova. She wanted to throw something small at Derek to
tease him for his silly comment, but she didn't think it would be professional
in front of her guests. "Watch him, sir," she said to Captain Peronada. "He enjoys bad jokes."
"So do you,
Nova," teased Derek as the others smiled at the young couple.
Maria looked at them,
chuckling to herself while she thought, Oh, Captain
Wildstar and his wife are so cute! They make such a lovely couple! And they're
still newlyweds, too!
"Mine aren't as bad as
yours, Derek!" said Nova.
"Bye, guys, just in
case Nova kidnaps me and I don't come back," said Eager. "You see,
everyone, she looks sweet, but she's really been up on charges five times for
various bizarre misdeeds with the ship's cat!"
"Oh,
you! Shut
up!" teased Nova as she playfully cuffed the back of Eager's head, while deciding to forget about
professionalism for a moment.
"Nova, you got a mean
right, mah head hurts!" teased Eager.
"You deserved that,
Chris," snapped Nova. "By the way, Dash is in Sickbay," she
added in a more serious tone of voice. "Wanna visit him after we get you
fixed up?"
"Sounds great,"
said Eager as they stepped through the hatch.
"They sound like old
friends," said Captain Peronada.
"They are," said
Derek. "Just like all the old veterans on this ship. That first one-year
trip to Iscandar really bonded all of us."
"And you two got
married because of it," said Maria. "How romantic.
You fell in love very fast, I'll bet."
"It was more like a
slow burn," chuckled Derek. "She loved me for months before I
acknowledged it and saw her as more than a buddy I liked to pal around with.
Another guy…my best friend, matter of fact… loved her, too, but she let him
down easy and they're like brother and sister now. Even though we've had our
spats, all three of us get along great."
"Do you mean the
famous Mark Venture? The man who came back from the dead?" asked Maria.
Derek nodded, flushing
because he didn't like being reminded of Mark's death. "Thanks to
Trelaina, we saw a miracle take place here on this ship. And thanks to Aliscea
of Pellias…"
There was a tap on the
hatch. "You rang?" said a quiet voice.
"Come in,
Aliscea," said Derek in shock. "What's up?"
The others stared in
surprise at this woman in a black dress.
"I felt Ekogaru again
for a moment," said Aliscea. "Then, the feeling faded. He's
stretching his foul mind out towards us yet again."
"May I introduce you
to our guests?" asked Captain Wildstar.
"Thank you, but I know
who they are already. I felt them come aboard."
"You…felt them…?"
Aliscea nodded. "Your
ship, Yamato, I shall call her, has her own life force. Some here are
dead, and some are living. I know all of the living aboard her, also some of
the dead who sometimes visit her. I have met your Captain Avatar, I have met
the ancient Captain Kosaku Ariga
who was her last master when she was a sea-going battleship; oh, I have met
with so many of them. I have even foreseen some of those who may board in the
future if we live through this. Interesting what Captain Ariga
thinks. He is a little bemused that all nationalities are now aboard his old
command, but he understands that Yamato belongs to all of Earth now, not
just to
"You have a way of
making the fantastic seem commonplace," said Carroway.
"My woman, every day
that you rise from bed, you walk aboard in a Universe filled with miracles,
magic, and power. You are separated only by the thinnest of veils from Glory
inexpressible that would cause you to fall to your knees in awe, or Horror
unspeakable that would nauseate you far worse than a charnel house filled with
bones and corruption. I can pierce these veils as easily as you women can look
through a bathroom shower curtain. That is why I look so grave at times."
"You look a bit like
Nova," said Captain Peronada. "Coincidence?"
"Perhaps. You could say I am of fire and the
sky; the stars, the black void expressed in the black raiment I usually wear,
with feet sandaled like a slave as a mark of humility. I am of the sky. Nova,
on the other hand, is of the Earth. She is of life, growing things, secrets
found under the leaves of plants, and she is a healer of the psyche and frame.
There is good clean earth under her young feet, and clay on her fingers, wisdom
in her bones, and her eyes see more than you guess. In my pride, I thought I
was the Dark Lord's Antagonist. Maybe she is. Maybe all of you
are."
"What do you
mean?" said Derek, who was shocked by this news.
"When Yvona attacked
your ship the other night, she was flaming with
Ekogaru's Wrath. I felt it even in my dreams and awoke, quailing, as my psionic
guard was down. I thought that we were done for and I told Paul that. But,
whether it was through the strength Yamato's spirit gave her, or through
some power she holds but is not aware of, or through the favor of the One
Himself, Nova did not quail at seeing her aunt, who was acting then as the
Mouth of Ekogaru himself. There was no fear, and she fought the threat,
unaware, I think, of the forces she was resisting. So did you, when you took
command. Love is itself a force. Your love for Earth, I think, and for each
other, the love everyone on this ship shares for each other and for this ship…that
force is something I think he might begin to fear even more than he fears me.
And, lately, I have felt the energies within me shifting."
"Yes?" said
Derek. The others were speechless at this.
"Yes. And if my Matrix
of power is shifting, perhaps it will leave me, and pass on to this ship. And
perhaps I must leave you for a time. I do not know. It remains to
be…seen…" said Aliscea as tears ran down her cheeks. "If you'll
excuse me…"
At that, Aliscea turned on
her heel and left, quietly sobbing as she stepped out of the cabin.
"What was that all
about, sir?" asked Captain Carroway.
"I'm not sure I
know," said Derek. "Really. I'm not sure I
know…uh…she's kinda confusing. Great to have around,
but…confusing."
II. MARK AND HOLLY'S
HAPPY (SAD) DAY
Space Battleship Argo
Near the Wishing Star of
Voton
Friday, April 9, 2202
1430 Hours Spacetime
In Mark Venture's cabin,
Captain Derek Wildstar was busy straightening Mark's peacoat as he stood at
attention.
"Now for the
boutonniere that Nova made," said Derek. Mark gulped and his eyes filled
with tears as Derek picked up the small floral arrangement.
It's just like the one
she made when I met Trelaina, thought Mark. Only now, it's all white. It's so
beautiful, and, please God, let my marriage to Holly last! Let it last more
than a day! Let her survive that operation tomorrow morning?
"I'm not sure how to
put this thing on you," muttered Derek. "Nova's much better at this
stuff."
"I think you use that
pin in the back…"
A tap came at the hatch.
"Come in!" said Venture.
Nova came in, smiling,
carrying a tray with a wine bottle and three glasses.
"Struggling with that,
Derek?" said Nova in a soft voice.
"Yeah, I am."
"Let me get it for
you, love."
At that, Nova set down the
tray and walked up to Venture. Nova began to prepare the boutonniere, stopping
when she saw Mark's hair. "Derek! Some best man you make! Don't you know
how to comb his hair?"
"Uh…I'm not exactly
good at that…"
Nova rolled up her eyes and
got a comb. She began to work on Mark's hair. "I swear, the problems you
and Holly are giving me today…she's struggling when I put on her headpiece, she
says it tickles…"
"How does she
look?"
"I got her fixed up
really nice. Natalie helped, of course. Natalie loaned her the dress, I loaned
her the shoes. I can't tell you more because I want you to be surprised,
Mark."
"Yeah," said
Venture in a choked-up voice as Nova finished combing his hair and put on his
floral arrangement. "There! You look perfect. Here's one for good luck,
then I have to fix your best man."
Nova then kissed Mark
quickly on the cheek. "Holly will have to do better than that later
on," said Nova. "Now for you, Derek! Oh…look
at you! Your hair's a mess, you didn't put on the boutonniere I made you, and
you're not wearing your hat! I love you, but sometimes…oooooh!"
"I hate that
hat!" said Derek as Nova combed his hair. "Ow!
Are you combing my hair or pulling it out?"
Nova giggled. "That's
what you get when you use that plain shampoo."
"But I'm not using your
girly stuff!"
"Watch carefully,
Mark," teased Nova. "This will be you and Holly when she gets better.
This is your…future!"
"No it won't."
"Yes it will,
Mark," sang Nova. "She's even feistier than I am, remember?
She told me to tell you that when she can walk again, she owes you a few swift
kicks in the pants for being a jerk the other day to Derek and I. If it wasn't your wedding day today, I'd give you one of
those kicks myself."
"What about me?"
said Derek.
"You
too! Wait until
tonight!" cried Nova with a wink. Mark then knew she was teasing (but
didn't want to let her husband know that yet)
"You sound pretty
confident she'll get better, Nova," said Mark in a serious voice.
"Don't worry…we'll
start fixing her up. And she'll be OK tomorrow, you'll see."
I hope she'll be, thought Nova. But I can't let on
about the doubts Doctor Sane and I have, not when I'm trying to cheer Mark and
Derek up because I can't stand seeing them looking depressed today.
"Done molesting my
hair, Nova?" asked Derek.
"Yes, now for your
cap…let's get it straight…"
"I look like the King
of the Penguins with this thing on," sighed Derek.
"You look like a
Captain; my Captain," said Nova in a soft voice. "You know, Mark, I
really do love this big kid?"
"Big kid?" said
Derek. "We're the same age."
"Girls mature faster
than boys, and I'm five months older than you besides," said Nova.
"Now, let's get these flowers on you, then you
get a big kiss."
"Do I need to close my
eyes again?" asked Mark.
"No," said Nova.
"Watch this, Mark. This is a lesson on how you kiss Holly."
And at that, Nova gave
Derek a big, loving kiss straight on the lips. They hugged, and held the kiss
for a long moment as they embraced and rocked.
"Hey, Derek, if you
wanna put your hand up her skirt, remember, you’re in my quarters, not
yours!"
"Shut up!"
both Derek and Nova said together as they broke the kiss.
Then, Nova stepped away and
began to pour the wine.
"You know, Holly's
been looking forward to this," said Derek. "You're nervous?"
"Yeah. Scared.
Now I know how you felt back in December, Wildstar," said Venture.
Nova came up with the wine
tray. "You should've seen him after I rescued him from his bachelor party
with that commando raid. Remember that?"
"Yeah," said
Venture. "We forced him to come, and we were expecting to see a stripper
come out of that cake, to tease him a little but, instead, it was you, all in
black like a commando with ninja boots on. How'd you pull that off?"
"Lots of bribes in the
right places," said Nova. "But that's a story for another time?"
"Where'd you take
him?" said Mark afterwards.
"In
my room, in my parents' house. I took him back to the hotel later."
"And what were you two
to up to?" said Mark with a wink.
"Playing Monopoly,
snuggling, and talking," said Derek.
"That's enough, let me
tell the story later," said Nova. "I wrote it down on our honeymoon
in first-person narrative one morning when he slept in." Nova recalled the
memory, guessing that Mark didn't need to know that she was sunbathing in the nude
in a hammock on their island while writing down her story in a notebook.
"Here, guys, take your wine."
They did so, then Nova set down the tray and took her own glass of wine.
"I propose a toast," she said. "To Mark and
Holly Venture. May the two of you have a long, long marriage, long and
happy," said Nova as her eyes brimmed with tears, "and may all four
of us be together to celebrate our Fiftieth Anniversaries and many, many
beyond!"
"To Mark and
Holly!" yelled Derek. "Kampai!"
"Buono,
guys!" sobbed. Mark. "That's Italian for "Great!""
At that, all three of them
drank, unaware that within a few weeks, one, and then two of the three friends
would not be there for a while.
"I hope my dress and
shoes are okay, Mark. These are the best things I have on the ship that aren't
white," said Nova as she corked the bottle and put it back in the ice
bucket.
"You look gorgeous,
Nova. It's all right," said Mark.
"You know Derek and I
wanted to wear matching black tuxedoes at your wedding," said Nova.
"Mine would have had slacks, and black pumps or sandals, just enough so
you could tell us apart."
"Maybe we can do that
after we get home and Holly's better," said Mark. "We were discussing
redoing this in church somewhere in
"That's a good
idea!" said Nova. "Derek, you'd better help me find a formal shop
when we get home. Got that?"
"Yeah," said
Derek with a smile.
"You know,"
sobbed Venture. "I've said this before, but, I love both of
you guys so much. We had that argument, but you two are the best friends
a guy could have!"
"Thanks, Mark,"
said Derek. Then, both Derek and Nova hugged Mark.
A moment later, they left
to go to the starboard side observation deck, where the ceremony would be held.
At 1500 Hours….
"I wonder how this is
gonna look," said Hardy.
"I'm sure everything
is set up to look its best," said Conroy. "Nova did a bang-up job
with those flowers by the podium."
"Yeah…she did,"
said Eager, who was now back in his green and white
Star Force uniform for the first time in months. "Wish I coulda stood up there with Venture."
"I think he wanted
this to be small," said Homer. He quailed a little at Rosstowski's glare.
"No offense, guys."
"No cracks today,
please," said Aliscea as she shivered with her shawl over her shoulders.
"Are you all
right?" whispered Paul.
"I'll live…"
Up on the stage, near a
podium, there were several pots of flowers. The podium stood in the center of
the stage; Derek stood at one side of the podium; Nova stood by the other side,
facing the podium.
Yamazaki, who was now the
Officer of the Deck, got up to the podium and said,
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the ship's Chaplain, Rabbi Greenberg."
The chaplain, wearing a
white Jewish prayer shawl over his Living Group uniform and usual yarmulke,
came forward and took his place at the podium.
"Today, we are here in
the sight of man and God to join a couple who have served lovingly in our midst
for all of this cruise. As the Wishing Star of Voton,
before us, is said to grant wishes, let us all wish for a happy union and full
recovery for these two. Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce the Groom,
Commander Mark Venture, our Deputy Captain."
The EDF march played softly
on the stereo system as Venture walked forward, alone, trying to keep from crying
as he came up the white aisle in his navy blue peacoat and Star Force uniform.
He wore an ascot and the boutonniere that Nova had pinned on his earlier.
Finally, he took his place,
letting a tear run down his cheek as a lump gathered in his throat.
A moment later, Mendellsohn's "Wedding March" played on the
stereo system as the doors at the after part of the observation deck opened,
and the bride came forth.
Holly was being carried by
IQ-9, who was escorted by Doctor Sane. In spite of the fact that she had to be
carried in, Holly Parsons made a most beautiful bride.
She wore a thin, simple
halter-topped gown in white trimmed with lace at the bottom, with a garland of
flowers around her forehead, and a white ribbon holding her flaming red
ponytail in place…for the most part. Some of the ponytail ticked the back of
Dr. Sane's head as they walked, making the old doctor laugh in spite of his
tears.
At her feet, a pair of
white sandals (borrowed from Nova) could be seen; Nova had decorated them with
some of the same small flowers she had made Holly's garland out of. Holly was
smiling, even though tears ran down her cheeks.
Holly shivered a little as
IQ-9 stopped before the podium. Mark looked at her with tears in his eyes and
whispered. "Holly, you look gorgeous!"
"Thanks,
Mark. I'm glad you're happy," she said. "IQ, bring me closed to Mark.
I want to hold hands with him through this."
"Sure," said IQ
in a quiet voice. The little robot, observed Maria Peronada
from her place in the spectators beside her husband, was on his best behavior.
In the crowd, Diane Henson
and Tatiana Lubyanska smiled at each other, shyly letting their hands
intertwine just as Mark and Holly joined hands to be married.
The ceremony was brief and
simple, and took all of ten minutes. Mark and Holly gave each other rings
presented by the Rabbi; rings that had just been made in the Dynamic Do-All the
night before; Derek and Nova would get the engagement rings they had loaned
Mark and Holly back after the ceremony was over.
Finally, for a poignant
moment, after Rabbi Greenberg said to Mark and Holly, "By the power
invested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife…" IQ-9 tenderly passed
Holly to Mark. Then, he held her in his arms, and cradled her softly.
Rabbi Greenberg then said.
"Commander Venture, you may now kiss Mrs. Venture."
Tears ran down their cheeks
as the happy couple shared their first kiss as man and wife as Mark stroked his
bride's smooth, bare back. After they kissed, Holly whispered to Mark,
"Mark, my love?"
"Yes?"
"If I don't live
tomorrow, please see to it I'm buried in this outfit? It's so beautiful!"
"Oh, God, don't talk
like that, Holly!" sobbed Venture under the sound of the crew's applause.
"I'll try not
to," she said. "You know I asked Nova to make our role at the
reception short since I'm not feeling so good. Can we have our dance right
away?"
"Sure, Holly…"
anything you want," said Mark softly. "Today, you're the most
important woman on this entire ship."
"Hey, Nova?"
whispered Derek as he wiped away his tears.
"Yes?" sobbed
Nova.
"Can I take off my hat
now?"
"Go ahead," said
Nova with a sweet smile.
Derek removed his hat.
Then, he turned around and he and Nova saluted Mark and Holly as the crew
applauded again.
"How are they going to
dance?" asked Conroy.
"Yeah!" said
Bryan Hartcliffe. "She can't bloody walk!"
"Shhhh,"
said Angie angrily as she slapped
Mark and Holly walked
together in front of the podium, with Mark still tenderly carrying his wife.
Then, they held hands and began to "dance" to a contemporary song in
a most romantic dance, with Mark carrying his wife all throughout the dance as
the crew applauded.
"Hey, Derek, Nova…they
look like you guys that time up on the first bridge when she had her
coma," said Eager. "They look so cute!"
"Thanks," said
Nova.
"They look very
romantic," said Sandor. "Wildstar, I hope this works out for them.
Venture's had too much heartbreak lately."
"I hope it works out,
too," said Derek. "I couldn't bear to see anything happen to
them."
"Even though Venture
married a cripple who's probably no good in bed now?" snapped Sakamoto.
"Why
you…son-of-a-bitch!" yelled Wildstar as he went for Sakamoto.
"No, Derek, don't!"
cried Nova as Wildstar grabbed Sakamoto by his shirt.
"Why
the hell not?
You heard what this idiot said!"
"There are better
ways, Derek. Let him go!"
"Looks like you got me
a reprieve, Missus Nova, thanks!" laughed Sakamoto.
"No you didn't
get a reprieve!" snapped Nova as she came between her husband and
Sakamoto. Derek noticed that Nova's eyes were burning and brimming over with
tears; a very dangerous combination. Derek wisely stepped back.
"What do you
mean?" said Sakamoto as everyone stopped to watch the fracas. Even Mark
and Holly had stopped, fearful of the outcome.
"Just this," said
Nova smartly.
A second later, she deftly
pumped one of her skirt-clad knees up into his crotch as hard as it would go.
Sakamoto fell to the deck screaming.
"Arrrghhh! Nova! You ruptured me, you damn...!"
"Good," said Nova
with a sarcastic smile while the flabbergasted guests suddenly applauded.
From the back of the hall,
Carroway laughed and yelled. "You go, girl! Can you teach me
that move? I could use it on my boyfriend Jeff!"
"Now, if you can walk,
Sakamoto, get your sorry ass out of this
wedding!"
"I'll get you,"
he muttered as he crawled away.
"Threats to a superior
officer, Sakamoto?" said Wildstar. "She does outrank you, you
know."
"I…uh…heck…" said
Sakamoto as he left.
"Nova, are you all
right?" said Derek.
She nodded with a smile.
"Just takes the right twist of the knee to do that. At weddings, you need
a little finesse and class in dealing with rude guests. Isn't that what you
showed me in my martial arts training?"
"Remind me not to mess
with you when you burn the toast at home, Nova! And be careful with that
knee?"
Nova smiled and mussed up
Derek's hair while Mark and Holly finished their dance.
Later on, after Derek had
briefly danced with Holly in his arms and Nova had twirled Mark around the floor
for a bit in a dance that she said Holly had set up, Mark and Holly left the
hall after sampling some of the small wedding cake.
They finally ended up in
Mark's cabin. Mark noticed that some of Holly's things had been moved there
already.
"We're in our cabin,
now," said Mark as he gently put Holly on their bed.
"I'm tired," said
Holly.
Mark sat beside her on the
bunk, tenderly removing her shoes. She kissed him, and smiled as he tickled the
bottom of her foot, even though she was unable to feel it.
He ran his hand tenderly up
her bare leg under the gown. "Can you let me know when you can feel
that?"
Holly nodded. "Right
there," she said softly.
"How do you
feel?"
"Mark…when you were
carrying me around?"
"Yes?"
"I began to want you
then…the way you were touching me when you carried me…"
"Oh, Holly!" he
sobbed. "Can you…?"
"Yes, even though
you'll have to help me. Before I fall asleep, I want you, my love. I want
you."
"What do you want on
for your wedding afternoon, honey?"
"Nothing
at all. The
bandage on my stomach isn't that big. Just…be gentle…?"
"I will be," said
Mark.
And, at that, he began to
undress his bride…
The wedding lunch began to
break up a while later. Derek, Captain Carroway, and Captain Peronada walked together to his cabin while Nova, twirling
in her dress, gave Maria Peronada a tour of the Argo.
"So what else do we
need to discuss?" said Derek as they walked.
"That transfer,"
said Carroway. "I need a new navigator-pilot."
"Yes, that," said
Derek.
"And any advice you
can give us for that trip to Iscandar?" said Captain Peronada.
"Yes," said
Wildstar "Be careful. Be damn careful. Both of you
guys."
"So I see," said
Captain Carroway. "That sounds encouraging."
"It's not supposed to
be. The journey will be very dangerous now."
"I know," said Peronada. "But, still, we have to liase
with Iscandar and Gamilon. I'm sure it'll be an interesting trip…but, Desslok
has to get that master defense plan. That's our number one job…getting it to
him so he can help us."
Later on, Holly Venture,
now naked except for the bandage on her stomach, purred as Mark pulled her
closer and held her next to his naked chest.
"It's been too long
since I've been with a woman like that," he said softly.
"How long?"
purred Holly. Mark's lovemaking had made her so happy that it even seemed to be
helping her back. Also, she swore he could feel his touch a little further down
her thighs now as he ran his hands over her.
"Trelaina and I had
one interlude like this where she was undressed. Just one.
And we didn’t actually join like you and I did. The rest was…in my
dreams."
"With
her?'
"Yes. We only made
love like this in my dreams, Holly. Most of my sex life has been in my dreams,
you know. I was with my girlfriend in the Academy…maybe …twice. This is only
the third time I've done this?"
"Did you dream of her?
This girlfriend of yours?'
"Uh yes, I did, Holly.
Along with Trelaina….and…well…and…"
"Who?"
"I…don't want to
say…Holly. You…uh…know her too well."
"I won't tell,"
said Holly in a soft voice. "But, I think I can guess who?"
"Okay, you
guess."
"You've dreamed about
being with Nova like this, haven't you?"
Mark's eyes filled with
tears and he nodded. "Yes. You're the first human being I've told
this…"
"But you're not the
first one who knows," said Holly softly.
"Who…who
else knows?"
"She does."
"Nova knows?
When? I never would have told her…"
"When you were
delirious, after Trelaina brought you back, you talked in your delirium. She
knew, of course. She saw you. She was taking care of you at the time. She said
you dreamed of both her and Trelaina."
"What did I do?"
"I don't think we
should tell you," said Holly with a soft smile. "But, Nova said she
is quite aware of what a man can do in his dreams when he dreams of a woman.
She knows dreams are dreams, and she doesn't blame you. Let's just leave it at
that."
"Oh, okay," said
Mark with a blush. "So what do you want to do now?"
"We both have the day
off. I want to sleep…with you, my love. My husband," sobbed Holly.
"My wife," said
Mark.
On that gentle note, they
both slowly went to sleep.
On her ship, Captain
Carroway was settling down to work with her new navigator-pilot, a pilot taken
from the Black Tigers known as Lt. Felicia Keefer. Denise was beginning to miss Eager already as she settled down to work with the new,
unfamiliar woman with light blond hair.
After the
As Eager was busy
re-learning the Argo's functions, Captain Wildstar himself took the helm
at about 1900 hours that day after he and Nova had both gotten back into their
regular shipboard uniforms. He, Nova, Eager, and Sandor had joined forces to
calculate the long warp back to the edge of Earth's solar system. After warping
to the Brumus orbit, the Argo would make a short warp to the Saturn-Titan
station for debriefing and an inspection the next morning before Holly's
operation at 0700. Then, they would leave for their final warp back to Earth at
about 1300 that day.
"Attention all
hands," said Captain Wildstar as he sat down at the Argo's helm
with the Wishing Star of Voton burning in the bridge windows before him.
"We will be commencing the first in a series of three space warps that
will take us home. All breakables are to be secured and all hands ready for
this space warp. We will be warping in three minutes!"
The clock ticked down as
Wildstar, Rosstowski (who sat beside him at Dash's usual post), IQ-9, Nishina
(who sat at Rosstowski's usual post), Homer, Yamazaki, Eager, Sandor, and Nova
all secured their safety belts.
"Ten seconds to warp,"
said Derek. "Ten…nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one…zero.
WARP!"
Derek pulled back the
appropriate lever, warping the ship himself for the first time in God knew how
long. He had warped once or twice on the way to Iscandar, and had a basic knowledge
of how to pilot the Argo.
A minute or two of
distortion passed. The Argo then rematerialized near Brumus. The warp
was successful…the Argo, at last, had returned to its own solar system
after a long, long voyage.
"We're almost
home," said Derek.
"Whew," said
Rosstowski. "What a warp! When do we do the next one?"
"In two hours.
Destination: Saturn-Titan, guys. Does anyone have to stay up to get ready for
that inspection?"
Every hand on the bridge
went up.
"Well everybody, looks
like it's gonna be a long night."
"Yeah, you can say
that again," said Nova.
"What do you
mean?" said Eager.
"My locker is an
absolute mess."
"Oh, don't
worry," said Derek. "We'll get it looking good, between the two of
us."
"I have to put some
time in, too," said Rosstowski. "Aliscea's stuff is all over the
place."
"Has she ever done an
inspection?" asked Nishina.
"Not for many years,
since she was an officer in the Pellian Fleet for a short while."
"And I have that
operation in the morning," said Nova.
"Where's Holly being
worked on?" asked Sandor.
"The base
hospital," said Nova. "Doctor Sane and I are going to transfer her
there first thing in the morning. Then, she'll be medevaced
back home as soon as her condition stabilizes. Venture said he's catching a
private cruiser right back out there right after we get home and debrief so he
can be with her until she's shipped back home."
"He's taking
leave?" asked Derek.
Nova nodded. "Poor
Mark. At least now that he's married to her, he'll have no trouble seeing her
under these conditions."
"Yeah. And if we have to go out again in a
week or two for those wargames, we'll need a new and experienced
Navigator-pilot until Eager finishes his on-the-job training to take
over," said Derek.
"I'm sure they can
arrange someone," said Sandor. "You'll see."
III. PASSICAGLIA AND
FUGUE IN C MINOR (REPRISE)
Space Battleship Argo
Saturn-Titan EDF Base
Saturday, April 10, 2202
0800 Hours Spacetime
"Not bad," said
Captain Wildstar as he and Rear Admiral Terrell Spears of the Third EDF Fleet
walked down a passage on the Argo together. They had just completed their
inspection of the Argo and her crew, and the ship had passed with flying
colors. Everything looked perfect, all the way down to Nova's locker.
"You look tired,
Captain," said Spears with a smile as he adjusted his glasses.
"Well, I was up all
night with my wife like a cadet cleaning up our quarters and sprucing up our
uniforms. Of course I'd be tired, sir."
The two men stopped not far
from a lift. Admiral Spears laughed genially, with his eyes twinkling behind
his glasses. "Well, that goes to show you that not even Captains get out
of inspections in this Fleet. I'll send a good report to the Commander. Of
course, those repairs are still ongoing, aren't they?"
"Yessir," said
Wildstar. "We could use some dock time."
"Well, you'll have
some time here, and I think you'll have about a week on Earth before those
wargames next Saturday."
"I wonder what our
role will be?"
"They haven't
announced who will be commanding the Red Fleet aggressor force, yet. It might
even be you, Captain."
Derek smiled to himself.
Even though he knew this was just a preliminary to a much worse real battle
that would be coming up, he sort of liked the idea of honing his skills and the
skills of the Star Force by having the Argo act as a Fleet flagship in
an exercise. Derek was considering a few tricks that he could use in such a
situation when Natalie Fisher, still in an operating room cap with shoe covers
over her low shoes, came running up in a minor panic.
"Fisher, what's the
problem?" said Wildstar. "I was just talking with the Admiral."
"They had an explosion
on the base near the fueling area for the fighter squadrons!" she cried.
"We can't transfer Mrs. Venture to the Base Hospital for that operation
like we were going to; they need all the operating rooms on the base for
injuries from the blast, and they're pulling some of our medics!"
"What?" said Wildstar.
"When did this
explosion happen?" demanded Spears while he grabbed Fisher by the
shoulders.
"Just twenty minutes
ago," said Fisher. "Captain. Dr. Sane wants
you in Sickbay…"
"Sir, request
permission to leave," said Wildstar.
"Granted," said
Spears as he and Wildstar exchanged salutes. "I have to find out what's
going on myself!"
Derek ran into Sickbay just
as he found Sane slamming down a phone and ordering four nurses, two medics,
and Doctor Bradford to leave the ship. Around Sane stood only Nova, Fisher,
IQ-9, and one other nurse. Holly Venture lay nearby in a transport cocoon; it
looked like she was going to be moved.
"There you are,
Wildstar," said Sane. "That young lady's already prepped for surgery,
but we're gonna have to work on her here. If we get any more calls, please tell
Doctor Kitara for me that I can't send any more help!
I need one other doctor and four nurses on this ship to cover emergencies, and
I need everyone here in this room to work on Holly, who is already under for
this operation. Got that?"
"I sure do," said
Derek. He looked over at Nova, Natalie, and the third nurse, who was known as
Ensign Quiana Parker. Parker was a replacement from the base who
had just joined the Star Force last night. "You've got everything under
control?"
Nova nodded, tightening up
one of her shoe covers in the process. "We're just about ready to go,
Derek."
"How does it
look?" he whispered.
"Tough. But we'll do
all we can to get Holly fixed up. Tell Mark that," said Nova as she pulled
her operating room mask over her face. "Quiana! Gloves!"
"Wildstar," said
Sane. "It looks better than it did last night. We gave her drugs, and the
spinal edema went down a bit. If we can get that debris out of her spine and
keep her stable during the job, we’ve got a very good chance."
Derek turned away as the
third nurse began to help glove Nova for the operation. IQ-9 stepped under a
sterilization field, and Derek saw Natalie pushing the gurney towards the
operating theater as he left Sickbay.
As Derek stepped out, the
hatch locked and the indicator went red behind him.
Captain Wildstar walked up
to the observation theater level for the OR. The shades had just been opened,
and Derek could see Mark Venture standing with his hands against the window
looking down into the OR with anxiety in his face.
"Is she gonna make
it?" muttered Venture.
"I talked with Doctor
Sane. He said they have a good shot, as long as they can keep her stable and
get the debris out of her spinal cord," Wildstar said as he watched the
silent ballet of the nurses and Dr. Sane below while they worked on Holly.
Dr. Sane's face was scrunched
in concentration as he worked on Holly. Curtains and an operating hood covered
her form, and Wildstar could see little wisps of smoke under the bright lights
as Dr. Sane worked with his cutters and cauterizing instruments. Nova stood
near him handing Sane instruments and acting as his
"third hand" inside the deep incision. She stopped now and then to
help Sane suction out a bleeder or to set a clamp or
retractor to push something aside so that Dr. Sane could reach further inside
the incision to work.
Now and then, Natalie
reached in to help them as they worked. She and Quiana went back and forth,
monitoring various pieces of equipment along with IQ-9, and getting instruments
from a second tray as needed.
"It looks so confusing
in there," said Venture.
"They know what
they're doing," said Wildstar.
"I hope so," said
Eager. "It'd be so sad if something happened to…"
"Yeah," sobbed
Venture. "It'd be sad…"
In the meantime, the base
was turning into chaos as black Rikashan planes showed up to make bombing runs.
Only a few Earth planes got
off the tarmac out in the cold before the tarmac itself was heavily strafed. It
soon looked as if the explosion had been no coincidence; a running land battle
was soon going on with EDF forces that seemed to be disloyal, and with Rikashan
troops who had shown up.
To the dismay of some of
the ground commanders, it looked as if some of the lighter-skinned Rikashans
and R'Khells had actually gone into battle wearing EDF uniforms to confuse
actual Terran troops.
On the Argo, klaxons
were going off as Rosstowski, the OOD, was calling general quarters. Soon,
Captain Wildstar (and, reluctantly, even Mark Venture) had to leave the
operating theatre behind to run to the bridge.
As Sane reached into
Holly's wound, the ship vibrated beneath them, and he pulled his hand out.
"I'd better be
careful, but I can't stop now; we're in too deep, so we've got to finish what
we started!" he said.
Quiana Parker stiffened.
"What's wrong with
you?" asked Nova.
"Shouldn't I go to my
combat station?" said Parker in a quavering voice. "Scared I'll drop
an ink pen or something."
"As long as we're in
surgery, this is your combat station," snapped Nova. "You
heard the Doctor; we can't stop now. Prep 30 cc of ViNox in case we need to add
it to this IV."
"Ma'am, I'm scared.
Those bombs are gettin' close."
"Think we
aren't scared, Parker?" barked Natalie Fisher. "We're stuck down
below here…we've just got to trust in our shipmates above us in those gunhouses
and on the bridge. That's all we can do now."
"Parker, get me that
ViNox," snapped Nova.
"Yes, ma'am,"
said Quiana.
Another bomb went off, and
Parker's clog-clad feet skidded on the deck a little as she ran for the
medication fridge.
She's got no space legs
whatsoever, thought
Nova. How did she last this long in the Fleet?
When Wildstar got to the
bridge, followed by Venture, he found that Rosstowski was busy. "Sir, I
launched Lubyanska's and Hartmann's squadrons from the upper two fighter bays
to help shoot down those planes. Pulse lasers are tracking the rest of the
enemy planes now. Open fire?"
Derek nodded.
"Pulse lasers, fire!"
yelled Rosstowski.
The Argo's pulse
laser batteries began to go off, blowing up some of the Rikashan planes that
were on the attack, and scattering others.
Derek then watched as Todd
Voorhees worked the cosmo-radar. It looked as if the Black Tigers were doing a
good job taking care of the Rikashan raiders; the enemy obviously hadn't
expected such a quick response. "Looks like there's a
fleet off our bow, 300 kilometers over the base. Luckily, looks like
Admiral Spears is taking care of it with Third Fleet."
"Signal from the
enemy," said Homer. "Switch to video?"
Derek nodded. He looked up
at the screen and snarled slightly as a familiar but hated orange face came up
on the screen.
"Baron Cha'rif,"
hissed Derek.
"Greetings, Wildstar. A little sabotage? A little probe of your
defenses, Captain? Did you like being forced home by Yvona?"
"We had other reasons
for returning home, Cha'rif. And we'll be fighting you again soon. Remember
that."
"Ohh…it's such a pity
that His Lordship has other plans for you. I wish I could help, but I can't get
in the way of my God. Remember that, Wildstar."
"Remember what? Your sarcasm? Your big mouth? Your sadism."
"No. If it wasn't for
Ekogaru, I wouldn't even want to invade this planet. As I've said, you're
decent people and I like you."
"You sure treat your
friends weird," said Wildstar.
"If you live through
this, I hope we can get together and have a nice talk, free of the burdens of
war. For now, I am your enemy, unfortunately. Most
unfortunately. Understand that to defy Ekogaru's will would be heresy
for me. On Rikasha, sadly, they still crucify people for heresy. I shall be
going, now. I see I have done enough to slow down your effort. Until we meet
again…"
Just as Third Fleet began
to roar in, most of Cha'rif's fleet faded off Voorhees' radar screen.
"Dirty bastard!" he said. "He's warped!"
"Just their planes and
two carriers are left," said Eager from the Combat Radar. "And those
planes are runnin' home like rats abandoning a sinking ship!"
"Thanks, Eager,"
said Venture. "Nice to know."
A minute later, Voorhees
said. "Now the last carriers are gone. Third Fleet only got in one
shot."
"It's over?' said
Derek.
"Base Command is
saying they've killed or captured all of the Rikashan troops and Earth
traitors," said Homer. "They're reporting that the battle is over,
with heavy damage to the landing strips."
"Rosstowski, call home
the Black Tigers," said Wildstar.
"Roger," he said.
"All hands, this is
the Captain," said Derek. "Stand down from General Quarters and begin
repairing any damage. We're still scheduled to leave the base at 1300, so work
as quickly as possible."
"Damage control teams
are already busy," said Sandor.
"So that's another
raid," said Venture. "If it's been like that for Earth, no wonder
it's so important for us to be home again, Derek."
"Yeah, you've got that
right…"
A while later, Wildstar and
Venture took up their vigil by the operating theatre. Luckily, it looked as if
they were almost done; Derek could see Nova taking away a tray filled with
glittering, bloody fragments of something as Sane worked. They waited in
silence as the doctor and nurses finished.
About half an hour later,
the light above the Sickbay door went green again. Venture ran down to the
hatch as fast as his legs would carry him. He was there just in time to see
Holly, still unconscious, being pushed out on a gurney by Natalie and Quiana.
Inside the operating room, Doctor Sane and Nova were in the final stages of
clean-up.
"It’s better than we
thought," said Sane as Captain Wildstar followed Venture in. "Holly's
going to be a while healing, and she may need a treatment from Aliscea in about
a week after we put her in Central Hospital on Earth. However, I'm now 85% sure
she'll live and 60% sure that we'll see more sensation and some movement in
those legs. Possibly a full healing in a month or two, but these things can be
tricky."
"You mean, my wife will walk again?"
"Good chance of it,
Mark," said Nova as she finished scrubbing down a counter and sat down to
pull off her paper shoe covers. The same white sandals Holly had been wearing
yesterday at her wedding were now back on Nova's feet
again.
"Thanks," said
Mark as he gave Nova a quick hug. Derek followed it up with a slightly longer
hug. "Good job, honey."
"Thanks. I don’t know
where we got some of these nurses from, though. This one nurse I had in
here…well, she's still as green as grass, Derek."
"Want some liquid
refreshment, everyone?" asked Sane as he opened up a bottle of sake and
held it up after he poured himself a large cup of the drink.
"Think I could use
some, Doc," said Derek. He bowed as Sane poured him a drink, and then, he
poured Nova a cup of sake. Nova then poured Mark some and put the bottle back.
"Let’s enjoy
this," said Nova. "Cheers!"
Everyone else smiled and
chugged back their sake. Times were dark, but, somehow, they had a feeling that
things could only get better.
After all, they were almost
home now. The voyage was almost over.
Later on that day, Captain
Wildstar, Venture, Nova (who was now back in her regular uniform), Yamazaki,
Rosstowski, Eager, and Sandor were gathered on the bridge with IQ-9 after the Argo
had finally blasted off from Titan. The ship had just passed the orbit of
Phoebus, and she was now pointing towards Earth. Dash had just had his cyborg
leg attached, and he was still recovering in Sickbay along with Holly.
"Attention, all
hands," said Derek over the shipboard intercom system. "We are
now on course for our very last space warp back to Earth. We will warp here and
emerge from warp near the Moon. Then, we will cruise home for landing in the
Megalopolis, followed by a debriefing for the staff officers, and granting of
shore leave later today. I would like to tell all of you that you've been a
wonderful crew, and it's been a pleasure to serve with you on this voyage. We
have been in space just a bit over three months, but it has felt like a
lifetime…"
Bryan Hartcliffe sat in his
quarters with Angie; they were packing their gear.
"Some of you may
not be returning to serve with us; some of you will be…"
"I hope they don't
really split us up," snapped
"I hope they don't do
that, either," said Angie with tears running down her cheeks.
"I would like to
bid a fond farewell to those who will be leaving us" continued Captain Wildstar…
Down in the Voorhees'
quarters, Todd held Becky's hand and said, "We'll both be leaving. I
already know I'm going to go back to the JAG Corps while you're pregnant…"
"Yes," said
Becky. "I guess I'll be at a ground post in the Navigation Bureau once we
get home…"
"But we'll be
together…"
"Yes…"
Wildstar continued. "And
for those who will be staying," he said as he looked at Mark and his
downcast expression (since Venture knew he'd be separated from his new wife) "I
would like to wish them success. For, we have a tough job ahead."
Derek paused again, looking
back at Nova. She smiled softly at him. He knew the smile meant It'll be hard, but we'll be together…
Yes… he thought in reply.
"Again, I'd like to
thank you. You were a great crew, and we did a great job…but our work is not
finished. Soon, God willing, we will be able to return here…and finish what we
need to do to defend Earth…"
Derek ended, turning off
the mike at his post for a moment. Behind him, the sound of the wave engine
thrummed as he silently buckled his warp harness along with the others.
We're going home, thought Nova. Tonight, I'll be
able to have a little bit of heaven in our own kitchen…the kitchen we barely
got to use.
Another minute passed.
"Energy charge,
120%," said Yamazaki.
"Warp preparations complete," said Sandor.
"Coordinates locked in
and set for the Moon," said Venture. "We're right on the mark on the
dimensional graph…right near the intersection point."
"Prepare to
warp," said Captain Wildstar from the Combat Station
"Ten seconds,"
said Venture. He opened his mike, and began the countdown. At zero, he shut his
eyes, and, glancing at his readouts, which all looked normal, he pulled back
the lever.
Captain Wildstar shut his
eyes, expecting the usual brief surge of nausea as the Argo traveled
into hyperspace for a minute.
Instead, the nausea hit
hard, hard and fast.
What the? Derek thought as he opened his eyes
and saw the weirdness of hyperspace roaring past at an incredibly high rate of
speed. We shouldn't be going into warp that deeply if we're just warping
less than one light-year to Earth! It feels like something's wrong!
The other crew members
began to feel the same thing after a minute passed. In warp, it began to feel
unpleasantly cold.
It's never been like
this before! Nova
thought as she opened her eyes and felt her hair flying behind her in something
that felt like a great wind. Then, something hit her in the stomach.
Then, everyone heard a
strange, disquieting sound.
Laughter. Laughter as cold
as the grave. And organ music.
Paul recognized the tune at
once.
Passacaglia and Fugue in
C Minor! Crap!
A thought from Aliscea immediately
formed in his mind. It's him! He's doing this! That damn Ekogaru has just
possessed the ship!
The Argo faded back
into existence. Then, the bizarre sounds of warp began to fade, leaving only
the headache-inducing hum that followed a space warp.
Around the bridge crew,
normality slowly returned.
Derek looked up, opening
his eyes as he raised his spinning head from his board. A familiar, welcoming
blue planet loomed in the bridge windows.
"What the?" he
said. "That was some weird trick! There's Earth! Granted, we're right in
front of it…"
"Weren't we supposed
to come out of warp near the Moon?" moaned Eager. "Looks
like we overshot the mark a little."
"Venture, do you know
what's happened?" asked Derek.
"Not sure yet,"
said Mark. "Instruments are all screwy…the astro-compass says…uh…"
Nova looked at the
astro-compass and said, "Oh, my God! Either the compass is way off,
or…"
"Or what, Nova?"
said Derek.
Mark looked at the
astro-compass again and swallowed hard. "That has to be off. Because, if
that thing's right…"
"Yeah?"
"Wildstar,
if the astro-compass is correct, we're way up the Orion Arm of the galaxy, near
the core…and that's not Earth! If that's right…let me check my coordinates…"
The bridge went silent as
Venture checked his coordinates. Finally, he said. "Wildstar!
Come here and look at this?"
"Look at what?"
said Derek. He got up, followed by Nova and Sandor.
Sandor
looked, followed by Nova. "No…" muttered Nova.
"Derek, look!" she
said in a frightened voice.
"The numbers are all
wrong," said Wildstar. "Sandor…?"
Sandor sighed. "This proves
it. We're not near Earth, and the reason why is because something changed the
coordinates right as we warped. But what…?"
"Engine room?"
said Yamazaki. "Right…" he said.
"Sir, I have to
leave," said Yamazaki. "The main engine's on fire!"
"What?" said Derek.
"Overloads," said
Sandor. "I have to go. In the meantime, I suggest you find out where we
are…"
Sandor ran off behind
Yamazaki.
"What could have done
this?" said Derek.
Rosstowski opened his eyes.
"Aliscea said…he possessed the ship. She apologized…said her guard was
down…said we'll have a long, hard road back home…"
"If we don't lose the
ship…out here, over some planet we've never explored before," said
Venture.
Derek banged a fist against
his console in frustration and sat with his head slumped in his hands. He felt
Nova's consoling hand on his shoulder, but it offered little comfort.
In two minutes, the Argo
had gone from being on the last leg of her journey home to being marooned
40,000 lightyears away from Earth in unexplored space…
…with an
engine on fire…and a possible 'abandon-ship' situation beginning to rear its
ugly head.
And we can't even call
for help! thought Derek. We're out of range, and the Gamilon relay
satellite system doesn't even extend this far. Damnit to hell, our goose is cooked!
IV. CARUFAX
Space Battleship Argo
Planet Carufax
Saturday, April 10, 2202
1510 Hours Spacetime
The fire was finally put
out in the Argo's engine room while the Black Tigers guarded the wounded
ship, expecting an attack at any second.
"Well, it's bad,"
said Sandor later on. He and Wildstar were touring the engine room, which was a
mess. "The main control boards are all burned up. Everything here
overloaded when the ship was forced to do that 40,000 light-year warp in one
jump. The power circuits aren't rated for that much amperage. It's a good thing
we even came out of warp."
"Can it be
rebuilt?" asked Captain Wildstar.
Sandor nodded. "It'll
take time. Until we can repair the engine and the energy generator control
circuits, though, we can't bring up the main engine to maneuver hard, warp, or
fire the wave gun. Maneuverability will be the easiest thing to restore. We may
still have older circuit cards around so we can bring the wave engine on line
to warp in 24 hours, even though the warps will have to be smaller and at a
lower power rating than we were capable of just a while ago."
"What about the wave
gun?" asked Wildstar as he walked over a power cable.
Behind him, someone was welding, repairing a stanchion that had been damaged in
the fire.
"That'll be the
hardest thing to fix," said Yamazaki. "We'll have to scrounge through
parts bins to rebuild those boards in the dynamic replicator. If we can put the
boards back together, I think we can make the wave motion gun good for only ten
or eleven megameters' range, unfortunately. And it'll be at least one or two
weeks' worth of work to fix it. That's at minimum."
"So, in other words,
the ship's going to be partially crippled," said Captain Wildstar.
"Yes, sadly,"
said Sandor. "If Ekogaru did this to us on his own, he couldn't have
thought of a better way to hurt us…and Earth, than to do this. At the very
worst, we may be out of the war for a long time…and may not even make it to
Earth before the Fortress does."
"Damn," said
Derek. He made a fist, and tears ran down his cheeks.
Much later on that night,
Paul Rosstowski had been looking all over the ship for his wife. He finally
found Aliscea standing alone and rather depressed on the aft observation deck,
gazing back at Carufax.
"My future is down
there, Paul," she muttered. "My future and my
past."
"You can't be thinking
of going down there, can you?"
"I have to, Paul. I
can't explain it, but HE is there. He and my damned
father. This is what I've been hoping for over the past few weeks, since
Iscandar. The chance to go toe-to-toe with our tormentor and
the heart of the Rikashans' fanaticism. I have to destroy him,
Paul! Even if…even if…I spend my life in the process."
"Aliscea, you
can't…we…we can help you."
"I must, Paul. And you
damn well know that. This is…goodbye…"
"No it isn't!" he
said as he grabbed her wrists. "I'll go down there with you. Even if you
have to die, let me go with you."
"Paul, your
career…"
"To hell with my
career," said Paul. "I can get you down there."
"I was going to go myself,
with my power, but I can't take you. If you want to go…"
"Since I am going, I
can steal us a space boat."
"But who's going to
fly it?" snapped Aliscea.
The door of the observation
deck whizzed open. Bryan and Angie Hartcliffe walked in, carrying their gear.
"Aliscea," said
Hartcliffe. "We'll do it. And I've got a co-pilot. We both know how to fly
a landin' boat. I got Tatiana Lubyanska to arrange clearance for us to leave
under cover of a trainin' flight. Get down to the flight bay in the next half
hour. Slip into landin' boat number Two in the
"How did you arrange
this?" said Aliscea.
"Bryan and I know
you," said Paul with a smile. "And so does Angie. Besides, we're all
the Star Force's outcasts. No one will notice we're gone for a bit."
"Thank you," said
Aliscea as a sad smile went across her lips. She hugged Paul, and then she
hugged Bryan and Angie. "Thanks…everyone."
"Don't mention
it," said Angie.
"Anythin' to help you,
luv…and end this war," said
"Did you tell Captain
Wildstar?"
"Hell no," said
"Good," said
Aliscea as tears shone in her eyes. "I'll see you guys in that boat. Let's
go, Paul."
"What do you want to do,
before we leave?' said Paul.
Aliscea only smiled at him.
He immediately read her thought….
A while later, Paul and
Aliscea were naked and together in ecstasy in their bed. They knew this could
well be the last time they would ever be together, so they had decided to make
it as beautiful as possible.
The air was musky; they
were both desperate and hot as their joining continued. Aliscea kissed him,
with her tongue feeling like fire in Paul's mouth. He kissed back, cooling the
fire of her tongue with the warm wetness of his tongue. Their spirits also
joined, each anticipating the other's move without words; thought to thought. They didn't speak; they didn't need to speak. When
they were done, they fell against each other, spent, sobbing, exhausted. But, they
were filled with joy.
"If this was our last time, it
was great," said Aliscea.
"Don't say that."
"It might just
be…"
"No!"
"Who knows?"
"Please?"
"I'll see what we can
do," said Aliscea as she kissed her husband. A rueful smile clouded her
features.
But, deep down, she knew it
would be the last time…at least for a while.
"Let’s
get dressed, Paul.
We have a lot to do."
"Civilian
clothes?" he said.
Aliscea nodded. "I
have some normal things here that Natalie Fisher gave me."
Paul stood, throwing his
abandoned Star Force uniform shirt into a pile. "I guess I'll never wear
this again," he sighed. "Let me help you get dressed?"
"Thanks."
"I love you,"
said Paul.
"I know that. I know
that."
At that, Aliscea put on her
undergarments with Paul's help, followed by a white peasant-style top, and blue
jeans. She rolled up the jeans to lace up her thin sandals, and then rolled
them back down again. "Guess I'm dressed."
Paul pulled on jeans, plain
boots, and a light blue polo shirt. "Guess I'm dressed, too. Let's go."
They walked through the
door, not giving their cabin a backwards glance. They did not expect to return.
A while
later, they waited quietly in the landing boat, hiding out in the small head. The Hartcliffes were just outside,
making light talk with Tatiana as they prepared for their flight.
"You'll go out just
before I take off with Third Squadron; got it?" said Tatiana. "You're
cleared for a quick flight around the ship and a few maneuvers. You're not
cleared to go down towards the planet; Wildstar is arranging a survey that will
begin checking out the planet in the morning. "
"Got it," said
Angie.
"Are you two leaving
us like I asked?" said Aliscea.
"Hell no," said
"Thanks," said
Paul as tears ran down his cheeks.
"We've got takeoff
clearance," said Angie as she closed her helmet visor.
"Good," said
At that,
In Derek and Nova's cabin,
Nova stood making some hot chocolate. She and Derek were in the middle of
getting ready for bed, and they were sharing some small talk while trying to
forget about the predicament they were now in.
"I can't wait until we
get home, Derek," said Nova. "There was some artwork I was looking at
in a gallery before we took off. Wouldn't it be nice in the living room by the
conversation pit?"
"Hmmm," said
Derek. "Yeah, guess it'd be nice."
"What about if we
enlarge the garden, plant some tomatoes…?"
"Sounds
nice."
"Are you all right,
Derek?"
Nova ran over and hugged
her husband. Derek released a deep breath. "Nova, you know we might never
get home."
"But we can dream,
can't we?"
Derek nodded. "Yeah. We can dream. Better than thinking about all of
this stuff, I…"
Then, his communicator went
off. Nova quickly zipped up her uniform while Derek said picked up the phone.
"Captain's quarters."
"Wildstar, this is
Sandor. We need you right away."
"What's up?"
"A landing craft that
the Hartcliffes were flying just veered off course. They're refusing to answer
us."
"What? Where are they
going?" snapped Derek.
"Towards
the planet."
"That's foolish. Did
you try to contact Aliscea?"
"Sir, we just tried to
contact their cabin," said Hemsford. "No answer. Permission
to break in?"
"Granted," said
Derek. "I'll be right there."
Derek hung up the phone.
"Nova, you can stay up here. Just Hartcliffe up to some
crap again."
"I'm coming with
you."
"Nova, you look
tired."
"I'm coming. I have a
feeling about this…"
Derek looked hard at her, and
then nodded. "Yeah, me too. C'mon."
Derek and Nova arrived
together on the
Nova ran over to the
Cosmo-Radar and looked over the shoulder of the Sergeant on duty to examine the
pattern of blips. "They're over a small city of some kind near that small
mountain range. It looks like Tatiana's flight is close to intercepting
them."
Derek ran over to the
Combat post. He asked Nishina to leave, and he sat down. "I've taken
command," he said.
A moment later, Tatiana's
voice came over the speakers. "Captain. The boat
is approaching a populated area. They're refusing our demands to return. Seek
permission to shoot them down."
"Denied."
"Denied?"
"We need to see what
they're up to, first. Homer, punch me through to that ship."
"Yessir," said
Homer.
On the landing boat, the
radio transmitter light blinked again. Behind the hiss of the radio, the ship's
klaxons were blowing as the regular crew ran up to the bridge to assume their
posts.
"They're callin'
again, luv," said
"There's a flight of
Tigers getting close to us," said Angie. "
In her Cosmo Tiger, Tatiana
smiled grimly. "Don't like to do this, but sometimes, you've gotta do what
you've gotta do," she said. "Captain! I'm
locked on to the Hartcliffes!" She smiled as she looked at her HUD scope.
"Seek permission to fire!"
"Hold that!" said
Derek. "We have to see what they're up to, first. Got
that."
"Aye, aye, sir,"
growled Tatiana.
On the boat, Angie said,
"They're demanding we respond now!"
"Let me handle
this," said Aliscea in a stern voice. She grabbed the microphone.
"Hello, who is this?"
On the Argo, sweat
began to run down Captain Wildstar's neck. "Aliscea, what are you
doing there?"
"You know what I'm
doing, and why I'm doing it. He has to be stopped. Somehow.
If he is stopped, we have bought ourselves some time. Goodbye, Captain. You and
Nova have been kind to me. Don't prosecute Paul or either of the Hartcliffes
for this. They are just trying to help me. To help your
planet."
"Aliscea, come back to
the ship now! This is suicide!"
"Suicide is a refusal
to stop our enemy. I can say no more. Farewell."
The band went silent. Derek
banged on his console and yelled "ALISCEA!"
"Derek, her mind's
made up," sighed Nova as she sat at her post.
"We'll have to try something else."
"Wildstar, we'll have
to retrieve them another way; a less lethal way," said Venture.
"And I think I know
what we can do," said Derek. He switched frequencies and said,
"Conroy, are you awake?"
"Stupid
question," said Conroy. "What do you want?"
Another communicator went
off. A second voice came up on the speakers. "Wildstar, Hemsford here.
Aliscea and Rosstowski left a note. They've jumped ship!"
"Good. Now we know
what's up," said Derek. "You get a squad of eleven ready. Equip them
with Tokamak Gas Guns and other such non-lethal force. Get ready to follow my
commands. Lubyanska, you and Conroy cover us."
"Right," said
Lubyanska.
"What do you want me
to do?" said Conroy.
"You know Nova's
plane, with the life-sensor pods? Get it ready. Nova and I are taking a little
midnight flight to find our runaways. Hemsford, when we find them, you get that
squad down there. Got it?"
"Yessir," he
said.
A while later, a single
Cosmo Tiger flew into the dusk sky over Hartcliffe's last known location.
Derek was flying the plane
so that Nova could concentrate full-time upon her sensors. "Four life
signs!" she said. "Got them! They're eleven
klicks to the south, Derek!"
"Good," said
Captain Wildstar with a smile. "I'll just keep way back, and have Hemsford
come around towards them from another heading, then…"
Then, Nova cried, "Oh,
NO!"
"What?"
"Rikashan
Heat-seeker! I'm
discharging some chaff now!"
Nova flicked a switch. "Oh, no! It's still coming, Derek!"
"Crap…"
In the castle, not that far
away, Ekogaru stared into his crystal ball while Yvona, Gralnacz, Marda of
Rikasha, and Vergar muttered incantations while they danced around their Lord
in black-cowled robes.
"Missile, missile of
might and power," muttered Ekogaru. "Strike their engines! My
Rikashan infantry servants, thank you for your
aid!"
"Do you want them
dead?" muttered Gralnacz.
"No, I want them to
live," said Ekogaru. "But, I want them to come to me. Now, for a storm
to bring down Aliscea…Ancient spirits of power…heed my demands!"
A strange green light came
up from his crystal ball as the scene changed to the area around the
Hartcliffes' landing boat.
"The wind's picked
up!" yelled
"It's him,"
muttered Aliscea. "He's trying to do this…Let me attempt a defense!"
Ekogaru laughed. "NOW
BRING THEM DOWN!" he yelled.
He flicked his fingers.
Bang.
The missile hit the engine
of Derek and Nova' s Cosmo Tiger. They ejected in the
nick of time, just as the plane began to blow up.
The ejection seats shot
them up and away from the explosion. Then, the chutes activated, and they began
to drift down, noticing that the wind was blowing them apart, with Derek going
off over one side of a small river, while Nova blew off along the other side of
the same river.
The ruins of the plane hit
the river, leaving a depressing pall of smoke over the valley. But, both Derek
and Nova were alive.
Not far away, the wind
blew. Black clouds had appeared, and a blinding rain had come up. A rain mixed
with hail.
The hail bashed against the
windshield of the landing shuttle while a strong blast blew them into a spin.
Neither Hartcliffe could fight the spin…even Aliscea was unable to break the
spin with her powers.
"The best I can do is
let us down easy!" she cried. "Bryan, Angie, let go of the
controls!"
They did.
A moment later, as Aliscea
concentrated, the shuttle came out of the spin, and it landed with a right in
the middle of the stream, more or less intact.
"Will this work?"
asked Angie.
"No damage to the
engines or wings or tail, and we still have power," said
Paul opened the hatch.
"We've still got power."
"No shit," said
Aliscea stepped into the rain
and the cold, running stream, ignoring the feel of the cold water against her near-bare
sandaled feet. Lightning stuck in the hills, and thunder came overhead.
Another bolt of lightning
came down, and an enraged Aliscea defied the lightning with a bolt of power
that came out of her outstretched hands. Her power met the lightning and
deflected it.
Then, she screamed at the
heavens, "All right, Ekogaru! You wanted me here? You have got me
here! But you will regret it! You, Ekogaru, shall regret it!"
Aliscea howled with rage as
laughter seemed to rush up on the wind.
Captain Derek Wildstar
stood in the river in the heavy rain looking at the drenched remains of their
plane. He reached in, pulling a survival pack out of the mess.
In his helmet, his headset
crackled. "Argo to Tiger 032! Captain
Wildstar, please respond!" said Venture.
Derek said. "This is
Wildstar."
"How'd you survive
that?"
"Punched out…"
"Is Nova there?"
"She punched out and
went over the other side of this river. I don't know where she is. Can you send
search planes?"
"Negative," said
Venture. "Conroy and Lubyanska just barely got back to the ship. Strong
localized storm cell. We've lost five planes in this. Hemsford's boat just made
it back to the ship."
"Do you know where
Hartcliffe's boat went down?"
"We think they went
down about twelve klicks away from you, towards the south. If you follow that
river, you might find them."
"Thanks," said
Derek. "I'll try to search for Nova for a moment before going on. I don't
think she's too far away."
"Do you know what's
going on, Wildstar?" asked Venture.
"No," said Derek.
"But, one way or another, we're on this damned planet. I'll find some way
for all of us to get off this planet…alive…and together. We've
got a war to fight. Wildstar out."
V. CAUGHT!
The Vicinity of
Pa'Cranda Village
Planet Carufax
Saturday, April 10, 2202
1905 Hours Local Time
"Nova?"
The rain was beginning to
calm down in the near-darkness on Carufax.
"Nova? Where are you?"
Captain Derek Wildstar was
looking around a grove of trees for some sign of Nova when he felt a hand
tapping his shoulder.
"Hey, you!"
roared Derek. In a moment, he wheeled around with his weapon out.
"Derek?" said a
small voice.
Captain Wildstar stopped
when he realized that he had his Astro-Automatic right in his wife's firm but
defenseless stomach, clad in only her yellow and black uniform.
"Nova!" he cried,
now with a different inflection of voice. Derek dropped the weapon in the mud
and just embraced his wife in the dying rain.
Nova hugged him back.
"Where were
you, Nova?"
"The ejection seat
brought me down in a tree. Luckily, I'm good in trees. But, Ow…my behind!"
Both of them laughed.
"Yeah, mine too. Were you in touch with the ship? How come you didn't
call?"
"Radio's out in this
thing," said Nova as she took off her helmet and tossed it on the ground.
While the rain began to soak her blonde hair, both of them looked on as the
cast-off helmet shattered into three pieces when it hit the ground.
"Huh?" said Nova.
"I didn't toss it that hard!"
"It must have been
cracked against something."
"That must be why it
didn't work?"
"When
did you hit you head, Nova?"
"It banged against a
branch when my seat came in…"
"Looks like that
helmet saved your life. Whew!"
"Yeah," laughed
Nova rather nervously. She tapped the broken helmet with her booted toe.
"Well, I guess it's better for a helmet to be shattered than my head!
Where do we go now?"
"Easy. We go off to
carry out our mission," shrugged Derek. "To find
Aliscea. We've both had Ranger training, me in the Academy, you in ROTC that summer… What was the last heading you had
on their boat?"
"About
eleven klicks away, to the south. What'd the ship say?"
"Twelve klicks, to the
south…"
"Call the ship to get
a confirmed fix, Derek."
"Captain
Wildstar to the Argo. Captain Wildstar to the Argo.
Hello! Over!"
Derek got only static in
his headset.
"Venture! Come in! Over!"
There was only silence.
"Well, either my
battery's gone dead, or we're being jammed," said Derek. "Not bad.
Now we're cut off from the damn ship."
"And it's getting
dark," said Nova. "We'd better use what light we have left and start
following them. Got a compass?"
"I've got mine."
"Mine, too," said
Nova as she took a small compass off a pouch on her belt. "Well, shall we
go?"
Derek nodded. "Well,
let's go. I'll lead the way."
"Aye,
aye, sir. It's
been a while since I've done a land navigation exercise. Might even be sort of
fun…"
"You know what I like
about you?"
"What?"
"You can find some
good in almost any situation, Nova."
"Thanks."
They followed the compass
heading along the river, looking up as the clouds blew away and the stars began
to come out.
"Looks like this
planet has a moon," observed Nova as she looked up into the sky. "Nice and bright."
"Good. At least
that'll give us some light," said Derek. "I think we're getting
closer. Got the pedometer on?"
Nova nodded. "We've
gone six kilometers so far. Want a drink?" She took a canteen off her belt
and offered some to her husband.
"Thanks. Had enough
presence of mind to get it off your ejection seat?"
"Yeah. What happened to yours?"
"It fell off when my
ejection seat landed."
"Oh," said Nova
with downcast eyes. "Good thing you weren't killed."
"Let's go…"
Derek turned, but, a moment
later, a green burst of energy blasted out of the trees.
Nova tried to hit the dirt,
but the energy beam caught her in the leg. She fell unconscious to the wet
ground.
"NOVA!" cried
Derek. Captain Wildstar drew his weapon, and angrily looked for a target.
He saw something moving in
the trees, and fired. But, a moment later, a beam caught him in the back.
Captain Wildstar also
collapsed to the ground like a fallen tree.
After Derek fell, a group
of twelve armored Technomugar troopers came out of the trees. The sergeant took
off his helmet.
"That's him,"
said the sergeant as he kicked Derek over onto his back. "That's the
commander of the Argo."
"Good," said
another trooper. "Let's finish him off."
"NO!" barked the
sergeant. "Lord Ekogaru wants this lot alive."
"Wonder why,"
said another trooper "These organics look pretty damn small and
undernourished."
"Yeah, they do,"
said another trooper as he tore Derek's shirt open.
"He looks good for his
kind."
“Strip him and take
inventory of his uniform and effects,” said the sergeant. “The skinny little
female, too. We can brand them with their prisoner serial numbers later on in
the dungeon where it’ll be more fun.”
"Fun! Especially with a hot iron! Wonder
what she's hiding under this jumpsuit?" said another one as he roughly tore
open Nova's uniform and began to strip her. Two other troops prepared chains
and manacles.
The troopers laughed as two
of them lifted Nova up before throwing her limp form onto a tarpaulin in the
back of a Techomugar armored personnel carrier.
"Let's take them to
the Castle Pa'Cranda," said the sergeant. "Let's take them right to
Ekogaru."
The armored personnel
carrier started as the troops got on board.
At last, Aliscea was about
to meet Ekogaru face-to-face, as were her friends and allies.
But, they were prisoners of
the Dark Lord, helpless, chained, and disgraced.
It was not quite the
confrontation that Aliscea had desired…
END
The Storyline of The Rikasha Incident
will be continued in the Next Tale: "A Wound (Like A
Knife to the Heart)"
THERE ARE NOW 31 DAYS TO THE ARRIVAL OF EKOGARU IN EARTH'S SOLAR SYSTEM
To return to the Introduction to the Rikasha Incident please click here