ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE

STAR BLAZERS---PELLIAS

Being the fifth part of THE RIKASHA INCIDENT--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz

ACT THREE: WILDSTAR AGAINST KA'MOK

I. THE STAR FORCE ARRIVES AT THE HEART OF A MYSTERY

The Beta Valentis System

Space Battleship Argo

1002 Hours, space-time.

"Warp completed," said Mark Venture as the Argo appeared at the edge of the Beta Valentis star system. She was now 1,000 lightyears from Earth, and would soon be at Pellias.

"Wave motion engine condition normal," said Orion.

"Captain, all guns are ready to fire," said Dash. "All missiles are ready. All Black Tiger squadrons are on alert-five."

"I am now signaling the Gamilon Fleet with a short pip in the old 2200 Gamilon code we deciphered," said Homer. "So far, no response. Also am signaling Pellias in the same code. No response."

"No reaction on the tactical radar," said Parsons.

"Captain, I'm detecting quark decay in the area," said Sandor. "That means that, not too long ago, a tachyonic weapon was fired in this area."

"Sandor, so far as we know, the Rikashans don't have weapons like that," said Captain Wildstar. "Therefore, it had to be…"

"…Desslok's surge cannon," said Sandor. "Hmmm…maybe the Gamilons did our work for us. We might be able to go in unopposed, Wildstar."

"Somehow, it doesn't seem right," mused Derek. "Nova, do a time radar sweep of the area. Start with the area five hours ago and then count up."

"Roger," she said. "I…oh!," she cried as her scope began to bleep. "I've just detected…ten ships. A carrier, two battleships, and seven escorts. Switching to video panel."

"Rikashans!" said Wildstar. "And the R'Khell bunch, too. They're the only ones in that group that seem to paint their ships red like that."

"I'm receiving a signal from the flagship!" cried Homer. "Switching to video."

Everyone looked up, gasping a little as a scarred, bald visage came on the screen, breathtaking in its ugliness. "Hello," said the voice. "Let me make this short. My name is Ka'mok, you Earthers. You are in a system claimed by the holy legions of Rikasha. Leave it!"

"Ka'mok, I am Captain Derek Wildstar, commander of the Argo and of the Star Force."

"Should I care?" said Ka'mok. "You look more like the commander of the toilet brigade to me. Your crew looks like the sort of scum we use on Rikasha to clean out privies. Ought I be ready to leave you a tip?"

"Ka'mok, the Star Force is a tight-knit group created for the purpose of saving and defending Earth and all that we Earthlings hold dear. We don't need your insults! But enough of your comments. I have made a bargain with your commander, Baron Anton Cha'rif. He has given you orders that we are to be allowed safe passage into and out of this system. We have business here that concerns the security of Earth, Gamilon, and yes, possibly even that of Rikasha. If you are obedient to the orders of your commander, let us pass! Cha'rif must have told you. He seems like the sort of man who keeps his bargains."

"I'll tell you what Baron Cha'rif said," said Ka'mok. "He had to leave the area. I was left in command. He is now near a strange system where there are two planets that orbit each around the other. I received a brief transmission about that. He is pursuing a Gamilon force that ran there. In the message, he said you were to get to Pellias. He did say that. But then he said that you were not to leave the system with Lady Aliscea aboard your ship. She is a prisoner of ours under an official death sentence for sedition, to be carried out by sacrificing her to our war god. This is now Rikashan territory."

"He…said that?" said Wildstar.

"He did. Did he betray you?" said Ka'mok sarcastically. "I'm so sorry, my poor Derek. Really I am. Want me to come wipe your tears?"

Derek gritted his teeth. "I thought he was an honorable man. It seems he isn't."

"He is an honorable man," said Ka'mok. "But not where pale little scum like you are concerned. I see two pretty, pretty ladies on your ship. Can I have them for some sport when we're done?"

Nova and Holly looked at each other and then glared daggers at Ka'mok on the screen. "Oh. They don't like it?" said Ka'mok. "So sorry, Wildstar. I will spit upon them later on when they're in chains. I don't think you'd be a reasonable man and turn back and leave this system to real men like us from Rikashan territorial space?"

"I intend to get past you," snapped Wildstar. "With our without your cooperation. And there will come a day when I will deal with Cha'rif if my path ever crosses his again. Now, you stand past and let us pass in peace. Or else, we will be forced to deal with you in the manner you deserve."

"One last thing," said Ka'mok. "Look behind me," he said. He stood back. The bridge of his ship looked burned and horrible. Temporary control panels were lashed to some stations with exposed cables all over the place. But, in the center of the mess, there was an iron cage that looked like a huge birdcage.

Inside the cage, hanging by his arms from manacles at the rounded top of the cruel device, there hung a little boy, who wore a dirty tunic. He had blond hair, and his skin was dirty, and there were tears in his eyes, but he looked up with defiance in those same eyes.

"I'm told you like children," said Ka'mok. "This is one of yours. He says his name is Jonna'dan, or something like it. He is a hostage. If you turn away, he will be returned to you safely. If not, if you fight us, I will kill him."

Nova looked back at Derek, and Derek glanced at her. Orion looked sickened. "Wildstar," said Dash in a choked voice.

Derek stood up and stood with his eyes closed. I'm sorry, he thought. God forgive me, but he has to be sacrificed for the mission, if it comes to that. Earth needs that information!

Then, Jonathan cried out over the speakers. "Captain Wildstar! Don't let him trick you! I know you and the Star Force wouldn't be out here unless it was important! I tried to tell my family that before these guys killed them all! Go on with your mission! Don't worry about me! Earth matters more than I do, Captain! I'm just one kid!"

"Shut up!" raged Ka'mok. "Just for that, you get a spanking, brat! And it will be with a lash!"

On the Argo, Derek sat with his eyes closed. God, what a brave kid, he thought. And he's got his priorities right…hard as it is…Earth does matter more than he does. Thank heavens he knows that. I wish I had been that brave at his age. If he lives…somehow…we'll see to it he gets a new family. But I won't…I can't…let him stop me from attacking this madman's carrier.

"Ka'mok, you heard the boy," said Wildstar. "Nothing is going to keep us from our mission, and that includes you and your sick games. But if I can, we will board that ship, take him, and then kill you. Got that?"

"Let's see you try it," hissed Ka'mok in reply. "I have nothing more to say to you, scum!"

The screen went dark on the Argo. At that, a wave of pain passed over everyone's head, but passed away a moment later. Deep in the Beta Valentis System, a star winked bright for a split second, and then went dark. When it did, their headaches were gone.

"Open all guns!" said Captain Wildstar. "Target, enemy fleet!"

"Distance, nine megameters," said Nova. "Speed, fourteen space knots. Location…." She said, hesitating a little as she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "Off the starboard bow, RAS-45."

"Guns on target," said Dash.

"FIRE!" cried Wildstar.

"FIRE!" snapped Dash in return as he and Rosstowski grasped their release switches.

One enemy escort cruiser went up in flames at once. Another escort returned fire, followed by one of the battleships. One bolt hit the Argo a glancing blow, but Venture's maneuvering enabled the mighty ship to avoid most of the enemy spread. The Argo wickedly returned fire as she turned in a battle that seemed to be turning into a simple toe-to-toe engagement with the enemy's big guns.

The blackness of space near the Argo was soon blazing bright as the R'khell ships' energy beams, which looked weird and venomous green tinged with strange tendrils of scintillating pink energy, fell all around the Earth space battleship like rain. They were countered by clean electric blue bursts of energy which came from the Argo's massive main guns in reply to the vicious onslaught of the enemy starships.

The R'Khell ships surrounded the Argo like a pack of hunting dogs going after one particularly vicious fox that they had cornered. The battle was soon a running battle that rushed towards the surface of a small, rocky dead planet in the Beta Valentis System that was soon inhabited, however briefly, by a R'Khell destroyer that the Argo had brought down with her guns. The ship skidded across the rocky surface of the small, airless world, hit a massive boulder, and fell into a crater where it exploded, peppered with flying debris from one of her sister ships. Then, as the Argo skimmed close to the surface of the little planet and scored another hit before caroming back into the teeth of the enemy fleet, the R'Khells' sister ship ended up in death on the little airless world next to the crater.

The Argo roared away from the planet and then turned her flank towards the advancing battleship, crossing the "T" once again in this vicious space-going re-enactment of the Battle of Surigao Strait. Ironically, the Argo, once known as the Yamato long ago, was now playing the role of the U.S. battleship West Virginia in this engagement, while her R'Khell enemy was playing the role of the Japanese Yamashiro in having her "T" crossed. Soon, although no one was keeping count, the Argo's rate of fire exceeded the West Virginia's record of 93 shells fired during Earth's final gun-to-gun engagement between seagoing battleships hundreds of years ago. This engagement was part of the same Pacific War that had sent the original Yamato to Davy Jones' locker in another battle. Naturally, the Argo, as a space battleship, didn't fire shells anymore, but her gunners were still quite busy.

The enemy battleship soon went up in a spectacular ball of flame that dazzled the whole area for a moment. Then, the Argo turned to hammering away at the enemy cruiser as Ka'mok, aboard his carrier, which had not fired much in this battle, was beginning to wonder if this battle was a good idea after all. He had given himself a nosebleed in trying to affect the minds of the Star Force. But, none of his concentration seemed to stop the relentless blue and red juggernaut of a space battleship in the least.

"What's with that ship?" he muttered out loud.

"Losin', ain't ya?" sang Jonathan Hartnell-Iiyama from his cage. "I said the Star Force would beat you guys, ya ugly creep!"

"Where in Perdition's name do you get that spirit from, you little brat?"

"My heart," snapped Jonathan. "Just try fighting several million people like me, Ka'mok! Do what you want to me. I may cry, but I'm not going to go down like a baby!"

"High Protector!" cried an officer. "They've gotten the last escort! They're coming for us!"

Ka'mok looked out, awestruck by the Argo's efficiency. One ship…and she had reduced nine ships to scrap metal in under an hour.

"Warp us away!" said Ka'mok. "But we're not giving up! Fifty gerad distance! Then, we'll turn about and use our final weapon. Our DI'ATS cannon."

"Your what?" asked Jonathan.

"Our version of their wave motion gun. The T'Renda's just been refitted with one. I don't even know if Cha'rif knew that. But I know. And soon, your precious Star Force won't be with us anymore! All right. Warp us out!"

II. FINAL SALVOES

The Beta Valentis System

Space Battleship Argo

1043 Hours, space-time

"Where did they go?" asked Dash as the Argo cruised on through a drifting field of debris that had once been the R'Khell fleet.

"All I know is that they performed a long warp," said Nova. "They're almost twenty megameters away and they're sitting still."

"It's a carrier…maybe they're getting ready to launch planes," said Wildstar. "Dash, order Conroy and Hardy out to get that ship. I want her flight decks disabled, as well as her gun turrets. Then, we're gonna try to board her."

"Right," said Dash. "Conroy…"

"Wait!" barked Sandor. "I'm…I'm getting some strange readings from that ship…" Sandor stared hard at his dials and readouts for a minute before he cried, "Tachyonic buildup! They're getting ready to fire a wave motion gun at us! Damn!"

"We've got to warp!" cried Venture. "Orion! Emergency energy buildup!"

"No…wait!" said Sandor.

"What do you mean?" demanded Wildstar.

"Trust me on this," said Sandor as he scanned his instruments and began to push switches. "I know that matrix is still in the ship…Venture, turn us about, hard port…we've got to present a bigger target if what I'm planning is gonna work!"

"A bigger target?" asked Venture.

"Remember our last battle with Desslok on the way home from Iscandar?" said Sandor. "Think, Venture…Wildstar."

"It's still there?" asked Wildstar.

Sandor looked at his panel as some lights went green. He nodded.

Wildstar nodded back. "Venture, ninety degrees port, and then sit tight!"

Under Venture's grip, the Argo turned, and then, most of the bridge crew remembered.

The question was…would it still work? After the Argo turned, Sandor flicked a cover off a long-unused control pickle on his board. He flicked a single button.

"Ha ha ha ha!" laughed Ka'mok. "You see, boy…what we have, they can't fight," he said as he pulled back a lever on his DI'ATS gun's control grip…it looked like a long cylinder with two handlebars coming out from each side. It was surmounted by a huge target scope and tipped with something that looked like a slavering wolf's head. "In five seconds, your Star Force will exist no more," he sneered. "Do you like my cannon mount? I call it GROND, the death-hammer."

"I hate it, and you!" screamed Jonathan.

"Nice to know. Well…you will soon see the end of your heroes." Ka'mok smiled as he put his hands on the grips at the end of the handlebars, grasping two big levers that looked like the brakes on a hover-cycle. A loud, demonic pulsing noise ran through the ship. A line of lights on the control grip running down to the wolf's head turned bright green, and then, Ka'mok fired.

The beam of energy resembled that of the Argo's own wave motion gun, except that it was green. Nova, unfamiliar with what had happened save in books about the action and Derek's memories (because she had been both comatose and nearly dead at the time) wondered how anything could really stop something that bright, green and vicious. She looked out the round starboard viewport near Sandor's post, feeling uncomfortable at the growing green brightness.

Just as the beam approached, flashes of light appeared all over the Argo's hull. A weird humming sound filled the ship, and Sandor looked at his instruments and smiled. The ship was soon covered with a field of gleaming, scintillating blue light from stem to stern.

A moment later, the energy beam from Ka'mok's ship roared in. It struck the side of the Argo, pounding and roaring relentlessly against the hull.

But, the shield based upon the Gamilons' reflex gun satellite technology held tight.

A moment later, the beam bounced off and roared back towards the carrier. Ka'mok looked at it with horror, and then he flicked a switch. Rikashan numbers appeared all over his boards as he fell screaming to the deck with blood coming from his nose. The numbers changed, and, just in the nick of time, the enemy ship warped away, disappearing just before the energy beam from his own ship got him.

On the Argo, the weird humming sound went down, and the field faded, with Captain Wildstar and the rest of the bridge crew watching as the enemy ship faded away and the DI'ATS beam roared off into space.

Sandor took a deep breath. "Good thing I remembered this was still in the ship. I made sure the power rating was boosted before we left Earth…just as a precaution."

"Good thing you did," laughed Venture. "We would have been roasted for sure without it."

"So that's what happened when I was in that coma that time," said Nova as Derek ran up to her. "Your description didn't do it justice, Derek."

"No, I guess it didn't," said Captain Wildstar.

"It's more powerful this time," said Sandor. "Now that we know they have wave guns…well…we might just need this again. I wonder where Ka'mok went, Wildstar. That warp couldn't have been programmed!"

"Good question…I wonder where he is now…and that little boy, too," said Derek.

The T'Renda came out of warp in the atmosphere of some planet with a roar like thunder. As it did, Jonathan's cage fell over, and, to his surprise, he found that his manacles were now loose. He pushed at the door, and found that he was free!

He crawled out of the cage, wondering why the Rikashans were all moaning and lying on the deck. He noticed blood coming out of their ears, and wondered why his nose and ears weren't bleeding. With a little grin, he kicked Ka'mok hard in the ribs and then ran for the lift.

Ignoring the feel of the rough, grated deck plates on his bare feet, Jonathan just ran for it when he came out of the lift. He looked out a window. They were on some planet, somewhere…where it was, he had no idea. He saw clouds, stars, and thought maybe, they were back on Earth? He ignored the bright shine of what looked like moonlight, guessing that it was a bright full moon out.

He thumbed a green button next to a black panel decorated with silver writing. Of course, the alien writing was unreadable to Jonathan. A heavy set of doors opened. He saw a second set of doors. Hearing wind whistling outside, he guessed that this was an airlock and that they were somewhere where you could breathe the air. Again, he hoped it was Earth.

He fell on his behind hard as the ship tilted and then hit something. He heard a swirling roar, and realized that it was water of some kind they were in…or so he hoped.

He hit the switch, and saw then that the carrier was bobbing hard in a sea at night. He smelled salt, but salt of a more pungent and cleaner kind than anything he remembered on Earth. Guessing he'd probably have to swim soon to get away, he flung off his filthy tunic, leaving himself in only his scanty loincloth--more like a rag around himself. He felt in his near nakedness that it was very warm outside. He took a breath of the air and found he could breathe.

I can swim, but I don't know for how long, he thought. Hope I hit land soon. Heedless, Jonathan flung himself into the water. It hurt his stomach when he landed, but the warm, bobbing waves somehow felt really good.

He swam for a bit, just wanting to get free of the enemy warship before anyone noticed him missing. His chest hit something…a piece of driftwood.

He drank a little of the water…it seemed salty. Stings, he thought. A swell or two came up, and then he felt something float away from his body. He panicked for a moment before realizing it was just his loincloth floating away. He needed to take a breath, and threw himself onto the piece of driftwood.

"I'll just rest a bit…sleepy. So sleepy," he said to himself after he had bobbed along for awhile. Pulling himself up on the driftwood, he slept after a bit.

As he fell asleep, he looked up at the moon through bleary eyes, and knew he had to be falling into a dream. It looked bigger, and it looked like it was made of glowing green cheese, like the old tales…green cheese covered with orange pepperoni.

What Jonathan Hartnell-Iiyama didn't realize yet was that he was no longer on Earth, or near it, or was even in the Milky Way Galaxy anymore.

But, tired little boys who had just escaped from days' worth of torture and imprisonment didn't think of such things.

TO BE CONTINUED WITH ACT FOUR--"Kelzart's Madness"

To return to the Introduction to the Rikasha Incident Please click here