Star Blazers: A Time
of Serenity
By: Jamie A. Tucker
(with
editing assistance by Fredrick P. “Freddo” Kopetz)
Disclaimer
statement: Please note that Space
Battleship Yamato and Star Blazers are registered trademarks of Voyager
Entertainment. Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato is copyright 2004 by
Voyager Entertainment, Lejji Matsumoto and Yoshinobu Nishizaki. Star Blazers: A
Time of Serenity is copyright 2004 by
***Please
note that Diane Henson is ©2004 by Fredrick P. Kopetz and used with permission.***
Chapter
Three: Arrival at Pegasus
Place:
Planet Pegasus
Time:
March 2200
The
space battleship Argo progressed with
greater speed towards Pegasus after Orion had repaired the left auxiliary
engine. It would still be another week before the ship’s powerful Wave Motion Engine
would roar to life again. The physical appearance
of Pegasus very much resembled Earth before the horrid planet bombings that the
Gamilons had launched from Pluto long before the Argo had been built. The space battleship arrived at the Earth-like
planet as the Star Force was in amazement and awe. They had not seen such a beautiful
and glorious view since long before the Gamilon war began.
“Hey Wildstar, look!” exclaimed
Venture as he pointed at the planet in front of him.
Wildstar arose from his chair at the
combat control station as he looked at the grandiose view of Pegasus.
“Somehow, I’m beginning to feel like
we are home again. I’ve always heard of astronomers talk about the possibility
of other planets like Earth in the far reaches of space,” said Wildstar as he
looked out the first bridge view.
Wildstar and Venture were joined by
the rest of the bridge crew as they gathered around at the front of the first
bridge to view the blue planet with swirling white clouds and blue oceans.
“We don’t have long before we land,”
said Dash with a smile.
“I know…We’ve got at least several
more hours before we land there just before second watch. Sandor, where can we
find a suitable place to land?” Wildstar inquired as he looked over his right
shoulder at Sandor.
“Wildstar, I think it would be a
great idea to call a staff officers meeting in the central strategy room before
we make any attempts to land. As per Conroy’s report, those Iscandarian ships
that he saw down there were in the eastern sector around RPG 321-38. However, I
think we could land near there. We have to get that repair work completed so we
can reach Iscandar with in the next several weeks,” Sandor said as he looked
out at the view of the newly discovered planet.
“Sandor, may I have a word with you
in private?” inquired Wildstar as he stepped away from the station.
“Yes, sir.
Let’s step outside the first bridge,” said Sandor as the two began to walk to
the entrance of the first bridge.
“How many more space warps do we
need to complete before we finally reach the Great Magellanic Clouds?” asked
Wildstar.
“Wildstar, as soon as we complete
repair work and testing, we’ll need to make two space warps within three days
of each other. This will bring us within fifty thousand mega meters of the
Sapphire Nebula. Once we reach that nebula, we have to complete another two
space warps,” said Sandor as he folded his arms.
“Four space warps, Sandor? I thought
there were only three. You mean we just left the Rainbow Galaxy to wind up here
on Pegasus with four space warps to get to Iscandar? Somehow, I think there is
something off when you calculated the distance,” said Derek as he shrugged his
shoulders in disappointment.
“Nova and Venture did the
calculations, sir. As soon as we fix our
Wave Motion Engine, we will have to warp between the third moon of Pegasus and
the fifth planet of the system. I will
have Nova to recalculate the timing and see if she comes up with anything
different. It will take her a few hours to do the job, Wildstar,” said Sandor
as he explained the number of jumps through space and time that will get them
ever closer to Iscandar.
The bridge elevator door opened as
Nova arrived on to the first bridge. Wildstar and Sandor turned to the beautiful head
nurse who was charged with Captain Avatar’s care. He walked up to Nova while
she gave him a slight smile. Nova had spent the past day tending to the
weakened commanding officer.
“How’s Captain Avatar?” inquired
Derek as the bridge went quiet so the others could hear her speak.
“He’ll be fine for now. Before he
went to sleep, he wanted me to pass his orders on to you,” said Nova as she
handed Derek a clipboard containing his mentor’s handwritten instructions.
Derek took the clipboard from Nova
and began to examine the Captain’s orders. He looked up from the clipboard at
Nova and nodded at her.
“Venture, prepare for landing at the
beginning of second watch. In the meantime, Homer please call up the off duty
third watch bridge crew to the bridge.
We all need to be relieved for lunch for at least a couple of hours.
Instead of meeting in back here on the bridge, meet in the Central Strategy
Room for a staff officers’ meeting so I can announce the Captain’s orders. Nova,
have your report and calculations ready at 1500 hours. We should be on Pegasus
by 1800 hours pronto,” said Derek as he walked back to his station and placed
the clipboard on the console.
“Attention all hands…as per Deputy
Captain Wildstar’s orders, third watch bridge crew please report to the first
bridge within the next thirty minutes. Repeat…third watch bridge crew please
report to the first bridge for temporary duty per Deputy Captain Wildstar,”
announced Homer over the Argo’s intercom
system.
A few minutes later after Homer’s
announcement, Ensign Dikapalous arrived for temporary duty on the first bridge.
The dark skinned Ensign with Greek heritage had led the third watch crew since
the battle of Balan. The rest of the
bridge crew welcomed the Ensign as Wildstar picked up the clipboard from off
the combat station console.
“It’s good to see you, Ensign. We
all will be taking lunch and then have a staff officer’s meeting in the Central
Strategy Room to plan for the landing at second watch,” said Wildstar as he
shook the Ensign’s hand.
“All should be well, Wildstar. Have
we had any Gamilons show their faces lately?” asked the Ensign who stood at six
feet two inches.
“Well…Dikapalous, we shouldn’t have
to worry about the Gamilons for a while. We all need a tremendous break here.
For your information, we are within a month of reaching Iscandar,” said Derek
as he smiled at Nova and Venture.
“Good, maybe one of these days I can
get my own command and explore the universe,” said Ensign Dikapalous as he
looked out the first bridge window.
“Ensign, you have a hell of a lot
work to do before you get your own command. The only reason why you’re in
charge during 3rd shift is because Lieutenant Skid was killed during
the battle of Balan. So please spare us of any potential bullshit,” said
Wildstar.
Sandor, Venture and Dash quietly
chuckled at the Ensign’s comment. They remembered that the Greek Ensign had wanted
his own command right out of
“Bullshit? Are you saying I’m full of shit?” said
Dikapalous in a rather angry tone.
“Ensign, I didn’t say you were full
of shit,” snapped Wildstar. ”We all can be full of shit sometimes, but you
better watch your attitude in front of your superior officers. In that case, it
might be best to relieve you of command while I’m on lunch. Homer, get
Lieutenant Sparse out of the forward main battery director room. He’s the
perfect choice to command while I’m on lunch. Dikapalous, I’m rather afraid
that you’ll ruin our time of peace and serenity by acting like an Ensign gone
mad rather than a thoughtful and wise leader. I knew there was a lot said about
you during
“Oh Alex, yeah I remember that
jackass of a survival instructor! Too bad he got taken out by a few Gamilons,”
shouted the prideful and peevish Ensign.
Suddenly, Wildstar stopped walking
toward the elevator door as he heard the rude and unwise comment that flowed
out of foul officer’s mouth. Nova, Homer and Eager rose up from their stations
in anticipation of a smoker between the two men. Derek stood up to the Ensign
eye to eye.
“Ensign…What did you just call my
brother?” said Wildstar as he gritted his teeth.
“He’s a jackass, Wildstar. You know
you are one too. You’re worse than your brother since you get the pat on the
back by Captain Avatar. Alex was an asshole, He wouldn’t even certify me as a
pilot flying an SF-107 Cutlass after flight school,” said Dikapalous as he got
right into Wildstar’s face.
Nova, Eager and Homer knew exactly
what Derek was going to do next. The atmosphere was tense with hostility as the
men stood eye to eye. Derek balled his fist as he felt the fire of anger build
as the emotion cursed through his veins. The Greek Ensign smirked in disrespect
thinking Wildstar wasn’t going to anything.
“What do you have to say to that,
you jackass?” inquired the Ensign with an evil smirk. “The apple doesn’t fall
far from the tree, now, does it?”
As the unfriendly name for a donkey
was spoken, Derek couldn’t contain his red-hot anger anymore. He sent his right
fist flying right into the Ensign’s nose and knocked him to the bridge floor. However,
Dikapalous jumped right back up to fight Derek. The Ensign sent a quick round
house kick to Derek’s abdomen and caused Derek to fall on his back.
“Want some more, Wildstar? You can
have all you want. Jump up and give me your best shot!” shouted the Ensign as
the bridge elevator door opened to reveal the third watch crew ready for duty.
The Ensign turned his head to his
left as he looked at the crew. Derek stood straight up and got into the left
side fighting stance. As the unsuspecting Ensign immersed himself in cheers led
by Wally Sparks, Derek knew the time was right to take this crazy son of a
bitch down.
“Ki…Yaaa!”
shouted Derek as he floored the Ensign with a pulverizing flying round house
kick to the abdomen.
Dikapalous felt the air rush from
his lungs as the kick connected to his abdomen. The move wrought by Derek
knocked him more than six feet from where he was standing. His head had hit the
side of the engineering station while the impact knocked him out for several
moments.
Derek stood over the Ensign like a
panther and caught his breath as he felt relieved from this awful nuisance. Two
MPs arrived on the bridge to take him to sick bay and into custody. Homer, Nova
and Eager walked over to Derek to assist him.
“Are you ok, Derek?” asked Nova.
“Yes, I’m ok. I hope I still have an
appetite now because he was sick to mention Alex’s name,” said Derek as he held
his stomach for a couple of minutes.
“Wildstar…we are going to go ahead
and charge him for assault and battery of a Senior Officer, dereliction of
duty, and disorderly conduct. When can we have a mast?” asked the MP Sergeant.
“Sergeant Koffman, I’ll speak with
Captain Avatar about the mast. Plenty of witnesses are around to get the son of
a bitch landed in the brig for the rest of this mission. I’d prefer it if he
could be stored in the third bridge when we arrive on Iscandar,” said Wildstar
in disgust.
“Ok, sir. I’ll definitely lock him
up in the brig,” said the sergeant as he left the first bridge.
“Now,
shall we go get some supper? I’m extremely hungry,” said Eager as the foursome
left the bridge for the galley.
The Argo’s
galley was a favorite meeting place for the members of the Star Force. It was
here that the crew could exchange their battlefield stories and reminisce about
the times they had on Earth with their families. A good lunch hour is what the main watch crew
deserved. Wildstar and the others arrived at the galley with Master Chef
“Slops” Mulligan in command of twenty cooks who performed dual roles of cooks
and servers. Wildstar and Nova were the
first to step up to the cafeteria line with Sandor, Eager, Homer, Orion and
Venture behind them.
“What are the specials for the day?” inquired
Wildstar to the Master Chef.
“Wildstar, the whole ship is in for a real treat
today. Our menu includes beef tips and rice with a choice of two genetically
engineered vegetables or fried genetically engineered flounder with coleslaw,
hushpuppies and baked potatoes,” said Chef Mulligan with a smile as Wildstar
and Nova retrieved a blue tray from the bar with utensils.
“That sounds good Chief. Uh…I’ll take the beef tips
and rice with steamed cabbage and a helping of lima beans,” said the young
Deputy Captain as his eyes scanned the prepared food that had been placed on
the bar earlier.
“Nova, ma’am what’ll you like?” inquired the chef to
Nova.
“I’ll take the flounder special you mentioned,” said
Nova with a slight smile.
Venture took a look at Nova’s dinner for the day. He
wondered how in the world he could enjoy this altered food for himself.
“Hey, how are ya‘ll going to eat that genetically
engineered stuff?” inquired Venture with a slight disgusted look.
“Be thankful for what you get, Venture. Back on Earth,
people don’t even have the option of eating a cafeteria style lunch. Before we
left for Iscandar, I heard that survivors in
The news made one Petty Officer lose his appetite on
the spot.
“Derek, I’ll be right back,” said Nova as she placed
her tray on the table and rushed off to assist the sickened crewman.
“Are you ok?” inquired Nova.
“I would’ve been if you hadn’t mentioned that
Luckily, Nova had her two way radio on her belt and
radioed Dr. Sane to send a medic. After a five minute wait a medic showed up to
assist Nova with Chrysler.
“What happened ma’am?” asked Rossman who had been
sent by Dr. Sane.
“Well, I was mentioning something about what happened
back home before we left. Apparently, he was faint at heart and lost his
lunch,” said Nova as her and Rossman helped Chrysler up on his feet.
“Ya’ll, I told you I would have been fine if she
didn’t mention that damn African cannibalism thing,” said Chrysler as he was
sweated in his uniform and became even dizzier.
A wheel chair was brought up to the galley by IQ-9.
Wildstar had ordered Venture to send the robot to assist in the incident. Nova
and Rossman carefully placed a dizzy Chrysler into the blue wheelchair. As
Chrysler scanned the galley area, he saw what seemed like the room spinning at
a high rate of speed.
“Uh, oh, uh…Nova, I didn’t know you had a twin
sister! Could you set her up with me?” he said in a very slurred tone.
“Damn Chrysler, did you have too many beers again?”
inquired Yeoman Putov, who was one of the petty officer’s good friends.
“Drinking on duty, Chrysler?” inquired Nova with a
raised eyebrow.
Rossman gave Nova a medical scanner that assisted
them in a preliminary diagnosis. After a couple of minutes of scanning, Nova
heard a middle tone beep from the scanner.
“Chrysler, I hate to tell you this but it wasn’t my
aside about
“Thank you, Nova…ughhhhhh..Blewwwwwkkkkkk!”
echoed Chrysler as Nova quickly placed a barf bag right up to his mouth just in
time.
“Urrrr…ahhh…Yes ma’am. I’ll get him right to Dr.
Sane,” said Dikapalous as he felt a bit embarrassed about the loss of a lunch.
“Rossman, you and IQ-9 better get him on down to sick
bay now. I don’t need a whole galley of these space sailors vomiting asteroids,
do you?” said Nova with a slight chuckle.
Rossman and IQ-9 wheeled the sick petty officer to
the sick bay while Nova returned to Wildstar to join him at the table. She had
hoped to have a good dinner with Derek and get to know him better. However, her
plans had been rather rudely interrupted Chrysler’s illness.
“Sorry, Derek. You know how people are sometimes, you
know,” said Nova with a slight blush.
“That’s ok. We’ve all seen worse during that last
battle with Lysis. I’m ready to have some peace for a while,” Derek said.
“How do you like being Deputy Captain?” inquired Nova
after she said grace quickly before eating.
“Well, I never really expected to end up as a Deputy
Captain. I remember that my brother, Alex had to work his way up to get command
of the Paladin. Gosh, I miss him,”
said Derek rather sadly.
“I know, Derek. After Venture told me you had lost
your brother at the clinic, I felt sad for you. There were hundreds, if not
millions of families who had lost loved ones because of this cruel war we are fighting,”
Nova said.
Derek took several bites of his dinner as Nova
continued eating her lunch. They both enjoyed their time getting to know each
other.
“Derek, do you have a girlfriend?” said Nova rather
shyly.
“Well, I did have one back when I was at Space
Fighter’s Training School.”
“Who was she?” inquired Nova.
“Diane Henson…We split up prior to my assignment at
Base Alpha on Mars.” Derek replied.
“Oh, her…I
remember that witch. Poor Derek,” thought Nova as she took a sip of tea
from her cup.
“Nova, were you seeing anyone back on Earth?”
inquired Derek shyly.
“I was dating Lt. Branham, who piloted an SF-107,” responded
Nova with a slight smile. “Of course, you know what happened to him after
Pluto…or did you?”
“Oh, no…please
don’t tell me you dated that jackass! You could have done better than him,” thought
Derek.
Derek took several bites of his beef tips and rice. A
chief’s apprentice approached the couple and offered them refills of their
beverages.
“What ever became of Lt. Branham? I heard he was
missing in action during a patrol flight over what was Bikini Atoll,” said
Derek.
“I was working in the underground city clinic the day
I found out from Defense Headquarters about what happened to him. According to
Gen. Singleton, Lt. Branham was flying a routine reconnaissance mission over
the former Bikini Atoll. The radar command center was tracking him and without warning
his plane went off the screen,” said Nova rather sadly.
“I see…” said Derek as he took a sip of his drink.
“They sent a scout party out to look for him and they
found him severely injured. Before anyone could have made it back, a planet
bomb exploded right over them.” Nova said as she finished her food. “I’ve…since
gotten over it. You know…the best I can…”
“Yeah,” said Derek sadly. He shook his head at the
news of the fate of Lt. Branham. He remembered that the worst of the Gamilons’
attack was during his tenure on the Mars reconnaissance station near Olympus Mons
in April through June of 2199.”
“That’s terrible, Nova. As soon as we reach Iscandar,
We will finally have a means to restore life to our planet. What would you like
to do when we return home?” inquired Derek with a smile.
“Hmmm…that depends. I’ve not really thought about it
much except for the fact I miss my parents greatly,” said Nova.
“I’ve never had the chance to meet them Nova. Tell me what’s your father like?” said Derek.
Nova chuckled at Derek’s question as they began to
enjoy the casual conversation. Derek felt that he was slowly being romantically
drawn to the sandy blond haired nurse.
“Well…my father’s name is Karl and he is an attorney
for the firm of Forrester, Kullman and Von Schmidt.
“Wow…your father practices with Kullman?” asked Derek
with surprise.
“Hmm. Mmm,” said Nova as she nodded her head in
affirmation.
“I know. Kullman once defended me in a case where
some manic pain in the ass psycho accused me of stealing his air car for the
sake of a joy ride,” said Derek with a slight chuckle as he remembered the
incident.
“Did he grill the plaintiff?” asked Nova with a
smile.
“Sure as hell, he did Nova. Kullman could make JAG
officer Patton look like pansy in the midst of wilted daisies in the court
room.”
“What happened to the plaintiff?” she asked.
“Well, once Kullman made the guy look like a jackass
when he called him to the stand, the judge threw the case out and ordered the plaintiff
held for psychological evaluations. It turned out that he was just plain crazy
after all,” said Derek with a laugh.
“Sounds like Desslok, doesn’t it ?”
interrupted Venture as he, Homer and Sandor prepared to leave the galley.
“Venture, Desslok is a lot worse than a lunatic. If I
ever see him, I’ll give him a good can of whoop ass,” said Derek as he arose
from the table as Nova followed suit.
“Nova, I really enjoyed talking to you over lunch,”
said Derek as he placed his trash into the container.
“We’ve only got about an hour and forty-five minutes,
Derek. Let’s walk up to see Captain Avatar before the meeting,” Nova said as
she beckoned the young Japanese-American.
At that, the bridge crew had gotten their well
deserved break from fighting the battles that had left the fate of Earth in the hands of the
Star Force. Will Nova’s calculations for the space warps prove wrong? The Star
Force has 197 days left before all life on Earth becomes extinct.
TO BE CONTINUED....
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