PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY

 

An AU Battle of the Planets/Star Blazers crossover

 

By Frederick P. Kopetz

 

Inspired by Yuki Wildstar and Gail (Fluffy) Kopetz.

 

 

CHAPTER FOUR: ANCIENT HISTORY

 

 

I. OLD SCORES AND NEW SCORES

 

Hotel Orion Embassy

 

September 7, 2221

 

0512 Hours: Local Time

 

 

Cronus sat back in a chair and looked at the gathered members of G-Force and said, “Riga has a very deep link to this whole business. It’s amazing what I found out there about Spectra.”

 

“Go on,” said Mark. “I heard something about how Spectra first began to fight Earth and the Federation.”

 

“Which version?” said Cronus cynically. “The version you learned in the Academy, or the version that really happened?”

 

Mark and Princess looked at each other while Jason said, “It figures that the official history is full of lies and bullshit. Tell us what really happened, Colonel?”

 

“To begin with, back about…oh…fourteen years ago…Spectra came close to being sucked into the wars that dominated this galaxy around that time. Specificially, Zoltar’s House learned that it was estimated that the Comet Empire might have them on a shortlist to be attacked next after they finished their second go-around with Earth. So, it is my understanding that a major buildup of their military began before Zoltar took power, at the instigation of the Great Spirit, as they call him. Or it.”

 

“We saw it once or twice when we attacked one of their bases on Earth and one on Spectra. What is that thing, anyway?” said Princess.

 

“No one knows for sure,” said Cronus. “Some say it’s an artificial computer-based form of life…others think it is some kind of cyborg…and still others think it is literally some kind of spirit entity caught in a machine. The only person I think knows for sure is Zoltar. I don’t think you want to ask him, do you?”

 

“No,” said Jason.

 

“Any idea how it got there to Spectra?” Mark said. “Or was it always there?”

 

“This is the best I’ve been able to figure out,” Cronus said. “Spectra didn’t always have high technology. In fact, just about a hundred and fifty years ago, they were no more advanced than Earth of about the mid-twenty-first century.”

 

“Around the Unification Wars,” said Mark. “And?”

 

“Spectra’s history is murked in shadows, lies and illusions. Yet, they indisputably say that…one day…the Great Spirit just appeared on Spectra and gave them “wisdom”” said Cronus. “The history also says he was once on Earth…”

 

“Earth?” said Mark as he raised his eyebrows. “When?”

 

“Well,” said Cronus. “In the days of the Unification Wars, contrary to the official line given by the Government, Earth’s first contact with aliens was not when Gamilon slowly began its war in the shadows in the middle of the 21st Century. In the 20th Century, there were contacts with aliens; a lot of them dealt with by way of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce; aka UNIT. Some British and American agencies dealt with aliens, as well as some Japanese agencies. One of them was the original form of ISO; the International Scientific Organization…”

 

“Yeah…the agency that supposedly guides us,” said Jason. “How old are they?”

 

“They have origins going back to the 2050’s. Around 2073….have you ever heard of an organization known as the Galactor Syndicate?”

 

Jason said, “Sounds sort of familiar. Mark?”

 

“Someone mentioned them once in an Academy lecture,” said Mark.

 

“Did you remember it?” said Princess.

 

“Nah…I was half-asleep then,” said Jason.

 

“Figures,” said Princess with a pout as she turned to Mark. “Mark?”

 

“The Galactors were supposed to be some terrorist organization,” said Mark. “One of many that arose in the 21st Century. Whatever became of them?”

 

“Another special team was fighting them, once upon a time. That team also found out that they were being guided by a machine being; an artificial form of life. They really covered that up, then. There were no artificial intelligence robots running around then, like in our time,” said Cronus. “Guess what the being was called?”

 

“Was he like the Luminous One?” said Mark. “Or it?”

 

Cronus nodded. “The old histories say this Being was called Generalissimo X. It had a second in command, named Berg Katze. Katze killed himself in the last battle with this Galactor Syndicate. Or we think he did. But, we found some old pictures of him…or rather, a little bird that Anderson and I use to scour the historical records found these pictures. Tell me if you don’t think this is familiar…almost eerie…”

 

Cronus opened up a portfolio and passed around a very old picture, preserved in plastic. “Great Caesar’s Ghost….Princess….look at this!” Mark snapped.

 

“Zoltar,” whispered Princess. “This is a picture of Zoltar!”

 

“Not exactly…the ears on the headpiece are shaped differently….and the insignia on his belt is just a little different,” said Cronus…as a tap came at the door, and Cronus said, “Enter.”

 

A moment later, they were all surprised when Chief James Byron Anderson came in. He said down and blandly said, “I take it Colonel Cronus has been telling you about our research?”

 

“He has,” said Mark. “Why?”

 

“Well, we thought there was, maybe, more than one Zoltar..” said Anderson. “But, we recently got a DNA sample. It showed a very bizarre pattern, and it matched a sample, or number of samples, taken when Zoltar made one of his few known appearances on Earth itself….this one being in San Diego…over thirteen years ago. Right around the time we were first learning about Spectra,” said Anderson as he looked hard at Cronus. Cronus nodded once and looked to Anderson. Chief Anderson then said, “We got samples thirteen years ago, when Zoltar, following the usual modus operandi we know him so well for now….when Zoltar appeared right in a military installation in San Diego and attacked two people. These samples taken from his victims also match up with something else…but, we are still working on that matter, so I cannot get into that now. Concerning Zoltar’s two victims thirteen years ago, one of them was a man; a civilian contractor for a Earth Defense Forces project. Zoltar killed this man in a very brutal fashion, and he took his identity to gain the confidence of the person we think was his real target.”

 

“Who was this person?” said Princess. “And how come we were never taught that in the Academy?”

 

“Because…this is classified on a need-to-know basis,” said Anderson.

 

“What happened to his other target and who was he?” said Jason.

 

“She was a woman,” said Anderson. “Zoltar attacked her with chloroform and with his hands. He tried damn hard to kill her. But first, she was sexually assaulted. Correction; raped,” said Anderson slowly. “It would have been a lot worse; but Zoltar’s intended victim was smaller than him….but she fought him unarmed like a Rabid Tigress until she was rescued; intially by another almost suicidally brave woman, who was very small compared to him…almost weak compared to him…it was like a ballet dancer fighting off an NFL linebacker.”

 

“How did this other woman fight him off?” asked Princess.

 

“Luickily, the woman who rescured the rape victim was and still is an Expert Marksman, and she wounded Zoltar badly with the help of her friends. But, as for Zoltar and his victim, we got some DNA samples right off her body after the assault. And, off the body of the male victim. Zoltar raped him, too…”

 

Mark looked sick upon hearing this, and Keyop reverted to saying, “Breeep…booop…bad…”

 

Princess looked at Anderson. “Is the woman who was raped still alive?”

 

“All I can say is yes,” said Anderson.

 

“Who is she?” said Princess. “I’d love to meet someone who could fight off Zoltar…unarmed…for that matter, I’d also love to meet the other woman who actually wounded him. Who are they?”

 

“That is classified,” said Anderson. “Very, very deeply classified. You’ll note I didn’t even tell you if the first woman involved was a civilian or a member of the military. You do not need to know that. I won’t tell you who she is unless we ever get orders to do so. But, yes, she is still very much alive, along with the second woman I spoke of. And the second woman still aids ISO every now and then when it does not conflict with her other military duties. Although on a very hidden and undercover basis.”

 

“I’ll find out who she is,” said Jason. “I’ll find out who they both are!”

 

“You will not,” said Anderson angrily.

 

“Why?” said Jason.

 

“It would violate the women’s s privacy!” snapped Anderson. “What other reason would you want to know this, Jason? Other than morbid curiosity…”

 

“Hey!” said Jason. “I have a good reason.”

 

“What?” demanded Princess, whose teeth were gritting at this.

 

“I wanna ask the lady who fought Zoltar off unarmed to go out with me. I like people who can give back when I get rough…might have a good time in bed with this one…” sneered Jason.

 

Princess got up, twisted her lip, sneered at Jason and slapped him across the face. Then, sobbing away, she ran out of the room.

 

“Princess!” called Mark as he got up to follow her. He then turned to Jason and said, “You and I are settling this later…asshole,” he whispered so that only Jason could hear.

 

“Let her go,” hissed Cronus as he grabbed Mark’s arm “She has a good reason for getting like that…”

 

“Why?” said Mark. “I’m worried…”

 

“Mark, that’s also classified…”

 

 

Princess was crying like the world had just ended when she ran down the corridor, stopped at another hotel room door, and began to bang on it…hard.

 

A muffled man’s voice from inside said, “Who is it? We’re tryin’ to sleep!”

 

“It’s Priincess!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “Tell her I have to spar! I need to meet her in the gym! NOW! I am so angry with Zoltar right now, that…”

 

A few long minutes passed with no answer. Finaly, the door opened, and Nova Wildstar came out, clad in grey sweats with flip-flops on her feet. She was carrying two large, heavy bags.

 

“In this bag is my equipment,” Nova said without preamble. “I have a spare gi and a boken in this bag for you. Once Anderson talked to me the other day and told me what happened, I guessed you’d want to spar at some point. I know everything about what happened to you in that snake mecha that showed up about two months ago…everything,” Nova said as she paused and looked Princess in the eye with a stern concern in her dark eyes. “You can confide in me…I know about…this sort of thing…” Nova said as she put a hand on Princess’ shoulder.

 

“How would you know about this…ma’am?” Princess said as they walked down towards the hotel gym. “How would you know what it was like to be tied down to a bed, stripped of your Birdstyle, stripped of everything, stripped naked before Zoltar, and then raped? Do you know dirty I still feel? Do you know I can’t look Mark in the eye any more like I used to?” Princess said. “Do you know that I can’t cry in front of the other members of the team? That I’m araid they’ll think I’m weak? Do you know I haven’t even been able to bring myself to talk to Mark yet?”

 

Nova just walked along dolefully and nodded. “I know, Princess. I know.: Nova stopped talking as they went into an elevator and went down. When they got off, in silence, they walked into the ladies’ locker room, and Nova plopped down her bag near a locker and began to undress. Princess looked on as Nova pulled off her reading glasses and then pulled off her sweatshirt, revealing a remarkably trim and well-toned upper body clad in a lace bra. “Pardon the underclothes…I was sleeping by my husband when you woke us up. I told Derek that you now have access to me at any time ever since…what happened in the snake mecha reached my ears.” Nova kicked off her sandals and pulled her pants down roughly, revealing a lower body clad in only a very small pair of lace panties. Then, she opened a bag and clothed her trim legs and lower body in a karate gi in white, and she put on a gi top in white, with collar and belt in the fabled black. “I had to train very hard to earn this,” Nova said philosophically. “And I understand what you went through on that snake mecha. For a very good reason…Now, Princess, start getting changed…”

 

Priincess nodded, and took off her shoes, and then undid her striped bellbottoms and slid them down. Then, she took off her number “3” sweatshirt, revealing a trim body clad in only a pair of sports panties and a white sports bra. She rapidly clothed herself in her martial arts gi (and she also held a black belt) and said, “How would you know what it’s like to be raped, ma’am? How dirty it feels? How..?”

 

Nova then sat down beside Princess and grabbed her hands. “Look at me, Traci,” Nova said urgently, using her real name. “Look. Did Chief Anderson follow my recent request yet and brief you about two young women who fought Zoltar nearly to the death thirteen years ago? Did he?”

 

Princess nodded dully. “Yes. He didn’t say who they were. He said their identity is classified. Jason…you know him by now….made some rude comments about how he would have wanted to sleep with a girl who fought Zoltar because he likes rough sex…he said he wanted to take her to bed…I slapped him across the face and ran…I thought that was sick, Sick!” cried Princess. “He can be so crude at times…and I took that as an insult, too. Especially because Jason does not know what happened to me yet. I don’t know if I can ever tell my story…to anyone…”

 

Nova said, “I can tell you a story about someone. Maybe it’ll help you. If I tell you a story, can you keep your lips sealed?”

 

Princess nodded. “Who is this about?”

 

Nova said, very slowly, and in a very low voice, “This is about the woman Zoltar raped thirteen years ago. I know how she felt. I know how dirty she felt when it was happening…how she tried and tried to fight, but could barely do so to keep her modesty, chastity, and honor intact. Virginity was no longer an issue for this woman. She was about to get married and had already been with her fiancee. I’m not at liberty to say who she was, but I was there when it happened. I helped rescue her. I was the woman who pumped two shots into Zoltar…by myself, as a matter of fact. But, that poor woman…her man found her trying to fight Zoltar, this…freak…this damned freak…who used a disguise to gain her confidence…and…when he found her, at the same time that I, along with two of the lady’s best friends found her there, beaten, raped, and stripped entirely naked in a place that the woman felt was a sanctuary…her other home….it would feel the same way if you were raped in Center Neptune, Princess. When this woman’s man and her friends rescued her, the woman wanted to die. She never thought her man would love her again…or would want her again…but…he…he took her to Sickbay…and he sat with her and held her hand throughout her physical. It was a physical, by the way, that I performed myself…since our ship’s doctor was not on the Argo that night. Then, when she wanted to be bathed and made clean by her fiancee…he took her on his lap like a baby and he washed her….naked body completely clean,” Nova sobbed.

 

Princess was shocked at what she just heard. “Ma’am…?”

 

Nova said, “I’m sorry….I’m remembering two times in my life where I was in that woman’s shoes….once, on our mission to Iscandar, when a group of mutineers who wanted to kidnap and force me to be their “Eve” on Iscandar took me by force to and island, and aid I was going to bear all of their children. They stripped me of my clothes by force to see if I was a virgin or not,” Nova whispered. “Then, there was an earthquake where my wrist was broken, and my boyfriend, the future Admiral Wildstar, rescued me. The second time….I don’t want to tallk about that, but….I know what it was like to be in this woman’s place. And in your place. So…do I understand? Yes, Princess. I understand. I will talk with you at any time. But, you need to promise me something…”

 

“Yes?” Princess said.

 

Nova looked at her hard. “Before we spar…to get how we both feel about Zoltar out of our systems…promise me you will talk to Mark.”

 

“I will,” said Princess. “I will…”

 

At that, Nova got her boken and began to spar with Princess. The two women fought hard, and Nova purposely took a few blows and bruises as she let Princess take out her rage and aggression on her like a human punching bag. Only the fact that the Star Force veteran was strong and had good reflexes kept her from being seriously hurt in that session.

 

LATER….

 

Derek Wildstar awoke to the sound of the shower running and then going off. He found Nova wasn’t there beside him. “Nova? Hey! Where’d you go?”

 

“Right here,” she said tiredly as she came out of the bathroom wrapped in just a towel. Derek could see bruises on his wife’s bare legs. “What happened to you?”

 

 “I sparred with Traci…aka Princess,” Nova said. “I know what she went through with Zoltar the other day, and I told her to open up to Mark. I told her about what happened to Diane Sandor those years ago without divulging her name. I also told her about Diamond Island and Sparks and his scurvy band and talked a little about Stovall in the hospital.”

 

Derek held her and said, “You’ve had close calls and have been close to getting raped so often….promise me you’ll sit this one out and let G-Force go on the front line. I never would have let you go with me earlier to fight him had I known about what had happened to Princess with that snake mecha two months ago. Now that I know, Nova, promise me you’ll keep away from that Zoltar.”

 

“I can’t promise you that, and you know it,” Nova replied as Derek kissed her and held her close on his lap as they sat on the bed. “I’m a doctor, but I’m still a warrior. Like you.”

 

“Nova, that time we met Zoltar face to face on the Argo thirteen years ago, he said he wanted to rape you, not Diane. He took her as sloppy seconds. I get the sense that you’re the one in danger for some reason…I…”

 

“And that’s why I have to be one of those who helps Princess and G-Force defeat that bastard and give him a new home; preferably a six-foot deep hole in a cemetry,” Nova snapped. “Promise me you’ll back me up if we get involved again. Promise me you’ll help me rescue our son from that maniac.”

 

“Okay…I promise,” sighed Derek. The two of them hugged and kissed again as Nova’s towel began to slip open. He smiled at her and began to part the towel and tenderly touch his dear wife of nearly twenty years. Nova smiled back as she caressed his bare chest.

 

They fell onto the bed together, kissing like teenagers as their bodies pressed together.

 

For now, the mission and the briefings could wait.

 

As Derek Wildstar made love to Nova, Nova wished that Princess could find this sort of happiness someday with Mark. A love such as this…could soften the worst of memories….

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED….