A squad of Space Marines with polished boots and helmets stood with their AK-01 laser rifles at port arms, putting aside their personal feelings about their visitors as a blue Gamilon shuttlecraft cruised in through the Argo's lower landing bay hatch. The shuttle's belly thrusters flashed once, and the ship came to a careful landing aboard the Argo.

Captain Derek Wildstar, and Lieutenant Commanders Mark Venture and Stephen Sandor stood waiting beside Ensign Paul Hemsford as the shuttle's belly hatch opened. Off to Wildstar's right side, beside Venture, stood Nova, Holly Parsons, and Dr. Sane. Dash, Homer, and Orion stood beside Sandor, to Wildstar's left Derek. nodded to his officers, and Hemsford saluted. He did an about-face and turned towards his squad. "Ready, guys," he snapped. "I toldcha what to do."

The Marines nodded. A moment later, four Gamilons, respectively, the shuttle's pilot, and three others, came out of the hatch and came to attention on either side of the hatch, facing towards Wildstar. Their arms snapped up in ninety-degree salutes as they heard footsteps inside the shuttlecraft.

Wildstar nodded to Venture, Sandor and the others. All of the men and women snapped to attention, and waited as Desslok and Astrena slowly strode down the shuttle's ramp. The Gamilon Leader was regal in his usual grey uniform and red and black cape, while Astrena was beautiful in a long dark purple dress and green necklace. She wore a slender silver circlet over her brow, topped with a gleaming white jewel that glittered in the bright landing bay lights. When they stood on the Argo's deck, the Star Force officers all saluted. Behind them, Hemsford barked, "Present ARMS!" The Marines presented their rifles and then brought them up to their shoulders, bringing their right fists up in salute as one party.

Desslok nodded, while Astrena returned the Star Force's salute with a salute of her own to her brow.

Derek said, "Leader Desslok, Lady Astrena, welcome to the Argo."

Desslok said, "Thank you, Captain Wildstar. Even though this is a promising day, I wish we were meeting again under less trying circumstances. As you know, we are all fighting for our lives right now. I wish it were otherwise."

"Where is Aliscea's ceremony of joining being held?" asked Astrena.

"In one of our observation decks," said Captain Derek Wildstar. "Our Marines will escort you."

"Thank you," said Desslok. "I never thought I would board the space battleship Argo again. When last I visited...it was not under particularly pleasant circumstances. May we visit your bridge for a moment?"

"Of course," said Captain Wildstar. "Nova, please let our guests know we'll be ready in a few minutes, and then please join us on the bridge."

"Yessir," replied Nova. She saluted and walked off towards a phone, her high heels clicking on the deck as she walked off with a casual flip of her skirt.

"Classy broad," muttered one of the Marines as he turned his head towards his mate.

"I like Her Highness better," muttered his buddy

"Stow it, guys, they might hear you," said Hemsford.

The Marines went quiet. They made sure they were silent, as, a moment later, Hemsford, Captain Wildstar, Desslok and Astrena all walked past. Then, they fell into step behind their visitors, and followed Wildstar on his journey to the Argo's first bridge.

On the Argo's bridge, Captain Wildstar stood in silence with Venture, Sandor, and Nova as Desslok and Astrena slowly walked around the Command station.

"Where were my messages heard?" asked Astrena.

"Over here, at Communications," said Wildstar. "Both of you are facing my Command station."

Odd...I thought the bridge of the Argo would be larger, thought Desslok. It always looked bigger on my screen, somehow, when I met the Star Force in battle. So many destinies...of so many...were decided here. Interesting...being here where so many battles were fought. Now I know how Wildstar must have felt aboard my flagship.

Desslok stopped when he noticed the plaque hanging above Wildstar's command chair. "Captain Avatar, I believe?"

"Yes...that's him," said Captain Wildstar. "As I told you once before, Desslok, he is still an inspiration to the Star Force..."

"And a man worthy of our honor," said Desslok as he silently went down on one knee before the plaque, with Astrena doing likewise. To the surprise of the assembled officers, they knelt there for a moment in solemn silence before getting up. "Without his gallantry," said Desslok, "I would be a different man today...a man living a lie on the remains of a worthy people."

Wildstar wondered what Desslok meant by this remark, but he thought better than to ask the strange, foreboding Leader of Gamilon to elaborate upon his opaque statement. "I believe we have a Joining Ceremony to attend?" asked Astrena as she patted Desslok's arm.

"Of course," said Desslok as he slowly walked around the Argo's bridge one more time, surprising the few duty officers and men who were keeping watch aboard what was still a space battleship underway, even though it was keeping station with the Gamilon Fleet. "You have an duty alert crew, Captain. It's too bad they can't attend."

"They'll be given time to attend later on, Leader Desslok," said Yamazaki from the Engineering station where he sat watch as Officer of the Deck on this watch. "We have a change of the watch in a few hours."

"Thank you for the information, Officer," said Desslok. "Now, if you'll tend to your post..."

"Of course, sir" said Yamazaki. Desslok nodded at him, and looked quizzically at Captain Wildstar.

"He's Lieutenant Yamazaki," said Wildstar. "Our Officer of the Deck, and Second in Command of Engineering."

"Interesting," said Desslok. "It'll be fascinating...meeting others of your race today...sampling your foods...glancing at your equipment," he said as he ran a hand over Rosstowski's Artillery console, now being manned by another officer. "What a wonderful degree of miniaturization, Astrena. Not unlike ours. I never thought anyone else could build technology quite like this," said Desslok as he looked admiringly at the Matsumoto Dial displays which were arrayed across the console.

"Shall we go, soon?" asked Astrena, as she looked at Nova for a moment. She rolled up her eyes a little, sending a message to Nova across races and cultures. It was the universal woman-to woman message of, men...and their toys.

"Derek?" asked Nova. "Should I let our people below know we'll be down there soon?"

"Yes, please do. If you'd go ahead of us..."

Nova nodded once and saluted. Derek returned the salute before she left the bridge at the starboard hatch.

Desslok nodded to Wildstar. "Now, if you'd have your Marines show us the way..."

"Of course," said Derek as they left the bridge at the port side hatch.

When all of the visitors had left, a crewman looked aft from the Navigator-Pilot's station towards Yamazaki. "Felt weird with him walkin' around here, Chief. Never knew the blue sumbitch was that big before."

"I knew he was that big," said another crewman, a man who was manning the Cosmo-Radar in Nova's absence. "I still remember when he boarded the ship that time when we were almost home...he damn near kicked me aside in that sleeping gas as I was getting my helmet on. Would've been nice to take a poke at him again. And now...he's being treated like an honored guest."

"He is a guest, Mister Castilla," said Yamazaki. "Times change."

"Our problem Chief, is that maybe times are changing too fast," said Castilla. "What do you think?"

"I'd prefer not to comment, right now," said Yamazaki. "I've got my own issues...but he is our ally."

Castilla didn't notice Yamazaki's fist clenching as he spoke.

Yamazaki sat in silence as his mind ran back in time to the early autumn of 2200...

There was chaos in the Argo's Engine Room that watch...

A huge black shell, or something that looked just like it, had just rammed through the ship's hull with incredible force.

The concussive shock, and all of the flying metal splinters from the shattered hull of the space battleship had knocked the Engineering crew to the deck. Yamazaki had fallen on his stomach a few meters away from Orion.

It opened like an evil clamshell. "What is that?" yelled Orion. "Is everybody all right?"

Yamazaki remembered looking up. "What is it?" he had yelled.

"That's GAS!" someone else yelled as evil reddish fumes flowed out of the capsule.

Yamazaki didn't need to be told twice that he was about to be poisoned. It's some kind of Gamilon weapon, he thought to himself as he ran for his helmet. Has to be. Who else would be attacking us?

Yamazaki's hearing was muffled as he got his helmet on. Through the radio headset, he heard others coughing and gagging as Orion yelled, "Everyone...put yer masks on at ONCE!"

In the dim light, and all of the confusion and chaos, Yamazaki noticed a tall figure with a high-crested helmet striding out of the gas at the capsule's mouth. He must be their commander...he thought as he reached for his gun. Arrogant rat...who else would wear a cape to the slaughter of innocent men at their posts?

Yamazaki's bead on the enemy commander was broken as, a moment later, Gamilon shock troops poured out of the gas around their commander, like evil army ants. They began shooting at Yamazaki's crewmates. Yamazaki quickly took cover behind one hunk of metal with two enlisted men. He noticed that Orion and his men from Energy Control were shooting at the boarders, but not being very successful at repelling them. As laser bolts flew all over the place, even through his helmet, Yamazaki heard the sounds of battle...ricochets, blasts, and the screams of dying men.

Through the haze, Yamazaki noticed Orion, now helmeted, at an intercom speaker. "Wildstar, we're under attack!" said the Chief. "Gamilon soldiers have come aboard!"

Some answer crackled over the speaker from the first bridge. Yamazaki remembered it was Wildstar's voice, but he couldn't remember what was being said.

Then, Orion barked, "Yamazaki, you back us up! We're heading around to try to repel these boarders! Wildstar'll have reinforcements on the way at the emergency drop tube near Frame Number 600! We'll make our stand there and get these guys!"

"Got it," said Yamazaki.

Yamazaki then remembered the chaos of battle. How many guys had the Gamilons killed that day? Half my section, he thought. He remembered that Tech Sergeant Garand had died that day, along with Nogura, Counts, Capehart...all good guys...all dead...all of them on Heroes' Hill now. They had been so shorthanded on the way back, what with Sparks and his crew deserting and then getting themselves killed on Iscandar like a bunch of idiots.

Yamazaki, after more fighting, found himself a few meters away from the drop tube...coming along with Orion, who was helping a staggering crewmate down the passage.

Through the gas, he saw Wildstar flying out of the tube in the clear light, landing right in front of his girlfriend.

"DEREK!" Nova had cried. He remembered how beautiful and desperate she had looked that day, standing right in the battle in her Medical dress and boots. Little did he know that, in a few minutes, she would be saving the whole mission.

"Nova, get out of here!" yelled Wildstar as Dash and Orion ran past him, taking up defensive positions at a blast hatch near the approaching gas front that was at Yamazaki's back, along with the Gamilon soldiers.

Yamazaki remembered Wildstar running up, sans helmet. "Are you all right, Orion?" he had asked.

"It's gas...poisonous gas...get yer masks on!" Orion had said.

"It's useless to fight back, Earthlings," said a sonorous voice back in the gas. "Surrender now," said the voice coldly. "Where's your Captain?"

Yamazaki looked back, noticing the enemy commander at his back. He swiveled his gun towards the tall alien, but he then had six pitiless Gamilon shock troops pointing guns at him. Still, he held his ground, even though he didn't fire, not wanting the Chief or Wildstar killed.

"Captain Avatar is ill," Wildstar had snapped. "I'm Deputy Captain Wildstar. Who are you?"

"Ha, ha, ha...so the Star Force is being led by a mere boy," said the enemy commander as he took off his mask and raised his visor. Yamazaki looked back again and gritted his teeth at the evil Gamilon's arrogant, laughing Goddamn royal face. "I am Desslok, Leader of the Gamilons."

"Desslok!?!" yelled Wildstar in disbelief.

What a young rat, thought Yamazaki as he fell back to help Orion and Mabuchi, the limp, mustachioed engineer whom Orion was holding up. He looks like he's about Alex Wildstar's age. So, all the time, Earth was being destroyed by some damn Boy King many years younger than I am. Wonderful...

"You thought I was dead, didn't you?" Yamazaki remembered Desslok saying. "That was your first mistake. Gamilon has withstood many disasters. As long as I live, Gamilon lives. You've done well for one so young, but I strike the last blow!"

Arrogant, and he makes pretty long-winded speeches, too, thought Yamazaki. Why doesn't he start shooting so we can get a clear shot and finish him off?

But, then, the gas crept up towards the unhelmeted men. Just like he planned it like that... thought Yamazaki. He's a showman, as well as an SOB...and I can't even see him, now. Can't even aim at the guy!

"WHAT?" yelled Wildstar as the first tendrils of gas crept up.

"This is a radioactive sleeping gas," said Desslok with an amused grin on his face. "When you and your crew become unconscious...we will take over your ship and fly it right into your Earth Defense Headquarters...after, of course, destroying the Cosmo-DNA! Ha ha ha ha!"

"Not without a fight!" yelled Wildstar as he began leading a retreat with his hand over his mouth. Wildstar fired a shot and then took off down the passage with the rest of them.

"You see, the gas doesn't bother us," said Desslok as he and his men strode forward.

Then, the firefight began again. In the gas, the chaos, Yamazaki remembered that another crewman named Turrell had bought it...shot down like a dog by the Gamilon shock troopers. Yamazaki then remembered then he himself had taken a wound to the arm, which had opened his uniform/spacesuit up to the gas. He remembered coughing a lot, and coming to later on in Sickbay, where, in his semi-conscious state, he remembered Wildstar crying his eyes out as he saw Nova lying in a bed ...while Dr. Sane disconnected several machines from her. "I can't do anything more for her, Wildstar," he remembered Sane saying. "She was on the Cosmo-DNA, and she inhaled lungfuls of that stuff before it went on."

"What'll be the effect?" cried Wildstar.

"Fatal, most likely, because she breathed in so much of that stuff," said Dr. Carolyn Bradford, an assistant of Dr. Sane's with very short brown hair. "When one breathes enough of a radioactive substance, it can be a quick killer, or an insidious, silent killer, depending upon the person's resistance. We just lost Sergeant Major Mabuchi to that stuff after he lay in a coma with no brain activity and his body just gave up the fight. Barring a miracle, Derek...it'll probably do the same thing to her. Hate to be tactless, Wildstar, but I need this equipment for someone who'll probably live..."

"Don't give up all hope!" protested Sane. "Nova could pull out of this!"

"With barely any measurable brain activity?" said Dr. Bradford. She carefully took the last IV out of Nova's wrist and looked down at her pale, silent nightdress-clad form. Bradford shook her head sadly and said, "Sir, she's got one foot in the grave, and you know it. Derek," she added to Wildstar. "I am truly sorry. Nova was a very, very brave woman whom I loved to work with. You should look upon her as someone who gave her life, so we could all live."

Yamazaki saw the stricken look on Wildstar's face. It spoke volumes. Poor kid, Yamazaki had thought before he passed out again . They were getting to be quite an item. And Orion liked her so much...she was a cute kid...

Then, Yamazaki had passed out once again, and not awakened again until the Argo was already in her dock on Earth, in the underground base near Okinawa, not far from where her journey had begun. He remembered that he thought he was dead when he awoke, because the first thing he had seen was Nova standing over him in her gown, grinning shyly at him...

Yamazaki sat in silence again as his reverie ended. It's not even two years...he thought. Mabuchi's barely cold in the ground, and we're welcoming him aboard like some guest now. Yes....times change. But, that doesn't have to mean I necessarily like it. Okay, Wildstar forgave him. Nova apparently has also forgiven the same guy who nearly made her either a vegetable or a corpse not more than two years ago. Doesn't mean I have to do it, though. Oh, later on, when I get relieved, if he's still at our party, guess I'll shake his hand, ask him about Gamilon technology...small talk like that. But, by Buddha, I'm going to wash my hand after I shake his...

Paul Rosstowski couldn't believe his incredible good fortune as he and Aliscea stood before the whole crew as they spoke their vows before Rabbi Greenberg, sealing, for the sake of EDF regs, the wedding that had already taken place on Pellias right before its demise. Both Paul and Aliscea were in dress uniform. Paul thought she looked utterly gorgeous. Even the surprise wedding guest, Leader Desslok himself, thought she had looked quite beautiful as he and her mother had both embraced her before she had gone up the aisle on the ship's huge observation deck. When the vows began, Paul fixed his gaze upon his young bride, barely his best man, a sullen Bryan Hartcliffe (looking very uncomfortable in his blue peacoat) off to his left. Off to his far right, beyond Aliscea's shoulder, stood Nova, the matron of honor. She looked pretty in her pink dress, and had a soft, enigmatic smile on her face. Hardy, Dash, and to the surprise of many, Royster, the other groomsmen, stood in a line going down the aisle to the left, by Paul, while Holly Parsons, Tatiana Lubyanska, and Laurel Hartmann stood behind Holly and Nova.

Nova, with a small sense of irony, noticed that Laurel was wearing the same floor-length gown that she had worn to her wedding to Derek not long ago. Finally, the Captain stood silently beside the Chaplain. He said a few words to begin the ceremony, but, otherwise, he was just quietly watching Paul and Aliscea in their happiness, and also stealing a few glances at his own bride in the bargain.

The sea of stars framed the Argo's chaplain as he stood there in his yarmulke leading them through their vows. The middle-aged Rabbi almost looked a little like an ancient Biblical figure with his slightly long hair and short, bushy black beard. "Do you, Aliscea d' Shal of Pellias, swear to love, honor, and cherish this man with whom you have decided to share your life?"

Aliscea looked at Paul and quietly said, "I do."

Since Paul had just sworn to the same a moment beforehand, the rabbi only had to conclude the ceremony. "Then, by the power vested in me, I pronounce you man and wife. May the Lord keep and bless both of you. Mazel Tov," he said with a smile.

Then, before they kissed, they both did an about-face and walked over to a small bundle set on the floor by Nova. At a signal from the rabbi, both Paul and Aliscea stepped on the wrapped wineglass, shattering it with a loud snap. Then, they embraced and kissed as the crew cheered.

They went down the aisle together to the strains of a recording of the Beatles' Because. Somehow, the pretty but melancholy song seemed to suit the beautiful young couple as they came down the aisle and then stopped to share their first dance as the song played on.

"They look happy," said Nova as she came up beside Derek to watch.

"They are happy," replied Wildstar. "Look at that smile on Rosstowski's face. After all the sadness he's been through in the past two years, he deserves some happiness."

"Yes, he does..." said Nova, who then stopped open-mouthed as she gently tapped Derek on the arm. "Derek...look," she whispered.

"Where?"

"There...don't be too obvious..." said Nova as she turned Derek gently off towards the right. Then, she stopped. "Over there, Derek," she whispered.

Wildstar looked, and then stood speechless as he observed Mark Venture and Holly Parsons quietly sneaking a kiss. "I don't believe it," murmured Derek in Nova's ear.

"He's learning to live again," said Nova in return in a very soft voice. "Remember how Mark was mourning for...?"

"Yes. It looks like Holly's coaxing him back into the human race again."

"I hope so," said Nova. "For the sake of them both."

The dancing and celebration continued for about an hour or so on the observation deck, with an atmosphere much like that of the farewell party the Star Force had thrown as they had left the solar system in 2199.

Desslok and Astrena sampled some Terran foods and drinks from the buffet table while Captain Wildstar shared a dance with the new bride, followed by the groomsmen. After dancing with Nova for a bit, Captain Wildstar shared a dance with Astrena as Desslok looked on.

"He doesn't seem to mind," said Derek as he looked back with Desslok. The Gamilon was talking with some of his officers, as well with Orion, Yamazaki, Holly and Dash. It looked like Holly was trying to get Desslok to eat something that looked like bratwurst on a roll. The tall Gamilon accepted the gift, but only after one of his aides tasted it first.

"No; he wouldn't. Aliscea and I share a psionic link, and through that bond, I have learned about some of your customs, thanks to the deeper link that my daughter shares with your officer, Paul. Through that bond, I understand that it is your custom to share dancing with others like this for a brief time...as we are doing."

"I guess your learned our dancing through this link with your daughter, too," laughed Derek. "You're not half bad."

"I thank now. Now, as for Paul and Aliscea; I have something to tell you. Heed my advice, for this is important, Captain. As a guest on your ship, Aliscea must be properly looked after. Because of her link with him, she is aware of some of your customs. Of course, the link needs time to form."

"How much time?" asked Derek.

"About one of your days, give or take a few hours," said Astrena. "In a Pellian Joining where such a link is created, the couple usually begins to bond as part of the ceremony, which the couple assents to themselves. In effect, they have married themselves already on Pellias."

"I see," said Derek.

"Usually, they are left in seclusion immediately afterwards to both enjoy their wedding night and form their link as part of that intimacy. For the psychic and physical health of the involved couple, it is dangerous to break this link or this seclusion, as you have no doubt learned."

"We have, Astrena," said Wildstar with a deep sense of shame. "We're sorry..."

"It couldn't be otherwise," said Astrena. "They couldn't have had a full wedding night on a dying planet. You did what had to be done. Just be sure that they are together... and left alone...as soon as possible after the ceremony. Otherwise, Aliscea might go mad...or possibly even sicken and die...as might Paul."

"We'll see to it, Astrena."

"Thank you, Captain Wildstar. I know that there is a question in your mind; "what do I see in Desslok?""

"I..." Wildstar was thinking that, but he hadn't meant to voice his opinion out loud. He looked over at Desslok and his shipmates again...it looked as if the Gamilon was shaking Yamazaki's hand.

"It's odd...it's like I've known him for years. We have no psionic bond, but we have many common experiences. We have both lost our homeworlds...and we have been through many long defeats and battles. We have both done things we wish we could have done differently, and we are both tired of war. Both of us wish to live with our peoples in peace and safety. For those reasons, and also because are personalities are alike in many aspects, we decided to come together as we spoke to one another. Does that answer your query?"

"It does. Thank you, Astrena," said Derek. The Captain looked over again, and noticed that Holly was trying to get Desslok to stand up. He stood, but he politely bowed. His voice came through the hubbub as he said, "Thank you, but I don't care to dance now. I shared a dance with a member of your crew earlier, Miss Parsons."

"Aliscea has suffered through so much lately," said Astrena. "She has much to do when she confronts our Enemy. For that, she will need all of the happiness she can get. Please see that Paul provides that to her?"

"I'll do my best."

Astrena and Wildstar stopped dancing at last. Nova came up, finishing a dance she had been sharing with the Gamilon liaison officer, and all three of them smiled as they watched Paul and Aliscea embracing and snuggling in each other's arms. They certainly looked happy.

Later, after more dancing and celebration, Derek and Nova walked straight off towards a table. To their surprise, Desslok and Astrena sat down with them.

"I'm afraid I've received a communication from my fleet, Wildstar," said Desslok. "One of my aides just relayed some disturbing news through the liaison officer I left here earlier."

"Which is?"

"Captain Wildstar, my adjutant Talan has just picked up an odd subspace communications burst that he thinks bears some investigation. Some destroyers and cruisers are being sent to investigate. I will be leaving soon to await their report. Could you please have the groom's attendant stand to give his toast, followed by ours?"

"Is there any danger?" asked Wildstar in a low voice.

"No. Not as far as we know...but I'd like to make certain that there isn't a danger to us, or to the Pellians. Their battleships are carrying a great deal of refugees."

"Of course," said Wildstar.

"I'm afraid that we must be going right after the toast," said Desslok. "And, unfortunately, I must take my liaison officer with me. Thank you, Nova, for teaching him how to dance properly, by the way."

"Oh, you're welcome," said Nova with a slight smile.

"My pleasure. Shall we depart?" asked Desslok

"Hartcliffe," said Conroy, shaking the long-haired pilot. "Hey, Hartcliffe...here comes Wildstar. You're needed."

"Don' wanna bloody shelabrate now," he said in a very drunken voice. "The enemy scuzzbags raped m' Angie..."

"It looks like you've already been celebrating," snapped Conroy. "How many damn drinks have you had?"

"Just four, sir. Tryin' t'kill the pain."

"You went against the Captain's orders. Off-duty Tigers were only supposed to have two drinks like the rest of the crew and then ten hours' sleep. What if you have to fly tomorrow, buddy?"

"I can always throw up," slurred Hartcliffe.

"If there weren't women and guests present, I'd belt you for that," snapped Conroy. "Now get your lousy butt off that chair for Rosstowski. He is still your friend, isn't he?"

"Okay, I'll do it for 'im, but no' fer you," said Hartcliffe. "Hey, Paul, how's yer lady love?"

"She's fine," said Rosstowski as he shook his head in disgust. "Look at this. I'm here with the love of my life and you hadda fall off the wagon."

"I'm not drunk," said Hartcliffe.

"You are, too. I can smell the alcohol, Hartcliffe," said Aliscea in positively icy tones as her sandaled foot tapped the deck in anger.

"Hey, yer cute," said Hartcliffe.

"Hartcliffe, one more crack out of you, and, so help me," growled Paul as he began to make a fist.

"Paul, I'm not feeling well!" cried Aliscea. Dearest, I need you...we have to finish what we started on Pellias, she added in his mind through their link.

I'm sorry...he thought back.

"Paul, please get someone to get our best man to bed. I'll get Nova to take over. She's only had one glass of wine."

"I can do it," said Hartcliffe. "Here's to the bride an..."

"C'mon, you," said Conroy, followed by Sakamoto as they and two Marines took Hartcliffe by the arms. "You're going to your quarters until you go see the Captain tomorrow morning to stand Mast for dereliction of duty. If you said something to Desslok or Astrena now, it might cause an interstellar incident we don't need!"

Hartcliffe fought a little with the typical bravery of a drunk, but the Marines overpowered him and frog-marched him out of the room. The last thing he saw was Nova nodding to Aliscea as she assumed the duties of the best man at this wedding. In her mind, Nova was trying to think of suitable words to say on the spur of the moment for the toast while Desslok stood nearby with an unreadable look on his face.

Aliscea began to grow shaky again as the wedding reception continued.

"Nova, you're late," said Hiram Josiah as he opened the door, as it appeared, to his niece. Her pink coat was open, and Hiram looked at her outfit. "It's freezing out today. What's a woman in your condition doing running around in shorts?"

"I've always liked this outfit," replied "Nova". In her purse, Yvona was gently fingering her knife. "Do you have a place for me to hang my coat?"

"You've been here before...it's in the hall closet," said Josiah as he lit up a cigar. "I've got your money right here in my pocket. Want some tea, Nova?"

"No, I've suddenly grown out of liking it," replied Yvona in Nova's voice. She hung up her coat and flounced back in.

"Are you sure you're all right, Nova?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're walking funny...like you were skipping around on a jaunt with Derek or something."

"I miss him...but he'll be back. I'm just remembering the honeymoon, that's all," said "Nova" dreamily.

"Yeah, that sounds like you," said Josiah. "Okay, here's your money..."

"Thanks" replied "Nova" as she put the money in her purse. "Oh, I'm so happy about the baby!" cried "Nova" as she threw her arms around Josiah and made him fall to the floor with her on top of him.

"Well....that's sudden," said Hiram in shock as "Nova" abruptly took his face in her hands and began to kiss him on the mouth. Now, Lord, prayed Yvona. Change my face...now...make me look like I did when I was young...for a brief, brief time. Leave the body like it is.

"Nova...what's gotten into you?" gasped Hiram. "What'll Derek think? I hate to say this, but this is no damn way for a newly married woman to act...especially towards her uncle!"

"Look again," said "Nova" as her voice subtly began to change. It went a bit lower and became a bit rougher. "Take a good look at my face, Hiram..."

"Why? What's happened to your voice...your face?"

"Hiram, darling, like what the Lord can do for me?"

"Yvona! This is crazy! You look like you're twenty-two! Like you did a year after we met!" cried Josiah as he looked at his wife's face. It was no longer Nova's face, but it wasn't the ravaged, fat face of his elderly wife, either. The face looked young, pretty, and heart-shaped, with dark eyes with thick lashes somewhat like those of her famous niece. The set of the nose was slightly different, and Yvona's hair had been dark brown as a young woman. The effect of a young Yvona kneeling on her husband in Nova's clothes was both bizarre and enchanting for Hiram. "Tell me, Yvona...are you sane again?"

"It depends upon what you mean by 'sane'," smiled Yvona. "If you mean "do I plan to give up the cult?" the answer is no. And, no, dearest, you need not divorce me...not now."

"Why not?" gasped a stunned Hiram. Something inside him told her to fight his wife...fight her like an enemy...kill as he had been trained to do...but, something kept him pinned to the floor as Yvona slowly opened Nova's purse.

"Well...it's because I'm going to be a widow in about three minutes, my love," said Yvona as she stroked Hiram's face with one hand, and produced her knife with the other. "Goodbye, Hiram. You always were a sucker," said Yvona.

At that, the knife flew up and then flew down in a shining arc, planting itself right in Hiram Josiah's chest. Hiram could do nothing more than gasp.

Yvona threw back her head and laughed. She laughed again and again, sounding almost more like a demon than a living woman. Yvona pulled the knife from his chest and slowly licked it clean. Then, she rolled over his inert body and pulled off his blood-soaked Captain's peacoat as a gruesome trophy of her successful kill. At least she felt it was successful. Hiram was surely dying now. She threw off Nova's pink coat, dressed the body in it as best as she could since it was far too small for Hiram, and left him there wearing his niece's coat. She had pleasant thoughts of mutilating him, but she guessed there wasn't enough time.

Yvona put on Hiram's coat. As an afterthought, she opened Nova's purse. Yvona took out Nova's car keys, and then dumped the rest of the purse's contents, including the borrowed money, right on top of her husband's face.

"Here's your money back, dear," hissed Yvona. She closed up the bloody peacoat, smiled, and spat on his hand.

"Hiram, I love you," said Yvona with a wide smile. She took his astro-automatic off the mantel and ran to the door of what had been their home. She opened it, and stepped out. Before getting into Nova's car, she said, "Goodbye, Earth. Soon, soon, I will be gone. I will not return until you hail me as your Overlord."

She started Nova's car and drove off, smiling at the open door she had left.

But, in the Josiah house, a flimsy note that had been on of Nova's forgotten grocery lists from before the Cometine invasion rose and fell slightly as it lay on Hiram Josiah's unconscious mouth. Hiram Josiah still lived, but he wasn't long for this world, not without help.

"Now, I need a place to take off," said Yvona as she sat in the jet recon boat back at the Wildstars' garage a few minutes later. She was perusing the flight manual for the boat. She was also pointedly ignoring the police sirens that were finally coming down Derek and Nova's home street towards her. "Hmm...I think the front lawn will do it if I give this thing enough thrust," she said as she flicked a number of switches on the ship's instrument panel. "Flip on the radar...I think...keep the radio off...shut the canopy."

Yvona flicked more switches as the police aircruisers pulled in, their lights flashing red and blue in the dusk.

"Whoever you are, come out with your hands UP!" boomed a voice over a bullhorn. "You are under arrest! Surrender now!"

Yvona yelled a very obscene phrase and punched the jet recon boat's throttle.

The ship flew out of the garage, its wing sideswiping Nova's abandoned aircar as it came out. The police fired their astro-automatics at the approaching plane, but only one shot hit the plane, bouncing harmlessly off the canopy.

The police scattered as it looked as if the maniac was going to ram them all and go down in a blaze of glory. Instead, the speeding ship roared up like a drunken bottle rocket, with one of its all-terrain wheels knocking the light and siren bar off the roof of one of the Federal Police cruisers as it gathered speed and roared up and off towards Heroes' Hill.

The police fired at the boat, but it was far past their hand weapons in a moment. One officer picked up his hand mike and said, "This is Unit Number Four-Thirty-Five, Hewlett. The perp has escaped and is heading towards College Point in an Astro Mallard boat stolen off the Wildstar property. We'll need aerial support, over."

"This is dispatch, Hewlett. Our police 'copters can't catch that; that's a military aircraft. I'm calling Operations, Idlewild NAS. We'll need Earth Defense to bring this terrorist suspect down. I'll see if I can get the Silver Dragons scrambled."

"Channel Five here...this is the unit at the Josiah house; over."

"What did you find?"

"Captain Josiah, of course. They're trying to put blood into him. He has massive internal injuries of some type, and one knife wound. We need paramedics now, damnit!"

"You've got them" said the dispatcher. "Hewlett, stand down the APB."
"Over. What should we do?"

"Secure the Wildstar residence. I'm having Military Intelligence send some forensics guys over to see what we can come up with about this perp. I suspect she may have visited the residence before; one of Josiah's neighbors said she was running around in what looked like Nova Wildstar's clothes. She knows they're hers because she's seen Mrs. Wildstar in them at that house before. But, this makes no sense. Isn't Lieutenant Wildstar in space on the Argo?"

"She's supposed to be," said Hewlett, scratching his crew-cut topped head for a moment. "This is crazy. We'll secure the premises and make sure no one interferes with the chain of evidence...over."

"Okay: I'm supposed to fly this thing...to....RPX 28, one megameter or one thousand kilometers away from the surface of Earth, according to what my Lord told me in my mind as I took off," said Yvona Josiah out loud to herself. "That's about five hundred old-miles altitude in mid-orbit. Okay...this radar thing is on, the radio is on, and the compass is on...trying to read it," muttered Yvona as she craned her head to look at the unfamiliar instrument panel of the Jet Recon Boat. "Got my heading...follow the red arrow to the blue dot...and I'm there."

Yvona began to sing "Amazing Grace" with a warped smile on her face as she wore her husband's and niece's bloodstained clothes. "My vengeance is partially complete," she sang to the tune of the hymn, committing sacrilege as she turned something holy into something warped. "It saved a wretch like me..." She licked her lips and smiled as she flew on. "I once was lost, before I met the Dark Lord...the new avatar of God. When I'm on the Fortress ten thousand years, in my new grand cyborg form..."

The radar began to bleep. "Great, can't sing about the new Lord's gifts for me now....looks like I've got company. Who's that knocking at my door, pray tell? Do you have a Boilermaker for your dear Auntie Yvona?"

Yvona began to bring up the boat's speed. "I'm a party girl...I can outrun you six planes anytime...wooo...I'm a party girl again," she sang to the tune of a popular song of the time. "I'm a widow, but I don't care, doo dah, doo dah killed my man with my own hands, oh doo dah day..." she sang to the tune of "Camptown Races" as she began to drool. Her face may have been temporarily pretty, but her mind was still as warped as that of a sewer rat.

Lieutenant Kyle Grant, flying his Super Starfighter as the squadron leader of the Silver Dragons, smiled as he approached the blip. "Guys," said Grant, with a smile lighting up his dark, handsome features. "Keesha, Mick and I are on that bird's lower six. The way that pilot's flying that boat, she knows nothing about combat. We can blow her away, but we need to give her a chance to surrender, first."

"Roger," said Lieutenant Keesha Grant, Kyle's wife. "Do you want to tell her, or shall I do it?"

"I'll do it, Mrs. Grant. Enemy pilot..." he said.

"...you are being tracked by aerospace superiority fighter units of the Earth Defense Forces," said Grant's voice on Yvona's radio. "Escape is futile. I advise you to surrender now and return with us to face the authorities. OVER."

"Tell me, son," said Yvona back in Kyle's headset. "Does your dog have fleas?"

"Miss, this has nothing to do with dogs or fleas. This has to do with your sorry butt, which is now in my target scope. This is your last warning before we open fire on you."

"Do you know who I am? I'm Yvona Josiah. The new, improved version. I killed over a million people already. I'm not afraid of you, sonny boy. Ready to die yet?"

Yvona flipped her boat up onto its tail and then dove straight down towards the Silver Dragons like a kamikaze.

Grant and his wingmen all fired at once, but the boat just barely evaded the beams and came close to colliding with Grant before Yvona did another insane maneuver and flew up into a storm cloud.

"This is Wesley," said a voice over Grant's headset. "Sir, should we pursue her?"

"She's flown into heavy cumulus and it's supposed to snow. Negative. Let her go through that and let her wings ice up. She'll kill herself in half an hour. No sane amateur visual flight rules pilot...least that's what I'm guessing she is... would pull off a stupid trick like that...and I don't think she knows how to fly by instruments through that soup, either. She's dead."

Yvona was, indeed, flying blind. She knew how to read the compass, but she had no idea what an artificial horizon, altimeter, background cosmic radiation scope, or other common EDF flight instruments did. Her niece could have flown this route by instruments lacking sleep (as she had done when flying Derek and herself home from their honeymoon), or, better yet, could have just called up a Doppler Radar view on her scope and found a path around or out of the soup easily.

Yvona had none of this knowledge, but her Lord did. Giving the flight over to Ekogaru's dark spirit, she let the Dark Lord guide her hands and feet on the controls like some weird medium in a trance. She laughed and drooled, and continued to sing nonsense, but she was confident Ekogaru would also get her out of this situation.

The radio blared again.

"Hi, what do you guys want?" mocked Yvona. "I'm still flying. Just coming out of a cloud, my friends."

"Terrorist pilot," said a cold official voice. "The Silver Dragons will be back on your course in moments. However, you have other things to worry about. Be warned you are flying right into the path of Battle Satellite Number Fourteen. The satellite is activated and tracking you. You have eighty seconds to surrender and change your mind."

"Is this General Thomas Stone talking?" said Yvona.

"How did you know that?" barked Stone.

"I recognize your voice, you old walrus," said Yvona with a smile. "Hiram and I met you at a party last year."

"This is irrelevant," snapped Stone. "Whoever you are, you don't have much chance to live if you don't follow our orders."

"Let me introduce myself. I'm Yvona Josiah. I'm back on Earth, or I was. Please cry for me, Stone. I'm a widow. I know. I just killed my husband. How's Singleton doing? When I was wearing Nova's face, I slashed at him, you know. Is he dead yet? Are you the Commander now? Did you get a pay raise? Did you know that you are a vile sinner? Do you know you need the Dark Lord in your life?"

"You have ten seconds," said Stone coldly. "If I cut off, I fire."

"Get stuffed, you walrus," sang Yvona as she shut off the radio again. "Oooo...what's that shiny thing on my radar? That must be your big, bad battle satellite. Oh, I'm sooo scared!"

Yvona laughed like crazy as the plane broke into space. "Fuel supply's short. Didn't you put gas in this thing, Derek? Does my niece keep you on an allowance? Oh...there's the big nasty battle satellite. There's the light, it's ready to fire...Looord help me..."

Yvona let Ekogaru's spirit "fly" the ship again, and she just evaded the huge energy bolt as the satellite fired.

A moment later, two streams of missile exhaust and fire streaked out of nowhere towards the satellite. The torpedoes hit, and the satellite exploded as Yvona looked at her compass and smiled.

"About time you people got here," snapped Yvona as the dark red form of a R'Khell submarine "surfaced" before her, the sub shimmering in out of subspace with a crazy blast of rainbow colors before it achieved full solidity.

"Be quiet," said a cold R'Khell voice. "With all respect, Prophetess, you have no idea how to fly that boat. Hit the switch near your throttle to the right...that'll turn on the automated beam unit. You will fly in on our docking beam and land. You will not deviate from your course. No time for games...four EDF battleships and several cruisers are vectoring in on us, Prophetess Yvona."

"Switch is on," said Yvona. "You fly me in."

"We intend to do that," said the R'Khell officer coldly. "Sit tight in your cockpit until we re-submerge."

Yvona was drawn towards the R'Khell sub. She smiled while the lower belly hatch opened. Then, a short-range tractor beam took her and she was pulled in to the dark red sub's filthy-looking docking bay.

Her boat was lowered to the deck by a grappling crane. The hatch closed, and then, Yvona felt her stomach lurch as the sub crash-dived back into subspace.

A R'Khell officer in red came up to her boat and saluted after she opened her canopy. Yvona tried to return the salute, but then she shook hands with the officer.

"It's a good thing I can identify your mind as a R'jkharraz," said the officer. "Otherwise, you would have been shot as you look nothing like you did days ago, Prophetess."

"Gervner, consider this a miracle of your Warbringer. Alas, it only lasts for one more day. Can you get me to the Potemkin in a few hours?"

"Aye, just a few warps and we are there. The rest of my squadron is tracking the stolen Earth battleship. We were told to take you to the Potemkin by Prophetess Marda, who is on Rikasha. May I ask what you intend to do?" asked the R'Khell officer as he stroked his beard.

"Meet the Argo, talk to my niece, and then kill or capture the Star Force. Twinkle, twinkle, little Star Force. How I wonder what you are for."

"Yes...of course," said Gervner. "This way...to your cabin, Lady."

"I know the way. Stop holding my hand, you fool," said Yvona. "Let me go."

"Of course," said Gervner. With pleasure, you madwoman, he added to himself.

Later that evening, EDF Commanding General Charles Singleton was still groggy with anesthesia as he lay in his bed in Central Hospital in a hospital gown talking to General Stone, General Weiner, and his wife, who were all by his bedside.

"Are you sure your neck's all right?" asked Mrs. Dana Singleton.

"Yes...it is. Thank you. I know this bandage is thick. Luckily, the wound wasn't that deep."

"That's good," said Dana with tears in her eyes. "You need to rest."

"Thanks, but we have a briefing to finish," smiled the Commander. "It'll be quick. So, Stone, we lost the boat that left the Wildstar residence?

"Yes, unfortunately," said Stone. "More Josiahite cultists have come out of the woodwork, too. Right now, there's heavy fighting in and around Vladivostok, Istanbul, Long Beach, California in the United States, and Kure here on Great Island."

"All places with either EDF dockyards or air bases nearby," said Singleton. "Do we still have capital ships around any of those yards?"

"We do, sir."

"Well, get them out of there if they can't be secured. Damnit! This is almost as bad as the Unification Wars, Stone. By the way, how's Captain Josiah?"

"Critical condition, sir. Last report I heard indicates he'll need a bionic heart to live," said General Weiner.

"I see. And what about the Star Force?"

"Last I heard, they were still on their mission, sir," said Stone.

"Good," said Singleton as he lay back on his pillow. "At least we have some good news."

A nurse then came in. "People, you need to clear away from this man's bedside. He's been up talking too long. He needs to rest. He will be released on Monday. You can do your business then."

"She's right," added Dana. "Charles...you look so pale! General Stone...you can see he's wounded?"

"Of course," said Stone. "Weiner, let's get going."

"Yessir," said General Weiner.

"Sometimes, one has to take care of things right away," said Singleton.

"The Earth Defense Council is meeting again on Monday," said Stone. "We can handle it then, sir. We're moving more infantry forces to the areas we're they're needed now. I'm sure nothing else will happen."

"How do we know that, Stone?" said Singleton. "Remember, Gideon said that "Battles are not fought in Defense Council Rooms, gentlemen..." He had a point, Stone."

"Yes...but he's no longer with us. If you don't wish to join him, maybe you'd better sleep, sir."

Singleton just gave Stone a very sour look.

"Leader Desslok, we've lost contact with the picket destroyers that were four lightyears ahead of us at TW-312," said Talan a few hours later as a communications officer hailed the ships again and again.

"I wonder what could have happened?" mused Desslok. "What about the cruiser squadron?"

"No contact with them, either, sir," said Talan.

"Eight ships...and we've lost contact. Send a signal to the Argo; I'm splitting up the Fleet. Order our newly reorganized First Task force to escort the Pellian battleships off towards Miralden. They have to find sanctuary as soon as possible. I'll take command of our remaining forces and then investigate the area where those squadrons were."

At that, a call came in on the intership phone. An aide presented the ornate phone to Desslok.

"Sir, a call from Astrena; from your suite."

Desslok took the receiver with a slightly irritated look. "Yes?"

"Desslok, I have a bad feeling about this. Could you please tell the Argo to leave the area?"

"Why is that?"

"Aliscea," she said. "We need her protected."

"Of course," said Desslok. "You need say no more. I was going to communicate with them soon; I was about to split up the Fleet. I'll see to it the survivors head towards Miralden to safety."

"Thank you," said Astrena as she ended the call. Desslok then hung up.

"What was that?" asked Talan.

"Not as bad as Invidia's call a few months ago, luckily," said Desslok. "Astrena senses something. She'd like the Argo out of the area. She senses danger. And, I agree. Something about those destroyers' sudden silence doesn't seem right. Those men are trained not to lose contact like that when they should be on guard protecting our perimeter of operations. They know that if they fail in their guard, they'd face my wrath."

"What do you think happened?" said Talan.

"It was quite sudden...I have my suspicions," said Desslok. "Kindly get that message sent to the Argo now."

"Yessir," snapped Talan with a crisp salute.

"We've got a message from Desslok!" said Homer on the Argo's bridge.

Venture was in command at his Navigation station; the wedding reception was beginning to break up, and Mark had just gotten a call from Derek that Paul and Aliscea had slipped back off to their quarters; they were both looking very pale and tired.

"Yes?" said Venture. "Is it on visual, or text?"

"Text, sir," said Homer with a hurt sound in his voice as he stood up with the data tape in his hands.

"Read it," snapped Venture.

"This is Leader Desslok," read Homer. "We have lost contact with a picket destroyer squadron and a strike cruiser squadron, located four lightyears ahead of us. We are leaving the area to investigate; I have dispatched the Pellians out of the area with my First Task Force. Astrena senses danger; she recommends that you warp out of the area as soon as possible on your way towards the Great Magellenic Cloud. I hope to meet you there in a few weeks, and regret that our paths must separate. We shall soon meet again. Signed, Desslok of Gamilon."

"Should we trust his advice?" asked Venture after he turned his chair around to face Sandor.

"It's not his advice; it's Astrena's," said Sandor. "Astrena's presence on his ship seems to mean that as long as Aliscea is with us, it'd be impossible for him to give any advice that would be prejudicial to us; not that I think he'd act against his own interests at any rate. Like it or not, Venture, our fates and the Gamilons' are bound together."

"The Gamilons are warping out," said Holly from the Cosmo-Radar.

Mark looked out, and noticed the flashes of light that indicated the departure of the Fleet. "Wherever you're going, good luck, Desslok," he said in a low voice. "And it's about time that we warped out, too," said Venture. "Dash, order our BARCAP back in."

"Yessir," said Dash. "Attention, Hartmann. This is Dash. Get your planes back in the ship ASAP."

"Roger," said Laurel aboard her strike fighter. "We'll be back with you in ten minutes. All right, people...all Tigers...get back to the den."

Outside, Hartmann's squadron of Cosmo Tiger II's began to maneuver back towards the Argo.

"They're on their way back," said Dash.

"Great," said Venture. "Yamazaki," he said as he looked back towards the station normally occupied by Orion. The aged Chief Engineer was now resting since it was, after all, 2200 Hours and it wasn't his watch. "Begin powering up the engines for a space warp." Venture began to punch in the appropriate course. "We'll be warping out four thousand lightyears in a parabolic course towards the edge of Dalton's Nebula."

"Dalton's Nebula," said Parsons. "Isn't that part of the huge area of developing stars that eventually ends up in the Octopus Star Storm?"

"Yes, but we're approaching it from another angle," said Venture. "Two more warps of ten thousand lightyears each over the next two days, and we'll be back in the area around the Octopus Star Storm again...a great place to pick up our journey towards Iscandar."

"Yeah...if we don't get caught up in that thing again," said Dash.

"No worry, I'll get us around that," said Venture.

"Maybe you won't," mused Sandor. "That system was in constant flux when we were there. Every channel we knew of could've been obliterated by those streams of plasma flowing between those stars. None of our charts might be accurate now. Even the Gamilons would probably have to take new surveys of the area if they had to go back in there. We'd better take this a little more slowly. After all, Dalton's Nebula is the beginning of that region of instability..."

"Should we change course?" asked Venture.

"No...we'll be fine...but we'd better watch ourselves afterwards."

"Derek, when are you going to stop writing in that log of yours?" asked Nova in their quarters.

Captain Wildstar smiled but just kept on typing on his computer. "I'm almost done," he said. "I just had to record the last of what happened when Paul and Aliscea left the observation deck."

"By then, Desslok had already left," said Nova. She smiled and yawned a little. "Your tea's getting cold."

"I thought you had it in the pot," he said as he came over to the small counter where Nova had the teapot.

"I poured it for you a minute ago," she said. She was standing near their locker in a sleepshirt. She had put her dress and heels away a long time ago, and was padding around the compartment in her flip-flops. "Want the heat up in here? It's cold again."

"Yeah, it is getting a little cold," mused Derek. His jacket was off, and he was wearing Japanese-style house slippers himself. "Tea's not bad, thanks," he said.

"You're welcome," replied Nova with a smile.

At that moment, the klaxons went off. "Attention, all hands. Attention, all hands," said Venture over the PA system. "We are due to warp in five minutes. Please begin making all preparations for entry into warp now. Be sure that all breakables are properly secured, and use your safety belts in order to prevent accidents."

"Wonder where he's taking us?" said Derek.

"Derek, we're off duty until tomorrow morning," said Nova. "Don't worry about it...the Argo's in good hands until then. Want me to help strap you in your chair?"

"Oh, I wanted to help you out," said Derek as he quickly sipped at his tea and gave Nova a kiss.

They enjoyed their kiss. "That reminds me," mused Nova. "I wonder how Paul and Aliscea are doing?"

"Think of our wedding night and guess," said Derek with a smirk.

"I just hope they have enough sense to use their safety belts..."

"....can't buy me love, Paul," gasped Aliscea as they lay together in their bed, again bonded in mind, body and spirit.

"Where'd you get that from, D'Shen?" asked Rosstowski as he switched position a little and ran a hand over Aliscea. Neither of them were, of course, dressed. Their clothes were in disarray all over the VIP Suite.

"From in your mind, silly," she cried. "Thank the Eternal the door's locked! Nothing in the world can bother us now..."

Paul vaguely heard the klaxons. "Warp signal," he said out loud. "Sorry, hon...I need to get to the restraining straps..."

"No bother, I'll do it," said Aliscea as she shut her eyes a little. As she kissed him, Paul Rosstowski felt Aliscea's mind reaching out to the straps. Then, she used her power to close them as they lay there in their embrace..

"What's going to happen?" gasped Aliscea.

"We're about to warp...should we stop this?"

"Heck, no," said Aliscea. "We're together...we're enjoying Shalinskar," said Aliscea in his mind.

"But you don't know what can happen during a warp!"

"You forget, I've been through quite a few," she said in his mind as they kissed.

"So?" he thought, pleased he was being heard in his wife's mind.

"We enjoy the experience...we can't break this link now! Off we go!"

"ten seconds," said Venture's voice over the PA system. "Ten...nine..." said Venture as, in their cabin, strapped in their seats, Derek and Nova smiled at each other before they shut their eyes for the space warp.

"eight...seven..." said Venture as, in bliss, Paul and Aliscea ignored what was about to happen.

"six...five..." said Venture as, in his cabin, Hemsford strapped himself down.

"four...three..." continued Venture as, in his cabin, Bryan Hartcliffe stroked a silent Angie's hair. She had said very little since she had been released from Sickbay. Bryan, as he held her, grew angrier and angrier about how she had been raped by their depraved enemies on Pellias.

"two..." said Venture over the PA as, in the Argo's engineering lab, Neville Royster looked at the broken pieces of IQ-9 that he had been working on, and wondered if he'd ever get back to work on trying to repair the shattered, burned robot tonight. I'm so tired, he thought. Maybe I'll get back to work on him...maybe I won't.

"One..." said Venture on the Argo's bridge. "Zero. WARP!"

Mark's hand pulled the lever back, and the space battleship Argo oozed out of normal space in a blur and riot of color.

In their cabin, Paul and Aliscea panicked, and then began to laugh as reality twisted around them. It looked to them as if they were floating into some bizarre dream where dishes and spoons were talking to each other in some strange black-and-white world.

"What's that?" asked Aliscea.

"A cartoon I saw as a kid," said Paul as they kicked away their blanket; it had grown teeth and was beginning to bark at them like a dog. Near them, talking eggs were singing bizarre ribald songs in Old Pellian. Some monster made of dough swung a samurai sword at them...in the throes of passion, Paul swatted at it and went back to kissing Aliscea as they floated off through a galaxy in the fourth dimension and also floated again through each other's memories.They shared their deepest feelings and fears in snatches of thought as they and the Argo fell back into normal space with a loud humming noise. They were so lost in the afterglow of their love that they barely noticed that they were back in the normal universe again.

"So, what's happened?" asked Aliscea.

"We're out of warp. We're back."

"Great, Paul," said Aliscea.

"Okay...let's take a nap."

"Good, Paul. I'll see you in your dreams."

"Literally?" asked Paul.

"Yes."

"I was afraid of that," he smiled as they kissed and began to doze off in each other's arms.

"Warp completed," said Venture. As the usual buzzing noise subsided, they saw that they were in an area of space with few stars and with a yellow-orange glow off in the distance.

"What's that?" asked Ensign Packard, a new crewmember from Combat who was helping to keep watch tonight in Rosstowski's usual Artillery Station.

"Dalton's Nebula," said Holly. "It's beautiful, isn't it? We're still many thousands of lightyears away...we glimpsed it on the way to Iscandar from another angle."

"Where's the Voton Stars?" asked Homer.

"Well behind us now," said Venture. "We've officially left our own galaxy now. Let me give you guys the view to aft..."

Venture brought up the main screen and, suddenly, a spectacular view appeared above their heads on the bridge. "That's our galaxy?" said Packard in awe. "Wow. It looks bigger than it did on the slides at the Space Fighters' Training School."

"We were the first Earth people ever to see that view from outside the Galaxy," said Holly. "Sends chills down your spine looking at it, doesn't it?"

"And here's where we going," said Mark as he switched the screen to a forward view. "I know you can see that through the windows...but the view's better on the screen."

"What's that little blur off towards the lower left?" asked Packard.

"The Great Magellenic Cloud itself," said Sandor. "Right now, we're just a hundred and twenty-one thousand lightyears away. Earth is already twenty-seven thousand lightyears beyond us, back there...in the Milky Way."

"It's so awe-inspiring," said Packard.

"And, also, very dangerous," added Venture. "We know more than we did even back in the fall of 2200. Who know what could be out there?"

"But it's beautiful. Probably wonderful for lovers," snorted Homer. "Can Paul and Aliscea see this?"

"No...but the Captain and Nova sure can," said Sandor. "Just a few decks above us....the view must be great."

"Dalton's Nebula," sighed Nova as she turned the lights down in the Captain's Cabin. "The view's gorgeous...the stars...the band of light..."

"And the Great Magellenic Cloud," said Derek as he opened his shirt. "Well...time to get rid of this..."

"Don't honey...I'll do it," said Nova as she came up to her husband.

"Sure there's no patrols out tonight?"

"It's dark in here....no one could even see us," said Nova as she slid her bare feet out of her flip-flops. She slowly unzipped his white Star Force shirt and began to rub his undershirt.

"I've always wanted to do this," she whispered.

"What?"

"Make love to you, like this...under the stars, far from the Earth, where you can see them better." said Nova in a soft voice. "It's such a beautiful night, too."

Derek kissed her and watched the starlight reflecting in her eyes for a minute. "Nova..." he whispered. "Me, too, my love...me too."

And, at that, he began to slowly relieve Nova of her sleepshirt...

Leader Desslok sipped at a goblet of wine while Talan laid some shattered armor plate on an analysis table in the Combat Intelligence cabin on his flagship. "That's from one of the destroyers, I take it?"

"Yessir," replied Talan. "This is right around a heavy-caliber energy beam hit," he said, holding up a battered ring of metal. "We've concluded our analysis...this ship was blasted apart by a plasma weapon commonly deployed by the Earth forces. From the half-life of the radiation; it happened about five or six hours ago."

"When we were with the Argo," reasoned Desslok. "Hmmm... Unless some other marauding Earth vessel has decided to turn against us, this atrocity must have been committed by that rogue Earth battleship Wildstar told us about. What was its name again, Talan?"

"It's known as the Potemkin, sir, if I remember your report correctly," said Talan. He nodded to an enlisted man in brown armor, and a Gamilon intelligence graphic of a Jamaica-class EDF Main Battleship appeared on a screen. "It's pretty well armed, from what I can see, but not as well-armed as the Argo...it won't be as much of a challenge to bring down. I take it the Earth Government considers them rebels?"

Desslok sipped at his wine again, setting down the goblet. "Yes. Wildstar has orders to capture that ship...or finish it off."

"Great," said Talan with a smile. "I don't think our...Terran allies would mind if we destroyed her if we ran into her again, sir?"

"Not at all," said Desslok. "Even Aliscea would not think to protest against our actions regarding this ship. Wildstar told me it was captured by a band of Terran religious fanatics who have somehow been working with our enemies."

"Sir, I've completed the analysis of the wreckage of one of the strike cruisers," said another officer as he came in with a ream of paperwork.

Desslok grabbed the papers and began reading them over. "R'Khell weapons," he murmured while reading the report. "This ship was near the wreckage of the destroyer we've been analyzing. It appears that it was hit by some of their torpedoes."

"Space submarines, perhaps?" said Talan.

"It would appear so," said Desslok. "We had better see if we can warn Wildstar of our intelligence...and, perhaps, the Earth Defense High Command to warn them of the same thing. Needless to say, I shall also alert our second fleet, on its way to Miralden with the refugees."

"Yessir."

In the meantime, on the Argo, while Paul and Aliscea Rosstowski fell asleep, enjoying their first full night of wedded bliss, another tender scene was taking place quite a few decks above them in the dimly lit Captain's Quarters at the top of the bridge tower.

Lieutenant Nova Wildstar smiled as Captain Derek Wildstar kissed her again. Her smile turned softer as he began to kiss her neck. She snuggled against his bare chest, savoring his warmth. When Derek hit a certain part of her neck, she both shivered and giggled a little.

Nova played with Derek's unruly hair for a bit after they kissed. Derek kissed her again, this time on the mouth. They shared a long, deep kiss, but soon he went lower as he again kissed her neck, and then went down her shoulder to a point below her collarbone. "You don't want me to stop, do you?" he said in a low voice.

"No...we had fun before, but I'm restless for some reason. I...I want you again, Derek."

"Good," he replied. At that, their lips met, and as they began to melt into each other's arms like ice cream on a hot day, their view of the stars through the huge dome of the Argo's Captain's Quarters was suddenly sullied by a harsh flash of light. An all-too-familiar thunderclap rang through the guts of the space battleship, and the bunk suddenly trembled beneath the unclad lovers.

"Ohhh...Not NOW!" cried Nova. She banged a fist into the mattress.

"CRAP!" barked Derek. Another flash of light appeared, and Derek threw his body over his wife's.The ship trembled again, and Nova had to dig her fingers and toes into the mattress and embrace Derek's waist between her knees to keep both of them from literally being thrown out of their martial bed.

A moment later, they were both on their feet as the all-too-familiar warning klaxons began to blow. The voice of Dash, tonight's OOD came over the speakers. "Attention, all hands! We are under attack from enemy torpedoes. Duty crew and Captain to the bridge!" Military efficiency and martial tenderness became strange bedfellows as the two lovers-and shipmates-helped each other dress in their Star Force uniforms as rapidly as possible and make themselves as presentable as they could without the luxury of a shower. The cabin lights went back up on full when they were minimally decent in about one minute.

Some more time passed, and they were almost done. "Two minutes this time," said Nova as Derek put her sole remaining yellow boot on her bare foot...they had no time to pull on their socks.

"Yeah, not bad," replied Derek as Nova fixed his ascot and buttoned up his coat. "You've got your weapon, right?"

Nova nodded. "Right here. Let's defend this ship."

"Right. God willing, we'll get back to this later," said Derek.

"I'll take a rain check," said Nova. They kissed quickly and then bounded out the hatch to the stairwell.

They were among the first of the regular Command Crew back on the bridge. Nova smoothed her hands through her hair, running towards her radar as an enlisted man from Navigation struggled with it.

"I can't get an image, ma'am....it just went out; dead."

"There's power getting to it," cried Nova as she frantically manipulated controls on the board. "Still nothing, Derek!" she cried.

"What's wrong with it?" asked Wildstar as he ran over.

"Power's getting to it, and it's on-line, but the scan image isn't going through the circuits."

"We've got a bogie to starboard, distance, two megameters," said Holly Parsons. "It just emerged from subspace...switching to the video panel."

The panel changed. "One of those R'Khell subs," said Venture. "I wonder what their game is...they're not even trying to use stealth, this time."

"Main guns are on target on it," said Dash. "Should I open fire?"

Wildstar nodded. The Argo's guns went off, and the sub took a glancing blow....just as Parsons cried, "Missiles approaching from dead on the bow!"

"Brace for impact!" barked Derek. He leaned against the back of Nova's seat as the ship took another hit.

The light of the explosion went out just as Orion and Rosstowski flew onto the bridge to relieve the others. Both looked rumpled.

"Sorry I'm late, sir," said Rosstowski, who was very much out of breath.

"How's Aliscea?" asked Wildstar.

"Fine...we had to break our still-forming mental link for a bit, but she should be fine for a..."

"Rosstowski, disregard the order to report to the bridge, as far as you were concerned," said Wildstar. "Get back to Aliscea and make sure she's well."

"Sir...did I hear you right?" said Paul. "We're at battle stations...Packard can't run my post...he has to run #3 turret."

"Are you disputing my orders, Rosstowski?" snapped Derek. "Dash, take Rosstowski's post for the time being; I still remember how to run Combat myself." Dash followed Derek's orders, got up and took over the Artillery post. With an angry gesture, Wildstar opened his Captain's jacket and threw it over the back of the chair with his scarf before sitting down at his post in just his Star Force uniform shirt, slacks, and shoes. With his hair in his eyes, he momentarily looked quite a bit younger.

"Derek, you need to command the ship," said Venture.

"Mark, you know damn well I've run the ship from here before, I'll do it again if I have to."

"Yessir," said Venture with a black look as Wildstar slid into his old bridge post, just vacated by Dash. A bemused Rosstowski looked at the scene and almost ran into Homer on the way out.

"What's with him?" snapped Homer. "Anxious to get back to his wedding night?"

"Homer, shut up! Wildstar ordered him to do it!" cried Venture. Another hit caused the ship to shake. "Nova...is the radar working on bridge number three?" asked Venture.

"No...it's dead there, too. I know...we need to be able to scan beyond a few megameters."

"I figured it out," said Sandor. "The tertiary bus just shorted out. I can patch limited signal from the radar aerials over to Analysis until Royster, Parmon, and Henson fix it."

"Since IQ's not here, I can scan from there...sort of," said Nova. "Derek, request permission to change my post."

"Granted...take Analysis and see what you can tell us."

Nova ran over and sat down hard in the chair to Derek's left at the forward part of the first bridge. "I've got an object," she said a moment later. "Range...six megameters...she's right off our bow....just waiting. She's big. Switching to video panel."

The panel switched, and Derek's teeth gritted as an image of the Potemkin appeared on the main screen. "Not them again!" he said.

"They're sending a signal," said Homer. "The commander's some girl...she says she wants to talk to you and Nova."

Nova's eyebrows went up in puzzlement. Yvona's not a girl anymore, she thought. She looked at Derek, who just said, "Homer, put it up on the video panel."

"Yessir. It's coming through, now."

A young, arrogant-looking woman appeared on the video panel. She had dark brown shoulder-length hair, and was wearing a black and red EDF peacoat spattered with rusty spots of blood. Under it, she wore a young woman's pink romper, also stained with blood. She sat impishly on the Captain's console of the Potemkin, rather than back in the command seat, making certain that her long legs and pink boots were showing.

Nova's eyes began to go wide. "...Like the old family pictures...how?" she murmured. "And she's wearing some of my clothes!"

"Nova?" asked Derek.

"Derek...that's Yvona...the way she looked when she was my age."

"Yvona?" hissed Captain Wildstar.

"I see at least one of you recognizes me, Star Force," mocked Yvona. "For the rest of you...I am Yvona Josiah. I have been made young again, for now, at least, by the power of Ekogaru the Great. He, I, and the Rikashan Star Empire demand your surrender...immediately."

"Tell me, Yvona...are you being serious?" said Captain Wildstar.

"I am. You are surrounded. You have no way out. My people, as you see them, are the true heirs of Earth. We have decided to join forces with the winning side."

"You really want a fight?" said Derek.

"I'm not here for a family reunion, Captain Wildstar," mocked Yvona. "Not with you, and not with the little trollop sitting beside you."

"Well, we're not here for a reunion, either, Yvona," snapped Nova. "As my husband just said; if you want trouble, you've come to the right place."

"Good," said Yvona with a smile. "Let's get on with it, then. I hope you'll enjoy the oblivion of death, my dear niece."

The image cut off, and several beams of plasma energy roared in from the Potemkin.

"Incoming fire!" cried Nova. "She's turned her main guns upon us!"

"Evasive, twenty degrees port," said Venture, who tilted the Argo over on its central horizontal axis.

"Range, five point five megameters," cried Nova. "Speed...twenty-six space knots and accelerating. It looks like a frontal attack!"

"And I can easily take care of that," smiled Derek. "Venture, forty-five degrees to port. Open all guns...target...space battleship Potemkin!"