ALTERNATE
TALES OF THE STAR FORCE
STAR BLAZERS—THE
PRINCESS AND THE SURFER
Being the seventh part
of THE NEW COMET--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz
This Act is being completed with the
Cooperation and Assistance of Derek A.C. Wakefield (as usual)---Freddo
ACT THREE: RACE TO THE
GREAT MAGELLENIC CLOUD
I.
CHAOS AND MADNESS
Planet
Earth
Outer
Aboard
the New Orient Express
May
12, 2207: 0032 Hours
Derek Wildstar’s consciousness was fading when he suddenly heard a
loud smacking noise that sounded like a watermelon smashing onto a pavement and
felt the hands about his throat loosening.
Huh?
Derek thought in utter shock. He couldn’t see anything because the R’Khell
soldier had suddenly collapsed on top of him.
Derek coughed and tried to catch his breath as he realized that
his hand was soaked with blood.
“This…can’t be mine,” he gasped out loud.
“Oh, my God, Derek you’re all
right!” said a familiar voice.
“N…Nova?” muttered Derek.
He kicked away the body of Shanda and observed that the R’Khell
raider was missing the top of his skull…and much of his brain.
Derek looked around, and saw that there was blood, brain matter,
skull pieces, and hair all over the place.
Nova was standing over him, huffing and puffing in a dress that
had been white and now looked like some crazed abstract artist had smeared red
paint all over it. She was holding a half-broken baseball bat.
“Why’d you use a bat on
his head, Nova?”
“Because I didn’t want to shoot you by accident!” said Nova as she threw the bat aside and knelt to
hug Derek fiercely. “You’re bleeding!”
she cried as she looked at his chest.
“I’ll be all right,” he gasped.
“No you won’t!” cried Nova. “Back to our compartment! I’m taping
you up!” said Nova as she helped her husband up. “I hope that Alex and Sasha
can hold them off!”
“Yeah, me too,” said Derek. “But why are they being so messy about
this attack?”
“I’ve got no idea,” said Nova. “They’re acting like they’re
insane!”
In the meantime, in the kitchen of the car’s dining area, Erugar
was being utterly humiliated by Deglits. The old Cometine Major had grabbed the
R’Khell commander by his collar, and he was banging the enraged young man
against the bulkhead.
“You idiot!” yelled
Major Deglits in his chef’s uniform. “Now they are on to us! I told you once,
and I told you twice, we should have just poisoned
them!”
“No thrill of the hunt in just poisoning anyone, you fool!” roared
Erugar.
“You child!” said Deglits. “I have this poison in my effects.
Totally tasteless and totally odorless. A few drops of it in their wine last
night or coffee this morning would have just quietly killed them. No fuss. No
mess. Then we would have been off the train and I could have signalled for a
pickup! Instead, you caused both my men to be killed, and they are on to us!”
“Because your people had no spirit, we are losing,” said Erugar.
“We should have fought harder! Those four Terran fools!
“So, you should have expected
that with a frontal attack. Except for the half-Iscandarian, the other three of
these people are all hardened and experienced soldiers, despite their
deceptively peaceful appearances off-duty. Corner special operations people and
they will fight,” said Deglits. “You should have listened to me, son,” he said.
“I have been sent by Invidia and Dyre on five other asssasination opeartions.
They all have suceeded. This is the first time we lost…I…”
“QUIET!” roared Erugar as he lashed out psionicially at Deglits.
Then, he killed him with his mental powers by making his heart stop.
A moment later, he felt Sasha approaching the kitchen. “Now, you next,” he said as he caught an image
of her, now clad in a blue minidress, in his mind and prepared to lash out with
his mind. He would give her a cerebral hemorrhage and then blow her out of the
train. It would be very easy and quick.
However, as he focused on Sasha, meaning to literally blow her out
the bulkhead, he felt something blocking his attack and blowing his own mental
force back at him.
“What?” he roared. “How dare you? Who does this?” he snarled as he
hit the sink harder.
“This has gone far enough,” said Yvona’s clone to her very shocked
son as she solidified before his eyes.
“Mother?”
“If we arouse her, we arouse Aliscea, and we arouse others,” said
Yvona as she slapped him. “Besides, I cannot kill my niece. Not now.”
“Why not?” roared Erugar.
“Because she is expecting, and the life in her is innocent,” said
Yvona. “We are failing, and…we are going to lose this battle soon, so why not
just give it up, and…?”
Erugar screamed, lashing out at his own mother a moment later.
He blasted two bolts of energy at her; one bounced off of her, and
the other one went through her…and just missed Nova, who had just run into the
kitchen with an Astro-Automatic and a fresh white and pink dress on.
“What is going on in
here?” cried Nova.
“Get back,” said the woman in the black peacoat as she shook her
head and exposed her identity to Nova as her reddish-blond hair came exposed as
her psionic disguise was dropped. There was no more energy to maintain it; she would
need all her power to fight her mad son.
“Yvona?” yelled Nova as she drew her weapon and swivelled at her.
“Aunt Yvona? You’re dead! I killed
you!”
“Yes and no. All explanations later!” she said. “Get behind me?”
“Get behind you?” said
Nova.
“Do it!” yelled Yvona as Erugar laughed and raised his hands. “He
means to kill both of us!”
Sasha ran in and looked shocked as Erugar directed a blast of
flame at them. Yvona deflected most of it, but Sasha screamed as some of it hit
her foot between the toe and ankle straps of her sandal while there were sounds
of severe fighting and yelling outside. The burn would not be major; Nova would
bandage it later…but, it would hurt.
“What are you doing
here, Yvona?” said Nova.
“I am not the one you fought or the one you knew!” said Yvona. “I
am a copy of her.”
“Copy?” said Nova with raised eyebrows.
“Made by the Dark Lord, who just wants to destroy us!” cried
Yvona. “But I have my own mind now!
Get behind me! NOW!”
Erugar snarled and mentally threw a knife at Yvona, who took it in
her shoulder, protecting Nova and Sasha from the knife. Then, Yvona lashed out
at Erugar, blowing green energy into her son as tears ran down her cheeks. I don’t want to kill him, she thought. But do I have a choice?
Erugar screamed, and fired blue energy back at Yvona, which hit
her hard, and blew into her body as Nova screamed. Yvona stepped aside, and
then, to everyone’s surprise, she screamed some strange words, and a portal of
pinkish blue force opened behind her.
Mortally wounded, Yvona prepared to throw herself into the
dimensional tunnel she had opened. But, before she did, she grabbed her son’s
hand, and dragged the surprised R’Khell commander into the vortex with her.
“Good luck fighting them, Nova!” screamed Yvona as she dragged
Erugar off, and out of this tale as they disappeared into the vortex, and
somewhere else into time-space…she knew not where or when. She was dying; she
didn’t care.
But, a moment later, she was gone as the portal closed with a loud
clap.
“What the heck was that?” said Nova.
Sasha looked around, shrugged and said, “Auntie Nova, I have no
idea?”
“How did she live?” said Nova. “And why the hell did she help us?”
“I’m as puzzled as you are,” said Sasha. She shut her eyes.
“There’s only two of them left alive on this train, and they’re both wounded.
Let’s go out there and protect Daddy and Derek.”
“Right,” said Nova as she shook tears out of her eyes, stunned by
her Aunt Yvona’s bizarre return and equally bizarre sacrifice.
The
heroic actions of Yvona’s clone weren’t noticed only in
Stovall awoke in the middle of the night in his barracks cubicle
with the Sphere under his pillow only to find the Dark Lord’s evil spectre near
his bed with his glowing white eyes nearly closed. Strange harpsichord music
that gave Stovall chills rang out softly from nowhere in the room. The music
sounded like a dirge. It was, of course, the Dark Lord summoning up the Passicaglia and Fugue in C Minor. A very
dark, deadly, and slow version of the piece.
“What happened?” muttered Stovall.
“A great setback,”
hissed Ekogaru as the Thing opened his eyes. “That ungrateful stinking clone of
Yvona…I cannot believe what she just did.”
“What?” said Stovall.
“Took a mortal wound for her niece and killed our son, my
wonderful Abomination of a son…” said the Dark Lord. “She chooses that woman
over our own son?”
“Where did she take Erugar?” said Stovall. “Maybe he ain’t dead,
Boss….”
“Do NOT trifle with me,”
said Ekogaru. “I must report failure to Invidia. Yvona dragged herself and our
son to another dimension. Curse her!
May she be accursed forever! Utter failure, except…”
“Except what?” said Stovall.
The Dark Lord smiled and laughed. “One of them, at least, will die.
Just a matter of time, yes. Poison. It did our work. Even though they did not
know it…”
“Yeah, boss,”
“Poison…will do…our work,” said Ekogaru as he faded away into
nothingness.
The next person that Ekogaru visited that night was Princess
Invidia.
Invidia was lying on a couch in her palace, relaxing and reading a
dark book on effective new methods of torture to use on her Pellian prisoner
when the Dark One appeared. Of course, he was not bound by the normal rules of
time and space because he was, after all, a pormanteau of a ghost and several
evil spirits.
“Where did you come from?” said Invidia.
“A pit of despair,” said Ekogaru. “Like to come there with me?”
“No,” said Invidia. “I am beginning to regret I ever met you.”
“Don’t blame me for ruining your life, Ingrate,” said Ekogaru.
“You were doing a nice job of it yourself before I dragged you out of the Pit
of Death. Mourn for me, Invidia. My wife is dead. I think. Her spirit now
forever beyond my grasp. And she killed my son. And it was your fault. I
think.”
“You think?” laughed Invidia. “So you want to marry me now?”
“The thought has crossed my mind,” said Invidia. “But, no. You are
too old.”
“How old is too old?” said the Dark Lord.
“Three thousand is a bit old for me,” said Invidia. “And you need
a new shroud. Yours stinks of mold, I’ll wager!”
“We need a new plan,” said Ekogaru. “Our enemies just grow more
determined. I have a new plan in mind for the Earthlings since I have lost my two
greatest servants…one to defection, the other because he was not prepared
adequately for the tasks ahead. Now, both dead and lost to me. I must…make
other plans.”
“So am I,” said Invidia. “I plan to take a Gamilon world without
them being prepared for it. Take it and destroy it. We will try again at Pogi.
We are not far from there. We will strike, and we will destroy that base world!
It will be an example to Desslok.”
“Then?”
“Then, our next stop will be the Sanzar System. And, Gamilon and
Iscandar will be our next targets.”
“Not bad,” said Ekogaru. Then, he mused. “The Marine I possess. He
will be on his way to Iscandar, I foresee. I will meet you there. You deal with
Desslok and the physical forces. I shall do battle with Queen Starsha, and that
damned Astrena. At last, they shall be defeated. Then, Earth will be our next,
and our final target!”
“An excellent plan, Ekogaru,” laughed Invidia. “A splendid plan…”
II.
AN UNEXPEXCTED BLOW
Planet
Earth
Outer
Aboard
the New Orient Express
May
12, 2207: 0250 Hours
Aboard the New Orient
Express, Alex Wildstar was helping Derek search the corpse of the last of
the raiders who had survived the battle up to the point where Erugar had been
defeated. Namely, the R’Khell Vaga, who had been killed in a knife fight with
Alex Wildstar.
Derek was helping Alex patch up a knife slash on his chest while
Alex said, “I wonder why this wound burns like this. Did yours burn?”
“No,” replied Derek. “I’m fine. I don’t feel like that at all, Alex. Except for its hurting
because it was a wound, of course.” Derek looked at Alex’s wound as he
remembered his own combat first aid skills to clean the wound. Nova, the real
expert at this, was going through the rest of the train with Sasha, on a mission
to get help, console the scared and heartbroken civilians who had been harmed
in the attack, and to treat the rest of the wounded until the medics they were
calling would show up.
Derek looked at the wound. “There’s something bubbling in this
wound, Alex. God knows what it is,
except…”
“Derek,” said Alex as the room began to spin around. “I’m not
feeling good…”
“Alex?”
“Check his knife..I drove it into one of the seats…”
Derek did so while watching his brother, who was getting very pale
very fast.
Derek looked at the knife, and saw some sort of mechanism in the
hilt of the R’Khell knife. When activated, it released something that dripped,
and…
“Poison!” yelled Derek.
“What?” said Alex as he coughed hard.
“Alex, this was some sort of assassin’s knife. They poisoned you
through that slash wound! Oh, no!”
“Explains why I feel so…lousy..I..”
Then, three people came in. An elderly gentleman with a trainman’s
uniform on, followed by Nova and Sasha.
“My name is Trainman Perivosky,” said the old man. “They killed
the conductor, but I have taken over this train in his stead. I am so sorry
that we allowed those people to infiltrate that train. All of them are
accounted for but one; that weird little dwarf woman who was seen cackling and
running off into a swamp not far from the river. But I am sure she will be
found soon. Your women here have called Earth Defense bases in
“Derek, Alex, medics should be coming soon,” said Nova. “We’re
going to be airlifted right to
“Daddy, are you all right?” said Sasha.
“I’m hurt, Princess,” gasped Alex. “Knife wound…and it was
poisoned!”
“Poisoned!” said Sasha. “Oh no!” Sasha hugged her father while feeling
the wound. “Nova, I can’t do much for this…it’s already too deep in his
system!”
Nova tore open a bag and got out a syringe. “This will at least
slow the effects,” she said as she pulled the cover off a very large needle.
“Alex, I will put this in your arm, 50 ccs,” she said.
Alex braced himself while Nova jabbed his arm with the syringe.
The shot hurt, but whatever was in the stuff made it easier to breathe.
“Derek, you next,” said Nova as she made him pull off his shirt.
“I didn’t feel any burning sensation when they slashed me, Nova…”
“This is insurance for you,” snapped Nova as she undid another
large syringe from its wrapper. “Now shut your eyes and take this…”
Derek shut his eyes and tried to keep from screaming as Nova
punched the needle into his bicep and gave him a quick injection. Then Nova
said, “Sasha, write this down! I gave Derek and your father 50cc each of
multispectrum Perinax Basic by simple subcutaneous-intramuscular injection.”
“Right,” said Sasha, wondering what sort of drug Nova was even
talking about as she scribbled down a note.
Then, Nova looked out and saw some Medevac Boats landing near the
tracks and said, “They’re here! Derek, help me get Alex dressed, you too. We
have a little walk ahead of us…”
“Sounds very encouraging,” said Alex. “Particularly because I
am…getting….short of breath…”
“Alex, you’ve got to hang on,” said Derek. “You know sub-orbital
jump flights don’t take long. We’ll have you in a trauma center in maybe
fifteen or twenty minutes.”
Alex nodded at that, moving slowly as he realized what was
happening to him.
I’m
slipping away, he thought.
It’s a race between me and this poison. I wonder which one of us will win? If I
win, I’ll live. If the poison wins…I’ll die. How charming…
Planet Pogi was a large Gamilon base world located just two
hundred lightyears away from Gamilon and Iscandar in the Great Magellenic
Cloud. It had been reoccupied by the Gamilons and rebuilt after 2203. General
Dagon had already fought several actions to protect the planet from surge after
surge from the Cometines.
This day, he and his forces were surprised by the ferocity of the
assault.
It
seems like they’ve thrown everything they have at this one planet,
Dagon thought as he sat on his flagship, watching impassively as the Cometines
fought like madmen. He had already fired two proximity-fused proton missiles at
them and had destroyed about forty of their ships.
But, they were still coming.
“General!” cried Gelantz, now Dagon’s XO. “They just destroyed the
last carrier! What course do you recommend, sir?”
“Take them down into the next life with us!” snapped Dagon. “I…”
“Sir!”
said one of Dagon’s officers. “They just fired a spread of anti-matter missiles
at Pogi!”
“Stop them!” roared Dagon. “Even if we all die trying, we have
to…”
“Sir!” said another officer. “Long-range scans report a heavy warp
disturbance seven hundred gerad off
to port!”
“What?” yelled Dagon as a visual image came up on the screen.
“The New Comet!” someone yelled.
“Hard about one hundred eighty degrees, clear out of its
gravitational field!” snapped Dagon. “Then we come about and counterattack that
thing, and…”
“Too late,” said Gelantz as missile after missile began to slowly
blow apart Pogi. Then, a flare of light came in their windows as the planet and
its base were destroyed. Utterly destroyed.
Then, a moment later, the Comet came.
Dagon’s eyes went wide and horrified as the New Comet began to
devour his fleet like some sort of ravening beast as the Cometine Fleet that had
come out of it and destroyed Pogi and much of his fleet roared ahead of them
through the gas that had been Pogi.
A moment later, after Dagon gave an order to warp out, emergency power, he screamed as he felt
his flagship swirling down into the maw of the Comet.
Soon, it was no more, along with his whole fleet.
“Princess,” said Dyre as he came up before Invidia’s throne and
saluted. “Complete success. The Gamilon battle fleet in this system is
destroyed, along with their base at Pogi. We have won this round!”
“Great,” said Invidia. “Now, connect me to Gamilon.”
“Gamilon?”
“I want to speak to Leader Desslok,” she said with an acidic
little grin. “Let’s rub his nose in
this defeat, shall we?”
At that, the evil Cometines had a great laugh.
A Gamilon
surveillance satellite that had survived the disaster at Pogi was now beaming
images of the devastation and the arrogant Comet and its Fleet back to Gamilon.
“This is horrible!” said Astrena in rage as she watched the images
from Desslok’s
“A major battle fleet just destroyed,” said Talan. “General
Keeling, we have to locate them and destroy them! It is that simple!”
“Agreed,” said Keeling. “Remember, Talan, you and I do not decide
strategy here…”
“Leader Desslok will surely agree this is an outrage!” said Talan. “We cannot bear this insult, and…”
“Are you speaking for me again,
Talan?,” queried a melodic male voice as everyone in the Command Center snapped
to attention and saluted as Leader Desslok came in with a snap of his cape.
“Astrena, you look upset. What has happened?”
“This, sire,” said another staff General as he handed Desslok a
computer padd with a readout of what happened. Desslok absorbed the bad news in
a few moments, and made a fist in rage as he shut his eyes. “Dagon should have
done better than that,” said the
Leader. “And we also lost Pogi?”
“Destroyed,
Leader Desslok,” said Talan. “Destroyed by that,”
he said as he pointed at one of the screens at the dreaded image of the New White
Comet.
Desslok snarled and looked at the screen. “So, Invidia. You still
have a few tricks up your sleeve. Do not worry. Wound me and I can also be dangerous,” said Desslok. Then,
he turned to Astrena. “I hate to ask this, Astrena,” he said in a low voice.
“Do you have enough power to reach out and just strike her down where she
stands?”
Astrena shook her head. “Not today,” she said. “I was visiting our
wounded and doing what we could, and…”
Desslok nodded. “Thank you for considering it,” he replied.
“Keeling! We have a vast Home Fleet! Tell them that I will lead them in the new
Excelsior. Ready the fleet for
launch…we can still get them, and…”
“Sir!” said a Gamilon officer. “Princess Invidia is sending us a
transmission from her Comet! Visual and audio! She wants to speak directly to
Leader Desslok!”
“Put her on,” said Desslok. “I will speak with her.”
A
moment later, an image of Invidia in a red gown, holding her phone, came up on
the screen on Gamilon.
“Hello, Invidia,” said Desslok after a servant brought him a phone
set of his own, even though he kept the speakers on so all could hear his
conversation. “How amusing that you
have come to my Empire to share the latest in the way of jokes and gossip with
me. What do you have to joke about today?“
“How easy it was to destroy your great General Dagon once we used the right tactics,” said Invidia.
“His flagship was torn into many little pieces, Desslok. It was beautiful.”
“I think I liked you better when you told jokes about your father,
Invidia.”
“Like my new palace,
Desslok?” she said. “It is gorgeous. Too bad you will never come here, except
perhaps in chains! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
“Enough
in the way of jokes, Invidia,”
Desslok replied in a dangerous tone. “What do you really want?”
“I want you to consider surrendering, Desslok. Surrender, and we
will be merciful to you and your
race. I may even let you live and serve again as one of my generals.”
“Have you had too much to drink, Invidia?” said Desslok. “I’d
sooner cut my throat than serve again under your command. The last time was bad
enough. Never again. Besides, aren’t you aware that you have been deposed by
your own people? Why should I join forces with a fugitive?”
“I will redeem myself in the eyes of my people when I bring them
news that we have defeated you and your stupid Earthling friends. And I want
all those nice scientific secrets on Iscandar, Desslok. What are you and
Starsha hiding there, anyhow? Or maybe your husband has been visiting his old
love Starsha by night, Astrena? Wouldn’t it be funny if we found evidence that
the great love of Desslok and Starsha continues as a sordid little affair?”
“You’re sick,” hissed
Astrena at her enemy. “You have a warped, evil little mind! He has been
faithful to me.”
“How do you know that?”
said Invidia.
“I am carrying his second child,” said Astrena. “We just found
out.”
“Fool,” said Invidia. “I hope your little brat dies. Just like the
brats your decorated friend the Terran woman is carrying. The one I almost
killed, remember?”
“You are warped!” snapped Astrena.
“We knew that long ago, Astrena,” said Desslok. “Invidia, if you
want to have a decisive battle, remain there in the Pogi System, and I’ll give
you one. In the name of all of the warrior spirits and departed ones of Gamilon
and Garuman, I challenge you to a duel of honor. I propose that we meet in a
day or so we can decide who is the master of this galaxy. Once and for all.”
“I will prefer my own terms,” said Invidia. “I will give you some
time to consider a surrender, Desslok. I give you fifty-five days. Fifty-five
days to take inventory and consider if you want to surrender or not. At the end
of those fifty-five days, if we do not hear from you, we will attack the Sanzar
System.”
“I would prefer to find you
first,” said Desslok. “And meet on my terms. I refuse your surrender offer.”
Invidia just laughed. “Very well, now you have it. We will attack
your new Gamilon and finish it off. We will take your precious Iscandar, next.
We will drive your forces, and the Earthlings off and then we will enslave the
little planet. Then, you will
surrender.”
“Never.”
“Have it your way, Desslok!”
At that, Invidia cut the transmission off.
“Talan, ready the fleet…I’ll pursue her there!” said Desslok.
Then, the surveillance satellite showed the Comet disappearing.
“Leader Desslok!” said one of his men. “It did a space warp! The
Comet and her entire fleet are gone!”
“Track them!” snapped the Gamilon Leader.
“We will analyze all the results,” said Keeling with a nod. He ran
off.
“Talan, we need to let our allies know this,” said Desslok.
“Connect me to Queen Starsha. Then, next, connect me to our Embassy on Earth,
and then to Commodore Derek Wildstar. He and I need to have a long talk…and we
need to warn them so we can confer on a defense.”
“Of course,” said Talan.
At that, Desslok and Astrena looked at each other and left
together.
III.
A GRAVE THREAT…
Planet
Earth
SBB
Argo Medevac Shuttle #21107
Over
The Great Eastern Sea
May
12, 2207: 0402 Hours (Great Megalopolis Time)
“Makes sense, somehow,” said Jefferson Hardy as he piloted Medevac
Shuttle #21107, which had taken off from the Argo just a few minutes beforehand as a call for help had come from
Manchuria at the small EDF Base at Harbin. “Dawn, we get home, and then we get
a call from Sandor to report to the ship and fly off.”
“Yeah, in the middle of the night,” sighed Dawn Hardy. “Good thing
I was able to get dressed real fast,” she yawned. “Need help flying it?”
Hardy shook his head. “We’re right on course for the Megalopolis.
Practicially a sub-orbital milk run…”
“Or it would be if Alex Wildstar wasn’t the one lying there in the
aft compartment critically ill,” said Dawn. She looked at the course readout. “
Jeff nodded. “They already have a landing pad cleared for us.
Doctor Sane called and let me know. He’s there, along with Aliscea.”
“Aliscea?”
Hardy nodded. “He said she just showed up.”
“Good, we’ll need help cleaning his system out. Good thing that
Nova and Samantha Cleveland got to him fast,” said Dawn.
“We need you in here, Mrs. Hardy!” yelled Nova through the hatch.
Dawn kissed Hardy and ran off.
Alex Wildstar was thrashing in agony on a bed in the aft portion
of the shuttlecraft. He was covered with sweat as Sasha desperately tried to
wipe his brow. He now wore nothing but a rag thrown hastily over his crotch;
Nova and
“How is his blood?” said Dawn.
Nova was looking at results from a portable analysis machine that
held a test tube of Alex’s blood; she looked a little pathetic in her white
knee-length dress and sandals as she worked. Sasha looked at her and said, “Nova, how is it?”
“We’re doing what we can. The poison seems to be some kind of
nerve toxin that binds to red corpuscles. Horrible stuff!”
“Can we save him?” asked Derek.
“It’s gonna be rough,” said Dawn as
“How much more can you do
to him?” screamed Sasha with her fists up.
“Derek…Derek…please send my love to Starsha…please…” murmured
Alex.
“Dawn, go analyse this in the other one,” said Nova. “Then go
forward and call them with the results.”
“Right,” said Dawn as she did so and took off forward with the
printout.
“You’re gonna make it, nissan,”
said Derek as he recited the Japanese word for “big brother.” “You’re gonna
pull through this…”
“Mother’s very upset,” said Sasha as she wept. “I’m trying to send
to Dekeee, too. Can’t send much except emotions,” she said.
“Is that a good idea?” said Derek.
“I can’t help it!” cried Sasha.
Nova glanced out a viewport and said, “I recognize those lights;
we’re almost over the
A chime went off as Hardy said over the intership system; “All
hands, we are on final approach for the Megalopolis. Secure for landing.”
“Get us ready,” said Derek.
Nova began strapping Alex down. “This’ll hurt, Alex, but we have
to do this…”
Alex Wildstar nodded. He felt everything beginning to slip away;
it was not good.
About twenty-five minutes later, Deke Wakefield stood in the main
messhall at attention with his pilots, surrounded by the other squadrons on the
Wasp.
Brew looked at Deke and said, “I wonder what the crew has been
mustered here for? We just did another space warp…”
“At 0400?” said Deke. “That was weird. Something’s up…”
“What’s going on?” said Brew.
Then, Deke whispered to Brew, “She’s real upset…I feel it…”
“Who?”
“Squirrel,” whispered Deke. “First, she went…weird on me earlier
tonight…”
“What happened?” said Brew.
“Very embarrassing, Brew…I don’t
want to discuss it! But now, she’s as upset as hell…something bad has
happened…it’s…”
“Look, the Captain is coming,” said Bangs as she nudged
A long moment passed as the First Officer snapped, “Captain on
deck!” The crew snapped to attention, and waited until Captain Jackson came up.
Finally,
“Because of this new threat, gentlemen and ladies, we are wanted
on Iscandar within the next seventy-two hours. We will have to push this
carrier hard and do three more space warps within that time. We must get there.
It is that simple. The ship will remain on alert for all of those warps and the
periods between said warps. Then, immediately upon arrival at Iscandar, the
Trojans and the Buccaneers will fly off this ship at once for deployment to our
colony near
Capatin Jackson paused. “Of course, the Trojans and the Buccaneers
will be leaving us soon, leaving only the Red Devils and the Mad Dogs deployed
on this boat,” he said, referring to the ship’s Torpedo Plane Group and the
third Fighter Group. “However, those of you in those Groups will continue to be
flying with us. We will not be
heading back to Earth at once as planned.”
Captain Jackson then said, “We will be deployed to Iscandar, along
with the space battleship
A very excited hubbub
filled the room. The Scuttlebutt Express was now off and running. Captain
Jackson had to clap his hands once for silence. “Ladies and Gentlemen, as you
have probably already guessed, the Argo
leaves Earth tomorrow to act as our flagship. Commodore Derek Wildstar will be
our operational commander. While he is currently dealing with a dire personal
matter, he will be briefed tomorrow by Commanding General Singleton. He will be
told to expect combat, major combat, in the next few weeks. I will expect no
less of you. You know your jobs, and it has been a pleasure serving with you.
But, playtime is over. We have to get to work! Dismissed!”
At that, with a room full
of hubbub, the officers and enlisted of the Wasp
dispersed to their jobs.
Deke was almost too busy to
deal with the bit of doubt that hung around him like a little rat chewing at
his psyche. But, later, after Captain Jackson had briefed him on Iscandar, he
got to sit down around 0500 and think, I
feel a bit of angst coming off Sasha. I hope she’s all right.
Dawn came slow and cold to the Greater Megalopolis that morning
around 0600 as Derek Wildstar found himself waiting in the same bland waiting
room in Central Hospital outside of the ICU and the Internal Medicine Operating
Suites that he had already seen far too much of for several tense hours on
April the 20th when Nova’s life and the lives of their children had
hung in the balance. There was the same bland muzak playing on the speakers overhead, the same dog-eared back
issue of Jane’s Space Warship Journal, and
the same battered table.
Wildstar was sitting near Sasha, but, except for a few hugs, she
seemed to want to be left alone. She looked like Derek felt; tired and with
dark circles under her eyes.
“Is Daddy going to live? Is he going to make it?” said Sasha. “They haven’t said anything yet. Did Nova
tell you anything?”
“No, I barely saw her since we got here. She went inside with your
father to work on him with the others. I saw her for a short time when they
called me into the side operating room, though. That’s when she and that doctor
finished fixing my chest and taking blood samples.”
“Did she tell you anything?”
Derek shook his head. “She didn’t say a thing about your father.
In that room, she was just holding my hand and assisting as some intern used a
sealant on my chest gash before she rebandaged it. She was in nurses’
clothes by then. Still had those white sandals on, though.
She must’ve rushed to get dressed.”
“Oh. I saw her stick her head out to call for Doctor Sane…was her
dress bloody when she saw you?”
Derek couldn’t lie; he shook his head.
“Then, that was Daddy’s blood on that dress,” said Sasha as she
began to cry again.
Derek just hugged her, and she accepted the hug back, until she
said, “Wish Deekee was here…”
“Me too,” said Derek.
A moment later, Sandor came in, wearing, of all things, his blue
and white Star Force uniform and blue and red peacoat.
“Steve?” said Derek.
“I was summoned to the Argo
almost two hours ago,” he said as he shook hands with Derek and then hugged
Sasha. “We were getting ready…for…”
“For what?” said a
puzzled Wildstar.
Then, Sandor pulled out an envelope. “Look over this fast. Sasha’s
cleared to hear this, because she’ll be coming with us.”
“Coming with us,” said Derek. Then, he grabbed Sandor and said,
“When? I thought we had a few days.”
“The Star Force is being mustered now, Captain,” said Sandor in a
low voice. “Twenty-four hours from now, they want us to shove off.”
Sandor shushed Sasha as Derek tore open the envelope and read his
orders; very fast. “I should be on the ship now,” snapped Derek as he gritted
his teeth and held back tears of rage. “You’re the XO. You should be there too,
Steve!”
“They’re giving us until 1100 to report,” said Sandor. “Thanks to
your mother’s intercession,” he said as he looked at Sasha.
“Why the rush?” asked Sasha.
Derek sighed. How much
should I tell her? All of it-this says she is coming with us…so…
“Your mother wants you home,” sighed Derek. “For
two reasons. One, to accompany your father home, whether he gets better, or whether he…”
“Don’t talk about that!” wept Sasha. “What’s the other reason?”
“Iscandar’s in grave danger,” said Derek as he grabbed her hands.
“Your mother will be in danger. Deke will be in danger. Even Desslok will be in
danger.”
“Why?”
“Invidia just attacked a major Gamilon planet; planet Pogi,” said
Sandor. “They destroyed it with antimatter missiles-destroyed a Gamilon fleet
with their New Comet…”
“What?” cried Sasha.