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)
Major Thanks to Tim Eldred and Michael C. Crump (aka “Max Damage”) for artwork contributed to this
chapter.
And, thanks to Ami Meitsu from the “
Note: This chapter contains some mature
content…just wanted to warn you…
ACT SIX: FOR LOVE AND
FOR HONOR…
I.
OF SUN AND SURF…
Planet
Iscandar
The
Southern Coast of the Great Continent
North
of New
Sunday
May 31, 2207: 0820 Hours Local Planetary Time
Yet another morning came to Iscandar.
The surf rolled on on the sacred beach as Deke and Sasha lay in
the wet sand, kissing, hugging, and cuddling in their swimwear as the ocean
rolled over them.
They were so much in love that they didn’t care about getting wet
again and again as the surf rolled over them.
“I want you again,” murmured Deke as he kissed Sasha.
“I would love to,” whispered Sasha as she kissed back. “Oh, I
would so much love to…” she whispered as tears ran down her cheeks.
“Then why not?” said Deke.
“Today’s the thirty-first of your month of May,” said Sasha in a
whisper. “I”ve told you, Deke…I have to go back now.”
“Now?”
“Or very soon, anyway,” said Sasha. “I have to be back on the Argo by 1100 Hours today. That is when
my liberty runs out.”
“Oh,” said Deke as he kissed Sasha again, with a bit less ardor.
“Yeah. I have to be back at the base tonight, anyhow. My exile endeth,” he
sighed as he got up.
“We can be together a little
while longer, Deke,” said Sasha. “We can…work at…breaking camp.”
“I wish we didn’t have to,” said Deke as he got his surfboard.
Sasha ran to hers and kissed Deke again. “You said you liked to
see me surf,” she said. “Like to see me go in one more time?” she asked as she
wiggled her toes and picked up her board.
“I guess so,” said Deke.
“Good,” said Sasha as she kissed Deke. “Then, I’ll give you a
goodbye kiss.”
“I hope it’s more than a kiss, Mrs. Wakefield.”
“It will be,” said Sasha. “I have to take off this swimsuit after
I surf,” she said mischeviously. “And so do you…” she said as she kissed him
yet again.
Then, she ran into the surf with her board.
An hour or so later, Deke found himself waking up from a drowsy
sleep on his blanket. Sasha had put him to bed after their surf…in a very sweet
way…with no clothes on at all.
Now, to Deke’s disorientation and disappointment, she was gone.
She had taken her things…as if in a rush. But, she had cleaned up much of their
camp and taken her surfboard.
But, he found a note near the blanket. He unfolded the note and
read:
Deekee:
I had to go now. You know that. I know that. But
I know where your squadron is based. I think we will meet again soon. After
all, we’re on the same planet now.
See you soon.
Love and Kisses---
Sasha…
“Damn circumstances,” muttered Deke as he held the note and cried
softly. “You’re here, and the bastards take you from me again. I hope we can
put an end to this crap…and soon. I want you by me every night…”
Shaking his head, and wondering if the past three days had been a
hallucination, Deke began to pack up and break camp packing up his things, as
he prepared to return to the squadron.
“Damned squadron,” he said to himself. “Damned planes. Damned
war.”
At that, Deke forced himself to work.
As soon as
Yet
another note, he thought. And my seventy-two hours aren’t up yet. Oh, well, let’s see what’s
going on…
Deke read the note; it read:
Senior Lieutenant Wakefield:
Report to my office at 1330, as soon as you get
this. I am ending your exile early. You have a training assignment waiting for you.
I will have the trainee waiting in my office.
Regards,
Priceman, Raymond, Commodore, Joint Base EDF
Commanding Officer.
PS-Get your butt into my office in a full
uniform-not looking like a God-damn surf bum.
“Okay,” said Deke to himself. He was still in a hula shirt,
shorts, and sandals. And it was now 1318.
“I’ve got five minutes. Better get changed.”
At that,
He made sure he didn’t forget his sticks.
Five minutes passed as it was déjà vu all over again as Deke Wakefield
sat in the outer office of Commodore Raymond Priceman, the base commander.
Again,
the door opened, and Brew came out once again, saying, “Sticks! Boy, do they
got a surprise waitin’ for you in that office!” he said with a big grin.
“I
put you through three days worth of hell, and extra duty and crap, and you’re
smiling?” said Deke.
“Sheeeiit! I heard you’ve done Spindletop
on me, boy!” he laughed. “Oil wells! Gushers! Son of a bitch! Son of a
mother….”
“Toad,
would you kindly cut out the
editorial comments?” purred a familiar alto voice from the other side of the
door.
The
alto voice was female. Deke had heard that voice before, although not at any
time in the past few weeks.
Damn!
“
“Aye,
aye, sir!” said
And,
then, his jaw nearly dropped off.
As
Deke pulled the door closed, he beheld two figures sitting before Priceman’s
desk in chairs.
One
was a rather pregnant woman in a black and gold male-pattern Star Force top,
gold skirt, and white sandals. Her hair was a lighter honey-gold than he had
seen it in some time, but Nova Wildstar was rather hard to miss.
The
other woman had long blonde hair, and was in a blue and white female
Midshipman’s uniform, and dark blue boots. She looked freshly groomed, and wore
a smile as if she was the cat that had just caught a canary.
“Mister
Wakefield,” said Priceman in a dry voice. “Re-fasten that jaw, and try not to
make that…tent…in your trousers so obvious as you sit down.”
“Yessir,”
said Deke as he swallowed and sat down in the third chair between Nova and his
wife.
Then, Nova said, “Deke, this is Sasha. She is … someone you know
very well already, Deke, shall we say. As you know, she came to Iscandar with
us. Your job now is to help train her...”
“To train her?” said Deke. He was still flabbergasted as Sasha sat
smiling at him.
“Yes,” said Nova. “Sasha is being trained in Radar, Survey,
Analysis, and Navigation ops.”
“I’m here on Iscandar because I had a horrible time on Earth, Deke,”
said Sasha. “You know some of the story. I told you when we were camping out.
Now you’ll hear the rest.”
“Sasha, I know you told me some of this already back on the beach
when we were together…,” replied Deke.
“You two were together already?” said Priceman.
“Yes, for three days, sir,” said Sasha. “Is that such a sin, sir,
given I am a Princess? And given I am
married to him?”
This made Deke’s head spin. “Sasha, I thought your identity was
supposed to be a secret…”
“It came out back on Earth,” said Sasha. “So did our marriage.
Remember? I told you some of that. Damned press.”
“How’d it happen?” asked Deke as he gritted his teeth, held
Sasha’s hand, and got a look in his eye that scared Priceman a little bit.
Nova than interjected, “Some creeps stole her private medical
records from the Academy and published them right after she was in battle with
us on the day the Nagato was
launched.”
“Is that why they took you out of the Space Fighters’ Training
School?” said Deke to Sasha.
“Yes,” she sighed. “Well, that’s part of it. The rest was after
what happened to…”
Nova then added, “Well, after she fought in battle successfully on
Earth briefly on the space battleship Nagato,
and after that business happened at the Academy and her identity was publicized
world-wide…”
“It was decided that it was a security threat for me to be on
Earth then with my identity exposed. There were riots because of who I was, and
trouble with the Iscandarian Government, because Mother and Astra protested,”
said Sasha.
“Cripes,” said Deke.
“Then, adding to it, was the fact that the Cometines and R’Khells
tried to kill my father on the New Orient Express in
“And that’s when a clone of Yvona Josiah saved our lives,” added
Nova.
“This is weird,” said Deke.
“Yes, it is,” laughed Sasha nervously. “Then, Nova?”
“Yes,” added Nova, after she bit her lower lip for a minute. “Because
of…all of this, and Alex’s injuries that necessitated his return to Iscandar,
it was decided to graduate Sasha early and make her an Ensign Apprentice. Which
was a good thing, because she has learned very quickly and has gotten her space
legs in a hurry. She was in several battles with us on the Argo on the way here, and she did well. Mister Kitano and I have
just finished training her in everything we could teach her on board ship. She
has quite a learning curve, and she’s mastered weeks…months…worth of training
in a few days, because of her…unique heritage. But, as much as I’d like to…my
physical condition keeps me from getting into a fighter plane right now, shall
we say?” said Nova as she patted her stomach. “I still have my pilot’s license,
but I can’t safely fly anything but a medical boat or a Cosmo Hound until after
I become a mother and heal up a bit. That’s where you come in, Deke. Derek and
I picked you to take Sasha out for several runs in your Tiger to train her in
recon ops and combat ops in that second place. She already trusts you, and you
have…quite a rapport, shall we say?” Nova smiled at that.
“So?” said Deke.
“You’ve been picked,
“Yessir,” said Deke as he looked at Sasha. “I…I..accept…”
Sasha’s eyes lit up at that.
“Good,” said Priceman. “Mrs. Wildstar. Mrs. Wakefield. Both of you
are dismissed. You can go.”
“Yessir,” said Nova and Sasha together as they saluted. Then, they
left.
Priceman then looked at
“Sir?”
“PRP,” he sighed. “Personal Relationship Protocol. Oh, I know
she’s your wife and all that crap, but I don’t want to find you two buck naked
in some cockpit screwing around on my
tarmac, Mister. Are we clear on that?”
Deke then turned a dozen shades of red and said, “Yessir. I’ll
take a cold shower ASAP…”
“Good man,” said Priceman. “Dismissed.”
Deke saluted and left.
Upon leaving the HQ building, Deke found Sasha waiting for him. She
stood to attention and popped him a sharp salute.
After returning it, he asked, "I didn't dream all that on the
beach the other night, did I?"
In reply, Sasha shook her head and with a coy smile she said,
"Oh, it was a dream, Deke, but it was very real."
Deke smiled, and replied, "That's what I was afraid you were
going to say. You know…there is such a thing as PRP. On the job, we have to be
professional. As professional as possible. No hugging, kissing, touching, going
“Deekee” on the job…”
“But we’ll be all alone
in that cockpit,” said Sasha as, nearby, Nova stood tapping her foot against
the sandy soil and rolling up her eyes a little.
“Playing those sort of games in a plane can get us killed in a big
hurry,” said Deke. “Are we clear on that?”
“Yessir,” said Sasha in a depressed tone of voice. “I guess I
won’t be seeing much of you…off the job…”
“I’m getting that changed,” said Nova as she turned to them. “It
will take several days, but I am getting your quarters situation changed so you
can at least room together somewhere and have some privacy for your off-duty
time in the evenings. Unless we are on alert, that is…”
“Several days?” said
Sasha. “That’s a long wait…”
“Sorry,” said Nova. “The paperwork for your PRP waiver is taking a
while, and, besides, I have to find you two suitable quarters somewhere near
the base for you to set up housekeeping. It will be fixed in a few days. You’ll
see! I know darn well you two are married. Between you and I, I wouldn’t want
to be away from Derek for long, either. And, given what has happened, you no
longer have to keep your marriage secret, either….here, or on Earth.””
“Don’t thank me,” said Nova. “I wasn’t behind our almost getting
killed back on Earth. They hurt Derek, they tried to kill Sasha, they tried to
kill me and our unborn children, and they came that close to killing Alex. If I ever see that rotten Princess
Invidia again, she is going to have a lot
to answer for! Finally…Queen Starsha will be seeing both of you sometime in the
next week. Your father’s health is slowly improving, Sasha, and your mother
wants to talk to you both.”
“Thank you, Auntie,” said Sasha.
“I’ll be going now,” said Nova. “Good luck.”
“Thanks,” said Deke.
II.
MORE FUN FOR INVIDIA…
The
Eritz Gatlantis
The
Grand Throne Room of Invidia’s Palace
The
Edge of the Great Magellenic Cloud
Tuesday
June 2, 2207: 0820 Hours Earth Space-Time
“How
many days,” snapped Invidia, “Until Zed-Day?”
“On
the Fifth of Kaled, we told Desslok that he and Iscandar had fifty-five days
left,” said General Dyre. “Now, twenty-one days have passed us. So, we now have
thirty-four days left until we must fulfill our promise and strike. Our forces
are drawing into position now,” said Dyre.
He
made the screen built into the floor change as he said, “I have personally sent
General Turpis to lead the advance strike and reconnaissance operations near
the Sanzar System. He has a fleet of sixty ships at his disposal…and we keep
him lurking in the
“We
are drawing our forces thin,” said Gorse.
“Regardless,
we must do so,” said Invidia. “The backup of the softening-up operation is being
led by General Athlon, with a battle fleet of fifty ships, mostly space
battleships and cruisers. He also has anti-matter missile ships, enough to
destroy either Gamilon or Iscandar if we have to,” added Invidia with a sick
smile.
“Would
we destroy them?” said Dyre.
“I’d
prefer not to destroy Iscandar,” said Invidia. “If we had to destroy Gamilon,
it would not be so bad,” she said with a sick grin. “And watch Desslok’s face
if we blew his sacred homeworld to bits! Ha ha ha ha
ha ha ha HA!!”
“That’s only a hundred and ten ships,”
said Gorse. “That
is not even enough to engage Desslok’s Combined Starfleet, let alone the Earth
Forces, especially if the cursed Star Force meddles in the operation..”
“That
is where our Black Nebulan friends come back into play,” said Invidia. “Now, on
the way from the Black Fox Nebula are three battle fleets,” she said as she
nodded to Dyre.
“Attack
Fleet Number One is led by Baron Derdan,” said Dyre. “It consists of two
hundred destroyers, eighty cruisers, and twenty first-class space battleships,
as well as at least ten carriers and many landing ships. Baron Derdan’s job
will be to serve as the first vanguard of the main attack with his three
hundred and fifty vessels. We are anticipating that we can take care of most of
the Gamilon Fleet with these ships. Derdan’s job is to reduce Desslok’s fleets
back to the ragtag collection of ships he once had.”
Invidia
smiled and nodded at that.
“Attack
Fleet Number Two is led by Baron Meldazz,” said Dyre. “It consists of ten first-class
space battleships, thirty destroyers, five more carriers, and an invasion fleet
of a hundred landing ships and troops. And, last but not least, there are two
Gorba Floating Fortresses. One will be commanded by Admiral Dega, one of the
fiercest fighters of the Black Nebulans’ forces, and the other will be
commanded by Meldazz himself. We have commissioned them to destroy the
Iscandarian Fleet and the bulk of the Earth forces, and to draw the Argo herself into a trap.”
“So
what do we have planned for the Star Force and Desslok?”
“Destruction
and disgrace, respectively,” said Dyre. “The Third and final Attack Fleet from
the Black Nebulan forces will be led by two ruthless commanders. The main
Battle Fleet will be led by Lady Sarda. It will consist of twenty first-class
space battleships, eighty destroyers, and ten Beta-Cannon equipped space
battleships. The Beta-Cannon ships are to engage the Argo and are to either destroy her, or help Meldazz trap her for
the final trap we have set up.”
“Which
is?”
Dyre
smiled as he nodded. “A Task Force of Seven Gorba Floating Fortresses. Six are
the usual type, one is a new Siege Fortress. The Siege Fortress is designed to
attack
“What
about the Territorial Fleet and the R’Khells?” snapped Invidia.
“We
are holding them in reserve, Princess,” said Dyre. “For the attack upon Earth
that will follow, hopefully, with you commanding our forces either from the New
Comet or from Queen Starsha’s throne room after she is dead.”
“What
about Starsha, Aliscea, and Astrena?” snapped Gorse.
“HE
says they will be dealt with,” said Invidia. “Trust him. In fact, he has
reinvigorated us. And where is Radnar hiding?” sneered Invidia.
“We
do not know,” admitted Dyre. “But Skaldart has sworn to me that he will deal
with him…if he has to.”
The
room filled with hubbub as Invidia smiled. “Yes. I like that, Dyre. Thank you
for your efforts. And when do we bring the Comet into the Sanzar System?”
“Only
when Skaldart has Desslok in chains,” sneered Dyre.
Invidia
laughed a long, hearty laugh at that. She liked this.
She
liked it a great deal….
III.
FLYING FRUSTRATION TOUR ONE
The Vicinity of Planet Iscandar
Deke
Thursday
June 4, 2207: 1130 Hours Earth Space-Time
“Targets
spotted,” said Sasha in efficient tones from the aft place of Diamond Girl, Deke Wakefield’s command
plane. “Two bogies, range, twenty megameters, speed, eighteen space knots and
accelerating. Identified as two recon-type Scorpion boats.”
“Good
spot,” said Deke from the pilot’s seat of his plane. “First squadron, we’re
going in after those Cometine recon boats. Brew, keep watch behind me over the
planet for any others.”
“Roger
that,” said Brew from his plane as the Trojans split formation into two
squadrons.
Deke
nodded through his canopy at Ivan and at Stripes. Both junior officers nodded back,
and, not far away, Bangs also gave a nod as she ordered her flight to follow
“Where’s
those enemy birds, Sasha?” asked Deke.
“We’re
still holding course; looks like they’re scanning the base like mad.”
“They
won’t be scanning much longer, the
green sons-of-bitches,” said Deke with a grim smile. “Okay, Sasha, in we go!”
“Attack!” barked Deke over his lip mike.
A
moment later, his Tigers blasted in. Sasha smiled a little in spite of her
fear. She liked it when Deke flew nice and fast.
A
moment later, Sasha snapped, “Incoming!”
as the enemy recon boats changed course quickly and began to let loose with
their upper disc turrets.
Not
far away, Ensign Tomaselli, another one of Bangs’ men, wasn’t fast enough, so
he was the first to get caught by the enemy fire. His Tiger blew up not far
away while Sasha shivered, and then felt a sudden rage as she said, “Sir, we’re
in range for missiles!”
“Locking
on,” muttered Deke as he switched to missiles. “All right, you killers, take that!”
Deke
fired, and two missiles roared out into space and right into the underbelly of
the Cometine Recon Scorpion. “Scratch one boat!” he snapped with a laugh.
“Deke!”
cried Sasha.
“What?”
“One
o’ clock, RIGHT ABOVE US!” she cried.
Deke swiveled his
head and spotted another recon boat, followed by two regular Scorpion boats
roaring in over their heads. One of the regular attack boats fired at the Diamond Girl, and if Deke’s reflexes
hadn’t been quicker, he, Sasha, and the Marine private in the aft turret would
all have been dead. As it is, Deke dodged, in just enough time for Private
Martin to lock on and begin pumping away with his guns.
The
Scorpion was scared away…but for just a moment. He blasted back in, took aim,
and he blew away Stripes.
“NO!”
cried Sasha.
“Sasha,
this isn’t the end of this game yet,”
snapped Deke angrily as he thought of how nice Patricia “Stripes” Dodd had
been. “Where are they?”
“One
o’clock, six o’ clock…”
“I’m
going to do something about this!” snapped Deke as he swung about and blasted
at one of the Scorpion fighters. He succeeded; it was blown to bits.
From
above him, Brew and his wingmen roared in, and they jumped the other Scorpions.
“Not
bad,” muttered Deke. “Sasha, where’s that other recon ship?”
“Almost
a megameter away now,” she said. “Make that two…make that three…four…five! He’s disappearing into Gamilon’s
shadow!”
“Request
permission to pursue!” said Brew.
“Negative.
He’s in Gamilon’s defense zone now. Have fun with the Gamilons, green guys…”
muttered Deke as he watched a few lights appearing on Gamilon’s night side. “Sasha?”
At
that, Sasha smiled. Sasha then said, “He’s having some fun with the Gamilons,
all right…they’ll make sure he doesn’t get back to his ship.”
“What
happened to Stripes?” snapped Ivan as he took formation beside Deke.
“Dead,”
said Deke.
“Damn,”
said Ivan as he bit his lip. “That stinks!”
“Tell
me about it,” said Deke.
“Yeah,”
said Sasha as she opened her faceplate for a moment. She wiped her eyes and asked
Deke, “How much longer are we out here?”
“Until
1200,” said Deke.
“Good,”
said Sasha. “I can’t wait to land today.”
“Like
the training?” said Deke.
“That
wasn’t training,” said Sasha. “That was fighting.” Sasha made a fist. “They
make me so mad.”
“You’re
not alone, Sasha,” said Deke. “Sasha, you’re not alone…”
In the meantime, on the Argo,
Dawn Hardy had received a compliment from Lieutenant Maxine Jenkins, another
nurse she had been working with.
Several days’ worth of work and walking about in the sun on
Iscandar had lightened Dawn’s brownish/dishwater blond hair to a somewhat
lighter dark gold shade. Dawn’s blond bangs were now a very light golden
blonde, lighter than they had been before.
“I like your hair,” said Maxine as they worked together in
Sickbay. “But, Dawn, the bangs are so light…”
“They’ve always been like that,” said Dawn.
“Well, you could either darken the bangs to match the rest of your
hair,” said Jenkins as she tapped her sandaled foot (she, like Dawn, was now
wearing sandals and the lighter summer-issue nurse’s minidress with bare
shoulders that had been broken out for the Iscandarian climate). “Or, you could
lighten the hair to match the bangs.”
“I’d either need to wash and rinse it like crazy the ancient way,
or get a Cosmo Chick lightening Comb,” said Dawn. “And
I don’t have enough money for a Cosmo Chick Comb, either…”
“I’ve got one here,” said Jenkins. “A Number
Five. Try it for a few days, and see what Jeff thinks of you. You’ve been
saying you want to be different…”
“Hmmm,” thought Dawn. “It is different, but, why not? I’ll try
it.”
“It’s yours…for now,” said Jenkins as she handed Dawn the small
comb.
“Thanks,” said Dawn. “I’ll see how it looks.”
IV.
YET ANOTHER ATTACK
The Vicinity of Planet Iscandar
Deke
Friday
June 5, 2207: 1458 Hours Earth Space-Time
A
bit more than a day later, Deke was in battle again.
This
battle was really ticking him off; the Cometines had brought in about twenty
Scorpion boats and about twenty Paranoia fighters, and they were actually
attacking a part of
The part that ticked Deke off as he went into battle with four other squadrons
on short notice (without Sasha) was that the enemy was actually going after
civilian houses on the island in bombing raids. Many families had already been
killed and split up by the time
Fortunately,
the groups had reinforcements. The Argo
had taken off to sortie to attack the nearby enemy carrier fleet, so the Black
Tigers had joined them in battle, led by Commodore Wildstar himself in his
Super Star. However, Deke noticed that Wildstar was a little hard to make out
over the sheer babble of communications and adrenline rush of the pitched air
battle. He knew Hartcliffe was one squadron leader from the Argo…he could not make out who the other
squadron leader was.
Not
far away, Deke heard communications from a Gamilon fighter squadron made up of
their green fighters. “
“Thanks,
Hafler,” said
“Good.
I’ve got your back,” said Hafler in his usual cold, grating voice.
“Thanks,”
said Deke as the two squadrons separated, with the Trojans going after the
Paranoia planes while Hafler’s 205th Group attacked a knot of
Scorpions who were roaring down towards
A
moment later,
“We’re
screwing around with a knot of Paranoia birds, sir,” said Deke as he lined up
on a Paranoia and shot it from the sky of Iscandar. “The Gamilons gave us a
tip.”
“See
if you can assist Hartcliffe’s second squadron of Black Tigers when you have a
chance. He’s in a hairball with more of them. I’ve taken over personal command
of my first squadron; the squadron leader had to pull out-his plane’s taken
damage.”
“Who’s
the squadron leader, Wildstar?” asked Deke as he pulled up and around, lining
up on another Paranoia.
“Not
important right now. Get here when you can,” snapped Wildstar.
“Roger,”
said Deke.
Deke
flew into battle, shooting at Paranoias as fast as he could.
But,
one of them got an indirect hit against Diamond
Girl’s wing. The Tiger began to spin.
“Dekesticks!”
yelled Brew as Deke began to spin.
“Thrusters
are FUBARED,” grunted Deke. “Trying to get control of it!”
“Punch
out!” yelled Brew. “Man, don’t leave Sasha a widow!”
“To
hell with you!” said Deke as he noticed his bird was burning. “I’m putting her
down and walking away from this!”
“STICKS!”
yelled Brew.
Deke
struggled to keep control as his Tiger roared down and out of the battle. Soon,
he was back over the runway. “Declarin’ an emergency!” he yelled to the
controller. “Guide me in!”
“You’re
clear for one-niner north,” barked the controller. “
“Like
hell I’m giving up control of my ship to a Tinwit!” yelled Deke. “Any landing
you can walk away from…”
“
Deke
came in, smoking hard, the control surfaces barely responding to his stick and
rudder pedals as he forced his damaged plane down hard on the runway, a tire
coming off with sparks going down the runway under the damaged gear as the
plane waggled down the runway as if Deke was flying drunk. But the bird kept
fairly close to the center line as it slowed down with a grinding screech as the
fire and crash crew trucks roared up to it near the taxiway that Deke
manhandled her onto, clearing the runway for another casualty he knew was
coming in behind him.
As
Deke slammed the brakes one more time, the damaged gear let go altogether and
the Tiger lurched hard onto one wing, with a wingtip hitting the grass as the
plane slammed around and Deke’s helmeted head quickly made friends with part of
his canopy, crashing hard into it. But the helmet protected him, doing its job.
As
the crash trucks stopped and the crews began soaking Diamond Girl with foam to put out the fires, Deke somehow crawled
out of her and staggered down the rungs to the ground. On the rungs, he took
off his helmet, looked at it, and threw it dejectedly into his cockpit.
Feeling
like CRAP, Deke climbed down the last two rungs…
Then…as
Deke was climbing off the last access rung, Diamond
Girl lurched again on its damaged landing gear, which caused the fuselage
of the plane to smack him hard in the side of his head.
Deke
fell off his smoking plane, and his head contacted the grass hard, making him
see stars. Cursing, he struggled to his feet.
“Any
landin’ you can walk away from…” he muttered as, in a very weird, sleepy,
half-conscious fashion, he staggered towards the arms of someone who jumped off
the crash truck and ran to him in the grass who he was convinced was Sasha as
his head really began to hurt.
“Hi,
Saaaasssshhhhaaa,” he said as he smiled and fell right into the waiting arms.
He
smiled as he passed out, not knowing that the person who had just jumped off
the crash truck and whose arms he had passed out into was female, but was
defintely not Sasha.
Nova
Wildstar stood in her bare-shouldered summer Medical minidress and sandals, fresh
from a small emergency medical unit helping survivors in the town. She held
Deke up as she yelled “Medics! This man has a concussion! He has a lump on his head the size of a baby’s fist! I
need backup! NOW!”
And,
at that, backup came…
Deke
didn’t know anything for quite a long while.
But
he was dreaming.
It
was about Sasha.
For
him, at least, that was pleasant as he slept, not knowing that Diamond Girl would be saved…along with
him…
That
night, Jeff Hardy came into the cabin he shared with Dawn to find her combing
her hair and whistling.
“What’s
with the hair?” he said.
“Cosmo
Chick Number Five,” said Dawn as she shook her head and looked at herself in
the mirror. “I’m going to try this to see if blondes really have more fun.”
Hardy
looked at her as she combed and combed. The laser effect from the comb, with
its little Matsumoto Dial at the end, was quickly turning her hair an allover
lighter shade of gold. “People might have a hard time tellin’ yuh apart from
Nova if ya keep that up.”
“Mine’s
lighter than hers already,” said Dawn as she sat there in her nightie using the
comb. She also held up an old picture of herself. “Different,
huh?”
Jeff
looked at her. “Hard to say if ah like the old Dawn or the new Dawn,” said
Hardy with a smile. “Why’re ya doin’ that again?”
“The
sun here was beginning to bleach it anyway,” said Dawn. “Also, who knows? If I
ever run into an old flame, maybe he won’t recognize me. Then I can have a
little joke.”
“Which
old flame?” said Hardy.
“You
know who I mean,” sang Dawn as she went on with her experiment.
V, DEKE’S
VERSION OF “THE LUCK OF THE IRISH”
Iscandar
Space
Battleship Argo
Sickbay
Saturday
June 6, 2207: 1113 Hours Earth Space-Time
Nova
and Dawn had just gotten back to the Argo
after a morning’s worth of work at the outdoor clinic on
“You’re
saying we have to do what with
Nova
smiled, coming out of her naughty little reverie, as she said, “We have to give
Lieutenant Wakefield a bath, Dawn. After we finish reviewing these scans, that
is. Deke is sort of undressed right now. Doctor Sane and Lieutenant Jenkins had
to give him a scan all over for broken bones and internal injuries while we
were on the island.”
“A
bath?” said Dawn.
“And
a shave, too,” said Nova as she began to gather up the necessary items after
popping out the wireless computer keyboard, whch she used to take new
hyperultrasound imaging MAT scans of Deke’s head. Then, she took a new EEG
pattern and then looked at the results and Deke’s charts on the computer screen
above his bed, nodding, and looking at the printout of the earlier scans and
signing off below Doctor Sane’s initials. LUMP
HAS GONE DOWN. NO SIGNS INTRACRANIAL BLEEDING, PT STILL in TWILIGHT STATE
of UNCONSCIOUS, BRAIN WAVE PATTERNS
CONSISTENT WITH COND., ADVISE KEEPING PT ON GUARDED CONDITION, 1120 HRS, NW,
LtC, RN,
Nova wrote in mostly capitals in her pretty, girlish script. “He hasn’t been
fully conscious for like…twenty hours. Luckily, the only injury he is
presenting is a minor concussion with mental confusion. It’s not like he can do
that sort of thing himself right now. That’s also when I like to change a
patient’s sheets…bathtime.”
“I
don’t like this, ma’am,” snapped Dawn.
“Why
not?” said Nova. “He’s your ex. So what? Water under the
bridge, right? You said you’re changing your life, right? Isn’t that why
you’re making your hair look funny?”
“No.
If you divorced Wildstar, would you want to give him a bath? And my hair does not
look funny, ma’am. I kind of like it,” said Dawn as she ran her hands through
her new golden locks.
“Beside
the point,” said Nova as she slammed shut the chart and tossed it into a
receptacle near Deke’s bed after putting it into a round transport carrier
after rolling it up. A tap of a switch
with her sandaled foot sent the chart through a vacuum tube carrier system back
to Sane’s office with a quick whoosh.
“Dawn. You took a variant of the Hippocratic Oath when you were pinned as a
nurse. Remember? “I will help to the best of my ability, and I
will do no harm to a patient under my care…prejudice against a person in need
of my care… shall not be part of my ethic…””
“You’ve
got that memorized, ma’am,” sighed Dawn.
“They
made us memorize it when I went to nursing school,” snapped Nova.
“I’m not sure about you.”
“I..”
Nova
looked at Dawn hard. “Dawn. This is an order. Help me treat Mister Wakefield,
or go in to see Doctor Sane and resign your World Health Organization
commission.”
At
that, Dawn almost wanted to cry. Her idol, the person she had admired
throughout nursing school, telling her she had bad ethics? But she knew she was
right. She felt even worse knowing her idol had suddenly lost a great deal of
respect for her. Is she saying I’m a bad
nurse? Dawn thought. Maybe she’s
right.
“Damn,
ma’am, you are taking this very…”
“What
is it?” said Nova. “Are you helping me or resigning?”
“I’m…I’m
nervous about this,” said Dawn as
Nova saw her toes curling in her sandals…almost with…revulsion?
“C’mon,
Dawn, “ giggled Nova. “It’s a simple job; I’ve seen you do it several times.
Heck, when I was in the hospital, you gave me
two baths in bed,” said Nova.
“Yes,
but you’re not my ex,” said Dawn as she blushed. “And you don’t have…uh…”
“What?”
said Nova.
“Part
of you still doesn’t care…I…I don’t know how to face it, ma’am. Can I just run
from here? Go clean bedpans?”
“Ohh…that’s
it?” teased Nova. “No, Dawn, we don’t have to give him a Saturday Night
Special!”
“A
what?”
“A
little violation of medical ethics,” said Nova as she blushed. “I reserve those for Derek when no one is around,” she said with a giggle as Dawn saw
Nova’s toes curling in her
sandals…and it didn’t seem to be with revulsion, either.
“Nova…I…ma’am…you’re…”
“No,
we don’t have to do that for Deke,” said Nova. “But we do have to get him clean. I gave you an order. Helping me?”
“Aye,
aye, ma’am,” said Dawn.
“Good.
I can wash the oogey parts of him if
you want. I’ll need the practice for these two,” Nova said as she patted her
stomach. “Which is the other reason I need your help. I’m usually strong enough
that bathing a patient is a one-girl job for me,” said Nova. “But, I will need
some help right now from you. Unless you like the thought of seeing me go into
premature labor right about now. It would be messy, but I’m third trimester
now; the kids would make it, even though they’d be very tiny…”
“Okay!”
laughed Dawn. “Let’s get busy on…Deke…and, Nova…”
“Yes?”
“Let’s
hope he does NOT wake up about now…”
Nova
sighed. “You are terrible, Mrs.
Hardy. You know that?”
“Yes,
ma’am,” said Dawn.
Deke
continued to dream his rather confused dreams, although this dream turned into
a strange new one.
He
rolled up his eyes in sleep as he dreamed that Sasha was giving him a bath on
the beach.
For
Deke, the funny thing about this dream was that Sasha was whispering a popular
song from a movie called “From Yamato
With Love,” in a lower voice than she usually used. It sounded a bit like a
sweet alto to Deke as he grabbed Sasha’s hand in the dream, mumbled,
“Saaaasssaaa” and kissed it.
This
was a nice dream for Deke….a very nice dream.
And,
it didn’t feel bad either as he felt his body reacting to the attention…
“Nova,
what did he do?” said Dawn as she handed Nova a washcloth from their little pan
of rinse water on a crash cart near Deke’s bed after pulling a privacy curtain
around them.
“I
think he’s dreaming,” giggled Nova. “He just tried kissing my hand.”
“What?” said Dawn.
“It
happens,” said Nova with a sigh. “And he was out of it when I picked him up off
the ground near that landing strip. Concussions can do weird things to the
mind. Now, let’s pull down this sheet and start going below his waist, and…oh,
my,” said Nova with a blush.
“What?”
said Dawn.
“Poor
dear…look between his legs,” whispered Nova.
“Do
I have to?” said Dawn.
“Part
of your training,” said Nova dryly as she and Dawn turned Deke onto his back.
They carefully opened his legs. Deke was (obviously) naked in bed, and Dawn
went several shades of red when she not only saw Deke’s pride again for the
first time in years…but she also saw evidence he was having a very nice dream.
“Saaaaassssshhhhh..”
he muttered.
“What?”
said Dawn.
“I
think he’s trying to say someone’s name,” said Nova as she prepared a sponge.
“You can turn your back for this if you want.”
“You’re
washing him there?” said Dawn.
“Have
to. Topside and bottom. He’s stained and stinky from the bedpan, poor Deke,”
said Nova as she blushed herself, hoping
Nova…did
her duty, while she murmured, “Oh, my God…the
“What?”
said Dawn. She couldn’t help looking. “Nova, you’re not…!”
“I’m
being as fast as I can,” she snapped. “And this happens sometimes with men, damnit,” said Nova as she tried to
finish her chore as quickly as possible. Then, relieved that nothing really
untoward had happened, she threw a large cold
washcloth over that part of Deke’s anatomy and began working on his stomach.
“Dawn, you get everything below the part I just washed, legs, knees, feet…I’ll
go upwards…”
Dawn
almost felt like saying, “Do I have to?” but a look from Nova made it clear
that it was not a suggestion. So, while trying not to look at Deke’s face (or
the parts of him hidden under the washcloth..), Dawn disconnected herself and
began washing Deke while Nova washed him from the navel up.
Then,
Nova grabbed up a pair of pajamas from off a crash cart. “I just need to wash
his hair and shave him,” said Nova. “We’d better get him dressed.”
Deke
was dressed in a hurry by Dawn and Nova (Dawn was blushing hard at this again)
in standard EDF-issue grey-blue pajamas.
Then,
Nova and Dawn took five minutes to shave Deke. Then, as Deke moaned, Dawn
cleaned him up as Nova prepared to wash his hair.
While
she was working on washing Deke’s hair, and after Nova put Deke’s glasses back
on, Deke raised his arms, shocking Nova as he moved.
Nova
tried to move back, but she wasn’t fast enough as Deke’s arms grabbed her, and
he murmured, “Ohhhh…Saaaasssssshhhhhaaaaa,” and he pulled her down for a very
deep kiss!
“Saaaasssshhhaaa,”
Deke muttered.
“MMMMMMMMMMPPPPPHHHH!”
said Nova as she had her teeth and tongue attacked by Deke’s tongue.
Dawn
stepped back in shock, beginning to giggle as Nova struggled and finally pulled
free from Deke’s lips with fire in her eyes.
At
that moment,
“Huh?”
he said.
“MISTER
“Uhhh…Sasha?”
he said as he looked at Nova, who had stepped back in shock.
Now this is
weird,
he thought. She looks like Dawn, but she
has almost Sasha’s hair color. Where did the blond bangs go? What gives here?
“I’m not
Sasha,” said Dawn as she patted down his covers reluctantly but authoritatively
while taking his pulse.
Deke’s
heart dropped as he recognized her voice and his face dropped as he recognized
that Dawn no longer looked precisely like she had in their teens. The old Dawn
was gone. He had no idea what to think of the new one as she said, “And neither
is she. My superior is named Nova
Wildstar. Or did you forget, sir?”
“Uhhh…uhhh…uhhh..Dawn?
You’ve got on one pendant, Dawn? And Nova, you have another one on?”
“Right,”
said Nova with a tight smile as she tried to keep from throwing something at
Deke…or doubling up on the deck with a major case of the giggles. “I’m
flattered, that you think I look like Sasha, but you’re very mistaken,
“You’re
not Sasha?” said Deke. “You’re not my Sasha?”
“Sasha?
Heck no!” said Dawn. “Nova, what does he
have for that damned cadet?”
“Dawn,
quiet. Mister Wakefield, were you
aware that you were kissing me?” snapped Nova.
“I…I…I
was dreaming you were Sasha, Nova. My God,” he said.
“WHO’S
SASHA?” snapped Dawn as she came up to the other side of the head of Deke’s
bed.
Deke
lay there with his mouth open as he realized that this was NOT Bangs, but it
was Dawn. Her hair looked the same, and in her open-neck summer nurse’s dress,
he could see that she was still wearing the infamous Star Pendant. He sat in
utter shock for a bit, not sure how or why Dawn had gotten there, but she had.
He reached out to pinch her to see if she was real, but she stepped away from
him as if he was some kind of rabid dog. Then, Deke ran his eyes involuntarily
down her waist, down her bare legs, and down to her feet, and then to one of
her bare arms, where he noticed that she was some kind of wearing a type of ID
bracelet that said “Dawn and Jeff” on her wrist.
Then,
Deke looked Dawn in the eye and snapped, “Who’s Jeff?”
Nova
began to say something as Dawn snapped, “None of your business, Deke! Who’s Sasha?”
“Mousketeer
Roll Call, anyone?” snapped Deke sarcastically as Artwork: SICKBAY © 2008 by
Michael C. Crump (aka “Max Damage”) Used by Permission.
he looked at Dawn and said,
“Interesting that you’re in an EDF
nurse’s uniform in 100% polyester. And that all-blond hair!”
“It’s
not interesting that you’re in your jammies,” snapped Dawn. “And your hair
looks like a used mop, Deke!”
“I’ve
been sleepin’ on it. How did I get into these?” said Deke as he tugged at his
pajamas.
“I
dressed you, of course,” said Nova. “So did Dawn. When you were getting scanned
and examined before, you were sort of naked.”
“Were
you looking?” said Deke.
“Hell
no,” snapped Dawn. “Who were you
dreaming about?”
“Sasha,”
snapped Deke.
“And
who’s that?” said Dawn as she stood with her hands on her hips. Deke looked at
Nova, and saw her standing there with her own hands on her hips. “Nova, why are
you glaring at me?”
“Can
we have this happy reunion, both of you, somewhere else other than in my
Sickbay?” snapped Nova. “I do not need to get written up by Doctor Sane and
made to scrub the deck.”
“WHO’S
SASHA?” snapped Dawn.
Then,
the curtain came open, and a woman a little taller than Nova, clothed in a
bikini top, bikini bottom, blue sarong, and white sandals stared Dawn down and
said, “Me. And why are you keeping my
husband from getting his rest?”
“Husband?”
said Dawn.
“Yeah,”
said Deke. “Other people move on in the world too, Dawn. Wake up and smell the coffee,” he said as Sasha ran over
and kissed him.
“He’s
a great kisser, Nova,” said Sasha with a light in her eyes.
“I
know,” said Nova dryly as she wiped her mouth.
“How?”
“Personal
experience, Sasha,” said Nova. “Before you belt him, Sasha, he was
semi-deilrious and he thought I was you. We can’t hold him responsible for
that, but we must make sure it never happens again.”
“Really?”
said Sasha with a sweet smile. “You were dreaming about me, Deeekee?”
“Yes,
and Deeekeee was making me want to throw up,” snapped Dawn.
“Why
are you acting like you still have a lien
on him?” said Sasha. “Especially since I know you’re married to someone else?”
“Who?”
said Deke, throughly confused.
“Never
mind!” snapped Dawn. “Deke, it’s a good thing you didn’t frigging kiss me,
or….or….”
“Or
what?” said a very confused Deke.
“Or
I might just hurt you,” said Sasha. “And what did you say to my husband?” added Sasha.
“I
said…”
“People,
quit it!” snapped Nova.
“Nova,
ma’am, with all respect, please,” snapped Sasha. “You said what, Dawn?”
“That
is Ensign to you,” snapped Dawn.
“Pulling
rank on me?” cried Sasha. “Why can’t
you leave us alone, in peace?”
“Because,
Sasha, part of me is revulsed seeing my ex with someone else,” said Dawn.
“You
are…married,” said Sasha. “Bug off!”
“I
grew up with Deke!” Dawn said. “Then he turned into something like some weird
alien!”
“What
was that?” said Sasha.
“GIRLS!”
snapped Nova.
“Deke
here turned into some…some…vengeful…Goddamn…freak
who wanted to just kill Gamilons!” yelled Dawn. “But I remember what he was
like beforehand! And now, when he should be suffering and thinking about the
way he abandoned me…thinking about the way he used me, dumped me, made it so
that he should never be happy with anyone else after he throws me out like a
used piece of toilet paper…”
“Abandoned you?” said Deke. “YOU broke up
with me, Dawn! Forget that part?”
“Then,
he had to go off with…you, Sasha! Some freak! Well, Deke, I hope you like your
Iscandarian floozie!”
“Iscandarian
floozie?!?!” yelled Sasha as she grabbed for Dawn. “That is enough, bitch! Let’s have this out, right now!”
Dawn
pivoted on her feet, ready to throw the pan of water at Sasha, but she wasn’t fast
enough as Nova stepped it between them and barked, “YOU TWO, CUT THIS OUT!
RIGHT NOW! OR DO I HAVE TO HAVE YOU BOTH CHUCKED IN THE BRIG? WANNA TRY ME?”
Dawn
stopped, but as she over-balanced, the plastic pan of water fell out of her
hand….
…and
it landed right on Nova’s head.
As
a very wet Nova threw the pan off her head and was almost ready to belt Dawn
herself, IQ-9 scurried in as fast as he could and said, “No one here hurts Nova! If you hurt Nova, you will have to deal
with me!”
“Really,”
sneered Dawn.
“DO
NOT TEST ME,” said IQ-9 at full volume. “My feelings for Nova are a hundred
times purer than your tainted old stale feelings for
“Thank
you, IQ,” said Nova. Nova glared at Dawn and found a mop in a corner and threw
it at her. “Ensign! Clean up this compartment in the next ten minutes while I
dry off and change! If this compartment is not clean, you WILL be running laps.
NOW GET TO IT! And, Sasha, YOU help her!”
“Yes,
ma’am,” said Dawn in a hushed voice.
“Aye,
aye, ma’am,” said Sasha.
“Who’s
Jeff?” muttered Deke as he saw Nova stomping off to another part of Sickbay, so
mad that she didn’t care who saw her as she pulled her wet dress off over her
head and began to change. Deke caught a glimpse of her pulling off her dress
before she rounded a corner, and he thought, I’ve seen her enough, and I’ve done enough today…don’t let your mind go
there, Sticks…or Sasha and Commodore Wildstar might both give you another
concussion…I’m dead anyway if Nova tells Derek about that stupid-ass kiss…
Later
on, Deke was released from Sickbay after being examined by Doctor Sane. It was
about 1700 Hours when he was allowed by two other nurses to get dressed and
wander the Argo for a bit. Sane told him
that they were in flight and that he was being released to his base that
evening upon landing on a 72-hour disability leave until Wednesday, the 10th
of June.
While
he had been getting dressed, Sandor also popped in to tell him that the Diamond Girl had been salvaged, was
repairable, and that his plane was currently being repaired in the Mechanical
Group workshops right aboard ship along with Wildstar’s Super Star, which also
had taken minor damage in the battle.
He
hadn’t seen Nova since that morning, and he didn’t feel comfortable about
running into her or Dawn again.
First,
Deke went forward to the Mechanical Group workshops, where he found Diamond Girl sitting under the lights
with one wing off on a support scaffold while techs clad in the white and gold
of Flight Support and Maintenance and the white and blue of Mechanical Group
swarmed over his bird, working on her with assorted tools and with cables,
wires and lights up inside the fuselage.
“How
is it going?” said
“It’ll
take some work, sir,” said a young Flight Support Group tech with a white
collar. “But, we’ve rebuilt planes in much worse shape than this. She should be
ready to fly again sometime next week, Lieutenant.”
“Why
is she getting worked on here?” said
Deke.
“We
don’t know, sir. Orders from Priceman and the Skipper. They didn’t elaborate
much…”
Deke
nodded, walking past his plane, stroking its damaged fuselage. Then, he turned
his head to look at Wildstar’s famed Super Star. He noticed that it was one of
the uprated 2203 models, in red and white markings, with missiles and comm pods
of various kinds under its wings. It was having its engine and some damage
around its upper stabilizer worked on.
“Amazing
they’re still keeping birds like this in service,” muttered Deke as he gently
patted the combat veteran’s wing. He saw that beneath Commodore Wildstar’s name
were painted more kill marks then even he
had earned. Deke also felt a little shiver when he saw Nova’s name still
painted on the fuselage in the RSO’s place behind the pilot’s spot.
Then,
to his shock, one of the figures crouched with his head in the Super Star’s
cockpit, up on a maintenance platform, looked down and snapped. “All right,
who’s making love to my plane?”
“Sir?”
said
“Hollander,
drop this lift down to the deck. I have
to talk to this guy!” snapped Wildstar as he turned to the Mechanical Group man
beside him. A moment later, the maintenance lift was dropping downwards, and
Wildstar reached the deck a moment later.
To
his surprise, though, Wildstar was just grinning slightly as he stepped up to
“Yessir,
it did,” said Deke.
“What
went on with Sasha and Dawn this morning in Sickbay while you were coming
around?” said Derek. “Nova came up to our cabin with her hair wet and had a
good cry about it and she threw some things around, too.”
“Sir,
Dawn and Sasha had an argument…over me.”
“Over
you?” said Derek as he shook his
head. “Between you and me,
“Pilots, sir?” said
“You
mean you haven’t heard, yet?” said Wildstar.
“No,
sir. I’ve been sort of out of the loop with what’s going on aboard this ship,
sir…and…”
Wildstar
got a scut-rag, wiped his hands, and laughed a little. “Sometimes, I don’t know
every soap opera that goes on aboard this command myself. And I’m supposed to
be the Commanding Officer! I’ll let Nova tell you, later….provided you don’t
act weird around her again and mistake her for your wife…”
“She…she
told you about that, sir?”
Wildstar
laughed. “Yes she did. Good thing for you that you were out of your mind…or I
might have had to have a little talk with you out on the weather deck, Deke. We
are clear on that?”
“Yessir,”
gulped
Wildstar
gave him a friendly push again. “C’mon. Can’t stay mad at you. Especially since
I think we’ll be flying together again; and real soon. When you’re off
convalescence, you’ll find out some things are changing for the Trojans. You’ll
see soon. Talk later,
“Yessir,”
said Deke as he saluted.
Wildstar
looked at a tech and yelled, “You were supposed to have those avionics fixed
before dinner, Miyama! Now get off your
butt and get busy on my plane! I might need her again tonight!”
“Yessir,” said Miyama as a very confused
Deke’s
wanderings continued. Finally, he found himself in the aft observation deck in
the bridge tower. He didn’t know where Sasha was, and he was a little mystified
that she hadn’t been there in Sickbay when he had been dismissed for the time
being. I wonder where she is? Deke
thought as he looked out at the stars. They were a slight distance away from
Gamilon and Iscandar, which both looked oddly beautiful as the twin planets
danced in their eternal dance around each other.
Sasha, I wish
we could have gotten together again for dinner, Deke thought
as he looked out at Iscandar. I hope
you’re aboard ship, for that matter, he added to himself as he heard the
hatch whizzing open behind him.
He
looked back, and saw Nova coming up, carrying a clipboard as she approached in
her white minidress and nurses’ sandals. She looked similar to the way she had
looked in Sickbay that morning, except that she had a pin on her dress now on
the opposite side from her red cross emblem. His eyes widened a little as he
saw that she was wearing a pin with the image of a cartoon cat on it.
“Deke,
does my pin look stupid?” said Nova in a tired-sounding voice.
“I
was wondering about that before,” said Deke. “Why a Hello Kitty pin, ma’am?”
“For
the children,” she sighed. “That idiot Hartcliffe was teasing me about my pin
and my shoes, Deke. He hates me being pregnant for some reason, Deke. He’s
driving me crazy! And he has been
picking on his own wife, too, who is also pregnant! What a creep.”
“Damn,”
said Deke. “Wildstar told me you were crying before…”
“Hartcliffe
was part of it. So was Dawn. So was what they did to that city and those poor
families and children! I hate what
they did to that city, Deke. Oh, I’m not mad anymore. Not at you, anyway…”
“Yeah,
I know. Derek told me that I just escaped a beating because I was out of my
mind when I kissed you…I’m so sorry about that, Nova. I didn’t know what I was
doing…honest to God.”
“Yes,
luckily,” said Nova in a rather tart
voice. “It’s your ex I’m still mad at. I don’t understand her, Deke? Dawn broke
up with you and she thinks you
wrecked things? And she’s very unprofessional to boot. I had to read her the
riot act and pull rank on her to make her help me give you a bath when you came
around earlier. Sorry I embarrassed you before, Deke. I had to…just get you
clean, and…”
“That’s
okay, Nova. What’s Dawn doing in uniform?” said Deke. “She’s always hated the
military.”
Nova
sighed. Then, Nova said, “She’s still technicially a civilian, Deke. She is in
uniform as a member of the World Health Organization Commissoned Corps. Because
we needed doctors and nurses so badly, the EDF requisitioned a lot of their
personnel for work with the Defense Forces. About a third of my nurses on this
cruise are actually WHO officers like her; loaned to us for the duration. She
was supposed to be a WHO reservist, but she was called up on indefinite active
duty when WHO needed her, then they leased her to us. She’s stuck here, Deke,
and doesn’t like it. I’ve even tried to tell her I’m also an EDF Reserve
Officer on indefinite active duty due to this war emergency, and that hasn’t
helped. Then, there’s Jeff, her husband…”
“Who’s
Jeff?” said Deke.
“Her
husband, Lieutenant Commander Jefferson Davis Hardy, the CO of the Black
Tigers. Deke…why are you looking at me like that?”
“I
don’t believe it, ma’am…that’s all. Dawn broke up with me partly because I
wanted to be a pilot, and, instead, she ends up marrying one? How did they get together? I’m…kinda shocked!”
“They
were dating for many months before they got married in the spring, around the
same time that you and Sasha got married. They were aboard this command for a
while; Sandor tells me they were playing kissy-kissy a lot before they got
married; that’s while I was asleep in that cryo-tube. I missed a lot myself
being asleep.”
“I
missed a lot not being around too,” said Deke. “Hardy, huh?” he sighed. “I
worked with him. He taught me in the Academy. And now, he ends up with my ex.
How convenient,” said Deke. “He and I
have got to have a little talk.”
“Do
you still have a thing for her?” said Nova.
“How
can I? I’m married to Sasha.”
“Ghosts
can stick around in people’s heads for a long time, particularly if they were
close,” said Nova. “Don’t pull the wool over my eyes, Deke. We’ve talked about
this a lot. Does part of you still have feelings for Dawn, somewhere? Somewhere
in here?” said Nova as she slapped her own chest.
“Maybe,”
said Deke. “Can’t be much. I sort of feel like wanting to curse Dawn out about
now.”
“Don’t
do that. She told me the same thing, Deke, and I also warned her off you. She
has orders to stay away from you except in the line of duty, Deke. I am going
to reiterate the same orders to you. And I’d be careful about Hardy, Deke.”
“Ma’am,
with all respect, I have to talk with him.”
“When?”
said Nova.
“Now,”
said Deke. “Where is he?”
Nova
just glared at him. “Deke. Don’t.”
“It’s
not like you think, ma’am. And this has to be dealt with. Between guys.”
Deke
just left while Nova snapped, “
Then,
she just stood there, tapped her foot, and sighed. “Men,” she muttered to
herself. “Okay, Mrs. Wildstar. You’d better get a medkit. And lots of bandages.
They might need them when they’re done talking. I swear, you two are as bad as
Derek and Mark used to be once…when they were dueling over another young lady.”
Nova then pointed at her own reflection and snapped, “And you know darn well
who I’m talking about! Myself!”
At
that, Nova left in a huff.
VI. A FRIENDLY
DISCUSSION..
Planet
Gamilon
Leader
Desslok’s Palace
Main
Throne Room
Saturday
June 6, 2207: 1830 Hours Earth Space-Time
Desslok
sat on his throne with Astrena, Talan, and his other generals surrounding him
while General Fraken finished giving a report of the battle that day to the
Leader of his Empire. “We finally repelled the enemy forces, with some losses,
and with the aid of the Earthlings and the Iscandarians, earlier this morning,
sire. Admiral Alex Wildstar was back in battle for the first time aboard his
flagship, the Princess Astra, in the
sortie, along with the Argo and the
“So,
the Iscandarians are numerous enough again to fight?” said Desslok as he supped
thoughtfully at his goblet. “Astrena, I’m not sure whether I like this
development…or dislike it.”
“Desslok,
we are on the same side,” said
Astrena.
Desslok
chuckled a low laugh. “It has taken a lot to arouse Starsha from the
semi-comatose state she has been in for the years since the great plague that
killed off 99.5% of the people of dyuing Iscandar and would have made their
race extinct were it not for her, that Earthling,
and the few vagabonds who came back to Iscandar from across space and began to
breed like roaches. Really, the only things she has been excited over were the
Star Force’s original journey here, that I tried to stop when I we were in a different situation, as well as the
machinations of that half-ghost creature Ekogaru. Queen Starsha with a defense
force. Interesting.”
“It
is for the good of both of our worlds, Desslok,” snapped Astrena.
Desslok
sipped at some more wine. “As it is, we shall table this discussion. For now. We
are together, at least. Leftenant Maglin, come forward!”
A
young Gamilon officer in brown space armor came up and saluted. “Leader
Desslok, I am here to serve.”
“You
are supposed to be, Maglin,” said
Desslok. “I have had you following Baron Von Delvitz around ever since that
unfortunate altercation he started in that drinking house on Iscandar. What has
that Baron been up to ever since he has been released from protective custody?”
“Actually,
sir,” said Maglin as he sweated. “Not much. Until this morning. He and his
executive officer gave me and my men the slip, sir. We think he returned to his
manor here on Gamilon, but…”
Desslok
shut his eyes and raised his hand. “You think?”
“My
second Intel unit is still trying to catch up with him, sir,” said Maglin. “His
men have been very good at hacking into our computer systems and setting forth
both false internal passports and travel vouchers. We think we know where he
really went, but…”
“I
told you to watch him,” snapped Desslok.
“Yes,
but he is very wily…he…”
Desslok
nodded bluntly. “Not wily enough, Maglin,” he said as he pushed a small button
on the arm of his throne.
A
hole opened up in the floor, and Maglin fell through it with a scream.
“Good
riddance to bad rubbish,” said Desslok as he rubbed his white-gloved hands.
“Where
did you send him?” snapped Astrena. She looked close to crying.
“To
a quick end,” he said. “Those tunnels lead to many places. I programmed that
one to lead to a lake of sulphuric acid that survived in a pocket underground deep
beneath the palace. Right now, he is dissolving like a cockroach in a beaker. A
rather merciful death, actually…”
Desslok
smiled and said, “Talan, call forth Leftenant Gever.”
“Gever!”
snapped Talan. “Front and center!”
“Yessir!”
said a young Gamilon officer in a two-tone grey and blue uniform.
“Take
up the search for Baron Von Delvitz, Leftenant,” said Desslok. “When you find
him, tell him I want to see him. At once.”
“Yessir!”
said Gever as Astrena tried to hold back her pregnant tears. Desslok was an
honorable man, but she knew, at times, that the galactic dictator still had a very callous streak.
Finally,
Deke went down to the flight deck to seek out Hardy.
Upon his arrival on the lower flight deck, the usually noisy hangar
went dead quiet (save for the sound of money exchanging hands and whispered
bets).
Word of the explosive potential of this meeting had grown to epic
proportions over the past few days and especially in the past few hours as the
Scuttlebutt Express circluated rumor of Deke’s confrontation with Dawn in
Sickbay earlier that day.
Unbeknownst to Deke, Dawn was standing behind Hardy's Tiger.
“Hardy,” said
Hardy looked a bit sheepish (he was feeling a busted jaw coming
on) as he turned to face Deke.
Deke stepped up, stood to attention and saluted as he reported in.
“Good evening, sir,” said Deke as he saluted. “Sir, we need to
have a talk.”
Hardy returned the salute, still looking sorta white around the
gills. “Yes, Mister
“About what, sir?” said Deke in a purposely non-commital voice.
“About why your plane is aboard the Argo right now, Trojan Leader. Especially since…well…we’ll be
servin’ togetha. At long last,
“Sir?”
“I will explain in a minute,” said Hardy. “Also, we need to talk
about some…othuh things.”
“Other things?” said Deke.
“Yes,” said Hardy in a subdued fashion. “Things of a personal
nature, Mistuh. Things that, maybe, should have gone otherwise. Especially this
morning, in Sickbay.”
“I see,” said Deke.
“I wanted to try and clear the air a bit. Ah understand you and
mah wife have some….history together. And I’d like to let you know that I think
we can’t have this tension forever aboard ship. Shake on it?”
To everyone's surprise, Deke, with a resigned look on his face,
extended his hand to Hardy in a friendly gesture.
“Okay, sir,” said Deke. “On my word of honor, we’ll shake on it.”
“And on my word as a gentleman, it is accepted,” said Hardy. Hardy
took Deke’s hand and and they shook hands. Everyone in the peanut gallery
groaned (cause you know, in spite the odds, at least one wiseass would've bet
on that happening).
“Bloody darn it,” said Hartcliffe as he came up. “I thought I’d
have to sit on one ‘er you to break up the bloody fight.”
“You’h out of ohduh, Hartcliffe,” snapped Hardy as he stepped
forward. “And if you don’t shut your mouth, maybe we can have a discussion?”
“About what?” drawled Hartcliffe.
“About the way you’ve been treatin’ yoah wife, for one thing. Yoah
pregnant wife, Mistuh.”
“We’ll ‘ave a talk about that another time, mate. I think I might
need to talk with both of you. You and
your surfer dude battle brother who wants to get into yer wife’s pants. Princess
ain’t good enough for ya, Dekesticks?”
“You son-of-a…” snapped Deke as he stepped forward.
Hardy stepped in between them to stop it as he said. “You two know
the rules! No fightin’ on the flight deck!”
“What were ya gonna do with
“Post out of heah, Hartcliffe,” snapped Hardy. “NOW.”
“Yes, sir,” said Hartcliffe. He acted like he was going to leave,
but then he turned back to Deke as Hardy glared at him. “Oh,
“Yeah?” snapped Deke as he fumed.
“We’ll talk later. About…”
“You mean me?” snapped a
young, controlled voice as everyone’s heads turned as Sasha, back in her
Midshipman’s blues, strode onto the flight deck.
Deke looked as he saw Sasha coming. He didn’t have a good feeling
about this, especially since, out of the corner of his right eye, he suddenly
caught a glimpse of Dawn, now in a regular white and red Medical uniform and
boots. She was standing behind Hardy.
In spite of his love for Sasha, the sight of Dawn still caused a
lump to rise up into his throat and his heart to tear in two.
Maintaining his composure though, Deke let out a sigh and said to
Hardy, “Congratulations, sir. The best man won.”
Still a little leery of this honesty as Dawn stared down Deke in a
guarded, neutral fashion, Hardy asked, “Deke? No hard feelin's?”
Deke shook his head and said, “No, Jeff. Not now.”
Hardy asked, “Sure you're not gonna bust me in the chops?”
Deke grinned and said, “Well, the thought did cross my mind…”
“Maybe I will see a fight after all,” snapped Hartcliffe as he
turned back to them.
“Hush!” snapped Hardy. “Or are ya deaf, Hartcliffe?”
“Hartcliffe,” growled
Hardy nodded and gave Deke a quick thumbs-up as Dawn looked very
concerned. What the hell am I doing here
in this nest of macho pilots in this stinky flight bay? Dawn thought. I love Jeff, but throw Deke in the mix here,
him and that damn smart-ass Anglian, and that Sasha, and things can get messy
in a hurry…
“Hardy, sir, back to what I was saying. What’s the point for a
fight here? I had Dawn, but you have Dawn now. And now, I’ve got Sasha…”
Sasha, who had slipped up behind him while he was saying this and
slipped her arms under his, purred with a smile, “Yeah, Deekee…”
They kissed, as the peanut gallery began to clap and applaud. Dawn
felt anger and embarrassment rising up in her as well, and she waked out of the
gantry bay where Hardy’s Tiger was, and
after walking over to Hardy, she said with a sheepish look, “Deke…”
“Yes?” said Deke in a non-committal fashion.
“Jeff and I …h ad a talk about this, Deke. I’m sorry I gave you
such a hard time below, today. I let my emotions run away with me. Sasha, I’m
sorry, too.”
“I’m sorry?” said Sasha. “You actually said…I’m sorry?”
“Yes, I did,” snapped Dawn as fire ran through her eyes for a
minute. “I may not want to have you over for dinner, yet, Sasha, but I’ve
realized that if Deke is big enough to let bygones be bygones, so am
“Thanks,” said Sasha as tears filled her eyes. To everyone’s
shock, they could see tears filling Dawn’s eyes, too, as the two women suddenly
ran towards each other and embraced.
The peanut gallery went “awww…” and some people applauded as Nova
came up, saw Sasha and Dawn hugging, and she threw herself into the group hug,
too.
“Good job, girls,” she whispered.
“We have to be together, ma’am,” said Dawn. “Why be enemies?”
“Yes…the enemy is out there in those Scorpions,” added Sasha.
“Great job,” said Nova.
Then, after the women broke their embrace, Dawn turned to Deke,
shocked him as she gave him a friendly pat on the hand, and said, “Deke,
considering the way you came aboard this ship, and considering the way I felt,
I’m sorry Jeff and I didn't just go ahead and let you know together when you
came aboard, but...”
Deke nodded at Dawn (finding it hard to believe they were having a
guarded but civil conversation for the first time in years) and replied, “Well,
actually, knowing me, I would've done the same thing…if I had been conscious
down there in Sickbay…and in my right mind. No more French-kissing Nova for me…”
Everyone there, Nova herself included, had a good-natured laugh
about that one as Nova grabbed his hands and said, “I’m your aunt-in-law,” said
Nova. “I’ll kiss you like a cousin, Deke, but…well…”
“What’s like a cousin, mean?” snorted Hartcliffe.
“You were ordered to leave this flight deck five minutes ago,”
snapped Hardy. “Get going!”
“Wait,” said Nova. “
Nova reached in and said, “Sasha, with your pemission, may I
demonstrate?”
Sasha smiled sheepishly and nodded as Nova gave Deke a quick and
chaste peck on the cheek. “Like this,
“Yeah…all too clear…you and yer beautiful balloon,” said
Hartcliffe as he patted Nova’s pregnant stomach under her gold and black
male-patterned uniform blouse and slacks and then ran off as fast as he could.
“That creep!!” yelled Nova.
“You’re telling me,” said Angie Hartcliffe as she came up with
tears in her eyes. “He thinks I’m repulsive now because I’m expecting! And he
told me that!”
Angie then began to cry as Nova held her and comforted her.
As
Hardy then turned to Deke and said, “Again, Deke…I’m sorry…Dawn and
I couldn’t figure out a good way to break this to yuh. I was hopin’ we could be
a bit more civil, but…”
Deke said, “Well, Jeff, no offense, but to be quite honest, until
a few hours ago, there wasn’t…”
Hardy grinned and said, “Well, timin’ is everything….”
Deke laughed and said, “Damn straight!”
“You still say that?”
said Dawn.
Deke nodded. “Uh-huh…”
Dawn then cut loose one of her toothy “had to be registered as a
deadly weapon” grins that she knew always got to Deke and she said, “Deke, you
still want to bash Jeff’s skull in, now, don’t you?”
Deke smiled back but said nothing.
Sasha frowned at him. “Deke?”
Dawn said, joking, “Remember, I know you, Deke
Deke grinned and nodded,
Dawn laughed, “I knew it!” she said.
Hardy’s grin disappeared. So did Sasha’s and Nova’s.
“DEKE!” cried Sasha, who looked very mad.
Deke looked at Sasha, sighed, and said, “Look…I know it’s
stupid….as long as I’ve got her,” he said as he hugged Sasha hard. “I don’t
need anyone else. But, my damn…all of this has happened so fast. Almost too
fast for me.” He looked at Nova and said, “My head is spinning like it was when
you picked me up off the grass at the landing strip yesterday…”
“Oh…is it that bad?” teased Nova. “Sasha, he’d better not confuse
me with you again,” said Nova as she made a playful, mock fist.
Sasha breathed a sigh of relief.
Dawn stepped back. “Deke, if you’re…uh…still not…uh..in your right
mind…”
Sasha chuckled. “Mrs. Hardy, give him a little bit of time to get
used to this…that’s all…”
“Amen to what she said,” added Deke as he kissed Sasha again.
Hardy looked at Deke. “So you’re not gonna bust in mah skull,
then?”
“Right,” said Deke.
“Good,” said Hardy. “That’s really good…considerin’ that youah
gonna be bringin’ the Trojans on board the ship for good in a week or two. We
have more planes arriving at the air base in a week when the spacecraft carrier
Shiryu gets here, and the Gamilons
are addin’ more forces, so Wildstah asked Priceman to reassign your Group to
the Argo as a second Flight Group.
Both you and me are gonna be Group Leaduhs on this ship, Little Brothah! That’s
why Sasha was trained to serve with you….she’ll be wearin’ two hats…as your RSO
and one of the radar officuhs on the First Bridge as our Missus, here, no
disrespect meant,” said Hardy as he pointed at Nova, “gets…bigger and has to
serve more time in Sickbay than on the bridge.” Hardy then said, “So, I hope
you won’t be bustin’ my skull up,
Deke laughed. “Hell no, Hardy. I’m in enough hot water as it is,
thank you very much. Adding ‘smashing in the skull of a superior officer’ to my
already bulging personnel jacket does not strike me as a wise career move…”
Dawn smiled at Deke. “You could declare diplomatic immunity,
Prince Wakefield, and go hide with Sasha in Queen Starsha’s palace.”
Deke said, “Me…living with Queen Starsha? Forget already, Dawn?”
Dawn looked sheepish. “Ooopss…sorry…forgot about that bit…should
have remembered how you feel about Starsha.”
Hardy looked puzzled as Dawn added, “I’ll explain later, Jeff.
When we go to bed.”
Nova smiled and sighed. “It’s starting to get late. Well, now that
this is over with, we can all get ready to get some sleep. Good night.”
At that, Nova left, signalling the end of the scene as Sasha smiled
at Deke and took him away by one arm.
“C’mon, Deke,” she said. “We’re going off together…”
“Where?” asked Deke as Sasha walked him past several Black Tiger
pilots.
“You’ll see. Nova allowed me to set up a little surprise, but we
have to steal some contraband first.”
“Contraband?” said Deke with his eyebrows up.
“Nova doesn’t know about that bit…c’mon,” said Sasha as she
dragged Deke out of there.
VII. SCENES
AROUND TANIQUITEL’E…
Planet
Iscandar
Another
Part of the Southern Coast of the Great Continent
Saturday
June 6, 2207: 2000 Hours Earth Space-Time
The environs of the sacred beach that Deke and Sasha had recently
played on were larger than Deke knew. Over one of the bluffs towards the southwest,
a small path cut into the bluffs made a gentle climb on a sandy path up the
heights to a slightly higher level. Deke and Sasha had never explored it, since
they had been too preoccupied with surfing and…other activities…while on the
sacred beach.
Their beach was just part of a wider sacred district known as Taniquitel, best translated into
Standard English as “Sanctuary Point”.
About two and four-tenths of a kilometer, or about a mile and a
half away from the place where Deke and Sasha had played, the beach widened a
little, and took a gradual drop towards a point in the topography of the Great
Continent where a little cove formed. The surf became tamer there, and the
little lagoon made a peaceful place for swimming or boating in the warm water for
those of a quieter disposition or those with small children. Sasha had
partially learned to swim in the lagoon there when very small.
A small villa semi-organically grown of crystal sat near a stand
of trees and grass on that beach, known as Taniquitel’e,
or “Sister of Taniquitel”. Four kilometers, or roughly two and a half miles to
the northeast, over the sands of Taniquitel’e and Taniquitel itself sat another
lagoon, with a beach there known as Taniquitel’ha
or “Brother of Taniquitel”. The whole little beach district, isolated from the
other beaches of the tip of the Great Continent by higher rocky bluffs to the
north and south, was maybe eight kilometers or 4.97 miles long from the
southern rocky bluff to the northern rocky bluff. Since all of the paths were
sandy up to the cliffs, a barefoot walker in even moderate shape could walk the
all of beaches in maybe two or three pleasant, sunny hours.
At the moment, the beach at Taniquitel’e and the villa there were
occupied by another young couple who had arrived by jet-boat for a twenty-four
hour liberty, practically at the orders of Doctor Sane, who had said, “Get some
rest!”
The occupants of the little house were also its owners, by virtue
of their honorary status on Iscandar, namely, Commodore Derek Wildstar and
Lieutenant Commander Nova Wildstar. Queen Starsha had granted them the little
home sometime in 2204 as a place for them to get away from it all when visiting
Iscandar. The cove made the place hard to see, even from the air, although it
was still actually less than twelve kilometers, mostly by water, away from
Derek and Nova had then agreed with Doctor Sane’s logic, and,
leaving the Argo (which needed some
minor repairs anyhow after they battle they had just been in) to Sandor, the
young parents-to-be packed a few things and requistioned one of the ubiquitous
Iscandarian jet-boats for a trip up the strait to Taniquitel’e.
After arriving there, Nova’s first job had been to get herself and
Derek into proper attire. In about twenty minutes, a slightly tired Commodore
had been stripped of his uniform by Nova and instead dressed down into a bright
red fundoshi she had made for him by
hand.
A fundoshi was a relaxed
traditional Japanese loincloth most often worn by men. It had been used as a
traditional undergarment up until the middle of the 20th century,
and it had still often been used as either festival wear (often with a happi coat) or swimwear. A fundoshi covered one’s delicate parts,
and was wound around the hips and the between buttocks like a thong bikini.
Young men usually wore them, but tomboyish young women were also known to wear
similar loincloths, often with a proper top of some kind. Young men and women
had even run around in such garments in cold weather to be silly, at places
such as the Sapporo Ice Festival.
A surfer dude like
Nova herself had slipped into a similar fundoshi bottom, in white. After having disappeared for a few
minutes, Derek observed her slinking playfully up to his back while he was
lying on the beach trying to calm his overactive mind. Then Nova came up with a
sweet come-hither look wearing nothing but her fundoshi and what she called a “top” made out of several artificial
leis worn over her bare breasts that she had hidden in a bureau during their
last trip here before the New Cometine War had started.
“Derek?” she purred in his ear. “Like the outfit?”
“Where’s your sarong?” he teased.
“I can’t go swimming or splashing in a sarong, silly,” said Nova
as she kissed the back of her husband’s head. She frowned at his topknot.
“Derek, can you lose the chomage
topknot?”
“I thought you liked it,” he said as he patted his samurai
topknot.
“You have it tied so tight that I’m afraid you may cut off
circulation to your brain, dear,” said Nova as she kissed the back of his head
and gently undid his chomage.
“There,” she said as she mussed his hair up. “That’s better…”
“Yes, Mom,” he said back as he shifted position onto his tush and
gave Nova a kiss. Then, he ran his fingers over her swollen stomach. “How are
they doing tonight?” said Derek with a smile.
Nova got up onto her knees in the sand as she giggled a little.
“Kicking around slightly,” she said in a soft voice. “Alex is the one who kicks
more in there. Just like his namesake, your brother. Ariel is the one who is
quieter except when she wants to let you know
she’s there,” added Nova. “Remember the last ultrasound? We could even see
their faces better then. It looks like Alex has your nose, Derek.”
“And it looked like Ariel has your eyes, Nova, from what we could
see of the shape of her little eyelids,” said Derek sweetly. “I think I saw she
already has her Mommy’s pretty eyelashes…and when we saw her chest..”
“We saw a little nipple,” giggled Nova.
“Just like her mommy’s,” said Derek as he sweetly shifted Nova’s
lei aside a little for a look at her left breast. Then, Nova’s eyes closed as
Derek gently kissed her breast.
“mmmmm,” she said softly. “If you keep on doing that, you’re going
to have to get me on that towel,” she said in a sweet voice.
“That’s the idea,” purred Derek as he locked lips with his pretty
wife.
“And, I’m going to have to try being on my hands and knees,” said
Nova as she got into a very relaxed semi push-up position. “We can’t exactly do
the deed in the usual position; my little tummy bulge would be
squished…but…expecting has made me…made me want you all the more. You touch me,
it drives me mad for you.”
“Not hard on a nice soft towel,” said Derek as he got up and
coaxed his wife towards the soft beach towel in pink. Then, he knelt, kissed
her lips, and then kissed her neck.
Nova kissed him back, running one hand down his firm stomach, and
making him chuckle as she found his navel. Then, as Derek began kissing her
shoulder and armpit, Nova found his fundoshi,
grabbed him by one of the wrapped thongs at his otherwise naked hip, and she
then pulled the fundoshi down. Just a
little.
She smiled when she saw his face turn just a little pink as she
said, “Can’t wait, can you?”
“Looking at you like that is driving me crazy,” said Derek. “Can I
drive you crazy right back?”
“How?” said Nova innocently.
Derek reached down a little lower as he shifted position. The
force of gravity had effectively rendered Nova unashamedly topless as her leis
hung down. A small shift, and one of Nova’s naked breasts was sweetly cupped in
his hand. He then used his other hand to relieve her of her leis altogether,
kissing his way down her flank and ribs to her pregnant tummy, and then over to
her own almost-naked hip in her fundoshi.
Before Nova could react, Derek was at her bottom, kissing her
almost bare bottom and caressing her in a sweet way as he tenderly pulled her fundoshi down to her knees, baring his
wife’s most delicate parts to the sunset. He teased her and kissed her for a
long while until she began to practically mew, and then he kissed his way down
her thigh, to the back of her knee, and down her calf to her ankle and the bare
sole of her foot as he stripped his young bride utterly nude. Nova gasped and
giggled as Derek paused and then kissed her toes, running his way up her other
leg on the other side, back over the back of her knee, up her thigh, and back
to her bottom as she gasped, “Derek, did you take your fundoshi off yet?”
“You’ll find out,” he purred as his fingers found her most
delicate spot again and sent her to heaven. Right when Nova was about to have a
nuclear explosion, Derek gently but firmly took her just as Nova could tell by
feel he had joined her in his birthday best as he playfully waved his fundoshi before her eyes for a minute..
She exploded around him, adding to their mutual love, joy, and pleasure as her
body responded to his, and she gasped and called his name again and again as
their dance went on with his hands tenderly cupped over her breasts.
Nova shut her eyes and shook her head as Derek brought her to
heaven again, weeping with happiness as he brought sweet tears to her eyes and
made her toes curl. Then, he cried out as Nature took its course for him and
white light blasted through his mind. For a minute, the Argo, the war, Invidia, and their fears didn’t exist for Derek; all
that existed for the Commodore was their love and the sight of his beautifully
naked wife big with their children inside her.
That
Hartcliffe is such an ass! Derek thought as he rode
the waves of pleasure as Nova writhed sweetly under him. Making fun of Nova and his own wife. If he’d go to bed with his wife,
he’d find that his own wife, swelling with life, is one of the most beautiful
sights in the world.
When they were done, they fell down in a heap on the towel and
kissed as they caught their breath.
“How do you feel now, Derek?” said Nova.
“Great. How about you?”
“I managed to forget the war for an eternity with you,” said Nova.
Then, she surprised him as she said, sweetly but with conviction, “Bugger this war! We have our jobs, but
so little time together,” she said with a sob.
“I’d rather bugger something else,” said Derek.
“What?” cooed Nova.
“You,” he whispered in her ear.
“I knew you’d say that,” Nova whispered back. At that, they
cuddled and listened to the waves.
“When did you get changed?” Sasha said to Deke a few minutes later
as
On the Argo, as Deke
kissed her, he said, “Hardy took care of it. He wanted to make things up to
me.”
“For what?” said Sasha.
“For the Dawn thing…”
Sasha huffed. “And you didn’t notice I’m wearing your favorite
jacket and skirt,” said Sasha as she twirled around on her toes like a
ballerina in her boots.
Deke kissed her and said, “I should have noticed. Sorry.”
“Dawn
off the brain, Deekee,” whispered
Sasha. “Sasha on the brain.”
“With you dressed like that,
who can resist you?” he said as he kissed her and then took her into his arms.
At that, an image of Iscandar and Earth joined ran through Sasha’s
mind and spirit as she thought, Deke, I
never want to leave you again. Never! I always want to be with you! Always!
Deke thought, If anyone
tries to pry us apart, I swear, they are dead. Dead. Dead. DEAD! I belong to
Sasha. She belongs to me.
Sasha smiled and shut her eyes, almost wanting to cry as Deke held
her, smiling sweetly. How could I have
doubted him? Sasha thought. He loves
me too much. I can feel it. Thanks to Destiny that he didn’t permanently
scramble his brains with that damned plane almost falling on top of him like
that! Bad plane! Bad Diamond Girl! You almost took Deekee away from me!
They cuddled in Sickbay, doing a little dance near Deke’s abandoned
bed and thinking of surfing together and other things that involved warm,
kindly water until Sasha grabbed his hands. “Now, back to looking for that contra-band,” whispered Sasha. “Doctor
Sane keeps it in a locked cabinet.”
Artwork: “Deke and Sasha” ©
2007 by Tim Eldred. Used with Permission.
“What is it you want so badly?” said Deke.
“Mushrooms,” said Sasha in a sweet voice.
“Mushrooms?” retorted Deke, almost wanting to laugh. “Why are mushrooms contraband?”
“They are if they come from Titan,” whispered Sasha. “They are
called Aminita Titania, to be exact,
in Latin. Parts of them are poisonous.Other parts….are lovely….”
“I don’t know much about mushrooms except that you put them in
your spaghetti or on top of a steak or salad,” said Deke. “And poisoned
mushrooms are not my cup of tea…”
“These are special mushrooms,
and you only eat certain parts” sang Sasha. “Nova and Doctor Sane keep them
locked up except for when they’re doing yucky lab work with them in test tubes
for this goofy medical journal article they’ve been writing ever since before I
was born. Once upon a time, before you came into the picture, I was a bad girl.
I used to spy on Auntie Nova and Uncle Derek when I was a young girl. I had a crush on Uncle Derek then. I was the
rough equivalent of thirteen then. Maybe eight or nine real months old.
Thirteen years old is a dangerous age for a little girl, Deekee. That is when a
girl realizes she is becoming a woman. And I wanted Uncle to look at me and forget
about old boring Auntie Nova. ”
“You told me about that. That’s weird,” said Deke. “Stop thinking
of Uncle! Forget! Forget!”
“I followed Auntie Nova and Uncle Derek around trying to find a
way to break them up so I could have Uncle to myself for a bit. It passed, but
I was very bad…and my spying took me to funny places.” Sasha smiled as she
said. “One night, in their villa here on Iscandar, when they thought I was
asleep and I was staying over, I once watched Auntie Nova kissing Uncle. And
more. Through a keyhole in their little villa south of the sacred beach once…”
“What?” whispered Deke. “This sounds weird. You’re scaring me, Sasha. What did you see Uncle Derek doing
to Auntie Nova?”
“Trying to make her pregnant. They had no clothes on,” said Sasha
in all innocence.
“What?” said Deke.
“I watched them and kept real quiet”
said Sasha. “Auntie Nova was feeding Uncle Derek funny little pieces of
mushrooms. They made all sorts of funny noises and began to laugh like crazy.
Then, after they were done being mushy,
and they fell asleep, I snuck into the room and stole Auntie Nova’s diary and
read it.”
“You little sneak,” said
Deke.
“In her diary, Nova said they made her all funny. Her handwriting went goofy.
She had all sorts of goofy words in the book, and she had lots of fun, she
said. I then learned what an a-ph-ro-dai-si-ac is.”
“How did you know what that meant as a girl?” said Deke.
“I grew up very quickly and had a dictionary on my computer,” said
Sasha. “I grew up quickly in all sorts of ways. I stole a teeny piece of the
mushroom and ate it. I thought Uncle might wake up and finally realize I was
cute and dump Auntie Nova. They didn’t wake up. But I did. Boy did I wake up,”
said Sasha as she gave a cute, wide smile. “I went all funny. And I went to
bed.”
“What did you do?” said Deke.
“Guess,” smiled Sasha.
“I don’t want to,” said Deke.
“I thought about this for years, Deke. I think it’d be more fun if
we tried mushrooms once. ‘Funky Fungi’, I called them in my diary. I put Auntie
Nova’s diary back, by the way. She never knew I was reading it. But I kept
something in my diary.”
“What?”
“When I looked through that keyhole, I had a little digital
camera, Deke. I took pictures. Of Uncle with Auntie. If I ever need to
blackmail Auntie Nova, I have all the right pictures,” she said brightly.
“You’re horrible,” said Deke. “How are you opening what you said
was a locked cabinet?”
Sasha then pulled a key out of an inner pocket. “When Auntie Nova
got all mad before and threw her wet dress in the corner and called Dawn all
sorts of bad names, I picked her dress up. This was in the pocket. She forgot
all about it, poor dear,” said Sasha as she held up a little key. “Two
mushrooms. That’s all we’ll need. Then, we’ll boogie out of here!”
“Sasha, this sounds like fun, but you get dangerous when you let
your imagination run away with you…”
“And don’t you just love it?” whispered Sasha as she kissed Deke
again. “Off we go…”
Twenty-five minutes later, mission accomplished, Deke and Sasha were
in a jet-boat they had innocently requisitioned, and they were heading across
the strait back to Taniquetil.
Sasha was playing some surf music on the sound system, while
laughing with her now-bare feet up on the boat’s dashboard. She was otherwise still
very decent in her outfit, although the wind was whipping her hair around
something fierce.
Before long, in the dusk, the beach beckoned as Deke docked the
boat at the same dock they had left from the other day; what was it…just less
than a week ago? It was a week that
seemed like an eternity, Deke thought. One
whole week of “you can look at Sasha but no touch.” Hah! Bullcrap! Now, this
man’s flying frustration tour is over! And now…
Sasha dragged Deke back onto the sacred beach, carrying a beach
towel and the little jar of the Funky Fungi.
Sasha pulled off her jacket and scarf, leaving her in just her
skirt and white blouse as Deke got rid of his boots and then began to kiss her.
Deke laughed as Sasha fed him a bit of mushroom, and then he did likewise
to Sasha.
“Now, how does this stuff work?” asked Deke, relieved to discover
he was not dying…
“The mushroom,”
purred Sasha. “It…is very effective in releasing the desires of the
subconscious and dealing with delusions. It does so by, paradoxically, causing
the subject to deal with repressed fears and emotions, and moderating them. It
has an inhibition-lowering, wish-fulfilling, and aphrodisiac effect.”
“You’re wicked,”
laughed Deke, whose head was beginning to go…funny. Really funny.
A few minutes later, Deke was running his hands all over the
nape of Sasha’s neck under her hair as she fiddled with his uniform shirt while
they sat on their beach towel. Deke was finishing another small piece of the
funky fungi just as Sasha got his shirt open.
He opened Sasha’s blouse a moment later. Deke was pleasantly
surprised to see that Sasha had on no bra. The sight of her naked breasts drove
him wild. A moment later, he began to undo her skirt.
He touched her hip, and found only a bare, soft hip where he
should have found panties. “Deekee?” giggled Sasha as she felt funny and weird.
“How do you like my undies?”
“Sasha, you ain’t wearin’ underwear,” said Deke. “Holy
moley!”
She laughed and said, “Deke, help get me out of this skirt,”
she said as she pulled down his pants a bit. “I’m getting hot..”
Deke kissed Sasha, and helped her to her feet as her skirt
slid down her legs to her toes in a whisper of cloth. Sasha daintily stepped
out of the skirt and jumped back into Deke’s arms, in nothing but her hair and
her skin.
Deke began to make funny growling noises Sasha pulled off
his black and gold Flight Group slacks. .
“Why are you growling?” asked the now-nude Sasha as she
threw Deke back on the towel. She was trying to keep control of herself because
one of Deke’s hands had gone right for her nipple while the other one had found
her crotch and was busy teasing her exposed anatomy with a speed that both
exhilarated and frightened her a little; and which added to her excitement.
“I’m a Trojan, Dawn,” he growled. “I’m a Trojan who wants to capture and ravage
his Helen. A Tiger who wants to mate…”
“Well, you’ve gotta make me
feel good first,” said Sasha as she got rid of Deke’s pants and boxers, leaving
him naked from the waist down in just his open Flight Group blouse and
undershirt. “I’ll do the same for you. And it sure looks like you, my Deekee,
are ready,” she said as she toyed with his pride; a pride which was at
attention as soon as Deke’s boxer shorts had come off.
“Okay, Sasha,” said Deke. “I’m gonna have you screaming when
this is over…”
“Great,” panted Sasha. She began to moan as she caressed
Deke’s side with her thigh while she teased his pride.
“I needed this, Sasha,” he moaned. “It feels like I haven’t
been with you in years, baby…years…a week
feels like years! Time is out there! Someplace! Time! Hahahahaha!”
“I…needed…this…too, Deke,” gasped Sasha, whose passionate
moans, fluttering eyelids, deep breathing, and curling toes were in no way
feigned. She was enjoying this. Sasha was being driven quite insane by his
attentions. And, judging by the look on Deke’s face, so was he…
More time passed. They trashed around on the towel some more
in a timeless, sexy haze as Sasha finally succeeded in stripping Deke of
everything. She had her first orgasm crying out on the towel a few minutes
later as Deke attacked her with his mouth like a maniac. She made him explode a
moment later (in a very messy fashion) and she was pleased when, as they
cuddled, he began to respond to her ministrations again.
“Now, what do you want to do, Sasha?” he said with very
glassy eyes.
“Let’s do the deed now,” said Sasha as she lay on her back
in front of Deke. Deke kissed her like crazy, and then he flexed up her knees.
Then, he half lifted her as he entered her body with a deep gentleness, and
then, a forcefulness that made Sasha shut her eyes and bite her own fingertips
with passion as a crazed Deke ran his hands up and over her stomach, her
breasts, her navel, all of her.
Both of them enjoyed this very, very much….and, so it went on throughout the evening, and into the
night…
Morning came sleepily to the sacred beach district.
In their villa, Derek, who had gotten a little better at
making breakfast in close to six years of being married to Nova.
Derek had learned some things when she had been peeved over his cooking…and had
thrown things at him in the past. Now, the Commodore was up finishing some
pancakes while Nova was singing in the shower. He had on only EDF boxer
skivvies and a battered t-shirt.
I hope you like these, he thought as he
got finished making what were actually some respectable (although rather oddly
shaped) pancakes. He served them up with artificial soy sausage just as Nova
came out drying her hair. She had on only a pink fundoshi with three or four white leis barely covering her breasts.
“Good, you made a lot,” purred Nova.
“Sit down and eat,” said Derek as he pulled Nova’s chair
back for her while she smiled at him.
Nova smiled back and began to sample the pancakes after
adding plenty of syrup and margarine. “These are good,” she said. She smiled as she ate her soy sausage. “Thank you,
Derek! I’m eating for three now, and…well..this covers
us. For quite a few hours.”
“You look a little pale this morning, Nova,” said Derek. “Is
anything wrong?”
Nova’s happy face turned sad. She nodded slowly. “There is
something wrong. But you didn’t cause it, Derek. Those
dreams. Those damned dreams. They’re coming back again.”
“The ones…?”
“The ones where I lose the babies,” she said softly. “But
there’s a new wrinkle. I think in this wrinkle, the babies are born dead or
dying. But, in this nightmare…giving birth to them is killing me.”
“Nova, that’s not going to happen!”
said Derek as he held her hands. “Is it?”
“There is a very slim, very small chance of that happening
with any live birth, Derek,” Nova sighed. “Doctor Sane told me I have a
somewhat narrow pelvis. Delivery could be a little difficult. He said the
pelvic bones should shift in their ligaments more than enough to allow a normal
birth…unless there is a problem and there is a breech birth.”
“That’s not lkely!” protested Derek.
“It is a very slight possibility,” sighed
Nova. “In my nightmare, it was a breech birth…for Alex. He was sort of grey,
not breathing well. I think he was dying. Then, he twisted inside me, and they
had to use forceps, and then…”
“What?”
“I began to hemmorhage in the dream. It was a sea of blood.
Worse, far worse, than the usual amount of blood you see in a birth. It was
aterial blood, coming out of me with every beat of my heart in a spurt. They
were trying to do what I can, but I was getting very weak. And I was naked, the
way I think I’ll be when I give birth…and my skin was going very pale all over.
I was beginning to go into shock…and, that’s when I woke up, pulled off the
sheet, looked down at my nude body, and touched myself and realized I wasn’t
having the babies after all. Yet.”
Nova then came to Derek, kenlt by his lap, and began to cry
softly.
“Nova, before that happens, we’d give you a Caesarian birth. We have a good
Sickbay on the Argo, and Doctor Sane
would care for you, and…”
“I was having the baby in the grass here on Iscandar, by the
cats, by the cemetery,” said Nova as she sobbed. “And they had a grave dug for
me already. And HE was there. Ekogaru. The Dark Man with no face. I had no idea what he
looked like. He was a shadow of a man with red eyes and a gleaming smile like a
crocodile. He was, and is, alive…grinning like a maniac…and
he had a twisted coat hanger, and he was saying…”
“What?”
“’I helped Yvona have my son, Nova…the one you and Sasha and
she killed’,” he said. Nova shivered and said. “Then, he said, ‘It’s your turn next,
Nova. And when you’re done, your body will be food for worms on Iscandar.’”
“Nova, that won’t happen! I think the war will be over by
your due date in September,” said Derek. “You might be delivering them on
Earth. I had a dream, too,” he said. “Like to hear it?”
Nova nodded.
“It was in a funny place; the roof of a hospital. Not
Central Hospital in the Megalopolis, but a hospital in another city; the North
American West Coast, with the way I see the sunset shining against the ocean. Maybe
Nova smiled a little at that. “And then?”
“I’m there; Sasha is there, Dawn is there, Deke Wakefield is
there, Bryan Hartcliffe and IQ-9 are there. You are in a stretcher capsule,
holding two little bundles in your arms under blankets with your bare shoulders
above them. It is drizzling just a little, and it is a very warm night. You
hear cheers in the city below us, and fireworks are going off in the night,
flashing in your eyes, and in the babies’ eyes.
I think a great celebration is going on. And there is a little new star
in the sky, off where Pluto is. You ask us to open the capsule. We do. You
smile while little Ariel coos against your bare breast under the blanket. Both
of you have a little warm rain on your skin. It smells like the ocean. You’re a
tired but very happy new mother. And you’re even talking about having more
babies.”
“What does it all mean?” said Nova.
“A tradition on Earth, you know, is that we only have
fireworks at night when we are celebrating a victory, or when there is a new
victory. I think my dream is what might happen, Nova.” He grabbed her hands and
smiled as tears ran down his cheeks. “I don’t think we have much to worry
about. We have some rough months ahead, but I think we make it. I think…we’re
going to win the war, Nova. And I think Earth will be a much better place when
the war is over.”
“Thank you, Derek,” said Nova. At that, she kissed him.
They cuddled for a long time as the morning wore on; for
them, it was a moment of reassurance…of hope..of
peace.
The morning held a promise of new life. Nova hoped that that
was the way it would go…
TO BE CONTINUED…
To Return to the Introduction to The New Comet, click here