ALTERNATE
TALES OF THE STAR FORCE
STAR
BLAZERS—RADNAR’S GAME
Being the
sixth part of THE NEW COMET--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz
This Act is being completed
with the Cooperation and Assistance of Derek A.C. Wakefield (as usual)---Freddo
ACT ONE: A
DARK NEW YEAR
I. THE
BATTLES AT PLANET POGI
The Edge of
the Great Magellenic Cloud
The Pogi System
200
Lightyears from the Sanzar System
Wednesday,
January 21, 2207
1600 Hours:
Earthtime
Dagon’s fleet had expanded, and it was currently protecting the rebuilt
Gamilon base on the dusty desert world of Pogi where
Lysis had once made his hiding place.
Lysis was long gone, now. Dagon had taken his place, and he was fighting
hard against a Cometine offensive that seemed to come back in another wave
every few days.
It was a maddening sort of war.
Every time that the Gamilons thought they had a respite, the Cometines
had been coming back.
But now, Dagon noticed, the Cometines had not been there for…roughly ten
days.
“There’s been no sign of the enemy?” said Desslok as he communicated with
Dagon’s flagship, the saucer-like command ship Pentrava.
“None, sir. They seem to have broken off their attack that day and they
left.”
“Do you have an explanation why?”
“We picked up a signal from the Andromeda region that came to them in
code. My men are still trying to decode and interpret it.”
“Very well,” said Desslok. “Let me know as soon as you find out an
answer. It is important that we know why we have been able to enjoy…a respite
from the war.”
Dagon saluted and cut off.
II. DAWN’S
DILEMNA
Medical
Boat 21107
The Procyon
Region
Tuesday,
February 17, 2207
1600 Hours:
Earthtime
Dawn Westland was flying a medical boat from a pickup from the Procyon
listening post to the Argo, where an
injured Marine would require treatment.
She was co-pilot of the boat, and was actually flying it; the boat’s
actual pilot and commander, however, was Lieutenant Bryan Hartcliffe.
“We’re on course,” she said to Hartcliffe as she worked the boat’s
control stick in its cockpit. “We should be back home in twenty minutes.”
“I ‘ave a complaint about you,” said
Hartcliffe. “And I’m talkin’ with Doctor Sane about it when we land.”
“What?” snapped Dawn.
“You’re not like the other nurses. You’re weird. How come yer not carryin’ a bloody Astro-Automatic, luv?”
“Sir, my name is not “luv”. It is Ensign Westland!”
“Well, then, Ensign, where’s yer damn weapon? If we got shot at, yer
think I’m gonna defend yer weird
butt?”
Dawn shook her head and glared at this grinning baboon of a Black Tiger
pilot. “Sir! With all respect… I am a nurse,
not a soldier! I will not take
another person's life! Get it?”
“Getting’ cocky, aren’t we?” snapped the pilot
in that maddening Scouse accent that made him sound like he was talking through
his nose. “Listen. Every EDF nurse in the Fleet I’ve known ‘as carried a
sidearm and ‘as a brain. Even Mrs. Pregnant Frozen Food flavor o’ the Month on
the ship has a sidearm they put ‘er to sleep with. She’s got that damn balloon,
granted. So she’s ‘alf crazy, but you’re really
daft!”
“I am not daft!”
snapped Dawn. “World Health Organization nurses and officers are not under any
mandate to carry sidearms while on duty. EDF fleet people, yes. Us, no.”
“You need to wear one,” said Hartcliffe. “We’ll
discuss this on the ship, luv.”
“Fine,” snapped Dawn. She turned her head
towards her panel and refused to talk to Hartcliffe for the next twenty
minutes.
After they had taken their patient to Sickbay, Dawn sighed as she leaned
against a bulkhead and noticed Hartcliffe arguing with Doctor Sane.
“I’m tellin’ yer, sir, she’s looney. Doesn’t carry an astro-automatic,
and won’t carry one. What kind of
flight nurse is that?” snapped Hartcliffe.
“One who is doing what she was trained to do,” snapped Sane. “She is
serving with us, but is under a different set of regulations and a different
mandate. Besides, she is not even qualified to carry one, the issue from Miss
Akers not withstanding. She just keeps her weapon in
her cabin now and said she’ll only use it in a boarding situation. The World
Health Organization does not qualify people on those weapons, Hartcliffe. If
you see her in dress uniform, she does not even have a qualification badge like
we have in the Fleet!”
“So, she’s a civilian?” said Hartcliffe. “And we have to protect her?”
“Her job, 24/7, is to be a nurse. Not a soldier!” barked Sane. “If that
means you have to have eyes in the back of your head, then do your damn job,
Hartcliffe!”
“Never ‘ad to do this crap for Nova,” snapped Hartcliffe. “She’s weird
herself, but at least she’s one of
the guys and carries a sidearm and
knows how to use it. When she’s not sleepin’ on the
job like a frozen dinner, that is!”
“You idiot! There is a difference between an EDF nurse and a WHO nurse! I
suggest you read up on those regs and write me a thousand-word essay and come
back with it in five days! If you can even write, that is!”
“Yessir,” said Hartcliffe as he saluted and walked off cursing to
himself.
“Sir,” said Dawn as she looked at Sane. “Maybe I should start carrying
that…”
“You will not, unless you choose to!” said Sane. “You are doing the right
thing,
“Yessir,” said Dawn as she saluted. “And…sir?” she said.
“Yes?” said Sane as he popped the cork on a bottle of his “Spring Water”.
“Thanks.”
III.
REPORTS FROM THE FRONT
The
Vicinity of Planet Petronia
The Eritz Gatlantis
Tuesday,
February 17, 2207
1620 Hours:
Earthtime
On the Eritz Gatlantis, Dyre
stood at attention before Princess Invidia, reading off a number of
intelligence reports.
“It is that bad?” snapped Invidia.
“You wanted us to focus on the Gamilon base at Pogi
and the new Gamilon/Terran joint base on Balan that is being built. We have
forces that can do a little there, but we have been tied down at Bulgandis and at the Black Fox Nebula for the past few weeks.
Radnar’s forces…”
“Radnar,” sniffed Invidia. “He is a fanatic we cast out years ago. I am
surprised you are having this much trouble with him. Why can’t Gernitz get his
main fleet?”
“He has equal firepower, and you said we were not to lose the dreadnought
Devastation under any circumstances.
Radnar also has a Dreadnought.”
“And?”
“We lost a battleship squadron to him today near the Magna Star Cluster.
His conquests are hitting the heart of our territorial space, Princess.”
“No!” hissed Invidia. “This is an outrage! Where was his Dreadnought last
spotted?”
“At the edge of the Black Fox Nebula. The Black Nebulans have been slowly
rebuilding ever since a disaster caused by means that we are still trying to
ascertain wiped out Planet Dezarium over five years ago. The Nebulans’ forces
are apparently under the command of an Admiral Vilzer,
who had declared himself Lord of what remains of their race.”
“Vilzer would still be under our command, then.
Order him to have a fleet ready to engage Radnar’s Dreadnought if it is seen in
the area. Maybe he can be useful to us.”
“Yes, Princess.”
At the same time, the Argo was
making a report to the Commander.
“So, Wildstar,” said the Commander. “You have learned from the Gamilons
that the war had mostly gone quiet?”
“Yessir,” said Derek from the Argo’s
closed Communications Room. “Desslok reported to us in his last communication
that they had a period of intense fighting in January that included attacks
upon his base worlds, and an attack upon our joint fighter base on Iscandar
around
“Does he know why?”
“He was a bit vague, but he said that they received intelligence that
Invidia’s forces may be at war with another race of some type. Desslok is not
sure who it is.”
“Hmmm,” said the Commander as he put his chin in his hand. “We have
recently received a request from the Iscandarian Government through Astra that
the Defense Council is considering...”
“What would the Iscandarians want?” said Wildstar. “It would be important
for us to help them.”
“I’m not at liberty to say, yet, Wildstar. Stand fast and be ready for
anything until we talk again,” said the Commander.
“Yessir,” said Wildstar as the screen wewnt
black.
In his office, Singleton thought, I
think we will have to replenish our forces on Iscandar soon. Astra reported to
me that they were in danger, particularly because of a new type of fighter
plane seen with the regular Cometine ships in the last strike upon Iscandar in
January. However, I can’t tell Wildstar anything until the Defense Council
clears it…
Three days later, on the 20th Corporal Mick Stovall was
surprised to find himself on the move again as he left the Tokyo Megalopolis on
an ocean-going troop carrier ship.
First of all, he was no longer a Corporal. Due solely to his time in
grade, he had been promoted to Sergeant in the early part of the month.
Stovall was being assigned to a new platoon in
Stovall had heard scuttlebutt that three platoons had bought it trying to
secure the same area. For the first time in his miserable life, he was truly
scared.
I wonder, he thought, if they’re sending me
down here to
Stovall rubbed the Sphere for comfort. It upset him that Ekogaru had been
keeping quiet for the past few days. He wondered where he had gone, and he was
beginning not to care.
IV. LIFE
GOES ON
Space
Battleship Argo
The Procyon
Region
Thursday,
February 26, 2207
2000 Hours:
Earthtime
In the meantime, on the Argo, Dawn soon found
herself becoming ever more attracted to Hardy.
Dawn’s prejudice against fighter pilots passed
away the more she was with Hardy.
Dawn found, as she talked with Hardy more and
more, that he had a strong, warm, peace loving nature underneath his soldier's
face.
He’s kind, she thought as they sat
in the wardroom for one of their many meetings that day. He’s out here fighting, he carries his weapon, he flies his plane…but,
he doesn’t like it so much, she thought as she looked at him and
smiled. He’s not like Deke, with a hunger
for vengeance, he’s…
“Jeff,” she whispered as she held hands with
him. “You’re different.”
“Different from whom?” he said.
“Different from someone I knew once. It’s a long
story…and we agreed not to look at our pasts too much. You said yours was too
painful…”
Hardy nodded. “I lost someone like you once in
my life. We were very close during the Rikashan War. But, she…”
“She what?”
Dawn looked at Hardy and saw, to her shock, that
a tear was running down Jeff’s cheek. “Mio was killed. That was her name. Mio.
And now you know why I don’t like talking about her much…”
“I’m sorry, Jeff,” said Dawn as she squeezed
Hardy’s hand and smiled at him. “Tell me about
“My parents have a nice spread there; nice big
farm. I’d love you to go there with me someday…I’d love for you to meet them.
Did you say your father died?”
Dawn nodded sadly. “The Gamilon War. My mom’s
all I have left. She lives in an apartment complex in
“
Dawn nodded. “It’s near this park where this new
river was developed after the planet bombings after
“It sounds nice..”
The doors whirred open, and Stephen Sandor came
in with Diane Henson. He smiled at Diane and whispered, “Guess who’s at table
number five again?”
“Why am I not surprised?” whispered Diane with a
smile. She had been spending more time with Sandor herself lately, and was
discovering that the quiet, serious science officer had quite a few interesting
stories to tell about himself; if one could draw him out, that is.
While
“It’s him again,” sighed Sandor. “I’m not
surprised at that, either…”
Diane and Steve then sat down quietly as they
watched Derek Wildstar stirring his coffee and looking into the cup.
“Hi,” said Diane, who didn’t know what else to
say. “It’s us, sir…”
“Oh?” said Wildstar as he looked at Sandor and
Henson with little emotion on his face. “That’s nice. Alone again, sorry…”
“Wildstar,” said Sandor. “Feel like talking?” He
guessed he probably wouldn’t. He could see Derek had the same look on his face
that his brother Alex Wildstar got when he was very depressed.
“Not really, Steve,” sighed Wildstar. “I was
just in Sickbay. I think you know where I was…”
“Wildstar…we’re getting closer to the end of our
deployment, you know,” said Sandor. “Things are changing…I hope that Hardy
isn’t…”
“Him and that nurse?” sighed Derek. “Sandor,
she’s WHO, he’s EDF. They don’t need any kind of waiver, and they’re not
violating any regulations. And that’s not whom I’m worried about…”
“Nova’s going to be all right,” said Henson
quietly as she hesitantly squeezed her ex-boyfriend’s hands. “So will your
children. You’ll see…”
“How do you know, Diane…?”
“You’ve found something very special with Nova,”
said Diane. “I’ve really come to think that even though you and I had a very
bad split years ago, I’ve come to believe that Destiny was saving you for Nova.
I think you had a second chance…”
Derek nodded. “Probably too much info, but…well,
we were together, Diane. Nova was different. She had never been serious about
anyone before me, she…”
“Hate to ask,” said Diane. “Was she…?”
“She was,” said Wildstar quickly. “And our first
time together was our wedding night. No offense, Diane, it’s…”
“What we went through was water way under the
bridge,” said Diane. “I…”
Then, Brittany Forrester, the Argo’s new Living Group Leader, bopped
into the wardroom and sat down at their table without being invited. Steve and
Diane looked at each other and sighed. They guessed this would drive Derek away
very quickly.
“Brittany,” said Derek. “I don’t feel much like
talking tonight. I’m sorry.”
“Well, I am planning a party for the end of the
month,” said Brittany as she laughed.
“But we don’t have anything to celebrate,” said
Wildstar. “And, we don’t really have any resources we can waste, and…”
“Brittany!” sang another Living Group Ensign as
she ran in. “You said you had an e-mail to show me?”
“Sure do,” laughed Brittany. “It’s this guy,
Mike…he’s on the Courageous, and he’s
been writing to me. He’s so cute!” laughed Brittany. “Excuse me, sir,” said Brittany
as she nodded at Derek and saluted.
“Forrester!” snapped Wildstar. “I need those
reports for our meeting tomorrow morning. I need the advance text an hour
beforehand at 1100 sharp!”
“Oh, those,” laughed Brittany. “They’ll be there
in your mailbox before we stand in that big circle before noon, sir. And why do
we stand there in that dumb circle again?”
“So we can see the deck screen!” snapped
Wildstar. “Things show up on there that are important, you know. Get to work on
that report, Lieutenant!”
“Yessir,” said Brittany as she clicked her
heels. “Off we go!”
Brittany walked away with her friend, giggling
like a schoolgirl as she left.
“Well, she didn’t get the brains in that
family,” snapped Wildstar after she was gone. “That’s for damn sure.”
“Didn’t you say she grew up with her?” said
Sandor.
“Yeah, Nova told me that. She also told me that
not that much of her rubbed off on her orphan cousin. Now, I’m seeing she was
right. Damn, Becker was a better officer than that.”
“I think that you have her held to a high
standard,” said Henson.
“If I do, is that a problem?” snapped Derek.
“Excuse me, guys. I think I need to be up in my cabin for a while with this.
See you later, Steve…”
Sandor nodded at Derek as he left. Then, Diane
said, “How long has he been like that?”
“Since last October. What do you think?” said
Sandor as Wildstar left. “Part of the problem is…he’s a good officer, good kid
and all, but…part of his heart is in that sleep tube. With Nova.”
“What if she doesn’t survive that operation?”
whispered Diane.
“Then God help us all,” said Sandor. “God help
the universe….”
At that, Diane Henson could only nod.
To
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