ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE
STAR BLAZERS---RAGNAROK
Being the eleventh and final part of
THE RIKASHA INCIDENT--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz
ACT SIX: THE LAST CHORD
I. THE FINAL CONFRONTATION
Space Battleship Argo
Earth's Solar System
Wednesday April 28, 2202
1639 Hours
On the Argo, Derek
Wildstar sat in grim, sad silence, looking at Nova’s still form, trying to keep
from crying, and, last of all, looking over their wedding album pictures,
trying to remember the good times that they had experienced, and trying to
remember the sweet things, and not the pain they had been through over the past
few days…
Then, Nova abruptly sat up.
"Derek!" she
said.
"Nova, you're
back!"
"Yes, sweetheart, I'm
back. We’ve won!" said Nova as she hugged Derek.
"Sweetheart? That's a new one. You never call me
that, Nova!"
"Well, can't you say
something new?" said Nova. "Behold. The lights in the Fortress are
dimming, verily, verily…" she said as she raised a hand. "I think
that we are close to beating him. Aliscea should be here soon. Don't mind her.
She may be a bit deranged, poor thing."
"Deranged?" said
Derek, who was beginning to think that Nova sounded very strange. He walked
over to her and set down the wedding album.
"Yes, she may have a
sort of…uhh…identity crisis," said Nova.
Something didn't seem right
to Derek, and then it hit him. Funny! She's never stumbled over
psychological or medical terminology before! Maybe she's just tired. She's
still hurt.
"Well, I guess we can
beat Ekogaru soon, right?"
"Yes…and no,"
said Nova.
"No?" said
Derek.
Nova pushed Derek away
gently and stood up. Then, she smiled a smile that looked truly wicked.
Then, a moment later, she
drew her weapon.
"Nova! What's gotten into you? Why
are you holding your Astro-Automatic on me?"
"Have you not guessed,
yet, simpleton?" Nova said in a cold voice and intonation that sounded
nothing like her…it sounded like her playing at being an actress. "Your
wife has lost. I am embodied again, if but for a short time, to do what must be
done to you."
Derek looked at Nova for
the first (and only time) with hatred. "You're not her!"
"No!" said
Aliscea as she sat up. "She's not!"
"Aliscea?" said
Derek.
"Do not listen to
her! She is mad!" raged the stranger who was possessing Nova's body.
Aliscea got up and ran
over. Derek was shocked to hear her lilting vaguely British-sounding voice
speaking in a flat
"What? You don't sound
like Aliscea!"
"Bingo!" said
Nova's mouth in a sarcastic tone. "She's not! She's possessed, too!"
"What do you
want?" asked Wildstar. "Who are you?"
"Haven't you guessed,
Derek?" said Aliscea. "I'm not in there," she said, pointing at
her own body. "I'm in here. Ekogaru's in there!"
"No…" he said.
"It can't be…Ekogaru can't be…in your body…Nova?"
Aliscea nodded…although it
was really Nova who was nodding.
"And what are you
doing in Aliscea's body?"
"She's guarding the
gateway, Derek! She said the gateway to his virtual world must be sealed so he
can't draw on that power!"
"I have enough power
left to kill both of you," said "Nova", who was Ekogaru.
"Now, bow before me, Mortal! Bow before the Lord Ekogaru!"
"Like hell we
will!" cried back Nova with Aliscea's mouth.
"How do I get him out
of you?"
"There's only one way,
Derek."
"What?"
"You'll have to knock
me unconscious, Derek," said Nova. "My body…that is. He can't occupy
it if it's unconscious. Aliscea said so. She then said it could be healed after
we make him almost helpless in the spirit world."
"Do you have the
courage, you lovebirds?" laughed Ekogaru. "Can you do it?"
Derek looked at Aliscea's
body. Inside it, Nova slowly nodded. Derek then did the hardest thing he had
ever done in his life.
He drew back his fist to
strike Nova's body.
Then, he punched her.
There was a loud scream.
Derek opened his eyes.
Nova's body was thrown inert at his feet. It was twitching, and the face
contorted horribly as Ekogaru tried to keep a hold upon it.
A moment later, the
struggle ended, and something like a black cloud, but strangely wispy, flew out
of Nova's body as it fell limp into unconsciousness. The black cloud
disappeared right through the Argo's bridge windows like a malign ghost.
Derek looked down with
tears in his eyes.
Aliscea's body walked over.
"Thanks," said
Nova. "Although I hope I never take a right hook from you like that!"
"You won't," said
Derek.
"I don't think Aliscea
will mind if I do this," said Nova.
Nova threw her borrowed
arms around Derek and kissed her.
"I'll be back," she
whispered. "Aliscea needs me now."
Then, the body went limp in
Derek's arms.
With hope and trepidation,
Derek lay the body down beside Nova's. He gently wiped a small bit of blood off
Nova's lower lip, and then he affectionately felt her neck as his eyes brimmed.
There's still a pulse.
Thank God, he
thought. Now, all I have to do is hope they can win…wherever they are…
Then, Derek picked up
Nova's body. He carried her to a chair beside his captain's chair at the aft
part of the bridge.
"We still have a lot
to do, Nova. We will fight on, Argo…you, me, and Nova. Together."
Then, he sat down. He knew
he had to start the ship.
Just like when we fought
Zordar, he thought.
Then, he said, "Argo,
take off!"
In obedience to his
command, the battered ship surged forward.
In the spiritual realm,
Nova looked at Aliscea. Her "unclad" spirit was beautiful, but so was
Nova's. Aliscea's light was stronger that hers, and the fire in her breast
burned gold.
"Now what will you
do?" mocked Ekogaru, who appeared before them, looking, once again, like
an ogre…an ogre clad in blackness.
"Put an end to
you," said Aliscea. "We will make you spiritually impotent…or, rather
the Secret Fire and the Matrix will do that!"
"Secret Fire?"
said Ekogaru, who was unable to look at the flames in their bosoms.
"Yes," said
Aliscea. "Now, comes the beginning of your end, as we have decreed. As
thou shalt not turn back, o mortal man…"
"I am not
MORTAL!" yelled Ekogaru.
"You are," said
Aliscea.
"Yes, you are,"
said Nova.
"I am not!"
Nova and Aliscea shut their
eyes.
In a strange feeling that
was not entirely voluntary on their part, a great light came out of Nova and
Aliscea's forms. Aliscea knew it was not coming from her alone, but it was
coming from, Outside. To Nova, it mostly seemed to come from Aliscea, but she
was there to "focus" it, ready to take over if the darkness swallowed
Aliscea…which, as it appeared, might well happen.
But, the darkness did not
prevail. The Light swept through Ekogaru, reducing him to a grey, drab spirit
of hatred.
A spirit that, a moment
later, was exiled back to the Fortress, unable to do more than move it or
operate its systems in a weird symbiosis. Its spiritual power and dread were
now forever gone, and it no longer had any psionic ability to speak of,
existing in a stunned, half-life in the circuits of the Fortress like a mere
ghost in the machine.
"We did it!"
cried Nova.
"Now, you have to
return; it's not done yet..." said Aliscea. She took her by the
"hand" as her light began to dim. "It'll be sort of like a long,
sickening dive off the high board. With any luck, your body should be working
again when you get back. I think all of those wounds will be healed, even that
wound Ekogaru gave you."
"Thanks," said Nova.
"Go!" said
Aliscea. "We're down to five minutes!"
Nova leapt into the
blackness, a blackness that overcame her like a pit. It was a strange, eerie
sensation…going….
"…back?" she said out loud.
Derek looked at her with an
utterly shocked smile on his face.
"I'm back," she
said with wonder in her voice. "And my head doesn't hurt…neither does my
stomach…where Ekogaru stabbed me that is. I'm healed!"
"Uh, it's really
you?" said Derek with tears in the corners of his eyes.
"Looks like it,"
she said, patting herself.
"What did I say to you
when I proposed to you?" said Derek, who felt he had to be sure it was
her…and not Ekogaru back in there again. Even though he seemed to know that the
expression that had been in her eyes when Ekogaru had been in her for a moment
had been utterly alien and twisted.
"Nova…you are
going to marry me?" she replied in a soft voice.
Derek nodded.
"Do you need any more
proof?" giggled Nova.
"I believe you,"
said Derek.
They held hands as the Argo
slowly cruised along.
"Seems familiar,"
Derek said.
"Like when we were
fighting Zordar," said Nova. "Who was it…that said, 'It's déjà vu
all over again?' Was that Barry Bonds?"
"No…Whitey Ford,"
said Derek.
"Good. Aliscea will be
back in a minute," said Nova.
"She'd better be. Look."
"It's turning,"
said Nova in sad awe. "The Fortress…and he's pointing the Phased Density
Cannon right at Earth! No!"
"Aliscea!" cried
Derek. "Hurry!"
But, there was only
silence.
"Nova?"
"She's broken the bond
with me…if she doesn't get back, we're doomed!" she sobbed.
II. THE LAST STROKE
Earth Orbit
1641 Hours
Back in the Fortress,
Ekogaru floated in his systems like a ghost of malice.
"Aliscea is having a
hard time," he said. "Earth now has four minutes left, by my deadline!
Nothing they can do, now! Let me get my systems started…"
At that, the Technomugar
Fortress again lit up, gleaming bright and multi-colored like a Satanic
Christmas Tree (if such a weird contradiction of terms was possible)
"Prepare energy transfer,"
said Ekogaru. "Lock on targeting sequence…the impact point will be their
Megalopolis…the power-up will take two minutes! Firing at exactly 1645!"
The Grand Fortress began to
pull up its demonic energies. The terrible ship crackled with blue electricity
and lightnings as the great ship prepared to destroy Earth.
"Now, as for Argo,"
said Ekogaru. "Aliscea is not ready yet. Desslok's Fleet is six minutes
away at his top sub-light speed, and the Earth Fleet is approaching their
stupid natural satellite…and Argo cannot hurt me without Aliscea
powering up the wave gun. I have won! It's over, Earth!"
Then, the Fortress shook
terribly as an energy beam hit it. Then, another salvo hit it.
"What?" roared
Ekogaru. "Who dares attack my grandeur? Systems!"
Ekogaru, in his mind's eye,
looked at the dark blue ship that had just warped dangerously into Earth orbit.
"What? A damned space pirate?"
"We've got them!"
laughed Tochiro on the
"Remember…Astrena
wants us to just buy Aliscea time," said Harlock. "It is not meant to
be an all-out attack. We can't destroy that ship."
"We're getting too
close to it," said Yuki Kei.
"We can manage,"
said Harlock. "A few more shots, Tochiro! Just enough to get him
off-balance!"
"Acknowledged,"
said Tochiro as he fired the
It could also be the end
of us, thought
Harlock. But what better way to die than to die in a noble purpose with
Earth at hand?
Artwork: Harlock
Views the Fortress: Based upon original artwork from the Captain Harlock
series-Computer-generated by Frederick P. Kopetz
"Well?" said
Harlock.
"There's a lot of
turbulence due to that gas field," said Tochiro. "But, I'll keep
firing…for as long as we can!"
At the same moment, on the Argo,
Aliscea snapped awake on the deck. She slowly stood up, looking like…like a
corpse rising from the slab. .
"Aliscea!" cried
Nova.
"Your question,"
said Aliscea. "It was Yogi Berra."
"Yogi Berra?"
said Derek.
"It was Berra that
said 'it’s déjà vu all over again'. Paul told me. He knows baseball
better than you two. And I just let him know this is it! He's waiting!"
Artwork: "Final Advance"
Based upon artwork from the original Yamato series-computer-generated by
Frederick P. Kopetz
"Great, let's
go!" said Commodore Wildstar. "We're ready!"
"Good," Aliscea
said as she sat down at Engineering. "Just in time. Three minutes left.
Make the final course adjustments!"
At that, they faced
Ekogaru's Fortress alone at last. Harlock had just moved the
And, as Earth's populace
watched the video screens and their televisions in fear in the blinding rain in
the Megalopolis, once again, their last hope happened to be the Star Force…or,
two members of it on a mission that looked like suicide.
For, it was suicidal.
Ekogaru was beginning to target them with his Phased Density Cannon. Now, the
Wildstars, at last, were staring Death very hard in the face.
And they were refusing to
flinch.
"Nova, the forward
part of the bridge," he said. "The wave gun controls at the Captain's
post are damaged."
"Right."
Derek ran to the wave gun,
bringing up the grip as Nova took the helm.
"Correct, starboard,
twenty-five," said Derek.
"Starboard
twenty-five," said Nova as she turned the Argo, gasping as she
realized they were looking down into the very mouth of Hell…the Phased Density
Cannon itself.
"He's still stunned
from the fighting we did," said Aliscea. "And Harlock was just
throwing him off balance."
"Harlock?" said
Nova.
"No time," said
Derek. "Aliscea! Stop all engines!"
"Stop all
engines," she said.
The Argo's bridge
went dark.
The hum of the wave gun
started.
"Nova, take his hand," said Aliscea.
"And do what?"
she said as she grasped Derek's hands over the firing grip.
"Pray," said
Aliscea. "Pray I will have the strength to do this!"
Aliscea clenched the
Engineering console, screamed…
And she glowed bright
white, sending energy down into the very wave engine itself. The whining of the
gun suddenly went manic.
"Countdown!" she
said.
"We have energy
again?" said Derek, awed.
"Yes, and more!"
said Aliscea.
"Hurry! He's beginning
to fire, Derek!" said Nova as the green fire turned brighter.
"10…9…8…" said Derek.
At the last minute, he flicked a switch, closing the protective shield over the
bridge windows. I don't want the three of us blind, he thought.
"Seven…six…"
intoned Ekogaru as, down below on Earth, there were ground quakes. The seas
tossed, and the wind blew wildly due to the approach of the Fortress.
"5…4…3…" said
Derek over the whine of the wave gun as his hand and Nova's pressed desperately
into each other.
"two…one…Hahahaha,"
said Ekogaru, gloating over his victory, not caring about the Argo or
Aliscea. "I will sweep them away with my cannon like dust motes! Them
first…then…their planet! I am truly GOD!"
Aliscea smiled grimly. At
that moment a thought came to her. It said, 'The Light shines in the
darkness, but the darkness has not understood it, and never shall...'"
Then, she nodded at
Wildstar. "Now. The moment for which we have prayed..."
Derek nodded back. Then, he
cried, "FIRE!"
"FIRE!" yelled
Ekogaru in the systems of the Fortress.
The Argo's wave gun glowed a terrible orange-blue as it fired, followed
by the titanic green explosion from Ekogaru's weapon.
For a moment, the Argo
seemed to be overwhelmed by the green tide of energy. On Earth, people watching
gasped, screamed, and cried. There was nothing but green.
But then, the enhanced beam
of the Argo's wave motion gun expanded and enlarged.
In the Fortress, in his
sensors, Ekogaru beheld a strange and awesome sight.
In the growing Light expanding around the Argo’s bow, the Dark Lord swore to himself that he saw the ghost of
a figure appearing. The Figure seemed to have hair down to the shoulders, was
robed, and had something of a beard.
“Who are you?” demanded the
Dark Lord. “Who are you that you interfere in my moment of triumph?”
A powerful thought came in
silence to Ekogaru as the Light overwhelmed his Fortress. The thought said; Heaven
is My Throne, and the Earth is My footstool. How dare you touch and profane
that which is not yours?
“So, you shall slay me?”
There was no further answer in the roaring
fire. The Fire blasted down the firing barrel of Ekogaru's demonic weapon…and
it reacted with Ekogaru's energy, turning the green energy surge of his
infernal machinery right back up into its original source!
"The override, Aliscea!"
cried Derek as he jumped back to the Argo's helm. "Bring up the
engine!"
Aliscea didn't answer. She
fell limp to the deck.
"Nova!"
Nova ran over as the Argo
shook. "Derek! She's unconscious!"
"Nova, hit the
tachyonic acceleration lock override lever!"
Nova had to bash her bare
fist through a small pane of glass to hit the emergency button. She nicked a
finger while doing so. "Got it! Override!"
The wave engine sang and
vibrated fiercely as Derek accelerated the Argo out of there like a bat
out of hell.
And it was a good thing he
did. The Fortress, unable to fire, was boiling with green and white energies
deep in its vitals as its systems began to implode upon themselves. The ship
was now consuming...itself.
In the Fortress, Ekogaru's
grey spirit was now impotent…unable to do anything but rage at Eternity as his
Fortress, and his body and mind, crumbled into an interphase, falling back down
a vast time-space warp into the Blackeye Galaxy, in pieces.
Around him, he felt the
death most of the remaining members of his Technomugar Race in the Blackeye
Galaxy as, in their link, the meal they had been expecting turned to Death.
Their Lord, the center of their psychic universe, began to die, severing the
bonds of psychic energy that held the whole race together. And, as he began to
die, most of them died, with their spirits guttering, fading, and tumbling down
into torment and eternal blackness. In the dying ruins of the Fortress, a small
crystalline sphere kicked about, lighting up as a small spark of the Dark
Lord’s twisted essence touched it, like a vile bird or a bat lighting upon a
surface. The Dark Lord felt for a moment as if he was about to experience his
final judgment and that he would fall into Death with most of his followers as
the Fortress crumbled, but then, Ekogaru realized that he might be able to
do…something. His spirit lit upon his sphere; the Sphere that had been at the
end of his staff, and he felt a twisted, triumphant sense of hope, even as the
Sphere fell into blackness somewhere in the space-time vortex.
Perhaps I will yet live, thought Ekogaru, or what was left
of him as the Sphere tumbled on into darkness. Perhaps not. But, even if I
do live, I am…crippled, yes, gravely, gravely, crippled…
And
the Dark Lord was crippled, and had the strange, shivering sense that the only
reason that any of him survived at all, even as a ghost, was on a definite note
of Sufferance…the mysterious Sufferance of a Power above him that he knew he
could not comprehend. The rest of the Fortress tumbled as so much junk into the
heart of the Blackeye Galaxy, falling back into the black hole from which
Ekogaru had first forged the infernal super-dense weapon millenia
ago. Soon, nothing remained of it except for a magnificent funeral pyre of
gleaming white gasses in a far orbit of Earth that glowed like a tiny,
beautiful artificial sun. Finally, something beautiful had come out of the
ugliness that had been the Dark Lord Ekogaru and all of his misguided works.
On Earth, the clock ticked
from 1645 to 1646. It was a deliverance…a miracle.
And, on Earth, people
cheered as the silhouette of a space battleship appeared on their screens as it
came out of the new burning star. The Argo stopped, turned 180 degrees,
and then, as Derek smiled, she fired a single triumphant salute past the new
star that had been the Fortress.
At 1646 Hours on April 28,
2202, The Rikasha Incident was finally over.
The human race, and Earth,
had been delivered.
And it was magnificent.
III. CODA (1) DESSLOK, FAREWELL
Space Battleship Argo
The Vicinity of Earth
Wednesday April 28, 2202
1732 Hours: Earth Time
The Earth Defense Fleet had
finally come around the Moon a few minutes later, stopping as the Argo
sat near Earth in a high orbit.
Admiral Falworth was alive but not well. The
dignified old man had collapsed of a heart attack brought on by the stress of
Ekogaru's near-destruction of Earth, as viewed by him on the Andromeda
as a mere spectator tuned in to Earth's eye-in-the-sky satellite network.
Falworth now lay in the Andromeda's Sickbay, barely conscious but
grateful for their salvation at the last minute.
For the time being, Admiral
Yamanami had assumed command of the Combined Fleet aboard the patched-up Cepheus,
which was now leading the Fleet around the Moon.
"Send the Argo a
message of congratulations," said Yamanami. "Soon, we'll meet them
and give them a salute."
"Yessir," said
Yamanami's comm officer.
Admiral Yamanami smiled as
they drew closer. We won. We actually won this war! And we still have both Argo
and much of the Fleet. But how many lives did we lose? What was the final cost
in lives?
Aliscea was slowly
beginning to awaken on the Argo as Nova tended to her.
But, Derek was not on the Argo's
bridge.
Instead, he stood in space
gear on the ship's foredeck. The Gamilstadt had come alongside the Argo,
and Desslok stood on the Gamilon vessel's deck, with his cape blowing in the
breeze generated within his cruiser's atmospheric shield.
"So, Wildstar,"
said Desslok. "It appears that we have won."
"Yes," said
Derek. "We have. Together. A few months ago, I never would have believed
it."
"Nor would I,"
said Desslok. "But you were a fine and honorable ally."
"So were you, Desslok.
What are you going to do now?"
"Return to Gamilon. I
again have a home…a home that needs to be rebuilt. And I have an Empress to
tend to, an Heir to carry on my line, and an Empire to rebuild…and memories of
our alliance to keep."
"Yes," said
Wildstar.
"Care well for Nova…she is a
true heroine…as is…my stepdaughter. Farewell, Wildstar. We shall soon meet
again…hopefully, in more peaceful circumstances. We have much to discuss….in
the shadow of Iscandar, on a fine day, on Gamilon rebuilt…"
Desslok extended his arm ninety
degrees in a parting salute that Derek returned. Then, he turned away, his cape
snapping in the air bubble around his ship.
"Yes…we do have much
to discuss," said Derek in a whisper as the Gamilstadt prepared to
leave. "Such as…my parents, Desslok. But…farewell…for now."
Derek again saluted as the Gamilstadt
left, followed by the Gamilon Fleet.
"Derek," said
Nova's voice in his headphones. "Are you done?"
"Yes, Nova, we are.
Get ready to take us home."
"Yessir!"
IV. CODA (2) A TIME OF PEACE AND REST
Space Battleship Argo
Earth Orbit
Wednesday April 28, 2202
1810 Hours: Standard Earth Time
The Argo was finally
on her way back home.
However, due to ionic
disturbances in the atmosphere due to the destruction of Ekogaru's Fortress,
the ship's compass was off.
Derek and Nova were trying
to reach
"No, it's not. Are
your scanners working?"
"Barely, Derek."
"I know where we
are," said Aliscea as she awoke.
"Aliscea!" said
Nova.
"The, where are
we?": asked Derek.
"We're near the
Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal off a country you call
Nova ran a radar scan.
"She's right, Derek! There's a small island a kilometer away…and sensors
say it is uninhabited."
The Argo's engine
continued to run for a bit, but then it petered out and stopped.
"What's with the
engine?" said Nova.
Derek ran over to
Engineering; together, he and Aliscea worked the controls. Finally, Derek said,
"It's completely out. We'll need a repair crew here to fix it."
"Should I call
Headquarters, Derek?"
"Yes…I think you
should…did you notice that the climate control system is down? It's getting hot
in here."
"Sure is," said Nova.
"I noticed, too,"
said Aliscea. "I'm so tired…and hot. My senses also tell me that no one is
around on that island."
"So?" said Derek.
"I'd advise you to
drop anchor and enjoy it…if you wouldn't mind. I'll be out on the main deck if
you need me."
"What will you be
doing?" asked Nova.
Aliscea smiled.
"Sunning myself."
"Don't take too
long," said Derek after he dropped the Argo's anchor. "We're
calling Defense Command to get a repair crew."
"That'll take a while;
I'll see you later. I'll have to change." said Aliscea. At that, she
disappeared through the starboard side doors, humming to herself as she walked.
Nova sat at down at
Communications, calling Earth Defense Command. The call was voice-only, since
the Argo was still on nothing but battery power, and there wasn't enough
power to call up the Megalopolis on video.
Aliscea's right….It's
too hot up here,
thought Derek as he stood beside Nova on the stiflingly warm
"What was that?"
said Nova as she strained to hear. "Sir, you can't send anything
sub-orbital to our location?"
"That's right,"
said the Commander over her headset. "Due to the same ionic disturbances
in the stratosphere that blew you off course, we can't send up anything
high-altitude until this storm clears in about a day."
"A whole day,
sir?" said Nova with a smile as she brought up one of her legs and pulled
her yellow boot off. She cast it aside, trapping her bare foot against the console.
"That's terrible, sir. Well…we'll just have to rough it. The air
conditioning isn't even working on Argo. There's an island nearby,"
said Nova as she took off her other boot. She laughed and said, "I guess
we'll just go swimming for a bit."
"Sounds like a good
idea. We'll send a crew out tomorrow, and I guess we'll see you on Friday,
then."
"We have to go. Our
power's running out," said Nova. "See you later."
"Nova?" asked
Derek as she stood there barefoot with her uniform open. Since it was just her
and Derek on the bridge of the Argo,
she didn’t feel the usual need to stick to military discipline.
"We'll need
swimwear...but first, how's about a shower?"
"Okay."
A few minutes later, in the
shower, Derek gently removed Nova's bandage, and he was pleased to find that,
just as Nova had expected, the wound that Ekogaru had given her was now
completely healed, and there was no scar. To celebrate their victory, they had
a joyful and uninhibited interlude together in the shower under the stream of
water, which gradually became cooler as they showered.
Later on, after they took a
Jet Recon Boat and some basic supplies (as well as light clothing to put on for
when the repair and rescue crews arrived the next day), Nova and Derek arrived
on the island clad only in beachwear. Derek wore blue trunks for the trip and
Nova was in a yellow swimsuit. Of course, they had said goodbye to Aliscea…whom
they had found sunbathing in a very minimal bikini on a towel on the Argo's
weather deck. She said she didn't know how to swim.
A quick sensor scan of the
small island also verified an important fact that Nova had suspected; she and
Derek would be all alone there. There
were no other people, and few animals.
After a nice, brisk swim
with Derek, Nova went back to the Jet Recon boat to fetch her sunglasses, and
then she waded out of the warm
"Isn't that sky
beautiful?" said Nova.
"It sure is,"
said Derek, who smiled at his wife as he sat down beside her. "The
Fortress is burning like an artificial sun up there. How weird."
"No so weird
considering the energy in that thing, Derek. But, I guess it'll go out in a day
or so."
"Yeah, I guess
so." Nova sat down beside him on a towel.
"We can enjoy this
sunset," said Nova.
"Yeah…" said
Derek romantically. "Just like our honeymoon."
"Uh-huh," said
Nova as she began to stroke Derek's chest.
"I feel guilty…hitting
you before," said Derek as he stroked Nova's face.
"Derek…my face is
better now. Besides, I told you to do it when I was in Aliscea's body."
"I still feel
bad...I…I'm a bit nervous about hurting you…I didn't like doing that."
Nova giggled. "Don't
treat me like cut glass, Derek! I'm fine! And we had to get Ekogaru out
of my body somehow!"
"You’re sure?" he
asked as he began to stroke her hair.
"I'm sure," said
Nova. "You know something?"
"What?"
"We got Ekogaru out of
me," she said, patting her stomach. "But I wouldn't mind something
else…."
"What?" asked
Derek, ready to bite at a joke.
Nova whispered something
very sweet (and dirty) that made them both laugh. Then, they got completely
undressed and began to kiss…and then, a while later, to again make tender love
to each other. It was soft, warm, and languorous. It felt beautiful there in
the sunlight, with the smell of the sea behind them, and the sound of the
roaring surf providing natural music that blended with their sighs, gasps, and
sounds of endearment.
Finally, it was over, and
they lay there cuddling as they watched the sunset.
What a wonderful way to
begin a hard-earned peace, thought Nova as she lay there with Derek stroking her hair.
VI. CODA (3) THANKSGIVING
Earth: The Great Megalopolis
St. Paul’s Cathedral
Sunday, May 9, 2202
1000 Hours: Earth Time
A beautiful Interfaith
Service of Thanksgiving was taking place in the main sanctuary of the great
complex of
One of the front pews was
filled with members of the Star Force in dress uniform, namely, Mark Venture
and Holly Venture (who would solemnize their vows again before what remained of
Mark’s family later in the summer), along with Eager, Paul and Aliscea
Rosstowski (Aliscea, who wore a white Pellian uniform today, was delighted at
her first-ever look at a Terran house of worship), Yamazaki, Dash, and even
Homer, who showed a sense of maturity and reverence for the proceedings.
Only Commodore Derek
Wildstar and Nova Wildstar were missing; although Venture had made sure that
two places were saved for them at the far end of the pew near the aisle.
“Where’s Wildstar?”
whispered Eager. “Was he called away for a meeting?”
“No,” said Venture. “He and
Nova had a request to make of the Cardinal.”
“What sort of request?”
whispered Hardy.
“Something to do with the
service,” said Paul Rosstowski. “Something important.”
Up in the choir loft, a large
mixed adult and child choir stood in pure white robes at the ready to sing the
service. But, not far away, in a smaller loft, there stood the beautiful walnut
console for the Cathedral’s great pipe organ; which was the largest and
grandest on Earth. The polished brazen pipes of the organ reached up high,
behind the high altar and beside the three huge stained-glass windows that
stood behind the altar. Right now, the day was cloudy, so the images in the
three stained glass windows were muted, and almost invisible within the church.
At the bench for the organ,
there stood three figures. One, at the left of the organist, was the matronly
but beautiful organist who usually played at High Service, namely, Sister
Georgette McMahon, the austere but loving nun who was the Cathedral’s musical
director. She listened on a small headset beneath her veil and said, “Sir, the
Cardinal is ready. He’ll begin to enter when she begins to play.”
“Thank you, Sister,” said
Commodore Derek Wildstar in a quiet voice. He was in his black peacoat, cap,
ascot, medals, Star Force whites, and he wore his katana and wakizashi in
his belt; the two traditional dress swords of the Samurai that he was. He
turned gently to the lone figure in white who looked very small behind the huge
organ console. “Ready?”
“Let’s pray, first,” said
Nova Wildstar in a quiet voice. She was simply but elegantly clad in a favorite
white flowing dress of hers, trimmed in pink, and she wore pink pumps. She
looked almost angelic as she bowed her head in silent prayer as Derek held her
hands; a bit of sunlight flowed in through a side window and flashed off her
honey-blonde hair as she prayed for success.
Please, Lord, she said in silence. My
Aunt profaned this song. He made the profane act even worse. He took a song
dedicated to your Glory and he twisted it. Please grant me the strength to play
in the most traditional manner possible. Please let me restore this piece to
holiness, as my act of Thanksgiving to You, My Savior and Lord, Amen.
Then, Nova raised her head.
“Sister,” she said. “I’m ready.”
The nun nodded and opened
the red-bound score that sat on the music stand above the keyboard.
The complex musical score
was opened to the first page. The song title above the score read:
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Passacaglia e fuga in do minore BWV 582
PASSACAGLIA AND FUGUE IN C MINOR
Nova shut her eyes, placed
her fingers above the keys, placed her feet lightly on the great pedals, and
she began to play the work slowly, reverently, and with great solemnity.
The beautiful passion and
fugue moved the congregation to tears, and in the pews below, Venture wept
openly as he heard the piece being played as it was meant to be played, as beautiful music filled with the Divine
rather than the Demonic. He was sure that he knew who was playing the piece,
since he had heard her practicing at home on her piano one night at the
Wildstar home not long after the Argo
returned home.
The Cardinal and his
attendants began to move down the aisle to the strains of Bach, as, above the
high altar, Light began to shine through the huge windows as the clouds broke
outside.
To the left of the altar
was exposed an image in the far left stained glass window of Saint Peter the
Apostle, holding in his hands his fisherman’s nets and the traditional keys to
the Kingdom granted to him during the Lord’s ministry on Earth.
To the right of the altar
was exposed a magnificent stained glass image of Saint Paul, last and greatest
of the Apostles, holding in his hands the scroll and pen he had used to pen the
great letters he had written to the church in his day.
And finally, above the
altar itself, the center window blazed with sunlight that illuminated an image
of the Resurrected Christ ascending to the Father on a cloud, with His arms
raised outwards in benediction and triumph, with the wounds at His Hands, Feet,
and Side showing in bright pink, with a reassuring and loving smile on His
Face. A scroll in the window below the cloud read, THE SAVIOUR TRIUMPHANT, the
title of the stained-glass work of art.
The glorious music, which
seemed to be filled with the power and glory of God, filled the vast sanctuary
as the Cardinal knelt before the altar, kissed it as an altar boy swung a
censer filled with sweet, poignant incense, and then he stood and walked behind
the high altar as another altar boy opened his Missal and he stood still with a
bowed head as the last notes of Nova’s song filled the sanctuary and then
slowly faded in great echoes as the last chord was played.
“My people, my guests,”
said the old Cardinal. “Let us pray…”
VI. CODA (4) PEACETIME
Earth: The Great Megalopolis
Heroes' Hill
Saturday, August 28, 2202
1932 Hours: Earth Time
It was another hot summer
evening on Earth, the summer after Ekogaru's passing.
And, the crew was
celebrating what would probably be their last evening together for quite some
time.
Illustration: Heroes'
Hill...Summertime. Based on Original Argo artwork computer-altered by F. P.
Kopetz
"So, guys," asked
Dash as he knelt near Nova, Derek and Doctor Sane while Nova, perkily dressed
in a new replacement version of her favorite pink “safari” romper matched with
summery sandals for the humid night, poured some sake for the old doctor.
"I don’t know much of what happened after you came home."
"Why not?" asked
Eager as Nova poured some sake.
"Well," said
Dash, "Up until the wedding took place, I was off in space commanding the
cruiser
"My Dad's old
command," sniffed Samuel Josiah, who was now assigned to the Black Tigers
as one of the squadron leaders. The Tigers were currently assigned to the
Idlewild Naval Air Station near the Megalopolis, keeping in practice under
Hardy's command until the Argo would take off again in January. "I
wasn't around much, either Nova…what happened, cousin?"
"Well," said
Nova. "After the Argo had been brought home to the Megalopolis for
a badly needed refit, Derek, myself, and Aliscea were
joyfully reunited with everyone over several days' worth of celebration. And,
even though much of the crew went their separate ways while Derek, Sandor, and
Yamazaki supervised the beginning of a badly needed refit for the Argo,
Sandor said it seemed as if Earth had spent the whole summer celebrating."
"We did,"
said Sandor, "Even though we were working. For Derek and Nova, there was a
long, refreshing month of leave before duty parted them for a time, with Derek
ordered to command the space battleship Bolivia as a temporary flagship
for Task Force 1.1."
"Where'd you guys
go?" asked Samuel.
"Well…" said
Derek, "We patrolled the solar system and the area around Earth's new
outer rim base at Sirius, and we also escorted a scientific mission partway to
Gamilon and Iscandar and back. I waited at Balan for four weeks, missing Nova
(who was not with us) as a Gamilon Fleet commanded by Fraken completed the
escort duty. It was a lonely two months."
"Then," added
Homer, since he had been there with Wildstar, "The Earth scientific
mission passed onwards into the Great Magellenic Cloud, turning back towards
home in early August. Then, we escorted them back. We didn't like having to
remain behind at Balan with the Task Force, but Wildstar was pleased to learn
that Desslok and Starsha had given permission for Earth to establish diplomatic
missions on their home worlds."
"I also heard that you
have a girlfriend now, Homer!" teased Dash.
"Yeah? Is she cute
like Holly?" teased Mark as he embraced his wife, who sat next to him in a
sundress and thongs. They had just gotten back from their honeymoon.
"None of your
business," huffed Homer as everyone laughed. "She's just a friend.
Wildstar, how did those negotiations go?"
"Well…we have
diplomatic missions on Iscandar and Gamilon now, and soon, both worlds will
have missions here. This will be a first step towards establishing formal
relations and making the wartime alliance between the three worlds
permanent."
Wildstar smiled to himself.
"When we left Balan, " he continued. "We were pleased with what
had been done, and we were even more pleased to discover that we would be
bringing Astra, Conor, and their adopted son Jonathan back home to Earth as
Iscandarian representatives. A Colonel Kanlar also
came with us from Gamilon. He's gonna serve as the first-ever Gamilon
representative to the Earth Government along with a small staff of five."
"Where are they
now?" asked Eager.
"Can't tell you,"
said Derek. "A lot of people aren't happy that we have aliens on Earth.
Especially Gamilons. "
"Many of them are
members of my aunt's crazy cult," added Nova. "They're still trying
to flush them out."
"What'd you do while
you and Derek were separated?" asked Dash.
"Well, " said
Nova, "I served aboard a destroyer known as the Pawnee as part of
Fourth Fleet under Admiral Yamanami's command. Our skipper was a pleasant man
named Lt. Commander Ralph Peters. On the Pawnee, I was the ship's
Pharmacist's Mate, which meant that I was in sole command of the ship's cramped
little dispensary, serving with three enlisted medics under me."
"What happened to
you?" asked Dash.
"Nothing at all, and I
had very few patients in that little Sickbay. What a bore of a cruise!"
She, Derek and Dash all
laughed at that while Sane drank some more sake.
"What happened at your
wedding, Venture?" asked Dash. "Too bad I wasn't there…"
"It was fun, even
though we ended up in a silly tight spot beforehand."
"Well, what
happened?"
"It went like
this," said Mark as he sat back and remembered. No. he thought. I
can't discuss that with anyone...except Holly...and those...who were there at
the bachelor party. It's too crazy a story to talk about here. Just...too
crazy. But...I remember other things...and I can talk about those things here!
Illustration: "Flight Order" created by
"Aki" Illustration © 2003 by Aki, used by permission.
So, Mark sat back and said,
"Well, a while after we all came home, on the 21st of August to be exact,
most of the old crew of the Argo met again at a church in
Mark remembered that it was
a media circus, and the fact that Wildstar and he were there in matching black
peacoats as Venture celebrated his promotion to Captain only made things
crazier.
Venture remembered some of
the conversations there as if the wedding had just taken place yesterday.
"So what ship are you getting?"
asked Derek as he and Mark stood in a hallway in the church shaking hands and
laughing.
"The space battleship
"I saw the plans the other day…she looks
good."
"Yeah?"
"Not quite as good as the Argo,
though. To me, the
"The
"Sounds great," laughed Derek.
"This'll be a neat wedding, I think…given that you'll have two best
men."
"Oh, where's the other one?"
"Yeah, who was the
other one?' asked Dash.
"Nova," said
Derek.
"She was the best man?
How'd she look?"
"Cute," said
Derek as he smiled at his wife and fondly remembered how she looked that day as
he described her outfit to Dash.
Nova came running up a few moments later; she
wore a black tuxedo jacket over a yellow vest, yellow and black pants, and a
white shirt and bow tie with black sandals. Both she and Derek were to have
worn similar tuxedos until Derek found out that Mark had just been promoted to
Captain and would be wearing his new peacoat, so, Derek had worn his own
military uniform.
"Are you guys ready?" she asked.
"Aliscea and I were spending time getting Holly ready."
"Yeah, we're ready," said Mark as
Nova and Derek took each other's hands. Before long, I won't be alone
anymore, he thought. Holly and I are going to make this work. I hope
Trelaina doesn't mind this, he thought.
As Derek, Nova and Mark disappeared down the corridor inside the Roman
Catholic church where Venture would be getting married, something happened that
no one there was aware of, and it would not be discussed at Heroes' Hill a week
later, since no one except Aliscea knew of it. What happened was that a small
light appeared as soon as they rounded the corner.
The light expanded, becoming a beautiful
phantom that would have surprised anyone who saw it.
It was Trelaina, unclad, and startlingly
beautiful as she cried soft tears of joy.
No one but Aliscea would know it, but she
would also be a guest at this wedding, the full story of which will be told
elsewhere as it is not that important for this tale, since it makes up an
amusing yet bittersweet tale of its own.
"Dear Mark," whispered
Trelaina's phantom. "I've been watching you, and will always watch over
you. I wish you all of the happiness in the Universe with Holly. You have
earned it, my love…until we can be together again, where I must be. For now, be
safe and be together with Holly…where you must be. But, when the day comes for
you to pass on, many decades from now, I hope that you will be happy, dear
Mark. After all, you have earned it."
Then, Trelaina faded out. But, somehow, her
spiritual presence would still be felt by all of the guests at this wedding in
"That wedding was so
nice," said Nova as Aliscea came back over to where they were sitting on
Heroes' Hill with Paul. Both of them held hands. "I wonder what made it so
nice?"
"I sort of
know…but…"
"But what,
Aliscea?" asked Venture.
"Well…it's between me
and someone else. We're keeping it our secret…for now," said Aliscea with
a wink.
But, Paul suspected that he
knew. His suspicion was confirmed as Aliscea sent him one thought. Trelaina…she
was there, Paul. I don't want anyone else to know. Let's keep it our secret….
At that, Paul smiled.
A few months passed in
relative peace and quiet.
The most significant event
for Derek and Nova was the birth of Nova’s baby brother and sister David and
Aurora Forrester at the Forrester home in a blizzard on Thanksgiving Day in
2202. Since the birth had happened suddenly and Boulder was socked in by snow,
Nova herself had to act as the midwife for her mother and, as such, she brought
her very own brother and sister into the world. Many years later, when her
brother and sister were old enough to discuss such things (and the Wildstars
had three children of their very own), David and Aurora would think it was both
funny and adorable that “sis” had helped to deliver them. Teri said, “No, I did all the work!” The rest of this
story does not come into this tale, but as an amusing tale, Nova herself wrote
it down some time afterwards.
More time passed. After the
holidays, as the Forrester children grew and the earth began to heal from its
near-brush with Armageddon, the calendar rolled around to early January of
2203, and the Argo was ready to take off again as she bobbed at anchor
in a dock on the Megalopolis, now fully repaired and rebuilt.
Not far away in the EDF dockyards sat the
Commodore Wildstar sat at
the Captain's post, looking around his bridge. There were many new faces, this
time out. At Combat sat a young, brilliant newly graduated cadet known as
Ryusuke Domon. At Navigation sat another young man, a dark-haired man known as
Tetsu Kitano. Both men had trained with them since their early graduation in
November, so they were familiar with the newly rebuilt ship. Wildstar had
initially wanted to put both young men in the messhall doing KP duty for a
time, but Sandor, the Argo's new First Officer, talked him out of it.
Sandor said that their skills would be needed on the Bridge, since they knew
the new systems of the ship like no one else. Wildstar had finally agreed.
Yamazaki was yelling into
the mike again at his post. Down below, a young man known as Timothy Orion (old
Orion's youngest son) was trying to get the engine room crew in check. Derek
smiled to himself as he thought of the somewhat gawky young man and his silly
arrival aboard Argo as he had swamped a boat. A young man named Akagi
sat at Rosstowski's old place…Rosstowski and Diane Henson were now training and
running simulations on the
As the Argo cruised
slowly out of the dock, Wildstar looked back at the
And, just a few minutes
later, the Argo left Earth….
It was now 0900 hours on
January 15, 2203. The Argo sat between the Earth and the Moon.
"Kitano," said
Derek. "Make the announcement. It's a good thing we didn't hit that island
before."
"Yessir," said
Kitano as he wiped some sweat off his brow. Back at the Cosmo-Radar, Nova tried
not too look too amused as the young man said, "Attention, all hands. Warp
in two minutes to Mars. Please prepare your safety belts now and secure all
stations. Thank you."
Almost a year since we
first fought the Rikashans, thought Derek. Funny…Rikasha will be our next major port of call
after these tests are over with in February. And Lord Cha'rif is waiting for
the Cosmo-DNA so we can repair his world, and help bring about new life. New
life…and new hope…that's the best thing that came out of the terrible war we
were in. But, I think it was worth it, all of it….
Finally, the Argo
was ready to go. "Warp!" ordered Derek.
"WARP!" said Kitano.
The ship rushed very
quickly into hyperspace, much more quickly than they had ever gone before. Blue
streaks of light whizzed past the Argo as the ship plunged through warp,
aided by the new supercharger.
About thirty seconds later,
they emerged from warp near Mars in a blue flash of light.
"Warp completed,"
said Kitano.
"No damage to any
systems, we did it," said Sandor.
The Bridge crew cheered as
Kitano asked. "Course, sir?"
Derek sat back and smiled.
He said, "Turn left at the first star, Kitano…and then…we'll cruise on
'til morning."
"Sir, what kind of
coordinates are those?" said Kitano as the bridge crew laughed.
"It's from a
book," said Domon. "Peter Pan, sir?"
Derek nodded. "Yes,
you're right. We have a long cruise ahead. Kitano, warp us to Sirius base…and
let's see what she's got."
"Yessir," replied
the young man.
It'll be quite a
journey, thought
Derek. But, now, at long last, we're finally at peace. I hope we can enjoy
it.
THE END
Writing Begun: August
1980
Writing Ended: August
2003
Revised: March-April
2204
A Big THANK YOU to all
of those who have read, enjoyed, and critiqued this work over the years….
--Freddo
To return to the Introduction to the Rikasha
Incident please click here