ALTERNATE
TALES OF THE STAR FORCE
STAR BLAZERS---REORGANIZATION
Being the tenth and final 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
Thanks
also to “
Note-Chapter
contains some content intended for mature audiences. (Even though the writer is
sometimes not terribly confident of his own maturity…)
ACT TWO: STANDING DOWN IN INDIAN SUMMER
I. THE WAR ENDS AT LAST
The Vicinity of the
Space Battleship Argo
Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2207
1130 Hours Local Time
It
was late in the morning, and the Argo
sat peacefully at anchor some distance away in the city.
She was still under refit, and back in her peacetime colors,
but her auxiliary engines worked well enough so that the mighty space
battleship was able to cruise along in the ocean about two kilometers away from
the city to an area near a secluded, hilly cove.
There, she waited for a smaller ship to arrive. It was an
EDF ocean-going destroyer, a jetboat somewhat smaller than the Argo herself.
The boy who was now known as Jonathan Hartnell-Wildstar
(after he had appeared in Family Court earlier that morning to have his
adoption by Derek and Nova finalized in a ten-minute hearing after having flown
from Great Island on a commercial flight with his parents on Tuesday the 29th)
stood with a group of civilian and military guests in a blazer, shirt, tie,
shorts, socks and shoes behind the assembled Star Force on the Argo’s weather deck.
Jonathan knew that his little brother and sister were inside
the ship, in Sickbay, under the temporary care of IQ-9 and a new robot being
assigned to the Wildstars’ house. The female robot was a Sixth Class known as
Ms. Eloise, whose specialty was child care. She had been assigned to help his
new mother in the rather busy job of caring for the twins.
“When are they getting started?” whispered Jonathan to his
new grandfather, Karl Forrester.
“In just a few minutes,” whispered Karl as his new
grandmother, Teri mussed his hair along with the hair of his uncle David. “Your
mother’s up there in the front rank with her Group…see?”
Jonathan looked up, proud beyond all comprehension that his
mother was not only a Star Force member standing there in her gold and black
uniform, but a very well-regarded officer.
Then, Jonathan was surprised when he heard a deep voice
behind him saying, “Good morning, Master Wildstar.”
He turned his head and saw Commanding General Singleton
smiling at him.
“Sir,” he whispered.
“General wil be fine for now, son,” said
the Commander with a smile. “You’re not in the military yet.”
“I’m going to be next
year, sir, when I join the Junior Space Cadet Corps.”
“You’re not old
enough yet,” said General Stone with a tight smile. “The new entrance age is
fifteen now. I understand you’re still fourteen. Where’s your new father?”
“Mom told me he’d
take a while to get ready,” said Jonathan, who immediately decided he didn’t
like General Stone very much. The Commander seemed to be much nicer.
“It figures,” sniffed
Stone. “He’s probably off somewhere combing
that wild hair of his or playing poker with Captain Venture.”
“Sir, he is not!” said Jonathan. “Mom said he’s
getting his speech ready.”
“She always covers
for him,” sniffed Stone.
“General, can we stop
saying such things in front of the boy?” said Singleton. “The Commodore is a
hero who won us this war.”
Stone nodded.
Not far away, a young
woman in black came up and smiled coldly at Jonathan. Jonathan nodded back. He had
already met Katrina, of course, and he also decided that he didn’t like her
very much, either, even as she stood there in her Pellian uniform with his
sister Michelle. Jonathan had been shocked to not only see his sister alive, he
was more shocked that she was with her.
He couldn’t quite figure this one out…nor did he want to right now.
Jonathan saw that
Michelle looked the same as ever, only bigger. She wore a white turtleneck, a
brown suede miniskirt, and high-heeled sandals. She looked both cute and
dignified at the same time, and she secretly thought her little brother was
getting to be quite handsome.
Also, Katrina had
been talking with Lady Novalia, who was now Iscandar’s Ambassador to Earth.
Jonathan liked Sasha and Deke. He wondered where Deke was. He had also wondered
why Cousin Sasha looked a little more pale than usual until his Mom had
whispered that she was pregnant. He also wondered where Deke was.
Finally, a moment
later, Jonathan heard Commander Sandor snapping, “ATTENTION! CAPTAIN
ON DECK!”
Jonathan snapped to
what he hoped was a proper gesture of attention (which amused Karl Forrester)
as he saw his father appearing on top of the Argo’s Number One
Gun Turret over the deck.
The assembled members of the First Star Force saluted their
Captain as Derek said, “Ladies and gentlemen, and distinguished guests, we are
assembled here to sign a historic document at noon on the mark. This document,
a protocol of Armistice agreed to by the Alliance and by General Radnar, will
finally formally and legally end the Cometine War that has raged between our
forces and the House of Gatlantis ever since 2201. General Radnar himself will
attend today in person,” said Wildstar over a sudden whispered hubbub of voices
from the civilian part of the crowd, “along with his new legal liege-lord,
Leader Desslok of Gamilon, who now takes his place in public today as Radnar’s
Prince over what remains of their House.”
The civilians stood
behind the Star Force, closer to the Argo’s bow.
Katrina gritted her
teeth and stood in silence, not quite able to believe this humiliation. Damn you, Father, she thought. I was your flesh and blood, and, today, I
stand formally disinherited? Maybe I should have just died with Gorse.
Commodore Wildstar
continued with, “Radnar is sacrificing a great deal of pride today to come here
in person to atone for the crimes of Princess Invidia and Generals Gorse and
Dyre in this war, even though he never fought against us on their side. I ask
that all of you treat him with the gravest of courtesy and respect.”
“We will meet in the
mess hall later at 1300 for a celebration before we take the Argo back home and we are dismissed. It is my hope that we have
a good day. At ease!”
The crew stood “at
ease” as Derek came down from off the gun turret to speak with Nova. She nodded
something back, and then she motioned towards some enlisted men and women from
Living Group who stood preparing a long table covered with a green cloth.
A moment later,
General Singleton, Stone, and two female Adjutants in white Headquarters
uniforms laid three large leatherette-covered notebooks on the table.
The Adjutants opened
them to the page headed:
AN ARMISTICE PROTOCOL DECLARING
THE END OF OFFENSIVE ACTION AGAINST THE MILKY WAY AND MAGELLENIC CLOUDS BY
HOUSE GATLANTIS OF THE GREATER COMETINE EMPIRE AND THE TERMS OF NEGOTIATION OF
A PERMANENT TREATY OF PEACE
I.
Preamble
One – The Contracting Parties of the Galactic
Singleton,
Stone, and Prime Minister Gonjin then assembled behind the table along with
Derek and Nova Wildstar.
Then, there
was a long wait, and then someone spotted a jetboat approaching the Argo.
“ATTENTION,
ALL HANDS!” barked Derek. “Eyes to starboard!”
The PA system
began playing the EDF March as the
jetboat, the EDF seagoing destroyer Langland,
hove to and its weather deck came up right under the Argo’s waiting gangplank. The folding gangplank then lowered onto the
destroyer’s weather deck and locked down while a delegation left the Langland to come aboard the Argo.
The crew
watched and some of the civilians gasped as they realized that they were seeing
Gamilons in person for the first time in their lives.
Eight Gamilon
soldiers in brown battle armor came up in a phalanx, guarding three figures.
When they parted, Leader Desslok, Queen Astrena, and General Talan were
revealed to the crowd.
Desslok
nodded to Derek, Nova, the Commander, and the civilians and then stood there in
silence to the right of the table.
Then, a few
more gasps came as eight Cometine officers, with their green skin and blue
uniforms, marched up onto the Argo around two other men.
Their group
parted, and revealed General Radnar and Admiral Tendor, both in black.
Radnar looked
at Desslok and then at Wildstar. “I thought this vessel would be bigger,
somehow. It looks rather old,
Commodore.”
“General, you
saw her in action against Invidia,” said Wildstar. Near Radnar, Desslok chuckled a low chuckle. “You don’t know them well, do you, Radnar?”
“If we knew
them better, and I had remained in Prince Zordar’s service, this war might have
ended more peacefully for all of us,” said Radnar. He then turned to Prime
Minister Gonjin. “Sir, for the acts of my kinsman Zordar, I hereby offer
apologies and offer my sidearm to you in surrender…”
“Take it
back,” said Gonjin. “This is an armistice. Not a surrender,
sir,” said Gonjin stiffly.
“Let’s get on
with it, then,” said Radnar. “Where are the documents?”
The Commander
pointed out the documents as Radnar came up to the table. The Cometine General
knelt on one knee, mumured, “Thank Arishna I was able to come here today to end
this,” and then he stood and signed along with Tendor. Then, Desslok, Talan,
and Astrena signed, and Desslok symbolically shook hands with Radnar as cameras
went off. Then, Prime Minister Gonjin signed, shaking hands with Radnar,
Desslok, and Astrena, and then Lady Novalia came up and signed in silence for
their civilizations. Finally, Singleton and Stone signed, and then Commodore
Derek Wildstar and Lietenant Commander Nova Wildstar were the last to sign, as
witnesses. The group of allies then stood stiffly at attention with their
former enemies as the Argo’s aft gun turret fired ten times in
a ceremonial thirty-gun salute.
A moment
later, on cue, the Black Tigers and the Trojans flew on overhead in ceremonial
V for victory formations, led by Hardy and Bangs for the Tigers and by Deke and
Brew for the Trojans as the two Flight Groups flew their final mission of the
war in a ceremonial overflight of the Argo.
“Ladies and
gentlemen,” said Gonjin as adjutants closed the books. “These proceedings are
ended. We are now at peace.”
Nova then
bowed towards Radnar, Desslok, and their men. “We have a banquet lunch laid out
if you wish to attend.”
“That’s
great, sis, I’m hungry!” yelled out
David Forrester as he ran up while everyone chuckled, even some of the
Cometines.
“Your
relative?” said Radnar.
“My kid
brother,” said Nova as she grabbed David and tousled his hair. “I’m very sorry
that he is embarrassing us, sir.”
“That is no
sin,” said Radnar as he bowed down and smiled at David. Somehow, Nova didn’t
like Radnar’s smile much. Even though they were now officially at peace, the
tall Cometine general gave her the creeps. Then, Radnar saw Desslok
approaching, and he said, “Yes, my Prince?”
“I assign you
as Viceroy over your remaining forces,” said Desslok as Radnar turned to him
and knelt. “I have an Empire mightier than your House now to run in my own
territorial space, so I will seldom actually be able to oversee House
Gatlantis’ holdings myself, even though I mean to come to Andromeda in person
someday to present myself before your Grand Emperor. For now, you will be my
right hand, and present yourself before him in my stead. Do not fail me. Are we
clear?”
“Yes, Lord,”
said Radnar through gritted teeth, a little shocked and angered that Desslok
was choosing this moment to exert his authority over him in what he saw as a
very public humiliation. Damn him, he thought. At least the accursed Earthlings are more
gracious than his damned arrogant Gamilon lot…
In the meantime, Desslok walked
about the Argo with Astrena on the way to a gathering. Dellar was with them, but he was
insisting upon walking around in his new spacesuit, complete with helmet. His
mother humored him, and so, he walked along beside Astrena with a curious
expression on his face under his little helmet. They finally arrived on the Argo’s bridge a few minutes later.
Astrena’s new
pregnancy was bothering her, along with her swollen ankles, so she walked
slowly in her backless sandals as she held Desslok’s hand. She was plainly
dressed today, in a black gown, without her headdress, with her blond hair
flowing down her back.
“I don’t care
for the feel of parts of this ship, Desslok,” she said.
“Why, if I may ask?” replied the Leader.
“I’m too
tired and sick to my stomach to probe deeply, but I think several people in
this room are up to no good and do not mean us well,” she said as she looked at
the Cometines around Radnar as he made his entrance.
”“Whom?” said
Desslok.
“The Cometines. If I am not mistaken, aren’t some of those men with Radnar former troops
of Invidia’s from some of her ships? They seemed to switch masters and alliances
very quickly.”
“I trust Radnar about as far as I
could throw him,” Desslok said in a low voice. “But we have to deal with him.
It is my hope that if I can make him remember who allows him to rule as
Viceroy, even though I am not there, that he can turn what is left of House
Gatlantis to a new direction, so we are safe on that front. I allied with Earth
to avoid attack from one front, and I have signed a deal with them to avoid
attack on another front. At peace, I can rebuild my Empire…and we can build up
our forces again.”
“Why?” said
Astrena.
Desslok
laughed, and then he looked grim as he stood by the brightly lit windows on the
“And as long
as we live, Earth lives,” said Commodore Wildstar as he came up to Desslok.
“We’re going to have a toast soon, Desslok. Care to join us?”
Desslok
smiled and said, “Sure. Why not? Lead the way, Commodore.”
A while later, in the Argo’s messhall, Commodore Wildstar, the Commander, Captain Mark Venture of the
Arizona, Sandor, and Wendy Singleton
stood watching as Nova, IQ-9, Jonathan, Ms. Eloise and their staff prepared
drinks for the assembled guests. The youngest Wildstars had made their
appearances, with Jonathan carrying about his sleepy little brother, who wore a
blue sleeper, while Ms. Eloise carried Ariel, who was in a pink sleeper.
“So, this is
what the Argo looks like?” said Teri Forrester behind the group to Karl. “I thought it
would be a bit bigger.”
“It’s big
enough for us,” said Derek with a smile.
“She’s a
beautiful old ship,” said Sandor.
“What do you
think of her, Wendy?” said Singleton as he smiled at his granddaughter.
“She’s
beautiful; and bigger than Mrs. Forrester thinks,” she said with a smile as she
kissed her grandfather and then went off to look for Homer. She badly wanted to
talk to him.
Derek noticed
that Deke had come aboard, along with Brew, Bangs, Hardy, and the other pilots.
Lt. Bryan Hartcliffe, still confined to a brig in
“I wish
“It will pass, remember that,” said Nova as she came up with a smile while
holding Ariel. Angie shook her head a little wondering how Nova was trim enough
to fit back into her old skin-tight Star Force golds in less than a month. “I
don’t know what will become of
“Part of me
wants him here, and part of me never wants to see him again,” said Angie.
“I feel weird
myself, being pregnant. It’s a confusing time,” said Sasha as she came up in
her black and gold uniform while hugging Deke. “All I want to do now, Nova, is
eat and throw up. I feel really weird.”
“It’s
normal,” said Nova soothingly as she bounced Ariel. “I went through the same
thing with this little cadet.”
“She looks
just like you as a baby, Sasha,” said Deke in wonder as he played with Ariel’s
nose and she gurgled happily.
“I looked the same as a baby,” said Nova
with a blush. “Her hair will probably go darker like mine when she gets older.”
“Mine’s going
to be a girl,” said Sasha happily. “Deke and I have already decided to name her
“Star”. I can already feel her trying to bond with me in here,” she said as she
patted her stomach.
“They did a
scan on mine,” said Dawn as she came up, glowering because she felt utterly
forgotten. “They’re twins; Jeff and I do not know the gender yet!”
“You too?” laughed Nova. “WOW! When did
you and Jeff find out?”
“Last week,”
said Dawn as she glowered at Nova. “And no one noticed.”
“You didn’t even
tell us,” said Nova. “We’re so sorry…”
Then, Radnar
came up. “Ah…is that your famous child, Mrs. Wildstar?”
“Yes, she
is,” said Nova as she held Ariel closer, feeling very protective of her
daughter for the moment. “Our son Jonathan has her brother Alexander in his
arms over there.”
“What a nice
lad, helping your mother like that,” purred Radnar.
Then, to Jonathan’s surprise, Radnar tickled his chin, but Alexander turned his
head and began whimpering.
“Sir, I’m not
sure he likes you much,” said Jonathan.
“Odd…I mean
him no harm,” said Radnar. Yet, he
thought. Oh, we shall leave all right.
You’ll be safe, probably for this generation, at least. But
even though Zordar was an atheist, and even though I am sworn to serve Desslok,
we shall not forget…no, not by any means. We may not molest the parents
now. But, your children…someday, you will come to recognize your overlords in the future…this day is not one we will
forget…or easily forgive!
“But they say
babies can sense things,” said Jonathan. “Mom, I wonder what he senses about
General Radnar?”
“We’ll…go
talk with your father,” said Nova. “C’mon. General, I’m sorry…I think I feel a
wet diaper coming on for Ariel…”
Nova knew
that Ariel’s diaper was not really wet…but she just wanted to get away from
Radnar. Irony upon ironies, she and Jonathan ended up standing next to someone
else who was keeping their distance from Radnar, namely, Katrina.
“You’ll
pardon me for being in ze corner,” said Katrina, who was there today with Foxy
and Michelle. “That Radnar, he gives me the goosebumps.”
“The creeps?”
murmured Nova.
Katrina
nodded.
“I think
that’s the first time you and I agree
on something,” teased Nova with a slight smile. “He’s working the room like a
politician.”
“One who is
trying too hard to get elected something?” said Katrina.
Nova nodded.
“I wish I knew where Derek was.”
“Where are
you staying?” Jonathan said as he looked at his sister.
“With her,”
said Michelle. “We live together. I have no other place to go. I managed to get
assigned as her servant by the Apprenticeship Program for now…”
“You’re in a
vo-tech program?” sniffed Jonathan.
“Yeah,
doesn’t mean I’m stupid!” said
Michelle. “I like Katrina!”
“You sure you
don’t like her too much?” said
Jonathan with a fourteen-year old’s leer and wink.
“Jonathan
Hartnell-Wildstar!” snapped Nova. “Shut that smart mouth or you’re going to be in a major jam! I mean it!”
“I’m sorry,
Mom,” said Jonathan as he blushed.
“Apologize to
Katrina and your sister!” Nova barked.
Jonathan
bowed to Katrina and Michelle. “I’m very sorry, both of you.”
“You had
better be,” snapped Katrina. “Nova, if he was not your son, I would slap him!”
“Thanks, but
that’s my department…if any slapping has to be done, that is,” said Nova.
“Right now, I think all we have is a case of sibling rivalry turned really
stupid, don’t we, Jonathan and Michelle?”
“Yes, ma’am,”
they both said together.
“I’m sorry,
Katrina,” said Nova with a bow. “Kids…”
“I have my
own times with Michelle at times,” said Katrina.
“We both do,”
sighed Foxy.
“Both of you?”
said Nova.
Katrina
nodded as Foxy put an arm around her. “We have been discussing…certain things,”
said Foxy.
“Like us?”
said Diane as she came up with Sandor.
“What is your
name?” said Katrina.
“Diane
Henson,” said Diane. “What’s yours? Vampira, woman of the night?”
Katrina made
a pair of fists. “I highly resent that remark!”
“Yeah, you
and what Goddamn army, you freaky-voiced weirdo?” snapped Diane as she made two
fists of her own.
“LADIES!”
snapped Nova. “I was just asking our two teens
here to stop acting like teenagers. Don’t you
two get started! Please! I like both
of you! I don’t want to have to take sides!”
Then, Nova’s
attention was diverted when Ms. Eloise and IQ-9 came up. “Nova, the Captain has
been looking for you! You are needed for the toast!”
“Later,
people,” said Nova. She turned to leave with Sandor and said, “Foxy, make sure
everyone behaves. Okay?”
“Sure will,”
said Kazuo Foxworth as he smiled. Nova left Ariel with Ms. Eloise before she
left.
A few minutes later, the Commander
stood on a stage addressing everyone.
“Officers,
men and women of the Argo and the
Nova came up on her own and handed the Commander a drink from a cart.
“Now, I drink
a toast, to all of you, and wish you good luck and good health!”
Everyone
shared in their toast, and cheers went up all around.
Finally, with
that done, there was little to be done except to say farewell to Desslok,
Astrena, and Radnar. Radnar would be in the Sol System for another few days
pulling together the remnants of Invidia’s fleet and demobilizing them per the
terms of the Armistice, but the Gamilons were going to begin their journey home
the next day, since there was a lot of rebuilding left on Gamilon for Desslok
and his men as they sought to repair the damage that Invidia and Ekogaru had
caused back in July.
After the
alien guests left and were bid Godspeed by Commodore Wildstar, the Commander
and the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister also left with his staff, and Derek,
Nova, and Sandor went up to the First Bridge after bidding farewell to Mark and
Holly Venture.
On the
Jonathan came
with them, bringing his father’s camera so that he could photograph his mother
and father twice over; one picture was of his mother holding Ariel in her pink
sleeper, while the other was of her holding Alex in his blue sleeper. Both
pictures looked very sweet.
Then, Nova
sat down again at her old post holding Alex while Derek sat down at the
Captain’s station after handing Ariel off to Jonathan.
With tears
misting his eyes, Derek said, “Attention, all hands. We are heading for home;
the dockyards at
“Roger,” said
Eager from Navigation; he was acting as the Navigation Group Leader for this
short cruise. “Auxiliary engines, up to six. Begin
hundred and eighty degree turn; slow speed ahead! Course, one
hundred and eighty south!”
The Argo turned about slowly in the water
and then began to cruise back down the coast towards San Diego and the
underground dry dock where she would rest for the next nine and a half months
until her repairs and refit were completed in the beginning of July of 2208, a
new summer that was still a long way off.
The surviving
members of the Argo’s crew would remain on assignment
in the
II. PICTURES OF HAPPINESS
The
Doctor Sane’s Office
Saturday, October 3, 2207
1030 Hours Local Time
It was a warm Saturday morning. As
Jonathan waited outside in the waiting room, 
(since he did not have classes at his new school this day),
Nova lay languidly on an examining table in her Star Force uniform with her
boots off, watching Derek and watching her children with love and playfulness
in her eyes as Doctor Sane tenderly weighed and examined her twins.
“How are they?” said
Nova as Derek held up Alex, who was in just his baby skin for the exam (along
with Ariel).
“Well, Nova, your son
is as healthy as a horse.”
“Or one of your
pigs?” teased Nova as she smiled softly at Derek while wiggling her bare toes
against the sheet. Derek almost melted at her longing come-hither type look.
And, inside her Star Force uniform, Nova was aching for her husband in the
worst possible way right now.
Oh, God, I need you, Derek…thought Nova as she smiled at her husband. I want to be alone with you so bad. I see
the way you look at me when I feed the kids…when I jump in the bath with them..we’ve hugged so much in the past few weeks…cuddled so
much. We’ve been tired, but we’ve been together. I feel like I’m going to melt in
this uniform…I’m hot…please, Doc…get this over with.
Nova then watched as
Ariel was examined. “Her weight is fine, and she is developing quite well,”
said Doctor Sane as the baby girl waved her little hands at Doctor Sane’s
stethoscope before it went onto her bare chest and made her cry. Then, Doctor
Sane connected sensors to her to take diagnostic scans of the baby.
Nova got up, and she
ran over and cuddled and comforted her daughter as Doctor Sane continued
checking things on her. Then, Sane looked at Nova and said, “Your turn with
that stethoscope soon, Nova…”
Nova blushed as she
slowly unzipped her uniform…
Nova was very glad
that everything had gone well at Doctor Sane’s private office in rented
quarters in the city that day as she dressed Alex again in the blue shorty
coverall and sandals he had worn to the office. Derek was doing similar work
with his daughter, who wore a white sundress.
They had a
bittersweet appointment, since Doctor Sane told them that this would be the
last time he could see the children due to his work, but he recommended a
pediatrician he knew of. He was beginning to give his name when Nova said,
“Actually, Doctor, I know of someone already.”
“Who?” said Doctor Sane.
“A woman about your
age who looks a lot younger,” replied Nova as she pulled her Star Force boots
back on. “I met her in the hospital the other day when I did a little rotation
to fill in one day in Pediatrics.”
“What’s her name?”
asked Derek as he cuddled Alex.
“Kei Stuart,” said
Nova. “She looks like a slightly older version of me, Doctor Sane…I’m not
kidding…”
“Kei?” said Sane.
“Kei Stuart MD?” he said with shock in his voice as he held Ariel.
Then, a little tap
came at the doorway.
“Hello?” said a
rather young-sounding voice. “I’d like to see about picking up the charts for
the Wildstar children.”
Doctor Sane turned around, and he almost dropped Ariel when
he saw who was in the doorway.
Standing there,
looking just a little older, was a young woman of
about Nova’s height in a blue minidress and black boots. She had light blond
hair, and a winsome expression on her heart-shaped face as she looked at Doctor
Sane.
“Kei?” said Sane.
“Yes, Virgil, it’s
me,” she said back.
“Virgil?” said Nova.
“Doctor, that’s not your first name.”
“No, it’s my middle
name,” he said as he handed Ariel to Nova as his eyes filled with tears. “It’s
what she always used to call me. Wildstar, Nova…this was her…the girl I’d sit
with by the flowers and talk and talk by the hour…until I found out I was
allergic to the flowers…”
“You outgrew that,
silly,” said Stuart as she took the charts and then gave Doctor Sane a friendly
squeeze of his hand. “It’s been a long time. Years.”
“I thought…thought
you died, Kei,” said Sane.
“Got out of
Derek blushed as he
put on his long peacoat. “I am young, I guess. Twenty-nine.
Same age as Nova here.”
“You two are just
kids!” she said with a laugh. “I’m in my fifties. I don’t want to give away all
the damage.”
“You look very young,
Doctor,” said Nova.
“Thanks,” said Kei.
“She always did,”
said Sane with misty eyes. “Kei, like to share a drink with me?”
“Sure, I’m not due
back at San Diego Central for an hour…one drink won’t hurt.” Kei noticed Sane’s
bottle on a table near the examining bed where Nova had just been lying. She
undid the cork and sniffed it. “Phew! You’re still drinking this stuff?”
“Takes some time to
ferment,” sniffed Sane.
“Well, nothing wrong
with a drink now and then,” said Kei as she filled a glass half-full with the
“Spring Water.” Nova tried to warn her off, but Kei ignored her, smiled at
Sane, said “kampai!” and drank.
A moment later, after
a satisfying gulp, she was licking her lips and smiling.
“Uh, most women I
know don’t drink that much of it,” said Sane.
“I’m not ‘most women’
and I never was,” said Kei. She rooted through a hip pocket for an appointment
book. Then, she said, “Mrs. Wildstar, bring Alexander, Ariel, and Jonathan to see me on the ninth;
next Friday at 1100 at the hospital. Don’t overdress the babies unless it gets
cool out somehow, and wear something you can easily get out of; I want to have
you nurse them both in front of me if possible to check your technique,” she
said as she looked at their charts. “However, looks like they’re gaining weight
well. Just a formality.”
“Sure,”said Nova. She
smiled at Doctor Sane and Kei and said, “See you two later…”
At that, she winked
at them and left with Derek.
“See you two later,”
said Doctor Sane. “Kei, did she have a hand in us meeting up again?”
“You could…uh…sorta
say that,” said Kei. “Attached to anyone?”
“Bad marriage. The girl was a golddigger. She killed herself after we
divorced,” said Sane.
“It was about the
same thing with Darryl,” sighed Kei. “Have to tell you
about him sometime; he was…I don’t know why I married him…”
“Lonely?” said Sane.
“You could say that,”
said Kei. “Sorry we couldn’t have gotten together again.”
“You know the war,”
said Sane as he took a drink. “I was a rolling stone for many years. I think my
days of adventuring with the Fleet will be over with in a few years, though.
I’m overseeing the training of my protégé and replacement.”
“Nova?”
Sane nodded. “She and
Derek are going to have more children, but it’s peacetime now. After
“I feel bad we
couldn’t have had those years together,” said Kei as she sat down in a chair
next to Sane. Without knowing it, they were holding hands.
“We have plenty of
time to catch up,” said Sane. “Still like the flowers?”
Kei nodded shyly.
“Okay; there is this
wonderful flowerbed in the park. I have the day off tomorrow. Still have a sundress
around?”
Kei nodded. “Sure
do.”
“Wear it, please,”
said Sane. “I might put on a kimono if you don’t laugh.”
“I won’t,” said Kei.
Then, they just sat
holding hands and being in each other’s presence as they knew they were
restarting their old romance all over again, after many years apart…
Nova and Derek had
business at home for that afternoon as Nova, Jonathan, Alex, and Ariel were all
changed prior to a photography appointment they had with Nova’s mother that
afternoon.
Nova changed into a
cute two-tone blue sailor dress, light blue hat, and blue thong sandals that
looked gorgeous on her. She changed little Alex into a little outfit that
looked like his father’s white Star Force uniform with shorts and a shirt like
his. Ariel wore a cute two-tone blue sailor dress, blue hat, and little blue
sandals just like her mother’s. Jonathan changed into his new middle-school
warm-weather uniform which was a light blazer, shirt, tie, shorts, and sandals
without socks.
Derek wore his Star Force
uniform, scarf and peacoat. They had a happy drive about two kilometers to a
home photography studio owned by a friend of both Teri Forrester and Lynn
Westland, where it had been arranged for Teri, who was, as an art professor, a
very good photgrapher, to take pictures of the young family together. She
booked the studio herself, with just the proprietor, a Ms. Wesley, there to
watch and help out.
The first set of
pictures consisted of Nova, who looked very pretty in her dress. She held Ariel
in her arms, while, beside her, in his usual uniform and peacoat, Derek held
Alex. Beside his adopted mother stood Jonathan. This
shot was very formal; it was taken before a window with red curtains over it.
Teri took the
pictures, and then said to Nova, “Now let’s get you people out in the yard. Ms.
Wesley, help move everything out?”
“Okay,” she said as
she began to move the equipment outside.
A few minutes later,
the young family sat together outside in the grass, with Nova holding Ariel,
and Derek holding Alexander. Jonathan sat beside them and smiled as he sat down
in the grass. He smiled at the feel of the sun on his bare legs as he yawned.
“Warm out here, Mom,”
he said. “Getting sleepy.”
“You can go to the
beach later,” teased Nova. “I know you want to get that shirt off, don’t you?”
“Aw, how did you
guess?” he said.
“Intuition,” said
Derek with a chuckle.
A moment later, they were ready.
They hadn’t brought
Fluffy the kitten with them, but Nova sat a toy cat that looked just like her
in the grass beside her as she wiggled her toes against a dandelion while she
sat cross-legged waiting for the pictures to be taken.
A moment later, Teri
began to take the pictures. Nova and Derek looked at their babies and then at
each other as they smiled softly and their love for each other was reflected in the pictures as they
nudged closer and closer together for each shot.
“Aren’t they cute?”
whispered Ms. Wesley to Teri while the pictures were being snapped.
“They make a
wonderful family,” said Teri with tears in her eyes.
“Where’s your
family?” said Ms. Wesley.
“Home. Karl didn’t want to fly out here this weekend with the
kids.”
“I see,” said Ms.
Wesley as she smiled sadly at Teri.
“Will we be done
soon?” asked Jonathan. “My legs are getting stiff.”
Artwork: “Everybody’s got a
Family” © 2008 by Freddo.
Derek looked at his
adopted son and laughed. “This is great, isn’t it?”
“Isn’t what?” said
Jonathan.
“You are I used to be
orphans, both of us. But we’ve got a wonderful family now, don’t we, Nova?”
“We sure do,” she
said.
Then, Ariel began to
fuss in her arms and then she began to cry.
“Oh boy,” sighed
Nova. “She’s hungry.”
Nova got up,
comforting her little one as she unashamedly kissed her adopted son on the
forehead and then on the nose, making the 14-year old boy blush.
Jonathan almost
wanted to cry then as he remembered all that had happened to him; his parents
being killed, his capture in 2202, his ending up with Conor and Astra after his
adventures with the Rikashans, being on the carrier Princess Astra in the unexpected opening of the battle and actually
seeing his adoptive father die, and then being taken to Iscandar, telling Astra
the news, being slapped in the face and blamed for Conor’s death (since his
second father had actually died in an explosion while shielding the boy, who
had stowed away on the ship) and then being disowned by Astra and left in St.
Anselm’s Orphanage. There, he had been under the “care” of the new, harsh
taskmaster Father Sakimoto, old Father Moriyama’s unworthy replacement, to be
abused as a “delinquent” until Derek and Nova had found him. He hugged Nova
hard, saying, “I love you…Mom..”
Nova smiled, with her
eyes glittering. “I love you too, Jonathan,” she said as she tousled his hair,
remembering with anger how he had been treated in the orphanage. “Kawaii, isn’t he, Mom?” Nova said as she
began to undo the bow at her of her dress so she could open it to nurse Ariel.
Teri nodded. “He looks
like he could be your boy. It’s so uncanny. I see your features and Derek’s
features in his face. Like it was meant to be.”
“I think it was,”
said Derek as he kissed his son and gave him a hug. “I love you, Dad…”
“Love you too,” said
Derek as he held his son. He remembered what it had been like to have been
orphaned himself; which was why he had immediately agreed when Nova had said,
“Let’s adopt him, Derek.”
Then, Derek and Nova
were photographed giving him a hug while Nova nursed Ariel, and finally, he was
photographed kissing his brother and then his sister.
“Are we done yet?”
Jonathan asked as Teri laughed.
“Well, no,” said
Teri. “There’s a few more we want to take…Your mother’s nursing your sister
right now. I want to capture that a little more…artistically, shall we say?”
Ms. Wesley caught on
and laughed. “Time to see how pretty Mother is, huh?”
Nova blushed and
nodded.
“Do I have to be in
all of the pictures?” said Jonathan as he went for his shirt. “I’m getting
bored, and there’s a nice front yard out there. I heard some planes coming in.
I want to watch some ships and planes landing.
“No problem,” said
Teri as she looked at Ms. Wesley. “Harriet, you take him in the front yard
while I finish. This is probably good timing…he’s bored.”
“Okay,” said Ms.
Wesley. “I have another camera so I can take some pictures of some ships with
you…c’mon…”
After they left, Teri
said, “Now…here’s we were get…really…sweet. Time to…uhhh…”
“Start stripping down
Mommy for her baby pictures?” said Nova as she looked at Derek while taking one
of her sandals off while gradually opening her dress more; Ariel had not left
her breast since she had begun feeding her. “Or new Mommy
pictures?”
They laughed at that.
With Earth needing to replenish its population, motherhood was considered a
rite of passage for many women, and, given the resources available, the
accepted and usual way to feed babies (with a very few exceptions) was right at
the mother’s breast. Most first-time baby picture sessions ended with a few
shots of the young mother with the baby at her breast, and if the mother was a
first-time mother, almost without exception, she was usually artistically
photographed in the nude with her naked baby skin-to-skin with her. In warm
weather, it was perfectly acceptable in those days for a mother to nurse her
child outside in a park, yard, or on the beach either lightly dressed or in the
nude.
“Yes. Nova, let Derek take off your things and then sit in the
grass over there. Derek, stand behind her and put Alex on her thigh…”
They did so, and Alex
began to cry on schedule.
Derek then quickly
and tenderly finished unbuttoning Nova’s dress and slipped it off her, kissing
her as he also slipped her underpants off Derek then reached down to her other
sandal and removed it for her, leaving her barefoot…and very naked in the sun.
Teri smiled at the sight of her eldest daughter’s firm round breasts, and Nova
smiled back while blushing a little.
“Derek, I’m going to
strip Ariel, too. Get Alex’s clothes off?”
Derek smiled back.
“That’ll be adorable. Sure. I love seeing you feed with with just a bare
chest,” he whispered in her ear. “You look so beautiful like that,” he said as
he caressed his son and then caressed Nova’s shoulders. They kissed as they sat
together in the grass and Nova got Ariel out of her baby clothes.
“How do you feel, Nova?” said Teri as Nova
nursed her naked daughter skin-to-skin and Ms. Wesley began to take pictures.
“Relaxed, Mom,” said
Nova with a soft smile and half-closed eyes as she gazed at her beautiful baby
girl. “Very relaxed. The sun feels
beautifull on me, and I love to nurse like this…with nothing on us or between
us.”
Nova made a very
sweet picture together with Ariel. Derek then kissed her on the forehead as she
lay back, contentedly feeding her daughter in the nude again in the grass, just
like at home earlier, and just the way she had brought them into the world.
The shots of the
naked young mother tenderly nursing her naked little girl looked innocent in
their sweetness.
“She looks almost too
young to be a mother..she’s so cute like that,” said
Teri in a soft voice to Derek as she fixed the lighting.
“Yes, she does. You’d
never know she’s really twenty-nine,” whispered Derek. Then, he smiled at his
wife, thinking, My dear angel, Nova. You’ve been through so
much the past few months. He realized tears were running down his cheeks as
he thought, You look like an angel like that. You, and our
little ones, sent from Heaven to us.
Finally, Ariel was
done. The pretty young mother then sat on the lawn with the birds singing while
holding Alex. Nova sang softly to him while nursing him. Teri photographed her,
taking all the time in the world as Nova sat there cross-legged with her tiny
son. Finally, the session ended with a shot of Derek embracing her while she
finished with Ariel.
As they hugged, Derek
heard her song and began to cry a little as he realized that Nova was softly
singing;
Like a circle in a spiral…like a wheel in a wheel…like a
carousel…like the circles that you find…in the windmills of your mind…
But, there was no
pain or fear in it now. A song about lost love, turned
on its head by a young mother who turned it into a lullaby for a baby. “Derek,
I love the melody. But…I love this child you gave us even more,” she whispered.
“And, Derek..?”
“Yes?”
“I love you most of
all, honey. I hope I spend another eighty years with you, my love….I love you
so much…” whispered Nova.
Derek held her and
kissed her. Nova then kissed Derek, gathered up her clothes, and slipped off to
get dressed.
Nova came back in as
Ms. Wesley brought Jonathan back out to the yard. Jonathan was delighted
because Ms. Wesley had just given him an electronic stereo camera. He looked at
Teri and said, “Grandmom, Ms. Wesley told me a lot about photography. I wonder
what I missed. Can I see all the pictures after all when they’re done?”
“That would be up to
your parents,” said Teri as she looked at Derek, and then at Nova, who both
nodded. Nova said, “Jonathan, the last few pictures were like that baby care
book I showed you at the house…it was like you saw me feeding Ariel in the tub
that day? I…I didn’t have anything on for a few minutes…it looked sweet…”
Jonathan blushed and
said, “I know Mom…you’re very
pretty…prettier than my first mom or even, I think… than Astra,” he said as he
sniffed. Tears ran down his cheeks. “I still don’t quite understand why Astra
didn’t want me any more…”
“You reminded her too
much of Conor,” said Nova as she hugged him. “I told her I understood but I thought
it was terrible. I think Astra has a lot of growing up to do…she should not
blame you for his death!”
“Is Cousin Sasha more
grown-up than she is?” said Jonathan.
“Yes, I think so,” said
Derek. “We’re very proud of her,” he said as he hugged his adopted son.
“We’ll never leave
you, and never forsake you,” said Nova as she hugged Jonathan. “You’ll always
be ours.”
“Thanks,” he said as
he cried while Nova held him.
III. A HOT DAY IN
CHURCH…
Earth
The
Saturday
October 10, 2207
1115
hours
The strange, warm
Indian summer continued in
Nova had come to church that day in an outfit that was very
cute. Because of the heat, she was very lightly dressed.
Derek took a picture
of her before the service in the lobby of the church by a stained glass window.
Nova wore a short pink and white buttown-down sleeveless sailor dress that
bared her pretty tanned shoulders, along with very sheer white net pantyhose
and pink backless sandals that showed off her long legs down to her pedicured
toes.
Derek’s picture of
the young mother of his children later became one of his favorites of her-he
kept it around for many years.
Now, she sat beside
him in a blond simulated-wood pew in the church near the aisle of the warm,
sunny church, smiling and holding Ariel while he held Alex.
“Let us begin,” said
Father Darryl Likanski, the priest who had been in so much of the Wildstars’
lives over the years, “with Hymn Number 212 ,The Lord’s My Shepherd.”
As they got up to
sing, Derek noticed that Nova’s outfit was actually one of the more conservative
ones in the church full of about fifty young mothers there with their families
to have their babies baptized by Father Likasnki. It was very warm in the
church that day; the climate control system didn’t even seem to be working
right. Thus, some of the stained-glass windows were open so the
what there was of the weak sea breeze could blow in from off the park at
the edge of the garden the church was located in and the shore, which was,
perhaps, a kilometer away.
Derek wore his black
Commodore’s peacoat and ascot over his white Star Force uniform, and he was
bouncing his son Alex on his knee. Alex wore a little blue and white
sailor-style sunsuit over his little bare body, while Ariel, who was being
bounced on her mother’s knee, wore a miniature of her mother’s pink dress and
white baby sandals. Her golden hair flew free as she giggled and grabbed at her
mother as the service went on.
“They’re sure cute,”
said Jonathan as he sat there in a black blazer and charcoal-grey shorts and a
white shirt and red tie. He looked a little more grown-up now, since he was now
fourteen, but wasn’t quite grown yet. “Aren’t they…mom?”
Nova smiled as she
acknowledged her newly adopted son’s love. It
wasn’t that long ago, she thought, that
we were at your foster father’s Conor’s funeral. But now, this is quite a bit happier, I’d say. It feels nice to be the
mother of three children; our own children that I carried in war and suffering,
and you, also brought to us by war and suffering.
“They’re adorable,”
said Nova. “Derek, how’s our son doing?”
“He’s doing great,”
said Derek as Alex played with his father’s ascot.
“Yes,” said Teri
Forrester as she sat next to Jonathan, who sat next to his mother. She wore a
floral dress (a bit longer than her daughter’s cute mini) in pink with white
sandals that had small flowers on them. She had a white loosely knit shawl on
over her bare shoulders. Unlike Nova’s legs, Teri’s were bare. Her younger
daughter Aurora was cuddled next to her in a yellow dress and little yellow
sandals. Next to her sat her brother David, who wore a dark blue nautical
blazer, white shorts, and bare feet (he had lost one of his nice leather
sandals on the way to the van). However, since he was just six, he looked sort
of cute like that. Then, Teri turned to David and asked him “How could you have
lost your shoes like that?”
“I was trying to get
a worm, Mommy. I’m sorry…”
“You get into just as
many scrapes as your sister,” said Teri as she tousled David’s hair.
“Which one?” asked
Karl as he sat there in a dark green suit.
“Both of them,” said Teri with a wicked smile as she looked at
“Excuse me,” said
Nova. “You’re a grandmother now. You can’t yell at me in front of my children,
Mother!”
“I’ll do what I
want!” laughed Teri. “When does that change anything, Nova?”
Nova just shook her
head at her mother for a reply. Next to Karl in the pew was Sasha. Her
pregnancy wasn’t showing yet, but she felt very, very peckish. She gave a
ladylike burp, squeezing Deke’s hand. She had on a purple and white sleeveless
sailor minidress and sandals similar to her aunt’s. Sasha recognized about five
or six other women she had met on the Argo on their last
cruise; some of their babies looked older.
Sasha guessed that they must have had their children sometime in the Spring. Sasha blushed a little as
she saw one of the younger mothers with her blouse partially open as her little
boy suckled at her bare breast. The young mother was blushing, but her mother
looked as if she was snapping pictures; Sasha noticed that no one made much of
a fuss about it.
“Ever see see so many
kids around?” laughed Deke, who sat beside Sasha in his EDF blues and dress
jacket. He and Wildstar had wanted to invite Hardy and Dawn, but Dawn had been
enduring a very bad bout of morning sickness and had begged off, as had Angie.
Deke was relieved at that; because he didn’t know what kind of crap that Bryan
Hartcliffe would come up with in a church full of mothers and babies less than
a year old; babies who were crying, burping, squiggling and hungry in a big hot
church.
Also, as Deke looked
around, trying not to embarrass anyone, he also noticed that quite a few
mothers had their babies up to their breasts to keep them quiet and fed. It
reminded Deke and some of the older people there a little of some of the scenes
in the underground cities and shelters in the recent past of just a few years
ago. Indeed, a pew or two across from
them, one blushing young mom, like Sasha Morningstar in Deke’s nightmare, had
had to resort to completely opening up her minidress to feed the twins in her
lap. Deke caught a glimpse of the young father taking off his wife’s hat to put
in her lap under their baby boy and girl, so…
Sasha noticed too,
and giggled. “Deke! That baby’s diaper is off,” she
whispered.
“Looks like Mom is
either changing him or undressing him to dip him in the font to get him
baptized,” said Deke. “I hope he doesn’t
play fireman on his mom’s hat.”
“Or in his mom’s
lap,” whispered Sasha. “Does she have underwear on?”
Deke shook his head.
“Awfully hot out,” he said laconcially. “I’m trying not to look…”
Then, Deke heard Nova giggling nervously and going “awwww…..Derek! That’s
Sergeant Trish Kane from the Living Group! Poor thing! Wearing just her open
dress, her hat over her lap and all that! She’s almost naked. How cute!”
“I wonder if this
foretells our future with Star,” said Sasha with a deep blush.
Beside Deke sat Mark
Venture. He was in his EDF Second Star Force uniform. Beside him sat Holly in
sandals and a sundress; they were there to be Alex and Ariel’s godparents.
The last person in
the pew, near the windows, looked over at Sasha and snarled, “I hope that
things go well for you and the baby.”
“Me too, Katrina,”
said Sasha as she looked at Katrina Savela. Of course, Sasha had no idea who
she was sitting next to, except that the Pellian pilot who had survived the
last battle and her crash onto the Argo a month before gave off a dark aura that disturbed her
somewhat.
“Katrina” looked
somber and dark, yet pretty, as she struggled with the angry memories that
popped up in her head. She wore a subdued sky-blue blouse, striped tie, dark
knee-length skirt in navy blue, and black sandals with slingback straps in the
back that bared her heels and toes.
These shoes feel ridiculous, she thought. I guess
Nova had some justification for putting this fool outfit on me, though. This
Earth is such a hot, primitive planet! We never would have been comfortable
ruling, here…I….
Now where did that come from? Katrina thought.
You are a Princess,
she thought back to herself.
Yes, one in deep hiding,
Invidia thought. But how did I lose my
realm? One minute, I was with Gorse, next minute, poof, was in a plane, and,
poof, crashed on Argo. All went dark.
Now I am with Star Force. Or am I? Star Force stinks, she thought.
Nova then got a
bottle of milk she had tapped from herself earlier and gave it to a fussy Alex.
“I hope I don’t run out, Derek…” she whispered.
“Why…?”
“Derek, I just hope I
don’t have to feed them the usual way
in front of everyone…and here in church too!”
Teri said, “Dear,
you’ll have to if the bottle runs out and he is still hungry. Other people are
doing it. And shouldn’t you be undressing him and getting him wrapped in his
bath towel? We can’t exactly undress him at the altar, you know-it’d take too
long…”
“Mother, give it a
few minutes…”
“Katrina” sat and
thought with a smirk on her face, Good,
Nova. I hope that bottle runs out soon. It would be cute if we had to see you
feed them.
At the same time,
memories came flashing back to Invidia as a strange,
sick, weird idea began to run its way through her head.
It was an idea that
was sick.
Strange.
And utterly
unholy.
And she was sure
Radnar would love it.
If he would talk to
her without having her hung up by her toenails, that is.
In the meantime, Nova
then gave the bottle to Derek to give to Ariel, who had awakened and was
reaching for it.
“And now, a reading from
the Book of Isaiah,” said the lector as the congregation got up and stood.
Sasha was quiet when the others said, “Glory to God,” but Invidia tried to keep
from laughing as the priest began to read, “Thus says
the LORD: Here is my Servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am
pleased…”
Where is the image of Arishna in this stupid temple? “Katrina” thought as she looked to the altar, baptismal
font, and Father Likanski reading from a big red book on the altar. Why do they have up that bas-relief of that
insipid woman in blue who looks like Trelaina holding that stupid baby boy with
no clothes on and clouds all around them? Katrina thought as she looked up
at the Madonna and Child behind the altar.
Is this the
After the reading, as
more babies began to cry (this hurt Katrina’s ears and was even making Sasha
antsy), the cantor read, “A responsorial Psalm. The Response is, “The Lord will
bless his people with peace…”
“The Lord will bless
His people with peace,” said Nova with the others as even she yawned in the hot
church, trying to keep from dropping Alex, who was getting decidedly squirmy.
“When will this be over, Dad?” said Jonathan.
“Soon, son,” said Derek.
Father Likanski then
read: “Give to the LORD, you sons of God, give to the
LORD glory and praise…”
Then,
Alex began to just scream as Nova held him on her lap. Nova had seen him
straining a second before, and she knew what was happening.
“Derek, I
have to go,” said Nova as she grabbed
the diaper bag.
“Why?”
“Your son
needs changing…fast!” said Nova. “And I hope we’re not out of diapers…”
Nova ran
into the ladies’ room carrying Alex as fast as she could.
Oh, no, she thought as she saw another mother changing her baby at one
of the pull-down changing beds in the outer part of the restroom. Other beds
were free. But, he was very messy. Very messy. I’ll have
to balance him on that counter and give him a bath by the darn sink. Baby wipes
won’t cut it…
Nova sat
down, and got her screaming and squirming son onto a towel that came from her
bag, and she got him out of his sunsuit on the counter.
Alex had
had to relieve himself (number two) in his diaper, and the dark yellowish-green
result was not pretty. It had stained Alex’s sunsuit, upper thighs, and diapers
as well as the obvious areas, that quickly became exposed as Nova undid Alex’s
diaper and stripped him entirely naked. As he squirmed on his towel, Nova tried
to wash her baby with some baby wipes and wet towels as best as she could, working from the sink.
After ten
minutes or so, Nova looked at her handiwork as she cast aside the poopy towel
and her son’s poopy outfit and held her little son up over a diaper; the last
one in her bag; he had gone through them faster than anticipated today.
“Now,”
cooed Nova. “Let’s get your last diaper under your tushie,
and over you before you….”
Alex
looked at his mother, gave her a big, wide, smile…
And then,
he brought up his bottom and went wee very messily all over his diaper, tummy,
upper thighs, privates, and his mother’s knees
“Eeeek!” screamed Nova. “Arrrgh! My God! Alexander
Derek Wildstar!” Then, she laughed. “You little imp!”
“Miss, hasn’t your baby ever peed on you before?” said the other
mother, who was closing her own son’s nicely dry diaper. “They can’t help it!” Then, then other mother smiled to
herself and thought, This one must be her
first; I have three more already…no wonder the poor dear is so squeamish about
some of these things. But it’s cute. We need more new young mothers on Earth
now, now, more than ever.
“No, but
my stockings are a mess!” cried Nova. “Look! There’s pee and poo all over my
knees…”
“Wash it
off,” said the mother as she got Nova a rag from her own cache.
“What if
it won’t come off?” said Nova as she scrubbed at the wet net stocking. It had
been white. Now it looked like it had been used to make a mustard-covered hot
dog. “Look!”
“Then go
in the stall and take those off?” giggled the young mother. “I knew what Danny
might do. I don’t have any stockings on, dear. And I’ve been through this
before with my others.”
Nova
looked at the young mother in shorts, bare legs, and thongs, and said, “I
should have done that…” Nova also thought, And right now, I hate you.
“You
still can,” said the young lady. “Oh. My name’s Billie. Nova, I bet you’d look
better in bare legs anyway with that dress and shoes.”
“How’d
you know my name?” said Nova.
“Everyone
recognizes you, Mrs. Wildstar,” said Billie
happily. “We just met a famous lady, Danny!” she said as she swung up her son.
“Yes, we did!”
“Yes,”
said Nova with a blush, as she thought, Losing my pantyhose
wouldn’t be so bad…except for the fact that….these underall stockings are all I have on under this dress! Nova
added to herself.
While
juggling Alex, wrapped now in just the other towel, on her knee, Nova slipped
into a stall, slipped out of her backless sandals, and wriggled out of her
underall summer pantyhose, which were made so that the panties were built into
the pantyhose.
Nova felt
decidedly cooler as she got out of them a moment later and slipped her now bare
feet back into her sandals. “At least these are flats, Alexander,” said Nova
out loud. “Less likely, Alex, that Mommy will slip and
fall and show the whole church everything when she hits the floor!” Nova then
got everything gathered up and got herself together
and twirled a little on her toes. “Good,” she said to herself. “It just about keeps me decent. God help me,
though, Alex, if I have to feed you and Ariel at the same time in this dress
now,” laughed Nova. “Now let’s hope Father Likanski had a long sermon…”
Nova heard some people going “awwwww…,” as she
carried Alex out and down the aisle, wrapped in his towel, and squirming.
Knowing that he would eventually have to go naked for his dunk in the large,
warm font, Nova gave up trying to keep Alex’s tush covered as he tried to climb
up his mother’s dress. Nova let Alex get his chubby hands up onto her and she
smiled as she slipped into the pew again next to Derek and Ariel.
“You look pretty, Mom!” said Jonathan.
Mark Venture looked over and said, “Awww…how
cute.”
“Thanks,” said Nova as she cuddled her squirming
little son.
Not far away, Deke was rubbing Sasha’s pregnant
(still flat) tummy as she giggled. Teri looked at them, smiled, and thought You’d better have some more soon. Earth needs
them. We lost twenty million more people in this war. We need more fast. Nova, Derek, if you don’t have more soon, I will skin you two.
“Thanks,” said Nova with a cute blush as she
carefully sat down in the pew, trying to keep too much southern exposure from
showing. She was only partially successful. Luckily, the bit of her tanned
seal-curve buttock that showed was next to Derek, who tenderly smoothed Nova’s
pleated short skirt back down over her to keep her decent.
“Your legs look better like that…bare,”
whispered Derek. “So do your toes.”
“You would say that, Mister Foot Fetish,” whispered
Nova with a blush as she wriggled her toes up. They felt better without stockings on. “Play Tinwit now and you’re
dead!”
“Good thing he’s not here,” said Derek as he
tickled Alex’s bare little chest. “Number two?”
“Big, nasty mess, film at eleven,” said Nova.
“Good thing no one arrests naked babies.”
“We would have had to undress them soon anyway,”
said Derek as he gently took one of Ariel’s sandals off. “Why did we put shoes
on her but not him?”
“Baby boys look cuter barefoot than baby girls,
I think,” said Nova as she made her baby daughter giggle by playing with her
toes.
“They’re both cute,” said Jonathan.
“Mom almost never put shoes on me as a baby,”
said Sasha. “Neither did you…”
Deke looked at Sasha and then at Ariel as she
squealed and pulled her father’s ascot out of his uniform and then attacked her
laughing adopted brother’s tie. “Sasha, that baby picture of
the blond baby girl on Derek’s lap at the Forresters’ house! Is that…?”
“That was me,” said Sasha proudly. “When Uncle
fell asleep on Iscandar with me on his tummy.”
“How nice to know,” huffed Katrina.
“You were as almost ugly as Derek’s little brat.” Then, she giggled. She was
trying to be funny.
“Miss, if you can’t say anything nice, than
don’t say anything at all!” whispered Holly Venture hotly. It was a good thing
she had done so, or the day might have been interrupted by Sasha slugging the
(assumed) Pellian pilot. “Nova, honey, why did you bring her?” said Teri as she
got up and whispered in her daughter’s ear. “She has spiders in her soul and
vinegar in her brain!”
“She doesn’t have anyone, Mom. I feel sorry for
her; and she’s seeing Foxy, Cousin Jane’s ex,” said Nova as she saw Father
Likanski finishing his long sermon as a bored David Forrester began to hit his
sister Aurora with a hymnal. Then, Nova was surpised when she saw Foxy waving
at her from right where Katrina was sitting.
“Ow! Quit it!” cried
David made a face at her before his mother Teri
slapped his hand. “David! We’re in church! Put that down!”
“Mommy, I’m bored! When will this be over?”
“Soon,” said Derek as he extricated Ariel from
her outfit as he sat her now diaper-clad bottom on a towel. “I hope..” he added as he began to undo her diaper for her trip up
to be baptized. Then, after Derek undressed his daughter, she began to whimper.
Nova and Derek smiled at each other as they
heard the first baby squall when he went bottoms-first into the water in the
font. The proud grandparents photographed him getting a blessing from the
priest in his father’s arms in a towel before being handed back to his mother,
who looked a little sheepish but cute trying to hold a sweater on over her
exposed breast; he had also been hungry going up there.
Alex began to cry and wiggle a moment later in
his mother’s arms.
“Oh, no,” said Nova.
“What’s wrong?” said Derek.
“Derek, that’s his hungry cry. That bottle
wasn’t enough for him…I…”
“Nova, honey, he’s about to be baptized,” said
Teri as she put up her camera and gestured to her shoulder. “Just feed him,
Nova. Make it quick…just a little milk…It’ll make an adorable picture…”
Nova smiled as she quickly untied the bow at the
bodice of her sailor-bibbed dress and then unbuttoned her dress down two
buttons. She shut her eyes for a second as she felt it coming open as she
quickly bared her nicely-tanned right breast for her son, who hungrily
squiggled right to her bare nipple and latched on. Not far away, Foxy noticed
the scene and whistled slightly, earning him a slap from Katrina.
Quite a few whispered in sweet awe and smiled as
Nova had her picture taken by her mother, as, in just her little partially-open
dress, she fed her son in the hot church along with some of the other mothers,
who were now at best, semi-dressed.
“Oh, that’s so cute,” said Holly as she smiled
at Nova.
“Thanks,” Nova said with a smile. Mark Venture
also smiled at her, and Nova smiled back, proud of her baby, even if he needed
her breast right then and there. It does
look cute, Nova thought.
“Derek,” whispered Nova. “Please don’t let Ariel
scream next…”
“I…think I can see why,” said Derek.
Nova
nodded and whispered, “Derek, if the other one has to come out…I’ll have to go
almost naked like Trish did! Is she
dressed yet, Sasha?”
Sasha looked
up and giggled. “No. Her husband is still holding her hat against her. And her
twins are still wiggling around.”
“Poor
thing,” said Nova. “Derek, if Ariel gets hungry…please try to keep me decent?”
“I’ll
try,” said Derek as he held Ariel.
“Thank you,” said Nova as she kissed her
husband. “Please do a better job than you did at Cousin Patti’s wedding almost
three years ago…”
“Oh, that!” laughed Mark. “Nova, I remember
that!”
“You would,”
said Nova as she blushed at the memory.
“Nova,” said Teri. “Is that when that funny
little red IQ robot pulled down your gown in front of Father Likanski at
Rockies Outlook Church where you two got married and…?”
“YES, MOM!” said Nova with a deep blush. “At
least I had on underpants. That
time…”
“Why is that such a big thing?” teased Nova’s
mother. “Why are you so worried?”
“Mom, I had on the Underalls you bought me.
They’re…gone now…Alex pooped on my stockings, and…now…I’m naked under my
dress!”
Teri laughed. “Awww…Now, that’s cute! It reminds me of a predicament I
had when you were baptized, Nova.”
“Yes?”
“You got hungry,” Teri said. “It was hot like
this. The only way to quiet you was to take my sundress off. I wish I still had
the pictures.”
“So, what did you have on, Mother?” Nova said.
“I matched you, my baby girl. Like you as a
baby, I was naked for maybe ten minutes,” said Teri. “I was all scrunched up in
a pew in just my flip-flops trying to feed you…”
Nova laughed. “Now, that sounds adorable!”
“Look,” whispered Holly as she tapped Nova on
the shoulder.
Ahead of them, a family had two children, an
undressed baby girl, and a two-year old toddler boy. The little boy still had
on a little white shorts suit with a bow tie, white shoes, and knee socks. The
young mother smiled, picked up her son, and began taking off his shoes, socks,
and then his shorts and training pants. He giggled as his mother undid his bow
tie, unbuttoned his shirt, and tickled his tummy as he was tenderly stripped of
his suit by his mother and father.
“What’s his name?” Nova asked.
“Joshua,” said his mother. “He’s about to be
baptized, too. Isn’t he cute?”
“Mommie, my pants are gone,” he lisped. Then he
giggled as he kicked his legs and giggled more as his mother tickled the bottom
of his little bare foot.
“I know,” giggled Sasha. “Now everyone can see
you’re a boy.”
In Nova’s arms, Alex wiggled and squealed as he
pulled his mouth away from his mother’s bare breast. Nova began playing “this
little piggie” with her son’s toes to keep him amused while he snuzzled around
his mother’s breast, bounced it twice, and then went back to suckling his
mother.
Then, Nova was interrupted. Ariel was beginning
to scream.
“What’s wrong with her?” said Derek as he tried
to comfort her.
“Derek, give her to Mom!” said Nova. “That’s her
hungry cry! Mom?”
“Stop blushing, Nova…this’ll be so cute,” laughed Teri as she took her.
“Just like in the park earlier today…”
“Then, I
still had on my stockings,” whispered Nova with a deep blush as Derek got
behind her and embraced her as he pulled her onto his lap. “Just unbutton what
has to come open for the other breast, please!” I should have worn my kimono today…easier to get them both out in and
keep semi-decent, Nova thought as Derek undid her third button…then her
fourth. Her left breast came partly bare, but part of the material still
stubbornly covered her nipple as Nova took Ariel and tried to latch her on.
“Derek,” whispered Nova.
“I know,” he said as he went down to Nova’s
navel and bared it as he undid her fifth button…it didn’t quite work. Then,
Derek tenderly went lower and undid Nova’s last button.
Her left breast finally came free for Ariel….but
so did all of the rest of Nova. She suddenly felt a warm breeze hitting her in
a spot she’d never shown out of her bedroom, the beach, the doctor’s office,
the photography studio a few days ago, or an isolated park. Some people went
“awww…” as it became very obvious for a second that under her dress, Nova’s
pretty, all-over tanned body was innocently nude down to her bare toes, like
her friend Trish’s body. “Ohhhh,” said Holly. “That is so cute! Mark, stop looking! I know you had a thing for her!”
“Why not look?” said Mark as he took a picture.
“She’s cute. So are those kids! Nova, how did you get rid of that pregnancy
weight so fast?” Nova blushed as, not far away, she heard Foxy laughing and
taking pictures, while Katrina said, “Yes, it is cute, but you are to look at
me…not at her!”
“Long story,” said Nova as she blushed while
Derek pulled her onto his lap and tried to cover what could be seen of her
womanhood as he kissed her.
Joshua’s mother looked back and made a big
“awwwww” noise. “Mrs. Wildstar! That’s adorable!”
“Oh, my God,” said a girl in line. “Look, Pat!”
“Her? I’m trying not to…”
“Look! Mrs. Wildstar!”
“Aww…her and the
twins, how cute…..look…Nova’s almost naked!”
“She’s so pretty,”
said one person as he turned around in the pew to look as a warm breeze blew
Nova’s dress free from her hip for a moment…not that all that much could be seen
with the babies in her arms and Derek’s arms and hands tenderly protecting his
wife from the congregation. “Look how tan she is…all over…”
“She and her husband look so sweet together,”
whispered someone else.
“Doesn’t she have any shame?” whispered an old
lady.
“You know the underground cities, and the
evacuation centers with no privacy, Mom..we’ve seen
worse,” said her son as he and many others glared at the old woman In fact, she
was the one who was drawing most of the glares, since most people in those days
were playfully tolerant of the needs of young families. In warm weather in
those days, a young mother in a park or on a beach in all sorts of undress with
her baby or babies was not exactly an uncommon sight. “And her husband is covering the worst of
it.”
Or trying to, thought Deke from his pew as he looked over and saw Nova looking
like Sasha Morningstar from his dream, except with no dread or pain about it at
all. There is no sickness or horror in it
now, thought Deke. Just
a pretty young half-naked mom trying to feed her babies in a hurry. It’s sort of cute!
Then, Deke remembered the kids. “Close your
eyes!”
“I’ve seen my Mom like that already in her robe or an apron or bikini bottoms or even in just a
towel or nothing at all in the morning when they’re hungry and I have to run to
school and she helps me make lunch,” giggled Jonathan. “We’ve stopped being
ashamed of it. Astra occassionally helped with other kids like that too at the
Embassy before she gave me up to my godparents.”
“How does she look so thin?” said another person
in the pew behind them.
“She eats like some bird or something,” said
Katrina sarcastically as she snorted and people glared at her now. The cuteness was almost making her want to throw up for
bit, even as she couldn’t help smiling at Nova. Katrina tried to look at Nova’s
bare shoulder near the collarbone where she knew that the knife had hit her
when she had been such a fool and had taken her knife for Desslok, but she saw
no scar or imperfection on her from this distance.”Silly woman!” she laughed as
she thought, How cute! But why is it so
hot in here that she and some of these others must strip and feed them now? And
I am thirsty!
Then, a moment later, she heard a little farting
noise from one of the babies. It was Ariel, at her mother’s breast.
Ariel squirmed, kicked, wriggled….
And then, with the helplessness and innocence of
a baby, she explosively pooped all over herself, all over her mother’s dress,
and all over her mother. The yellowish baby poop ran over Nova’s stomach, over
her hip, and down her barely dressed bottom and upper thighs in streams that
ran down her legs all the way down to her toes.
“Akkkkkk!” Nova squealed as she
tried to hold on to her baby daughter.
“Oh, no!” laughed Teri as everyone in the church
tittered and went “awwwwwww…” again.
“Derek, Mom, I…”
Teri smiled at her daughter. “Oh, we have to clean you and Ariel
up really fast…”
“I think I noticed,” Nova said. Derek spread a
bit of her dress away from the mess on her side, but there was no escaping the
fact now that the pink and white dress was ruined. And now
totally unsuitable for wearing.
Nova realized what had to be done.
I have no choice, she
thought. I have to get out of this poopy
dress…and just join little Alex and Ariel and go naked…like my Mom did that
time to feed me! Well, I’ve been showing most of me for the past ten minutes,
anyhow, so…
She blushed and laughed as Derek and her mother
quickly and tenderly worked her out of her dress altogether. It was so stained
that she could not wear it any longer at this point without a warm-water wash
and a dry clean.
As soon as the dress came off Nova, Derek began
wiping her clean, helped by her mother. Nova put up one foot and the other as
her mother tenderly washed her lower legs and bare feet as she slipped out of
her sandals and then slipped them back on. And, at this point, poor Nova had no
other clothes. She had nothing to put on herself at all, nor could she even dress (if she had had
anything) with two babies nursing at her breasts in her bare lap.
Nova looked down. Somehow, it made no sense…but
she didn’t feel quite as exposed without any clothes on at all. In fact, as
Ariel went back to her totally naked breast to suckle, it felt both natural and
good to just be in her skin giving sustenace to her baby.
Nova could not hold back giggles as her mother
and Derek gently washed her toes clean, tickling her as she did so, nor could
she hold back shivers as Derek washed her lower abdomen and upper thighs clean.
Nova then shivered a bit more as Derek and Teri worked to gently wipe the mess
off her now totally naked body and Ariel’s little naked body using both her
ruined dress and lots of baby wipes as rags.
Nova looked around and was not embarrassed when
she saw Trish was now as naked as she was, and a young mother she knew named
Traci was sitting near the end of another pew as her husband stripped her of
her sundress by pulling it off over her head. Then, Traci’s husband put Traci’s
hat back on her as she sat there, naked except for her hat and her sandals.
Not feeling so strange now as she sat naked in
the hot church, Nova just began to bounce Alex and Ariel and she sang to them,
“You two are mommy and daddy’s piggies! You poop on mommy and you pee on mommy
and you make mommy lose all her clothes! Good thing it’s hot, because now we’re
all nakee…nakee…nakee..nakee. They can see Alex is a
boy, and they can see Ariel is a girl. And everyone can see,
their mommy is a girl! Their mommy is a girl! And you’re at mommy’s boobies!
And you’re nice and hungy!”
Derek kissed her and said, “You’d do anything
for them, wouldn’t you, Nova?”
Nova nodded and said, “Yes I would. Even go
naked in front of the whole world for them.”
Little was Nova to guess that, many years later,
with her last child, that would literally be true.
A very-relieved line of parishoners gathered
five minutes later in the aisles as Nova and Derek went up there with Teri,
Karl, Mark, Holly and Sasha (Sasha, although not observant, was going to be
blessed by the priest), carrying little Alex and Ariel up in just towels over
their bottoms as the organ played hymns while the other children were baptized.
They would spend the rest of the hot day in just diapers and sun hats that Teri
had brought. Back in the pew, Deke and Jonathan had been charged with keeping
Aurora and David quiet. Deke quickly let David stop playing with his
ominpresent 3S drumsticks against the sole of his boot and began to tell David,
Aurora, and Jonathan a story about one of his flying missions with the Trojans
from the war as he used his hands to demonstrate the way his plane had flown in
different manuevers. He had done that a lot earlier with Commodore Wildstar in
the Forrester van on the way here and it had driven Teri Forrester nuts. The
children listened with great interest as Katrina looked very bored.
What’s her problem? Deke thought as he looked at the bored Katrina. You’d think she’d be interested…the girl’s supposed
to be a Pellian fighter pilot! What is your problem, girl… you’re weird!??
Behind the Wildstars walked Teri and Karl, who
were accompanying Sasha, who would get a blessing of her own from the old priest
before her cousins were baptized. They had cameras and they looked very proud
of their oldest daughter as their first grandchildren were about to enter the
Faith. Mark and Holly were with them. They would be the godparents when the
vows were said. They, of course, wore their clothes.
Nova, Alex and Ariel looked sunlit and soft
under the stained-glass windows as they all went up naked for their
baptism. In the meantime, Nova saw the
congregation smiling at her, and she knew some people were taking her picture
as she was somewhere between laughing and crying. She was so embarrassed, but
it was a cute sort of embarrassment. But she felt Alex being to fall asleep,
and Ariel going limp in her arms. They were almost full as the soft organ music
played on.
It would be over soon.
But, then, Nova burped Alex as she looked around
and saw two stained glass windows; one was of the Blessed Mother nursing her
Child, and the other was one of Saint Barbara, the current patron saint of
space warriors.
Maybe I don’t need to be so embarrassed after all, thought Nova in sweetness as she looked at the window, the
smiles of the congregation, and then the faces of her tiny children as they
cuddled against her and were content. Poor
dears, she thought. I wish we could
be out in the sun, Alexander, Ariel, just you two, me, and Daddy…and all three
of us naked in the sun and grass together, while your Daddy hugs us all at
once. That would be so sweet. Also, with her sweet husband’s hands on her,
given where they were as he kept her covered, she felt wonderfully shaky all of
a sudden. It couldn’t be helped. Derek had found some more dirty spots on her
body, and he was delicately washing her with a baby wipe to at least make sure
that no baby poop showed on her graceful body. As Derek washed her lower
abdomen and held her close to wash her crotch, Nova kissed him and moaned
slightly as she took this necessary treatment with the babies suckling at her
again as they woke up somewhat. Then, Nova felt much, much warmer and far more tingly as Derek washed her bottom, and her
legs were shaking and her toes were curling rythymically in her sandals as
Derek finally, as gently as possible, put his hands and a fresh, cool baby wipe
right between her thighs to make her clean while she thrust out a long,
beautiful, bare leg and stood on her toes to provide herself with some minimal
decency in the nude.
Nova, while being washed with her babies in her
arms, went deep into her husband’s protective embrace. She shut her eyes, and
put her mouth against her husband’s shoulder to stifle her tiny gasps as her
sensitive naked body just let go in a sudden unexpected shaky climax right in
Derek’s hand while she was being washed.
Luckily, no one really noticed, and Nova’s
public burst of naked passion remained a sweet, treasured secret memory between
the young couple for many years.
“Derek…I…” whispered
Nova as the group suddenly tittered more loudly and some applauded. “I…hope no one saw me…dying in your arms…”
“Honey, it couldn’t be helped, given where I was
washing you…” Derek whispered. “No one noticed, I think….they’re
looking at Trish now.”
“Why?” whispered Nova.
“Her baby boy just pee-peed all over her,” said
Derek.
Nova laughed. “Ohh…How cute!”
“Her dress is ruined, too. Both of you are going
to be presenting your children for baptism in the nude. Now stand still while I
make you clean. You’re going to be standing naked before everyone in a minute
like your friend Trish,” Derek whispered. Nova looked over and saw Trish, now
also totally naked, being cleansed as a very wet-looking pee-soaked mindress
was pulled off her just like Nova’s poop-covered dress had just been taken off
her.
Nova laughed and said, “I wonder if she just
died in her husband’s arms in public like I did…”
“I don’t think so,” Derek whispered as he kissed
Nova.
“Stop that,” she whispered.
“Stop what?” Derek whispered as he tickled his
naked young wife’s belly button.
“That,” Nova whispered. “Or…I’ll want you all over
again in the back seat of Mom and Dad’s van…or later on on the beach or
something!”
“Good, I’ll tell them all to leave us alone, so
I can score a home run with the beautiful mother of my children!” Derek
whispered.
“Derek!”
Alex cooed at his mother as she sucked at her
breast. Nova looked down at herself and thought, Why am I not embarrassed now? It’s so hot. This feels wonderful like
this!
“Bless you,” said Father Darryl Likanski as he
smiled at Derek, Nova, and the youngest two Wildstars a moment later as Derek
presented Nova and the babies, just in time for the young couple to take
Communion with Derek first, followed by Nova. Father Likanski looked at Nova’s
face and hair, trying not to look too hard at the rest of her heartbreakingly
innocently naked body as he thought, She
looks like a traditional painting of Charity giving her breasts and her
love to her children. How sweet, he thought at he looked at the painting of
Charity that was on a wall near the baptismal font.
The painting was a reproduction of a piece by
the German painter Lucas Cranach from the 1530’s, and even though it was done
in an old style, it looked very sweet as it presented a traditional image of
Charity, a sweet young naked woman, caring for her brood of naked babies with
one baby right at her breast. The virtue Charity’s nakedness
looked as sweet and tender and innocent as Nova’s own bareness as she stood
there nursing her babies while Mark and Holly smiled at her while they took
Communion.
From the pew, Deke smiled as he remembered how
Nova had looked when Alex and Ariel had been born. She had been just as bare
then, giving her nourishment to her new babies with love and happiness in her
eyes and gestures.
Even Katrina wiped away a tear or two at Nova’s
sweetness as she fed her infants. She thought, There was a slave girl in the Comet Empire who looked just like her; a young
wet-nurse. She never wore any clothes when she did her duty with some of the
Royal infants. Now I see why. That looks so sweet…it is pathetic that it is so
hot in here that she and many others like her just ended up naked…but it is so
cute! I wish this church wiould be cooler, though.
Nova smiled at the painting, not yet knowing
that in a few months, she would be writing a medical book on Pregnancy and
Child Care called The Naked Madonna,
and that on the cover of that book (in which, on ythe sinide, she acted as her
own nude model demonstrating breastfeeding holds, bathing techniques with
babies, and even things about keeping up intimacy between new young parents),
she and a slightly older Alex and Ariel would pose nude in a garden like the 15th-century
portrait she was looking at. Nova kept the painting in her mind and she smiled
at Trish as that young mother was escorted away by her husband with her and the
babies just wrapped in a bath towel.
In the meantime, Father Likanski gave Communion
to Mark and Holly, and then followed it up by the priest’s blessing for Sasha.
Nova was very grateful that Father Likanski didn’t mention her exposure as he
said, “I married you two almost six years ago now, and I see your two newest
children look adorable…even cuter than Joshua there,” he said as he pointed at
the toddler he had just baptized, now wrapped in a towel.
“Thank you,” said Nova as she blushed while
holding Alex, who was naked as he kissed his mother’s neck. Teri took another
picture, and handed her husband the camera, and said, “You keep on taking
pictures, okay?”
“Okay…”
Derek looked at Nova, and he nodded. He said, “Father,
let’s start with Ariel…she’s…”
Derek hugged his tiny little daughter, admiring
her eyes, her toes, all of her as she whimpered a little at her nakedness
before handing her to Mark Venture. Mark then took her and handed her gently to
Father Likanski, who said, “On behalf of the whole church, I ask your sponsors,
Ariel Starsha Wildstar, if you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, and
evil, and repent of your sin?”
“We do,” answered Derek, Nova, Mark and Holly
for her, as Alex squiggled and kicked his mother while she smiled at him and
played with his toes to keep him distracted.
“Will you live in victory over evil?”
“We do,” said the parents and Godparents of
Ariel.
“Then, Ariel Starsha Wildstar, I baptize you in
the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” said Father Likanski as
he quickly dunked Ariel into the Font between her and her parents. When Ariel
came out of the water, she looked confused and then she began to cry and scream
as Derek took her and wiped her clean with a small towel with Sasha and Holly’s
help. This happened while Karl and Teri took pictures while she cried and went
right back to her mother’s waiting breast. He cuddled her as Nova tenderly
handed her naked son to Holly, who handed her to the priest as Ariel began to
sip at her milk again.
“Bless you, Alexander,” said the priest as he
began the ritual whille he got squirmy again and cooed.
Finally, Father dipped him into the Font. He
went under the water, and came up, thinking it was bathtime. The ritual was
complete a moment later, and Alex was handed to his father.
As Derek held and kissed his wet little son, he
went “Aaaaaak!” as Alex brought down a leg, showed his little thingie off, and
then went wee-wee in his face! Nova giggled as she saw that Derek was receiving
a rebaptism of his own from his son….right in the eye…as some people in the
front pews tittered. Mark Venture began laughing his head off while Teri took
pictures of Alex peeing merrily against his father. Nova got a towel and wiped Alex
and his father while she laughed and said, “Bad baby! Bad
Alex!”
Then, as Father Likanski said, “Your son takes
after you…Nova…”
“Father?”
The priest then giggled. “Mrs. Wildstar, I
baptized you like that when you were a baby in a similar font in
“I…?”
“You ruined a cassock, when you peed on me, my
dear,” laughed Father Likanski with a twinkle in his eyes. “And this cassock
might be peed on again today, too…God Bless you, you poor dear. You can get
cooler soon!”
“Excuse me!” said Katrina, not able to restrain
herself any longer. “Father, if that is your title?”
“Yes?” said the priest in a calm voice.
“This is an injustice! You took our money before
in those baskets, yet you cannot set the climate control system up high enough
to avoid making these babies thirsty and thus make their mothers take off most
or all of their clothes to give them their breasts? What kind of priest are you?”
“Katrina, it’s all right,” Nova laughed. “I’m
not embarrassed now! I’ve had to expose myself before for my children…any
mother would give all they had to make their baby or babies comfortable. Even
if it means we part with some modesty!”
Father Likanski then said, “We are sorry, but
since these children had to be undressed to be baptized anyhow, we thought we
would keep the church sort of warm for them even though we didn’t know it would
be this hot. The parents were told to dress lightly in the letter we sent them.
Mrs. Wildstar, when we are done, the side door is over there…you can walk them
into the garden or off to the shore, and…”
“Father?” said Derek as he wrapped a towel
around Nova’s bottom like a small sarong that left the upper half of her body
exposed to feed the babies.
“Feed them and just stretch out like that in the
sun…again,” said Father Likanski. “They might still be hungry. God Bless you…”
“You mean you saw me and I wasn’t sinful?” blushed Nova.
“No, you aren’t sinful. You are something else.”
“What?”
“Cute! And very beautiful.
Like your friend Trish. I wish it wasn’t quite so hot in here today even though
we tried to keep it warm so the babies would not freeze. Earth.
We need more parents like you—to replace all of those we lost in the wars. You
do that, and I wouldn’t mind fifty more babies peeing on me or seeing twenty
mothers pulling their clothes up. Or off, for that matter.”
“Thank you, Father” said Nova as she and Derek
left with the kids, heading for the Forresters’ minivan while the Ventures went
to their car. “We’ll see you guys later, at the beach,” said Derek.
“I want to drive home and get us our swimwear
first,” said Holly. “We’ll see you guys in about an hour or two…”
“We’ll take them if they’re not hungry,” said
Teri. “Sasha, tell the others to meet us here. Kazuo, Miss Katrina, please ride
with us?”
“Okay,” said Sasha. Foxy and Katrina talked and
they agreed to leave their car for now and travel to the beach with Nova’s
parents in the van.
At that, Ariel began to cry again, “Dear, she
might still be hungry,” said Nova. “Mom, where should I…?”
“Walk to the beach by the big stand of beach
grass down the hill from the picnic pavilion,” said Teri after she whispered to
Karl, blushing. “Stop at the van and get your other bag. I think it has your
swimsuit, more diapers and things, and one of the beach towels in it. We’ll
meet you there in about forty-five minutes..maybe an
hour.”
“Why so long?”
“We have to get everyone changed, and you two
could use some time alone with the babies…and maybe each other?” said Karl.
“Why, Mom?” said Nova.
“We need more grandchildren out of you, so you’d
better get busy,” teased Teri. “By the look on your faces before, looks like
you and Derek won’t mind one bit.”
“Okay,” said Nova, as she blushed very deeply,
wanting very, very badly to be naked and free again in Derek’s arms.
IV. A DAY ON THE BEACH…
Earth
The
The
Shore Area
October
10, 2207
1245
hours:
About ten minutes later, Nova had her wish as
she lay naked on a beach towel with the kids in the sun as Derek kissed her and
rubbed tanning lotion on herself and the babies.
Derek had removed his peacoat, shirt, and boots and
sat there in just his Star Force pants, rolled up to his knees, as he held his
wife. They were in a secluded place; a tiny bit of beach, surrounded by lots of
high beach grass and by a small simulated wood storm fence meant to hold the
dunes in place. It was a little hidden area just a few meters square that only
had one way in or out between two storm fences. They were all lying on a huge
light green towel together in the sand in a spot almost surrounded by beach
grass as Nova held her children and gave them the remainder of their
late-morning breakfast. They were adorable to Derek’s eyes, and comfortable,
since they were all, for the moment, totally nude; a hot and sweaty Nova had
gratefully stripped off her towel as soon as they had reached the little spot
on the clothes-optional beach that was part of the national park.
“How do you feel, Nova?” asked Derek as she
snuggled them, and he couldn’t help playing with them as they finished feeding
at their young mother’s beautiful firm breasts.
“Peaceful,” replied Nova as she kissed little
Alex, then Ariel, then her husband. “He’s falling asleep, honey…”
“Must mean he’s had enough,” said Derek as he
and Nova began to dress him again in a diaper and his sun hat. Nova laid the
sleeping baby on the towel and then sat for a while feeding Ariel, singing to
her as she fed her.
“We were off, in outer space…
Protecting our Mother earth…
To save…the human race….
Our Star Blazers…”
I’ve had enough fighting, enough, thought Nova as she looked at her family. Please, God, let us have peace…for a while…for some time. Please. Let
Earth grow and blossom again. We’ll still be ready to fight…if we have to…but
please…give us a seasion of peace. A season of rest.
We need more children to fill this empty planet. Being pregnant that first time
was not so bad. I wouldn’t mind doing it again…in a year or two, Nova
thought.
Tears came to Derek’s eyes as he looked at his
son, his wife, his daughter. I wanted a
family for so long…Mom..Dad…if you are watching us
from where you are…somehow…now, we have a family. And we’re so happy together. And so much at peace….
Ariel cooed at her mother as she stopped
latching on to her mother’s prominent nipple for a bit. Derek smiled at them,
and at Nova. Derek thought that she made an adorable young mother who looked a
bit even more youthful than her 29 years, even nude. Then, as Nova held her and
continued suckling her, her little eyes began to close.
Derek kissed his daughter, and then kissed Nova
as Nova began to diaper her tiny angel and wrap her in a shawl beside Alex as
they slept together on their towel.
Then, she said, “Derek…let’s just lay her beside
Alex, and…”
“Uh-huh…” said Derek. “How much time do we have
before they show up?”
“Twenty-five minutes,” said Nova as she looked at
Derek’s discarded chrono. Then, she began to root around in her bag for her
swimsuit. After a moment, Derek saw her getting upset.
“What’s wrong?”
“Derek….she packed your fundoshi…it’s a really
thin one…”
“And?” Derek said.
“She…didn’t…pack…our…swimsuits!” Nova said. She
wiggled her toes and said, “Derek, I have nothing left to put on! Nothing!”
“Is that such a bad thing?” Derek whispered.
“Nova, this is a clothes-optional beach…and you look just fine without any
clothes on!”
“Derek…you…you’re as bad as that Foxy..I….maybe that’s good,” she whispered as emotions began to
run through her again as she admired her still-young husband’s strong chest and
firm abdomen.
She came up to Derek with a sly look on her face
as she began to kiss him.
Derek was surprised by the fact, and even more
surprised as he felt his body stirring…
…like it was before
in church when he was protecting Nova’s body from the gaze of the congregation.
The babies were asleep, they were alone in a
clump of beach grass…she needed no protection now as the young mother, very attractive, and very much capable
of sweet mischief again because she was healed from the ordeal of her birth
said, “Derek…?”
“Yes.”
“let’s get into trouble for a little while…I’ll
take a swim afterwards…hide the evidence!” she said as she ran her hands down
his stomach, and began to open his belt buckle.
“Nova?”
“I need to get you into your fundoshi, since
that it all you have to put on,” she said. “And I need to get you naked with me
for a little while,” she whispered.
“Nova…you’re so…”
Nova giggled softly. “I need this, too,” she
said as she worked him out of his clothes. “You started something in me in that
church before that I haven’t been able to stop…when you where trying to cover me
up…and then when you cleaned me…now…let’s finish it!” she said as her hands
went to him as she felt his hands on her back, her breasts, her nude bottom,
and then, with deep, abiding pleasure…his hands began to caress her most
private spot as she flexed her toes, kissed him, and she began to tenderly
caress him there, too. “Oh, God…” she
gasped. “You feel beautiful…”
“So do you, Mrs. Wildstar,” he said as they sat
up. He didn’t take his hands away from her, not even as she bent over and began
to shamelessly give him the most tender and intimate
of kisses as their hot, sweaty, drowsy lovemaking went on.
Soon, he kissed her nipples, not taking his
other hand away from her as she teased him, and he teased her, finding the
right parts of her by feel. Many minutes of Heaven followed…
“Oh, GOD!” she cried as her body unexpectedly
climaxed in his arms as her toes curled in the warm sand. “YES!” she gasped as
she shut her eyes and quivered in her husband’s arms. “Derek, what about you…?”
“Want me?” he gasped. “I’m trying to…”
“yes, god, yes,” she said as she fell onto her
naked back on the towel as he took her in a hot act of love, right there on the
lonely beach. To the distant and sensual sound of seagulls in the distance and
the surf, they kissed, they carressed, they snuggled as they fell into utter
abandon and bliss in a hot, trembling act of martial love. They were just like
kids in the backseat of an aircar, totally intoxicated with each other, naked
and not ashamed. It took just six minutes before long, glorious fireworks came
for both of them.
It was over as they flopped down together,
laughing and kissing as they caressed each other.
Then, Nova closed her eyes and lay there in the sun on her towel for
a bit, lazy, sweet, sensual, and beautiful as Derek found a sketch pad in their
bag and drew a picture her as she lay naked in the sun for fifteen or so
minutes while he turned on their portable music player and Aerosmith’s Dream On began to play quietly over the
surf.
Nova would not admit this to many people (and
she had many swimsuits of different types) but her favorite beachwear,
especially on a very hot day, was her own naked skin.
The illustration was manga-style, similar to
Deke’s illustration of Sasha drawn a few weeks beforehand, but Derek’s was
better because he had more practice drawing Nova, both clothed and in the nude.
Nova opened her eyes after a while, and she
smiled when she saw what Derek had been doing.
“Drawing me again?” she said.
Derek nodded. “A camera would not capture how
you looked falling asleep.”
“Agreed, you did a better job,” she said as she
kissed him and looked at his sketch. “You’re getting really good, Derek. Can we
show the sketch to my mother? You know she’s an art professor.”
“I hope she doesn’t critique it like she did
when I drew you in that sundress that time.”
“I won’t let
her critique it,” Nova replied with a smile as she ran her hands through her
hair.
Then, the young parents checked the babies, who
had slept right through their parents’ sweet lovemaking, just as they would
some years later literally in an aircar.
This would happen when they would be about three
and Alex and Ariel’s parents would take them to a 3-D holo drive-in showing of
a remastered for tri-d version of David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago some years later in March of 2211 near the Great
Megalopolis after the rebuilding of the docks and the city would be finished
and they would move back into the house they owned for good. Also, on that
night… their brother Mark and sister Anya would be conceived.
Then, after checking them, Nova and Derek used
the baby wipes to clean each other of sand and the like, and then Derek put on
his fundoshi.
Derek’s fundoshi was white. Nova’s body was
getting just a little tanner she showed off with no shame a young body that had
shed much of its pregnancy weight already thanks to a good diet, lots of
swimming, running, dancing and other exercise, her breastfeeding, and her rapid
healing. Her nursing had made her breasts a little larger, but they were still
pert and cute; and she was actually proud of them. A little naughty bit of her liked letting them peek out and say “hi”
at times in the strangely warm weather when she had to nurse in the light
clothing she wore most of the time now; she never thought she would react that
way, but she was as proud of her shape as she was of her babies. After all,
even though she had been through so much in her life, she was still just a very
youthful-looking twenty-nine and was very
pretty. When some people told her she looked too young to be a mother of three
kids, she was flattered.
They were just in time. Two minutes later,
Aurora Forrester popped her head into the beach grass (she now had on a little
pink swimsuit) and she yelled, “Sis! We’re here with the hot dogs! C’mon!”
“Okay, Derek,” said Nova.
“What were you two doin’?” said
“The babies were still hungry,” said Nova. “We
needed to feed them and get changed.”
“Did you two both take off all your clothes?” she said with a giggle.
“Yes, we did,” said Nova with a blush. “He had
to get into his swimsuits,” she said as she got up.
“Where’s yours?” cooed
“I don’t have one,” said Nova as she kissed her.
“Ooooooo…Then what did you do?” said
“You’ll learn about this when you grow up,” said Nova as she tousled her
little sister’s hair. “Is Jonathan okay?”
“Yeah. He says he’s hungry,”
sang
“Well, let’s go feed him, then,” said Nova. “C’mon, Derek!”
They picked up Alex and Ariel and their things
and went up to the pavilion to their post-baptismal beach party.
Later, near the pavilion where they were holding
the picnic, Katrina (who was feeling very self-conscious in a black and pink
tank swimsuit that Foxy had to coax her into wearing as he wore a dark blue
pair of briefs) came up to Nova, who was lying on her side barefoot and unclad
in the wet sand near the water watching baby Ariel digging in the sand and she
said, “Why do you like these shorelines so much? They are hot, they are full of
sand and insects, and filled with sun and screaming
bratty children with kites and those plastic disks they throw around! What are
they called?”
Nova laughed as one landed by her chest.
“Frisbees!” she said. “Watch your aim, Jonathan!” she laughed as she jumped up
on her toes and threw the Frisbee back to her adopted son, who was cute in a
white swimsuit his new grandmother had bought him.
“Okay, Mom!” laughed Jonathan.
“Why do you like these places?” said Katrina as
she came closer with Foxy.
“They’re beautiful,” said Nova. “Didn’t you have
beaches on Pellias? I thought I saw some beautiful ones, or the remains of them
there, on the poor planet when we found it.” Nova smiled as, off in the
distance, she saw a blond girl in the water on a windboard. Nova felt reassured
when she saw that she, like her, was also naked. Nova lay back for a minute,
feeling the cooling breeze rolling over her body and mussing up her hair. “I
like the beach, Katrina. This feels good. And I have a confession to make.”
“You told me once,” said Foxy. “You enjoy the
beach the most naked, right?”
Nova smiled and nodded. “Ever
since my honeymoon with Derek. I was with him on a warm island, all by
oueselves, and for the last two days of our honeymoon, all of our things were
in the wash except what we were going to wear home, so we both just went naked.
I didn’t miss my clothes, then,” Nova said as she drew a little heart in the
wet sand. “I love the beach, the sun, the sky, the sand, the water. It is so
much better than the underground cities wer were forced to live in like moles
when Gamilon attacked!”
“I never liked those places much,” said Teri,
who sat there in a conservative black bikini near her daughter. At her age, she
still had a very attractive body and figure, and looked much younger with her
hair down and out of the bun she usually wore. Derek could see where Nova had
gotten some of her curves from. Derek smiled again and then looked away as Karl
spread out a towel and gently took off Teri’s top so she could lie on her
stomach and get some sun on her back. To everyone’s surprise, Teri stood there
with the sun on her breasts, smiled, and said, “Nova?”
“Yes?”
“You’re lucky that you get to shed your top so
much with those kids,” Teri said as Karl blushed a bit. “This feels good!”
Nova was going to
suggest that maybe her mother should lose the bottoms and begin working on an all-over tan, but she thought better of it as she
whispered to Derek, “Mother would look so much better if she took care of
herself more. Remember that day at the house, Derek?”
Derek nodded. He remembered a day when David and
Aurora had still been babies and Teri had been having some trouble with her
milk again, and he remembered on that day in Boulder, Nova had taken a
short-term hormonal shot, stripped down to just her panties with her mother,
and spent part of the day helping her feed David while her mother fed Aurora.
Karl had gotten some cute pictures, which Derek remembered looked cuter when
they both decided to strip down and take a bath together with the babies.
“I didn’t like the beach much,” said Invidia, as
“Katrina” opened up a little more to Nova, surprised that she was doing so with
her enemy. She is a strange woman,
she thought. Her spine is like steel, but
she is as soft as a flower on the outside. How can she fight us so hard and
then become a mother so contentedly? I do not understand Earthlings. Buit she
is a good person. And she looks happy.
“In the city where I came from,” said Invidia as
the ghost of a tear began to form at the corner of her eyes. “There were
fountains. Many, many beautiful fountains. Water. I always liked water.”
“There’s plenty out there,” said Nova as she
pointed at the ocean. Thinking of Derek (who was back at the pavilion with Alex
eating), she drew another heart in the wet sand with a finger. Then, in all innocence, not knowing who she was talking to, Nova
said, “Like to take a swim with me later, Katrina? I was in before for a
bit. The water’s real nice. It’s cool, but not that cold. I like swimming!”
“Let me see,” said “Katrina” as she dipped a toe
into the water. Invidia had also taken off her shoes earlier when she had to
run down the sand with that little brat young brother of Nova’s chasing her
down the beach with a bucket of water-she had a strong desire to kill him to or
order him killed before she remembered where she was and that she was supposed
to be in hiding. “I like water. I will consider it."
"Thank you," said Nova. "You poor
thing; you need to lighten up a bit! Have some fun!"
"I will try to absorb the concept,
Nova," she said as she thought. You
would not like what I find fun. Throwing things at people,
torture chambers, making plans to crush people. I find that amusing.
What do you find amusing? Having no clothes on. Playing with a little brat who still needs to suckle you.
And you indulged her. Why do you love that little brat so much?
Of
course, Invidia didn’t know what the future would hold for her.
Sasha had
also changed into a swimsuit (a white bikini; her pregnancy wasn’t showing yet,
so she looked very good to Deke in her swimwear) and she was pulling Deke by the
hand as she said, “Well, let’s rent one, then!”
“Rent what?” said Deke.
“A
surfboard. You said
before you needed to give me lessons, Deekee,”
said Sasha as she kissed Deke and ran her toes over his foot.
“I don’t
know what to think of that, Sasha.”
“Deke?”
“You are
carrying Star…the first of our children…the first of the ones that you said we
need to help repopulate Earth and Iscandar. You agreed some of our children
will live on Iscandar, and some will live on Earth.”
“Yes…I’ve
foreseen that we’ll have six of them. Five more after Star,” said Sasha as she
sat down in the sand. “Guess…I’ll have to wait to surf…for a little while,
anyway. I won’t be the only one, either.”
“What do
you mean?”
“I can
foresee Derek and Nova’s next three children. The next two will be twins,
conceived around…March of 2211. One will be a daughter, wild as fire, the other
a son, smart and quiet but cool. Their last child will come in May 2213 right
after Nova graduates from
“What
will our children be like?”
“I can
see them…I think,” said Sasha. “Alex and Kathi will be twins, and will come
next. Very brilliant. Jessica and Lynn are next after
them; their future is hazy to me. They will stay on Earth. Star will end up on
Iscandar, along with our last and youngest, Nova Aliscea, named after her
godmothers. She will be very special.” Then, Sasha began to cry a little.
“She’ll be a future Queen of Iscandar someday; after Mother is gone and after
Astra is gone. I will have abdicated in her favor. I will be very old when this
happens…someday. It’s scary, seeing yourself as old…”
“When
does this happen?” Deke asked. He wasn’t sure he liked this line of reasoning
much, but…
“It is
far in the future,” said Sasha. “The month her namesake Nova dies is when she
becomes Queen. That isn’t for a long time…I think…maybe seventy or eighty years
from now. Uncle Derek dies a month after she goes. He won’t be able to live
long without her. 2287, I think. Don’t tell them, please…”
“Sasha,
how much of what you foresee comes true?”
“Some
of it. Some of
it comes out right; some of it comes out differently. I’m not sure…but, I know
this…”
“What,
Sasha?”
Sasha
wept. “We have peace, then a hard time years after that…I think…then…”
“Then
what?”
“I’m not sure…but
we make it…I think. I think…we have to…
”How
do you know that, Sasha?”
“I get to
die in peace,” she said softly as she kissed him. “But it’s a long time from
now…a very long time from now…”
“Sasha,”
said Deke as he hugged her. He just held her. For a very long
time.
Then,
Sasha watched Nova splashing around in the water while holding Ariel. She had
been followed in by her sister Aurora, who was kicking water up on Nova while
Nova whipped water back at her and little Ariel (whom she had handed to
Aurora)..
Nova
jumped into the ocean, going off her toes in the water, diving for a bit, and
coming up for air as water flew all around her.
Sasha
kissed Deke, and said, “Get me that Super Soaker! And the
spare one!”
“You’re
not going to use that on then, are you, Sasha! Sasha?” said Deke as Sasha
winked and took her top off. “SASHA!”
“Perfectly
legal to strip here,” giggled Sasha as she wriggled out of her bottoms and said
as she stood there naked, “Now I at least match Auntie, and it’s more like a
fair fight now!”
A moment
later, she ran into the water with her Super Soaker and began spraying Nova.
Nova noticed, screamed, and threw water back on Sasha.
Derek
then ran into the ocean beside her (Nova noticed that when his fundoshi got
wet…it looked adorable on him, and
very clearly showed off his maleness) and said, “Here’s a weapon for you!
Equalize this!”
“Thanks!”
Nova laughed as she kissed him (Teri got a picture of the two of them kissing
in the ocean that looked very sweet) As Nova fired upon Sasha, Derek then
kissed her again, while David ran over with a Super Soaker of his own while his
mother Teri screamed at him. David’s gun was the biggest of all, but Teri was
yelling because he had taken off his swimsuit and decided to romp naked in the surf
without anyone’s permission. He broke up the fight by spraying his screaming,
angry big sister and then Sasha at very close range…with a mixture of water and
an energy drink that left them both sticky. Sasha got it in the face, and her
hair was left very, very wet.
Then, as he ran off while Teri tried to catch
him, Sasha ran out of the ocean, and grabbed a towel to try to dry herself.
Deke hugged her while she cried, “That rotten little kid! He’s horrible! What’s gotten into him?”
“I have
no idea,” huffed Nova as she came out of the ocean
with Derek and just stood shaking her head around to try to get some of the
mess out of her hair. “I think we need showers, Sasha!”
“Where are we going to find a shower on a beach?” Sasha cried. She
smiled a little at her uncle as he angrily shed his fundoshi and tried to
squeeze the sports drink out of it as now both
he and Nova now went naked. Teri smiled at them, thinking, You two look so cute! Now just go off somewhere and make me another
grandchild! That’s why I decided to leave your swimsuit at home, Nova…. Derek
then said, “I hate the juice all over me, but it feels good to get out of my
clothes for a bit.”
“Throw
your fundoshi over there to let it dry off,” Nova said. Then, she whispered in
Derek’s ear, “And don’t put it back on for a while. I think you look much better without it…even though it
looks cute on you…”
“Didn’t
you wear it once? And with no top?” Derek said. Nova
nodded, smiled and blushed. A moment later, Teri came up with David in hand.
David was crying up a storm. When he turned around a little, Sasha giggled when
she saw why. His little bottom looked rather red all of a sudden as Teri had
given him a spanking in his skin. Nova smiled as she heard her mother yelling,
“And you’re going naked on the way back to our place in the van and you have to
eat your burgers in the van if you like to be naked so much!”
“But Sis
doesn’t have anything on and everyone is smiling
at her and Sasha!” protested David.
“That’s
because they’re girls and they’re cute!”
barked back
“This boy isn’t yucky,” purred Nova as
she kissed Derek.
“He’s not
supposed t’ be yucky!” yelled
“Not yet,
honey, but thanks for the encouragement,” Nova said as she kissed her little
sister on the forehead and winked at her. “And go beat your brother up for me!”
“Kay!”
said
“Derek, let’s
go hit the shower booth!” Nova said. “Then I want a snow cone for my trouble.”
Sasha and
Deke followed them while their friend Trish (who was also in the nude in just
her hat) came up to Katrina with her baby at her bare breast and said, “You
look very attractive, Miss….”
“Savela. Katrina Savela,” Katrina said.
“I don’t
know if I’m intruding, but don’t you think you should let your boyfriend take
off your swimsuit for a while? I bet you’d look adorable naked and he’d like
it?”
“Good
idea,” said Foxy with a wink as he tried to begin undoing Katrina’s swimwear.
“NO!”
yelled Katrina. “I have nothing agianst being undressed! Just
not in front of everyone like you and the others!”
“It’s
nearly a hundred Fahrenheit out and this is the hottest Goddamned October we’ve
ever had!” barked Trish as she wiggled her toes in the sand. “Thanks to you and
your boyfriend for giving it to that priest, though, for making that church so
hot and suggesting we don’t dress in much. You think he’s a pervert priest?”
“He’s
good-hearted bit a little strange,” Teri said as she walked over. She was blushing a little. She had lost a bet with Karl and he had
taken off her swimsuit top. Again.
“Mrs.
Forrester!” said Sasha as she bowed. “You look good. I never thought you would
look so attractive. You look so much older in most of the clothes you wear.”
Nova came
up behind her. “She is very pretty, isn’t she? Mom, you have to dress down one
day. Lose the pearls, go out with your hair down,
maybe in shorts and flipflops with a cute top.” Nova winked at Derek and said,
“I might even have to pull Derek off you someday,” she said in a teasing tone
of voice.
“I like
blondes better,” Derek said as he kissed her. “Honey-blondes
who are about 5’7”, with high IQs, brains, and multiple Sunburst of Honor
medals who are admitted to
They all
laughed at that. A while later, they began to pack up to go home, with Nova
borrowing a long gauzy shirt and sandals from her mother to finally clothe her
nakedness as Derek pouted and put his white uniform pants back on but went
bare-chested with an old pair of sandals on his feet. He sometimes ran around
the house or the neighborhood like that in the weird warm weather on Earth, and
Nova adored him when he ran around looking like that. Nova sometimes matched
his look, usually with a bikini top or halter on, although one day, Derek had
found her like that on the beach near the condo digging clams while topless!
Her
mother had the stuff thrown in the storage compartment of the minivan as a
beach coverup; since they were stopping at a fast food place on the way home,
Teri knew that her daughter needed to have something
on to order a Cosmo Burger at the Cosmo Burger place, even if David was going
to be kept naked in exile in the van with his dad to be punished.
Then,
they left. It was a nice endoing to a crazy day.
But, Katrina
played nervously with her hair as she knew something she would have to do later
on after she and Foxy parted.
It was a
very…personal errand.
And she
could not pull this off as Katrina.
V. POLITICS MAKES STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
Earth
The Vicinity of
October 10, 2207
1900 Hours: San Diego Time
General Radnar hadn’t
wanted to bring his massive Dreadnaught down to Earth for the ceremonial
signing of the Armistice between House Gatlantis, Gamilon, and the Earth Federation
Government, so, instead, with the permission of the Earth Federation and the
Gamilons (who both watched him like a hawk), Radnar had actually been allowed
to come down into Earth’s atmosphere in a single Cometine space battleship, the
Radenstra, which was escorted by two
Cometine destroyers. He was still on Earth after the signing of the
Armistice…he had remained on Earth for a few days to give various reports to
the EDF and the Gamilon Empire. He was scheduled to leave tomorrow.
Now, as dusk loomed
on Saturday, October 10, 2207, Radnar had a guard tapping at the hatch of his
office.
“Yes?” he said. “Who
dares disturb my repose?”
A single trooper came
in with his blaster and saluted. “My Lord Regent,” said the guard. “A small
Pellian ocean-going patrol boat has gotten past the Earth Defense Line and the
Gamilon Line to our flotilla. It represents no threat, and, in fact, the
officer reports its pilot flashed us a Cometine recognition code.”
“Is the code
current?” said Radnar.
“Just a month old,
but it checks out. We cleared the pilot. Scanners indicate there was one person
on the boat.”
“One person,” said
Radnar. “Who?”
“She gave the code
name of a Registered Agent that we lost track of. The agent was registered by a
spy of our faction from the Eritz
Gatlantis before it was brought down and she died at her post spying on
Invidia and her lot. She said she wished to see you,
and you alone. Perhaps she has
intelligence to report to us on the Earthlings. Even though we have been
careful in standing down from fighting at the orders of Desslok, we have no
limits on what we can do in the way of information-gathering and espionage. We
did not include that in the list of proscribed activities in the Armistice,
Lord.”
“Then let her in to
see me. Make sure she is watched by a guard at all times.”
“Sergeant Bekler is
watching her, General. He will bring her to your presence.”
Radnar nodded.
A moment later, the
blast hatch of Radnar’s office hissed open, and a Cometine guard came in,
snapped a salute and said, “Sir, the visitor awaits.”
“Stand aside,
Sergeant. Let her in,” said Radnar.
The Sergeant nodded,
and a young woman came in a moment later.
Radnar sat back in
shock as he looked at her. She wore a two-tone blue blouse, obviously made from
a Royal Gown, with the rank pips taken off. She also wore plain black slacks
and boots, along with a Gatlantean belt buckle that showed the shape of the
The face was most
startling. Part of the widows’ peak had been cut back a little and let free,
and she no longer wore the Royal Pin in her hair, but the face was familiar.
Princess Invidia had
returned, and had dropped her guise as Katrina Savela for a bit, as well.
Radnar slowly drew
his blaster, looked at his visitor and said, “Princess Invidia. You have a
great deal of nerve just showing your
face on my ship like this! And what did you do to your hair? You look like some
sort of freak.”
“Delightful day,
General, now, isn’t it?” said Invidia with a sick smile in her heavy accent. “I
needed a disguise. That is why my hair is messy. And it is not that messy. Do you think I vould go out
in public like a complete freak?”
“YOU certainly do need to skulk about in a disguise. Invidia,
you’re wanted by House Gatlantis, three other Houses of the Empire, the Earth
Government, the Gamilon-Garuman Empire, the Rikashan Federation, the Royal
House of Iscandar, and I even heard tell the Pellians want to give you a
parking ticket.”
“Why is that?” said
Invidia. “I understand all the rest; they all want me dead. Where does the
parking ticket come from?”
“They believe you
left an aircar in a handicapped space in the car park of the Pellian Embassy
here on Earth when you were spotted skulking and sneaking around here last week
with that ugly face by our agents, when you had that stupid helmet on and those
stupid sunglasses and we saw your face. You owe about two hundred Oelered
equivalent to the Pellians in fines and penalties. The Pellian Militia is still
leaving tickets on that car. I don’t like that.”
“I was trying to
leave a bomb, Radnar. Could never find a place to put it, so
I threw it in ocean and it went boom. I think I killed some fish.
Sorry.”
“I’d almost like you if we weren’t sworn political
enemies and if you hadn’t cost House Gatlantis billions of Oelered in lost
ships, equipment, veterans’ life insurance payments to the widows of the people
on our side who died in your crazy war, and all that. What do you want? And
you’d better have a good reason why I should let you leave this ship in
anything but chains and your underwear.”
“I have one,” said
Invidia.
“Go ahead, I’m
listening,” said Radnar.
“I have a code name;
Katrina Savela. Pellian pilot who looked like me whom we captured,
interrogated, tortured in the Sphere of Joy and the Mindbender and then
executed. I took her things, and I used them to hack into your database and
register as a fake spy. I also have the power to change my form to look like
her.”
“How did you do that?”
asked Radnar.
“I will not say,”
said Invidia. “I sent you information on myself all by myself. Is that
amusing?”
“Very amusing,
Invidia. You are about as
funny as a dead fish in an intensive care ward. Go on.”
“Do you wonder
whatever happened to all of the secrets of your association with Father and the
Treasury of House Gatlantis? I downloaded some data cartridges before I left
Gatlantis behind and left Gorse to run the place right before the Earth Forces
and Gamilons think they killed me with those surge cannons of theirs.”
“Are you blackmailing
me, Invidi?”
“Do not call me
Father’s pet name for me. He is dead! And he disinherited me!”
“Only because
you eventually forced him to.
We talked before he banished me. He said he’d do it someday if you never
straightened yourself out. All right. We need that
Treasury of five hundred million Oelered. Or most of it.
I don’t want to have to borrow my lunch money from Desslok, even if I
supposedly work for him now. And if you gave the Earthlings those secrets,
they’d never let me off this planet. What do you want?”
“Buy me a throne,
Radnar. Someplace in the Empire. A little House, and
means to slip back Home someday. I’m in no rush. I do not want to live totally in
exile forever, though. Even though Father was right! This is a beautiful
planet, and we can do much with it! ”
“Why?”
“I’m living on Earth.
I have fun needling the Earthlings. I was at some baptismal observance in what
they call a Church for that heroine of the Star Force I tried to kill called
Nova. Dumb vlarshnik! She is cute and
sweet but easily led. I fooled her with my disguise as an injured Pellian pilot
and she loaned me money and clothes. How nice. What a soft-hearted idiot she
is! And at her service, she was trying to feed her little brat babies and her
little tiny dress fell open and showed her itty-bitties. How amusing. It was actually rather cute! Ha ha ha ha ha! The little heroine
also looks rather cute naked. I may want to do a photo shoot of her someday!”
“Whose dress came
off?”
“Nova’s,” said
Invidia.
“You always did get a kick out of tripping people,
pasting KICK ME signs on their rumps, that sort of thing, Invidia. Nice to see
you never changed. Back to the topic at hand. How do
you want me to buy you a new throne?”
“You can put bribes
in the right place; get me leadership of some decrepit House under an assumed
name; and then I can eventually go back, take over, build
up military forces…”
“This sounds
familiar, Invidia,” yawned Radnar. “You never give up. How many years do you
plan to take this time around?”
“Ten, twenty. And I want to keep away from that Ekogaru ghost madman
character as long as I can. He says that he owns my soul or something. Let him
come find me to take it. Then, in
ten, twenty years, I have Varnax the Grand Emperor killed…”
“What?” said Radnar.
“Make you next
Emperor, you can then quit working for Desslok, and then you give my new House a warrant to enslave Earth and Gamilon.
Just for fun. I keep Earth as my own personal amusement park this time, and the
Earthlings as pets. They are very
funny. And I strip Desslok, chain him up, and put him in a cage in the zoo on
Gamilon so the monkeys or whatever icky primates they have can throw their
excrement at him for the next hundred Earth years of his natural life!”
“Invidia, you have
gone space-happy,” mused
Radnar. “But since I sort of liked Zordar the atheist, I am not sure why, we’ll
agree to your plan. Two conditions. I know that the
House in the Black Fox Nebula is selling its throne to the Highest Bidder now.
They’re desperate. And you sort of killed Skaldart off when you tried invading
the Sanzar System!”
“That House is utter
crap!” said Invidia. “Its forces are incompetent, they only rule over ten or
twenty planets now, and a few of their space battleships aren’t even
spaceworthy due to radiation leaks but they fly them anyway! And its palace is
a dump! And it needs to be redecorated! I would like to stay there
and bring my Terran boy-toy. A man who goes by the name of Kazuo I am becoming
fond of. And I can even set up guest quarters for Wildstar and his friends.
When I take over, I mean to employ them someday for my use, In Cometine
uniform, that is. I think our uniforms look far better than theirs and are better
designed.” Invidia had been musing over ideas on how to make her friends Derek
and Nova look good in Cometine uniforms! Of course, she hadn’t really thought
that Earthlings might not like conquering other worlds. Still, she thought, Let them win a few victories, make Derek
governor-general of two of my planets, give Nova a city or two to rule over and
redecorate and a few nice servants to help her and build a cute little palace
for both of them, and they might like it! And maybe, the Argo might even
look better with a new paint job. Make it look nice and clean, and paint out
those anchors on the sides and replace them with White Comet
symbols….redecorate that bridge, too. They need better chairs.
“The price for its
throne is just two hundred and fifty million Oelered,” purred Radnar. “Or, I
could give you to the guards.”
“I’ll take it!” said
Invidia.
Radnar let her stew
before he agreed to his con. I hate you,
he thought. You are my enemy and I hate
the air you waste breathing. We defeated you and took your House, and you make
me sick. As far as I am concerned, you are a heretic, a blasphemer, a whore,
and an idiot. And you don’t even have a cute face. Queen Starsha is far cuter
than you are. But, it would be amusing to have you suffer a nice, slow defeat
and have you look utterly stupid and fall on your face again. And, I sort of
liked you once. When you were twelve years old and you were killing people
because you thought it was cute, that is. That was sort of cute. I can pretend
I like you so I can get you to screw yourself. What fun.
“I knew you’d see
reason,” smiled Radnar as he put away his blaster and began to lie his head off so he could con Invidia. “Sergeant!” he
yelled to the guard. “We have business to discuss. Leave us alone and send a
servant girl up here with wine and a change of clothes for Duchess Katrina
Invidia Savela of House Dezaria of the Black Fox Nebula. That is her new name
in the Imperial records since we know now that Princess Invidia of House Gatlantis is dead. Katrina Invidia Savela
was a Pellian freebooter who made it big in the gambling houses. See to it she
is re-registered and given codes and warrants as an espionage agent for us on
Earth for now until we can arrange for a ship from the Black Nebulan palace,
so-called, to come get her. It will take a few years, but it can and will be
arranged. I have some final business to transact with her before I transmit
funds to Andromeda for the transfer of power.”
“Yessir,” said the sergeant.
“What else do you
want?” said Invidia.
“Two more
contributions. Ten million for the
“Deal,” said Invidia
as they shook hands.
“Have a data
transcriber with you?”
Invidia nodded. “I
stole it off the Eritz Gatlantis when
I ran and stole the treasury credits and data with it. I have some money in a
shell bank account S-2 opened on Earth for our spies before war ended,” she
said as she took a small device from her pocket. “Kept it
hidden from the Earthlings. They think it is a Pellian Comm Unit. They
never took it from me in their hospital in
“Where?”
“You do not want to
know,” said Invidia. “Luckily, scanners never picked it up. Shall we transmit
data?”
Radnar nodded. “Yes.
Let me get a hookup cable.”
“Thank you.”
Radnar nodded. Then
he smiled. He was a strange person, and he was amused by the oddest things.
Also, in his own way,
he was about as crazy as the sort of rat that hid in an outhouse. He was
charming as he began to punch in the signatures and codes for what he guessed
would be Invidia’s slow death warrant.
Of course, he didn’t
know what a survivor this Princess could be.
She had more lives
than a mangy cat.
And the
attitude of a supergirl.
VI.
A HOT NIGHT AT HOME…
Earth
The
Derek and Nova Wildstar’s Bungalow
Sunday, October 11, 2207
0112 hours
Derek woke up at about one in the morning, expecting to find
Nova in bed beside him.
Instead, the sheets and covers were mussed up, and the bed
smelled like her, but there was no Nova. “Nova!” he yelled out. “Nova?”
Then, he found a note. It said,
Derek. I woke up needing to go to the bathroom
something fierce. Then I missed you afterwards. I let you sleep.
Checked on Alex and Ariel; they’re fine. And asleep. For now. They’ll
probably want my breasts at 4 or 5 AM.
I’m out in the backyard; there’s supposed to be
late fireworks tonight when that Yoimuiri Giants World Series ballgame ends; and
they were in extra innings against the Padres when I was up before. Please join
me. I think you’ll like what I am wearing.
Put on one of your yukatas. Please do not
wear the under-robe.
I’m waiting outside for you….I think you’ll like
what I’m wearing for you.
Nova (your love)
This sounds fun, Derek thought. Well, up I go. Forty to one she’s running around out there naked again. After all, she
went to sleep like that….thank God we have privacy out there with the little
fence around the yard. It’s cute that my little Nova sometimes just likes to be
out in the breeze like that. But why does she want me in yukata? Oh, well….
Derek
found a light tan yukata with a brown crysanthemum pattern and tied the belt
shut in one step over his own naked body. He immediately regretted that whe he
began to feel tightness around his crotch the more he thought about Nova as he
ran down the steps. He considered looking for geta but decided the grass would
feel better barefoot, so he went out into the yard of the small beach condo
where they were staying
After
looking aound a bit, Derek noticed a few flowers of fireworks in the distance,
in the part of the San Diego Megalopolis where the Padres Stadium was.
He
found Nova a minute or so later. She had on a white yukata in watered silk
decorated witth very delicate blue flowers, and he could see from the back she
had her hair up. That was a bit of an unusual look for her, but it looked sexy.
The
effect was heightened when he walked around to the front of her, and he smiled
and his mouth fell open. Her robe was open, and she was barefoot,
and very, very naked beneath her open
robe.
“Nova! Your kimono is wide open!”
“I
know,” she said as she looked up at the stars and the Milky Way.
“And
you’re naked!”
“So?”
Nova giggled as she wiggled her toes in the grass. “That’s the way I mostly
sleep when it’s hot out…and it feels good. I think I’m calling out sick
tomorrow, Derek. Let Dawn do some work for a change.”
Derek
then noticed that she was holding a sprig of juniper that had prayer strips
tied to it. “What do the prayers say?”
“I
was praying you’d wake up soon. I’m lonely. I let you sleep, but when I woke
up…”
“Yes?”
“When
I woke up, I put this on, but never even closed it. I missed you too much….while
I wrote these prayers, uhh…”
Derek
came up to Nova and felt her breasts. Her nipples were up. And rock-hard.
Then,
he ran his hand down her stomach while she kissed him. He smiled when he found
the center of her was dewy. He kissed her, licking a little sweet milk off her
breast (Derek happened to find it very sexy that her arousal and her milk often
went together) and then whispered, “So what were you up to when you woke up?”
“The
same thing I was doing missing you in the Tunnel of Love in the summer of 2201
when I had that car to myself. Remember that story? I was playing with myself
in my uniform and thinking of you doing things to me while I was dressed like
this in all sorts of places,” she whispered.
“What
sorts of places? And how did you get to…access yourself again?” Derek whispered
as he played with her breasts while she gasped with pleasure and then dropped
the branch and its prayers in the grass.
“I
got to myself when, around mid-day, I went to my car and took off my high
boots…the variant where they go on like leggings and those are my pants that go
up to the bodice of my uniform to the stripes around my crotch? So, in the car,
I bared my legs and feet in a pair of sandals for my visit to all of the water
rides. I sent you a picture of that. My uniform looked like a little
long-sleeved one-piece swimsuit then! When I got to the Tunnel of Love car, I
made sure I had the car to myself. I missed you, and while I was in the
dark….well, I just opened it all up, kicked off my sandals, and I had a quick
solo flight! . As for the places we’d do things to
each other in? Well…there’s Earth Defense Headquarters….the bridge of the
flagship Aquarius…church…again…If
Father Likanski persists in keeping that church that hot, I am going to wear
this to church…closed, of course, with my cutest little geta…the ones with the
blue velvet straps…and go just like this with no undies. But I’m going to make
sure Alex and Ariel are very, very
hungry before we go…and…maybe you’ll get to open it again…and I’ll be a bit
less shy about letting my breasts show. I wonder what you’d think?
If you touch me the right way, can you make me sing a high first soprano during
the Magnificant?”
“Nova,
you can be very creative when it
comes to these things,” Derek said. “No wonder you were playing with yourself
coming up with these ideas!”
“But
I’d like it better if you played with
me… Please do not open your robe yet, Derek. We’re going to play a little game
before the fireworks start up again. Like to know what it’s
called?”
“What?”
“Make
me explode before you open your robe and let your wave gun out to play,” Nova
giggled as Derek came up behind her. He wanted to make her naked again, but she
slapped him and whispered, “Not yet! This silk on my body feels so nice! The
object of the game is to make me…come…with my kimono on. All of me you need is
in the open…my collarbone..my neck….my breasts,” Nova
whispered as he kissed the nape of her neck (which was easier to reach with her
hair up) “my navel….my ass if you reach around….my privates….my thighs…my
knees….my ankles…the bare soles of my feet…my toes…” Nova giggled as Derek got
her to fall down on the grass in her robe. She smiled as Derek pulled her onto
his lap and tickled the bottom of her foot tenderly with one hand while he
caressed her womanhood with the other hand. Then, he kissed his way down her
breasts, noticing that she was beginning to shake a bit and whimper as
fireflies flew all around her in the humid night. The sound of a cicada mixed
with the distant cheers of the crowd that came down the wind from the
Giants/Padres game in extra innings as Derek kissed his way down Nova’s stomach
as she willingly opened her legs to her dear, dear husband’s kisses.
Soon,
Derek was kissing her there as she
thrashed around on her almost-useless yukata,
putting her legs up and running her toes up and down his silken garment as Nova
mewed in the grass like one of their babies. Her legs and body moved all over
the place as happy tears came while he ended up caressing her breasts and
playing with her nipples as he busily kissed her in her most delicate spot.
Finally,
Nova threw her head back and yelled, “Derek! It’s happening! Strip me! Please!
And don’t stop!”
Derek
then pulled Nova onto her feet with his hands on her bare buttocks as he got
behind her, and without taking a hand off her, he kissed the nape of her neck
fiercely while he stripped her of her kimono, one side and then the other,
making her naked again as her orgasm rolled on.
Then,
she fiercely rulled her hair free, shoved Derek onto his back, tore his robe
open, and took him in her mouth for a
bit, and then teased him with her hands before she climbed on top of him, one
leg to each side of him, as she impaled herself tenderly on him and began to
carefully ride him, taking the initiative herself in the night as she shook all
over with unsuppressable passion, making him termble, making him cry out,
making him gasp, and then making him explode inside her as she exploded around
him while cheers came on the distance and the bang of fireworks came up as the
ballgame ended in another part of the city.
The
Padres had taken Game Four of the 2208 World Series.
And
Derek and Nova Wildstar had just gotten to home plate.
TO
BE CONTINUED….
To Return to the Introduction to The New Comet, click here