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 to Ami Meitsu for some artwork and her input and inspiration in
several scenes in this chapter!
Note-Chapter
contains some content intended for mature audiences. (Even though the writer is
sometimes not terribly confident of his own maturity…)
ACT THREE: LOVE, PAIN,
AND FUN IN THE FALL OF 2207
I. A CRUISE TO REMEMBER
The Pacific Ocean, Somewhere Off
The Lady Katrina
Saturday, October 17, 2207
1030 Hours Local Time
Katrina could not
believe where she was.
She was on a beautiful
yacht with Foxy that was much bigger and far more elegant than she had ever
expected.
Foxy and a pilot had
picked her and her bags of summer clothes up earlier that morning, and she had
been flown to the yacht with Michelle in a smallish civilian jet recon boat.
It turned out that
the white yacht Lady Katrina was
bigger than Invida had thought it would be; at about 72 meters in length (or
around 210 feet long), it was about the same size as an old-type Gamilon
destroyer, for crying out loud! In fact, it was a bit more than a quarter of
the size of the Argo, which was 265.8
meters long (or around 880 feet long).
The yacht had a
helicopter pad on its fantail that, as Katrina noticed in shock, was occupied
by a second jet recon boat as she made her landing. She got a little nervous.
This second boat had an EDF military look to it; as a matter of fact, it had
the Star Force arrow emblem painted on it.
“Who flew in the
second craft?” said Katrina.
“Derek and Nova
Wildstar and their children. They will be the only other guests with us this
weekend. It is just us, them, and my crew of ten,” said Foxy. “Although Derek
and Nova have made some noises about wanting to take the wheel. I think Derek
wants to buy a yacht like this one of these days.”
“It might take a long
time,” Michelle said. “I bet this yacht is expensive!”
The teenage girl then ran across the deck to the rail, her sandals slapping on
the deck as she ran in her shorts and halter top. “How much does it cost,
Foxy?”
“As this vessel’s
Captain, I think it cost about fifteen million credits. You see I renamed her
after you already,” Kazuo Foxworth said as he adjusted the yachting blazer he
always seemed to wear. No wonder he
dresses like that, thought Katrina as she came up behind him in a black
sundress with a white hat and black sandals that Nova had helped her buy. He must take a lot of pride in being a
Captain, even if it is only the skipper of a big pleasure boat.
“I noticed that when
we flew in; that was very sweet,” said Katrina as she cuddled up to Foxy for a
moment. Then, before he could kiss her, she smiled and stepped back.
“Why are you doing
that?” teased Foxy.
“You don’t want to
corrupt Michelle, do you?” Katrina teased back.
“Oh, come on, I don’t
care if you two kiss,” said Michelle
as she twirled on her toes in a ballet move (easy because she had flat sandals
on).
“You didn’t put us in
the same cabin, did you?” said Katrina as she looked nervously at Foxy.
Foxy shook his head. “No.
The master cabin is for a couple. Derek and Nova and their babies are going to
be in there this weekend. They need the privacy.”
“Yes, we sure could
use it,” said an alto voice behind Katrina.
Artwork; “Katrina” © 2008 by Ami
Meitsu
Katrina whipped
around in enough time to recognize Nova coming up, carrying little Ariel in her
arms. Ariel had on a baby girl’s version of a bikini and plenty of sunscreen
with a little bonnet. Nova wore a dark blue bikini, with a batik-patterned
coverup around her hips for decoration, with sunglasses on her forehead and
blue sandals on her feet.
“Ah, you look
charming,” said Foxy as he took Nova’s hand and kissed it. “Where’s the
Commodore?”
“On the bridge with
Alex, Jonathan, and your First Mate Hale MacKenna. Mister MacKenna is such a
nice old man! He sort of reminds me of Captain Avatar,” Nova said as she gave
Katrina a hug around her waist.
“Who’s Hale
MacKenna?” said Katrina.
“Just the real master
of this boat,” said Foxy. “Old EDF man. He commanded several spaceships and a
terrestrial aircraft carrier in his younger days. He sort of came with the
yacht when I bought her. Even though I’m the skipper, I could not run this ship
without him.”
“He’s a good old
chap. He has Derek wanting to spend some of our money someday to buy a boat.
Even though I think we’d like something smaller,” Nova said. “We’d want to run
her ourselves. Run the engine ourselves, steer her ourselves, navigate her on
our own…”
“You’d want something
bigger than a runabout but smaller than a breadbox,” said Foxy. “Now, I know of
this boatwright’s place off
“Don’t bet you’d
win,” Nova laughed. “Derek’s a great pilot and I’m a mean navigator.”
Katrina rolled up her
eyes at this. “You people and your toys…”
Nova smiled slowly at
Katrina. “You said you liked cooking. This yacht has a wonderful galley and
it’s still early enough to make pancakes! Let’s go!” Nova said as she pulled at
Katrina’s wrists.
“Bye, bye, don’t get
lost down there in the galley, I’ll never see you again, Katrina, boo hoo hoo,”
said Foxy with a weird smile on his face.
“You are weird!” said
Katrina.
“We know he’s weird,”
said Nova as she pulled Katrina along. “Now, our job is to keep Derek out of
the galley.”
“Why?” said Katrina.
“He has a horrible
habit of burning things,” said Nova. “And on a ship, a fire can be deadly.
Trust me.”
“I think I know
that,” said Katrina.
A few minutes later,
in the galley, Nova threw on an apron over her barely-dressed form after she
put Ariel down in a baby seat. There was no one else in there, but it looked as
if Nova had been busy. Katrina noticed some of the ingredients for making
pancakes already out. In her prior life as Invidia, Katrina had sometimes
cooked, and she had a secret for making pancake batter that not even her father
had ever picked up.
It looked like Nova
needed little help making up a batter on her own with just the right
ingredients. Katrina took a taste of Nova’s own secret recipe and found that
some Earthlings (very few, she would admit, being conceited) knew how to cook
almost as well as she did, and Nova seemed to be one of them, although it
seemed Nova put a little more buttermilk in her recipe than Katrina was used to
using.
The galley had a
range, and Nova and Katrina soon had a number of pancakes going, while Katrina
spread out some meat.
“This is like valnik?” Katrina said, referring to a
dish made from the flesh of a Pellian animal that had been imported to the
Cometine Empire in her lifetime.
“No, actually, it’s
an Earth animal that is a similar kind of hoofed scavenger called a pig,” Nova
said. “This is called bacon. It’s smoked. My cousin Jane actually raises some
pigs. I think she cured this herself and sent it to Foxy.”
“Jane is Foxy’s
ex-wife?” Katrina said as she turned the bacon strips.
“Uh-huh,” Nova said
as she flipped the pancakes. “They’re still friends, even though they had a
divorce.”
“Oh,” said Katrina.
“Relax, they’ll never
get back together, not if Jane has anything to say about it,” Nova said. “My
cousin Jane’s a little crazy,” Nova whispered. “She’s a rancher who shoots at varmints
and personally butchers pigs and cows. I helped her slaughter a pig once. It
gets kind of messy.”
“You helped kill an
animal?” Katrina said.
“I’m not big on
killing things, but preparing and dressing meat isn’t that bad,” Nova said. “I
dissected some preserved fetal pigs in college biology classes before they
became too scarce to use. The internal structure of a pig is not that different
from that of a human,” Nova said as she removed the pancakes from the griddle.
Nova then stepped back and pulled off her apron, showing her bare stomach in
her bikini to Katrina with a casual air that surprised her a little. Invidia
looked on at Nova’s exposed shoulder at close range and saw the little dimple
where her knife had gone in. It looked to be a very minor mark above her
collarbone now. Nova then pointed at her chest, which, in its bikini top,
didn’t have very much on it. “The structure of the heart is very similar to
that of the pig, and the liver and gall bladder are situated in similar spots,”
Nova said as she pointed out the right spots on her body. “Of course, my legs
are somewhat nicer than a pig’s, and I don’t have hooves,” Nova teased as she
wiggled her toes up. Nova then threw back on her apron and went back to cooking
as she looked at Katrina and said, “I think you’d look very cute in a bikini.”
“I…uh..,” Invidia
stammered. “I do not like showing off that much flesh. I…”
“I didn’t used to,
either, until Derek coaxed me into a nice suit like this…and I saw his eyes
light up,” Nova said dreamily. “That’s after we got married, of course. He
never saw me naked until our wedding night. Ever since then, we’ve had a very
fun relationship…”
“Except that he burns
down the kitchen?” Katrina said.
Nova laughed. “He has
a bad habit of overcooking food,” she said. Nova then said to Katrina. “The
water’s nice. I took Jonathan in for a swim before. You need to get into a
swimsuit after we eat.”
“Why?”
“To swim in,” Nova
said. “Unless you want to just skinny-dip.”
“Skinny-dip?”
“Go in the water
naked,” Nova said. “Better to do that when it’s dark and the crew can’t see
that much if you like that sort of thing. Even better if you slip off in a
dinghy for just you two to do it.”
“You and Derek…”
“Uh-huh,” Nova said
as she blushed. “He looks nice like that. And in the warm water…maybe you and
Foxy will do that someday. Or now? If you do, we won’t look,” said Nova with a
little smile and a wink.
“Am I expected to…?”
“If not now, maybe someday,”
Nova said. “After all, I think you and Foxy make a very, very cute couple.”
“We do?”
Nova nodded. “Uh-huh.
And he loves you a lot. I get on the phone to him, you are all he goes on
about. He is crazy about you. Haven’t you noticed yet? Good catch,” Nova said
as she nudged Katrina conspiratorially in the elbow and winked. “I think you
two are just made for each other…”
Katrina smiled and
nodded at that.
All the guests
assembled for their breakfast in the dining area outside the galley maybe forty
minutes later. Katrina sat near Foxy, but not too close to him. She noticed (with some surprise) that he had
taken off his jacket, ascot, shirt and shoes, and sat there eating breakfast
bare-chested and barefoot with his pants legs rolled up to his knees.
He smiled at her as
they began eating. She was seeing him bare-chested for the first time, and she
saw that he had a somewhat thin build without a shirt on, but that he looked
tanned and rather boyish, and had some of his hair hanging in his eyes as he
ate.
She was shocked at
the amount of syrup and butter he put on his pancakes, and at the sheer amount
of bacon he was shoveling down. There was plenty to go around, but Katrina
finally said, “Foxy, you’ll get fat if you eat so much!”
“Nah, I always burn
it off,” he said. He looked at Katrina’s plate. “Dry pancakes? Fruit? On a
strict diet?”
“I don’t like syrup
or anything fattening,” she said. She looked over across the table to Nova’s
plate; Nova was not eating as much as Foxy, but she had syrup on her pancakes
and had taken some bacon and sausage. “You’ll get fat eating that!” she said.
Nova shook her head.
“Do I look fat? I work it off, too.”
“You should see the
way Her Nibs runs hither and yon every day,” said Derek Wildstar. Katrina
noticed that his hair was wet and he looked rather boyish yet strong with his
sculpted build clad in only a pair of dark blue swim trunks with an anchor on
them. He was also eating a healthy portion of food while Nova mussed up his
hair; the two of them had their seats so close that they were almost sitting in
each other’s laps. “And she makes sure she either runs, rides a bike, swims,
dances, does gymnastics, or martial arts practice every day.”
“Derek, I’m not that
crazy,” said Nova with a blush.
“You are almost as
wacky as your cousin,” said Foxy. “But far, far smarter. That makes you
dangerous. First Mate McKenna, watch this lady. She might try to sabotage the
ship.”
“With sweet eyes like
that?” said a seafaring-looking man with a black beard and striped shirt and
jeans. “Considering that she is playing with her baby son, that would be a bit
hard to manage…”
Foxy smiled at Nova.
Alex and Ariel were near them in their little baby carriers on the table, and
Nova was busy playing with little Alex’s toes as he giggled. The baby boy wore
only a somewhat loose diaper with blue-tipped safety pins as he squirmed and
kicked impishly in his carrier. “Actually, I’d watch him.”
“Who?” said Katrina.
“That baby. He is a
Wildstar. His father must already be training him for the military. He has a
killer look in those eyes!”
Little Alex looked
right at Katrina and squealed, “Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba boo ba bee!” In the
meantime, his little sister Ariel slept peacefully next to him in her carrier,
now also stripped down to her diaper.
Katrina smiled at
Baby Alex and then looked at Foxy. “Dear, that child is totally innocent. I
think he’s plotting playing with his fingers, that’s all. Nova, why is his diaper
sort of loose?”
“Diaper rash,” said
Nova. “I’m trying to sort of air him out. If it gets any worse, it might be
bye-bye diaper for a little while,” Nova said as she got up and looked at his
waist and peered into his diaper.
“How
is he, Mom?” asked Jonathan. Katrina also smiled at him, thinking, I’m surrounded by cute children, and I
don’t mind! My heart and mind must be undergoing some changes. Should I have
even talked to Radnar that day, or should I have let well enough alone?
Katrina thought, feeling a little guilty about her quiet, subdued plotting to
come back to some power someday by way of the Black Nebulan remnant and the
weird deal that she had made with her former enemy Radnar. As she smiled at
Jonathan, slender, skinny and cute in just his swim briefs, she thought again
that maybe it was better just to let the past be the past, and to enjoy her
new, diminished, but certainly sweeter life.
Katrina put her head
on Foxy’s shoulder, shut her eyes, accepted his hug, and thought, This is a time and place where palace
politics no longer matters. I see the way Foxy looks at me even though he
teases me. My friends at my job are polite and don’t know me well, but they
like me and I get to work on my own as a writer. No one bothers me much. I get
to be in peace. I need never see Desslok again. Never. Nova and Derek Wildstar
like me. And they’re nice. They’re actually nice, and they could care less
about the past, even if they suspect anything. No generals. No fleets. No
tortures or need to prove to the colonies, governors, or generals how hard I
am….
“Foxy?” asked
Katrina.
“Yes?” he said.
“Would you excuse me?
Nova, the pancakes were great, but I’m not hungry any more,” she said as she
pushed aside her half-eaten plate. “I’m going to go aft to the fantail and look
at the ocean.”
“Are you okay?” asked
Derek.
“Are you seasick?”
Nova asked. “If you are, I have something for that in my cabin…”
“Thanks, but I’m
fine,” said Invidia as she tried to blink tears out of her eyes. “I just…need to
be alone for a while…”
Invidia smiled at
Foxy, and shocked him by giving him their first kiss, a decorous peck on the
cheek, in front of everyone. Then, she ran aft.
Trying to keep from
sobbing, Katrina quietly went to the yacht’s fantail and went down a small
flight of steep stairs. Below, near the water, there was a bench that was
intended for swimmers and divers to grab hold to; they could use railings to
get back on the yacht if they decided to go swimming while the yacht was
stopped and anchored. The yacht was moving slowly now, at maybe eight knots,
but it has been at anchor before, and Derek and Jonathan had gone into the warm
Pacific Ocean from this little seat.
Katrina sat down,
took off her sandals, and let her feet lazily bob in the water as she opened
her handbag. She pulled out her scarlet Royal Pin and held it in her hands,
along with the data unit that held her remaining credits from her days as a
Princess of the Empire.
I could just throw these in the ocean, she thought. This
pin is all I have of Father and Mother and my time in both Imperial Cities; the
Gatlantis that is is ruins, and the Eritz Gatlantis that is no
more. And I do not need this money,
anymore, either. I could let Invidia
die…forever, now…
“Trelaina,” she said
softly. “I…want to retreat and let the past die. I am so sorry that I did all
of this evil in my quest…to be someone. I want to let it be. Please take away
my ability to change my form and keep me in this form until I breathe my last
breath, and protect me from Ekogaru and let me live and die a quiet life on
Earth. I want to forget everything.”
“Even the chance to
redeem yourself?” said a soft voice near her.
Invidia turned around
in shock, to find Trelaina sitting on the bench beside her! She also looked
diminished, and she wore her blue dress again, but no shoes; indeed, she was
letting her bare feet dangle in the water too! She was also gleaming softly.
“You’re not dead!
You’re alive?” gasped Katrina. “Uh…people will see you, and…”
“No one can see or
hear me for the moment except for you,” said Trelaina softly as she put a hand
over Katrina’s. “Congratulations, Invidia. You are passing the first tests.”
“Then you know what I
am thinking,” said Invidia, who was shocked as she looked in the ocean and saw
her old reflection gazing back at her. “By Arishna! They’ll see me!”
“No one can see your
true form right now except us,” said Trelaina gently. “No one can hear you now,
either. Also, I am not alive.”
“You feel like a very
warm and lively ghost,” said Invidia, shocked that she was holding hands with
Trelaina, the mistress of antimatter…the…the..freak…
“I am alive and not
alive,” said Trelaina. “It would take too much time to explain. And time I do not
have. I can only remain corporeal for a few minutes, until the day comes when I
am to return to corporeal life and to Mark.”
“Mark Venture is
married,” said Invidia.
“Not forever, sadly.
In years to come, I see his poor wife Holly lying in flowers in state. She will
give her life for the love of him, as I gave my life for the love of him when I
destroyed Telezart. With the balance leveled, Holly’s life for mine, it will be
mandated that I return to Mark and marry him. And, if you give up being who you
are now, you will disturb that balance.”
“What do you mean?”
Invidia said softly.
“I foresaw what would
happen when you finally decided to let Michelle and her planet live and turned
your back on the evil of Gorse and his generals and walked away from your
throne on the Eritz Gatlantis and
slapped Ekogaru in the face and abandoned him. We foresaw what you would do
with Radnar. We also know how much you hate and fear Ekogaru. He is still out
there. Do you want him to devour the ones you care for and your friends?” At
that, Trelaina made Foxy’s face appear in the water, along with Michelle’s
face, followed by the faces of Derek and Nova and their babies.
“no,” said Invidia.
“Then, someday, we
will need you to occupy a throne again, even in exile,” said Trelaina as she
closed her fingers over Invidia’s pin and credit data unit. “Invidia cannot
die. Not yet. Neither can Katrina. Both sides of you must live on, to redeem
your people and save your adopted home from the Dark Lord. Before all of this
ends, I foresee Cometines, Earthlings, Gamilons, and other former enemies
shaking hands and deciding to forget their differences and remember that all of
you share a joint humanity and must join hands to stop Ekogaru and his legions.
Natural life versus mechanical, unholy life. The war is not yet ended, although
Invidia must sleep for many years.”
“Then I can tell no
one who I am,” said Katrina as she saw her face as Invidia fade and Katrina’s
face reappear as her reflection.
“Except Kazuo,” said
Trelaina.
“Foxy will turn me in. I can’t do that,” said
Katrina. “Even though…I…I think I am falling in love with him!”
“He will understand. If need be, I will help
you. And a day will come when she will also share your secret and you will be
surprised; I foresee her standing by you as you wear the face of Invidia again
and she will defend you in public as you make your case openly before all of
Earth.”
“And?”
“If you do not blight
your new growth, you shall be one of those rejoicing when Ekogaru is sent to
the Pit he is destined for at last. His crystal globe. I foresee someday a
kindred spirit of yours who is a Wildstar will help you shatter his crystal
globe at last.”
“Ariel? Their baby
daughter? Or their son Alex?”
Trelaina shook her
head. “No. A child still in Derek and Nova’s loins at this moment. And her name
and fate are linked with your return.”
“What is her name?”
“Anastasia. Russian
for “she who rises” or “resurrection”.” Trelaina made a face appear in the sea for
a moment; it looked shockingly like a female version of Derek, with a fiery,
crazy, look in her eyes and dark brown crazy hair. “You two will end up being
very close. And now, my time passes. We will meet again, Invidia Katrina
Savela. Be at peace!”
At that, Trelaina
faded away like a daydream.
Katrina stood up and
stared at the water for a while.
Then, she put on her
sandals again, stretched, and put away her pin and data unit. She grasped the
rails and boosted herself back up onto the Lady
Katrina’s deck, feeling her face to make sure that she was really Katrina
again.
Then, with a small
smile, she walked off, knowing what she had to do now, filled at last with hope
and a new resolve.
II. AFTERNOON OF DELIGHT
The Pacific Ocean, Somewhere Off
The Lady Katrina
Saturday, October 17, 2207
1222 Hours Local Time
Michelle had gotten
into a yellow bikini, and she had found her brother Jonathan sunning himself on
a deck chair in just his bright red swim briefs. At the moment, the girl was
kneeling on her haunches on the deck, engaging in the time-honored art of
teasing her brother.
She was not being
subtle.
“You’ve got a boner,
you’ve got a boner,” she sang. “My little brother’s got a boner!”
“I do not,” he
protested. Then, he looked down at his swim briefs and blushed as he realized
that not only was a certain part of his anatomy awake, it was also very
prominent in his light racing briefs. He flipped over onto his stomach and
said, “stop teasing me.”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
Michelle teased.
“Uh-huh,” said
Jonathan.
“Thinking about her?”
“None of your
business!” said Jonathan.
“What’s her name?”
“Felicia,” said
Jonathan. “I met her on the beach one day in
“What did you have
on?”
“These,” he said with
a blush.
“No wonder you have a
girlfriend now. You look very cute in those. For a fourteen-year old,” added
Michelle.
“How did you end up
with Katrina?” said Jonathan.
“Long story,” sighed
Michelle. “I don’t care to get into it, except to say that we were prisoners
together.”
“Sorry. How did the
Comet Empire treat you?”
“Better than the
Rikashans did,” she said.
“You can say that
again,” said Michelle. “Oh. Your new mom is so
cute.”
“She’s cool, too. She
let me pick out my own clothes when we went shopping.” Jonathan sniffed a
little, still impressed by the fact that when his new mom took him out of the
orphanage, she had literally given him some of the clothes from off her own
back when the orphanage had made him strip before leaving. In fact, the brown
unisex-looking sandals Nova had put on his feet that day were by his deck chair
at the moment; they were comfortable, and they were the only shoes Jonathan had
packed for this trip.
“Actually, that’s kinda
neat, for you,” said Michelle. “Hey. You’re growing up. Even I have to admit
that, twerp.”
Jonathan smiled at
his sister.
In the meantime,
Katrina walked around the boat, finally finding a charming scene that made her
smile.
Nova was lying on a
deck chair in the sun, cuddled up against Derek, who was tenderly bathing
little Ariel as she lay on her mother nursing. Both she and little Alex were
naked now; Katrina could see why easily when she saw just a little bit of pink
diaper rash on the tousle-haired little boy’s bottom as he lay on his mother’s
bare tummy sucking away at her now innocently topless breast.
Katrina smiled at
Nova, who looked utterly angelic with her babies on her. When she moved her leg
slightly, Katrina smiled when she saw that Nova herself also went totally naked
in the sun, just like young peasant mothers and slave wet nurses sometimes did
with their babies in Cometine society. Katrina found out why when she picked up
the young mother’s discarded swimsuit bottom and batik wrap, which lay near
Nova’s top and her sandals. The wrap and bikini bottoms were soaking wet…with
baby wee. “Awww,” Katrina said. “Did one of them…go…on you, Nova?”
“Both of them did,”
Nova said with a blush as she opened her sleepy eyes as Derek kissed her. “Daddy’s
giving us all a little bath as a result. I love to feed them at bathtime. They
feel adorable against me like this.”
Katrina smiled at
them. Up to now, she had never thought of herself as wanting a child; she had
been very afraid of and very sickened by the idea of being pregnant and of
giving birth. Remembering what the doctors on the Eritz Gatlantis had told her about her body after Ekogaru had
brought her back to life…namely that she could never have children of her own,
Katrina felt sadness, envy, and anger at her circumstances, and envy at Nova,
until she realized that Nova was exactly the way a new mother should be with
her children; happy and in love with them. I
want to say mean things, Invidia thought as she wiped her eyes. But what is the point? Our new parents are
happy, and they should be…having their joy at last after all of the suffering I
made them endure in my war. If I say anything foul about them and their cute
little family, I would be a monster. I have turned my back on that now. I want
to rule someday, but why seek revenge against these two? I see all they were
doing was defending their planet. I
am changing so much…I need to talk to Foxy about some of my feelings
later…without letting him know everything..yet…
“I hope Mommy doesn’t
get diaper rash,” said Derek as he kissed Nova on the cheek. “Nova told me to
keep all of them out in the sun to air out for a while.”
Nova looked at
Katrina and softly said, “Katrina, you look so sad. Is there anything wrong?”
“I…in one of the
things that happened to me in the Comet Empire, I lost the ability to have
children of my own,” Katrina blurted out.
“I’m so sorry,” Nova
said softly. “You could adopt someday if you want one. Due to the Gamilon,
Cometine, and Rikashan wars, there are a lot of orphans on Earth now who need
someone’s love. You might make a nice mother someday,” Nova said. “Aren’t they
beautiful?” she said as she kissed her daughter. “They love being out in the
sun like this…”
“No…nothing wrong
with that,” said Katrina as she smiled, without a mocking thought on her mind
as she tickled little Alex’s foot. He lifted his head up from Nova’s breast to
giggle, and then he kissed his mother. Katrina just smiled as she admired Alex
from head to toe. He looked so perfectly formed, and as Derek lay next to Nova
in only his swim trunks, Katrina thought that she could see a hint of his young
father’s strong, lanky build in him already. Katrina smiled, struck again by
how youthful…and…cute…her former foe was, and for his deep, obvious affection
for his wife. They are so attracted to
each other, Wildstar and Nova, and it is so sweet, she thought. I think it is safe to guess there will be
more children from them in the next few years. They look very intelligent. And
very much in love and very peaceful.
“Yes, Mommy loves
you, too,” Nova said as she kissed her little son back before latching him on
again. Derek reached over and began to wash his son’s bottom with a cute smile
on his face, pausing to wash Nova’s belly button as his son kicked a little
leg. Nova then put her head over and kissed her husband on the cheek while
Katrina played with Ariel’s hair. “Her hair is so soft,” she said softly. “How
do you do it?”
“Lots of baby shampoo
and love,” said Derek. “Both of us wash them; we’re around them so much that
they recognize us both now. They’re starting to recognize Jonathan, too.”
“Sometimes, he takes
his little brother in the bath with him,” Nova said. “It’s so cute.”
Ariel went off Nova’s
breast a minute later and gurgled, just playing with her mother’s firm breast
as she lay there skin-to-skin with her mommy. Nova brought her up to her
shoulder and began rubbing her back to burp her. Nova then laughed softly as
the little burp came. Then, she said, “Katrina, like to take her for a minute?”
“Uhh…why?”
Katrina noticed Derek
whispering in Nova’s ear, and Nova nodded and kissed him. “Derek wants to carry
Alex and I into our cabin together. Our son’s getting to be a sleepyhead, and
Derek likes to tuck
us in for naptime when we both get sleepy while he dresses Ariel and plays with
her. Like to follow us?”
“Sure,” said Katrina.
She kissed Ariel and took her from her mother’s arms. The blond-haired baby
girl squealed softly and let Katrina nuzzle her cheek while the Princess felt
her skin. It was soft, warm and exquisite, and the little baby had a very sweet
freshly-bathed baby smell to her. Then, she smiled as Derek picked Nova and
Alex up; Alex was in his mother’s arms, and the slender young mother was being
carried naked in her husband’s arms like a new bride coming over the threshold.
Soon, Katrina came
into their bedroom, and she watched as Derek powdered and diapered Alex, who
was still in his mother’s arms at her breast. Then, he tucked in both of them
under a light sheet in bed as Nova kissed her husband again. A moment later,
Derek helped Katrina powder little Ariel’s bottom and then both of them
diapered the baby girl and laid her in her little baby carrier, while had a little
pink mobile of angels and stars hanging over it. Derek played with his
daughter’s little hands for a bit while she kicked at her mobile, which went
around her head playing a little tinkly lullaby. Katrina noticed with no irony
that the lullaby was a tiny, tinkly, baby-like version of the Star Force’s
haunting march, which she had heard on the day of the signing of the Armistice
with the Comet Empire. The baby smiled at the pretty, haunting music and then
smiled at her father.
“I like the music,”
Nova said softly through her closed eyes. “Keep it going.”
“Would you like me to
bring in your clothes, Nova?” Katrina asked.
“Yes, but try to be
quiet, I’m falling asleep,” Nova said in a drowsy voice. “Then, Derek and I
want to be all alone for a while after the babies go to sleep.”
Derek came over to
Nova and began stroking her hair as he sat next to her on the bed. Immediately,
the thought came to Katrina that they would probably take a nap together and
then make love after they woke up if their little ones were asleep. Katrina
knew that new parents could often be affectionate at odd times of the day if
they had nothing else to do and the babies weren’t quite sleeping through the
night yet. “I’ll get your things, Nova, and then I’ll go find Foxy. I think I’ll
want to cuddle with him, too,” she blurted.
“That’s a good
thing,” Nova said in a sleepy voice. “Have fun…”
“Just make sure
Jonathan keeps away for maybe the next two hours,” said Derek.
“Sure,” said Katrina.
Katrina gathered up Nova’s
swimwear, wrap and sandals a moment later, and she popped into their stateroom
just long enough to put the swimsuit and wrap in a laundry hamper and to put
Nova’s shoes on the carpeted deck as Nova turned on the ceiling fan in the room
to help cool it down. Katrina blew the young lovers a kiss as she found that
Derek had gotten under the covers with Nova and was cuddling her and their
little son while whispering to them. Her guess was confirmed right when she saw
that Commodore Wildstar’s swim trunks were off, tossed over a chair back.
Katrina tiptoed out and closed the door softly to let Derek and Nova be alone
with each other.
Then, after Katrina
found Jonathan and told him “Your parents and the little ones are taking a
nap,” the boy replied, “That’s okay. Mister MacKenna is going to be giving us a
tour of the Lady Katrina’s bridge and
engine room soon and showing us how everything works. Like to come along?”
“No, I’m looking for
Foxy. Where is he?”
“He was wondering
where you were,” said Michelle as she came up. “He’s waiting for you in the
library. It’s down on the second deck towards the bow.”
“Thank you,” said
Katrina.
Katrina did not have
a hard time finding Foxy. He was sitting on a small love seat in the library,
wearing a fresh pair of jeans, black sandals, and a plain blue men’s shirt that
was halfway open. Soft classical music was playing on speakers in the luxurious
but small library, which had bookshelves built into the walls, two computer
terminals, a table with two chairs, and several easy chairs and other seats,
along with a Plexiglas globe of the Earth and several large plants in pots. The
lights were turned low, and the room was as peaceful as a monastery. “Ah,
Katrina,” he said. “I wondered when you would find me here. Shut the door and
lock it, please. We need to talk. I usually have my crew meetings in here.”
Katrina did so, while
noticing that Foxy looked far more serious than he usually did, and his young
face looked very authoritative. “I’m sorry I couldn’t find you earlier,
Katrina. I fell asleep in the sun on one of the deck chairs and I had a very
bad dream. I came here to clear my head. The dream was really weird.”
“You look disturbed,”
said Katrina as she sat beside him on the love seat. “What is the matter?”
“Did you ever contact
the Dark Lord Ekogaru while you were in space?”
Katrina’s face
dropped as she said, not ready to reveal all of the truth yet. “Yes. He
endangered Pellias, brought us here, and he hurt us and the Royal House very
badly. He even bothered the Comet Empire. I heard rumors that…he forced
Princess Invidia to enter into some pact with him that she later tried to
break. If all of us had a common enemy in the war that just ended, I think it
was him.”
“What do you think of
him?” said Foxy.
“I hate him and I
fear him,” said Katrina as she gave the unvarnished truth. “I heard he tempted
Invidia but she finally refused him. Unfortunately, he cast her to the wolves.”
“As he did you,” said
Foxy.
“How would you know
that?” asked Katrina. Too late, she
thought. Part of it is out, she said as
tears ran down her cheeks.
“Simple. He told me,”
said Foxy. “He said in the dream that you were his property and I had better
best keep away and let you languish to death alone.”
“What did you tell
him?” said Katrina.
“Go to hell,” he said
in a husky voice as he suddenly held Katrina. “I am not letting some
three-thousand year old Funky Phantom maniac get between me and you. I’ll kill
him to protect you, Katrina…I…”
“How would you do
that to a ghost?” asked Katrina.
“Go to a Shinto
Shrine, a church, something…get holy water, throw it in his rotten damned face.
I also have garlic down below in the galley. Garlic is supposed to be very good
against vampires and things like that. If Ekogaru is not a vampire, then what
the hell is he?”
“Sure not a friendly
ghost,” said Katrina with a nervous laugh. “What else do…do you want?”
“I wanted to surprise
you with this over dinner, but…somehow…that dream…only made this more urgent,”
said Foxy. “I feel I have to do this before it gets dark. I’m sorry…just a gut
feeling I have.”
Foxy then rooted for
something in his pants pockets and finally found it. A small box.
Then, he got out of the love seat and went down on his knees
before Katrina. He opened the box, and Katrina’s eyes went wide when she saw a
pure white diamond glittering in the dimly lit room. It was set in a fine,
white-gold ring. Then, Foxy whispered, “I, Kazuo Foxworth, do hereby formally
ask you, Katrina Savela, if you would please consider marrying…me…”
Katrina got all
choked up and tears ran down her cheeks. “I…I..”
“Katrina?” said Foxy.
“You’ll never leave
me, no matter what happens to us?” she said in a small voice. “I mean..if I say
yes?”
“I will never leave you,
“ said Foxy. “Nor shall I forsake you.”
“Yes,” said Katrina.
“Yes?”
“I accept…your
proposal. Please marry me. Put that ring on me now,” she said.
Foxy sat down beside
Katrina and he put the ring on her finger. Then, he kissed her hand. He would
remember this moment for the rest of his life; Katrina’s dark purple hair, her
black sundress and black sandals, her polished pink fingernails and toenails,
and the way the room looked, right down to the pale yellow walls, the
silver-trimmed porthole, the lacquer-framed artwork from Great Island that read
“Nihon” (Japan) in Kanji, and his old
parchment map behind his head that read “Mare
Placidum” (The Placid Sea) and had charts of the Atlantic and Pacific on
it.
“I want you to kiss
more of me,” she said as she pulled him close, right into her lap.
“I…”
“I love you,” she
said in a gentle, deep voice.
Artwork: “Katrina’s Happiness” ©
2008 by Freddo
Then, their lips met,
and they shared their first truly deep kiss. When they were done, Katrina said,
“What Jane Forrester did to you…that still hurts, doesn’t it?”
“Yes,” he said. “It
does.”
“I’ll never do that
to you,” said Katrina. “I want to die with you. On our wedding night, I want
you to make wild, passionate love to me. Then I never want to leave your side.
Swear to me you will never leave mine.”
“I…I swear it,” said
Foxy.
Then, they kissed
again.
Then, he asked, “What
about Michelle? Where will she go when we get married?”
“Let’s adopt her,” said
Katrina. “She is an orphan and has no one but her brother Jonathan.”
“Shouldn’t she stay
with Nova and Derek and her brother then?” said Foxy.
“No. It would tear
her apart to leave me,” said Katrina. “I saved her from slavery on the Comet. I
love her and never want her to leave my side. I am twenty-four; she is
seventeen..but she needs someone. Us. She loves me like Jonathan loves Nova. I
never want her to quite go away.”
“Then it seems you
come with a daughter,” said Foxy with a little smile. “All, right, I’ll accept
two for the price of one. The house is big enough for a kid.”
“When do we tell
her?” said Katrina.
“We’ll tell everyone
at dinner tonight,” said Foxy.
“Good,” said Katrina
as she kissed him again. It was a
magical time that Katrina wished would never end. She just shut her eyes, let
the happy tears run, and let Foxy hold her.
It was one of the
happiest days of Invidia’s life.
It would soon become
very bittersweet; but none of it would be Foxy’s fault….
III. AFTERNOON DELIGHT, A STORM AT SEA, A SUDDEN RESOLVE
The Pacific Ocean, Somewhere Off
The Lady Katrina
Saturday, October 17, 2207
1509 Hours Local Time
The Lady Katrina
rolled very softly on the waves while Alex and Ariel slept.
Their parents were making
tender love under the sheets with the ceiling fan on.
“I love you so much,”
Derek whispered in Nova’s ear.
“You’re such a dear,
good husband to me,” Nova whispered back as her back arched in her passion as
Derek held and loved her. “My God!” she gasped.
Derek kissed Nova,
breathing hard as she put her legs around him, went up on her toes, and then
she exploded under him as fireworks went off.
“OH, GOD!” Nova cried
as, in the midst of her pleasure, she felt Derek also exploding into her,
putting his love, his life, his fire into her eagerly accepting, hungry young
body.
They collapsed
together a moment later and snuggled in peace.
Then, they fell
asleep in each other’s arms for a bit, waking when they heard a rumble of
distant thunder outside. Through the porthole in their cabin, the stateroom
seemed to grow a little darker.
“I didn’t think a
storm was predicted,” said Derek.
Nova kissed him, and
flew up from their blue and white bedclothes like a naked sprite, standing on
tiptoes to look out the porthole. “There’s a nasty front blowing in from the
East, from
As a wind blew
outside, Alex awoke, fussing.
“What’s wrong?” asked
Derek as he pulled on a pair of shorts after washing up with a baby wipe. He
ran to his son and passed Nova the baby wipes to clean herself up.
Nova did likewise and
she pulled on a fresh past blue sundress over her nakedness as she said,
“Derek, I think I know what that cold is,” as her heart began to thud.
Artwork: “Loving Each Other and
Earth Too” © 2008 by Freddo
“What?” said Derek as
he tried to comfort his crying son, who was suddenly shivering pitiably in just
his diaper.
Nova picked up a
fussing Ariel, wrapped her in a baby blanket, and held her close. “It’s him.”
“Ekogaru?” said
Derek.
“He must still be
alive,” Nova said. “He’s followed us here,” Nova said as she pulled on panties
and her sandals. “Derek, can you take Ariel? I have to run to the bridge.”
“Then?” Derek said.
“I have to warn Foxy and
Katrina. He might have some sick business with them…”
“Nova, I…”
Nova opened a drawer
and grabbed two objects (Derek could not see what they were) and she quickly
threw them into her handbag. “I’ll be back soon!”
Nova then ran out as
fast as her legs would take her.
“Nova!” yelled Derek.
“COME BACK!”
But, Nova had her own
agenda. While she was not psychic, her experience with the Cosmo-DNA and the
times she had been touched by Starsha, Trelaina, and Aliscea (especially when
she had briefly carried the Pellian Matrix for Aliscea) had left her just a
little more sensitive to the Dark Lord than any other member of the human race.
She was not quite aware of it, but she was the only pure human on Earth who had
enough spiritual purity to face down Ekogaru and to order him to depart with
any sense of Authority.
Thus, Nova ran
heedless through the wind and the sudden needles of rain as she ran onto the Lady Katrina’s bridge.
“Mom!” yelled
Jonathan as soon as he saw his mother running in, with her purse over her bare
shoulders in her dress and a huge fire ax in her right hand.
“Mister MacKenna,
what’s going on?” Nova snapped.
“Big storm cell just
appeared outta nowhere and came up on us like crazy!” yelled MacKenna as Nova ran
past him. Ignoring the men at the helm and navigation, she pushed aside the
sailor at the radar and began flicking switches and studying it herself,
reading the weather and atmospheric conditions as quickly as she could.
“Mister MacKenna, go
eighty degrees about flank speed south!” she cried. “There’s a pocket of colder
air there, and the storm will have a harder time remaining coherent in that!”
Nova cried. “Jonathan! You go stay with your father and the little ones in our
stateroom! Tell him I have to face down you-know-who to protect us and tell him
I love him!”
“Yes, mom,” said
Jonathan with misty eyes as he took off, not all surprised that his mother had
just effectively taken command of the yacht and their defense.
“You can’t go!” cried
Michelle.
“I have to. Mister
MacKenna, where are Foxy and Katrina?”
“The library,” he
said. “Foxy was waiting for here there, and…”
“Lead me there,” said
Nova. “It’s Katrina he wants. But I’m gonna give him a fight.”
Katrina and Foxy
clung to each other, frightened by the horrid cold in the library as the ship
pitched and rolled.
Suddenly, the music
system flicked by itself to a beautiful but somewhat ominous piece that Foxy
didn’t play often; J.S. Bach’s Passacaglia
and Fugue in C Minor.
“Oh, no,” said Katrina.
“He…he likes that music! It’s…”
Then, Foxy was
shocked to the core as an ominous, gaseous cloud appeared in the room, and
something that looked like green, venomous eyes lit up above his potted fichus
plant. A weird laugh came from the apparition, and then, there came a deep
voice from the apparition.
“Kazuo Foxworth.
Hands off my property. I have claimed this woman long ago for my own plaything.
She has been twisted, beaten, and slammed about and she is not a very nice girl
at all. Tell him everything, Katrina dear.”
“Who are you?” yelled
Foxy as he held Katrina close to him. She was so scared that she could not even
talk.
“I am Ekogaru De’Shal
D’Charif of Rikasha, now Lord of the Technomugar Race and god of this world. I am
older than you think. I laughed and laughed in the streets of
“No…you’re NOT!” she
screamed.
Foxy just held
Katrina more tightly. “Back off! Oh. Ekogaru. You owe the estate of Mick Jagger
lots of money for a copyright violation for quoting half of Sympathy for the Devil. Are you not very
original?”
“Shove your copyright
violations up your rear end, Foxy!
I’m a god. I quote who I wish and pay no one royalties! As for Katrina, I
intend to take her. I will not leave her alone. Are you going to make me leave her alone? If so, how?
Throw a law book at me?” purred Ekogaru.
Then, the locked door
was burst open from the outside with a fire ax. Two or three hits, and then a
kick from a woman’s sandal-clad foot, and the door smashed in and Nova Wildstar
ran in clutching her purse and her ax, breathing hard as she said, “No. I’m
going to make you leave, Ekogaru! You are not wanted on this yacht!”
The Dark Lord laughed
like an utter maniac. “You stupid moo-cow! I am over three thousand! You are
only twenty-nine. Do you think I’m going to roll over and play dead for you,
you rotten little dog who loves to be suckled by your babies like an animal?”
“First, I do not like
your music!” yelled Nova as she smashed the stereo system with her ax and the
music stopped. “Second, I do not like YOU!”
Nova then flung her
purse open and grabbed one object and pulled out something that made the Dark
Lord blanch and scream when he saw it; it was a simple silver cross.
“ARRRGHHH!” yelled
the Dark Lord as he shut his unholy eyes against the gleaming cross. It
suddenly lit up with a blue fire and dispelled the darkness in the room in a
fashion that in itself scared Katrina. Suddenly, Nova looked much taller, and
she looked remorseless and powerful in the Light as she held up a opened vial.
“Do you know what this is, Ekogaru?”
“I smell it!” he roared. “I hate that
scent! Get it out of here!”
“Name it,” Nova
demanded in a voice that sounded deeper than usual and almost harsh. So harsh
that Katrina was scared by it for a moment. “By my command, NAME IT, DAMN YOU!”
“Oil from your rotten
Vatican City consecrated by your Pope! It was given to you to bless you for
your birth!”
“Correct,” Nova said.
“Derek put this on my body in labor and it helped with the pain somehow. It
gave me strength and life. You don’t like those things, do you?”
“NO! Get it out of
here! It burns! It stinks!” yelled
Ekogaru.
“Then have some on me,”
Nova said as she threw the oil all over the apparition.
The oil hit the Ghost
and began to smoke. Ekogaru’s phantom screamed once, twice, and then it said,
“Someday, Kazuo, someday, I will be back!
Nova, you have earned yourself a place in Hell for this outrage!”
The Dark Lord roared,
and then he vanished. The rough surf, storm, and clouds went with him. A
suddenly placid sun shined through the porthole as Nova stood breathing
heavily, and then stoppered the bottle. Nova then turned to Foxy and said,
“What religion are you?”
“Sort of a Buddhist,” he said.
“Well, keep this,”
Nova said as she handed the bottle of what remained of the blessed oil to
Kazuo. “Keep it by you at all times.” Nova then looked at the ring. “Katrina,
you two are engaged now?”
Katrina nodded.
“Foxy, never let her
leave your side,” said Nova. “It is your job to protect her from this day
forth. I think you can see why.”
“Yes, of course,”
said Foxy. “But, we’re just engaged…and we’re on a ship…”
“You need to cover
Katrina under the bond of matrimony as soon as possible,” Nova stammered.
“It’ll serve as protection…I…oh, sometimes I’m so stupid! A ship captain can
marry you two, but this is your ship and you’re the only Captain on board!”
“Not necessarily,”
said Derek as he strode in wearing jeans, a turtleneck sweater, and thongs.
“Derek!” cried Nova
as she hugged him.
“What happened?” said
Derek. “Was it you-know-who?”
“Big bad and ugly
himself,” said Nova. “I got a sudden wild inspiration from vampire lore and I
took a cross and the oil from the Pope this time. It made him run like a
professional Catholic or Shinto priest was on his tail!”
“I thought he died
with Stovall,” said Derek.
“He must have found a
new body to inhabit somewhere,” Nova said. “Katrina, you were on the
Comet…right? Did you hear if Invidia ever saw him again after Deke killed
Stovall?”
“I heard that she
might have seen him…maybe once or twice,” said Katrina. “It even scared the
Cometines.”
“So what do we do,
Sherlock?” said Foxy.
“I have the feeling you
two need to get married ASAP,” said Nova.
“I…I wanted a bigger
wedding,” Katrina said.
“You can have one
later,” Nova said.
“But who is going to
marry us?” said Foxy.
“I will,” said Derek
as he nodded at Nova.
“You?” said Katrina in disbelief. “Uh, I had no idea you were a
priest of some kind, too.”
“No. But I am a ship
captain,” Derek said. “In space or at sea, I can perform marriages. It usually
has to be aboard my command, but…there is a part of the Earth Defense Compact
that allows the EDF to requisition civilian vessels on an “as-needed” basis.
Any flag officer has the authority to do so. I am a flag officer. Therefore,
Foxy, I am requisitioning your vessel as an auxiliary vessel of Task Force 2.0
until midnight of this day and assuming command here as my flagship. Command
and free title to your yacht will be returned back to you at 12:01 midnight
tomorrow morning a few hours from now, by which time you two should be safely
having your wedding night. I do not know what the Dark Lord wants from Katrina,
but if Nova has a hunch that marrying Foxy will protect you, Katrina, I’d
listen to it. She seems to have a good head for this stuff.”
Katrina nodded. “I
have no objections to that. I guess we can have a bigger wedding and reception
later.”
“Won’t we need rings
and a license?” said Kazuo.
“The license, I can
procure by e-mail from Earth Defense Command,” Nova said. “We’ll talk about the
rings in a bit. Do you have a secure cipher comm set?”
“I do, for business
purposes,” said Foxy.
“That should
suffice,” Derek said. “Nova, go and call Earth Command and tell them the
situation and get a license made up under Regulation 452(B).”
“Yessir,” Nova said
as she saluted.
“Nova, wait,” said Foxy.
“I might have rings around. What about a dress for you, Katrina?”
“I brought one for
dinner,” she said. “It…well, it’s a gown. It is red and black. I have sandals
that match it.”
“Good,” said Foxy as
he kissed her. “Go and put it on, and don’t come out of your stateroom until
Nova calls you.” He handed her the oil.
“If Ugly dares to show his face again, throw this on him like Nova did.”
“I do not have guts
like you do,” Katrina said, trembling. She grabbed Nova’s arm before she left
the room. “Nova, please stay with me.”
“All right…I need to
get us pretty, anyhow,” Nova said. “Looks like I’m your Maid of Honor at your
wedding. Isn’t that cute?”
It’s weird, given my life in the past few weeks, Invidia thought, scared as heck as Nova gathered up her
things and walked her out of there after kissing Derek.
IV. A PEACEFUL EVENING
The Pacific Ocean, Somewhere Off
The Lady Katrina
Saturday, October 17, 2207
1840 Hours Local Time
The sun was beginning
to go down in the West as the Lady Katrina now faced East.
Foxy had again gotten
fully dressed in his ascot, jacket, shoes, and a fresh pair of slacks while he
stood on the Lady Katrina’s poop deck
with Mister MacKenna, who would be his Best Man. MacKenna wore a jacket over
his striped shirt. Jonathan stood beside MacKenna in sandals, shorts, and a
polo shirt. He had a camera on around his neck; he was prepared to take
pictures.
“When are they coming?”
whispered Foxy, who was very nervous because he had not seen Katrina in a few
hours.
“Soon,” said Michelle
as she stood there in a light yellow sundress, sandals, and a hat. She would be
one of the bridesmaids; Nova would be the other.
“I think the delay
might be because Nova has to tuck in the babies,” said Derek Wildstar as he
stood there in his full uniform and peacoat with a small blue book in his hand
ready to officiate. “But it is happening, Kazuo. She did sign off on the
marriage license after you did.”
Kazuo nodded, praying
that Katrina had not changed her mind at the last minute.
The Lady Katrina herself was drifting slowly
on auto-pilot; all of the rest of the crew had gathered on the fantail with
MacKenna’s permission to watch the impending ceremony.
Finally, an intership
phone rang softly. A crewman answered it, nodded, and put on the stereo system.
J.S. Bach’s Little Fugue in G Minor flowed over the
guests as a door opened in the yacht’s superstructure.
Everyone stood
quietly enraptured as Nova emerged first in a pastel blue sundress and sandals
with flowers in her hair, leading someone out by the arm.
Foxy’s eyes filled
with happy tears when he saw that Katrina was coming up slowly on Nova’s arm.
Katrina wore a dark
red gown trimmed in black, with black sandals. A few red roses were in her
hair, which was otherwise unadorned as she held a bouquet of red roses.
Nova walked Katrina
up to Foxy, and she helped them put their hands together as they faced each
other. As the music ended, Nova nodded to Derek, and Jonathan began taking
pictures of the soon-to-be-wed couple as they stood holding hands while Derek
opened his book and read, “Dearly beloved, I stand here invested with authority
by the Earth Government to join this man, Kazuo Foxworth, and this woman,
Katrina Savela, in the bond of matrimony. If there be any person here this day
who objects to this union, let him or her speak now or forever hold his peace.”
A silent moment came
over the group. No one said anything. Finally, Derek said, “I now ask, do you,
Kazuo Foxworth, agree to take this woman, Katrina Savela, as your lawfully
wedded wife, to have and to hold, to honor, love, and cherish, and to wed in
union, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, in happiness and in
pain, until death do you both part?”
Kazuo looked in
Katrina’s eyes, held her hands, and said, “I do.” Then, he took a ring out of
his pocket; a small silver ring, and he slid it onto Katrina’s finger.
Then, Katrina’s heart
sped up as she realized she was about to be legally bonded to a man for the
first time in her twenty-four years as Derek Wildstar, her own former worst
enemy, said, “Likewise, I now ask, do you, Katrina Savela, agree to take this
man, Kazuo Foxworth, as your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, to
honor, love, and cherish, and to wed in union, for richer or for poorer, in
sickness and in health, in happiness and in pain, until death do you both
part?”
Katrina looked in
Kazuo’s eyes, thought to herself Please,
dear, never leave me, not even after I reveal who I am to you later tonight,
and then she said, “I do.” Then, she paused as Foxy took a gold ring out of his
pocket and she slid it onto his finger.
Derek then said,
“Under which name shall you be married to him?”
“We are both sharing
a new name,” said Katrina. “Our last names here on Earth shall henceforth be
Foxworth-Savela. Nova, did you record that on the marriage license?”
“I did,” she said.
“Then,” said Derek.
“By the power vested in me, I pronounce you two wedded from this moment forth
and husband and wife. Mister Foxworth-Savela, you may now kiss your bride.”
Foxy held Katrina
close and gently kissed her as everyone applauded and Katrina’s heart sped up.
“A bigger wedding
later on?” she whispered.
“Yes, dear,” said
Foxy. “Just as we have agreed. But we are married now. You will come home to
Foxworth Manor with me when the cruise ends?”
“Yes, as soon as
Derek and Nova help me move my things out of my apartment,” she replied. “I
didn’t use that place for long…”
Foxy and Katrina then
just cuddled as Jonathan took pictures.
Later on, all of them
sat together in the Lady Katrina’s
galley sharing a dinner while Derek held baby Alex on his lap and played with
him and Nova cuddled little Ariel.
“The thing is,” said
Foxy. “I like this wedding better than I did the one to Jane years ago. This
was more fun.”
“You sound very
romantic,” said Katrina. “Now, you will keep me safe?”
“I moved our things
out of the master suite,” said Derek. “Nova and I will be sleeping together in
the big guest stateroom down the passage from you...in case we are needed for
some reason….”
“I…well, I doubt you
shall be,” said Katrina. “Did you have anyone with your for your wedding
night?”
“No,” said Nova with a
blush. “Derek and I were all alone on a beach. All I wore that night was a
sarong. Well…after about fifteen minutes…”
“I think we can
figure that out,” laughed Foxy.
“Here’s to the bride
and groom!” called out MacKenna. “A hundred years of happiness!”
“A hundred years of
happiness!” called out Derek as he, MacKenna, and the crew prepared to drink a
toast in wine. Jonathan, Michelle, and Nova (because she was still
breastfeeding) drank along with the others in plain grape juice. Nova then gave
a little grape juice to Ariel and to Alex off the tip of her finger as the
group smiled.
Michelle then looked
at Katrina and Foxy, and said, “Will you two still need…my services?”
“Yes,” said Katrina.
“Actually, because
Katrina cannot have children due to her war injuries…,”said Foxy. “Well, we
were going to ask you, Michelle, if you would mind staying on with us…and if we
adopted you?”
“Yes!” she cried.
“Yes!”
The group applauded
and Nova said, “That sounds so sweet. Foxy, I know you are a lawyer but you
can’t represent yourself in this kind of action, right?”
“Right,” said Foxy.
“I’ll ask my father
to represent you,” Nova said.
“That’s great!” said
Michelle as she hugged Katrina.
The group talked for
a while longer, and then, gradually, members of the crew returned to their
posts, and, then Jonathan and Michelle said good night. Then, MacKenna said
good night, and then Nova and Derek said good night, taking Alex and Ariel with
them.
Finally, Katrina and Foxy
were all alone. It was dark out, and it was about 2200 Hours. They sat next to
each other, kissed, and then Katrina said, “There is something I have to tell
you, Foxy…before...before we…you know…”
“Yes?” said Foxy as
he picked Katrina up in his arms.
“Let it wait until we
get into bed,” said Katrina. She was close to tears, but trying to hide it as
she thought, What if he rejects me when I
show him my secret? What if he not only rejects me but has me arrested, too?
Finally, she said,
“Please…put me down…I’ll meet you in the bedroom…”
“Okay,” said Foxy,
puzzled at what was going on.
“The dice say six,”
said Jonathan as he moved his little metal dog on the Monopoly board.
Michelle looked at
Jonathan with annoyance as she said, “You just missed
“Yeah, I know…Free
Parking,” said Jonathan. “Now pay up what’s in the pot.”
Michelle handed over
the taxes collected at this point; their habit was to put the monies into a
pile in the middle of the board. “Six hundred dollars so far…”
“I wish Nova and
Derek would have played, too,” said Michelle.
“They had to do
things with the babies, and they wanted to be alone later, too,” said Jonathan.
“Yeah, we all know what they do alone,” said Michelle. “Did you catch them in the act yet?”
“Came close once,”
said Jonathan with a blush. “Mom seems to have this knowledge of when someone’s
coming, so she cuddles up against Dad and stops and covers up…even if she has
no clothes on.”
“You’ve seen her like
that?” said Michelle.
“She breastfeeds two
babies and it’s hot in that townhouse in
“Awww,” said
Michelle. “I bet you’ve got a happy family there…”
“We do,” said
Jonathan as a tap came at the door.
Michelle got the door
and found Katrina standing there. “Michelle,” said Katrina. “May...may I talk
to you alone?”
“Sure…you look
upset,” said Michelle. “Jonathan, can you leave me alone with…with my new Mom
for a minute?”
“Okay,” said
Jonathan. “I’ll go out on deck. Come get me when you’re done.”
“I will, short
stuff,” said Michelle as she gave her brother a kiss on the forehead.
Jonathan left and
Michelle let Katrina in. Michelle knew something was wrong when Katrina dropped
her guise and stood there as Invidia once the door closed.
“You’re…you,” whispered Michelle.
“And therein lies the
problem,” said Invidia as tears ran down her cheeks as Michelle held her. “I
have to expose myself to him tonight…”
“Invidia…” whispered
Michelle. “Most people make love with no clothes on…”
“It is not just
that,” said Invidia. “I have to show him who I really am tonight. I can’t have
any pretenses. Not with him.”
“So?” said Michelle.
“He loves you.”
“Will he still love
me when he sees who I really am?” sobbed Invidia. “When he realizes how I
lied?”
“You had to,” said
Michelle. “And most people can’t know. Derek and Nova will never know. I’ve
never even told Jonathan. It’s hard hiding this from my own brother. Why don’t you
hide it from Foxy?”
“I can’t,” said
Invidia. “I…well...I have plans and hopes for relations between our worlds. For
those to work, Foxy has to know who I am. I just wanted to say goodbye…in case
he gets outraged and asks for an annulment…or turns me in. If he is about to do
so…I…I may have to run again. I can fly that jet boat. Or I can throw myself in
the sea and drown myself…”
“Don’t think about
those things!” said Michelle. “Okay, if your secret ever comes out, stand firm.
Let them know who you are and stand trial.”
“Stand trial?” said
Invidia. “They’ll kill me!”
“They don’t do that
to people here on Earth,” said Michelle. “They’d give you a trial first. That
means you would give your side, and you could tell them how you tried to stop
this…but they wouldn’t let you, and how you ran from Ekogaru and Gorse. They’d
take that into account…”
“I see,” said
Invidia. She hugged Michelle and said, “I’d better go now…before Foxy comes
looking for me. I love you,” she said.
“I love you,
too…Mom,” said Michelle as she hugged her soon-to-be adoptive mother.
That broke Invidia’s
heart. She wept as she held Michelle and slowly transformed back into Katrina.
Then, she kissed her
and left.
Katrina stood near
Foxy a few minutes later in their bedroom. It was close to ten-thirty, and they
had just embraced and kissed a few times. Katrina still had her gown on, and
she had even continued to wear her sandals. Now, she stood back from Foxy and
said, “Before we…before we…begin our wedding night, Foxy, dearest...I have
something to show you. Make sure the door is locked.”
“Okay,” he said as he
tiptoed over barefoot to the door. He had been stripped of his shoes, socks,
ascot, and coat by Katrina, but she had stopped undressing him there. She had
taken nothing off herself except for the flowers in her hair. “It’s closed.”
“I…I have something I
have to show you…about myself,” said Katrina as she unbuckled her sandals one
by one while standing there and took them off. Then, with some effort, she took
off her wedding gown and slipped out of it, leaving herself clad in only her
bra and panties as she turned her back on Foxy. “Please don’t look yet,” she
said in a soft voice. “I have three things left to take off.”
“And they are?” said
Foxy.
“My bra,” she said as
she slipped out of that and let her breasts go free. Foxy came up to her and
kissed her with his eyes closed, and Katrina smiled through her tears as Foxy,
keeping his eyes closed, played with her naked breasts for the first time.
“You feel nice,” he
said as he ran his hand over her chest.
“Slowly,” she said as
her heartbeat sped up. Oh, Arishna, don’t
let him reject me…not now…. “Please…let me remove my panties…you can touch
my stomach…my hips,” she said as she slipped her panties down off her hips and
let them fall down to her bare feet. She stepped out of them and stood almost
naked in Foxy’s arms…naked as far as clothing, but not as far as her
pretense…which would be the last thing she would take off. “Now, stand back and
open your eyes,” whispered Katrina.
“You’re already
naked,” said Foxy. “And you are so cute. Rrrowllll! What else do you have to
take off?”
“This,” said Katrina
as she shut her eyes, and with tears running down her cheeks, she made the
Change right before him with her back turned, up on her toes with tension,
nude, and exposed.
Foxy took in his
breath as he saw her shimmering slightly. She seemed to grow a little bit
shorter, and her skin became paler and she looked just a little thinner.
Finally, her hair color changed from dark purple to black as she slipped her
wedding band and engagement ring off.
Then, with her
long-lashed eyes closed, Invidia turned around and let Foxy see her from the
front as she truly was, with nothing on at all, not even her royal pin.
“I…I saw your picture
on the video once…from the Melezart Peace Conference…they showed us what you
looked like on TV…” gasped Foxy. “You’re…you’re…”
“Princess Invidia
Monica Savela, Princess of the Comet Empire,” she said in a low voice. “I am
who Katrina really is. You are married to your enemy,” she said.
Foxy stood in silence
as he ran his hands through her hair, putting her loose bangs in her widows’
peak. “Somehow, I knew,” he whispered. “I…always knew.”
“You did?” she
whispered.
“Why are you hiding
from them?” he asked tenderly as he caressed her cheeks, looking at her fine
features and her carved nose.
“I had to run from
General Gorse. He tried to kill me. That is why I crashed on the Argo with Michelle. I tried to stop the
war several times,” she said. “But he made me go on. And so did Ekogaru. I…”
“Ekogaru?” he said.
The room seemed to
turn cold at the mention of his name, and the nude Princess shivered in Foxy’s
arms. “He came to me,” said Invidia. “He…used
me. I just wanted to conquer Earth, bring it under the control of the Comet
Empire, get some revenge for what was done to my father Zordar,” she said as
she ran Foxy’s hand down her cheeks, down her bare shoulders, and down over her
naked breast to her chest. “This dimple,” said Invidia. “At the Melezart peace
conference, I tried to kill Desslok by throwing a dagger at him. Nova got in
the way to try to protect him. The poor, brave, gallant, sweet fool of a
pregnant girl. She didn’t have to do that for the likes of him! She caught that
poisoned dagger right in her shoulder where she has that dimple. It almost
killed her. Then, she pulled it out of herself, and I found out how strong she
was when she threw it back at me. I hold no hate against her for that. It was
an honorable act of war that I started, but she finished, as an honorable
enemy. The dagger hit me here…in my heart. I was operated on. It almost killed
me. I actually began to die, but Ekogaru pulled me out of Death’s grasp and
resurrected me…but I had to serve as his lackey. I could no longer have
children after that. I went a bit mad. Eventually, I wanted out. They had
beaten us right there, but I had to fight on. I tried to surrender twice and
stop it. But he did not let me. And now, tonight, Nova, my former enemy,
protected me from him. She put us
together. I could not hide anymore…do with me as you wish…”
Invidia then shut her
eyes and cried as Foxy said, “Do with me as you wish?”
Invidia nodded.
“Derek and Nova are here. I had to hide. Trelaina of Telezart gave me the power
to change my outward form so that I looked like a prisoner named Katrina
Savela. My half-sister, whom I wanted alive and had captured, but they killed
her against my wishes. I have a Pellian mother and Prince Zordar was my father.
That is why I am not green. Trelaina wants me to remain disguised because she
says I have a role someday to stop Ekogaru, and she says someday Derek and Nova
will know who I am, and that Nova will even defend me…would she..?”
“I think she would,”
said Foxy softly. “Do you want to tell them tonight?”
Invidia shook her
head. “Arishna, no. Arishna…she is
the Goddess we worship in the Comet Empire. I…”
“What does she look
like?” said Foxy.
Invidia was shocked
at his question. “Beautiful, but foreboding; she always wears a mask….I….why do
you ask?”
“If you’re gonna live
with me at Foxworth Manor we have to put her on the kami shelf with the Buddha, don’t we? So we can burn incense to
her?”
“You’re not…sending
me…away?”
“Sending you away?” laughed Foxy. “Come on! Just because you are really
Invidia?” Foxy then found her wedding band and slipped it back on her finger.
“I married you, with all of your
secrets. Although this will be interesting. Do you want some kind of
reconciliation between our races?”
“Yes,” whispered
Invidia as Foxy held her hand and then slipped a hand down her flank, down to
her bottom.
“Princess Invidia,”
he whispered. “You have a very cute bottom.”
“You’re…foxy,” she
whispered as she slipped his shirt off of him. Then, she pulled down his pants
and underwear in one almost violent motion and said, “Be naked with me!”
“Is this good
enough?” said Foxy. “I’m skinny…don’t work out much. I don’t have those
champion swimmer muscles like Wildstar…”
“Wildstar’s a nice
boy, but he is already married,” hissed Invidia as Foxy touched her bottom, and
then, he found her center. She was hot, dewy, and she obviously wanted him.
Invidia moaned softly in a low voice and stood on her toes as she let Foxy
touch her there for the first time.
“I want you, Foxy Kazuo…”
“I want you, Princess Invidia,” he said in a
low, sexy voice as Invidia found his exposed assets and began to tease him. “By
heaven….you…”
“You are the best man
I have ever touched like this,” said Invidia as she held him close, his eagerness
pressing against her stomach as Foxy took in the rest of her; her flat stomach,
her hips, the way she looked there,
her thighs, her long legs, her toes as she stroked the top of his foot with
them.
“I can’t wait to have
you,” whispered Foxy. “I…”
“Then do so,” said
Invidia as she coaxed him towards their bed.
They stumbled and
fell into bed laughing together, the tension and fear gone.
Then, Invidia said,
as she threw herself onto her back and let Foxy climb on top of her. “How do
you want to make love to me? As me, or as Katrina?”
“The first time, as
you. Show me what you look like as Katrina later. You’re cute. And…”
“Yes?” said Invidia
as Foxy gently opened the little bit of holy oil, and then, with infinite
tenderness, he anointed her with a little of it…right there with his fingers…as she opened herself to him.
“You look beautiful
naked as a Princess…and your secret is safe with me…no one will ever, ever know…”
“Foxy,” whispered Invidia as she anointed him with some of the oil. Then, she
made a very sexy, but sweet suggestion in his ear.
“Gladly, Princess,”
said Foxy as he threw his arms around her, and they kissed, and then, he took
her with gentle tenderness.
Invidia shut her
eyes, and wept in a good way as Foxy and she melted together, and made hot,
urgent love on the bedclothes without even bothering to turn them down.
Many minutes of
Heaven followed. Invidia moaned in a low, sexy way that drove Foxy mad, and he
found that she loved being affectionate in this way a great, great deal as her sable hair flew all
over his shoulders like warm summer’s rain as thunder went off outside. They
shivered together at the sound of the thunder, but they did not stop as the Lady Katrina sailed on through a normal
early-autumn Tropical squall, and ordinary hot rain fell against the porthole
as the two lovers drove each other tenderly mad, joined together in their first
act of love as Foxy finally exploded eagerly into Invidia’s waiting body as she
tensed happily, gasped, and cried as she had the first climax she had
experienced in several weeks, since the last night she had been with Captain
Jena.
This was more intense
than ever as she whispered “Foxy, Foxy, Foxy, FOXY!” in his ear over and over
and over again.
Foxy found her
exposed ear, kissed it, and whispered, “I love you, Princess Invidia Katrina
Monica Foxworth-Savela. Did I get it right?”
“You did just fine,” whispered Invidia as she cuddled in his arms.
“Was I good?” said
Foxy.
“You were the best lover
I have ever had,” whispered Invidia in soft, gentle tones that few ever heard.
“I love you, Foxy.”
“I love you too.”
They held each other,
and as they snuggled, Invidia shut her eyes, and in an act of trust and love,
she Changed herself back into Katrina right in his arms with a warm shimmer
that Foxy was growing to love.
“How do I look?”
Katrina whispered as she showed her naked, disguised form to Foxy’s gaze for
the first time.
“You look good like
this, and very beautiful, but I think you’re just a little cuter as you really
are,” he whispered.
“I’m glad to hear
that,” said Katrina as she kissed Foxy and took the lead as Foxy then made love
to her as Katrina for the first time.
And, as Saturday
passed into Sunday and the rain came down outside, they had a wonderful wedding
night.
Later, as Foxy slept,
around midnight, Katrina threw a black robe on around her naked body, stepped
into a pair of flip-flops, and she padded down the hall, stopping to smile for
a moment near Derek and Nova’s door as she vaguely heard their voices joining
in happy sounds as they made love in
the night; the room was so well soundproofed that you could hear them only if
you stood right by the door. Katrina smiled and winked at the door as she
thought, Have fun, you two…you earned it.
My wedding night is far from over, but I have to tell her it worked out…
Katrina then padded
down the hall, hoping she was at the right room as she tapped at the door. A
moment later, Michelle, clad in only a light baby-doll nightgown, opened the
door and said, “Mom!”
“Just want to stick
my head in for a minute,” said Katrina as she smiled and then kissed Michelle.
She shut the door and then said, “He knows now.”
“He does?”
Katrina smiled and said,
“He knows. He accepted me as I really am.” She made the Change happen again as
she showed Michelle her messy hair and flushed face as Invidia. “We made love
for the first time like this. He knows everything, and he accepts me, and he
LOVES me!”
“I’m so happy for
you!” cried Michelle as she hugged and kissed her mother. “Now we’re a family?”
“You will move right
into Foxworth Manor with us on Monday. I think Derek and Nova will help us.”
“Did you tell them
yet?”
Invidia shook her
head as she made the Change again. “No. I do not know if it is safe yet.
Although Trelaina told me that someday they will
find me out.”
“I’m scared,” said
Michelle. “And then?”
“She said they’d
accept me…and that Nova would stand before me with all of Earth and plead my case.
But then?”
“I think it will work
out,” said Michelle. “Trelaina wouldn’t tell you all of that if it wouldn’t
work out? Would she?”
“I…guess not,” said
Katrina as she kissed her daughter. “Stand by me?”
“You are my mother
now,” said Michelle. “Of course I will…”
“I know I can’t have
children,” said Katrina.
“But?” said Michelle.
“I would kill to have
a daughter as kind and as loyal as you. You will be my heir, Michelle. Do you
know you will be a Princess someday, too?”
“awesome,” whispered
Michelle as she held her mother.
“Just let it be our
secret, with me, you, and your father,” said Katrina.
“Mom, your secret is
safe with me…”
They held each other
and cried softly.
Katrina’s secret was out
now, to the only two people that it had to be revealed to, for the moment.
And, she was safe.
She was safe.
Invidia barely slept.
Like a famished person, she was with Foxy three more times that night,
exhausting herself and him very happily.
Then, Invidia fell asleep again in Foxy’s arms.
When she woke up, it
was around 4 AM. It was still dark out, but it felt warm.
Invidia slid away
from Foxy, kissed him, and she slipped into a white one-piece swimsuit. She
felt too warm, and despite the late hour, she wanted to go out on deck for a
few minutes. First, she made sure she was in her form as Katrina before she
left the room. Then, deciding to go barefoot, she went out on the deck,
breathing in the warm, humid air in the night as the Lady Katrina cruised slowly towards a shoreline that Katrina could
just about make out in the night.
The sky had cleared
up, and a thousand stars were out as Katrina walked down the deck towards the
yacht’s fantail. Katrina stepped down, entranced by the luminescence in the
yacht’s wake as she noticed a young figure sitting on the step where she had
spoken with Trelaina yesterday.
Katrina then heard a
young, low voice saying, “He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves
me not,” as she noticed Nova sitting there on the fantail in a scanty knit
bikini and a small cross necklace as she dangled her bare feet in the warm
water and plucked petals off a daisy. Nova paused, and smiled as she plucked
off the last petal and said, “he loves
me,” in a low, cute voice.
Then, Nova turned and
jumped a little as she said, “Katrina, dear! How are you?”
“Happy,” she said.
“He loves me.”
“I knew he would,”
said Nova. Then, she winked, “he loves me, too.” Nova smiled and said, “I hope this
does not upset you, but…well…he wants to try again for another baby someday. I
agreed. It would be nice to get pregnant again with no war. And, getting that
way would be…fun…”
“Foxy is lots of
fun,” sighed Katrina. “Foxy...is…foxy…”
“Cousin Jane told me
once,” said Nova with a wink. “Derek is foxy, too. Rrrowwl!”
Both women laughed.
Then, Katrina said, “I am out here because I could not sleep. And you?”
“I couldn’t sleep
either, Ariel was hungry, ooochh,” said Nova as she bounced her breasts. “Hurts
a little to have this top on…”
“Just take it off,”
said Katrina. “No one is looking to you, silly! I mean no one is looking at you….”
Nova smiled and slid
out of her top. “mmm…that’s better,” she said as she
let her breasts go free. “I need to give the twins some milk in a while or I’ll
just explode….”
“You have pretty
breasts,” said Katrina.
“Thank you,” said
Nova with a happy smile. “Derek and I are making plans to go to the beach
tomorrow with the kids and leave the yacht to you and Foxy until the late
afternoon. What kind of swimsuit should I wear?”
“You’re taking the
babies with you?”
“Of course, silly!”
laughed Nova.
“Well, don’t wear a
top, at least,” said Katrina. “It is supposed to be near a hundred degrees in
your old measure tomorrow. Be comfortable. For your bottoms, wear those, or
just your wrap, or just go naked, like nursing mothers often do where I come
from. It is not illegal here. I researched that beach. If I wanted
to…skinny-dip with Foxy, it might be there.”
“Ooo…tell us where you’ll
be so we don’t look,” said Nova. “Should we watch Michelle for you?”
“Yes, so we can be…”
Nova laughed. “I can
guess. I will have Michelle with us so she can watch Jonathan and the others…in
case…uh….”
“In case you two want
to run away, get alone, and then spread out a beach towel and play in the sun?”
“How did you guess?”
laughed Nova.
“Not hard.”
Then, Nova turned
serious. “I also had a very weird dream. Another war is coming. I dreamed about
you fighting with us. I also dreamed about you having…well…some kind of secret.
And of me being a lawyer as well as a doctor, and about defending you, in
Court?”
“What?” gasped
Katrina. “What did my face look like in the dream?”
“Funny, I couldn’t
see your face, Katrina. But I knew it was you. I had this girly suit on in
Court, and round glasses; I was a little older, and the kids were grown. I had
on a corduroy jacket, silk blouse, tie, pleated short skirt, bare legs that
still looked very nice, fine with me because I hate stockings most of the
time…and cranberry colored sandals. You had on a red and black gown of some
kind. A lot of the dream made no sense. Then, you were exonerated, and I hugged
you in front of all of Earth. Now what have you done?” Nova teased. “Any
parking tickets I should know about?”
“No, no,” said
Katrina. For a moment, just a moment, she wanted to tell this slender, near
naked young woman her secret. And, as she clearly could see Nova’s bare
shoulder and the little dimple above her collarbone, where the dagger had gone
in, she wanted to plead Nova for forgiveness.
But, then, Nova said,
“I think we have shared enough secrets for one night,” she said. “I want to go
back to Derek. Good night.”
“Good night,” said
Katrina as the two women embraced and shared a hug before Nova got up and ran
off, flying like a young angel in the night as she ran confidently down the
deck.
Katrina walked back
into the ship, going back into the room and hugging Foxy as she fell asleep…
Katrina dreamed a very strange dream.
To her shock, she found herself on Earth, a few years older,
but sitting on a bench in some kind of noisy room
“What is this place?” she said to Foxy. Foxy had on his
blazer and bellbottoms and these ridiculous-looking red and blue shoes. He
picked a big shiny black ball off a rack.
She recognized little except the wooden lanes. Some kind
of Terran practice field? She thought.
Katrina looked at herself in a mirror. To her shock, she openly
had the black hair of Invidia in a widows’ peak, and she also saw that she had
on her Royal pin. She wore a knee-length black skirt, dark red blouse, and had
a large pink ball. And the same oddball looking shoes.
Nova ran down a lane. She wore glasses, and a denim skirt
and white blouse. She threw a large blue ball, which promptly went into the
gutter. “Darn it, Invidia! DARN it!”
“Looks as if I am beating you,” said Invidia, who suddenly
realized that she was openly known as Invidia. She wondered what she was doing
in a bowling alley with Foxy, Derek and Nova.
“I’m feeling weird,” she said. “Where’s Michelle?”
“Sitting on the dock of the bay, watching the tides roll
in,” said Derek as he drank a beer. “C’mon, Princess, you’re holding up the
game!”
Nova smiled at her and said, “Don’t worry now. We know
everything…and we love you…and accept you, and forgive you…ohh…in the first
draft of this dream, we were all dying, but the writer got cold feet. Wonder
what sort of stuff he’s coming up with next? Hello?”
Invidia felt very strange as the dream went on….
Morning came at last.
The Lady Katrina docked in a cove near an
island that Foxy decided would be a fun retreat for everyone. The island had
lots of trees, lots of warm beaches, and not a soul lived on it.
Foxy got up, and then
he came back to Katrina and he soon let the word out to her that the island was
definitely clothing-optional.
“Nice,” she
whispered.
Then, Katrina and
Foxy undressed and made love again. Then, they cuddled, and went back to sleep
for a bit. Katrina got up and she slipped away from Foxy not long after the sun
had come up to find Nova, Derek, and Jonathan back in the galley with Alex and
Ariel. Katrina put on a fresh dark blue robe and her thongs before going out. She
wiggled her toes in her thongs, thinking, For
what I thought were barbarian shoes, these feel good on you when it is really
hot out!
In the kitchen, Katrina noticed than Jonathan and Derek wore
only swim briefs; Ariel had on just a diaper and Alex was lying on his back on
a blanket naked playing with his toes and gurgling happily while his father
tickled him. From the pinkness around his diaper area, it looked as if his
diaper rash had come back, and Katrina could easily see why the baby’s diaper
was gone.
In the meantime, Nova
worked at making breakfast in a yukata
covered with calligraphy and held closed with a sash; she went barefoot and
paused every now and then to dry her hair with a towel near a doorway, which
was thrown wide open to let the breeze into the yacht from the island.
“You look
comfortable,” said Katrina as she kissed Nova.
“Thanks,” said Nova.
“I should get you one of these. This is the lightest kimono I have. Just a
little bit of cotton on me. I have my swimwear on under this?“
“Must be very light,”
teased Katrina. “I don’t see any straps for your top.”
Nova blushed and
said, “There aren’t any…and…”
Alex began to cry.
Nova ran to him and said, “Derek, what’s wrong?”
“Sounds like his
hungry cry,” Derek said.
“Okay,” Nova said as
she picked up her bare son. “Hungry?” she said as she daintily and freely
opened her robe on one side. Jonathan went “awww…” when he saw that his mother
had no top on under her robe, and that his baby brother was latched on to his
mother’s healthy bare breast a moment later.
Foxy came in, smiled
at Nova, and said, “Nova, when you are ready, I had two members of the crew put
out low tables, tatami, and futons so we could just sit on the deck
in the dining room for breakfast.”
“Sounds good,” Nova
said. “The waffles and sausage are done now,” she said a moment later.
The group had
breakfast and talked while Nova nursed Alex and played with him while eating.
“How much does he
weigh now?” asked Mister MacKenna. “He is a cutie?”
“About ten pounds
oldscale,” Nova said. “He was about seven pounds when he was born. His sister
was about 6 pounds 14 ounces, and she is about nine and a half now. She’s
lighter than he is.”
“If I can ask, how
much do you weigh?” asked Michelle,
who regretted asking Nova as soon as she saw her blushing.
“I now weigh about
124. Almost back to my old weight before being pregnant,” Nova said as she
unself-consciously took Alex off her breast and let her nipple go free in the air
for a moment before she put him back on again. Then, she finished her breakfast
and helped Jonathan clean up.
Right before leaving
the dining room, Ariel began to cry. Nova knew at once what she needed as she
gently took her baby girl from Derek, who kissed Ariel as he passed her to Nova
and look questioningly at his wife. She nodded, and he pulled Nova close and
held her as he tenderly undid the tie of her kimono and kissed her while Derek
spread Nova’s robe open, exposing her other breast and her belly button. “I was
wondering? Is there an onsen on this
yacht?” Nova asked.
“Yes, there’s a
Japanese bath two compartments aft,” said Foxy. “Need it?”
Nova nodded. “Ariel’s
getting some diaper rash, and I’m losing my…clothes…” Nova said as Ariel kicked
with her little foot, making it very obvious that Nova was naked beneath her
kimono.
Katrina smiled at
them as Derek tried to hold Nova’s kimono on her, losing the battle by the
moment as MacKenna quickly led them to the bathroom.
V. BATHTIME!
The Pacific Ocean, Somewhere Off
The Lady Katrina
Sunday, October 18, 2207
1130 Hours Local Time
In the bathroom, Nova
undressed Ariel and herself, unperturbed about her nudity as she prepared a
bath for herself and the little ones, not too hot, not too cold. Since Alex and
Ariel were so small and just plain kawaii,
Nova was used by now to family members and other visitors who wanted to see her
and her babies at bathtime, and she just hummed to herself while Foxy got her a
small cushion to sit on.
Derek, Nova and their
three children were obviously family, and Michelle fit into the definition of
“family” because she was Jonathan’s sister, after all. Finally, Nova still
considered Foxy something of an honorary cousin even though he and Jane were
long divorced. So, no one there felt self conscious, except Katrina. In the
meantime, Derek undressed out of his swim briefs and handed Nova some wooden
Japanese-style small tubs to pre-wash the babies in before she took them into
the tub with her as usual to soak, play in the water and nurse. She frequently
checked the water with her fingers and toes while Derek helped wash her and
washed himself. The custom in a Japanese bath was to wash before getting in the
tub. Katrina felt almost at home as she remembered that on the Comet, a similar
ritual was observed, usually with just close relatives or a bath servant
present.
Katrina felt a bit
more self-conscious about disrobing in front of the others than either Nova or
Michelle did, so she kept herself clothed in her robe, even though the wet
floor meant she got barefoot in a hurry. In the meantime, Michelle was naked,
squealing and trying to throw water on an equally undressed Jonathan while he
threw water back at his sister.
“Kids, stop it!” Nova
said with a laugh as Ariel squealed and kicked water on her. “We don’t want to
mess the room up!”
“But this is a
bathroom! It’s made to get wet, Mom!” Jonathan protested. “Don’t we have water
fights in that big bathroom in our house on
“We’re not on
Foxy ran in and
flipped open his robe in front of Katrina. “I am ze mad flasher!” he said.
“Anyone want some sleazy pictures from Paree?”
“Oh, my God,” groaned
Nova when she saw Foxy showing off, unsurprised at his bareness, but
embarrassed by his craziness. “Foxy, sit down and cross your legs! You’re
silly! Everyone here knows you are a male.”
“Interesting that you
lecture me while you have on less than I do,” said Foxy.
“I’m nude, you’re
almost naked,” Nova said. “There's a big difference between just having on no
clothes and showing off like you were.”
“Yeah, mine’s
bigger,” said Jonathan.
“Jon, cross your
legs,” Nova snapped. “It’s very
adolescent to compare your equipment with that of our host! Mind your manners!
Don’t leer at people like your Uncle Foxy!”
“I am an adolescent, Mom,” said Jonathan.
“Yes, you can say
that again,” said Nova as she pulled Jonathan over and began scrubbing his
neck.
“Owww!” he said as the others laughed.
“Quiet, Jonathan,
your neck is dirty,” said Nova.
“Does Foxy do this
often?” snapped Derek while he sat there covered only in suds washing Nova’s
back. “He’s out there someplace!”
Foxy laughed a weird,
goony laugh while Nova said, “I remember him and Jane, yes,” she sighed.
“Foxy, make up your
mind,” said Katrina. “Robe on or off.”
Foxy threw off his
robe and huffed while Katrina began to wash him.
“Auntie Nova, you
made this water weird!” said Michelle
with a laugh as she slid in. “It’s lukewarm!”
“It can’t be too hot
yet,” Nova said. “Alex and Ariel are just six weeks old! Their delicate little
skins can’t take a hot bath yet like we can!” Nova then smiled at her babies
while she both washed and fed them, looking adorable as she thought, Mmmmm…this feels good, she thought. Why bother with a top on the beach-or
anything at all? The babies will love it. Open milk bar from Mommy all day, no
closing time. Derek will love it. Especially if we get all alone….honeymoon
time for Katrina and Foxy…second honeymoon for us?
Foxy then laughed as
he heard a little hissing noise.
Nova squealed and blushed as she put up her legs while her
naked baby boy giggled and peed on his equally naked mother as Nova shifted him
onto her knee.
“NO!” Nova squealed
as her thighs, stomach, and crotch (which she had been trying to protect) got a
warm, fresh bath of baby wee. “Alexander!
Look at me! I cannot wait until we potty-train you!” she squealed as she
unavoidably opened her legs and braced herself on her toes near the edge of the
bath.
“well, at least you
had on no clothes to soak,” Derek said as he kissed his wife.
“I’m all wet!” Nova
said. “I…!”
Foxy said, after
getting into the tub while trying to beckon Katrina in (and while she refused
to strip in front of the group) “Nova, this is not the first time I’ve seen a
nude nursing mother get peed on. That looked so cute! Your cousin Millicent got wee on her
and then got covered with number two a minute later once at the ranch while she
was nursing nakee with him. Her son was maybe three months old then.”
“But Alex ruined your
cushion!” Nova cried. “I don’t care about being wet, and I don’t care much
about clothes in this heat, either…we’re all like family anyway…but…your
beautiful cushion!”
“Cushions can be
washed. So can you,” said Foxy.
Derek got some baby
wipes, and he got Nova to lie back against the cushion with her legs up.
Katrina and Michelle
ran over to help, with Michelle taking away the cushion that had been peed on
while Katrina got a warm, wet cloth and tenderly helped Derek begin to re-bathe
Nova and Alex as quickly as possible. Alex began to cry when he realized he was
off his mother’s breast, so Derek and Nova quickly got him back on her breast
and then, Katrina washed Nova’s legs right down to her toes while Derek
tenderly washed his young wife’s lower abdomen and crotch. Then, Nova slid into
the bath with Alex, followed by his father with Ariel.
They sat there and
talked for a while until Nova burped Ariel after nursing her for a bit and then
said, “Derek, let’s get out and dry off. These two need some diaper rash cream
on, and I’ll want to get our tanning lotion and a coverup for my bottom before
we jet off to the beach. Katrina, it’s too hot to be dressed,” Nova said while
standing up and shaking some water from out of her blond mane of hair. Derek
smiled at her, reminded of a big, playful female Irish Setter dog shaking her
fur dry. “Take that robe off and get in the water...with hubby…after we leave, of course,” Nova said with a wink while the
teenagers went “oooooooo!”
“Do I have to get
dressed?” Jonathan said.
“A fresh swimsuit is
fine, especially since your sister is coming with us. Go to you room and put on
plenty of suntan lotion and meet us in an hour,” said Derek. He got up, while holding
Alex, and he toweled off himself and his baby son while Nova got out and dried
off herself and Ariel. The Wildstars left, with towels wrapped around
Jonathan’s and Derek’s middles and with Nova wearing a towel around her waist
as she dealt with the last of Ariel’s hunger at her breast.
Finally, Michelle got
out of the tub, dried off, and ran some hot water in while Foxy lay in the tub
looking at Katrina, who huffed and sat there in her robe. “I’m going to leave
you two all alone while I find my itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny yellow polka dot
bikini and yellow flip-flops,” she said as she theatricially put a towel around
herself. “Mom, are you getting in that water with Dad or just staring at it?”
“I do not like
bathing with people. It is weird,” huffed Katrina.
“Great, you think I’m
weird because I was in the tub with Uncle Derek, Auntie Nova, my brother, their
babies, and Dad? Dad, who behaved very decently once he stopped making a point
to us that he has guy parts?” Michelle said. “Mom, most couples bathe together.
Okay, I’ll leave you two alone. Later!” she sang.
After Michelle left,
Foxy and Katrina were all alone. Foxy got up, closed the sliding door, and
whispered in Katrina’s ear, “Is this why your Generals hated you on the Comet?
You had BO?”
“I’m shy,” said
Katrina as she hugged Foxy. “Okay, take the robe off me and lower me into the
water. You win.”
“Not yet,” said Foxy as he kissed Katrina while getting her gently out of her
robe. “I have to wash you first. Or didn’t you notice everyone washing each
other and rinsing before getting in? In a Japanese bath, no one brings soap in
with them.”
“Hmmmh,” said
Katrina.
Foxy pulled Katrina
into his lap, got some what, and began to wash her, starting with her face.
Each stroke of his hands as he scrubbed her was like a gentle little caress. He
kissed her on the nose while washing her, too.
Then, he washed her
hair and washed her back. Katrina sighed as the warm water ran down her back
while Foxy washed her hair, lathered it, and then rinsed her clean. Then, he
washed her neck, and her shoulders, kissing her as he did so. She kissed him
back, and began to moan softly as Foxy cradled her breasts, and carefully
washed them, smiling as her nipples stiffened under his fingers.
Then, Foxy kissed
Katrina’s right breast while washing her stomach. “You have such a nice, flat
tummy,” he whispered.
“I always made sure
of that. That’s why I am picky about eating; I do not want to get fat.”
“That is what I
guessed,” said Foxy as he washed Katrina’s bottom. Given its proximity to
another part of her body, she was gently moaning as he washed her there,
followed by the insides of her thighs. Foxy was also still kissing Katrina’s
breasts as she kicked up her legs and began to shiver. Then, he washed down her
right leg with one hand while teasing her center with his other hand with the
washcloth. He did not stop washing her leg until he reached her foot, carefully
washing her heel, her ankle, and right down to the tips of each toe. Then, he
did her left foot while smiling while he teased her with his other hand.
“Hurry up,” she
moaned. “I want both those hands on me…”
“Where?” he asked in
all innocence.
”Damn you, you know where!” she hissed while breathing
hard. “Foxy, you are driving me crazy with this! Hurry up!”
He smiled and grinned
as he got up her left leg. Finally, both his hands were there, and Katrina was almost gasping with pleasure.
Her body exploded a
moment later, and she went wild, holding him as, unexpectedly, Foxy took her
right there on the tatami mat before getting into the tub. Katrina kicked her
legs, held onto Foxy, and moaned and cried as Foxy made wild love to his wife
before lunch, before noon.
I might get a bath now,
thought Katrina. I might not. Who cares?
This is too much fun!
In the meantime, in
their bedroom, Derek and Nova had treated Alex and Ariel’s diaper rash, playing
with their little ones as they did so. The little ones only wore diapers to
their naptime, put on very loosely.
Then, Nova, still in
the nude, tucked them in for naps while Derek pulled her onto the bed, smiling
as he held up the tube of diaper rash preparation.
“Now what do we need
that for?” purred Nova.
“Mommy,” said Derek.
“Do we have to keep
Mommy out of all her clothes all day to air her thighs and tushie out?” Nova
asked.
Derek nodded. “I’m
afraid so, Mommy, dearest. Does Mommy mind?”
Nova smiled and
wriggled her toes. “No. Mommy does not mind.”
“Good,” said Derek.
Derek made Nova lie back on the bed.
Then, Nova began to shiver
slightly as her husband washed her crotch clean. As he did so, Derek began to
lovingly tease his naked wife’s intimate parts with his fingers now that they
were alone. She looked beautiful on the bed as she lay happy and relaxed.
Nova felt sheer, unadulterated
naked joy as she felt Heaven while cuddled up against her husband. He had
stripped off his towel, and he wore nothing at all while he intimately touched,
kissed and caressed the mother of his children. Then, as Derek caressed her,
Nova kissed him, changed position, and accepted her husband right into a
slender body that was aching for him in the worst way right now. Nova grasped
her husband with her legs and kissed him as she made him lie there still and
she took the lead in their impulsive al
fresco lovemaking. The two lovers breathed hard as their eager bodies were
covered with happy sweat in the heat while they made love.
It was over all too
quickly as they exploded into happiness on their bed. Derek then cleaned Nova
up after he washed himself and pulled his swim briefs back on. Ariel began to
whimper in her baby carrier, so her mother picked her up and tickled the sleepy
little baby girl awake as she tenderly offered her breast again. The little
girl took Nova’s breast as the young mother flexed her toes and whispered
“Thank you,” into her husband’s ear.
“Don’t mention it,”
said Derek. “You look so cute nursing her like that…”
“Thank you, Derek.
I’m glad that you don’t mind sharing me with our little ones, so to speak. Some
husbands don’t want to watch this, you know…”
“Why should I not
want to watch our adorable children being nourished by the most beautiful young
mother on the planet? I love watching
you nurse them naked like that.” Then, he kissed Nova again and kissed Ariel.
Nova smiled and
nodded. She cuddled against her husband while she nursed Ariel as Derek played
with her dark honey-blond hair and then played with one of the two babies that
their love had brought into the world.
Jonathan, Michelle,
and Mister MacKenna were easy to find as Derek mustered them all back to the
galley. Jonathan wore a fresh blue set of swim briefs, while Michelle had
decided to wear a pink bikini top, a pink wrap around her middle, and pink
exercise sandals that made a comical clonking noise on the deck with every
step.
Nova came up,
playfully naked except for a blue newsgirl hat and blue and white exercise
sandals somewhat like Michelle’s as she continued to nurse Ariel. Derek was
playing with Alex in his arms, snuggling the baby boy against his chest as he
stood there in only a fresh set of swim briefs and rubber thongs. Alex had on
only his diaper, and he giggled as Derek ticked his stomach.
To almost no one’s
surprise, Katrina and Foxy had vanished back into their stateroom and had
locked the door after their bath.
“Oh well,” said Nova
as she philosophically cleaned up the plates in the galley a few minutes later
while nursing her daughter. “They didn’t look hungry anyway, and it’s their
honeymoon, the poor kids. I wish we could just sweep everyone off this yacht,
Derek!”
“My men and I are
going to take shore leave on the other island in the dinghy so we can leave you
couples alone for a while,” said MacKenna. “I’m leaving Foxy a note to that
effect.”
“What’s the island to
the south where you are going called?” Derek asked.
“Isla de los Toros,
or island of the Bulls,” said MacKenna. “There is a trading post and bar there.
“The island we are near is called Isla de los Pajaros..”
“
“Right. It is a
nature sanctuary, but people are allowed there to camp, swim, and sunbathe,”
said MacKenna. “There are no buildings there, so you will have to take your own
supplies and pack everything off the island when you leave. The only way there
is by yacht or one of your jet boats and you will have all of the privacy you
could want or ask for.”
“Great!” said Derek
as he kissed Nova.
On that note, off
they went.
A while later, Foxy
got out wrapped in a towel, and he found MacKenna’s note and found Derek and
Nova’s jet recon boat gone along with the crew dinghy.
He grinned when he
realized that he and Katrina had the whole yacht to themselves at last!
“Katrina,” he purred.
“Yes?” she said.
“Don’t wear anything
outside.”
“But people will see
me!” she yelped.
“No way. They left us
alone on this yacht. All alone. MacKenna and the crew went to Isla del los
Toros to party on shore leave with my permission, and Derek and Nova went to
Isla de los Pajaros with all of the kids to swim and play and stuff. They’ll
babysit Michelle for the day while we play…other games…”
“Like what?”
“You know,” said
Foxy. Then, he yawned. “I’m getting kind of tired.”
“So what should we
do?” Katrina purred.
“Take another bath?
Just soak and relax this time?” Foxy said.
“Lead the way.”
A while later, after
having run a fresh bath, Katrina and Foxy were sitting in nice, hot water, as
Katrina said, “I am going to be honest with you. I am hoping to use Radnar for
my own ends. Someday. Other than that, I do not want much to do with
interstellar politics.”
“And what are
they…these ends that you mean to use Radnar for?”
“Worming my way into
the Earth government, nudging Earth into a settlement or accommodation with the
Comet Empire, and my eventually gaining some power again in the Empire so we
can have a nice retirement. I wanted political power, and I wanted Earth to be
a part of the Empire…”
“We had other ideas,”
said Foxy. “Especially with the methods you were using. War. Attack. Terror. We
were not as easy to break as you thought, were we?”
“I made a great
mistake at Melezart,” sighed Katrina as she momentarily faded into Invidia
again. “I should have convinced my generals to actually negotiate a real peace
then, and I should not have been so enamored with revenge and wanting to
humiliate Earth to avenge the death of my father, who treated me horribly at
the end; demoting me, and then giving my inheritance to Desslok. I might even
want that back someday, but how?”
“Negotiations…maybe
far in the future?” said Foxy. “What you want is an end to this, right?”
Invidia nodded. “I’m
sick and tired of fighting. I was at my father’s side when Trelaina, you, and
Desslok made us lose one war, and I lost the second war to your people pretty
much on my own account.” Invidia put her toes up on the edge of the tub and
sighed. “I wish I could just sleep for a hundred years, Foxy.”
“You can…with me.”
Invidia faded into
Katrina, kissed Foxy, and said, “Just hold me…please…just hold me…”
“I will,” he whispered.
“Your secret is safe with me…”
Please, just…be careful,
he thought. Because if they catch you….if
they ever catch you…I’ll lose you….
At that, Katrina went
to sleep in Foxy’s arms.
Secure…and safe.
That day, early Sunday, while Foxy and Katrina had the yacht
to themselves, Derek, Nova, Alex, Ariel, Jonathan and Michelle had taken off
with some food and supplies to an isolated beach on an island off Baja
California Del Sur; the southern part of the long peninsula.
There, on a long
white beach some ten kilometers away from La Paz, the little family and their
single guest set down beach towels while Derek fired up a hibachi for a
lunchtime barbecue made by Nova, who had taken off her hat and sandals to feed
and cuddle Alex and Ariel and catch some sun. When she was done nursing,
Michelle smiled at Derek and Nova as Derek fed his young wife hot dogs while
she lay on her beach towel, looking very lovely in the nude catching the warm
sun while Derek played with the babies, who had also been stripped again. Derek
then kissed Nova on the forehead, and she kissed him back, smiling softly as
Derek tenderly rubbed her side and then her soft bottom.
“You know, you two
are so cute,” Michelle said. “You are so much in love with each other.”
“These are the three
people I love the most in the world, along with your brother,” said Derek as he
sat there smiling at Nova in his swim briefs. “Making them cool and comfortable
is my job right now…drink, hon?”
A somewhat drowsy
Nova nodded as she patted Alex’s bare little bottom as she held him again.
Derek got a can of soda for her out of the cooler while she asked, “Where’s
Jonathan?”
Michelle shaded her hand and looked. “Screwing around with seashells on the
beach.”
“You go watch him,”
Nova said. “That surf looks a little rough, and I don’t want him going in there
by himself. Are you a good swimmer?”
“Pretty good,” said
Michelle as Nova sat up a little to put a whimpering Ariel up to her breast.
Michelle whistled softly as the gently confident Nova moved to another part of
the towel to lie down again on her back. “Let me get this straight. You just
gave birth six weeks ago?”
“I most certainly
did,” Nova said. “Just like this, too, by the way. I made a mess in my clothes
and I also got too hot to have anything on in a hurry. I worked very hard to
give birth. Be glad you were not there. I was almost homicidal for a bit.”
“How did you get so
slender so soon then? I’d kill to
look as beautiful as you do naked!”
“Exercise, eating right,
running around,” Nova said as she sat up again to burp Alex as she took him off
her breast. “Had to. With twins, and hot weather, sometimes, it’s easiest to
just strip down like this to nurse. I don’t want to make anyone throw up
looking at me while I’m fat. Please go watch your brother for a bit? He’s
getting too close to that surf and I’m tied down.”
“Okay,” said Michelle
as she ran off to watch Jonathan.
“All alone,” said
Derek.
“Not quite,” giggled
Nova as she put down Alex. “Fresh diaper for your son before he poos in the
sand?”
“That diaper rash is
gone,” said Derek as he looked Alex over before beginning to dress him.
“Told you getting
them bare in the breeze would lick it along with the diaper rash cream;
besides, most babies love to be naked in hot weather,” Nova said as she
continued to nurse Ariel skin to skin for a bit. Then, Ariel got tired of
feeding and squiggled away to play with Mommy’s breast for a bit while Nova
ticked Ariel’s tummy. The baby girl squealed and giggled, and then Nova went
“ohmyGod! Derek, she kissed me!”
Derek looked over at
them, and got his camera just as Ariel kissed her mommy’s shoulder again, right
at the point where the little dimple was above Nova’s collarbone.
“ohh…are you kissing
Mommy to make her better?” cooed Nova as she patted Ariel’s little bottom.
Ariel smiled as she
hugged her mother and began to burble, “ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ba…”
“Awwww,” said Nova as
she kissed her little daughter while Derek helped her put a fresh diaper on her
little bottom. A sunhat followed. Nova watched Michelle and Jonathan screaming
in the surf and laughing while Derek said, “When do want to be alone again?”
“On the yacht, later
on,” Nova said as she kissed Derek. “Then we have to go home tonight, and it’s
back to our usual schedules on Monday.”
“Darn,” said Derek
with a smile as Nova got up, walked over to the wet sand, and lay down on her
side, looking at the ocean and then looking at Derek.
Derek wished he had a
camera. The way the sun looked against her honey-blonde hair and her skin was gorgeous. He smiled at her and asked,
“Should you have brought that wrap?”
Nova shook her head. “Too hot.” Then, she smiled at him and said, “I never
thought I’d say this, but sometimes I love being naked like this on a beach.
Oh, the sun, the breeze, the ocean spray….it feels so good with nothing on you!
Remember our honeymoon?”
Derek kissed her and
said, “I remember I had a very hard time keeping you dressed in anything on
that island the last day or two, Mrs. Wildstar.”
“You were the same
way,” Nova teased back.
They kissed again,
and Nova said, “Now, if I can get Jonathan to watch the babies later on….”
“Yes?”
Nova sat up, kissed
Derek again, and prepared to give him a hug when she heard Michelle screaming.
“Auntie Nova! HELP! Jonathan’s in too far! He’s being dragged out to sea and I
can’t get him!”
“Oh, crap,” both Derek and Nova said
together.
Then, Nova jumped up
and ran into the water as fast as she could go. “NOVA!” yelled Derek.
“I’m fine! Watch the
kids until Michelle gets to shore! I’m trained in lifesaving; I think I can get
him, but get ready to back me up!”
Then, over Derek’s
cries, Nova submerged and kicked her way into the surf underwater, swimming as
quickly as a fish.
Nova came up, took a
deep breath, and spotted Jonathan, screaming and panicking about fifty meters
out to sea.
Nova took another
deep breath, and she submerged again, swimming under the rough sea and braving
the undertow with her long, strong legs. She came up again and waved at Jonathan.
“Tread water!” she
screamed as she saw Derek coming for both of them in the distance. “Just don’t
panic and go down again!”
“Mom, it’s hard! I
might drown in this!”
“Not with me here!”
“Mom, I lost my
swimsuit!”
Nova laughed. “Is that
what you’re worried about? Okay, don’t worry, I’m not wearing anything either! I’m coming for you!”
A wave made Jonathan
go down bubbling and screaming.
Nova kicked her way
through the bottom of the wave, coughing a bit herself as she got a face full
of water. A few more strokes, and she had Jonathan. She pulled him up by the
wrists and made him get onto her back. He was conscious, but just barely, as he
coughed and held onto his mother’s neck while gasping to draw in breath.
Breathing hard, Nova
was fighting the ocean on her way back.
She felt like some
wet, squirmy dolphin under Jonathan.
Soon, Derek caught up
with them, and he helped Nova bring Jonathan in. She needed the help; she was
getting exhausted herself fighting the wild surf.
Finally, all three of
them collapsed into a heap on shore. Nova was coughing up water, while Jonathan
was vomiting it up. Derek got him to get into his hands and knees in the wet
sand while Nova thumped his back. When Nova was done coughing up sea water, she
and Derek worked together to carry Jonathan back to their little camp, where he
was laid on his back on a towel by his parents and Michelle, gasping and crying
as all three of them dried him off. Then, his mother began to cover him with
suntan lotion from head to toe while she tousled his hair and whispered,
“Relax, honey. You’re going to be okay. Just rest.”
“I’m…I feel cold,” he
whimpered.
“Shh…the sun will
warm you up in a bit,” said Nova as Derek came up behind her and tenderly
clothed her in her wrap.
Later, back on the
yacht, Jonathan was put to bed. In a few hours, the yacht would begin an
overnight cruise that would take them back to
In the cool of the
evening, Katrina put on another dark blue sundress while Nova wore a pink shorts
set she liked. Foxy was in his yachting suit again, while Derek wore a
turtleneck sweater and jeans.
“So what are we doing
tomorrow?” Katrina asked.
“Going to
“That sounds good,” said
Katrina. Foxy came up, and she smiled at him. “We’re both sort of tired, so we
want to turn in early.”
“Good idea, since we
will be busy on
“Yeah, me too,” he
said. He and Nova said good night to everyone and left hand in hand a moment
later.
Mister MacKenna came
up to Foxy a moment later. “We’ll be docking again at 0800, sir. We’ll be
performing some maintenance on the ship after you and your guests leave.”
“Good,” said Foxy.
“Have the steward bring us some wine and then let us be for a bit.”
“Of course,” said
MacKenna.
After the steward
brought two glasses of wine, Foxy smiled at Katrina and said, “Here is to a
wonderful marriage.”
“And here is to the
memory of a chaotic weekend,” she said as they clinked glasses. “I thank you
for keeping me safe.”
“He will not be
back?” said Foxy.
“Let us pray not,”
said Katrina as she crossed her legs. “I’d much rather have you around.”
“The feeling is
mutual,” Foxy said.
They kissed, and
spent a lot of time looking into each other’s eyes.
Tomorrow was a day
filled with much in the way of bright promise.
TO BE CONTINUED….
To Return to the Introduction to The New Comet, click here