ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE
STAR BLAZERS---RETURN TO THE GREAT MAGELLENIC CLOUD
Being the seventh part of THE RIKASHA INCIDENT--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz
ACT FIVE-- UNDER
THE SKULL AND CROSSBONES
Star Blazers and Space
Battleship Yamato is (c) 2002 by Voyager Entertainment and Leiji Matsumoto.
Some themes and
characters from some of Leiji Matsumoto's other works appear herein, as well.
The manga in question was (c) 1998 by Leiji Matsumoto and VIZ Media. No
infringement is intended; the references in question are intended as a tribute
to Matsumoto-sensei's great inspiration and wonderfully varied universe.
I. PROBING THE ETERNAL
NIGHT
Planet Heavy Melder
About 60,000 lightyears
away from Earth
Space Battleship Argo
Captain's Cabin
Wednesday February 17,
2202
1650 Hours Spacetime
Captain Derek Wildstar
stood looking at scans made by Living Group as the hatch to his cabin opened.
In strode Nova in her gold and
black uniform, carrying a small bundle over one arm. Then, he heard the privacy
screen being activated. It was closing, shutting out the starlight.
"Did you see the
information that IQ-9 and I sent up?" asked Nova as Derek heard a vac-seal
being opened after the privacy shield was closed.
"I did. Twenty-three
degrees centigrade down there. Dry and hot, and pretty sunny in the area we're
flying to."
"Just like
"Nova, how much is
coming off?"
"Everything," she
said cheerfully. "Luckily, Holly loaned me some appropriate clothes for
the climate and planet. Just about all of my civilian things are either too dressy
or too noticeable. As Derek watched with a healthy amount of interest, Nova
continued to strip until she had nothing else left to take off. "Mmmmm,
feels good to get out of that uniform for a bit." she said as she
stood on tiptoe and stretched. "I wish we were back on our honeymoon
island, Derek. I could do with a swim and sun bath like this right about
now."
"So could I."
She smiled affectionately
at him. "Want to help me get dressed, then, koishii?"
"Why dress
perfection?" he said in a low voice as he ran up to his wife and hugged
her.
"Derek, the crew has
to see me leave the ship. They fantasize about me enough with my clothes on, I
bet. Imagine what'd happen if about a hundred guys saw me running into the
flight deck naked."
"There'd be a riot,
Nova. And a lot of cameras going off. You show so much in your tight little
yellow shipsuit anyway."
"And it drives you
nuts, doesn't it?"
Derek nodded.
"I like the way your
pants fit your tush," said Nova sweetly. "God, you make me
wild at times."
"You know, if we don't
get you dressed, we're gonna be running awfully late."
"What's wrong with
that?" said Nova in a teasing voice as she hugged him with her arms and
legs for a minute.
"Hey, you're making me
into a coat rack!" laughed Derek.
"I like coat
racks," purred Nova. "We need a nice one for the house."
"So you can hang on it
just like that? Good. I'll make sure we have print paper for the digital
camera, tenshi…"
Nova playfully slapped his
cheek. "Derek! You're lewd and crude at times."
"Well, consider that
you're not dressed like a nun right now either..."
They both laughed at that.
"Are you gonna help me get dressed, or do you want me to stay attached to
you all day like a limpet mine, Derek?"
"That's a hard
question," laughed Captain Wildstar.
Nova then lifted her
bodysuit off the floor with her toes. "You start with this."
"How do you do
that?"
"Comes from a trick I
used to do to drive my mother crazy when I was seven," said Nova. "We
had a piano. I had to take lessons. Sometimes, I liked to drive Mom bats by
playing Chopsticks with my toes. I got paddled for that once, too."
"When?"
"When I did it in
front of my teacher. She was something of a mean old bat. What's the worst
thing you ever did as a kid, Derek?"
"Sold part of Alex's
baseball card collection to pay for candy when Dad cut off my allowance. I had
some familiarity with the paddle, too."
"Derek, when we have
kids, we won't use the paddle."
"Then how are we going
to spank them when they're naughty?"
"When we have to spank
them, which I hope we won't have to do often, because there are psychological
tricks I know of that work better than spanking, we'll use our hands.
Agreed?"
"Agreed," said
Derek. "And how would we feed the babies? It's hard to carry a bottle
around."
Nova blushed. "I was
planning on taking extended leave or even going Reserve for a year or two when
we finally have kids so I can be with them more often. Maybe we can do it when
I get into medical school and just have to go to class and do the homework
while on Reserve status like my dad did for law school when he was a Defense
Forces officer. As for feeding the kids...well...you're looking right at what
I'd use for the first six months, Derek."
"What?"
Nova jumped down onto her
feet, grabbed up her bodysuit, and smiled. "The nutrition is best if it
comes right from Mom during at least the first six months. Our baby or babies
would be weaned around then and put on formula and baby food gradually, of
course. It was a little weird that I was an only child, Derek."
"Why?" he asked
as she stepped into her black leotard.
"Twins or triplets
tend to run in my family for the first birth," she said. "Mom wasn't
sickly, but she wasn't in top physical condition when she had me, either. It
was when she and dad were very young. Dad was in law school and Mom was still
an undergraduate, and they were a little poor then, believe it or not. At least
we'll have some money, and I will, Lord willing, stay in fairly good physical
shape until then."
She had dressed in her
bodysuit and was reaching for her jeans. "Nova, you're not exactly as
strong as Raiden or Hemsford by any means, but what you do have in that
slender little bod is in great shape. Hell, you were rappelling better than I
was at that obstacle course back when we were doing that refresher training in
Nova blushed a little
again. She remembered that obstacle course pretty well. She had impressed quite
a few women and even some hardened Space Marines with her speed and agility in
the course...with a full pack and AK-01 on her back. "Kind of fun, really.
Especially that monkey walk."
"You liked
that?" said Derek. "Damnit, I thought I was gonna fall off that thing
into the lake! I don't like being up on nothing but a rope over a high
place."
They were referring to a
nasty obstacle with three ropes that went over a lake at
"Doesn't bother me,
I'm not afraid of heights." said Nova as she tried to pull on her jeans.
"Oh, Holly gave me a tight pair. Gonna have to lay down on the bunk to do
this."
"Gotta put it down
first."
"I've got it,"
said Nova. She undid the lock and dropped the bed (while standing there with
her jeans half-on). She then flopped down on her back on the bed, threw her
legs and bottom up in the air, and was busy pulling on her pants when the hatch
opened.
"VENTURE!" yelled
Derek. "Don't you and Parsons believe in knocking?"
"Ooops," said
Mark when he saw what was going on.
"It's all right,"
said Nova. "I'm really decent, believe it or not. Holly, these jeans you
gave me are kinda tight!"
Parsons looked back in
first. "Oh. I see. They're like that when I put them on, too. Yes,
definitely tight. Mark, come back in...she's got a bodysuit on, so you're not seeing
anything."
Venture looked in, just in
enough time to see Nova zipping her fly up. He still felt a little
uncomfortable seeing just that much. After all, it not every day that a
man happens to see his best friend's wife getting dressed. "Her pants are
really tight, gotta suck in when I close these up."
"Can you wear
those?" asked Holly.
"They're stretching on
me; it's okay, Holly."
"Does she always get
dressed in front of people?" asked Venture with a smile.
"Not unless they're
real close friends," said Derek, remembering how Nova had shocked him
once, when on the first mission against the Comet Empire, she had decided to
swim home to Earth to obey a stupid order of his that she get off the ship
immediately. Nova had complied, to the point of beginning to strip off her
nurse's uniform in front of him. He was grateful, though, that they hadn't
popped in five minutes ago; and also doubted that Nova would have been so cool
about it if Venture and Parsons had seen the way she had been dressed (or,
rather, not dressed) when they had been having their private talk. "Nova,
what should I do if he ever does that again?"
"Dunno. Make him help
zip up my dress to teach him a lesson?" said Nova with a wink. At that,
Mark blushed.
"Are you trying to
steal my boyfriend, Nova?"
"In front of my
husband, Holly?" giggled Nova. "Not likely. The three of us always
talk like this. Since I was the only woman on the ship's last mission, things
got a bit crazy then. I've got a few funny stories to tell about that
cruise."
"Well, can I join up
with the three of you?" asked Holly.
"Hey, Derek, should we
let her into the Musketeers?" asked Venture.
"Musketeers?"
huffed Holly. "Weren't there just three of them?"
"Later on, there were
four," said Derek. "Yeah. Let's let her in."
"Only if she stops
calling me a nerd," said Nova as she looked through her locker for
something.
Derek looked in there.
"Nova! What'd you do to your locker?"
"I've been a bit
disorganized the past few days," she said as she tossed shoes, socks, and
even underwear out into a messy pile. "One pair of high heels, a compact,
the new yellow toe socks I haven't worn yet, my space helmet, guitar
strings..."
"Nova, if we held
inspection right now, you'd flunk," smiled Derek.
"Sorry, Derek,"
she said in a tiny voice.
"If you want help
organizing this girly disaster area, I'll come up here later on," said
Holly.
"Great!" said
Nova. "Thanks, Holly. Ah! Got my purse and shoes."
"Purse?" said
Venture.
"We were asked to go
down to the planet as civilians," said Derek. He undid his peacoat and
ascot and shrugged the black bridge coat off. "Hey, Nova, what kind of
t-shirts are in my locker?"
"You've got that white
golf shirt I sent you last year," said Nova while she began to throw
various articles of clothing back into her locker and also tossed things into
her laundry hamper. She finally closed the locker up as things crashed around
inside.
"Boy, we are
close," said Venture as he picked up a pink sock. "Nova, never
thought I'd be helping you pick up your dirty laundry."
"Sorry, Mark. I've
been a ditz the past few days."
"Hey, what are friends
for?" said Mark. "When did you get that golf shirt from her, Derek?
After the honeymoon?"
"No, that year-long
patrol cruise we were on with the Argo as the flagship," said
Derek. "Nova was sending me letters, pictures, tapes of herself singing
with her guitar or on a piano at the rec center, clothes, books, and care
packages of her cookies and pepperoni every few weeks, and that was apart from
the regular e-mail that was always in my inbox." Derek smiled at the
memory. Every mail call, there was always something from his
then-girlfriend, even if only a romantic perfume-scented letter. Homer had
teased him to no end about his regular swag every mail call.
"Here's your
shirt," said Nova as she tossed him a white golf shirt. "You can put
on the pants I'm getting you after these guests leave."
"Which we'd better do
soon," said Holly. "Mark, you tell them what you were gonna tell
them."
"Oh, yeah," said
Venture. "Wildstar, we picked up a communication signal. It was from some
fellow named Harlock."
"Oh. Maetel spoke of
him in her message," said Derek as he pulled off his Star Force uniform
shirt and began to change his shirt. Holly caught a glimpse of his bare chest
and whistled. At that, he blushed. "Uh...what'd he want?"
"He said he'll be
waiting for you at a place called the Red Dog Saloon later this evening before
sundown. I wonder what he wants?"
Nova shrugged as she kicked
into her sandals. "You know as much as I do. Have to re-buckle these, darn
it. The leatherette is stretching out."
"Cute shoes,"
said Holly. "Can I borrow them sometime?"
"Guess so, if you let
me borrow those brown boots of yours. They'd go nice with my pink dress."
"Deal." Then,
Holly looked up. "Nova and I routinely root through each other's lockers.
The two of us and her friend Natalie Fisher are always borrowing stuff from
each other."
"Mostly junk,"
said Nova. "Well, don't you guys borrow stuff from each
other?"
"Yeah, I borrowed his
cologne the other day," said Venture.
"Mark, give it
back," teased Derek.
"Or what?" said
Mark.
"Or I may have to kick
your butt...right here and now in front of your girlfriend," said Derek.
"I'll have to kick your
rear in front of your wife," responded Venture. Not far away, Holly
smiled with amusement, while one of Nova's eyebrows went up in amusement. A
mischievous sprite-like idea (one of those she got every now and then) suddenly
hit her. So, Nova got out her guitar, put it on, and began to play a Spanish-guitar
riff on it.
"Nova, what are you
doing that for?" asked Derek.
"Derek, if you guys
are gonna fight, we need the right music for it. I'll patch you guys up after
you're both half-unconscious. You’re both utterly silly…as usual."
"Yeah, let's drop it,
Derek," said Venture. "She's got a point. Hey, Holly?"
"Yes?"
"Uh...What would you
do if I asked you to marry me?"
The room went quiet.
"Excuse me?" asked Holly.
"Uh...what would you
do if I asked you to marry me?" said Mark with a hard swallow. "Silly
question...sorta hypothetical...We've been hanging out with each other for only
two months, I know it's crazy...I..."
"How's about if I
accept?" said Holly in a soft voice as she plopped down on Derek and
Nova's bunk. Venture looked at Holly with a look of utter shock on his face. He
hadn't expected her to actually accept his proposal right now! At that, Derek
and Nova stopped what they were doing and looked at each other in shock.
"But, there's one thing, Mark?"
"Yeah?"
"You've got to do it
the right way, stupid. Down on one knee." Holly smiled and grabbed Mark by
the hand.
"Holly...are you
sure?" asked Nova.
Parsons just nodded. Then,
with the Wildstars not quite believing what they were hearing, Venture gulped
and asked in a barely audible voice. "Okay...uhhh...Holly Parsons, would
you marry me?"
"Yes," whispered
Holly. At that, they hugged to Derek and Nova's sudden applause. Mark saw Nova
whispering to Derek, and the Captain nodded. Then, Nova took off her guitar and
stood removing her wedding band...and engagement ring of her own.
"You mind amethyst,
Holly?" asked Nova. "Until he can get you a diamond, that is?"
Holly was hugging Mark.
Holly sniffed through her tears and said, "Amethyst is fine, Nova."
"Mark, so she has a ring,
you can borrow my engagement ring," said Nova as she put back on her
wedding band and then handed her birthstone ring to Venture. "Make sure
you give it back when you get her one yourself, Mark. Of course, my wedding
band is the one I won't part with. I hope that some of the good luck Derek and
I have comes to you two through the ring he bought me when we got home from
fighting Zordar after he proposed to me."
"It should, thanks,
Nova," said Mark. "God, you gave me that boutonnière when I went to
see Trelaina that time, and now you're loaning me your engagement ring. Every
guy should have a sister like you."
"If my mom and I ever
get into a bad fight, can your parents adopt me?" teased Nova. She and
Mark then laughed and hugged before Nova placed her ring in his hand. Then,
Derek gave Mark a rough hug.
"This is as sudden as
hell, but congratulations, Mark," said Derek in a husky voice. "You
want me as best man...when the wedding comes off?"
"Yeah...I think so.
But...uhh...I'm having a little trouble deciding whom I want as best man.
Or...best person."
Derek's eyebrow went up.
"Best person? What do you mean?"
"I...I don't know if I
want...you, Derek...or you, Nova, to be my best man," said Venture as he
put a hand on a very surprised Nova's shoulder. "You two are both my best
friends. I can't decide. I know it's weird, but..."
"A girl can be best
man," said Holly. "I've heard of it."
"What about both of
us?" suggested Nova diplomatically while grabbing Derek's arm. "He
and I would look adorable in matching tuxedoes, don't you think?"
"Hold that
thought," said Mark. "But now...I've gotta do something..."
Mark took the ring, and
then he put it on Holly in silence. Then, they hugged again, and shared...their
first deep kiss. As they parted, Holly noticed he had enjoyed the kiss very
much, and she just smiled at him with her eyes batted.
"I think we'd better
go now," said Holly. "Mark...we have to celebrate this."
"After our watch,
honey?"
"Oh, sure," said
Holly. Holly winked at Nova and Derek and then left arm-in-arm with her
brand-new fiancée.
"Well?" said
Derek.
"You'd better finish
getting changed, Derek," said Nova as she wiped tears out of her eyes.
"We have to go."
"Crying?" said
Derek as he dabbed at his eyes.
"Happy tears,"
said Nova. "Aren't you happy for Mark and Holly? Holly got a great guy and
Mark...well...Mark's really rejoined the human race again."
"Yeah," said
Derek. "I'm happy for them. What a story they'll have for their
kids."
"Like the stories
we'll have for ours," said Nova in a dreamy voice.
A while later, in the small
forward flight bay near Mechanical Ops in the Argo's keel, Captain
Wildstar (dressed now in jeans, his golf shirt, and boots) stood by Nova near a
jet recon boat that had been made up to look like dirty and grimy military surplus.
Sandor stood near them.
"Luckily, in that message, that Harlock guy said they take old Earth
Federation currency down there. With that, and this make-up job, you should fit
in just fine if you land near these coordinates on the map."
Wildstar looked at the map,
followed by Nova. "Not far from a mesa," he mused.
"The walk to town
looks like it is just two klicks along this dry stream bed," said Nova.
"We can easily manage that with enough water."
"It's packed,"
said Royster nervously. "And the scans say you'll be landing there around
sunset, so it won't be so hot."
"Not bad," said
Wildstar. "Well, Nova, let's shove off."
"Right," she
said, jumping into the plane. "Who's flying?" she said. "You or
me?"
"You do it," said
Derek. "You need those flight hours."
"Aye, aye, sir,"
said Nova. She moved to the pilot's seat and began the preparations for takeoff
as Derek got in.
"Purring like a
kitten," said Derek.
"Yup. Feels funny
flying without a helmet."
"Not far to the
planet," said Sandor. "You should manage all right."
"Thanks," said
Derek.
"See you guys later on
with that information," said Nova. She closed up the cockpit, strapped in,
and took off.
The flight and landing were
quite easy and went without incident. Nova noticed they were being painted by
radar, but some anonymous flight controller transmitting from a city in one of
the arid planet's huge craters informed them that they were aware of their
approach and that they had flight and landing clearance.
"Recreational
boat," said the female controller. "You're clear to land at RPG-225
on the standard grid map. You'll be right near Gun Frontier. Guess you're on
shore leave from your ship?"
"Uh...roger,"
said Nova, looking at Derek in hopes she wasn't giving away too much.
"How'd you...?"
"Ships make port calls
here at Heavy Melder all the time, miss. We don't care much what planet you
come from or what you're up to as long as your ship doesn't attack any other
ship docked on the planet. That's an absolute law that we don't break. Didn't
your Captain brief you on this?"
Nova looked at Derek, who
put up his hands and shrugged. Weird, he thought. They're so laid
back here.
"Of course, you have
to be sure you hit the right flight path out when your ship lifts anchor,"
said the controller. "Otherwise, you might end up in any one of a hundred
time periods. Or hyperspaces. Or different realities. Just wanted to let you
know."
"Thanks," said
Nova into the mike. "My Captain and Navigator have this under control. I'm
just coming down here with my husband for a night of shore leave and a good
meal."
"Great. Just keep your
eyes open. Gun Frontier doesn't have a lot of laws. And if you break the few
they do have, they'll hang you. Have
a nice shore leave, miss."
"Okay, thanks,"
said Nova, trying to hide the fact that her hands were shaking. "Rec boat
out."
"Hey," said Derek
as he put his hand over Nova's while she put the microphone back on.
"We've been through worse than this."
"Sorry. The fact that
this place is so odd is just rattling me a little. And she said any ship that
leaves there can end up in a hundred different places? This is a more tangled
hyperspace locus than I thought. Do you think we should have come here,
Derek?"
Wildstar sat with his eyes
closed. "That woman Maetel told us it was important for us to come here.
She seemed to know what we were up to. And she said this guy Harlock would help
us. Funny...I did read about him."
"Explain?"
"I read one of Captain
Avatar's old reference books before you started to distract me by getting
changed before," smiled Derek. "In what I read, it said that the
Harlock family was a line of famous explorers and pilots in the 20th and 21st
centuries. A German pilot named Harlock navigated a path over the
"What was he
flying?"
"A Messerschmitt. You
know…one of the old propeller-powered jobs with an internal-combustion
engine?"
"Those must have been
romantic planes to fly in, Derek. I'd love to fly a museum piece like that
someday."
"A fighter?"
Nova nodded while making a
course correction with her controls. "There were so many neat kinds in
those old wars...the Spitfire, the Mustang, the Hellcat, the Zero, the
Messerschmitt..."
"I remember reading
that another Harlock flew one of those old helicopters in the Vietnam War, too.
Then, a descendant of his flew in World War III."
"Unification Wars,
Derek?"
He nodded. Nova then asked,
"What kind of plane was it that he flew?"
"An F-575, one of the
last nationally-developed planes. It was a mainstay of the United Nations
forces."
"I heard those were
hot."
"Flew one in a
simulator once," said Derek. "Hey, when we get home, I can get you
some simulator time at the Academy. You can fly an F-575...or one of those old
prop planes you were talking about."
"Cool!" said
Nova. "Now, let me think..." A light on her panel began beeping.
"Two minutes to landing, Derek. Get yourself set for our arrival."
"Sounds good. Take us
down easy."
"Won't be hard."
"Yeah. Hardly any wind
to speak of," said Captain Wildstar as he looked at his instruments.
"Venture, this is
Wildstar," said Derek over the radio.
"Yeah. How are you
guys?'
"Fine. We're about to
land. Nova's got us on a nice, easy glide path. We're landing right near a big
mesa. Then, a quick walk, and we're in town. I'm sending you our location now
for reference," said Derek as he turned on a locator beacon.
"Got it," said
Venture. "Parsons has your beacon logged and noted. When do you think
you'll be back?"
"Tomorrow morning,
most likely. We have Federation notes as well as silver if that doesn't
work."
"Derek, brace for
landing," said Nova as she throttled down.
"Well, we're here
now," said Captain Wildstar. "You guys have a good night. Keep watch
for anything that might be hostile."
"Roger that,"
said Venture. "Good night, guys."
Nova grabbed the mike.
"'Nite, Mark. Don't let the bedbugs bite."
"How does he put up
with your jokes?" laughed Venture as Nova set the boat down on its
thick-tired wheels.
"His are worse.
Especially the knock-knock jokes."
"Oh, tell me about
it," laughed Mark. "I know his whole repertoire. See you guys in the
morning."
"How many knock-knock
jokes do you know?" asked Nova as she began shutting down systems.
"Not sure. Lost
count..."
A while later, they were
walking together next to the dried stream bed they had seen on the map. The
ground was red, sandy, and slightly rough but not impassable for either of
them. Nova only had to stop once to get a stone out of a sandal.
"Maybe I should've
borrowed Holly's sneakers, too," mused Nova. "Although these are
great walking shoes when there's not lots of stones around. Stones! ICK! Give
me a nice mountain stream in the Catskills,
"Like you did on the
last two days of our honeymoon on that island," said Derek. "And you
told me all our things were in the wash."
"Well, they were,"
said Nova. She picked a good-sized flat stone up off the riverbed and examined
it. "Pretty polished. Must have been lots of water here once. Wonder what
made it go away?"
"War...natural
disaster...or people just used up the place. Or maybe it was dry all along,"
said Derek. "What a bleak place. I wish we were back on the island."
Derek stopped and gave Nova a very dreamy look. "You looked gorgeous on
that island."
"Are you dreaming
about me swinging on that vine in my skin?"
"Yeah. First time I
ever saw a lady actually swinging on a vine like that."
"Thanks," said
Nova. She stopped to throw her rock. "Hmmm...I see buildings in the
distance, and some house with a fence around it. I wonder who lives
there?"
"Some beautiful weirdo
like you?"
Nova rolled up her eyes.
"Okay, so I'm a weirdo now, huh? No...I'm a free spirit."
"You missed the
beautiful part," said Captain Wildstar as they climbed over a rail fence.
"Sorry," said
Nova as she grabbed Derek after they finished the climb. She hugged him and
they shared a kiss.
A minute later, they both
jumped back in fright as somebody fired an energy shot between them.
Thirty seconds later, Derek
had his sidearm out of his holster, while Nova had gotten hers out of the large
purse she carried.
"Stop necking on my
land, you stupid kids!" yelled a
woman's high voice.
A moment later, a woman
with weird light blue hair in a hot pink minidress strode out, holding a
blaster on them. She had two gunbelts, and her minidress had a good-sized
cut-out at the shoulders and near the breasts. The dress was very short
(shorter, as a matter of fact, than Nova's own EDF nurses' minidress) and the
girl's long legs were quite bare. She wore very tight pink lace-up boots.
Nova (who looked rather
mundane and girl-next-door at the moment compared to this flashy chick with the
hard eyes) summed up the girl in one quick female thought. You should talk;
you're dressed like a tramp!
"What's the
problem?" said Derek. "We had no idea this was your land. The house
looks abandoned!"
"Yeah. What tub did you
two come in off of? And why are you pointing guns at me? Got some bounty to
collect?"
"Our business here is
none of yours," said Nova. "My name's Nova. What's yours?"
"Give me your real
name," sneered the girl. "The person you just described has been dead
for something like seven hundred years."
"Well, I'm here. And
this my husband, Derek."
"And I'm Minnie
Mouse," sneered the woman. "Okay, I'll play along with your stupid
charade," said the woman, guessing that the two people before her wouldn't
put down their weapons, or back down at the sight of hers. At an opportune
moment, she planned to put a knife in girlie's guts to teach her a thing
or two. "I'll give you my real name. I'm Sylvia. I'm a bounty
hunter."
"Sylvia," said
Derek. "Whatever we've done, we're sorry. Sorry we snuck onto your land.
My tenshi, Nova and I will be going
in a minute.”
“Tenshi?” sneered Sylvia. “Oh, you’re calling her an angel! You make me wanna throw up!”
“And you remind me of a
sarcastic little devil,” snorted Nova. “Derek…c’mon…!”
“Sylvia,” said Captain
Wildstar in a voice filled with warning. “I’m watching you. Just to be sure you don't shoot us in the back when
we leave!"
"Hmmm...might be
fun," said Sylvia. "I should just kill you criminals and see if
you're on the lam from someplace." She laughed with a high, nervous and
sarcastic laugh. Derek began to make a fist, but Nova moved first. Saying
"Hold this," as she handed her weapon to her surprised husband, Nova
ran up to Sylvia, dodged her next shot, and swung a quick high kick against her
blaster hand that the bounty hunter didn't even try to block. Nova immediately
sized her up as being horrible at unarmed combat. The EDF Lieutenant then
yelled and thrust an extended hand into Sylvia's solar plexus, knocking her to her
knees like a duckpin.
Nova knelt and picked up
Sylvia's weapon. She shoved it into her belt. "Okay, did I make my
point? That was for making fun of my husband and I!"
"Kill me," sobbed
Sylvia. "You beat me and I'm worthless."
"Oh, grow up," said Nova. "I'm just
taking your weapon and throwing it on the edge of your grounds. You can find it
tomorrow morning at first light. I'd ask you to make tea after you catch your
breath, but I'm afraid Derek and I don't like tea from self-righteous and
deceitful little snakes like you! So, we'll say goodbye and get off your
grounds. Remember, though, that we will not turn our backs to you."
Sylvia just snarled at
them. She made an obscene gesture or two, and then ran off crying into her
house.
"She's pretty
flaky," said Derek.
"Coward," said
Nova with a little grin. She spat on the ground. "And some people say I
cry too much. I didn't even hit her that hard! It…it was a love tap!"
"Can't account for
some people," said Derek with a shrug. "If that's the worst we're gonna
face here, this little mission should be a piece of cake."
"I'd watch out for
her, Derek. Something tells me she's a backstabber and a little sneak."
"Yeah. No honor,"
said Derek as they both climbed back over the rail fence. Nova stopped to tap
the dead grass with a toe.
"Really dried out; and
it's been here for a while. No wonder we thought it was abandoned. She needs to
trim her lawn."
"Yeah," laughed
Derek as he helped Nova straddle the rotting rail fence; not that she seemed to
need any help, of course, since she was up and over the fence with the agility
of a thirteen-year old kid climbing a tree.
A little later on, they
were close to the town. Both Derek and Nova had paused under a tree. Nova had
decided to climb the tree on the pretext of analyzing the alien fruit hanging
on the branches.
Nova was looking at one of
the fruits while Derek said, "Hey, Nova, knock, knock."
"Who's there?"
"Banana."
"Banana who?"
"Knock knock."
"Who's there?'
"Banana."
"Banana who?"
This went back and forth
for five times while Nova looked at the fruit (it looked like a blue pear)
concluded they shouldn't try to eat it without an analysis, and, instead, got
some apple slices out of a plastic bag in her purse. "Derek, when's the
punch line?" asked Nova.
"Coming up. Thanks for
the apple."
"You're welcome."
"Knock knock..."
"Who's there?"
"Orange."
"Orange who?"
"Aren't ja glad I
didn't say banana again?"
Nova grabbed at a light
branch above Derek's head and lightly hit him with it. "That's your worst
one! That's stupid!" she laughed.
"Hey, Nova. Ever heard
the killer joke?'
"The killer
joke," she said while leaning against the tree branch. She shinnied down
the branch a little and noticed some very old rope tied around one of the
branches. "Rope. I wonder what they use this tree for?"
"Maybe some kid put a
rope ladder up there?" said Derek while munching around one of his wife's
nutritious apple slices from the Argo's hydroponic garden. He had always
thought that Nova certainly knew how to grow fruit, and was somewhat aware of
the genetic manipulation she had been obliged to pull off to make a dwarf apple
tree that grew regular-size Macintoshes. He hoped that she and Sane never got
the idea to create a killer bunny rabbit or something equally weird.
"Or...maybe...since this
is a frontier town..."
"What?"
"I'm not I want to
say, Derek. I'll...give you a veiled hint." She then began to whistle a
few bars of Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit, a dark song from the early
20th century about lynchings when bigots commonly did such things to
African-Americans for very little reason at all, or sometimes, for none at all.
"Yeah...gotcha,"
said Derek, catching the reference. "It's quite possible...someone was
swinging from this..."
"Shh," said Nova.
"Someone's coming."
Both of them quieted down
and sat together on the branch while voices could be heard below.
"Who's the last one we
strung up?" said a male with a very hard voice.
"Dunno," said a
wheezy old voice. "I'm losin' my reputation as the Hangin' Judge. Nobody
around to hang. Even those danged pirates ain't been causin' no trouble lately
and no one has enough guts to collect on that bounty. Gun Frontier needs
another good hangin', and soon."
"We don't have a lot
of laws, Judge Butler. What could we hang someone for? Messing with the
whiskey? Not likely; hasn't happened in six years since that young Harlock
showed up. And he fixed everything. Messing with property? Not much except
broken windows ever since Big Beef Angus had that rampage. After that, that's
when they got rid of the old marshal and judge and got us. And have we ever
been able to raise a posse to drive out the pirates? No. They're too popular
around here. Too well-liked, unfortunately."
"Yeah. And we don't
take no crap, Marshal. Now, what can we do to have some fun here?"
Both men laughed as they
walked back towards town.
"We'd better watch our
tails, Nova," whispered Derek. "Let's get in, get the information we
need, and get out. Watch me. And if things get rough, you get out of
there."
"No, Derek...I don't want to leave your side. Or
leave you in danger." It was getting dark, and Derek noticed that her
messy blond hair was hanging in one eye, and looked very, very light in the
fading sunlight and light reflected from several moons up in the sky. Nova
looked both attractive and sad in the dying light.
"Nova, we need someone
to get back to the ship with the information. If I get into trouble, I'm
expendable."
"But you're the
Captain," whispered Nova. "If we have to, I'll create a diversion so
you can get back to the ship. Don't worry about me; I can take care of
myself."
"Nova, that's very
cold-blooded. I couldn't leave you!"
"I couldn't leave you,
either."
"We're in this
together," said Derek. "Let's get down from here and get going."
II. A NIGHT AT THE RED
DOG SALOON
Planet Heavy Melder
About 60,000 lightyears
away from Earth
Red Dog Saloon
Wednesday February 17,
2202
1900 Hours Space time
A hand-painted wooden sign
in Japanese, English, and some unknown alien language told the whole story. In
English the sign looked like this and read thus, and was still just about
visible in the moonlight:
WELCOME
TO THE VILLAGE OF
GUN
FRONTIER
POPULATION:
1,836
DISTURBING
THE FREEDOMS OR DRINKS OF OTHERS
IS
PUNISHABLE BY LAW
GOT IT, PILGRIM???
"Somebody must think
they're really funny," huffed Derek Wildstar as he looked at the sign.
"Gun Frontier,"
said Nova. "If we hadn't heard that Marshal and judge up in the tree, I'd
think that sign sounds like the name of a theme park. I wonder where the desperadoes
are, apart from that wanna-be in the pink dress we just met?"
"Look," said
Derek.
They looked down the town's
dusty main street. Two men in cowboy hats, linen shirts, spurs, boots, jeans,
and vests that could have come out of Central Casting were standing in the
middle of the street cursing at each other.
"Ah tell ya, Lee, this
town ain't big enough for the two of us!" one of them yelled. He was
standing on a plank sidewalk.
"So what ya gonna do
about it, jackass?" said another
one, a man with a beard. He was in the middle of the dirt-covered street.
"Gonna plug yer
carcass fulla holes. Stop messin' with my gal."
"Ah, drop dead, ya
horse thief! Draw!" yelled the clean-shaven man.
"Yeah, you draw!"
yelled the bearded man. Both men drew.
"STOP it!" yelled
Nova. But, a minute later, Derek grabbed her wrists and pulled her back.
Gunshots rang out in the
street. A moment later, both men fell on their faces in the street.
Nova ran up to look at the
clean-shaven man over Derek's protests. She felt his pulse at his neck, and
felt it fade under her hand as he lay on the plank sidewalk.
"Oh, my God," she
muttered as Derek ran up. "Derek, nothing more I can do for him...what a
waste!"
"Dead?"
Nova nodded, wiping away
her tears. "Captain Avatar always said, wipe your tears and move on for
the living. Let me check the other one."
A man in jeans, a red vest,
white shirt, black bandana, black cowboy hat, and silver star grabbed Nova's
hand. "No. Don't go to help him."
"Who are you? That man might need emergency medical
attention, and I'm trained in nursing!"
"I'm Marshal Ryu
Nishimoto," responded the brown-haired man with the hard voice that Nova
immediately recognized as one of the men she had overheard up in that tree.
"I'm the law around here, Miss, and we don't help people who get shot in
gunfights. We figure it's their own business and their own fault, unless they
can get up and have enough money to go see the town doctor and bite the bullet
and have some whiskey for the operation. That is...unless you're his girlfriend,
that is?"
"No, I'm her
husband," said Derek. "We came from a ship that recently came in.
We're officers on shore leave."
Nishimoto went over to the
bearded man and gave him a good, hard kick. "Yup, dead. I'll get the
undertaker to pick them up later on. Well, officer whomever ya are, this is not
your ship. We don't like the military much here. We run our own affairs, and we
don't care for outsiders meddling about in our business."
"Marshal, stop picking
on them. Especially the young woman," said a low but authoritative female
voice.
"Why is that? We
barely tolerate your presence here, girl," said Nishimoto.
Nova turned, and noticed that the voice belonged to a
woman with a most striking appearance.
Oh, my God, she looks just
like my cousin Jane...except for those green eyes...and that scar. Who is she? Nova thought. She looks tough.
The young woman wore a red
tunic with a silver-white skull and crossbones emblem on the front, along with
a red, black, and purple cloak, white leggings, and distinctive calf-high red
boots. She had bright red hair, and had a skull-and-crossbones pin in her hair.
She wore two weapons; a blaster and a sword.
The sword was out, and it
was being pointed at the Marshal. "I see you just raised the local bounty
on my head, Marshal. Why don't you try to collect on it? It'd make you
rich," said the newcomer in a calm but definite don't mess with me
sort of voice.
"We could kill you any
time we wanted, Captain Emeraldas. We're just waiting for the right time."
"Like when our ships
aren't near the planet? Not too likely. Now, stop hassling this young man and
this young woman. My friends have business with them tonight."
"How do you know them?
I've never seen them in this town before."
"You must have failed
your history lessons," said Emeraldas in a calm voice. "If you knew
whom you were just talking with, you'd be more afraid of this couple than you
are of me. I have a lot of respect for these people."
She knows! Derek thought. And her name
sounds familiar. She must be a confederate of that Harlock we were about to
meet here.
Derek was about to ask a
question, but Emeraldas respectfully raised a hand and said, "Please,
Captain. As you were saying, Marshal?"
"Why do you respect
these people so much?" said the Marshal as he looked at Nova and Derek.
"They don't look very exceptional, big, tall, or strong. I only see one
blaster, and that's the old one the man has."
"I guess the names
'Wildstar' or 'Kodai' must not ring a bell with you," said Emeraldas as Derek
and Nova looked on in shock. "Don't worry," she said as she looked at
them. "Anyone who knows history and how the timelines intersect here must
have guessed they would come here sooner or later. At any rate, you're quite
safe with me and my friends. Not that I have too many doubts about your ability
to get yourselves out of tight spots, my friends. I'm older than you, but
you're both vigorous, young, and almost at the height of your abilities.
Everything that's transpired between you and Desslok is well known to anyone
who can read. And we know that where you are, Yamato is not far behind.
Ignore him. He won't do anything. Not without his posse. Now, come on. We have
friends waiting."
Then, Nishimoto looked on
with shock as Emeraldas sheathed her cutlass, beckoning for Derek and Nova to
follow her.
"Interesting,"
whispered Derek.
"Yes," nodded
Nova. "I think I like her already."
"Nova, thanks for the
compliment," said Emeraldas while looking back. She smiled and walked
onwards.
As the Wildstars were about
to learn tonight, it was not easy to earn this woman's respect.
A while later, they stood
before a classic clapboard saloon with batwing doors. The sign above it read: THE
RED DOG SALOON. Est. 2978.
"I see that people
smoke a lot in there," said Derek as he looked through the doors.
“God, what a stench,” said
Nova as she coughed. “Don’t they know tobacco is a major carcinogen?”
"That they do, but
they still do it," said Emeraldas. She began to go in, but a short
middle-aged man with a dark green bandana around his head ran up.
"Captain! We picked up a scan you ought to know about."
"When, Mister
Daiyama?" asked Emeraldas.
"About twenty minutes
ago. The Chief sent me down in the shuttle right after you left."
"Excuse me,
please," said Emeraldas. "I'll meet the two of you inside. Look for a
short man with a wide-brimmed hat, thick glasses, and a poncho with a
strange-looking bird. He'll be accompanied by a brown-haired man with a scar
and a blue uniform who might be wearing a cowboy hat; he's sort of dressed down
tonight. They'll know you two on sight."
"Okay," said
Derek. "Nova, let's go in."
"Right."
They pushed the batwing
doors and walked in.
Loud honky-tonk piano music
surrounded them as they walked in. Nova coughed again at the heavy cigar and cigarette
smoke that filled the joint. Laughter and cursing could be heard from the round
tables in this dimly-lit saloon. Nova noticed no women in here except for two
women in short skirts who were languidly leaning against a balcony above the
huge bar. When one of them gave a flash of black fishnet hose, Nova immediately
guessed at her profession.
Derek and Nova walked up to
the bar together, ignoring the muttering and comments from the habitués of the
bar, all of whom looked rather dirty and ill-favored.
A bartender with white
hair, a white beard, and a fishnet cap on walked up. "Hi, son," he
said to Wildstar. "Name your poison."
"Your best draft beer,
please," said Derek.
"Same for me,"
said Nova.
"I wasn't talking to
you, miss. And I'm not sure it's such a good idea for you to be in here. The
Boss doesn't like women and children being in here."
"I'm his wife,"
said Nova. "If he drinks, I drink with him."
Up in the balcony, one of
the establishment girls leaned over to her partner and whispered,
"Bartimeus had better throw her out, soon. If she isn't outta here, she'll
destroy all of our business for tonight."
"Yeah, Melody,"
said her dark-haired partner in a high voice. "All the cowpokes in here
will wanna be sleeping with her. Stupid blondie. She looks too much like
that pirate queen witch we see in town every now and then."
A moment later, the
bartender slid two mugs of beer down the polished bar towards Derek and Nova.
Derek tasted his beer.
"Not bad."
"Yecch," said
Nova after tasting hers.
"What's wrong? You
usually like a good cold draft from a frosty mug like that."
"I like cocktails
better. Derek, this is watered."
He took some of her beer
and tasted it. "Yeah. They gypped you."
Nova banged her mug on the
bar. "Bartender!"
"Yeah?" said the
old man.
"Sir, this isn't beer.
It's a glass of water diluted with beer," said Nova with a witty smile.
"I told ya; he doesn't
like women and children being in here. Neither do the saloon girls."
"Ignore what they
want. I want a real beer," said Nova.
"Nothing doing,
girlie."
"Give her the
beer," said an eccentric-looking young man in a wide-brimmed hat and
poncho who only came up to Nova's belt line. "She already paid for it, ya
crook."
"Oh, look at this. A
kid's telling me what to do, now. Lady, did you bring your son in here? You are
one messed-up broad."
"I'm not her
son," said the little man in a high-pitched voice. "I'm a man,
too."
A few of the men in the bar
guffawed loudly. Behind his glasses, the little man rolled up his small eyes
and pulled out a huge katana. A scowling man pointed a gun at him, but the
little man took a confident swing at his gun.
Somehow, the barrel fell
off. Then, a moment later, the strange little man swung again, cutting his
sandwich in half. Then, he used his sword to push a mug of beer under the tap,
tapped the beer tap with the tip of the katana until the mug was full,
and then used the katana to push the beer down towards Nova.
"Thanks," said
Nova.
"My pleasure."
"Hey!" yelled the
bartender. "Ain't ya payin' for that?"
"If you gyp women,
it's your loss," said the little man. He followed up his
declaration with a high-pitched laugh, and said, "C'mon. Now that you've
got drinks, my friend’s waiting for you."
"Who are you?"
said Derek.
"Pleased to make your
acquaintance, sir. My name is Tochiro Oyama, former Lieutenant Commander,
Engineering, United Nations Space Defense Forces. I knew your brother and his
best friend Stephen Sandor. Decent people. Funny, but people here say I left a
lot of descendants running around. Haven't met any yet, though! And boy, am I a
long way from
He laughed again, thinking
this was tremendously funny.
They sat down at a round
table. A strange bird flew up and sat on Tochiro's shoulder as a man in an old
blue shipsuit with a high Captain's collar (Derek recognized it because he had
seen Alex wearing this old issue once, a long time ago) looked up and waved a
cheery hello at his friend.
Then, his face turned very serious. He had a mane of
long brown hair that made Derek's look positively neat, and a huge scar
disfigured his right cheek. His left eye was gone, replaced by an eyepatch. He
wore a black cowboy hat, and he drank wine from a goblet.
"At last we
meet," said the man. "Or, rather, we meet again, Captain Wildstar. I
met you once under different circumstances back when you were far too young to
remember. I was close to your brother, and I told him a long time ago I'd
always be your shadow when he wasn't around. Unfortunately, the Gamilons didn't
allow things to happen that way."
"I'm his
shadow," said Nova protectively.
"I don't remember
you," said Captain Wildstar. "What's your name?"
"Captain P. F.
Harlock, former Captain, United Nations Space Defense Forces, and former master
of the command missile ship Deathshadow. I once commanded a squadron of
missile ships that your brother Alex was in. His ship, the Paladin,
actually took the place of my flagship for a while after my ship disappeared.
I'm descended from a line of pilots, and I have heard that there are
descendants of mine running around. Never met them, though. Lucky for me."
"Interesting,"
said Derek. "You wanted to meet with us? I take it you've heard of the Argo?"
"Secondhand, and the
same goes for the name. I never saw her being built, of course. I met with
Admiral Avatar once, back when the ship was called Yamato. They had
plans made up for her. She was supposed to be a sort of Noah's
"Yes, I am. How'd I
get to be so...?"
"News travels fast in
the Gamilon fleet, and then out to the rest of the universe, even though
Desslok may not like it. It's now quite well-known what transpired between you
and Desslok just a little while ago. Oh. Sorry about my error. I know you're
married to him now. Please forgive my rudeness."
"Of course,
Harlock," said Nova.
"Now, as for your
history?" said Derek.
"Unimportant for
now," said Harlock. He took out a data disc and small portable holographic
reader about the size of a folding camera. "I have some information to
share with you. Without this, you'll never get out of this region of space and
get home. Since I owe you a personal debt of obligation I could never fulfill
until now, I figured this would be the best time in which to fulfill my debt to
you and Alex."
"This is the
situation," said Harlock as he put the data disc into his portable reader.
First, an image of the
planet appeared. "Heavy Melder happens to lie at the intersection of
several hundred hyperspace routes. It and its star actually appear in different
places around the Local Group, depending upon which time stream you're coming
in from. You're on this time stream right now," he said, pointing at a
flashing blue line indicating the Argo's course inwards. To get back out
into the space between your galaxy and the Great Magellenic Cloud in your time,
just continue to follow the route like this," said Harlock as the line
grew longer and eventually disappeared off the graphic. "You will have to
warp at exactly 1.34 AU's away from the planet. Warp precisely ten thousand
lightyears in this direction," he said as coordinates appeared below the
line. "Tochiro calculated those. Those coordinates will get you right to
Planet Balan, where you can resume your journey."
"And you'll have to
resume it soon," said Tochiro. "Because time is running out. Of
course, you take this data capsule with you..."
"Why do you say time
is running out?" asked Derek.
"Take a look,"
said Tochiro as he readjusted a control on the reader.
A small but exquisite image
of the Great Magellenic Cloud and the Milky Way appeared above the reader
before a startled Derek and Nova's eyes. "See that flashing dot at the far
side of the Great Magellenic Cloud?" asked Tochiro. "That thing is a
planet-sized fortress I picked up. From what I can guess, it has a diameter of
about eighteen thousand kilometers, and the mass of either Earth or Mars. The
power levels coming off that object are immense. I wonder who could have built
this thing? I did a course projection, and it looks like it's heading right for
the Milky Way at an immense speed."
Derek and Nova looked at
each other with shock. Ekogaru? Oh, God, we're too late! Nova thought. We
can never make it to Iscandar before he does now!
"I can tell that's
what you're seeking?" asked Emeraldas as she came up to the table. She
gave Tochiro a hug before she sat down.
"Why the hug?"
said Tochiro.
"You're not the same as
him, but you're getting better," she whispered.
"And?"
"You make me
laugh," she said with a smile, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Now,
about your fortress," said Emeraldas in a louder voice.
"Yes. It's much closer
to Iscandar than we thought it was," said Derek. "How old is this
scan?"
"I took it on the
"The
"My pirate
battleship," said Harlock as an image of the
"The Harlock of my
time has a much bigger version of the
"So what do you
plunder?" asked Captain Wildstar with a grin. "It appears I'm sitting
here with a couple of cutthroats."
Tochiro smiled a wide,
toothy smile that reminded Derek of Doctor Sane.
"We plunder what we
need from other vessels," said Captain Harlock. "Emeraldas and I fight
for one thing; freedom. We detest Gamilon, Rikasha, the Mechanized Empire, the
Cometines, whomever tries to keep people from living as free men and women. I
have abandoned Earth to live in the sea of stars as a fighter like a ronin
and fulfill this purpose until I die. Then, as I understand from being here in
this place that spans all times and places, other descendants of mine shall
live to take up the same quest."
"As long as there is
deep space, as long as men and women wish to live free, there will always be a
Harlock," said Emeraldas. "I am aging, myself, but as long as there
are women who wish to live free, there will always be an Emeraldas, as
well," said the female pirate. "Even after I die, others will follow
in my footsteps. It has been this way for centuries. And there is a mystery
about me you do not know. Harlock knows, Tochiro knows...but..."
"Can you tell
us?" asked Nova.
"No, I cannot. It
would affect what you must do," said Emeraldas. "Trust me."
"I see," said
Nova, a little crestfallen.
Derek said, "Since you
know of my brother...I think you know about my parents, Harlock."
"Your brother told me.
And I'm so sorry. Let me buy you another drink."
"I'm not sure I
want..."
All of a sudden, Derek
Wildstar felt something hard and cold being pressed into the back of his neck.
'Hey, kid. Your midget
buddy over there cut my friend's cut up with his freaky sword."
"Yeah," said
another one behind Harlock. "We don't like freaks in this town."
"Especially ugly
little ones like you," said another man as he and another one put weapons
into Tochiro's neck.
"You people have some nerve,"
said Emeraldas calmly as she got up. To her surprise, Nova got up with her.
A fifth one came up behind
the two women. "You two ladies have a chance to get your asses out of here
now. I'm sure that you don't want to see your men getting their faces
rearranged."
"Sure you don't want
your own face rearranged?" said Nova sweetly. "You're ugly
enough that it wouldn't matter much."
The local galoots began
laughing, and their guard relaxed.
Tochiro started it by
getting up and smacking one of his captors a good one in the mouth.
A moment later, his enraged friend grabbed Tochiro by
his poncho and threw him out the front window of the saloon.
A few other people got up,
and Captain Wildstar and Captain Harlock also jumped up, pushing away their
tormentors' blasters.
Wildstar looked straight at
Emeraldas. "Do me a favor. Get Nova out of here. NOW!"
"Derek!"
Nova protested. "Hey, I can back you up!"
"Unfortunately, he
might have a point," said Emeraldas. "Come on...we need to see if
Tochiro is all right. I do understand you're a nurse? Tochiro might need
patching up. I hope you have something in that handbag of yours."
A somewhat unwilling Nova
was pulled out of the saloon by Emeraldas, looking back reproachfully at her
husband as she left.
"Now, that we have the
women out of the way so they don't get hurt by flying chairs or bottles?"
said Derek.
"Now, we can kick some
tail," said Harlock.
"Yeah," replied
Derek. "Let's get to it!"
TO BE CONTINUED WITH ACT SIX--"BUSHWHACKED!"
THERE ARE NOW 99 DAYS TO THE ARRIVAL OF EKOGARU IN EARTH'S
SOLAR SYSTEM
To return to the Introduction to the Rikasha
Incident please click here