A STAR IN THE EAST

A Star Blazers Christmas tale for 2011 by

Frederick P. “Freddo” Kopetz

________________________________________________________

I. THE ASHES OF A MIRACLE

Space Battleship Argo

December 24, 2212: 1523 Hours

“It’s beautiful,” Nova Wildstar said to no one in particular on the Argo’s aft observation deck in the ship’s bridge tower as the space battleship cruised through the gleaming, outer gasses of a huge nebula in the constellation of Capricorn. “Almost too beautiful to be the possible frontier of a new space war,” she sighed to herself.

The Star Force had been abruptly deployed by the Earth Defense Forces on December the 22^nd just two days ago, when radio signals had been picked up in this general area, which was 151.14 light years away from Earth, near the Star and Planetary System known as HD 202206. The signals, when decoded, betrayed the presence of a good-sized Bolar Federation Fleet, probably up to no good.

So, the men and women of the Star Force had to separate from their families and heed the call to duty right near the holidays. It had been snowing in the Tokyo Megalopolis when the Argo had cruised off into the Pacific two days ago. In fact, Lieutenant Commander Tetsu Kitano had been forced to navigate the great ship through a blizzard.

The doors to the observation deck whizzed open, and Nova turned and smiled when she saw her husband, Rear Admiral Derek Wildstar, approaching. They kissed and then both leaned against the rail, looking out at the nebula and the stars they could see scattered inside of it.

“It’s beautiful, Derek, isn’t it?” Nova said.

 “Yes, considering it’s a big, charged gas cloud with static electricity going through it,” he said with an impish grin on his boyish face.

“We left the kids at home with my parents, and Hegen and Fela,” Nova teased. “Don’t tell me we brought another one who dressed up like an Admiral in a black coat.” Nova said this even tough Derek only had his usual Star Force whites on.

“Why are you so interested in this nebula, Nova? I mean, it’s not much more than a potential hiding place for the Bolars?”

“Derek, it’s almost Christmas, and astronomers say this could be the Star of Bethlehem we’re floating through out here…”

“The Star of Bethlehem? Nova, that was a miracle…it…”

“A lot of astronomers think it was actually a nova, or a small supernova, pardon the very bad pun,” Nova said. “An astronomer named Kidger argues that ancient Chinese records show no supernovas around 5 BC…”

“5 BC?” Derek said. “Wasn’t Christ born in 1 AD?”

“Before the birth of Christ, in the old Roman Empire, the calendar was based upon the years of an Emperor’s reign, such as ‘ in the twelfth year of the reign of Caesar Tiberius’, et cetera, which is sort of  similar to the traditional Japanese way of measuring out years, by the length of the reign of that Emperor,” Nova said. “A monk converted the years over for the current Western calendar after the Roman Empire became Christian. However, his calculations were off, so the year that he thought was 1 AD, was actually 4 or 5 BC.”

“So what does this have to do with the Star of Bethlehem, Nova?”

“Astronomers in China reported a bright new star that appeared in the constellation of Capricorn between March 10th and April 27^th of 5 BC. Kidger argued that although this star was not particularly bright, when combined with the earlier sightings of conjunctions, massing and parings in the constellation Pisces (identified with the Jews) it would have been enough to send the wise men on their journey.”

“And they were following a star?” said Derek. “So, Nova, you’re trying to tell me…?”

“We have a connection to the Christmas story here, Derek! We’re flying through the gaseous remains of the star the wise men were following, oh….two thousand, two hundred and seventeen years ago. I think it’s romantic!”

“Yeah, you would think that, Mrs. Wish Upon a Star. Don’t wish on this one, please?” Derek said with a smirk. “The last time you did that, oh…thirteen years ago, the Gamilons nearly had us eating that star thanks to Desslok’s Ecto-Gas.”

“I’m not wishing on it,” Nova said. “But I am praying that we have an interesting Christmas season given that we are stuck out here.” She coughed a bit, causing Derek to look at her with some concern.

The ship’s klaxons began going off a moment later.

Homer’s voice said, “Attention, all hands, The Officer of The Deck has placed the ship on yellow alert; possible enemy signals intercepted. The ship is on yellow alert…Captain and First Officer to the Bridge.”

“That means us,” Derek said. “Lead the way, First Officer.”

“Yessir,” Nova said.

____________________________________________________________________

About two minutes later, on Bridge Number One, Derek was going over the intercept with Homer while Nova ran to her radar and scanned the area.

“The words we picked up were Bolar, all right,” Homer said. “But I’m not sure of what they’re up to.”

“We’re not sure of where they came from, sir,” said Dash, who was serving as the Officer of the Deck this time out. “Eager did a scan, but the nebula seems to be occulting it.” Dash watched Nova and whispered to Derek, “Is she okay, sir?”

“What do you mean?”

“Her right hand is shaking a little,” he said in a whisper.

“Nova’s just been lacking sleep. Remember, she’s a medical intern now since she graduated Med School in May, but in her first year of Residency,” said Derek. “This is where they work them to death. Doctor Sane even has her on call in the wee hours about every two days. Some nights, she crashes at the hospital. Those nights, I bring her food and a change of clothes in the morning after taking the kids to pre-school and Kindergarten.” Derek spoke about the obvious, not wanting to speak of the private studies Nova undertook, based upon Pellian scrolls and books, nor did he wish to get into a discussion about her meditation, saber practice, or yoga, even though the two of them sometimes did that mental work together.

“Yeah, Joshua and Aaron love Kindergarten,” said Homer, referring to his own sons with Wendy.

Nova raised her head from her console a moment later. “No actual vessels here, but I got something on the Time Radar. There were Bolar destroyers in this region fifteen hours ago. Time Radar picks up five of them. They were at slow speed, no more than eight knots. I wish we knew what these ships’ call signs were…”

“Yeah, me too,” said Eager.

At the Mechanical Station, Lieutenant Commander Diane Sandor (who was alone here this Christmas because Stephen Sandor was on duty elsewhere as Captain of the space battleship Sagittarius) took some scans and said, “I’m picking up old radioactive exhaust…definitely Bolar exhaust. They’re out here, all right.”

“Maintain yellow alert,” said Derek. “The Christmas Party is postponed until nineteen hundred or when the alert ends, whichever comes first. Homer, send an intercept to Earth Defense Headquarters; tell them we’ve spotted bad guys 151 light years away from Terra; we might need reinforcements out here if they try anything major.”

“Roger,” said Homer.

Nova sighed and shook her head. Another long day, and my back hurts, and my boots hurt, and I just hurt… she thought irritably. Two days ago, I was breaking up fights between Anya and Steve, then between Anya and Ariel, and trying to do this while reading case notes from someone’s gall bladder surgery that Derek almost dripped coffee over, and then I had to make a house call at the beach at 2 AM because Yuri and her mother were both not feeling well, and then I got into a landlord-tenant argument with Yuri’s mother over the heating system in the beach cottage, so I had to replace the furnace filter at 2:15 AM after treating them for asthma symptoms in my bathrobe and nightgown which I got all dusty and filthy…and I let her mother slide on part of the rent for two hundred credits because she was laid off from her job for a month…I need sleep, Goddamnit! How much can I do, God?

Homer sent the message.

A moment later, Eager, at the tactical radar, yelled out, “Missiles approachin’! Big wave o’ missiles!”

“Crap!” snapped Derek, who braced himself as the ship was hit one, two, three times by the Bolar missiles. He ran to the Combat station and he hit the red alert button. “All hands to combat stations! Repeat! All hands to combat stations! We’re under Bolar attack!”

“There’s ten of them around the ship,” Nova said from her radar. “Distance, eight megameters…they’re forming something like a ring around us!”

“We’ve taken damage to the port stern; they blew one of the catapults off,” said Diane from her post. “Sending repair crews to that portion of the ship to patch the hull breach in compartment four hundred twelve…”

“I’m keeping the engines up and in trim the best I can,” said Patrick Orion from his post at Engineering.

“Kitano!” snapped Derek. “Turn us ten degrees to port! Commander Rosstowski, open main guns!”

“Main guns open,” said Paul from his post. “What should I target?”

“The lead vessel…we need room to maneuver,” said Derek as the Argo turned, smoking.

 “Roger that,” said Paul.

“Turning as ordered,” snapped Kitano. “Heading, ten degrees to port!”

And, at that, on Christmas Eve, the Argo again flew into combat.

They were outnumbered; and the intentions of the enemy remained unknown.

But, they had been in situations like this countless times. Derek had the confidence they would make it through this fight and get back home again without resorting to a miracle.

How wrong he would be….

II. OF THE BLACK HOLE CANNON

Space Battleship Argo

December 24, 2212: 1628 Hours

So far, the Argo had taken down two Bolar destroyers, and she had taken damage to her stern, third bridge, aft starboard torpedo tubes, and the smokestack missile launch silo. She was dodging enemy fire, and firing back with her main guns in a constant rhythm of fire.

“We took down another enemy vessel,” said Nova from her radar. “Derek, I dispatched medic crews to Decks Twelve and Six; Doctor Sane said he’ll need my assistance in surgery after the battle.”

“No problem; we just need to get through this thing, first…” Derek replied.

“I’m picking up some kind of distortion in subspace,” said Diane from her post. “It’s huge!”

Nova gasped. “Derek! There’s some kind of huge Bolar fortress appearing…right from out of nowhere…it’s…massive!”

“Size?” he snapped.

“It’s several hundred kilometers in size, and it just dwarfs the destroyers!” Nova said. “Power reading, unknown….”

“So what is it doing?” said Rosstowski.

“It’s just…sitting there,” Nova mused.

“Message from the Fortress, voice-only,” said Homer. “One word, Captain. SURRENDER.”

“Send back our own one-word reply,” said Derek.

“Which is?” Homer said.

“NUTS,” said Derek, remembering his military history and the message that American troops had sent back to a German General who demanded their surrender in the Battle of The Bulge near Bastogne, Belgium, on Christmas Day, 1944. “Just send that.”

“Response from the Fortress!” yelled Eager. “It’s…it’s…shootin’ something at us!”

And it was.

The beam that came from the enemy vessel was a massive energy charge that flew behind the Argo.

It then exploded behind the ship….

…then, the Argo began to get pulled backwards into some kind of field.

“What the hell is that?” said Eager.

“A Black Hole field!” said Diane Sandor from her post.

“It generated a Black Hole that’s pulling us in…fast!” said Nova.

“Kitano…full engine power…now!” said Derek.

“Can’t hold it….” Kitano said. “We’re falling….back…into the field….”

A moment later, the Argo fell out of control and spiraled down, backwards, into something like the drain pipe of the Cosmos.

A Black Hole.

The Argo fell out of the Cosmos, out of this very space-time itself….

…to emerge, alive….

In the atmosphere of some Earth-like planet, where she was falling into a spin.

That was the first miracle…

…that the Star Force had even survived this trip into a Black Hole and come out intact. In fact, the Bolar Admiral in command of the Black Hole Fortress was now gleefully reporting to the Bolar Federation that he had at last, defeated the mighty Star Force and destroyed the Argo.

And, Admiral Igor Kalashnikov was informed by his superiors that he had the Federation’s highest Medal of Honor and great honor waiting for him on the Homeworld. “That is when you report back,” said the Grand Admiral who took his call. “For now, hold position there, and make sure that the Earthers do not send anything else into that space…then, you can advance upon Earth with that Fortress a day later and demand their surrender.”

“Yessir!” said Kalashnikov, who laughed as he took a drink.

III. SURVIVAL: OUT OF TIME

Space Battleship Argo

December 24, 2212: 1705 Hours

Somehow, he didn’t know how, Kitano managed to get the Argo out of that dead spin. The damaged ship found itself coming in for a slow landing on a planet with a body of water shimmering before them. It was sunset. It looked serene, peaceful, and quiet.

“Does anyone have any idea where we are?” said Derek.

Nova was scanning the coastline, which was about a hundred kilometers away, rather carefully. “We’d better submerge, if we can,” she said. “I am so sick from that bad landing!”

“We just came through a Black Hole,” said Kitano. “What do you expect, ma’am?”

“Enough,” said Admiral Wildstar. “Where are we, Nova?”

“This coastline is either the coast of Israel or Syria, or a very bad impression thereof,” Nova said with a grin. “We’re on Earth. And Doctor Sane reports casualties. Concussions and so forth from that passage through that Black Hole. We have to get something back out there to stop that…thing…”

“Okay; Homer, send out a distress call to the EDF Haifa Station,” said Derek. “Tell them that we’re damaged; we may need a medical ship to pick up wounded, and that we need to report to Rear Admiral Dayan about the enemy we faced and that we need a secure line back to the Megalopolis.”

“Yessir,” said Homer.

He tried calling as Nova made ready to leave.

Nothing happened.

Nova kissed Derek and left the Bridge.

“Homer, why can’t you reach anyone?” said Wildstar. “Is the radio damaged?”

Homer banged his board in frustration. “It must be! I’m not getting anything but static…”

“And that’s all you’re going to get,” said Diane after she looked at some readings.

“What?” said Derek.

“We’re on Earth, all right. But not in 2209,” said Diane Sandor.

“Where are we then?” said Kitano.

 “The past…sometime before about 100 AD, based upon my sensors,” she said. “The telemetry went bad as we landed, but…if my calculations are right…we are on Earth…somewhere in the period of the Middle of the Roman Empire.”

“DAMNIT!” snapped Derek as he banged his panel in frustration. “No wonder we are not picking up anything on the radio!”

“It’s around sunset,” said Kitano. “I’m picking up stars…including…this bright one…somewhere in the East…”

He scanned the stars and took some readings with his navigational instruments.

“One vessel approaching…slow speed,” said Eager. “Distance, twenty kilometers…getting a visual…”

He pulled up a visual of a Roman warship, a trireme, by the looks of it.

 “It’s makin’ really slow speed,” said Eager. “Maybe two knots.”

“Like that would be a threat to us,” snorted Rosstowski. “We could blow that thing out of the water…”

“We could, but do we want to?” snapped Derek. “If they see us, it would affect time, since we are not supposed to be here. Diane, can we submerge the ship?”

“With sealing off a few compartments, the bulk of the ship would be watertight, sir,” said Diane.

“Good. Get those compartments sealed PDQ….then, we’ll submerge.” Derek said.

“Then what are we going to do?” said Kitano.

“I’ll be talking with Diane and the XO in an hour,” said Derek. “Eager, you’re in command until I get back.”

“Roger,” said Eager.

____________________________________________________

The Argo submerged successfully twenty minutes later after Derek made an announcement, in just enough time to avoid contact with the Roman ship.

Derek was looking for Nova. He found her in Sickbay half an hour later.

She had changed into a tan scrub tunic, battered brown East-Indian style sandals, and a white lab coat. She was sitting in her office on a chair near a cup of coffee, reading a patient’s chart with her reading glasses on when Derek came in.

“Hi,” he said. “How did you and Sane do with the injured?”

“There were fifteen casualties, only two were critical. We need to do some emergency surgeries; the rest were admitted to Sickbay for observation because they were knocked in the head,” Nova said. “Did they figure out what era we’re in yet?”

“We saw a Roman warship, driven by sail and oars, and it looked to be a trireme from early in the Empire, probably between 10 BC to 30 AD,” Derek said.

Nova sat back and removed her glasses. “I’ve been using my…senses. I believe that we’re probably around 6 BC. If we could figure out from a star sighting on a portable sextant or fixed sextant what month, day, and year it is, we could reset the main computer with that data and then take off and perform a long warp back to our own time the next day.”

“How would you propose we do that?” Derek said.

“I could teleport myself and one other person off the ship and into the desert of Judea to do exactly that. I volunteer myself and you.”

 “Nova, I respect your desire to get us out of this, but walking around on Earth in this time is crazy. We don’t know the languages, which are all dead by now, nor do we have the clothing, and we don’t know much of the culture…”

“The most commonly used language in the Roman Empire of this era was Koine or Common Greek,” Nova said. “And that’s not really a dead language, since modern Greek evolved from it. And Steve has that Gamilon device on the ship.”

“The memory unit?” said Derek. “Nova, I am not touching that thing…and…”

Nova smiled and said, “Ego το το χρησιμοποίησε ακριβώς, είναι τέλεια ασφαλές!”

“What the hell did you just say?” Derek said.

“I said, “I used it. It is perfectly safe. Get under the helmet and let Diane and I program you unless you want to be a barbarian in the Roman province of Judea if anyone encounters us.”

“A barbarian,” Derek mused. “Okay, Nova, I’ll go along with this one…just promise we’ll get back to the ship without having to fight the Tenth Legion or affecting history.”

“I’ll do my best,” Nova said. “Besides, isn’t Christmas the time for miracles?”

Derek nodded.

_____________________________________________________

90 MINUTES LATER….

The hatch to the Captain’s Quarters on the Argo opened, and Diane came in when Derek snapped “enter”!

She almost laughed in spite of herself at Derek’s appearance.

Wildstar now had on a theatrical beard, messier hair than ever, a black Gamilon tunic, and a battered outer cloak in grey, with sandals on his feet.

“Damn, you look like an extra from some Biblical movie!” laughed Diane.

“Oh? Then that’s a compliment?” Nova said. She had on her tan scrub tunic, a cloak in dirty white, her own sandals, and a blue veil on over part of her hair. Diane noticed that she and Derek had on belts with battered sacks with some rations in them and their portable Astro-Sextants, along with swords hanging on belts.

“Enough of this,” said Derek. “I daresay we look authentic enough. Diane, any more star sightings?”

“We surfaced an hour ago, and I got these sightings. There’s some cloud cover, and I got a glimpse of that bright star near Capricorn.”

Nova looked at it and went “Ohhhh…Derek…that’s the supernova in whose remnants we fought that battle. Only here, in this time, it is going off. And then…”

“That’s the fabled Star of Bethlehem?”

Diane shrugged. “I guess so. From the other constellations, I figured out we are sometime in December of 6 BC, probably late December.”

“Kidger is a little off,” Nova said. “But of course, he was not here to observe it close-at-hand, like we are…”

“Explain?” said Derek.

Nova cleared her throat. “Kidger noted that if the Magi had taken about three months to make their journey from around Persia and Babylonia, which is modern-day Iraq and Iran, the star would have moved from a position in the east to a position in the south (the direction of Bethlehem coming from Jerusalem) just because of the seasonal movement of the night sky.”

“And now it is in the South!” cried Diane. “My God…that means…”

“If we’re not careful, we may run into a caravan with the Magi in charge,” said Derek. “Nova, find us a spot in the middle of nowhere to put us.”

“I was studying maps…if we end up here, about five miles north of Mareshah, we will be in the desert,” Nova said. “I marked it “LANDING POINT. Really, the middle of nowhere,” Nova said. “We can be in, and then we will be out.”

“Sounds like a plan, XO,” Derek said with a smile.

“Well,” said Diane. “You two are going, then?”

Derek nodded. “We should be back in two or three hours, hopefully with the data we need to get back home and stop the Bolars.”

“Well, since you two are speaking of miracles,” said Diane as she looked at them. “I’ll pray for you.”

“Please do that,” Nova said.

Then, she held hands with Derek…and vanished.

“I’ll never get over how the hell she does that now,” said Diane. “Her and those odd powers she picked up from that…buried Iscandarian heritage awakened by the Cosmo-DNA and by that weird Aliscea when she went rogue…..”

IV. GUIDED BY A STAR

The Wilderness of Judea

December 29, 6 BC: 2100 Hours

The Wildstars arrived in the Judean desert in a cold downpour.

They trudged along in the wet sand, braving the winds as they looked up at the sky.

“It’s half-covered with clouds,” said Derek. “Nova, let’s get back to the ship, take off, and go land in another location on Earth to map those stars. Someplace warm. Like Tahiti.”

“This is the best location to map this object that I could think of,” Nova said.

“And the object?” Derek said.

“The star?” Nova said as she walked along.

Now, it came to pass that while Derek and Nova trudged over a rise in the desert in the rainstorm, they spied an unusual procession.

A man, no older, by his looks than Derek, was leading a donkey along by a rope. The donkey was laden with packs and with a very young woman who was holding a bundle of some kind.

The Wildstars looked at each other. It was flat out here in the cold, blustery night, and they were (by a sheer guess) already more than a kilometer away from the point they had landed at. They looked up at the sky; clouds skittered across half of it, but the half-moon was very visible.

They had no place to hide from the approaching group, and no way to avoid eventually being seen. Nova’s command over her portion of the Matrix could not confer invisibility like one of Tolkien’s mythical Rings of Power, and Derek, of course, had nowhere near that power.

“We can’t hide,” Nova whispered as she stowed her Astro-Sextant away in the rough-hewn leathern bag she was hoping she would not have to use.

“I know,” said Derek.

“So what do we do?” said Nova.

“We’re going to have to try out that Biblical-era Greek that Gamilon device placed in our minds,” Derek said as he shivered in his robes and under his false beard.

Nova nodded, but she said, “They’re heading right toward us. Could they be bandits?”

“If they were, they’d be running,” said Derek. “Or trying to be more stealthy.”

Nova shaded her hand as the couple with the donkey approached. “The woman’s holding something…”

“What is it?”

“Looks like a bundle,” Derek whispered. “Did you get enough constellations recorded to pick out a date?”

“No…I’ll have to try again tomorrow night, I think…unless the clouds lift…” Nova sighed as she shivered in her thin tan scrub tunic and Biblical-looking over-robe and veil. Her thin East Indian thong sandals were certainly authentic, but they provided little protection for her feet as she stepped carefully over the boggy, cold, muddy ground. She had guessed, but never knew, that Judea could be very cold this time of year. “I do know, though, that it is sometime in December….and…”

“HO!” yelled the young man leading the donkey. He then yelled out, in bad Greek, “Who are you people who speak that strange tongue?”

“Travelers, like yourselves!” called out Derek in equally bad Greek. “We come from a far distant land in the East! What is your business?”

“That is no concern of yours!” snapped the young man. “What is your business? Are you here to rob us?”

“No, we are not,” said Derek in bad Greek.

“Josef, give them a chance,” said the woman.

Nova looked at her. “Are you holding a…?”

Then, the bundle began to cry.

“Derek, she has a baby in her arms,” Nova said softly.

“Have you anything to do with the cruel King set in place by the Romans?” said the woman.

“No,” said Nova. “Not any King in this land. We come from the Far East; the land where many spices are sold…”

“We are fleeing from a massacre…or one that is about to happen,” said the young woman boldly. Nova looked at her. She looked to be no more than sixteen years old. “What is your business?”

“We’re lost,” said Derek. “We…were with a caravan heading East, and we are trying to find it…”

“Like us,” said Josef. “We are looking for a caravan heading to Alexandria, to the Diaspora. My wife and our son might be safe there.”

Nova gently walked up to the donkey, and she looked at the little boy. He had reddish-brown hair and piercing dark-blue eyes that looked very intelligent. His little bare foot kicked up from her covers, and Nova tickled it, and he giggled.

“He was just blessed and circumcised at the Temple in Jerusalem yesterday, and he is a bit cranky, so…he likes you,” said the young woman. “And I have a great sense that you will succeed in your errand, and find that caravan, as we shall find ours…Josef, give them some of our bread…”

“We will need it!” snapped Josef.

“Give it to them,” said the young woman. “Little Joshua liked them. That is a sign from Heaven that these people are blessed, and they need nourishment for their task.”

Josef thus gave the Wildstars one flatbread, and a skin of watered wine, as water in those days was unsafe to drink. “Share this,” he said. “Go with the Blessing of the Most High,” he said.

“We will,” Derek said. “Thank you.”

Nova and Derek waved at the couple. They went their way towards the main road in the west, and they went on their own, heading south.

Ten minutes later, the sky began to clear.

The rain stopped.

And, all of the stars came out.

A second miracle had occurred.

“My God, Nova,” said Derek. “Weather changes quickly around here. Who were those people we met?”

Tears were in Nova’s eyes as she stood quietly facing the West. “Joshua,” said Nova quietly. “Josef. That must have been Miriam herself we were just talking with. And the clouds blew away…and the storm stopped…”

“That Baby?” said Derek.

Nova said, “We were in the Christmas Story for a minute, Derek! Let’s scan these stars and get going…”

They began to scan the stars. In a few minutes, they had enough data to know the time and date that they were at, to the very second. They downloaded the data to the Argo and Derek pulled out a comm device and said, “Diane, we just sent along the data we need. Prepare for a space warp…we’ll be on board ship in a few minutes.”

“Roger that,” said Diane Sandor over the speaker. “I have your data…we will be surfacing in thirty-eight minutes, and taking off right after that…and warping ten minutes later. Get back fast!”

“We intend to,” said Nova. “We…”

Then, they heard a yell, and they heard galloping hooves. Nova cut off and hid her device.

Two horsemen came towards them and stopped.

One drew a sword. He was a Roman centurion, and he looked very grim.

The other was a nasty-looking little man in robes who grinned at them. “Actius, hold off a moment with the sword,” he said as Derek and Nova drew their own swords; a katana and wakizashi, to be exact. “Ah….mysterious guardsmen from the East. Were you just consorting with a couple with a baby? We mean to interrogate them for the King. As we mean to interrogate you. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Theophilus, a minister of King Herod the Great. Drop your weapons.”

“Drop yours,” snapped Derek. “We are on an important errand.”

“And we were talking with no one,” said Nova in an odd voice.

“Nobody?” said Actius.

Derek nodded, knowing what Nova was up to through the bond they shared. “We were talking with no one,” said Derek. “We found another trail leading East, towards the Dead Sea. “

“We think that you may find the ones you seek there,” said Nova, as she thought, to Derek, I just sent them towards the caravan of the Magi. They are many, and well-armed. They’ll take care of this bunch.

“Thank you for your service to the Empire, citizens,” said Actius, saluting with his fist to his breast plated heart. The Wildstars saluted back, using their own salute. “Theophilus, I know this country, we go this way. HO!” he snapped at Theophilus.

The little man snarled, saluted Derek and Nova, and took off.

“That was a close one,” said Nova.

“And we just saved the couple,” said Derek.

“Indeed we did,” she said as they kissed and then faded out, reappearing on the Argo.

V. HOMECOMING: AND A BATTLE

Space Battleship Argo

December 24, 2212: 1750 Hours

“Well,” said Kalashnikov. “How long, Gerda, until we are sure the Star Force is finished, so we can send the demand to Earth to surrender?”

“I think we can do it now,” said Admiral Gerda aboard the ugly Bolar Fortress.

“Very good…open a channel to Earth….”

At that moment, there was a flash of light.

And, the third Christmas miracle occurred as the Argo roared back into her time, emerging from warp and ready to fight.

“What?” said Kalashnikov as he opened a channel to the Argo.

As Derek sat at his post, back in uniform, with the false beard off, he said, “We’re ready to go at it, Admiral. Do you want to surrender?”

“Never!” he roared as a few of the Black Tigers took off.

In a moment, Deke Wakefield and his two wingmen attacked the Black Hole Cannon, blowing it to bits before Kalashnikov could do much of anything about it.

“Get it repaired!” roared Kalashnikov on his ship. “Open all missile ports, target…the Argo! Destroyers, stand ready to…”

The Tigers landed, just in time for Deke Wakefield to run to the bridge and hear Wildstar giving the order to fire the Wave Motion Gun.

“Wakefield!” snapped Derek. “Sit down at Analysis!”

“And get yourself some goggles!” Nova cried as she sat at her post, back in her gold and black uniform and boots. “Derek, they’re holding course…”

“One minute to firing!” he snapped from his post at Combat. “Open target scope!”

The target scope for the wave motion gun came up as Derek took a sighting and then pulled on his own goggles.

“Energy level, ninety percent,” said young Orion from his post. “Forty-five seconds to firing.”

“They know we’re serious!” said Nova. “Derek, that thing is turning around!”

“What are they doing?” said Admiral Wildstar.

“Running!” laughed Eager.

“I don’t get it, Derek,” Nova said. “Why did they just run?”

“Maybe it’s another miracle,” said Derek. “After all, it’s…Christmas…”

Homer said, “Admiral…it’s the Commander! He just said that he’s sending the Ninth Fleet out here, and we’re relieved!”

“Orders?” said Derek.

“Get home…ASAP,” said Homer.

“Kitano, prepare for a space warp,” said Derek.

“Destination?” said Kitano.

“Home. After all…we will be home for Christmas…now….”

_____________________________________________________________

The Argo landed on Earth on hour later.

It was before Christmas Eve was over with.

Her last leg of the journey was a peaceful cruise through the Great Eastern Sea with some ceremonial Christmas lights turned on all over the mighty space battleship’s surface.

Derek was glad they would be home.

So was Nova. She had just called their children and let them know they would be all right, and home before midnight….

…home just in time for Christmas, after all.

THE END

To all, a Merry Christmas, and to all a Good Night!

--Freddo

12/25/2011