ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE
STAR BLAZERS---A WOUND (LIKE A KNIFE TO THE HEART)
Being the ninth part of THE RIKASHA INCIDENT--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz
ACT FOUR :THE SWEET SMELL OF A SACRIFICE
I. A DESPERATE OFFENSE
Space Battleship Argo
In Orbit Over Carufax
April 11, 2202
1403 Hours: Terran Space-time
Commander Mark Venture was now back on the Argo's First Bridge.
"The Technomugar Fortress is beginning to turn its most heavily illuminated portion towards Carufax, sir."
"Thank you, Mrs. Voorhees. What's the range?" asked Venture as he looked forward to the Cosmo Radar, where Becky was sitting. Venture was back at the Captain's station again. Eager currently had the helm.
"Three thousand megameters and closing."
"That thing's too damn close for comfort!" cried Eager.
"You're right. If it gets much closer, there'll be earthquakes down there on that planet from the tidal effects upon the crust," said Sandor.
"Damn!" said Mark. "Wildstar and the others are still down there. Homer? Any word from Hemsford?"
"I�m getting something now," said Homer. "He says he's just joined up with the Captain. They're boarding a Technomugar space battleship that's landed on the surface. According to Cha'rif, Aliscea's on that ship. They think they can get in there and get her, Venture."
"Good," said Mark, who breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well, we're getting a bit closer to accomplishing our goal," said Dash. "When they have Aliscea off the ship, and when Wildstar gets back with that information he says he has, we'll be much better set to fight that damnthing out there."
"Yes," said Venture.
Becky then cried out. "Ter'garv's ship is charging the Fortress!"
"What?" said Venture.
"I'm getting a signal from Ter'garv," said Homer.
The interior of the B'eoneraze's bridge came out on the Argo's main screen. Ter'garv sat there smiling.
"Commander Venture. I'm going to stop him from using his Phased Density Cannon against Carufax."
"How?"
"You'll see. It will be quite obvious. I have said my good-byes to Cha'rif already when he contacted me psionicially. Give the same to Wildstar when you see him. He was a great ally. Goodbye!"
Then, it was obvious what Ter'garv was doing as his space battleship blasted towards a glowing protrusion on the Fortress, ignoring all of the green fire that emerged from other gun ports on the Fortress. The fire tore up the B'eoneraze as she came, but Ter'garv ignored the shredding of his own ship. "Ter'garv!" cried Venture.
The old bearded man just smiled and saluted on a bridge that was filling up with fire. A moment later, the Argo's main screen was covered with a blaze of white light as the B'eoneraze rammed the Technomugar Fortress' greatest weapon.
Outside, there was a great explosion as the Argo's main screen went dark. Then, there was silence as the Technomugar Fortress sat there with some of her multicolored lights extinguished and a huge stream of smoke pouring out of the barrel of the Phased Density Cannon.
"Now that's more like it," said Venture with a smile. "Dash, how many weapons do we have left?"
"Not a lot."
"Well, do you think you can prepare an attack on that Fortress?"
"Yes, mostly with torpedoes and missiles to start with "
"Go for it," said Venture.
At that, the Argo began to turn.
II. ALISCEA'S STAND AND YVONA'S MADNESS
Carufax
Inside Ekogaru's Space Battleship
In Orbit Over Carufax
April 11, 2202
1441 Hours: Terran Space-time
Aliscea Rosstowski cried out in pain. Her physical efforts to get the damper bracelet off were burning her hands, and the mental efforts were so intense that it was making her nose bleed.
She gasped again, ignoring the continuing flow of blood onto her chest as she worked the clasp on the damper bracelet.
Suddenly, the jewels went dark and she was able to work the clasp. It finally opened!
Aliscea shrugged the bracelet off, and stood on her toes as she drew in a great, gasping breath of relief. Good, she thought as she stood on the deck, letting the coolness of the metal deck wash up her from the soles of her bare feet upwards as her power began to rush back to life inside her soul. I don't feel Ekogaru now. I wonder what in blazes has happened to him? No matter.
She found a drinking water tap in the communications room, and washed herself clean of her own blood after she psionicially stopped the nosebleed. Paul? She sent.
Yes? Came the reply.
I'm free now.
Are those guards still there?
Yes, the idiots are still hammering at the hatch. Correction; they're trying to break in. I guess they think I'm helpless because I'm armed only with a little blaster. Anyway, I'm putting a plan of this place in your mind. Follow it, and you can meet me. Then, I can find Ekogaru, dispatch him, and we can find Derek and Nova and get off this ship.
What about Nova and Yvona?
Nova can take care of herself. We'll all be together soon
But we're heading towards the Fortress!
So? Size matters not. If I get Ekogaru, his Fortress becomes space junk.
In the room, the armored hatch began to glow red.
They're ready to start the party now, Paul. See you later.
Aliscea?
She smiled as she cut contact. Then, she spit into her hands, rubbed them together
and waited for the Technomugar soldiers to try to come and get her
Ekogaru the Great continued to rant.
"My time has come!" he yelled. "Now, we are about to dock with the Fortress now, and, "
Then, his cyborg jaw fell open. An explosion came on the Fortress.
"What has happened?" he demanded.
A crewman said, "Sir, the Phased Density Cannon has been disabled. We were in power-up mode, as you ordered, but a Rikashan space battleship rammed it. We can't fire now!"
"All right, let's use our weapons to fry Carufax's surface! We can do it and kill all of them!"
"Yessir."
"When we finish the massacre, we will warp to Rikasha. Make the warp field strong enough to pull the enemy ships there along with us in our wake. Then we'll take them all captive and then crucify and torment them. Got it?"
"Of course."
A huge landing bay opened. It was one of the thousands of bays on the Grand Fortress. Ekogaru's space battleship began to dock with his Fortress a moment later.
"I am home!" ranted Ekogaru. "Yes, I am here, and I am the undisputed Lord of "
"Are you?" asked Vergar. Vergar abruptly stood up with a blaster in his hand.
"What?" said Ekogaru.
"Have this, Ekogaru! You have destroyed our ideals in your madness!"
Then, Ekogaru took a shot in his chest.
"SCUM!" roared Ekogaru as he staggered around. Before Vergar could shoot again, Ekogaru raised his hands. Green fire blasted forth from them, catching Vergar straight in the head. His old servant died screaming as he burned.
The dying Ekogaru then picked up his blaster and pointed two blasters at his crew. "Get him out of here! Bring medics! I will soon collapse into a healing trance. In the meantime, inform General Hallander that he will run the Empire in my stead until I recover! I can trust him! And have this traitor's corpse fully burned! II"
At that, the Dark Lord collapsed. Before unconsciousness came, he managed to slow down his cyborg functions just enough so that he could be kept alive in a trance until he was repaired. Then, his black consciousness winked out.
Unknown to him, as he passed out, the Fortress' weapons systems began to shut down one by one. He and his men were unaware of this at the moment, though. The ship landed, clanking to in the bay's docking claws.
A moment later, Ekogaru was cast onto a floating litter, and in a quick procession, he and his bridge crew left the battleship, disappearing into the bowels of the Fortress.
"Nova? Nova?"
"Oh, Derek, my head!"
"I wonder where we are?"
"Not sure. It's awful dark in here"
A moment later, a number of red lights came on. Nova and Derek could then see that they were in a strange, round room with shiny black metal walls. It was very cold. Far above them, a hatch hissed open, exposing a huge, round viewport. Lights and support pillars could be seen outside. Then, Nova looked up and felt like weeping. "Derek! I think I know where this ship is and where we are!"
"Where?"
"The Fortress. We're inside it," she said, feeling utter despair. "Do you think there's a way out?"
"If only I could read those plans in my jacket pocket"
A hatch hissed open, and Yvona Josiah walked in, followed by a number of guards.
"Don't let her know you have those plans" whispered Nova.
Derek nodded.
"Where am I?" Nova gasped out loud.
"In my house," the grotesque-looking semi-repaired Yvona replied. "Do you two like it?"
"We hate it!" said Derek. "Along with you!"
He pulled his blaster and fired. Yvona made the beam bounce back...it hit him in the arm, making him cry out.
"Derek!" cried Nova. She held him as he moaned. Then, Yvona put her hand on his head,
and he began to scream
"Stop doing that to him!" screamed Nova.
Yvona kept her hand on Derek's head. She smiled and sat down beside Nova, who was half-sitting, half-lying on the cold, cold stone floor of the ship. "As you guessed, you are in the Technomugar Fortress now. Welcome to your new home; not your house, not the Argo, but the edge of Joy Suite Number Sixty-Six. You're outside it. You will be tortured, tormented, and broken, just like we've done to Aliscea Rosstowski and some of your other friends from Earth. We will break you. Every smidgen of love for your Japanese Captain will be burned from your psyche as we torture you, and every smidgen of love he has for you shall likewise be burned out. Then, when you kiss the feet of Ekogaru and worship Him as your new God, we will make you anew in our image. You will become immortal, and a vassal of Ekogaru the Great forever. Then, you will help me rule over your dear planet Earth as my absolute toady and slave!"
"No I won't!" cried Nova as twelve guards bodily picked her and Derek up and she kicked unashamed like a small but very wild animal fighting its way out of a trap...to try to return to her mate. "I have work to do! I have to get back with my Derek and care for him!"
"No you won't," said Yvona.
"Like hell I won't. I'll fight you!"
"Me too!" roared Captain Wildstar as Yvona took his cosmo-gun and gave it to one of her guards. "We'll get you if it's the last thing we do!"
"You sound so brave, my dears." She took her hand off Derek's head. Then, she smiled and thought, It is almost time. I will deal with you, and then release my almost fully-grown clone child and take her healthy brain. The download is continuing. Then, with her dead and her healthy parts inside me, I will deal with Ekogaru last of all, and make you bow before me. I wonder where Ekogaru is? Some god he makes; can't even feel his presence!
The door to Aliscea's prison blew open. Immediately, the Technomugar guards advanced.
They advanced into a holocaust, screaming as flame consumed trooper after trooper.
A second ball of fire consumed an officer, and Aliscea, enjoying her special protection from fire, ran unscathed through the flames. Soon, the few surviving troopers fired at Yvona's backside as she ran on.
The young woman smiled, and made a curtain of green energy appear between herself and her would-be tormentors. The troopers fired anyway, and they merely succeeded in shooting themselves.
Aliscea blew a raspberry at the few surviving enemies, and then she ran away with barefoot grace.
Now, I just have to find Paul, she thought.
The Argo and the remaining ships of Cha'rif's fleet regrouped and began to fire upon the Grand Fortress. Finally, Venture smiled for the first time in hours as missile after missile from the Argo and energy bolt after energy bolt from the Rikashan ships battered the Fortress.
"Hey! We're actually damaging that thing now!" laughed Dash. "Do you think we can end it here? Why'd they stop firing?"
"I don't know," said Venture.
"Hey! We got another hit!" laughed Nishina.
"There's some kind of energy buildup taking place on the Fortress," said Sandor.
"Do you know what's happening?"
"No, Venture."
"Oh, great!"
On the Fortress, Captain Derek Wildstar huffed and puffed in his physical agony.
"Awww...is baby's diaper wet?" asked Yvona. "Let him go, people. I want to strike him."
They shoved Captain Wildstar to the deck. Derek immediately snarled like an animal and pounced on Yvona like a wildcat
Yvona wasn't expecting this. She was utterly shocked by the young man's fierce bravery. The two of them fought and grappled like wild animals. The guards were startled because they hadn't expected such resistance from an unarmed human.
Nova desperately tried to break free to help her husband, but she didn't have the strength to do so. More guards came, and she felt the bite of a needle in her thigh. She went limp.
"What did you do to her?" roared Derek as he saw Nova fall into a state of utter helplessness. He forced his way up and put his hands around Yvona's neck. "Free her, or, I swear, I'll break Yvona's neck!"
A large guard came up behind Captain Wildstar, putting a blaster into his neck. "Give up or I'll shoot you!"
Derek then realized he could do no more for Nova. "Go," he mouthed.
"I can't," she moaned. "I can't move anything!"
"Go," whispered Derek. "Leave me!"
Then, a moment later, another set of doors burst open. Laser fire filled the compartment as Hemsford, his remaining Marines, Cha'rif, Rosstowski, and the Hartcliffes rushed in.
A new, fierce firefight ensued as Technomugar guards fought Terrans. Hemsford felled several of them with his weapon, backed up by Wallchinsky and some of his other men.
Paul Rosstowski cut down two Technomugar guards with his weapon and then he rushed at Yvona. He was cut down a moment later as Yvona caused fire to shoot from her hands. He fell down with his chest on fire, but he rolled on the deck to put the horrible blaze out.
Baron Cha'rif and Yvona Josiah squared off. Yvona threw her black peacoat open, and discarded her belts. She then clasped her coat closed at the neck with a chain and pulled one arm out of the sleeve to give her more freedom of movement. Then, she got her hands on a long laser cutlass that Derek thought was like Captain Harlock's, while Cha'rif fought back with his scimitar, disdaining the similar cutlass at his side.
Everyone stopped fighting as the tall Rikashan fought the evil cyborgized Terran. Both warriors were in black, so they both looked sinister even though Baron Cha'rif was on the side of Good. Their swords rang and clashed as they dueled, with Cha'rif fighting off Yvona's strikes. He parried, and thrust back on his own with his great sword, hissing and snarling as he went on the offensive. A strike tore Yvona's black peacoat, but she jumped back and fought on.
In Derek's arms in the dark room, Nova felt utter nausea as her body tried to fight off the strange medication. What was worse was noticing that Yvona was fought in her clothes under the black peacoat she wore, the pink short romper set and pink boots Yvona had on had literally been stolen from right out of Nova's house by Yvona a few weeks beforehand in a raid upon Earth.
Nova drooled helplessly as she lay in Derek's arms. "What's going to happen to us?"
"I don't know."
"I hope he beats her. Or, if not, I hope that God gives me a chance to fight her, Derek."
"Don't talk like that."
"I want to defeat her; I want to defeat her so bad!" said Nova.
"You and me both; you and me both! "
Then, everything around them turned bizarre. Lights turned into blurs, and the world seemed to tilt and go insane.
A roar filled everyone's ears as both cyborgs and humans fell into helplessness alike as the Fortress spiraled into a space warp.
We're warping? Where are we going? What is going on? Captain Wildstar thought before normal, conscious thought deserted him altogether
III. YVONA AND NOVA
Inside the Technomugar Fortress
In Orbit Over Planet Rikasha
April 11, 2202
1602 Hours: Terran Space-time
"Get up," hissed Yvona Josiah as she poked the end of her sword into Derek Wildstar's side after some time passed. "Get up, I said!"
Derek just moaned. He was nauseated and weak from the sudden space warp. "Where are we?"
Yvona smiled. "Over Rikasha," she said.
"Where's Nova?"
"I'll deal with her in a minute," said Yvona. Derek raised his head and observed Yvona kicking Nova. "She's still sort of out of it. Men, pick her up!"
Two guards grabbed Nova and hauled her to her feet. She moaned, looking around as other guards herded Rosstowski, Hemsford, and the others into a circle.
"They're all outside of the battleship now, Lady," said an officer. A few Rikashans and R'Khells appeared.
Baron Cha'rif lay half in a daze as he was thrown to the deck. They sure got here fast, he thought. Now, I know where we are. We're home. We're over Rikasha herself. Gods forgive us, but this vile war machine is now polluting the very skies of my mother planet!
"Where are we?" demanded Paul Rosstowski.
Not far away, Cha'rif crawled to Nova.
"What are you doing?"
"Counteracting that drug," he said as he grabbed her hand for a moment. Then, after two heartbeats, Nova stood again. She felt much better. She called out, "Yvona, where the hell have you taken us? This is the Fortress, isn't it? Where are we?"
"We are over Rikasha, on the Grand Fortress. The Grand Fortress that I know you carry the plans for, Captain Wildstar! But you are in no position to make demands," barked Yvona.
"Really?" hissed Paul.
"Really. Guards, kill them one by one until they surrender," ordered Yvona.
Wallchinsky was thrown out in front of the group first. He was shot through the heart by a Technomugar guard.
"NOOO!" screamed Angie Hartcliffe.
"You next," said Yvona.
Three guards pulled Bryan and Angie apart as they gazed at each other with pain in their eyes.
NO! thought Bryan. I'll never see her again! What a way for this t' end! He struggled, but the guards were too strong.
The guards made Angie kneel. One of them put a blaster at the back of her neck.
Yvona smiled and slashed at Derek's head with her saber.
Nova screamed as a freshet of blood came from her husband's head, and his right ear came off and hit the deck.
Derek put his hand to his head and lay there moaning.
Nova weakly kicked at a guard, and then, she remembered an Aikido move as one of the armored men punched at her. The guard fell, tripped by his own attack being turned against him.
Nova tripped the other guard and distracted Yvona from Angie's impending execution by running to Derek's side. She tore part of her scarf off and said, "Derek, my darling! "
"Nova, that hurts!It hurts so much."
"I'm putting this around your head to staunch the bleeding. Wish I could just take the pain away, my darling. At least I can stop the bleeding. Hold still."
"Are we gonna get out of this?" said Derek.
Nova nodded. "We will. There's a sword over there on the deck over by Cha'rif. After I fix you up, I'm going for it."
"Who are you going after?"
"Her! She hurt you!"
"Nova…that's.."
"Suicide?" Maybe. But you can get to the ship with those plans. Try to get everyone out of here while I distract her."
"Nova, I..."
"You don't have any choice," she whispered. He was bound up. She tenderly kissed him. "Goodbye, Derek. If I die, please remember me well, my love!"
"Nova….my tenshi, my angel..." said Derek, grasping her wrist.
With tears running down her cheek, Nova pried his hand free and whispered, "I love you." Then, she kissed him for a last time and ran off.
"Hey!" yelled Yvona. "Get her!"
The guards turned away from Angie as Nova bounded over to the half-conscious Baron Cha'rif. He lay on the deck with blood streaming from his head.
"Excuse me," Nova whispered.
Cha'rif nodded.
She ignored his heavy scimitar and took a laser dueling saber from a scabbard on the Baron's side under his black cape. Then, Nova bounded up and ran towards Yvona. But, hesitation appeared in her mind as Yvona smiled at her.
You'll be killing your aunt, said a voice in her head. You will be guilty of murdering a relative.
Yvona just grinned at that.
Nova started a little as Baron Cha'rif snapped her a salute and vanished.
"Huh?" she said.
Go on, Nova, said Cha'rif's voice in his head. I have returned to the lead surviving space battleship of my Fleet. Now, finish this. Finish her, and then escape with Aliscea. She is coming, but you must weaken Ekogaru now by finishing your aunt.
But I can't, thought Nova. She's my mother's sister!
You have to, said Aliscea's voice in her head.
It's the only chance for Derek, added Astrena's voice.
Then, to her surprise, she heard Desslok's voice in her head. Thanks to Astrena, I can speak to you for a moment. We shall soon be coming. But Ekogaru must be weakened now. Are you up to it?
"Yes," whispered Nova softly. A tear ran down her cheek. This was my Aunt but, now she is a monster!
"Yes, Desslok, I am up to it!" cried Nova.
"Desslok?" moaned Derek in confusion.
Then, Nova looked at Derek moaning in pain and holding his ear.
She's hurt the love of my life! Now, she is my aunt no more! I have sworn to stop Earth's enemies, so, now, I shall do so. I must carry out my oath.
"C'mon, Yvona!" yelled Nova. "Let's finish this! I hate you and everything you have done to us!"
"You'll burn in Hell if you kill me," said Yvona. "I was that voice in your head. Do you not have a conscience, you fool?"
"So?" said Nova. "I'd rather burn in Hell than see my husband and planet die at your hands! Let's go!"
The others defied their guards and applauded. Terran cheers filled the Fortress for a moment until the guards swung their weapons towards their enemies to shut them up.
Ignoring the cold of the dark, eerie chamber inside the Technomugar Fortress, Nova swung at her aunt with her sword. Thus, the duel began. Nova was very grateful at this moment that Derek had taught her how to handle a sword.
"What
does it look like?" asked Nova as she jumped away with barefoot grace. Good,
I have a little advantage. No shoes on means I can grip this slippery deck
better, like in a dojo, she thought. Nova thrust at Yvona, her
strike stopped by Yvona's sword.
"Kill her!" yelled a Technomugar officer as he watched the two opponents, one in white, the other in black and pink.
"No! We'll hit Lady Yvona! Ekogaru won't like that!"
"What do we do?"
"Stand ready!" said another guard.
Derek sat up. Pain resounded through his head, but he smiled as Nova stood up on her toes and danced around behind a console to avoid Yvona's rage-filled attack.
Yvona swung, screaming like a banshee.
Nova smiled, fighting on in grim silence and defiance. She skipped over a laser bolt that Yvona fired at her as if she was jumping over a jump rope.
Then, Nova swung at Yvona's neck. Yvona just barely parried the shot on time, but the edge of Nova's saber whipped against one of Yvona's partially exposed arms. The cyborg screamed as pinkish blood welled from her arm.
"You hurt me!"
"I'll do worse before this is over! OUCH!" cried Nova as Yvona's sword slashed one of her thighs. She skipped back in time to keep the damage from being any worse, but now, both women had drawn first blood.
Nova savagely thrust again, knocking Yvona off balance. In her bare feet, Nova landed nimbly like a gymnast.
On the other hand, Yvona just barely managed to keep her feet in the high-heeled boots she wore. Then, to Nova's frustration, she danced away up onto another operations panel, just out of Nova's reach.
Nova fired at her with the cutlass' laser trigger. The cyborg just barely avoided Nova's fire, but she looked trapped.
Good girl, Nova. he thought. Use everything I taught you. Use every ounce of skill you have, darling. Because this can't stop until she's finally dead! God, let Nova get her! And then�let us come through this alive...and together!
While everyone else was occupied, Derek began to crawl towards the nearest cosmo-gun, with a grim, grim smile on his face.
"Any idea where we are?" asked Eager as he sat up on the bridge of the Argo.
"None," said Sandor as he and Venture looked at the navigational charts at Mark's usual post at the helm. "All I know is that we're somewhere around the other side of the Milky Way now. I have no idea where we are at all! This is uncharted space to us."
"But not to us," said a voice over the Argo's speakers.
"Huh?" said Homer. "Uh, a signal's coming in, and my radio's going on!"
A moment later, Baron Cha'rif's image appeared on the Argo's main screen.
"Baron!" said Venture. "Do you have the others with you?"
"No. They're still on the Fortress. I couldn't bring them with the power I have!I'm wounded! But I have called to other R'jkharraz of my Order. They understand the situation and will rescue your shipmates as soon as Yvona is defeated. If Yvona is defeated, Ekogaru is weakened further. I will give you sanctuary below on that planet until you can make repairs and head to Earth. Change is coming."
"Where are we?" asked Sandor. "That planet below doesn't look inviting. It looks like a desert hell down there! Hardly any water. It looks like Earth, when the Gamilons attacked it!"
"It is a hell. But it is my home," said Cha'rif. "We are over Rikasha itself now. The capital of my Empire."
The crew gasped at that. "Baron! Won't your people attack us?"
"They might. But, on the bridge of my new flagship, the H'eoneraze, I have already sent an appeal to my father and to the R'Jkharraz order of psionic soldiers for aid. Father has agreed to place you under his protection. With that protection, no one will attack you, except perhaps the R'Khell priests with their red ships. They are the worst of the worst of my people. Almost no one else on Rikasha loves their tyranny and utter hatred.
"Yes, I know that," said Venture. "I was told that they did the worst of the carnage when they attacked the Westhampton Beach some months ago."
"They are in the service of Ekogaru. I am sorry I ever worked with them. They are, indeed, fanatics. Fanatics we intend to put an end to, my father and I."
"How?" said Venture.
"I can openly discuss this now, even here. My father is requesting a meeting of the Rikashan Council of Dukes. He is requesting an end to our Lord Zaden's government, and an end to the Ji'had against your people."
"Will they listen to you?"
"They will! When I tell them about Carufax, when they hear of the atrocities Ekogaru has wrought even upon our own people! He was just using us, the bastard!"
Venture nodded. "Good luck, Baron. As for the Fortress?"
"If we can, perhaps we should attack as soon as you can repair your wave motion gun, and as soon as Aliscea is back with you, and your Captain. Can you commence repairs now?"
"We'll do our best," said Sandor.
On the Fortress, the duel between Yvona and Nova continued.
Their swords clashed again as both women faced each other. Yvona had managed to somersault over Nova's head, and she had viciously slashed the back of Nova's bare thighs. But, the young woman fought on, ignoring the burning pain in her legs.
The fight went on as Yvona jumped up onto one of the consoles, skidding again in her un-needed heels. Nova fired at her as she landed, but the beam only grazed her arm.
"You're slow, Nova! You're beaten!" yelled Yvona as she slashed at Nova's head. Nova ducked, but she gasped as the edge of the blade cut her scalp. Nova put a hand to her head and looked at the blood.
Yvona smiled and thrust a killing stroke at Nova's heart. Nova got her sword up in time to deflect it with a hard swat.
Then, Yvona kicked at Nova's wrist. Nova cried out as she lost her hold on her sword.
Yvona shot at Nova, but Nova dodged. Then, Yvona grabbed her niece by the ankles and pulled her off the console.
Nova fell on top of Yvona, knocking the sword out of her hand. Yvona panicked, going stock-still with wide, frightened eyes for a moment as Nova bared her teeth like a wild woman and punched her aunt in the head.
"Yeah! Kick her butt, luv!" yelled Bryan Hartcliffe as Derek got his cosmo-gun back, With a shaking hand, Captain Wildstar drew a bead on Yvona's head. Then, he fired.
Somehow, Yvona used her powers to call her sword back to her hand. Then, with lightning speed, she got her sword up and deflected the beam. She fired at Derek, but then, Nova was on top of her.
Nova's fist slammed into Yvona's mouth, causing pink blood to flow everywhere. "You POND SCUM!" yelled Yvona through smashed cyborg teeth.
Yvona punched her niece in the mouth, loosening a tooth that had been knocked out some months ago. Now, Nova's mouth was bleeding, and she was in worse pain than ever. But, she fought on. She got her hand on Yvona's wrist and then, both women struggled as Nova slowly forced Yvona's hand to the deck. Then, Nova leaned hard against the wrist with one hand, and pulled Yvona's cruel sword out of her hand with the other hand, ignoring the pain as the saber slashed the palm of her hand wide open when she grabbed it.
"What's burning?" muttered Yvona as she looked up at a great light and heard the rolling scream of a strong, high female voice in a sort of war cry.
"Aliscea!" cried Paul. He put up his hands in a cheer as she began to dispatch the guards, one by one. Then, Paul blanched as he saw six Technomugar walking behind her.
"Huh?" said Hemsford.
"We are defecting to the Rikashans," said one of them. "We are your ride out of here, people! A shuttle is ready."
"Great!" yelled Bryan. "Hey, Wildstars! We're outta here!"
But, Derek didn't hear him, and neither did Nova. Their attention was focused on the death-struggle in the cul-de-sac of the huge docking bay.
"What?" yelled Yvona. "Guards! GUARDS!"
"You can't distract me, Yvona," huffed Nova. "Not now. Not now that I've got you."
"You've got me?"
"Right where I want you, DEAR" said Nova as she flipped the sword around and then put its point against Yvona's forehead.
"huh?" said Yvona. Then, the gravity of the situation came to her as cheers resounded in the distance. The barrel was against her head!
Ekogaru! Lord! Help me! Yvona thought. But, no answer came to her, and none could. Ekogaru lay unconscious in surgery, and, so far, General Hollander was unaware of the duel. None of the guards had bothered to call the main bridge of the Fortress.
Clone! Clone of myself! Help me! My niece is about to murder me!
In her cocoon, the clone of Yvona awoke. No, she sent back to Yvona. I will not help you, Mother.
Why not?
You are outmoded, thought the clone. I am the new model of you. Thank you for your thoughts, you sickness. Someday, I will use them for my purposes!
Then, there was only silence as Yvona begged the clone and Ekogaru to answer her. She was now cornered, and in Nova's power at last. Years of abuse were about to be dealt with, and now. Why do you not answer me? Yvona thought as she saw Nova stand. She looked up her niece's form from her dirty feet, up her bleeding legs, and up her dirty and bloody uniform. She met her niece's face, and saw sadness but angry resolve in her dark eyes. Yvona looked up towards the heavens, and said, in her heart, God! Why do you not answer me? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
I have not forsaken you, Yvona! You have never known Me, came a thought deep in her mind.
"What?" whispered Yvona. God, why? I need my bacon pulled out of the fire! I did nothing wrong! Help me, Nova! HELP ME! You have to help me! I am a sick woman!
"You sure are, and it is too late," whispered Nova. "Goodbye, Auntie Yvona. I am now putting you in the hands of Almighty God."
Nova closed her eyes and fired.
The back of Yvona's head exploded in flames and her life quickly bled away, her consciousness fading into a black pit somewhere in a silent scream. The last thing she sensed before her soul faded altogether from this plane was flames, flames waiting for her, flames swallowing her up. Then, the last of the synapses in her head shut down, and the light in Yvona Josiah's eyes faded as her cyborg systems shut down permanently, and she fell all the way down into the Pit long prepared for her. From that point on, her fate came no more into this tale.
However, somewhere in the deep darkness of the Joy Suite, something slowly opened up the clone tank that had been receiving an upload, a copy, as it were, of the memories and thoughts of Yvona, Ekogaru's masterpiece. It was Yvona's twisted clone. It was cold, it was vile, and it took up where the just-killed Yvona had left off.
I am only human, it thought. At least I think I am human. I am no cyborg. But, I live. Or mother's memories live. Not even HE knew of this. I planned it myself. I have replaced mother, that sickness. But, she was past her time. It was a mercy killing. But, bear in mind that I will return, better than her, and more effective. Yes. I will again return. And, I will have my vengeance upon all of you for my creation! All of you!
And, in the Depths of the Fortress, it laughed.
In the meantime, Nova felt her Aunt's neck for the pulse. "She's dead," she muttered. "God, I don't know whether to thank You, or to curse You."
In silence, Nova threw aside her saber as tears ran from her eyes. Flames exploded in the background, she didn't know why.
Maybe it's a glimpse of the Hell to which I'm condemned for killing Aunt Yvona, Nova thought. But, so what? I did a good thing, killing that woman!
Derek staggered up, hugging her in silence as they literally fell bleeding into each other's arms. Fire and flame raged behind them.
"I'm so weak," muttered Nova. "Feel like I can't stand up. Pain in my chest, my God!"
"Me too," said Derek.
Both of them collapsed to the deck in each other's arms.
"Wildstar!" yelled Rosstowski.
"Nova!" cried Aliscea as she ran up to them.
She saw their eyelids fluttering. Then, they both collapsed into some strange oblivion together since there was no longer enough blood in them to keep them conscious. They knew and saw no more.
IV. VISIONS AND DREAMS
Aboard Space Battleship Argo.
On Planet Rikasha
April 14, 2202
1602 Hours: Terran Space-time
Nova Wildstar was in a strange, strange place.
Somehow, she knew it was some years afterwards. She was a little older, and she had a baby boy, little Alex, nursing against her breast after she had heard the baby monitor and she and Derek had been called out of their outdoor hot spring bath at their house.
At the moment, they sat near their steaming home tub, made up to look like a natural spring hidden behind its own concealing grove of pine trees and bushes near their swimming pool. Nova sat on Derek's lap with her baby. It was a warm, starry night. Derek and Nova wore nothing but Yutaka, or summerweight kimonos. Nova lay in her husband's bare lap and against his chest, while Alex nursed right against his mother's unabashedly bared breast.
"Isn't he adorable?" asked Derek.
"He is," said Nova. "Good thing it's warm out," she said as she and Derek both rubbed their baby's bare little bottom. Nova giggled as his little foot brushed her stomach.
"Comfortable?" asked Derek.
Nova nodded. "It's nice out tonight. He loves to be with his mommy...hearing her heartbeat..."
Derek kissed his wife and asked "May I?" while pushing her kimono off her shoulders. Nova smiled and nodded shyly. A moment later, both his wife and son were naked in his arms...and, to this young father, both of them were simply gorgeous.
"Isn't he beautiful?" whispered Nova.
"Both of you are beautiful on a moonlit night," whispered Derek. "You look like an angel tonight, Nova."
Nova only blushed, giving her husband a soft kiss. She leaned her head against her husband's bare chest.
"Keep us safe tonight?" whispered Nova.
"I'll watch over you both like a wolfhound. Nothing will harm either of you tonight...nothing will harm the two people I love the most on this planet."
"Thanks, Derek..."
Nova's dream suddenly twisted and shifted in a different direction. She passed from being safe, warm and secure with her child and husband to shivering in the cold in a snowstorm.
She looked around, bewildered. The cold assaulted her horribly, since she was dressed (if one could call it that) in only a frozen burlap serape that she saw didn't even cover her all the way. She was kneeling in the snow, and the growing numbness and cold on her unprotected legs hurt.
Nova looked at the bundle in her arms and felt nauseated. It was her baby, Alex, bare, and slowly turning blue with cold. He was emaciated, and looked too weak to cry. Nova knew at once that her son had very little time left.
She then coughed...a loud, racking cough that was horribly painful. What she coughed up into the snow a moment later was bloody and sick-looking. "I'm dying, too," she murmured. "Don't know what'll get me first...exposure, or this pneumonia I seem to have."
"Derek?" she cried, standing up in the snow. She noticed that she was barefoot, and had apparently walked a long way. She could barely feel any pain, but the pathetic footprints she had left in the snow were bloody. "Derek, where ARE you? I'm hungry, sick and cold, and our baby is dying! Where are you?"
She walked on, and then looked up at a tree. Her eyes went wide with shock. "..d...derek," she muttered.
Derek was hanging by his neck from a high tree branch...like the hanging they had almost received on Gun Frontier. He hung there, ashen and dead. His corpse had been horribly tortured, and he had apparently died in great pain. Nova looked at him, and then couldn't bear to look any more. In her arms, her baby convulsed one last time and lay still.
Nova fell to her knees. She gently laid down the body of her son, and stripped off the poor excuse for a garment...so she would freeze to death and be with Derek soon.....
Nova woke up screaming.
"Hey," said a soothing voice that whispered in her ear. "Hey! Nova! This is Derek."
"Huhhh?" muttered Nova Wildstar.
She
felt Derek hugging her. She felt strangely warm. Her eyes were closed. Behind
her, she thought she could hear someone weeping softly.
"Derek, do I have any clothes on?"
"Yes, you are in a nightgown. Very simple, but enough"
"Where am I?"
"Sickbay," said Doctor Sane as he turned around with tears running from under his glasses.
Nova felt Derek's hair. "Oh, your poor ear. Your ear, your ear? It's there? Boy, am I confused."
"Aliscea grew me a new one," said Derek as he stood there in what Nova realized was his Star Force whites. "It's you we were worried about. You were in some kind of coma even after we treated the shock symptoms! "
"Huh? Shock?"
"Pretty bad," sniffed Doctor Sane. The fact that he wasn't yelling at her worried Nova a great deal. "You flatlined on us three times, Nova. For the worst of it, you didn't have a heartbeat for a full minute. We would've lost you if it hadn't been for Aliscea."
Nova then noticed IQ-9 by her bedside. "IQ?"
"Luckily, humans are very durable. Even if you are much harder to fix than a robot. Luckily, Aliscea is ten thousand times more efficient than an ordinary human."
"Is she all right? Where is she?"
The door to the Sickbay room whizzed open a moment later. To Nova's utter surprise, Holly Venture walked in.
"Holly?"
"Got these flowers for you, nerd," said Holly with tears in her eyes. "Hey, good thing you pulled through on us. Now you can be at our second wedding on Earth."
The door opened again. Three men came in. Nova only recognized one of them. One of them was Baron Anton Cha'rif, proud and tall again in a fresh uniform. Beside him walked a man in a grey and blue uniform somewhat like his with his features, a bald head, and a benign, thick mustache.
The third man was very tall, and blue-skinned. He had a bald head, and wore a sky-blue uniform in the same pattern as that of the others.
"Ah! You're better! Great!" said Baron Cha'rif. To his surprise, he handed Nova a small black box.
"Open it," Cha'rif said.
Nova did so, and she noticed an ornate silver medal of some kind with a blue ribbon trimmed in black.
"This is a decoration of the R'jkharraz order," said Baron Cha'rif. "My Masters have heard of Yvona's evil and of your bravery back there on that Fortress. Accept this as a token of our esteem and the beginning of an apology from the Rikashan Empire to Earth. Now, some introductions are in order. This man beside me with the beard is my father, Duke Sta'gin Cha'rif."
"Where are we, sir?" Nova asked as she shook the older man's hand.
"In a dock underneath my palace on Rikasha in my Fief," said Sta'gin. "You are under guard, and you cannot be harmed here."
"We are aiding in the guard," said the other man. "I am Colonel Doxiera of the Free Technomugar. About a thousand of us have defected from the Fortress to this planet. We saw to it that no one molested you, and we saw to it that you got off the Fortress in safety."
"Where's the Fortress?" muttered Nova.
"I can't analyze that. Sorry," said IQ-9 as he left.
"Huh?" said Nova. "What's going on?"
"It warped away, damaged," said Doxiera. "Unfortunately, Ekogaru still lives, and the Fortress is still on its way to Earth, albeit slowly."
"What about Derek's plans?"
"Nova, they were still on me," said Derek with a smile. "Doctor Sane and your nurse friend Natalie Fisher took them from me and made sure they got to Sandor at Aliscea's request. He's analyzing them now. In a few days, we'll be meeting with the Gamilons. They'll be helping us."
The door opened again. "This is not to be a convention! This woman needs rest!" yelled Sane.
"You mean I can't visit?" said Aliscea impishly.
Nova smiled and hugged her friend. Aliscea was decently clothed again, albeit in a white linen dress and white wrap-around sandals.
"Why are you in white?" asked Nova.
"Mother said it's allowed, now," said Aliscea. "We have a battle to fight. Ekogaru is dying now. Besides, Paul and I were in the marketplace here in Sherikhan. Black is too hot to walk around in here on Rikasha."
"So what's happening next?" asked Nova.
"A lot," said Derek. "When you're better, we're going to the Capital."
"The Capital?" asked Nova.
"Yes. I need you two as witnesses at a meeting of the Council," said Duke Sta'gin Cha'rif. "At this meeting, we will be making some declarations."
"What do I do in the meantime?' asked Nova.
"Rest," said Derek. "Since you were in such proximity to Yvona when she was full of Ekogaru's power, there were some side effects. But, those scars on your face have been healed, and they put a false tooth in to replace the one you lost."
"Hmmmh?" said Nova.
"Sorry. I'm good at growing back skulls, spinal cords, and ears. Haven't worked up to teeth yet. Sorry," said Aliscea with a shrug. "Now, you get to sleep. And let me know if you have any bad dreams, okay?"
"Okay," said Nova, who didn't wish to discuss the horrible nightmare she had awakened from. "See you later, I guess."
Everyone except Derek left. "Derek, get back to work," mumbled Nova.
"Can't I stay with you a bit longer?"
"Okay," said Nova.
END.
The Story will be continued In the Tenth Part of THE RIKASHA INCIDENT.
"A Last Breath before the Plunge."
THERE ARE NOW 27 DAYS TO THE ARRIVAL OF EKOGARU IN EARTH'S SOLAR SYSTEM
To return to the Introduction to the Rikasha Incident please click here