ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE  

STAR BLAZERS—THE ENTROPY WARS

By: Frederick P. Kopetz

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CHAPTER SIXTEEN: THE PASSING OF EKOGARU

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I. SURGERY…

Space Battleship Yamato 

Saturday, July 23, 2231

1250 Hours: Local Time

__________________________________________________________________

Now, Nova Wildstar, who was scrubbed and, in her cap, and other operating room gear as the Ship’s Surgeon of the Yamato, happened to be busy in surgery working on Space Marine Warrant Officer Thomas “Diesel” Dalton, who had been wounded in the battle and wandering in the woods on New Pellias for a day or two as missing before he had turned up yesterday.

“How’s his blood pressure, Dawn?” Nova asked Dawn Hardy, her Head Nurse.

“It varies, but he’s within limits. What’s the harder job?”

“The bowel resection. I also have to burn some tissue around it because it was starting to go septic in there,” Nova said as she worked.

“Yeah, the smell’s incredible,” said Dawn.

“It’s really bad, Mom,” said Ariel Wildstar as she worked near the instrument tray.

“Don’t I know it,” Nova said. “Hand me a number five pressure cannula, please. Make sure the suction is at 14 PSI.”

“Roger that,” said Ariel.

“How’s his blood gas, Doctor Bixley?”

“Doing fine, Nova,” said Doctor Hiram Bixley as he worked at the anesthesia console. “Before we put him under, did I hear you right?”

“Yes, you did,” Nova said as she worked with the cannula. “I told him if he wouldn’t swear off of the rude comments to Ariel here, he might be missing more than some bad bowel when we wake him up.”

“I never wanna get you mad at me, Doc,” laughed Bixley.

“I’m not about to, Hiram,” Nova said in a winsome voice. Please get rid of this, IQ,” Nova said as she cut out the bad tissue and put it in a tray.

“Should I put it in his dinner?” said the robot.

“You do that, and I’ll sell you to a used car dealer after we retake Earth, tinwit!” Nova said. “Put that mess in the incinerator chute before we all throw up!”

“Yes, ma’am,” said IQ-9 as he trundled over to the chute.

“Look up at the observation deck, ma’am,” said Ariel. “Major Victor Knox is up there making faces at us.”

“If he’s making faces at Diesel, that’s OK,” Nova said. “If he’s making faces at us, let’s get the duct tape.”

“You told me to hide that,” said IQ-9.

“Yes, I did,” Nova said. “Where did you put it?”

“In a cabinet outside.”

“That’s good.”

“Along with Lieutenant Litchtfelder from the Black Tigers, ma’am,” said the robot.

“What the fuck?” yelled Dawn. “Him again?”

Nova giggled. “Yes, him. He’s always going on sick call. Maybe I can really treat him for something this time. Laser knife, Ariel.”

“Sure, Mom,” said Ariel.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Five hours later, Nova was sitting in her office with her white lab coat on over her bloody scrubs, talking with Derek, Mark, and Homer as they passed a sake’ bottle around. Nova, of course, abstained, and she was drinking a can of Pepsi instead.

“What I don’t get about the past few days is, how’d we get Stone back?” Homer asked. “Nova told us the enemy rescued him after she did a number on him in the battle.”

“Steven told me he got him back,” said Derek.

“You mean Sandor found time to go out, and…?”

“No, Homer, you idiot…the other Steven. He has the last name of Wildstar,” said Mark irritably.

“The kid?” said Homer.

“Yeah, our son,” said Derek. “The one everyone forgets about because he minds his own business.”

“Well, how’d he manage it?” Homer asked.

“Trelaina told me she saw it was she was drifting around the battle front causing trouble for the enemy,” said Mark. “She told me that the Technomugars’ demon buddies dragged Stone off a few hundred meters and then dumped him in a destranga pit to die.”

“OK, what’s a destranga pit?” Derek asked.

Nova cleared her throat and said, “Colloquial Pellian for “septic tank”. Steven told me it was an uncovered one, maybe a hundred years old, a leftover from when some family had a farmhouse there. I was told that smelled bad, too. Steven was on the battlefield they day after the battle scavenging for enemy hardware and junk to pick up and analyze when he heard Stone in that hole moaning. When he dragged Stone out of there, he was pretty septic, too, inside his gut from the wound I gave him in the battle and covered in old maggoty dried filth on the outside. Steve took him prisoner, tied him up, and dragged him back to Beltane, applying a boot to his posterior about every hundred meters or so.”

“He really stank, man,” said Steve as he popped into Sickbay, playing with a Rubik’s Cube as he pushed his longish sandy blonde hair, somewhat like his mother’s, out of his eyes and his glasses. “There were maggots up his nose! I had to wash the lousy bastard off with a fire hose in the jail in Beltane when we got him there.”

“Then, I made sure he got a nice interrogation afterwards,” Nova said primly. “Vic Knox up there helped us out a lot. He’s good with aircar batteries and electrical probes and that sort of thing.”

“Aircar batteries?” said Mark with his eyebrows up.

“Yes,” said Nova with a sad look on her face as she sipped at her Pepsi. “I’m grieved, but…not that much.”

“Why are we doing this stuff?” Homer said. “Aren’t we getting as bad as they are?”

“If you could have seen those slaves from Earth that they were shoving into battle against us, you can see why I really don’t care all that much about these enemies!” Nova snapped fiercely. “They’re far, far crueler than the Gamilons or even the Bolars or Comet Empire were! People who make children suffer like that don’t really deserve that much of a pass! And General Stone told us he was personally torturing children, and even worse!”

Nova shut her eyes and looked like she was in pain for a moment as she sent to Derek, You’re all too aware what I’m getting at, Derek! I’m not telling the rest of them. I’ve forgiven Ekogaru…but I haven’t forgotten…that…those…physical things he did to me. I still have nightmares over that!

Me too, Nova, Derek sent back. What he did to me was…just as bad. And I’m not…well…as ready to forgive as you are…

“What are you two thinking about?” Homer said with a lack of grace.

Nova didn’t know whether it was hormones exploding from her because she was pregnant, or whether her emotional pressure cooker just went off, but she just turned her anger on Homer and said, “Homer, both Derek and I were horribly tortured when we were in Ekogaru’s hands, far worse than you’ll ever know! Let’s put it this way! I know you and Wendy have issues to work through, but how would you feel if she got out of captivity from those monsters and she told you she was raped? If you must know…Derek and I were thinking about something similar! Stone was in cahoots with Ekogaru before the Dark Lord repented! You know what kind of man that made him? He was just as bad as those corrupt American politicians in the early twenty-first century who did all sorts of sleazy things to women and children!”

“Like the sort who separated…families?” Derek asked.

Nova nodded at that.

“What I’m wondering,” Alex said, “is…what is Ekogaru planning next?”

“He’s no longer in charge there, remember?” Nova said. “Now it’s that traitor Promecium we’re fighting.”

“Ekogaru…he’s?” Derek said.

“He’s dying,” Nova said. “But he’s been in touch with me long enough to tell me that he wants to give us the secret to destroy what remains of his Fortress before he dies because he wishes to atone to us for what he’s done.”

“That’ll take a lot,” snorted Homer. “His wars have killed billions of people; Earth is still enslaved…”

“Our next mission will be to attack Earth and take it back,” Derek said.

Nova nodded. “Give us a day or two while I call a large portion of the Pellian Fleet in to assist our own fleet, the Gamilons, and the Rikashans.”

“When we strike, it will be hard and fast,” Derek said.

Nova felt sick a moment later, as if she was sensing something far away.

Then, Trelaina appeared…and that was the point in the day when everything began to go…sort of weird.

Trelaina looked gently at her stomach. “I see the life growing in you, Nova. Bit by bit. Now, join with me, please, in a prayer for understanding and strength.”

“What is it you sense far away?” Nova said. “Because I feel it, too.” Then, not caring what some of the others would say, Nova shut her eyes and knelt in prayer just as Trelaina was doing.

“Derek, do you sense this?” she said as she grabbed his hand.

“It’s Ekogaru,” said Derek. “And he’s calling to you.”

“What is it you need to tell us, Lordship?” Nova said out loud.

Ekogaru appeared to the group, in his spectral form.

As a specter, Ekogaru appeared naked, but very, very emaciated. They could see that his breathing was heavy, and that he appeared to be dying.

“I need you here, and soon,” he said. “Admiral Wildstar, she is intending to take the last of my Craft, the last of the Grand Fortress, and to destroy Terra with it.”

“When?” Derek barked.

“In two of your weeks,” he said. “Nova, you will come to R’Khell’eva with Derek. They will beat you and they will mock you. They will put you in armor like a gladiator then you shall be forced to fight in a Ring. Then, they will take you, mock you again, and crucify you before all of the Empire and before all of Terra. You will escape the ordeal, just barely, but will suffer a great loss a few minutes later, but then experience great joy soon afterwards. This is my last prophecy. In a week or two, I shall be dead. Please…come…to me…because I intend to help you defeat her…”

Derek bowed his head as Ekogaru disappeared. “Nova, do you know the way from here to R’Khell’eva?”

Nova shook her head.

“Trelaina?” Nova asked.

“I know the way to that place of blackness and evil,” she said. “Indeed, all too often as of late, my toes have trodden the hot sands of that accursed place. It is the spiritual heart of the Technomugar, or should we now say, the Mechanoid, Empire? Yet, Promecium has a plan for that terrible place. I pray that we can stop it.”

“So, do I, Nova said. Nova then looked at Trelaina and said, “There is something now I sense about you, Trelaina of Telezart,” she said as she came up to Trelaina as the doors opened and Venture came in.

“What is it?” Trelaina said querulously as Nova smiled and gently touched her chest between her breasts. “You look so frail, but your regenerated heart is strong, as is your lungs, and your little breasts shall soon grow fuller, as mine are,” Nova said as she gently held Trelaina’s breasts in her hands. Then, Nova knelt and took Mark’s hand while she gently touched Trelaina’s stomach under her thin dress with her other hand. “As I thought,” Nova whispered. “Just as I thought,” she murmured, to Mark’s total confusion.

“Nova, what’s going on?” Mark said.

“I feared this…I feared this, Mark.”

“Feared what?” said Mark. “Nova, what are you doing to her?”

“Nothing except recognizing she is now truly tied to this world, and to you,” Nova said gently. “Trelaina, my dear, fear not. It’s a totally natural event! You’re pregnant!”

“My…body…being invaded by…by…another life?” she said. “That’s natural?”

Nova laughed softly at that. “For so many humans, yes, Trelaina. But it’s not bad. Mark, Trelaina, congratulations. She’s going to have a little girl! Come on, Trelaina. Let’s get you into Sickbay and I’m going to perform some scans and tests…come on. It won’t hurt.”

A FEW MINUTES LATER….

Nova had scrubbed her hands, put on a fresh set of latex gloves and got to work, starting by helping Trelaina out of her gown.

Ariel was assisting in her medical scrub dress, wearing gloves and clogs of her own as she worked with her slightly rounded pregnant stomach showing in her dress.

“Will my stomach get like yours and Nova’s?” Trelaina said as Nova gently ran an ultrasound pickup over her lubricated stomach.

“You mean it’s that obvious?” Ariel said with a laugh.

“I think it looks cute on you, Ariel,” Nova said.

“So does your tummy,” said Derek.

“Hmmm?” Nova said as she stopped and stood on tiptoe and took a good look at herself. “It is showing a little more now,” she said. “How did that happen? I shouldn’t have been at this stage for another four weeks, at least.”

“What does that?” Trelaina said.

“The baby growing in you,” Nova said. “And, if I’m not mistaken, my kids are in a hurry. This is…strange…”

Derek shrugged. So did Nova.

Needless to say, things would get stranger yet as time passed.

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II. THE SUMMONS…

Space Battleship Yamato 

Monday, July 24, 2231

0900 Hours: Local Time

2000 Lightyears Away from Pellias

“Warp completed,” said Venture as the Yamato slammed back into normal space.

“The radar is normal,” Nova said from her post. “We’re surrounded by the 1300 vessels of our Combined Fleet. No pursuit. Nothing detected,” she said as she sat at her post in her medical dress, lab coat and sandals. She had been assisting with other patients when the summons had come for the warp.

“Two communications coming in,” said Ariel Wildstar from her post.

“Put them both up,” said Derek.

“Lord Admiral, I am Admiral Hylan, Commander of the First Pellian Strike Fleet,” said a slightly strange-looking man with greenish hair from his flagship; his image was on the left side of the screen. We have come from maneuvers and battle with the Technomugar Fleet near the Small Magellenic Cloud, at the edge of Gamilon territory. We stand ready to obey your commands and the commands of the High Queen.”

Derek nodded. “Thank you.”

From the right of the screen, Desslok of Gamilon nodded. “Wildstar. I have discussed the plan with you and Nova. I am ready to play my part and begin the first strike when we near Earth.”

“Thank you, Desslok,” Derek said.

“No, thank you,” said Desslok. “I have waited long for the chance to avenge ourselves on this Promecium; this snake, who misled all of us. To my shame, I once called you of the Star Force devils. This woman…she is a devil.”

“I would say you are correct, Desslok, since she is certainly no angel,” Nova said. “From my projections, we will be at the next warp point in six hours. I suggest we use this time to prepare ourselves, since in eight hours, we shall be in battle with our enemies.”

Astrena, behind Desslok, nodded. So did Admiral Hylan.

At that, the screen went black.

A while later, Derek found Nova in their cabin. She was back in her gold uniform again, but she looked a bit annoyed.

“Hey, why the startled look?” Derek said.

Nova took a deep breath and relaxed. “For a minute, I thought you were good old IQ-9. He was up here bothering me while I was trying to meditate and reach Trelaina.”

“That IQ-9…I have to have a good long talk with him. As for Trelaina, where is she? I haven’t seen her for a day or so,” Derek said.

“Drifting about in the Spirit Realm, Derek. She told me she’s trying to find a solution to an old problem of hers.”

“Any idea what it is?”

Nova shook her head. “She’s even being close-mouthed with me. I can’t get anything out of the Matrix or Miarahl or Astrena, either.”

Derek came up behind her. “You’re worrying me, Nova.”

“Why?”

“You’re eating for three, but I’ve just noticed your back under your uniform. Your shoulder blades are sticking out a bit. Are you losing weight?”

Nova shook her head. “I’ve gained two pounds probably here,” she said as she rubbed her belly. Derek helped her turn around; and observed that her baby bump was just a little bigger than the other day, which surprised him as he felt her tummy.

“That is bigger,” he said. “But you seem thinner.”

“I’m 134 pounds now…that’s about right,” she said as she stood on her toes. “When I have my lab coat on…it’s getting tight. I can’t figure out why they’re developing like that. I’m at a total loss. So is Doctor Bixley.”

Derek embraced her and caressed her tummy and kissed her there. “Talking with Starsha and Theodore?” she said with an amused look on her face. “They seem fine…except Starsha seems a little apprehensive. She has an idea what’s coming.”

“What is coming?” Derek asked.

Nova bit her lip. “I can sense that Promecium has a major lackey or two on Earth, a fleet, and possibly the remains of the Grand Fortress.”

“Are we going to survive this?” Derek asked.

“I know I will.” Nova said glumly. “You will too, since we both share an essence and a share of the Matrix now. As long as I live, you will live,” she said as she rubbed his chin.

“The kids?” Derek said.

“They may make it…they may not. It depends upon Starsha,” Nova said.

Derek kissed Nova’s tummy again. “She’ll survive.”

“God, I hope so,” Nova said as she kissed him back.

They kissed again. And again.

In the silence, they held hands.

Then, a moment later, all around them, light and color exploded as the Yamato burst into warp without warning.

“I didn’t order that!” Derek said. “What’s wrong with Venture?”

“I…I don’t know,” Nova said as she clung to him as distortion blew all around them. Without being properly restrained, both of them felt horrible.

The Yamato slammed out of warp a moment later.

Derek and Nova looked out the window of their quarters.

They were near Venus. Earth glittered like a desperate blue-white star above its horizon.

They were there.

A moment later, light flashed outside as the Yamato shook from a missile hit.

The red alert klaxons went off as the Wildstars let go of each other. Nova helped Derek into his bridge coat while Derek smoothed down her uniform.

Venture’s voice came over the PA saying, “Attention, all hands…attention, all hands. We have just evaded a Technomugar Fleet, but it followed us to the solar system! Captain to the Bridge! Nova to the Bridge!” 

“Hold on,” Derek barked as he operated the control on his chair. It moved on its belt towards the elevator hatch, turned, and began to head down. Nova kissed him as they went down together in his chair. “This is for good luck, and the Lord’s blessing,” she said. 

They emerged on Bridge Number One a moment later. Nova skipped away from Derek and ran to her post.

She held onto her hemispherical radar screen to get her bearings as the ship trembled hard from a missile hit, smiling slightly as she uttered a quick, silent prayer before she looked at her screen.

“My God!” she said. “Derek, we have three thousand ships around us, all differing types. They’re all over the place!”

“It’s tough to maneuver,” Venture yelled. “They’re trying to hang on to us with a tractor beam!”

“I’m working on that,” Nova said as she concentrated on breaking the beam’s hold. Inside her womb, she felt Starsha assisting her as Orion’s eyes went wide. “Power’s coming back to the engines! HOW?”

“You can thank Starsha for that,” Nova said.

“But she’s dead!” yelled Eager.

“No, she’s not, she’s here,” Nova retorted.

“WHERE?” Eager yelled back.

“In here!” Nova said as she stood in anger and put her hands on her tummy bulge. “I’ll explain later…you…you...CHOWDERHEAD!”

“Signal coming in from the enemy fleet!” said Homer.

“Put it on video,” Derek said.

Nova’s teeth were bared in rage as she saw Promecium smiling down at her. “Admiral Wildstar,” she said. “You can just leave this world of the Mechanized Empire alone in peace if you agree to a truce, on one condition!”

“What?” Derek hissed back.

“Surrender one person to me. I see she already guesses she is going to be captured from the way she’s looking up at us and snarling like a cute little junkyard puppy dog, so nothing new there. Surrender your Goddamned High Queen, Nova D’Shal Wildstar Paraná the Third. Give her to us, and you can all leave.”

“Can’t you let her speak for herself?” Derek snapped as he picked up a thought from Nova and then a second thought, you’re not going to say that? Derek thought.

Oh, yes, I am, Nova thought back with a grin as she rubbed her hands together in delight.

“So, what is your response to our kind offer, High Queen?” Promecium said with dark mockery in her voice.

Nova looked up at her and gave the evil Queen her most winning smile. “My response? Go Straight To Hell!” she said calmly and with clear enunciation.

Promecium howled in utter rage.

Her vessel then uncloaked. It was huge.

It was over a thousand kilometers long, black, and it was an ugly, sleek object that looked like a diseased pickle peppered with multi-colored lights.

It was all that remained of the Grand Technomugar Fortress that Ekogaru had built.

It blasted blue fire at the entire Fleet, and especially at the Yamato.

As the Yamato tried to evade, a massive Technomugar ship, an ugly abomination three times the size of the space battleship, warped in front of her to shield the mothership from any attack.

“Open fire!” Derek barked as Anya worked and locked the guns.

“FIRE!” Anya yelled as the Yamato’s main guns barked blue fire back at the ugly enemy vessel, which looked like a mockery of an Earth ship.

“She looks like one of ours…almost,” Sandor said.

“She was…” Nova replied. “Her transponder signal said she used to be the ESS Alaska. She’s not anymore. Now, she’s known as the Carnage, and…my God…her whole crew is Mechanoids…who used to be Earthmen and women.”

“Traitors,” Derek hissed.

“Signal from the Carnage,” Homer said.

Derek nodded, watching as an ugly blue, bald Mechanoid appeared on the screen.

Yet, the man was still recognizable.

“Captain Jack Koenig,” Derek hissed.

“I danced with you eighteen months ago at your wife’s wedding, Jack!” Nova hissed. “How dare you?” 

“I have some sad news for you, Nova. Patricia is dead. She was one of the rebels on Earth. I chose the other path…when I was offered eternal life. I was at Patricia’s Treason trial and watched as she was tortured until she confessed to everything that Stone wanted her to say. Rather a pity, dear.”

“You monster,” Nova hissed back. “Patricia was a good woman! You showed her no mercy!”

“Actually, I did. You see, I helped to crucify her after we passed sentence. Like you, she was always very, very pretty. I broke her legs after five hours and put her out of her misery. You two were once great friends. Ready to die yet?”

Nova shook her head fiercely, too angry to even speak, because she didn’t want to repeat the curses that were coming to her mind.

“Open fire!” Derek snapped.

The Yamato blasted blue plasma fire into the Carnage.

The Carnage turned, burning from three hits, and she fired back at the Yamato at point-blank range.

“Turret Number Two is hit!” barked Sandor as he watched his board. “Third Bridge is hit! Port side pulse laser batteries A and D are hit!”

“Compensating for what guns we have left!” yelled Anya as she fired back at the Carnage.

Not far away, three Gamilon space battleships were hit.

“First Fleet, assemble and shield us from those enemy cruisers!” Derek barked.

Promecium appeared on the screen again, without Homer even doing anything.

“You bitch,” Nova snapped.

“You will all note my vessel is now aimed towards Venus. Have a look at this. I am now about to demonstrate the Entropy Effect to you. Ekogaru was working on this project before he went quite mad and I had to depose him, but I have perfected it. Behold what will happen to your dear Earth if you fools refuse to surrender to me! And, my dear Desslok, we are perfectly capable of doing this to Iscandar…and to Gamilon.”

The Grand Fortress ship blasted a wave of hideous multi-colored energy from its bow at Venus.

A massive field surrounded Venus in a black cloud, which was blasted throughout with lightning.

Nova gasped in pain as she and every other psi-sensitive on the ship felt a black energy being blasted in from the spirit world. No, not the spirit world…the Nether World.

Their new grand weapon was a sickening mixture of technology and dark sorcery. The literal flames of Hell crackled over Venus for a moment as the planet began to shrink.

The sphere of energy around Venus grew smaller and smaller until it reached something like a vanishing point.

“What happened to Venus, Sandor?” Derek demanded.

“I’m picking up…no…NO! Homer, order the Gamilon Fleet away from the area where Venus was…NOW!” Nova cried.

“Will do,” he said.

“Why?” cried Venture as the Yamato began to shake.

“Venus…has just been compressed into a ball of hyper-dense matter, twice its old mass, but only a hundred kilometers wide!” Nova cried. “Derek! She just turned it into a neutron star!”

“What is it?” Desslok said on a split screen.

“Desslok, get what you can of your fleet…get the Earth Fleet to follow you; WARP TO PELLIAS!” Nova cried.

And, just as she said that…

A good half of the Gamilon fleet was sucked into what had been Venus, and crushed as it smashed against the husk of the planet in a deep, horrid gravity well.

“We’re getting out,” said Desslok. “Wildstar, I hope I see you and Nova again!”

“You will,” Derek said defiantly.

“Mark, warp us to Earth, now!” Nova cried.

“But…she’ll follow us there,” Mark said.

“DO IT!” Nova yelled. “Warp us to point WA-2282, six hundred kilometers above Earth…”

“But…that’s the debris zone where the orbiting remains of the Comet Empire are! That area is a navigational hazard!” Venture said. “Only salvage vessels ever go there, and only now and then.”

“I know what I’m doing!” Nova said.

Venture nodded. “WAAAARP!”

The Yamato warped out, reappearing, a few seconds later, near what looked like a dead, broken, half moon with a few smashed buildings on it.

It had been another horrible war machine once; the ruins of Prince Zordar’s original Comet Empire City.

Now, it was a place of the dead, a place that was slowly crumbling within.

Nova said, “We warped out so fast that Promecium has to take thirty-five minutes to recalibrate her sensors in her ship to warp here near Earth. That gives us some time. Trelaina has finally shown up. I know where she is.”

“Where?” Anya asked.

“In there, what do you think?” Nova said as she pointed at a ruined building on the surface of the Comet that had been knocked over at a forty-five-degree angle when Zordar’s space fortress had blasted up out of the damaged remains of his war machine and city.

“She’ll kill herself!” cried Mark. “It’s negative two hundred degrees in there, it’s full of hard radiation, there’s no air, and she’s in just a little dress…if she even is dressed!!”

“She’s just fine,” Nova said with a little grin. “We’ll be fine, too.”

“We?” said Mark.

“We’re going there,” Nova said. “Anya, please run up to our cabin. Derek will need flight boots on. Get me a pair, too. There’s probably broken glass and stones in there, and I don’t want to cut my feet…”

“Okay,” said Anya. “Don’t you guys need spacesuits?”

“No,” Nova said.

“Ooooookaayyyyyyyy,” said Anya. She ran off on her errand, coming back three minutes later with the footwear Nova had requested. “Mark, Derek, we’re going over there now,” she said as she pulled her boots on over her uniform.

“How fast?” said Derek.

“NOW,” replied Nova.

III. ON THE TRESHOLD OF A MIRACLE…

The Ruins of the Gatlantis Fortress

Monday, July 24, 2231

1138 Hours: Local Time

In Earth Orbit

________________________

They appeared a moment later in a room in which none of them should have been able to survive without spacesuits…a ruined tower in the wreck of the Comet Empire City.

The windows were smashed in several places, and rocks and pebbles covered the floor.

Derek looked on with distaste as he walked past the remains of a Cometine trooper, a dead, desiccated husk of green skin over a skeleton that lay on the floor, still wearing its blue uniform and helmet.

Trelaina was kneeling on the floor of what had been a grand room, in an attitude of prayer in her nakedness as she gleamed with light.

“Trelaina!” said Mark.

“For now, do not touch me, Mark,” she said. “That will be for later, when I return to Earth with you and the others. I have provided air and heat and light for Derek and Mark. Nova and I can now do without for a while if we have to. We have to consider our next move,” Trelaina said as Nova threw herself on a stained green couch of some vinyl-like material, putting her legs up as she deliberated, biting her lip in concentration.

“Trelaina, we have less than thirty minutes before Promecium shows up, or at least Nova tells me that,” Derek snapped.

“I’ve never been in here before,” Nova said. “Even though it was a citadel of evil, once, it must have been a nice place…sort of…before we attacked it.”

“It vas,” said Invidia as she appeared in the room with a wave of Trelaina’s hand, looking shocked as she stood there in a plain grey prisoner’s jumpsuit and rubber flip-flops. “This was my sitting room! What did you people do to my place?”

“We sort of had to attack it, if you remember,” Derek snapped. “Personally, Invidia, because a hundred guys like Mister Dead Guy over here were shooting at me, I couldn’t wait to leave after Knox and I planted those bombs on your reactor! Nova, Trelaina, what are we doing in this dump? It needs some major urban renewal.”

“Yes, Trelaina. We could use some spray deodorizer in here. It smells like a mausoleum in here,” Nova said as she wrinkled her nose.

“The reason I brought you here? We need to resurrect this place and its crew,” Trelaina said.

“Resurrect them?” Mark said while Nova grimly nodded, catching on at once as to what Trelaina was planning. “We have one threat coming towards Earth and, dear…you want to bring this place back up?”

“It’ll belong to Invidia,” said Trelaina. “I’ve told you what we need to do, Invidia, while Nova and I move the planet…”

“Move…the planet?” Derek said stupidly. “Which planet?”

Nova just smiled at Derek and ignored him for a moment as she looked at Trelaina and said, “You have the gravitational balance set? I don’t want needless civilian casualties.”

Trelaina nodded as Invidia said, “I’m ready, you two…demented space chicks…to…hold them off…in a…kamikaze charge as you Japanese call it?” said Invidia. “With just this ship and the Yamato?”

“Well, you’re getting your Comet reignited right before I move Earth,” Nova said.

“Move…EARTH?” Derek said. “Where?”

“Derek, Promecium’s going to fire that thing again in twenty-five minutes and she has it aimed straight at the planet,” Nova said. “The only way we can phase her out is for Invidia to attack her with the White Comet at full flank speed from one side while Trelaina and I move Earth to the Pellias System out of her reach before she fires.”

“When we move the planet, the shock of the move will kill the Mechanoids on the surface,” Trelaina said. “They can’t adjust to a quantum shift like that while mortal humans can. Also, they’ll be broken away from their power source, which is that monstrosity Ekogaru and Promecium built, which will be badly damaged or destroyed by the White Comet, which will actually be doing the cosmos some good for once. I foresaw this long ago, Invidia, which is the only reason why you and your father were even spared. This is the new way I told you that you had to learn. Your father has his own mission. He knows of it. I saw him a day ago.”

Invidia nodded. “With Foxy dead…if I have to…I am now ready at last to die.”

“You may not,” said Trelaina.

“I probably will,” she said as she unexpectedly hugged Derek, then Mark, then Nova. “Believe it or not, you people made good friends for me at the end. Tell Desslok I am sorry I had to imprison him.”

“I will,” said Derek as unexpected tears ran down his cheeks.

“Then we begin,” said Trelaina. She and Nova held hands, and nodded once. They both gleamed with an utterly blinding light.

The building began to shake and reel.

Derek looked out with his mouth open as towers and buildings reappeared from nowhere while others stood upright again.

The cracked floor reformed into a solid hunk of polished marble.

A roar filled the room as things blew back into place. It looked like film or video being reversed as furniture reappeared, the cracked window reformed, and lights came back on. They heard red-alert klaxons out of nowhere as the whole ship twirled like a top.

And, the dead literally woke up.

The stunned trooper on the floor reformed and snarled at them, turning his rifle on Derek and Mark. Then, he saw Invidia and yelled, “Princess! I have captured the intruders! But who are those two gleaming women?”

“I have restored you to life,” said Trelaina in a terrible, echoing voice.

“And I have summoned your soul back from the brink of Hell to serve a new purpose,” Nova said.

“Are you…a Goddess?” he said. “Are you…Arishna?”

“No. I am a Servant of the Secret Fire, a Plenipotentiary of the King of Israel and the True and Living God, El Shaddai!” Nova snapped in a more terrible and authoritative voice than Derek had ever heard her use.

The authority was certainly terrible…the Cometine actually knelt at Nova’s feet. Derek saw a hundred troopers running into the room, doing as he did…kneeling.

Mark put his Astro-Automatic down. “You will not need that here,” Nova said softly. “There are angels here, Derek, Mark, even though your eyes cannot see them. Trelaina and I can.”

Nova clapped again and said, “Hear now, Cometine troopers! Trelaina of Telezart and I stand together! We have restored your vessel, and your miserable lives so that you can redeem your many past evil deeds at the command of your Princess Invidia, who is your new Mistress! Hear now the words of your Princess!”

“Assume Attack Readiness Cu’talev!” Invidia snapped, shocked that her voice, like Nova’s, was being transmitted through the whole ship. “I am told a huge enemy fleet will soon be coming! The previous war with Terra is now over and we face a greater enemy in common! We fight to allow Nova, of Terra, now the High Queen of the Pellian Confederacy, to move her world and stop an evil greater than this ship! Comet, Reactivate!”

A vast organ chord sounded throughout the huge vessel as flaming light appeared outside. A sound like thunder raged as the Gatlantis executed a turn.

Once again, the Great White Comet burned across the sky.

She turned, roaring past Earth’s Moon at its highest flank speed, followed by the Yamato at a safe distance.

Then, the lights of two thousand warp-out points appeared.

The Mechanoid Fleet had arrived.

Nova looked at the group, and nodded.

They reappeared in the main control room of the Gatlantis.

A shocked Cometine officer in blue allowed himself to be pushed out of his helmsman’s seat by Nova as she literally sat down at the helm of the Gatlantis in her gold uniform and worked a number of controls, shocking Derek and Invidia as she knew exactly what to do, throwing fifteen of the magna-power engines into full emergency speed and bringing the Comet field itself up to a terrible intensity even Invidia had never seen before as Trelaina held Nova’s shoulder and they both seemed to be throwing in a massive, flaming energy charge into the very Comet itself as it charged towards the Mechanoid Fleet, ignoring the blasts of wave-motion energy that skipped off the Comet field as at least eighty battleships, some of them Technomugar, some R’Khell, and some of them stolen Earth vessels, fired their wave motion guns at the Comet.

They’ve got us, Derek thought. It took just thirty-six wave gun shots from Admiral Gideon’s Fleet to extinguish the original Comet, even though the City survived. They have twice the energy. We’re dead.

Nova gritted her teeth as Invidia screamed. “Ve are done for!” she said.

“Oh, she’s holding together,” Nova said with a crazed grin as some of the Cometine troops and officers looked on in utter awe.

“You are having too much fun. You worry me,” Trelaina said.

“Excuse me, Trelaina, but I’m a little ticked off right now,” Nova said. She saw some of the Cometines actually offering salaams of worship! “Would you guys quit that? Don’t worship me, worship the One. He’s the real Boss behind all this today! I am just His Instrument!”

They drew closer to the enemy fleet. Suddenly, the Carnage was the first ship caught up in the Field.

With the intensity that Nova and Trelaina had boosted the Comet to, the former Earth vessel actually just crumbled away like a burning leaf in a fire as it was sucked into the maw of the Comet and consumed by it.

Then, ship after ship of the enemy fleet fell into the Comet. They were consumed like snowflakes in a blast furnace.

Next, Promecium fired her weapon right at the White Comet.

A vast multicolored beam smashed into the Comet.

It spun off, deflected by the field, as Nova moved the Comet in a wide turn that took it close to Earth.

On Earth, people could see it burning in the sky and had no idea what it meant.

“It’s time, Nova,” said Trelaina.

“Good luck…Invidia…hope to see you in a few minutes near Pellias,” said Nova with a wink.

Then, she and Trelaina vanished, and Derek and Mark found themselves back on the Yamato.

A MOMENT LATER….

Derek and Mark found themselves on the Yamato.

They found that Nova and Trelaina didn’t follow them.

Instead, they were out in space…or their spirits were.

They were hovering over Earth between Promecium’s approaching ship and what remained of her fleet as the White Comet sped up behind them, passing over the Yamato at a safe distance.

Both of them looked huge, like avenging angels burning with light.

Also, neither of them had any clothing on in this state.

Trelaina spoke first. “I am Trelaina of Telezart. Promecium, you are a vile traitor, carrying on with the works of Ekogaru. I foresee that at the very end, the works of many from Terra will destroy you, even though it may take centuries. You cannot destroy this world. It is the Footstool of One far Higher than we are. If you are wise, depart, and leave this Galaxy.”

Nova added, “I have seen the beginning of your mad Empire, Promecium, and be assured I will see its end, and I will not die again until you take your last agonized breath. This is the world I grew up on and where I intend to live. Leave it alone! I command it!”

Promecium’s vessel just sped on.

“All right, get ready,” said Trelaina.

Nova nodded.

They raised their hands, and even as Promecium’s weapon fired, a gleaming field of stars appeared around Earth and its moon.

There was a small planet-wide quake on Earth.

A strong wind blew, and the stars surrounded Earth as Trelaina, Nova, the Yamato, Earth, and her Moon simply faded away.

“Where…where did they go?” demanded Promecium.

A prominent Technomugar, who had recently dubbed himself “Count Mecca the First” looked at Promecium, and said, “I…I do not know…my Queen.”

“Find them!” she roared. “Warp us out of here…”

Her vessel shook as the White Comet approached.

“Majesty!” said another crewman on Promecium’s Fortress. “We are being stretched…”

“Stretched?” said Promecium.

Bits of her vessel’s bow were torn off and devoured in the maw of the White Comet.

“Stretched, as in our ship is being ripped apart, my Queen!’ roared Count Mecca. “Damn these Terrans and their tricks!”

“You’ve never heard of the Comet Empire before?” said Promecium.

Pods were torn off the surface of the Fortress. Slaves and monsters, officers and crewmen alike were sucked into the White Comet as, aboard the Comet, Invidia began to laugh.

“What a victory has been wrought for us!” said General Grammis, an old bearded friend who Invidia thought she would never see alive again. “Defeating these madmen is better than defeating Earth!”

“I am more than amused at this,” said Invidia. “Who will it be, Promecium? You, or me? Which one of us dies today? I am sure it is not I!”

“CURSE YOU!” roared Promecium as she appeared on the main screen of the Comet’s bridge. “Don’t you think I can compress you and your Comet into nothing?”

“That’s if you have your weapon left,” said Invidia.

“Where did Earth go along with those damn naked goddesses?”

“I am not at liberty to tell you that, Promecium,” said Invidia, who looked down and noticed in shock that rather than being clad in her prison jumpsuit, she had on a dark blue gown like one of her old ones, high-heeled sandals, and her Royal Jewel shone again in her hair. She indeed now was again a Princess of the Comet Empire! “I believe your prime weapon is being sucked out of your bow into my Comet?”

Parts of the Entropy Gun were indeed blasted out of Promecium’s vessel into the maw of the Comet. Promecium saw several lights turning from green to red on her firing panel and she screamed.

“Mecca! Get us out of here! Back to R’Khell’eva! Get us away from this insane bitch!”

“With alacrity,” said Mecca.

Promecium’s ship warped out.

A moment later, so did the Comet.

Promecium was on her way home with her tail between her legs.

On the other hand, Invidia knew she would need a new Fleet. She was heading back to the Andromeda Galaxy for a meeting she had both long longed for and feared.

A meeting with the Grand Emperor, her father Zordar.

IV. TRANQUILITY…

Planet Earth

Monday, July 24, 2231

1201 Hours: Local Tokyo Megalopolis Time

On Earth, Wendy Singleton-Glitchmann, again in rags, was in a foxhole in a drizzle, the mud thick around her bare feet, as she fired and fired and fired at a running Technomugar officer named Landsaal who was about nine feet tall, and was coming on like a deranged giant.

General Landsaal was the second-in-command of the brutal Occupation on Terra, and he was looking forward to ripping the Leader of the Resistance in half and then eating her remains.

The Resistance had retaken about seven tenths of the city, but at quite a cost, Wendy looked around at the ruins of the Megalopolis. They were near what had been Earth Defense Headquarters, which was now just a cement shell of a building that still smoked from a firebomb attack.

The New Ginza was burning, and Wendy could see smoke rising from Heroes’ Hill at the foot of the Bay. She had been there two days ago. The statue of Captain Avatar was now smashed in a heap, and the memorial stones of Earth’s honored dead had been knocked over. Worst of all, hideous mutated creatures had ripped away the flagstones from some of the actual graves there, and they had robbed the corpses of the honored dead for food and plunder. Captain Avatar’s skull lay on the ground in a heap next to the skull of Hiram Josiah, which had been reburied at Heroes’ Hill five years ago with the rest of his bones.

“It’s all over now, isn’t it?” said the Lieutenant in the hole next to Wendy.

“I think so” she said as she wiped tears out of her eyes and stopped firing. “Homer and I at least reconciled before this. I think he must be dead now. The space battle seems to have stopped out there. Even the Star Force finally found a foe that was too great for them.”

“Are you going to surrender?” said the Lieutenant.

“I’d rather die first,” Wendy hissed. “I’d…

The ground on Earth shook.

More buildings fell as stars appeared in the sky out of nowhere, brighter than the bleared Sun, which was behind clouds.

Wendy was shocked as a sweet scent blew in on the wind, like…violets?

The wind picked up, and Wendy and the others dug in saw the Technomugar troops stumbling in their tracks like dying roaches. Some of them fell on their backs and twitched their arms and legs.

Others collapsed into literally smoking heaps of metallic bones as the land seemed to reel and a great Light appeared in the sky.

None of them could look at it. They shut their eyes, wondering what was happening.

When the light faded, a great wind blew away the clouds. A flash or two of lightning appeared in the skies.

The Sun suddenly seemed much brighter, and the Moon came out in mid-day. The Moon was followed by a second Moon, and then a third Moon.

Then, for the first time ever, cries of awe went up as everyone saw a huge blue and brown world, partially shrouded in white clouds, in a very fast planet rise over the limb of the Earth.

“What the…what the hell happened?” cried the Lieutenant.

“I thought we were dead!” yelled someone else.

“Is that another Earth?” someone yelled.

“What’s happening?” yelled someone else.

Then, a heavy scent of violets came over the city, and the image of a woman began to form in the sky.

The woman saluted. Whoever she was, she was utterly beautiful. She was naked, obviously somewhat pregnant, and a star marked one of her breasts.

An Imperishable Crown burned at her brow like fire.

“People of Earth,” said the immense image in the sky. “You know me, but you do not know me. I was born here, but I have deep roots that have to do with the new world in your sky. I was dead, but by the Grace of God, I live again. I am your rightful President, Nova Wildstar, also the High Queen of the Pellian Commonwealth. The world you are next to now and in orbit of is my adopted home, Pellias. We are now thirty thousand lightyears away from the Sol System, in a place of safety, under the protection of the Free Terran Fleet, the Pellian Fleet, and what remains of the Gamilon Fleet. Trelaina of Telezart and I brought you here after we resurrected the White Comet, now under the command of Princess Invidia, an ally of ours. We brought you here out of the very jaws of destruction, and as you can see, the Technomugar cyborgs on Terra are dead or dying, since we tore them from the energy once provided by Lord Ekogaru, who is now dying, and his successor, Queen Promecium, a snake who was once our ally but became a turncoat and traitor.”

Nova paused as she said, “You heard that I died fighting Ekogaru. That was correct, but by a miracle, I now live again with Grand Admiral Wildstar on the Yamato, which shall be in your sky soon. The tide is finally turning, but the war is not over yet. You will still have mortal R’Khell humans, fanatic Bolar troops, and traitors among our own people whom we must defeat and bring to justice. But, take heart! We are winning at last. In my womb are two new children, our son Theodore, and Queen Starsha the Third of Iscandar, who will retake her throne once she is born and her body grown in a year. Starsha, not yet born, also aided us today in this battle. The Yamato will be landing on Earth soon, and I will be with her. Take heart, and those of you who can, rejoice. You are now safe. Trelaina and I have seen to it, because we love all of you.”

Nova’s image faded as people began to applaud and pray in thanksgiving. Something about her calm, low words, seemed magical in itself, almost motherly, as a warm breeze blew away the cold.

Earth was now bathing under New Pellias’ younger and hotter star for a time, and it was a kindly warmth, with a sort of sea breeze to it.

Earth, along with Pellias, orbited the blue-white, younger, hotter star of Pelaska, as the New Pellians called it now, at about the same distance that Mars orbited Sol in the now almost-empty Sol system. Yet, it seemed warmer on Earth now than before as the Yamato appeared in the sky about an hour later on this, the first day that would later be celebrated as Union Day on the new twin worlds.

On the Yamato, Nova broke it to Derek and the crew and a few intrepid reporters and Government officials and Resistance men and women as the great space battleship bobbed in the sea in an intact dock at the edge of the Megalopolis. It happened as Nova stood on the First Bridge again in the flesh with her uniform back on, although it was open at her neckline to expose her cross and a star that showed on the left side of her bosom above the little bit of her black sports bra that was exposed.

“So, if I understand this correctly,” said a reporter. “You and Trelaina…”

“We had been planning this operation for a while,” Nova said. “I also wrote secret government protocols, which are now in effect, uniting the two worlds under a temporary joint government until such time as Earth is fully liberated from the enemy and a rebuilding effort starts. Then, a new Terran Parliament will be elected, and I intend to resign the Presidency of Earth. I’ve been President long enough.”

“All right,” shouted another reporter. “We understand you’re…the Pellian queen or something like that, too. How will Earth be healed?”

“As we speak, aid is already coming in from Pellias,” Nova said. “Namely, fresh Pellian troops and equipment to fight what I now consider insurgents, guerrillas, and traitors on Earth, as well as some fresh Free Terran troops and a few Gamilons. Desslok lost about half of his fleet in the battle, but he will be back here in a few days.”

A reporter asked, “What about the Comet Empire? We…we…all saw the White Comet again before Earth came…here…”

“Invidia is now our ally. She is taking the Comet City to the Andromeda Galaxy, but she will stop here in a week to drop off some troops and supplies that she can spare. We will have Cometine troops on Earth, but they mean no harm. Consider them peacekeepers, since about eight hundred Cometine Marines will remain on Earth to help us fight the R’Khells. Invidia told me that in the past, the Empire fought R’Khell space pirates, so her father trained some of their men in their tactics years ago, almost too fortunate for us,” she said as she leaned against her radar running her hands through her hair while Derek sat in her chair near her while she faced the assembled group, who had a few still and even video cameras.

“What does that star on your left breast mean, ma’am?” asked a young male reporter.

“It’s my personal seal as the High Queen of the Pellians,” Nova said. “It appeared on my body after I rose from death.”

“How long have you been the High Queen?” asked another reporter. “You were born on Earth, as far as we know.”

“It turns out I was born as the High Queen, but none of us knew it. I have some Pellian and Iscandarian blood, which none of us knew until after I was revived from the brink of death by the Cosmo-DNA and my genes began to change and my special abilities began to show forth.”

“Is one of those powers looking like you’re nineteen or twenty even though we all know you’re in your fifties?” said a lady reporter.

“Yes, it’s part of it, even though it really showed up after my resurrection,” Nova said with a blush.

“And that thing with you naked in the sky?” asked the same reporter.

“Unavoidable. I went from body to spirit and then back to my body again,” Nova said.

“Thank you, ma’am,” said the female reporter. “You’ll pardon me, but if I looked like that at my age, I’d float around naked, too,” she said as everyone laughed. “You’re lucky!”

“Are you still President of Earth?” said another reporter.

“She just said she was!” Derek barked. “Your questions are idiotic!”

“Derek, please,” Nova said. “Yes, I’m still President, but only until this emergency ends when we have a new Parliament and are set up for elections. Then, I’ll voluntarily step down and hand over the office to my elected successor. For now, consider me a War President. I’ve appointed Derek as the EDF Commander, but he’s also told me he plans to resign that post when things calm down.”

“He looks young for his age, too,” said the lady reporter from before. “I daresay he has a good body for his age.”

Derek blushed, shaking his head as Nova said, “He’s as lucky as I am, you know. God bless him!”

And, on that note, the press conference continued…

V. HATRED…

The Vicinity of Planet R’Khell’eva

Monday, July 31, 2231

1550 Hours: Ka’tranga time

“Count Mecca, how great is the damage?” snapped Promecium as she lay on a cushion in her Fortress as it sat over Ka’tranga, the new capital of R’Khell’eva. It had been a smaller city, but it was more modern than other ancient cities on the planet. Upon her arrival from the Battle of Terra, she had three nuclear missiles fired at her own old capital in a psychotic rage, killing over five million people for no good reason except that she had quarreled with the local Ruling Princess upon her return. Now, she was dead, and Promecium had assumed her crown.

In other attacks, she had ordered eight worlds destroyed with Proton Missiles. She now had the blood of about eleven billion souls on her hands.

Mecca bowed and said, “My Queen, it will take us over a month to repair the Entropy Cannon. We also lost a thousand ships to the White Comet. Our strength is greatly reduced. I never expected them to pull off a move like that, and I have no idea where those women moved Earth to. We’re fighting something we do not understand. Shouldn’t we quit this?”

“No, Count! We will wait for five weeks and begin a new offensive against the Rikashans in the Aglen Nebula between our confederacies. Our objective will be to capture Rikashan vessels and fresh slaves to convert into our kind. At some time around the end of the offensive, we will attract the attention of the Pellians and remaining Terrans by attacking Rikasha herself. Lord Cha’rif will surely plead to the High Queen for help. She will come there, and then, I will be able to capture her. We will also finally end the war with the Rikashans by destroying Rikasha itself, and hopefully killing Lord Cha’rif. With the High Queen in our hands and Rikasha destroyed, even if we cannot hold Earth because the damned High Queen seems to have cast a fog of some kind over its location so that I even I cannot discover the accursed planet, we can still force a surrender from the Alliance, especially if we publicly humiliate the High Queen and crucify her…if my new plan for her does not succeed.”

“What is that new plan?”

“She likes to fight? I intend to throw her into the arena to fight a mutual foe of ours and finally dispose of him.”

“Whom?” asked Mecca.

Promecium whispered to Mecca what she planned.

“Splendid,” said Mecca. “That will be awesome.”

Both of them laughed at that.

__________________________________

VI. REBUILDING

Planet Earth

Friday, September 2, 2231

0630 Hours Local Time

4300 Block of Comly Street, Philadelphia, PA, USA

With all of the events going on in space and even on planet Earth, no one thought very much of hearing a tinkling bicycle bell in the early morning in a tranquil neighborhood in lower Northeast Philadelphia. Well, tranquil, that is, when two of the neighborhood families didn’t have loud parties going on in their homes a few blocks away.

Nova Wildstar was riding her bike around the neighborhood in a bit of exercise near the home she and Derek owned here in the city. Since the Presidential Palace was devastated in the Tokyo Megalopolis, along with their house there, the Wildstars had decided to make their fairly undamaged small Philadelphia home their base of operations on Earth for now.

Riding along Comly Street, near a newly installed railing in the park, Nova reflected on how life was returning to normal, at least on the Eastern Seaboard of the US.

They told me the occupation was not so bad here, and that after the first few weeks of the war, Resistance forces from Fort Dix, Fort Bragg, and Fort Lee cleaned out the enemy. Still, there are scars, Nova thought as she rode past an electric pole near the intersection with Hawthorne Street. The pole had scars of spikes on it, dried blood streaks, and a small sign reading TRAITOR still nailed to it. Luckily, the naked prisoner who had been crucified here was gone, along with the crossbar of his impromptu cross.

A neighbor had told Nova that five people had been crucified nearby on Creston Street, and someone’s rowhouse on Higbee Street had been burned down by the occupation troops, with the entire family of a suspected Resistance Officer burned to death along with him. As per local custom, some locals had left some flowers and stuffed toys in front of the site of the ruined house; and part of the reason for Nova’s bike ride had been for her to do the same as she stood near the site of the house in the warm morning with her head bowed in prayer.

Derek was up when Nova came into the house and locked her bike to the porch railing.

“What do you have on?” Nova said.

“Channel Ten. Some commentator thinks that you’re hiding out somewhere here on the East Coast.”

“Wouldn’t they be surprised if they knew they were right?” Nova giggled as she slipped off her sandals in the foyer.

She ran into the house and took a long drink of bottled water from the fridge. It was like a luxury; shipments of fresh food had just begun again in the past few days.

“I’m losing track of how many cities you’ve been to on Earth in the past few days,” Derek said.

“Ottawa, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, the Tokyo Megalopolis, Honolulu, Beijing, Moscow, Ho Chi Minh City, Lagos, Jerusalem, Riyadh, Calcutta,” Nova said. “That’s what I can remember. All those starving people. All those children in rags or nothing at all. All those cries for help; fighting off a squadron of Bolars by myself in Riyadh…”

“That really happened?” Derek said. “I heard about that on the news one night when I was half-asleep and woke up to see you left a note and cookies.”

“Hope the cookies were okay,” Nova said shame-facedly. ” It’s been almost two years since I’ve baked. I’m a little out of practice!”

“You left me with the mess,” Derek said as Nova mock-brandished a spatula at him. “YIKES! QUIT IT!”

The barefoot, pregnant doctor and Queen giggled. “I’m having a hard time separating the reality of my own existence from legends lately,” Nova said as her face clouded over. “Like that day bathing in the Ganges with some of the poorest in India…healing some of the lepers with a kiss on the forehead, and especially what happened in the Megalopolis at the beginning of August…”

“That,” Derek said. “You were almost hysterical after that…”

“Who wouldn’t be…after…what happened…?”

Nova grabbed Derek’s hand, and in both of their minds, the memories of what had passed on the fifth of August ran through their heads.

Nova had been part of a relief mission in a suburb of the Tokyo Megalopolis, that day. She looked very unpretentious, since like the others, she had on her Star Force uniform and a flak jacket, because R’Khells had been shooting at survivors in this block. She and Derek and her son Alex had taken out the R’Khells in nasty, dirty, house-to-house combat earlier that morning. All of them were dirty and tired from the battle, and all of them stank a little with sweat.

Nova was then working with a medical crew of Terrans and furry Ralkhens from New Pellias in feeding and caring for survivors from the battle.

One woman who came up looked semi-hysterical, and she wore only a torn slip.

Nova looked on in pity as she nursed a baby against one of her dirty breasts. She looked on in more pity when she saw that the baby was not a healthy pink color, but was almost alabaster, with a bluish tinge to his naked skin, with spots of green around the stomach.

“Hiroshi here has to get well. He’s had the runs for the past few days,” said the mother.

“Let me check your baby,” Nova said softly. The woman refused to let go of him, but Nova felt for a pulse at the baby’s neck and at his wrist.

It was just as she expected. The baby’s skin was cold. He was growing stiff, and there was no pulse.

The hysterical mother was clinging to her child, and Nova realized with deep pity that it had not yet sunk in that her child was dead, and had been so for three, maybe four days. A fly crawled out of the child’s mouth, and Nova fought to hold down her MRE breakfast when she caught the whiff of decomposition coming from the baby’s body.

Nova looked the woman in her eyes and said, “I’m so sorry, but this child is beyond my power to make well. He’s dead.”

The woman glared at Nova and hissed at her, “Are you that damned gleaming woman who appeared in the sky?”

“Yes,” Nova said. “I…am…and…”

“Well, damn you, bitch, if you moved Earth and heaven, you can do anything! Give my son his life back! Nurse him! You have breasts! Mine are drying out!” The woman angrily tossed the baby’s corpse into Nova’s arms.

Nova took the baby and glared at the mother. Rude words were about to come to her mouth, but she stopped them when a thought, which did not come from Derek, herself, or the Matrix, hit her conscience hard. The thought said, You are a physician. You took an oath years ago to do no harm. I have bestowed Life Itself into your hands. Use it.

Nova held the baby and said, “Well, maybe if I nurse him…it’ll help,” she said softly.

Derek ran up and took in the situation. He blurted out, “Nova, why are you about to nurse a corpse?”

“Do no harm, Derek,” Nova said. “Yelling at this poor mother would do harm. This does none…”

Nova tore open her flak jacket and uniform. She carefully and quickly bared one breast, and she put the baby’s mouth against a nipple.

“God loves you and so do I,” Nova said softly as she kissed the top of the dead child’s head.

Nova then saw her body gleaming. The glow came through her clothes, and her form showed through her garments for a moment before a blast of some energy blasted out of her body into the baby’s body. Nova almost passed out as she became very dizzy. Derek ran to her to hold her up as she felt a gentle spirit, innocent as an angel, flying on something like angels’ wings back into the body of the baby…

A moment later, Nova stood in shock as she felt the baby suckling her. She heard a coo, and a whimper.

She was no longer holding a corpse!

Instead, she was holding a live, squirmy baby boy.

“Oh my God, you poor little sweetheart,” Nova said as she held the baby and some of her own thin milk came.

The mother was smiling and laughing as Nova handed her son back to her a moment later.

“He’ll be okay,” Nova said. “Head over there to aid station two. They’ll give you new clothes, diapers, and formula to supplement your own milk when it comes back.”

“M’Lady,” said a Ralkhen as he ran up to and actually knelt at her feet as she closed up her uniform and jacket. “Did the Almighty grant you power to raise the dead?”

“The baby was in shock and I warmed him up,” Nova stammered. “Anything else…was Nature…through the hands of the Lord, of course.”

“You can work miracles!” cried the Ralkhen as he hugged her.

“Please…please…don’t broadcast this,” Nova pleaded.

“I understand, M’Lady,” said the Ralkhen.

But later…he did not keep silent. Neither did at least six of the Space Marines who beheld the event…and neither did the Buddhist monk who saw it, and the same went for the Catholic nun and priest who observed it.

In fact, the priest, a hard-headed old military chaplain, sent a report to his Bishop about it. It began: I HAVE SEEN THE FEDERATION PRESIDENT PERFORM A MIRACLE TODAY-RAISING THE DEAD. NOVA WILDSTAR HAS BEEN BLESSED BY GOD AND SHE IS A LIVING SAINT AMONG US….

“You did a miracle, Nova,” said Derek as they returned to the present.

“It was not me; I was only His instrument,” Nova sighed while drinking her bottled water. “I can’t take credit for the acts of the Almighty. Do you know where my beach towel is?”

“Try the hall closet,” said Derek. “Going out in the backyard behind those hedges? I’ll probably join you later.”

“Good; I could use someone to put lotion on my back,” Nova said with a wink as she ran to the hall closet. She found her beach towel, stretched, and opened her blouse and took it off. She did the same with her skirt and underpants and stretched on her toes again as she stood naked in the hallway while Derek looked around the doorway and smiled at her.

He remembered the picture of her that appeared in the world press after she had healed a leper in the Ganges, kissing the young woman on the forehead while standing there humbly sharing the poor Indian woman’s nakedness.

She went back into the kitchen and sat on Derek’s lap as he kissed her and rubbed her pregnant tummy.

“It’s getting bigger,” he said in a gentle awe as he touched his beloved’s naked body. Desire grew in both of them, and Nova knew that in about an hour or so, she would be upstairs in their bedroom enjoying love with her lovemate.

“What are you going to be doing?” Derek asked.

“Getting some sun outside,” Nova said as she went into the downstairs bathroom and got a beach towel and some sunscreen along with a white bikini which she changed into.

Derek kissed her and followed her out into their backyard as she spread out the beach towel and laid down on her side in the sun. Derek gently applied sunscreen to Nova’s back, bottom, and the backs of her legs down to her heels and then the soles of her feet. He tickled her feet, and she laughed as he did so.

Then, Nova rolled over and smiled as Derek applied sunscreen to the rest of her, starting at her toes and going up to her waist.

He stopped at Nova’s waist as she smiled and phased them back into the house, into their living room. Luckily, the curtains were closed as Nova gently opened her legs to him as she got out of her swimsuit as fast as she could.

“It looks like Her Majesty’s been enjoying this,” Derek whispered as he put a soothing lotion on her inner thighs, stopping now and then to kiss her there.

“You’re driving me out of my mind,” Nova whispered back. “I hope no one is watching out their window. What about the rest of the sunscreen?”

“I’m getting to that,” Derek said as he gently did her stomach while kissing it and then frequently going back between her legs.

Nova was growing shakier (but not in a bad way) as Derek found her breasts and put lotion on them while he kissed her navel, kissed his way down her tummy, and went back to the center of her again.

The world began to fade away, and Nova began to gasp and cry as the pretense of putting skin lotion on her nude body faded away and turned into lovemaking.

Nova bit her thumb and ran her hands through Derek’s hair as her toes curled and the heat ran through her at a greater and greater pace as the Imperishable Crown burned at her brow and her body finally let go in a maddening climax.

Derek then scooped her up in his arms and carried her up the stairs to the bedroom.

When they were there, Derek tore off his pants and lay on the bed pulling Nova towards her. “Do you want more?” he said, lying there with his own passion exposed and waiting for his bride.

Nova eagerly whispered “YES, dear.”

She got up off the bed and straddled her beloved, kissing him as he did so, shivering as he entered her waiting body.

Their lovemaking seemed to go on forever and ever.

Nova’s toes curled and she climaxed again in Derek’s arms, letting out the cry she had stifled before out in the yard.

She rode her husband with joy as she kissed him and she sent, through their bond, “Keep me up here…I….I….I…”

“I’m losing…it…too…” Derek sent through their bond.

With his own feeling of trembling joy, Derek hit his climax a moment later.

Nova held him and sobbed with joy as his hot seed spurted up into her willing body.

She kissed him hard and said, “Up for more?”

“Would you believe, I’m getting drowsy?” Derek said as he rubbed noses with his wife.

“Mind if I go out and sun myself after a shower while you take your nap, dear?” Nova said. “Of course, I’ll put my swimwear back on.”

Derek yawned and shook his head. “Let’s go out for some lunch later,” he said.

“Take your nap, sleepyhead,” Nova said, wondering where she was getting this energy from. The Matrix? Nova thought.

Nova kissed her husband and washed him up with a warm rag. Then, she tucked him in as he fell asleep.

After her shower, Nova lay down on a beach towel in the backyard with a book as she tied her bikini top at her back while singing softly to herself. She was careful about it, but ever since they had come back up from the underground cities in 2200, Nova had again enjoyed the sun’s warmth on her body. She had been on her school’s swim team in high school and college, and she had always liked either the water or getting some sun in her hair, or both.

The warmth felt wonderful.

Nova sang softly to herself as she read her medical journal with her feet up in the air, flexing her toes as she read.

She smiled as she heard her neighbor Denise next door, laughing along with her little boy Damon.

Nova got up and ran in the grass to look over her small fence.

In their neighbors’ yard, her neighbor, Denise Brooks, was playing in a pink tank swimsuit in a wading pool with her son, Damon, now three years old. Damon had on a cute red swimsuit, and he giggled as his mother dumped water over his head. Then, he knelt down to splash his mother, yelling, “Get Mommy wet!”

“YIKES!” giggled Denise as she splashed her son back.

Nova then called out, “Mind if I join in?”

Denise looked over at Nova and her mouth fell open. “My God, you really do look like that vision we saw of you in the sky!”

“Well, what else would I look like with little on?” Nova said as she walked around into her neighbor’s yard.

“Why is your tummy round?” said Damon. “Too many cookies?”

Nova laughed at that. “No, Damon, I’m going to have a baby. Two of them are in my tummy.”

“Can I rub it?” Damon said.

“Damon, that’s not nice,” Denise scolded.

“It’s okay,” said Nova as she knelt down in the grass and kissed Damon as he rubbed her pregnant tummy.

“One of the babies is talking in my head!” Damon said.

“Babies can’t do that,” Denise huffed.

“My Starsha can. What is she saying?” Nova said.

“She’s tellin’ me it tickles,” giggled Damon.

“What’s that mark on your breast?” Denise asked.

“The Pellian Star,” Nova said. “The rose here on my hip,” she said as she swung her legs around and sat down in the grass, “…stands for my bond of love with Derek. It’s like a wedding ring, even when I don’t have my ring on,” Nova added. Denise looked down at her own small necklace, and looked on with wonder in seeing that Nova now looked much younger than her actual age.

The feeling she felt was awe, and joy, and happiness, knowing that her friend, who had been through quite an experience, still liked to play with the little ones, as innocent about her nakedness as they were.

LATER THAT DAY…….

Derek had on shorts, sandals, and a hula shirt as he and Nova waited for their table in a restaurant in Cape May, New Jersey, near the beach.

Nova wore a pink chapeau with veil, matching pink sandals with polished toenails, and a tube top and shorts in white.

Some other people, right off the beach, were topless or nude, but all eyes turned to look at Nova as she stood before a painting of stars in space as Derek took her picture while she held her pregnant tummy.

“Thinking of the little ones?” Derek said as he took her hand as the hostess, in a diaphanous red minidress and sandals, came to guide them to their table.

Nova nodded. “I can’t wait for the end of the war…and for giving birth to these two,” she said as she sat at her table. “Also, I can’t help thinking of how much I love you right now,” she said as she smiled at him. She kicked off a sandal under the table, and ran her toes over her husband’s.

“What are you looking at?” Nova said as Derek smiled at her.

“Your boobs,” he sent into her mind.

Nova blushed, and laughed. “Were you wanting to take in a drive-in movie later?” she said.

“You’re sure dressed for it,” Derek said. They both laughed, knowing what sort of trouble they often got into at the movies.

They enjoyed their dinner, with Derek smiling at Nova’s face and pregnant tummy as they ate.

However, as they paid their bill, Derek’s phone went off.

“Yes?” he said as he answered it.

“Wildstar, this is Venture. Can you guys get to the ship quickly?”

“As quickly as possible. Nova and I were having dinner in Cape May. Nova’s dressed for the beach; me too.”

“That probably means she’s NOT overdressed.” Both Derek and Mark laughed. “Trelaina’s here, too.”

“We can probably get to the docks in South Philly in about two hours. What’s wrong, Mark?”

“We heard from Promecium. She is demanding we answer in a day.”

“We’ll be there,” Derek said.

Nova signed. “There goes the beach?” she said.

Derek nodded sadly.

Nova kissed him. “It’s all right. Let’s get to the ship.”

THREE HOURS LATER….

Nova and Derek came up onto the First Bridge of the Yamato just as the sun was coming down. She took off her hat and stood beside Trelaina as she stood tensely near the communications station while she leaned against Derek.

“Decoding is completed,” said Homer. “We can play it now.”

“Put it on the video panel if it’s visual,” Derek said.

“Audio-only. But it’s from R’Khell’eva and it is Promecium. Here we go.”

Homer began to play the message.

Promecium’s message began with these words, “I, Queen Promecium II, ruler of the Mechanoid Empire and its allies and vassals, hereby send the people of Terra a congratulatory message on the liberation of your world. You have won a great victory through the powers of High Queen Nova and Lady Trelaina, whom I also congratulate. However, this does not conclude our conflict nor the differences between us. I propose to the High Queen Nova that she and her retainers should meet me on R’Khell’eva in thirty days, where I advise you to come under a Flag of Truce, so that this conflict can be concluded with a duel between yourself, O Lady and Queen of much power, and my chosen Champion. You also have the option of sending a Champion to confront my chosen one if you lack the courage to duel my own champion yourself. In any rate, if you win, our war ends there at the current lines of battle. However, if my Champion bests you, Pellias and Terra will become vassal states of my Empire, and I shall take you prisoner and execute you for your crimes against me. Send your answer within five days, and I shall send the coordinates to the Yamato and grant you safe passage to my world. I, Queen Promecium II have spoken. Long life to Terra, Pellias, and their allies.”

“Should we respond to that message?” Mark said.

“I read treachery in her words. She is lying about something,” Trelaina said.

“Her very nature is treacherous,” said Derek.

“I don’t think we should go,” Homer said.

“And what? Let her attack us again?” demanded Anya as she stood up. “We can’t let her fuck with us anymore, Dad!”

“I have to say I agree,” said Derek. “But it’s not my decision.” He looked to Nova.

“Is the line still open?” Nova said to Homer.

He nodded.

“Move, please,” Nova said as she sat down and pulled up Promecium’s frequency. She activated the link herself and said, “Promecium, this is Nova. Send the coordinates for R’Khell’eva. I will be coming myself within ten days. Then, I will duel your champion myself; unless you’d care to settle this with me personally?”

“I am sending the coordinates, Nova. No, I will not meet you in the arena myself. I will be in the box cheering for my champion, who wants to die, but I believe he will take you to Hell with him and save me the trouble of nailing you up to a cross.”

“Send the coordinates. When you do, and when Trelaina examines them, I will send a signal verifying that we are leaving.”

“What are you bringing?” hissed Promecium.

“Myself and only that,” Nova said.

“I will provide you and my champion with weapons, and you will have armor if you desire it,” said Promecium. “Who will be your second?”

“I will be,” said Derek. “Who is yours?”

“Count Mecca,” Promecium said.

“There had better not be any treachery,” said Nova. “You know the ancient codes and rules, I am sure.”

“You accuse me of treachery?” said Promecium. “You bitch.”

“I will not respond in kind,” Nova said. “You will be watched.”

“I do not wish you success, Nova.”

“I will keep my silence, Promecium,” Nova responded. She switched off the channel herself.

VII. ARRIVAL AT THE DARK LADY’S LAIR

Planet R’Khell’eva

Friday, September 9, 2231

0830 Hours Local Time

____________________________________________________

“Warp Complete,” said Venture.

The Yamato slammed out of warp in orbit around a globe with some oceans and a lot of land surface in a star system with two suns…namely, Planet R’Khell’eva.

A signal came in from Promecium a moment later. “Greetings, High Queen Nova Wildstar. This is Promecium. I command you to land in a shuttle in our capital accompanied by your second, and your son, Stephen, and your daughter, Anastasia, to stand as witnesses in this duel. You will land at the airfield I am signifying on the graphic I am sending you. You will have no escort nor fighters. Any deviation from the course I send will result in your destruction and an attack upon your vessel. Send your acknowledgement.

“Received and acknowledged,” Nova said. She stood there wearing her Medical uniform, lab coat, and sandals. Derek noticed she looked somewhat tired.

Derek said, “Venture, you’re in command. If the ship falls under attack, get her out of here.”

He was about to argue, but Trelaina looked at him and said, “He and Nova mean this, Mark. Please obey their command.”

Mark nodded.

On the bridge, Anya left her post along with Stephen. Alex was on the bridge with his sisters Ariel and Teresa. Each of the Wildstar children who was remaining behind hugged their brother and sister as young Alex took Anya’s place at the Combat Control station, and while Teresa sat down at the Analysis station.

“I wonder why she wants us to fly there,” Nova mused. “I could easily teleport us down. Teresa, please give me an analysis of the landing spot.”

“Roger,” she said. “Gravity, 1.125 times Terran Normal. Temperature; 38.8 degrees Celsius, 102 degrees Fahrenheit. Atmospheric composition: Nitrogen, 77%, Oxygen, 22%, argon and other trace elements; 1%. Humidity, very low, climate, arid tropical. Sunlight is very strong.”

“It sounds like some sort of wasteland,” said Stephen.

“It does not sound inviting,” said IQ-9.

“Nevertheless, we have to go there,” Derek said. “Let’s go.”

They made their landing a few minutes later.

When they came out of the shuttle, a company of cyborg warriors, R’Khell priests in red, and hideous-looking creatures in what looked like medieval armor and cloaks greeted them.

“May I ask what those creatures are?” Stephen said.

“Orcs,” one of them snapped.

“Nonsense,” he scoffed. “They’re creatures of myth.”

“Do we look like that, rat bag four eyed boy with your stupid big round glasses?” growled one of them. “Were you not here under flag of truce on her orders and His, I’d rip your fucking tongue out for that!”

“They don’t smell like mythical creatures,” Anya said, wrinkling her nose.

Nova strode forward, bowed, and then snapped, “Kulknej greeav lat, woravhausan on’k. Tak’ uuk avo your maukaver!”

To everyone’s surprise, the cyborgs and R’Khells nodded while the Orcs saluted with curt salutes that looked like the Cometine salute. One of them yelled, “G’rAAAAshk!” and the Orcs formed a square around them, and they marched them off.

“What did you say to them?” Derek whispered.

“I said, ‘we greet you, worthy ones, take us to your Masters,’ in their own language,” Nova replied. “It appears to have worked.”

They were marched to a vehicle that waited on a hover-field. They entered the cool vehicle, and it whirred off.

They noticed they were being driven away from a R’Khell fighter airfield of some kind, past an electrified fence, and then down a road.

They passed some buildings that looked like farms with strange looking livestock, and passed some hovels that looked to be made out of adobe. Civilians in ragged robes or even nothing at all worked small plots of ground. Nova shivered as they passed a few crosses on which naked victims were hung; some were alive and suffering, and some were both dead and in various states of decomposition. Two of the crosses were very old, and the pathetic corpses that hung on them were mere skeletons being pecked at by evil-looking black birds.

“If you’re dead here, looks like you get to hang around a while,” Anya quipped.

“That’s not funny!” barked Stephen.

“Stop being a wet blanket, Steve,” Anya said, but even she shivered as they passed a cross with only a decayed set of arm-bones on it. The rest of its victim was a pile of bones on the dry ground.

“Derek, I’m going to suffer here,” Nova said.

“Nova, stop being fatalistic,” he said.

“It’s like my visions,” she said. “The dry world with two stars, everything. Before we leave here, I’m going to be up on a cross like that,” she said.

“Aren’t you going to win this?” Derek snapped.

“I will, but only after we suffer a lot,” she said.

They drove past a vile-looking set of foothills leading to some mountains in the distance, and then drove into the capital city of Ga’ Kasha, now being occupied by Promecium and her forces.

Promecium and Ekogaru had wiped out six of the largest cities on the planet in the past ten years or so. Ga’ Kasha was the largest city left, a metropolis of about three million people. It held a few modern towers, but most of the buildings were strange-looking structures of adobe that looked almost Biblical. There were even walls that they drove past on their way to what looked like a somewhat better-preserved version of the ancient Colosseum on Terra; a huge stadium made of stone and adobe.

They drove into a gate in the strange arena and stopped in a large room filled with guards and soldiers.

As soon as they stopped, Anya and Stephen had their arms grabbed by some very large Orcs, who yelled, “Stand here!”

Another one yelled at Derek, “Open your jacket!” Derek did so and was searched. They found only his sidearm and let him keep it.

Another two grabbed Nova, and as one other came up with a large bundle wrapped in scarlet, a fourth one yelled in Nova’s ear, “Strip! Everything off!”

Nova kissed Derek, and then stood back and voluntarily undressed, not stopping until she was nude and barefoot.

An orc knelt, bowed before her, and said, “Your armor, Majesty,” in a guttural voice.

Nova allowed Derek and the Orc to help her into a gleaming suit of armor, which consisted of a helm, breastplate, greaves, and sandals.

A guard helped Nova put on a black and red cloak, and she said, “This way, Majesty. Promecium and Ekogaru await you on the field of battle. You two, you will be escorted to a box in the arena,” she said as Anya and Stephen were shoved away.

Nova and Derek were led into an elevator, and they waited as it went upwards and then stopped.

They heard the sound of a huge crowd cheering and yelling above as they were led up a short set of wooden stairs up through a trap door.

They emerged in a huge sand-covered arena in the center of a huge stadium.

An announcer yelled in the R’Khell language over a PA system as Nova and Derek were left alone before a party of three; one was Promecium herself, one was a dandyish-looking cyborg who identified himself as Count Mecca, and the last was a tall, naked man who stood coughing slightly.

“Ekogaru,” Nova said as she bowed slightly. “You’re her Champion.”

“I am, and that by force, just as you are under constraint,” he said as one of the guards pulled Nova’s cloak from her shoulders and another brought a wooden casket to a small dais.

He opened the casket, and Nova and Ekogaru observed two dueling sabers resting nested in red velvet.

“Your weapons,” said Promecium. “As equal as possible for your sizes,” she said as Ekogaru and Nova lifted and swung their weapons.

“Now, the rules,” said Promecium.

“Hold,” said Nova as she raised her hand up. “Isn’t he going to be given armor? He doesn’t have anything! This is not going to be a fair fight with me in armor and him in nothing!”

“He does not need it,” said Promecium. “His skin is his armor, he said.”

“I won’t take an unfair advantage,” Nova said. “Derek, please strip me.”

“Nova…I…” said Derek.

“I’ll be fine,” she said as she pulled off one of the greaves she had on, followed by the sandal she had on beneath it, wincing slightly as her bare foot touched the hot sand.

Derek nodded, but tears ran down his face as he and the other guard worked to remove Nova’s armor.

Finally, he was crying as the last thing was taken off Nova’s waist, and she stood naked, as Ekogaru did.

The fire of the Matrix erupted in several places on Nova’s body as she swung her sword and stood facing Ekogaru after kissing Derek.

Promecium said, “You two shall fight until one of the two of you is mortally wounded. You are allowed to use your weapons, your hands, arms, legs, bodies, and any of your inherent powers. Ekogaru, you are hobbled because you are starving. Nova, you are hobbled because you are obviously with child. I shall stand back, and the two of you shall circle each other and then begin to fight.”

“Are there any other rules?” Ekogaru demanded.

“None. Go at it!” ordered Promecium.

Derek was pulled back by a guard as Nova and Ekogaru circled each other, both barefoot in the hot sand.

Nova struck first, but Ekogaru parried her blow.

“You still have a lot of strength,” Nova said.

“Not as much as I did once,” said the Dark Lord. “That would have cut you in half a year ago. What do you have for me?”

“This,” Nova replied as she stared hard at her blade. Flames ran down it as she stabbed at Ekogaru and it caught him in a thigh. It drew blood and cauterized the wound at the same time, but the Dark Lord stumbled at Nova’s blow.

He swung at Nova’s other side, but to his shock, Nova parried the blow with her bare arm with a ring of his sword, even though he noticed that the impact left Nova’s arm bleeding.

Nova gritted her teeth and closed the wound with her energy after a moment, and she fired a blast of light at Ekogaru as she swung at him.

The blade struck his arm and caused a massive cut as Ekogaru stumbled and screamed in pain.

“I would have thought you would have had more fight left in you,” Nova said. “And I’m sorry I’m hurting you…but…they’ve been making me do this, and I know I need to get to you so you can give me what you promised before when you said you’d help us when you appeared to us on the Yamato.”

“I have been tortured for the past two weeks. I was given a meal and told to fight you. But I wanted this.”

“Why, Ekogaru?” whispered Nova as he punched her in the shoulder.

“I do not intend to finish this alive,” whispered the Dark Lord as Nova punched him in the mouth for show, feeling horrible about it as she saw him stagger. As pregnant as she was, the tables were shockingly turned as she was now far stronger, even physically, than the former Dictator and Sorcerer. “I have something to pass to you before I die. Promecium has a set-up in mind, as you would call it.”

“What sort of set-up?” Nova said as she swung at Ekogaru, who stopped the blow with his wrists. He still had a modicum of strength, and Nova’s blow snapped her metal dueling blade blade in half as it struck him.

Nova tossed the steel blade aside and she then extended her hand, and her Crystal Blade came from nowhere as the crowd booed.

“Promecium does not act in good faith,” said Ekogaru as Nova stabbed at him. “She wants you and the others dead. It is all a trick.”

“I thank you for that,” Nova said. Ekogaru did not expect what she said next. “I forgive you of all of your past crimes. Please help us escape this place. I will grant you asylum and peace in my realm.”

“Thank you for the offer, but I’m dying,” Ekogaru said as he swung at Nova three times, and then circled her as she held up her Crystal Sword.

Then, he shocked her and Derek by casting away his weapon and throwing himself at Nova with a howl of pain and rage.

But he impaled himself on Nova’s sword!

“I do not believe this!” yelled Count Mecca from his seat in the Box with Promecium.

“He is not supposed to do this!” yelled Promecium. “She’s supposed to drain her energy in killing him! He’s not supposed to throw this fight!”

“Hold, Promecium. Let’s see what he does. This might be interesting,” said Mecca.

________________________________

In the arena, Ekogaru was dying at last, and he knew it; he was dying because he had intentionally thrown himself onto Nova’s Crystal Sword. It then hit Nova that he had intended to commit suicide in some fashion or another all along.

“You didn’t need to do that,” Nova whispered as she knelt beside him in the bloody sand. “I have forgiven you. As has the King of Kings.”

“It had to be,” Ekogaru gasped. “I have sinned by grasping Life for so long. I have sinned by killing uncounted trillions and Usurping the Name of the Highest. I have sinned by wanting to harm you; you, whom I first hated, then envied, then admired, and now, as my time ends, I admit, you are the one whom I Love. Yet you are bonded forever to Derek, so my love must pass unrequited. Except for granting you some gifts.”

“What sort of gifts?” Nova said as tears ran down her face. Derek came to her, and he put an arm around her blood-covered bare shoulder as Ekogaru grasped her hand.

“I have three things left in me to give you. First, what remains of my power and abilities.”

“I refuse that gift,” Nova whispered. “I…”

“No, hear me out, please,” he gasped. “Promecium believes I gave her my power and made her my heir. I lied. She is a usurper even worse than I am. I gave her nothing of myself. To bring down my works, you need the ability by which I made them in the first place. Therefore, I must give it to you.”

“Derek…I can’t accept…”

“Nova, you may have to,” Derek said. “Please. Take what he offers.”

“What is the second gift?” Nova said.

“Victory, with your powers intact,” Ekogaru said. “Now, hear me. She will capture you. She will scourge you, humiliate you, and make you work as a slave for two weeks before he crucifies you. Your power will help you survive this. Derek, run from here. Return to the place where she and your children will be crucified and rescue them. Is that clear?”

Derek nodded once as he looked at Nova.

“It may sicken me, but so be it,” Nova said. “What is the third and final gift?”

“The secret…,” he gasped. “Of the destruction…of my Phased Density weapon. The root of my Fortress? Promecium melded it with this world; R’Khell’eva itself. And it is melded to me. Even now, R’Khell’eva heads towards Terra. To destroy the weapon, you MUST destroy this planet, and not hesitate in doing so, and you must also just let me die. When I die, the majority of its power goes with me. You can finish it with the Yamato when she attacks Terra.”

“The wave motion gun could do it,” Derek said.

“Yes, but it must be aimed at one precise point. Nova will know that point, and she must give her consent to have that point struck. You know why, Nova,” Ekogaru said as a great blast of terrible force and light began to pass into Nova.

Inside Nova, the Matrix burned with fire, as Ekogaru’s remaining fire and darkness passed into her, along with a great and terrible knowledge; actually, several pieces of knowledge. She could not believe what Ekogaru had wielded, yet, she knew she would have to use some of his own methods to finish off Promecium.

“Nova…?” Derek said.

“It makes me sick,” Nova said. “But I must drink of this cup, as painful as it is.”

Nova shivered with an incredible pain and screamed a terrible scream, as she drew in a pain-filled, shivering breath.

As she drew in her breath, Ekogaru smiled and exhaled his final breath. His eyes closed, and his naked, battered body went limp.

Nova smiled slightly and said, “And so, he passes, by the skin of his teeth, accepted into the Light. He made a great sacrifice, Derek, by granting this. As I did, by accepting it. “

“YOU BITCH!” roared Promecium as she came up with forty of her guards; twenty were cyborgs like her, and twenty were the hideous mutated Orcs. “Take her and humiliate her! Nova Wildstar, I depose you and sentence you to pain, torment, and to death by crucifixion! Beat her and collar her!”

“NO!” Derek roared as he drew his Astro-Automatic with one hand and picked up Nova’s fallen crystal sword with the other.

“Let them, Derek,” Nova whispered as they advanced.

“LET THEM?” he yelled.

“Run, please,” Nova said as they grabbed hold of her and began to strike her naked body again. They pulled her head back by her hair and shoved a painful iron Matrix Collar with its burning green stones on her neck as they kicked and beat her slender body.

Then, they dragged her by her hands and abruptly nailed her hands to a cross tree while they began to scourge her naked form with a whip.

She screamed as she was tormented and dragged up onto the cross and her feet were nailed to the pole.

Her blood splashed upon Derek’s face and mixed with his tears as they came for him next.

“RUN!” Nova cried. “If you do nothing else for me, my love...RUN! We will meet again! I assure you of that.”

Derek trembled and just evaded the hands of the Orcs as they tore at his clothes and ripped his shirt off inside his peacoat.

Yet thus was the power of Nova’s voice that he ran.

“Seek permission to pursue him and crucify him, too!” roared the Orc commander.

“Denied,” said Promecium as she spat on Nova’s naked body. “Let the mortal coward RUN! He’ll join her in the grave soon enough. I have the one I want. As for him,” she said as she pointed at Ekogaru’s corpse. “Cast him to the wolves. They need a good meal.”

Derek ran, glancing back.

Nova was hanging there, head bowed, as an Executioner pulled her back.

The markings of her Majesty on her naked skin had faded away as she hung there in a dignified fashion, suffering and in pain while a General of Promecium’s invited the mob in the arena to throw their garbage at the High Queen.

“I thought you said I was going to be enslaved, first,” Nova gasped from her cross as garbage bounced off her head.

“I changed my mind, bitch,” Promecium said as she and Mecca laughed at her.

And so, as the two suns climbed in the skies of R’Khell’eva, Nova hung there, naked, sweating, and in torment, crucified, as she thought, This will be a long two days, as I foresee this. I think I can live, but what about the twins inside me? Crucifying a pregnant woman; how low can they get?

...TO BE CONTINUED….

Promecium’s message began with these words, “I, Queen Promecium II, ruler of the Mechanoid Empire and its allies and vassals, hereby send the people of Terra a congratulatory message on the liberation of your world. You have won a great victory through the powers of High Queen Nova and Lady Trelaina, whom I also congratulate. However, this does not conclude our conflict nor the differences between us. I propose to the High Queen Nova that she and her retainers should meet me on R’Khell’eva in thirty days, where I advise you to come under a Flag of Truce, so that this conflict can be concluded with a duel between yourself, O Lady and Queen of much power, and my chosen Champion. You also have the option of sending a Champion to confront my chosen one if you lack the courage to duel my own champion. In any rate, if you win, our war ends there at the current lines of battle. However, if my Champion bests you, Pellias and Terra will become vassal states of my Empire, and I shall take you prisoner and execute you for your crimes against me. Send your answer within five days, and I shall send the coordinates to the Yamato and grant you safe passage to my world. I, Queen Promecium II have spoken. Long life to Terra, Pellias, and their allies.”