The Fire in Their Eyes Chapter 1, a starblazers fanfic

THE FIRE IN THEIR EYES

A VERY Dark Star Blazers/Battle of the Planets crossover fanfic (Rating: Heavy R/ NC-17very explicit): THIS TALE IS NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!

PART ONE: A REIGN OF TERROR BEGINS

By Frederick P. "Freddo" Kopetz

Thanks to "Yuki Wildstar" and Gail Kopetz for the inspiration (and Gail says "blame me for reading one too many Bertice Small Bodice-Ripper novels and feeding Freddo weird and naughty ideas…")

I. PRELUDE

The Tokyo Megalopolis

Dr. Kei Stuart's Office

Thursday July 21, 2208

1330 Hours

Nova Wildstar was having one of the most contented…and peaceful visits to the pediatrician she had ever had in her life, or the young lives of her babies, Alex and Ariel Wildstar.

Alex and Ariel had been crying just a little while ago, because they had just received shots from the young blonde pediatrician, who had renewed her relationship with Doctor Sane….She had also told Nova (while Derek had been in the restroom) that she and Doctor Sane had also been intimate several times in the past few months…the most recent time being in a nice forest in the park around Heroes' Hill. They had spoken of this while little Alex and Ariel were being stripped of their minimal summer clothes for their exams…they had come here wearing nothing but their training pants and little sunsuits that left most of their little bodies bare to the very hot summer sun thanks to the abnormal acivity in the Sun. Today, the expected highs would be between 125 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. This heat, combined with the high humidity on Great Island this time of year, made people run to the beaches, lakes, and rivers of the region for relief.

Right now, Nova was comforting her two naked children in her lap as she herself sat on the examining table with them, giving them her milk, breasts, and love as the pediatrician watched them feed and checked Nova's breasts every now and then. Nova herself was rather easy to check at the moment; because of the heat, she had worn nothing but a favorite pink romper set of hers and matching pink sandals…with those garments off, Nova herself was also nude. She smiled at Derek as he tenderly stroked her and the babies as they fed; letting his hands run over the soft skin of his children as well as over the soft, lightly tanned skin of their mother.

"This feels good," she whispered.

"I'm so happy," Derek replied as he kissed his wife's knee, letting a hand go gently up one of her thighs to her soft bottom. Nova blushed, giggled softly, and tried to slide away from him, as she whispered, "Sweetheart…not in front of the doctor, please!"

"And why not?" said Dr. Stuart. "By the way, the babies are fine. I gave them their ten-month series of shots today, and they are both developing quite normally. In fact, they're both a bit precocious…it's so cute that they are forming words already….and, Nova, you're potty-training them already?"

Nova said, "Yes. They still have some accidents, but they're easy to deal with since we've rolled up the rugs, and in the house we usually keep them stripped and not far from a potty chair, although I've begun to teach them how to pull up their pants afterwards," Nova said. "However, they love to pull off their pants and go naked a lot, the little scamps!" Nova laughed. "They said it itches to be dressed in this heat…and since it is a sticky heat, who can blame them?"

"DOCCIE!" yelled Ariel as she pulled away from Nova's breast and reached to Doctor Stuart to be played with. Doctor Stuart turned her around on her mother's bare thigh, and mother, father, and pediatrician smiled at her as she sat up with a big smile and followed Doctor Stuart's penlight with her big, sweet brown eyes under dark lashes that were beginning to look just like her mother's, complete with the small epicanthic fold in the corners of her eyes that her mother had due to her degree of Japanese ancestry, making her eyes look somewhat exotic.

"Her eyes are nice and alert," said Doctor Stuart as she mussed up Ariel's hair. She tickled her little bare chest, and then Nova and Derek smiled as Ariel grabbed her mother's knee….put her cute little bare bottom up in the air, and said, "Poopie!" with a grunt.

Before anyone could react, Ariel strained, and, sure enough, a nice and almost solid bit of baby poop came out of her, bounced against her mother's stomach, and then hit the paper-covered examining table with a subdued plop. Nova laughed and wiped off her own tummy and leg, and then she began to clean her squiggling daughter's little bottom as she gently kept the squealing baby bottoms-up on her knee. Nova then used another baby wipe to pick up the little ball of poop and place it in a bedpan that Dr. Stuart provided.

"And our little girl obliges by giving us a little sample to study," said the pediatrician as Nova climbed back up into Derek's lap again to be held, letting Ariel crawl down the examining table a little as Derek gave his wife's stomach an affectionate pat…and then, he made Nova squeal as he tickled the sole of his wife's bare foot.

"Derek! You're crazy!" Nova laughed. "Please save that for the car or something!"

"Where?" said Derek. "The back seat?"

Nova slapped her husband's leg and he went "ouch!" but he still steadied his son on his mother's lap as he still slurped away at Nova's right breast and then the young officer stroked Nova's cheek with a look that said, "Are you mad at me?" Nova shook her head and smooched her husband's hand.

"You two make me laugh," said Doctor Stuart. "But, for now, stop it, kids!" Now, both young parents blushed as Dr. Stuart said, "You two happen to be one of the cutest, sweetest, most affectionate couples I've ever met in my practice. It's pretty obvious that you're bonded very deeply to both of your babies as well as to each other. You have a degree of intimacy with nursing that I see in only a few couples, but should see in everyone."

"Is there anything wrong with that?" Nova asked in a very soft voice.

"No," said Dr. Stuart. "And you two can consider yourselves very fortunate. Nova, due to a hormonal mix I don't see in a lot of women, you are still producing a fair amount of progesterone and estrogen. Now, I did your blood work along with Doctor Sane. It did drop, as is usual after having children, but it didn't drop as much as I have seen in a lot of other women. Also," added Doctor Stuart. "To be honest, I don't work with a lot of other patients who were apparently both taken to the brink of death and brought back from its brink by the effects of strange alien machines…"

Then, Ariel crawled back to her mother (who was hoping she could get dressed soon) and she ensured her mother's continued bareness for a bit by grabbing her left breast again and continuing to nurse. Nova said, "I know…Doctor Sane and the other doctors he's worked with have said that sitting on the Cosmo-DNA-twice-when it went off would have had quite an effect on what I've become now. I've been able to heal up rapidly because of the effects of that device upon my body. I take it you are saying that…my continued, deep affection towards Derek may be partially a side effect of sitting on that thing when it went off?"

"That might explain your relative happy lack of an estrogen and a progesterone drop, Nova, but it does not quite fully explain it. You even said in one of your articles once that the most important sexual organ in our body is in fact our brain. Therefore, the fact that you love him and he loves you means quite a bit…"

Nova stretched and flexed her toes as she looked at Derek and a pleasant feeling ran through her as he kept on stroking her hip and her bottom. Ariel seemed to be finished, so Nova let her turn away from her breast. Derek helped her lift the baby over her shoulder with one hand as he rubbed Ariel's back and tenderly burped her. Then, they did the same with Alex a moment later. The young parents then worked together to tenderly dress their children.

Doctor Stuart said, "Nova, the close proximity of Commodore Wildstar and his bond to you and your bond to him make feeding those babies a very sweet experience, right?"

Both Derek and Nova nodded, both blushing like teenagers whose love nest has just been discovered. Doctor Stuart then said, "I know what you have confessed…we don't need to cover that ground again," said Doctor Stuart, knowing that the young couple had confessed that they often found each other cuddling or touching during Nova's nursing periods (especially when she nursed naked when she had the privacy to do so), and that this cuddling led to lovemaking in various degrees, when they had the privacy to do so. She knew Nova was on the mini-pill, and that, combined with the nursing, made the chance she would conceive during this period rather remote, although the possibility still existed.

"Yes, I sure know that…it's…normal, right?" Nova said.

"As long as you have the privacy, you two go right ahead and do whatever you want after you take care of your little ones," said Doctor Stuart as she sat on the examining table with them and swung her clog-clad feet back and forth under her knee-length skirt. Stuart was wearing a white lab coat, white shirt with tie, black skirt, and woven open-toed clogs. She looked professional yet comfortable…a look Nova herself would later adapt years later when she became a full MD herself. Stuart also added, "Given this global warming and these temperatures from that increased solar activity they have picked up…I think we're going to be back here dressing the same way in December…"

Yes, thought Derek. That is, that is if the rate of fusion inside the Sun doesn't increase as much as the scientists think it might…. Derek Wildstar didn't know if Doctor Stuart knew that of all of the speculation in the scientific community as to what the Minor Sun Crisis (as the EDF was beginning to call it) might mean for Earth. It was being called the Minor Sun Crisis because the early projections that the Sun might begin to expand and begin burning itself out seemed to have been disproven so far as the Sun burned on, albeit with a few more solar prominences and sunspots than usual.

Derek finally did say, "One reason the Argo is taking off again towards the end of the Summer," he said as he moved aside so that Nova could begin to get dressed, "is because we will probably be going to near the orbit of Mercury to investigate and scan the Sun as closely as possible. We'll probably be there for about two or three days…."

In the meantime, Alex squealed loudly next to his mother's leg as Nova finished re-diapering him and then began to zip her outfit shut, clothing her nakedness.

"awwwww," Derek said teasingly. "Covering up already?"

Nova gave him a playful slap on the thigh. "Derek you know I can't exactly walk down Federation Street naked, even though I know that, given your dirty mind, you'd probably get a kick out of it? I'm saving that for the beach in a while. Anyway, my surfboard is on top of our new car on its new roof rack, " Nova said, referring to her new 2209 Subaru NeoImpreza sedan in silver-grey. Derek shook his head, smiled, and kissed Nova.

"You guys sound so cute," said Stuart with a smile as Derek zipped Nova's pink outfit closed and then slipped her backless sandals onto her bare feet. Doctor Stuart smiled to herself as she also knew that another couple was undergoing something similar; if even more intense….namely, Deke Wakefield and the Princess Sasha Wakefield of Iscandar. She had recently seen Deke and Sasha (they saw her as well thanks to Doctor Sane's and Nova's recommendations) and, when observing an unclothed Sasha nursing little Star Wakefield…she also showed reactions similar to Nova's…and so did Deke Wakefield…even when not in physical proximity to his spouse. Stuart guessed that through the psychic bond, they could feel each other's arousal and feed off of it.

Stuart smiled at Nova and Derek as they dressed Alex and Ariel in their summer clothes; Alex was slipped into a little coverall sunsuit over his training pants, and Ariel was dressed in a little yellow sundress. Neither baby wore any shoes at all, and Stuart waved at them as they left in the parents' arms (Derek carried Ariel; Nova carried Alex) and the two babies waved back.

A few minutes later, Nova and Derek left Dr. Stuart's office, and they walked across a bit of a nearby park to get to the parking deck that held their car.

"It's gotten hotter," Derek said as he carried Alex. Nova nodded as she wiped her brow while carrying Ariel in front of her in the kangaroo carrier she wore. "Derek, look at the temperature on that bank…"

Derek did; the bank had a sign on it that indicated the temperature; it was 118 degrees Fahrenheit, and 47.77 degrees Celsius. "No wonder it feels that hot out," Derek said. "It is that hot out."

"We need to be at the shore ASAP; at least there'll be a breeze," Nova said, adding to herself, And when we get on the beach, I can strip down again and get in the water…

A moment later, they heard some coughing. The young couple turned their heads and they saw another young couple running down a path in the park. It was a young man, out running with his girlfriend, stripped down to only a fundoshi (or Japanese loincloth) and sneakers, with sweat glistening off his bare chest and legs. His girlfriend, a young redhead, also wore only a fundoshi on her sweaty, near-nude body and rafting sandals on her bare feet in the extreme heat. She was the one who was coughing as she threw up.

"Do you need some water?" Nova said as she pulled a glass bottle of purified water from her pack. The young running woman nodded and took Nova's water, drinking heavily, and even pouring some on her body as she stripped herself naked to cool off for a moment. "How far have you run?" Nova asked.

"About six kilometers," gasped the young redheaded woman. "Hiroshi and I are training for a race…this is the hottest it's ever been. Are those news stories true? Did something happen to the Sun? It's been so hot lately!"

"Well, they have been picking up more sunspots than usual," Derek said. "It's still being studied. I wouldn't run any more today if I were you two. I'd get back home or get to a body of water and just jump in. There's a small artificial lake about half a kilometer down that path that you can go swimming in."

"It's a good place to cool off," Nova added. "I often do work as a Reservist nurse at Central Hospital, and sometimes during this hot Spring and Summer, I've been spending lunch there with my babies in my lap, out of my uniform so I can nurse them, and I let my feet dangle in the water. Sometimes, if I meet my husband, I wade into the shallow end with the babies or go in deeper myself to swim."

"Good idea," said Hiroshi. "Sonja, let's go…they don't mind if you skinny-dip in that lake?"

"Of course not," Nova laughed. "Not since it's been this insanely hot, anyway. See you guys later…and take care. We're going to the ocean ourselves, probably to skinny-dip," Nova laughed. "Try to stay cool! Don't work too hard…"

A while later, they arrived at the beach.

Little Alex was grabbing for his mother's breasts as soon as Nova picked him up from his car seat, and as Nova picked him up, she noticed his training pants and little sunsuit were soaked. He looked at hs mother and said, "Sorry Mommy…no potty!"

"That's okay, dear," Nova said softly. She solved Alex's problem by quickly undressing him as Derek, per Nova's request, tenderly helped Nova out of her sandals and then all of the rest of her clothing for the beach after noticing on the car instrument panel (which had a temperature gauge) that it was now 121 degrees. Nova had no swimwear today. As a result, many of those on the beach (who were themselves bare) smiled as Nova walked down the beach naked about three minutes later. Nova held little Alex as he suckled at one of her breasts while playing with the other one as he cuddled skin-to-skin against her.

Mother and child were soon sitting on a beach towel as Nova yawned in the heat. "Derek, it must've gotten ten degrees hotter in the past few minutes. I feel like I'm going to fall asleep….or something…."

"I know," Derek said as he stripped himself of his boots and shirt. Ariel was pulling at her clothes, so Derek undressed his baby daughter next, and smiled as she screamed, "MOMMIE!" and began to crawl off Derek's lap to her mother's lap. A moment later, Nova was smiling and holding Ariel as she took her mother's other bare breast and also began to nurse. Nova got more smiles from onlookers. The young mother simply looked adorable nursing her twins naked on the bright beach in the heat as she lay there kissing them, and stroking them as she lay there wiggling her toes.

"How are you feeling, Nova?" Derek asked as Nova sat up.

"Thirsty, but nice," Nova said sleepily as Derek got a bottle of water. Since Nova's hands were taken up with stroking her little ones, Derek gently fed Nova some water. Nova kissed his hand and then drank, and then she began to sigh pleasantly a moment later as Derek began to put sun oil on her naked back.

Alex and Ariel began to grow sleepy, even as Nova and Derek both began to caress them and put sunscreen on them while Derek worked on Nova. Finally, a few minutes later, Nova was lying on the beach towel with Alex and Ariel asleep beside her after they had been burped. She smiled softly as Derek looked around, saw no one nearby, and then tenderly oiled up her long bare legs from her toes up.

Finally, when Derek reached Nova's upper thighs, she moaned softly as he oiled her body there, smiling as he lay down against her, hiding her from the world for a moment as he kissed her…she kissed back, and then began to whisper, "ohhh…yess…love…" as, with the sight hidden from the world as he covered her with his body, Derek placed suntan oil very tenderly on his young wife's center, not just oiling her up, but gently pleasuring her with his right hand as he began to oil her breasts with the other hand.

Derek took quite a while to oil up his young wife, who shut her eyes and smiled as Derek gave her several gentle moments of pleasure. Derek loved the fact that his Nova was a very brave, intelligent, tender, sweet, witty, maternal…and sensual young woman. Nova returned her dear husband's attentions as she began to kiss him, urgently kissing him as she whispered, "Derek…please open your pants…I…I…..mmmmmmmmmm…"

"Nova?"

Nova's toes then curled with pleasure as she shivered in a gentle climax while Derek said, "Honey, too late now. I've got you fully oiled up now from head to toe. Can I give you a rain check untiil we get back in the house and that party we're having dies down? By the way, we're going to have some more guests over. Your current attire is fine for the beach…or home when it's just us," he said, smiling as he remembered they had skipped church last weekend because it had been horribly hot…and Nova, God love her, had kept cool with their two toddlers who were undergoing naked potty training by just going naked herself all weekend. "I would prefer you put something on for the party, though," Derek said with a smile. He still remembered the rather amusing sight of Nova up on a stepladder in their house painting the ceiling and remembered how cute she had looked moving around up on that ladder, without a care in the world about her bare bottom. The need to breastfeed her babies and the heat had combined to make Nova feel very comfortable in her skin this summer.

"Sure, love," Nova whispered as she wiped away happy tears while Derek cuddled against her. "I'll throw on my kimono top and a fundoshi. Like that?"

Derek nodded, kissing her. It was then that they heard others coming up.

Nova and Derek turned around to notice Diane Henson and Stephen Sandor coming up hand-in-hand. Sandor wore only a set of dark swim trunks he had gotten from somewhere. Diane, on the other hand, also went naked except for a pair of black platform sandals on her feet. "Hi, guys!" she said as she knelt down near the edge of the beach towel to play with little Alex (who had had his fill) while Derek played with Ariel as Nova lay back on the beach towel, stretching her legs as she let the sun dry her breasts and nipples.

Derek Wildstar thus had a surrepetitious opportunity to compare the naked bodies of the two women he had been most initimate with in the physical sense in his life.

Derek estimated that Diane weighed maybe 140-145 pounds now. The first thing he noticed about her is that, while she was in good shape (her position as an EDF Engineering Officer could be strenuous, so she had to be in good shape, parts of her seemed to have a bit of mass and she had a rather curvaceous form. Her skin was as pale and alabaster as could be, and her blue eyes burned with a fire and sparkle that promised good fun and playfulness, and the trace of malice Derek remembered in them years ago had almost faded. Yet, even though she was beautiful, to Derek…she looked…pretty but…ordinary. Yes, that was the best word. Diane looked like an average member of the Fleet as she whispered to Steve and grabbed his hand and kissed it. Derek wished Sandor luck, but in seeing Diane nude again for the first time since the Academy, he saw that she was very attractive, but that too many memories came back for his own good. In fact, he could have sworn she had on the same platform sandals that she had worn the night when she had broken it off with him.

Then, Derek turned from his left to his right, turning his gaze from a woman he had been with to the woman who was inside his skin, inside his head, inside his soul.

Nova was now back to her pre-pregnancy weight of roughly 122, and her lithe, almost feline swimmers' or dancers' build had never looked better. She opened her eyes slightly to smile at him, and he saw the fire that had sometimes burned in those dark eyes ever since he had first met her in the summer of 2199. In looking at his wife, Derek saw a strange mixture of vulnerability mixed with…a backbone of steel. She had very few physical imperfections. Derek knew that one of them had led to her hairstyle, however; Nova had a very few, very small acne scars on her upper forehead that she said "…were leftovers from a three-day chocolate jag I had during exams once in College and a losing battle with a few pimples…" Thus, Nova almost always wore her hair in a mess of bangs over her forehead to hide her old battle scars from her chocolate consumption…even though she still liked chocolate to this day and regularly made Derek the traditional Japanese Valentine's Day chocolates at that time of year.

She had also been self-conscious of her breasts, thinking they were too small. But, he certainly saw no sign of that now.

In fact, as the months had passed, Nova (partly forced to by events, partly because of the heat, and partly because she was getting proud of them) had gradually gotten somewhat less discreet about baring her breasts when Alex and Ariel were hungry…and, truth be told…this had begun to extend to her entire body as she cared more about her children and her comfort and less about what others thought of her.

Sandor broke the spell as he joshed, "Hey, Wildstar? Staring at my fiancee?"

"No, I'm admiring my wife," said Derek. "No offense, Diane..,you look good, but I've got my eyes on my Nova."

"No problem, Derek. Nova, you look sleepy," said Diane. "You also look adorable without anything on."

"I am sleepy," Nova said, yawning again. "The heat made me sleepy, and Alexander wanted my breasts as soon as we got here, so I just stripped as soon as we got here. You?"

"I had a terrycloth romper on," said Diane. "I took it off as soon as I got out of the car with Steve." Then, she said, "I finally picked out my wedding dress. I'd like you and the other girls to go downtown in a few to get fitted for your gowns, which should be in soon afterwards. It's going to be you, Sasha, Katrina, Tatiana and both of the Cleveland twins since we agreed to uninvite Dawn after what she pulled a while back…"

"She already ordered her dress, so I'm making her pay for it," Nova said. "She can use it for a private dance on her own with Hardy or something…the two of them, by themselves. No one really wants to talk with her right now after what she pulled with Sasha and I at Rancho Carne High School that night. It's almost amazing that I want to talk to her."

"You still have to work with her?" Diane asked.

"Yes, and we're friends again, although sometimes I'm not sure why," Nova said. "Besides, she's been hanging around with that Caella person and those airheads Jessica and Jade. I still couldn't believe it when she started going off about Katrina."

"Who did?" Sandor asked.

"Dawn did," Nova yawned as she turned over and lay on her stomach, letting her nude backside catch the rays of the sun. "She came up with this ridiculous story that Katrina is really Princess Invidia in disguise."

"That's crazy, particulary as Katrina Savela has purple hair and looks different and is a pretty nice person when you get to know her," said Sandor. "How does she supposedly turn into Invidia?"

"Yeah. Nova? I never heard anything so ridiculous in my life," Derek said.

"Magic, according to that crazy Cometine girl Caella," Nova laughed. "I never heard anything so ridiculous in my life, either!" Nova laughed. "Not unless someone reputable observes her doing it? Caella is drunk half the time and I knows she sees all kinds of things, Dawn just hates Katrina after that fistfight they had and she's not in her right mind, and Jessica Springer and Jade, between the two of them, are a pair of airheaded blondes who can barely count to forty between them if they don't have gloves on and go barefoot. Those four are not the world's most reliable witnesses, and I think everyone knows that. I overheard Jade talking with General Stone the other day; even he thinks it's ridiculous that Katrina could be Invidia…luckily for him. Because I know he'd look like an idiot trying to prove it!"

"Have you ever seen Katrina changing into Invidia by creepy Cometine space magic?" teased Diane.

"No," Nova said. "We've been around each other a lot, even at the onsen. You think you'd see some sign of her changing when she's naked in the bath, but there is no such sign of it…even though she is much more modest about her body, even at the bath, or the beach…than we are. Even though she is a very cute girl with her clothes off…"

Then, IQ-9 came up as he said, "Nova, can I play around with your shorts? You look cute in those…I…NOVVVVA!"

Nova opened her eyes and looked at IQ as she stood up and yawned while stretching on her toes. "Hi, IQ! I'm sorry, but you can't lift my skirt today since I'm not even wearing one," she sang as sweat just ran down her body. "And if you want to play with my shorts, they're over there. Give them back when you're done, please…unless you want me to go home like this? I'm sorry, but my cooling fan and heat sinks are not working very well," she said with a little smile "So I had to uncover my motherboard…I hope you like the design architecture…even though you've seen me like this before already in the shower on the Danube," Nova teased, while thinking, My God, it's so hot that I'm not getting much relief from this, even in the nude! And I have nothing else to take off!

"Yes, and when we've had space warps," added IQ-9. "I am not a human, Nova, and do not suffer from warp sickness, so I looked. In deep hyperspace, you appear nude about 24 point 292 percent of the time for at least two seconds. Transitory effect. So does almost everyone else."

"You pervert!" Nova teased. Then, feeling nostalgic, she sighed, "Remember when I had command of that cruiser, IQ? I missed Derek so much then…"

"Ahhhh….ahhhh…ahhh…ahh…you are designed better than Ms. Eloise, my lady robot squeeze…I…I…..I…" Then, IQ made a weird noise…and just shut down….

"What happened?" Nova cried. "IQ?" Then, she got up and reached over him, tapping at his dome. "Tinwit…c'mon…wake up!" She looked at some of the meters in his dome, and then just knelt barefoot in the sand to open his access panel in the back. Nova brought up his auxilary basic BIOS system on a small screen in his innards, and, tapping at a keypad hidden inside his body, she said, "Steve, have you checked his main heat sink lately?"

"It was working fine on his last diagnostic check six days ago on the ship, Nova," Sandor said.

"His core temperature spiked thirty degrees centigrade in about…oh, the past minute," Nova said. Derek didn't know if it was jealousy, fear of the unknown, or what, but he was getting just a little freaked out by the sight of his naked wife kneeling in such close proximity to the Tinwit with her hands in his guts! "Wonder what could have caused that?" she said.

"Nova, dear, the cause is obvious to all of us except you," giggled Diane.

"And that is?" Nova said tartly.

Eager came up in a swimsuit with his girlfriend and said, "Simple, Nova. When he got a good look atcha nekkid, his artificial intelligence just went berserk! He probably shut down to keep from explodin' at the sight of you…"

"Which is not an uncommon occurrence," laughed Derek.

"You know It is too hot to get dressed in my outfit again on this beach," Nova huffed, getting a bit defensive and snappy in the heat. She had been on edge more than usual lately, as well. "Besides, I want to go swimming, and maybe surf a little. Since I didn't bring a bikini, well….I have to go in like this and this is a clothes-optional beach park! I'm not breaking any damn laws, right?" she snapped.

"None at all," teased Derek, who looked at her and said, "You once said we were going to be the Adam and Eve of a new Earth, as I quote, Eve, "And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed…""

"Genesis chapter 2, verse twenty-five," Nova said. "Call me Peppermint, Derek…I think I like that better than Eve right now," Nova said as she kissed Derek.

Nova looked at a gauge on IQ and said, "I also don't think there's anything wrong with being naked on a beach where it is allowed when the temperature is over a hundred and twenty degrees Faherenheit out and it's humid out! But you wouldn't know anything about being hot and itchy with your clothes on! You're a damn robot! And, Derek first chance I get, I am stripping you down too whether you like it or not! We are taking a long underwater skinny-dip together before we leave!"

"Akk," said Derek who made everyone laugh at his reaction.

Sandor took off and held hands with Diane in the meantime. He said, "Well...you know the operation was a success…"

"It was?" Diane said eagerly.

Steve nodded and he kissed her. "The medical test results came in the other day. The auto-transplant worked….and I'm fertile. So, unless you want to be pregnant right now, dear…you will need to get a shot," Sandor said as he kissed Diane and gently ran a finger down her naked breasts. He then looked around, and while watching Nova working on the Tinwit, he touched Diane's nude bottom and then teased her womanhood a little with the other hand.

"Steve," blushed Diane. "Sure no one's going to see us if you do that?"

"Well," he whispered. "I tried not to look too much, but as we were coming up on the beach before, it looked as if a certain Commodore and his lady were lying there doing a few things while he was putting sunscreen on her…Nova had…this smile on her face…"

"Put a smile on my face, then," said Diane as they kissed while she let Sandor touch her intimately. At this moment, she was very glad she had decided to go naked on the hot beach.

"I like the way your family jewels look, Steve," purred Diane as they hugged and kissed.

In the meantime, Nova continued with, "I'm sorry, IQ…I'm not curtailing my afternoon swim because of you! Nor should I! It's too hot to dance or do Yoga today, besides! There…the spike is going down..now, hitting, CTRL-ALT-DELETE…and here's hoping he is still drowsy when he comes out of it….so I can dash away from him!"

Nova rebooted IQ-9, and listened as the chimes that indicated the little robot's return to awareness came up. Nova pulled her hands out of him, and jumped up, preparing to go up on her toes and run, but he spun around, advanced on Nova, and pounced on her, making her fall back on her backside in the sand with a loud yelp. Thus pinned for the moment, Nova looked horrified as his mechanical hands ran over her shoulders, breasts, and then even over her bare nipples, as she yelled, "IQ! NOT THERE! STOP IT! I'M NOT INJURED AND I DO NOT NEED ANY TREATMENT!"

"You make my sensors vibrate.." he said in a weird, warbling voice.

Nova got one of her bare feet up and kicked him as hard as she could. "Derek! Steve! Diane! Get this damned lovesick tub of circuits off me!"

Wildstar, Sandor, and Henson all grabbed IQ at once, and were somehow able to drag the lovesick robot up off of Nova as she skittered back and away from him like a crab. Then, furious, she grabbed the nearest hard object (a clam) and whipped it at his dome while yelling, "IQ, I DO NOT APPRECIATE THE MOLESTATION SHIT! CUT THE CRAP!"

"Nova…I'm…"

Then, he took off and ran down the beach at a good 20 MPH, not speeding up much because, given that he was in a naughty mood, he doubled back and began going around Nova in circles, grabbing at her naked bottom as she sprinted after him, screeching, yelling, and even beginning to curse as IQ went "Gotcha!"

"You Goddamn lousy stinking bag of bolts! You clinking, clanking, clattering collection of colliginous junk!" Nova yelled as she ran along with her eyes crossed in rage. "Wait until I catch up with you! I am gonna reprogram you into a friggin' Disco Lamp when I get finished with you, TINWIT! And I'm gonna use you as a lightshow at our next dance! OWW! Stop grabbing at my boobs! You're not one of my babies and you're not Derek!"

Then, Sasha came up behind Deke while he carried Star. Sasha innocently asked, "Auntie, what's wrong?"

IQ-9 stopped in his tracks and began to look at Sasha in the nude and beep. "Which one looks better? Nova or the Princess? Need to compute!"

Nova tried to tackle him as she ran up yelling like a Valkyrie with a Louisville Slugger that she had stolen from a startled crewperson in one hand, but IQ ignored her and came after Sasha with his hands out.

Sasha screamed as he grabbed at her bare breasts, but then IQ yelped as Nova caught up with him and slammed the Louisville Slugger into his butt, hard enough to leave a dent.

As he stood stunned, Sasha stared hard at him and raised her hand, saying, "Never mess with an Iscandarian Princess, Tinwit!"

"Why not…I…?"

IQ-9 then found himself floating in midair as Sasha levitated him off the beach with an evil, evil grin on her face! "Auntie Nova! Want to use him as a pinata?"

Nova nodded, smiled, and bashed him about four times with the Louisville Slugger. "IQ, remember that the next time you grab at me when I'm naked! Got that?"

"Yes…Nova…."

"For that, you are coming home with us tonight and making dinner," Nova huffed. "And you are feeding the babies!"

"Nova, that is work for a second series, I am a Nine, a Genius!"

"Would you like me to break your dome then?" Nova said sweetly. "It'll really mess up your visual receptors…if I hit you hard enough!" she sang. "Then you can't look at all of the naked girls and girls in swimwear on this beach…"

"I agree, I agree, I agree," said IQ-9 as the guys laughed and applauded.

"Tinwit gets done in by the ladies!" laughed Homer as he came up with Wendy in tow. She had on only a very small bikini bottom and was carrying her new sons Aaron and Joshua (Joshua was nursing at one of her bare breasts) and she laughed and said, "Hi, IQ….like it up there?"

"What should I do with him, Auntie?" sang Sasha.

"Throw him in the ocean," Nova said as she gave the baseball bat back to the crewman she had appropriated it from with a smile after she picked up a clamshell and hit it in a line drive towards the ocean just for amusement. "He needs to cool off!"

Sasha nodded, shut her eyes, and she used her energy to whip him across the beach and up into the sky in a parabola like a small missile. He went up about a hundred meters, screamed in the distance, and fell into the sea some distance away with a small splash, looking for all the world like Wile E. Coyote laid low by one of his own Acme contraptions, thus letting the Road Runner escape again.

"I hope you like to SWIM, IQ!" Nova yelled out through he hands like a megaphone as she grabbed Derek by the arm and took off laughing. Sasha blew her Aunt and Uncle a kiss as they ran off to parts unknown and Deke threw Sasha a can of soda. She opened it and eagerly drank, smiling and licking her lips after doing so….

Nova and Derek met up with Diane and Steve a moment later. They returned to talking about Sandor's operation, and his…anatomy.

Diane looked and Steve and smiled and said, "Your…uhhh…jewels? They don't look half-bad now," said Diane. She smiled at him and said, "Why don't you let me get you out of your swim trunks?"

"It would have to be a litte hotter for me to do that…" Steve said.

Nova then said, "Steve, why not just go naked now? Diane will surely like it, You look pretty buff, actually. If you get over your shyness, I may want to sketch you like that sometime. I think you'd make a nice nude sketch in mechanical pencil." She looked at Derek, who blushed as he realized Nova was checking him out, and she said, "I did Derek in the raw in charcoal once. He did me in the nude in full oils. We have it up in our bathroom in the master bedroom above our tub."

Sandor looked at Nova and said, "I always thought you'd make a nice nude study, Nova. You have very pretty shoulders….they're nice and round…"

"Thanks," Nova said, blushing a little even though she was talking to a fellow artist. Sandor had gone to art school before the war and had wanted to be a painter before the war started and he had to turn his sharp mind to engineering. Because of his fame, some of the paintings he had done back in his native Russia now hung in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg in the Neo-USSR. One of his last paintings was a nude of his ex-wife, which he could not stand to look at now. He and Diane had plans to pose her next for a nude painting (which flattered Diane since no one had ever painted her in the nude before), but he and she were looking for the right place to do it in and the right pose.

AN HOUR LATER….

Nova was screaming for joy like a little kid as she hung ten on her surfboard after she and Derek had taken a swim together after she had gitten him out of his pants and into his birthday suit. Nova's mother Teri had arrived with Karl and her kids, so Teri was watching Alex and Ariel while Nova surfed naked, which was a new experience for her in this unnatural heat. She was getting nice and cool in the ocean as the water splashed her hot naked body like a very welcome rainstorm. She was up on a fairly gnarly wave, and quite a few people were clapping and yelling, "Go, Nova GO!" while she rode the wave in.

Derek got some very appealing-looking pictures of her from the shore. As she stood on her board with her toes curled up, Sandor smiled from shore and decided that he would have to go in next.

"Diane, got my board ready?"

She nodded; she was kneeling on the ground helping him wax it. Not far away, Sasha and Deke were looking at the board while Sandor asked, "Didn't you guys bring one?"

"Forgot it…and I thought the surfing would be bad…"

"Darn it!" said Sasha, who had been wearing a bikini, but had stripped when Star had gotten hungry. "Then I'll just have to borrow Auntie's board when she's done with it…she told me she spent a lot of money on that thing…"

"How much?" asked Deke.

"Over two thousand," said Sasha as Deke whistled. Derek joked, "You should see her transaction card statement every month. Even though, granted, she has needed a lot of new uniforms, books, and instruments for medical school. And there's the toys she's been buying the kids, and the clothes they need. Why do kids grow like that?" teased Derek. Of course, Derek was not stingy by any means, especially since he had recently bought Nova that new car she had been looking at.

The wave Nova was riding on began to break, and Nova wiped out with a loud squeal. She remembered to take a deep breath just as the wave ate her up, and she quickly kicked hard to dive underwater below the turbulence. Nova positioned herself like she was in zero-G in a spacesuit and floated along underwater for a bit, enjoying the view of a school of fish in the unseasonably warm ocean and wondering vaguely if there were any oyster beds around. Not finding any, she then just kicked up again, her head breaking the surface as she heard Derek yelling for her in a panic when her board made it to shore but she didn't.

"HEY!" she yelled above the waves. "HELLO?"

"Nova!" yelled Derek as he ran into the ocean, thinking he might need to rescue her. "Are you all right?"

"Wet, but fine!" she yelled back as she treaded water. "I'm swimming back now! Tell Steve to hold off on his board until I get back!"

"Will do," said Derek. He looked at Deke and said, "That girl gets into so much trouble every month that it's not even funny, Wakefield. Good thing she's got a fairly good head on her shoulders and a luck factor of plus eighty or so, or she might have been shark food or something like that years ago. Luckily, she only has a pretty fixed set of hobbies; dance, Yoga, martial arts, swimming, diving and surfing, gymnastics, her music, her poetry, her writing, and occassional dabbling in art, auto and astro/motorcycle maintenance, flower arranging, and the tea ceremony."

Deke rolled up his eyes…Sasha was not there. "Sasha wants to learn how to fly…she's been kind of ordered to by her dad….and she also wants to learn how to skydive. Somehow, the idea of the love of my life jumping out of a plane does not appeal to me that much. I wonder why? I wish she'd stick to surfing and her sax."

"Our women are so strong-willed, though, that they usually get what they want, whenever they want it," Derek said. He gave Nova a kiss as the naked couple walked through the waves holding hands, splashing as they came back to shore before working together to carry Nova's surfboard back to another part of the beach.

A few minutes later, Nova and Derek were sitting on a beach towel near their children and Nova's mother as they watched Sandor surfing.

Sasha had reappeared, and she lay there near them in the nude near her abandoned baby-blue bikini and sandals, catching the sun on her bare breasts and wiggling her toes slightly as Deke lay next to her in his baggies cuddling little Star.

"She's growing fast," she said.

"Is she growing too fast like some of those scandal sheets claim?" Nova asked, thinking of the junk tabloid press such as the Planetary Examiner.

"Actually, her growth seems to be normal, so far, as best as we can tell" said Deke.

"I know she's hit a developmental milestone or two early, like my kids…" Nova said. "We'll need to keep watching that," Nova said as she tickled little Star (who had on only a sun hat).

Deke smiled and kissed Star as she lay there in the sun beside her naked mother. The young Princess and her baby girl looked adorable together, and Sasha was smiling because a whole slew of gifts had recently arrived straight from Iscandar for herself and her daughter from her mother and father.

Deke kissed Sasha, delighted at her shape and the pefection of her form as she lay there naked. "It didn't take you long to bounce back from being pregnant," he said.

"That's another thing we Iscandarians do quickly," Sasha said with a smile as she tapped him on the nose. She and Deke had just resumed initmate relations again the other day, and he didn't mind the sight of Sasha lying there nude at all, thank you. The surfing sort of stinks, but this is the only part of this heat wave due to the messed-up Sun that I like, Deke thought. As the planet baked in this hot, hot summer, Deke thought of the latest briefing they had been through on the topic on the Argo a few days ago…it appeared that the Sun would not be expanding after all…but that the periopd of maximum activity might go on for a while longer….for how much longer, no one knew. Would it be several months? Several years? Deke knew they would be checking the Sun quite closely when the Argo would take off on August 8, 2208, the Monday after Sandor and Diane's scheduled wedding on August the sixth.

In the meantime, Nova wasn't sure whether to think her mother had lost her senses, or to pity her in the heat, but, for the first time in a few years (since she had been breastfeeding Aurora and David, anyway), Teri herself had taken the plunge and had finally taken everything off herself in the sticky heat to go into the water naked with little Aurora.

Nova smiled at her little sister as she lay under her mother getting tickled. She thought she looked adorable in just her skin, and with her hair dyed a sort of purplish color (her mother had done so at her request). Seeing her mother tickling Aurora brought back a few pleasant memories for Nova, who remembered a very hot day in San Diego in her childhood where both she and her mother had spent a day at the beach there running around out of their swimsuits gathering seashells and splashing each other in the water. Nova was glad that she and her mother had made up enough recently to allow her to see her raising Aurora and to help out. Nova loved her little sister with a passion and was very protective of her.

Aurora was giggling a little as her mother leaned over her, letting her own nude form dry off in the sun, until she said, "Aurora! Honey! Look at Nova and Derek's friend! He's coming in fast on that wave!"

Aurora turned her little head in awe to watch Sandor as he surfed in.

He was riding in a gnarly wave similar to the sort Nova had been riding, and he smiled a bit as he rode his own wave into shore, with Diane clapping and cheering him on as he came in.

Unlike Nova, he didn't wipe out. He got off his board at the right moment, and grinned as he got his board in.

So far, this was proving to be a fun day, and a nice way to cool off.

Nova danced a little to some surf music that Deke was playing on a portable music player, and Sasha laughed as she got up to dance along.

Deke smiled a little as he looked at them and looked at Sasha and Nova dancing and thought, Gidget and her aunt. Man, if her Dad Alex could see them now….I think he'd bust a gut laughing!.

Things on the beach were fairly pleasant as everyone tried to enjoy the sun and the surf as best as they could…

It was nothing like that for Ensign Louise Kelly, who had been brought to Planet Spectra with her plane as a captive.

The only thing that Louise had in common with some of her friends on the beach was that she was also naked.

However, unlike them, she had been naked ever since the day of her capture, when she had been chained down to a bed and her Black Tiger uniform had been cut from her body by Captain Blansha, the Spectran commander of the carrier vessel that had attacked San Diego some days ago.

Since then, what Ensign Kelly had experienced….

…was sheer hell.

She had been raped.

Several times.

She had been subjected to torture in her naked skin in cold water and under hot lights. She had had at least two of her toenails on her left foot torn out, and they had barely treated her shrapnel wound on that leg before they finally stitched it very roughly (while she had been conscious) and then had put some kind of caustic synthetic skin over it (and even that treatment had been torture)

Now….on Planet Spectra, on Bast Island, in one of Zoltar's many torture rooms, she was strapped down in a chair….shivering pathetically in her nakedness in this cold, smelly, dank room.

…where, a moment later, in spite of herself, she cried out in utter agony as she suffered electrocution.

"TALK, damn you, you whore!" yelled General Egobussar as he slapped her face. "What is Earth Defense planning in retaliation for the attack?"

"I don't know," wept Ensign Louise Kelly.

Egobussar slapped her again. "You must know, you fucking slut!"

"No, I don't know!" sobbed Louise. "They didn't tell us that much in their briefings! Your attack surprised us!"

Egobussar stepped back and said, "Give her two hundred this time! Maybe that'll convince this little bird to start singing!"

Then, they turned on the electricity again.

Louise screamed as she writhed, naked and in pain, against her bonds in the torture chair. Zoltar came in, smiled, and said, "Egobussar, hit her pelvic area with a special charge. Make her soil herself!"

Egibussar flicked a switch, and, a moment later, against her will, some savage green bolt of energy hit poor Ensign Kelly right in her exposed genitals, and her bladder let go as they forced her to urinate all over the place. Of course, with her delicate area wet with her own wastes, the electricity hurt her even more as it hit her there.

"Awwwww…look," said Egobussar as he cruelly mocked Ensign Kelly. "Baby peed herself! Does baby need a diaper?" he said as he came in close to Louise and cradled her chin.

Louise snarled at Egobussar and spat in his face.

"YOU SHIT!" yelled the Spectran warlord as he backhanded Ensign Kelly across the face. He slapped her in the ear, making her ear ring. Then, he went over to her left foot and stomped on the barefoot captive's toes, breaking two of them.

"You know, Lord Zoltar, captives like her are more interesting to break, aren't they?"

"They are," Zoltar purred. "And more fun, too. I get such joy out of breaking little sluts like her!"

"YOU'LL NEVER BREAK ME, YOU FREAKS!" screamed Louise, defiant even in her agony and fear.

She was defiant even as they turned the electricity back on and laughed at her in her pain as she writhed and shivered.

II. BACK AT HOME

The Tokyo Megalopolis

Derek and Nova Wildstar's Residence

Thursday July 21, 2208

1752 Hours

When they arrived home from the beach later that afternoon, Nova and Derek knew that the group coming over to their place would want to use the pool. Working as quickly as possible, Nova went up to their closet again, took off the pink romper and sandals she had put back on before leaving the beach, and she took a very quick shower. Once out of the shower, Nova quickly clothed her nakedness (while whispering to Derek, who was putting on a swimsuit, that if it was just them at home, and she had to open the pool, she might have just remained naked in their yard behind their wall, hedges, and trees) in a white fundoshi and a very light silken blouse on top, which she kept unbuttoned, tying it under her breasts to keep it minimally closed.

Thus minimally clothed in the late afternoon heat (it was still 109), and remaining barefoot, Nova ran outside to the pool area behind its high, ivy-covered cypress fence, and she jumped into the water to collect a few bits of paper that the automatic skimmer wouldn't catch. She then got into a quick laughing splash fight with Jonathan and his girlfriend Felicia, who was back in town with her parents on business. While in the water, Nova waved "hi" to Deke and Sasha and yelled to them, "You can find snacks in the kitchen; I have Ms. Eloise and IQ-9 preparing them!"

"The party continues yet again, huh?" said Deke.

"I guess so," Nova sighed. She ran back into the house, where she found Derek downstairs in the rec room tending bar. "I see you found a new job," she said.

"You always make me do this when we have a party," he teased. Nova thought he looked very cute in a simple shirt that hung half-open in the heat, a pair of shorts, and bare feet.

Nova then turned around to look at a half-finished painting she had been working on as Diane Henson popped into the rec room through the curtain and yelled at Nova, "Hey! Where were you? The others were waiting?"

"Waiting on what?" Nova asked.

"Food, you big silly!" yelled Diane.

Nova looked at Diane and her bikini and asked, "Just curious; where did you find that swimsuit?"

"Your poolhouse!" Diane yelled back. Then, she looked at Nova and asked, "And why is your butt half-out in that fundoshi thing?"

"It's the way you're supposed to wear one," Nova said. "At least one like this. I'm comfortable. I saw you at the beach…where we were both running around completely naked before….what's the big deal?"

"Nothing," said Diane. Except that you look too damn good dressed down like that, Diane thought with a little tinge of jealousy.

Diane then thought of something else as she said, "You remember my girlfriend Tatiana Lubyanska?"

"I remember," Nova said, thinking of a period of time when Diane and Tatiana had explored a lesbian relationship. "By the way, you told Steve about that, right?"

Diane laughed. "Of course he knows, and he's fine with it. Well, Tatiana has a new girlfriend now."

"Who?" Nova asked.

"Your friend Vanessa Smythe from the hospital in San Diego."

"I sort of thought so," Nova said. "I did catch them playing footsie in the hospital cafeteria once with their sandals kicked off under the table one day. I sort of thought it was cute."

"Did you say anything?"

"No," Nova said.

"And why not?" Diane teased.

"I was also playing footsie with Derek at the same time," Nova said, blushing like crazy. "With my sandals off. And his sneaker off."

"You two are funny," Diane said.

Nova looked down at Diane's bare feet for a moment as she compared nail polish colors with her own bare toes. "Who did that pedicure?"

"I did," said Diane. "Yours?"

"Nail salon up the road," Nova said softly. "Oh, by the way, you and I are not sitting down and playing footsie," Nova teased. "You're my friend, Diane, but we aren't that close!"

"You're a kook," Diane said as she smiled at Nova.

"And you're trouble, my friend…." Nova said back. Nova then gave Diane a sisterly kiss on the forehead and said, "Now go find Steve and get a drink and go get into some trouble with him. Shoo!" Nova said with a teasing smile.

Diane guessed the reason why when she turned her head and found IQ-9 and Ms. Eloise behind the bar and Derek playing an antique pinball machine that the Wildstars had in their rec room. Nova sidled over to watch Derek playing pinball, and soon, they were both playing it together when Derek finished his game.

A few minutes later, Diane Henson sat with Stephen Sandor in the Wildstars' rec room.

Sandor looked at Diane, and said, "Well we're going to be married soon! After we get married…when do you want to try for kids? Now that…everything finally works?"

"About a year or so from now," Diane said. "You know…after this crisis with that terrorist planet calms down. If we fight them off hard enough, I'm sure they'll pretty much give up…like the R'Khells."

Sandor smiled at his fiancee and said, "I think that'll work out fine, Diane…" Then, he kissed her and said, "You know I love you…"

"Same here," said Diane as she just let him hold her.

FOUR DAYS LATER….

It rained over the latter part of the weekend, providing some relief from the heat in the Tokyo Megalopolis.

On Monday morning, July the 25th, therefore, Commodore Derek Wildstar dressed in his EDF blues for a drive to EDF Headquarters. Nova had the day off from her work at the hospital and would not be going back aboard the Argo to work on the computers again until later in the week when some new parts arrived to begin the final phase of the repairs on the computer system and the warp drive, estimated to take two weeks. As a result, Nova wore a sky-blue blouse, tartan skirt, and went barefoot as she kissed Derek goodbye that morning.

"You have a good trip downtown," Nova said as she kissed him.

"You want to do some flying practice I get back?" Derek asked. "I can have our SuperStar fighters ready."

"Tomorrow, Derek, after my morning shift ends at the hospital. Alex and Ariel are running around like crazy in there so I need to get in with them soon. I don't want one of them running out down the street with their training pants pulled off again…like the other day…"

"You thought that was cute…admit it," Derek said.

"It was cute, but it was a pain," Nova said back.

"Going to the beach again today?" Derek said. "Where we had to go the other day was a bit of a drive, but we have our beach…"

"Uhh…not today, Derek. I just heard a story there's a drunken creep walking around who leers at women on the beach. I could take him, but without you around, I'd feel better sunning or nursing the kids naked in the sun behind the fence in the yard today. I hope they catch that creep soon. I heard about him from Diane after church yesterday."

"Well, you take care, Nova," he said, looking worried. Then he said, "Are you sure I should be leaving you alone?"

Nova laughed. "Derek, you know me. I messed up Dawn pretty good the other week. If someone ever tried to molest me again, I'll take care of them. Just like I did with Stovall years ago when I put him in the hospital. Besides, I'm getting so good at fighting, Diane came to me the other day for some self-defense tips. Nice to be someone's sensei…and I think I can take my black belt test later in the summer."

"Yeah…after what I heard about that fight with Dawn, you're full of piss and vinegar this month," Derek said. "Well, take care, Mrs. Graziano!" he said with a teasing grin, referring to the famous fighter, Rocky Graziano.

"I got that bum in da fourth round," Nova whispered in his ear in a mock New York accent. "Bye!"

"Bye, Nova," Derek said. He watched her as she waved, flipped around on the balls of her feet, and ran back into the townhouse with a dancers' grace.

I worry about you, but something about you tells me you can take care of yourself, Nova. Have a good day with the kids….Derek thought as he left to go to his car.

About two days later, however, their little world was rocked by an unpleasant and most unexpected event on Wednesday, July the 27th.

The day began normally enough for the Wildstars. Breakfast for the babies and themselves…going out on the beach to run PT together while Jonathan watched the babies, and then Nova going off to the hospital for a four-hour shift and dropping Alex and Ariel off at the daycare center at the hospital in her Subaru while Derek went to the Argo and got more reports from Stephen Sandor and Diane Henson about the refit progress. They seemed especially cuddly today, and Derek asked, "Why so close?"

"Didn't Nova tell you?" Diane said as she tweaked her former boyfriend's nose. "The wedding day will be soon!"

"Yeah," he said as he laughed nervously.

Derek and Steve blushed at that as Diane guffawed while drinking her beer.

Then, Commodore Wildstar caught wind of the time and said, "I'd better get home. I promised Nova I'm making lunch. She'll be home soon."

"Don't set the place on fire, Derek…like you nearly set my dorm room on fire once," Diane teased.

"What was he trying to do?" said Steve.

"Microwave something," Henson teased.

"Oh, like that time on the ship?" teased Steve.

"Sandor, don't remind me of that!" said Derek.

"When Nova had to get the fire extinguisher to extinguish the microwave?" teased Diane.

"Oh, yeah, that's when she had to extinguish you next," said Sandor with a grin.

"I forgot. Why?" said Derek.

"Because your pants got set on fire when you pulled the fake chicken Cordon Bleu, made of seaweed, out of the microwave?" said Diane as Derek hid his face in his hands and groaned. "That time, we were all on you for a week about Nova putting out the fire in your pants…"

"Okay, I blushed. What did Nova do when you mentioned it?" said Derek.

"Ran out of the room, I think." said Diane. "That girl gets embarrassed so easily that it's not funny."

"Okay, guys, quit ragging on the wife," said Derek. "Especially since she's not here…"

"…to make me a cup of coffee?" Diane said. "Thank GOD for small miracles! Hallelujah!"

Later that day, Commodore Wildstar met Nova at the airfield after she completed her shift and dropped off the kids at home.

There, she kissed Derek, took a small bag she had into the ladies' locker room of the Headquarters section of the base, and, there, she changed out of her Medical garb to her standard gold and black uniform.

She and Derek met at the tarmac in flight gear, and they both went up in Derek's Super Star that day. It would be a "check flight" for both of them, with Derek flying the leg out while Nova (to get practice with her continuing instructing work with Sasha) sat in the aft place and graded his flying and the plane's performance. They went southwest this time, landing at a small EDF base near Panama at a strip in the rain forest. While looking at the rain forest, Nova sighed and said, "Derek, if only we had a few more hours. We could get into there…explore a bit, get some pictures, maybe…go swimming…" She winked at him at that. Derek smiled back, blushed, and said, "If only we had time, Nova. We don't. So, we'll make a date for some other day, then….okay?"

"Fine," Nova said after she wiped some sweat from her brow.

Nova flew them back to the Tokyo Megalopolis while Derek graded her flying. Her grade was almost, but not quite as high as Derek's.

Back at the airbase after a two-hour run, both of them were hot, tired, and sticky. The heat of the city made it worse.

"See you in a few minutes," Derek said to Nova after they debriefed.

Nova smiled and nodded back….

A FEW MINUTES LATER….

That shower felt so good…whew… Nova said to herself as she came out of the shower and back into the ladies' locker room naked. She got two towels, one for herself and one for her hair, dried off, and then opened her locker and began to dress herself. She looked at a clock on the wall; the time was about 1602 Hours, or 4:02 PM.

First, she clothed herself in light pink panties, followed by a light long-sleeved schoolgirlish blouse that buttoned up conveniently for nursing the babies. The blouse went right on over her bare upper torso, and it felt good going on.

Nova then sat bare-legged on a bench and pulled out a new pair of Roman-style gladiator sandals that Derek hadn't seen her in before. As she heard loud male singing in the mens' locker room, which was at the other side of a passage where there was a large frosted plate-glass window in each locker room that let in extra light, but preserved privacy, Nova just shook her head and ignored it, thinking, Boys will be boys. Sounds like Derek and Deke Wakefield in there.

After Nova buckled on her sandals, wiggling her toes in the almost boot-like shoes, she stepped into the light blue knee-length skirt she had chosen to go with this outfit.

Then, Nova stood before a mirror and combed her hair for a bit, starting like a rabbit when she heard a noise.

"What's that?" she said out loud in the empty locker room. "Hello?"

Nova thought she heard a cough, and then a stealthy footstep or two.

After a moment, Nova gave up, and was almost about to walk out of the locker room and forget about it…

…when, suddenly, there was a loud creak….

…and Nova looked on in shock as she heard and saw the door to the janitor's closet coming open, and a man stepping out in the women's locker room!

He was a Space Marine. Mrs. Wildstar guessed by his gait that he was drunk, and it was confirmed when he yelled at her in a slurred voice, "Hey ya! Fancy elite-unit officer pilot dames shouldn't be in a room all alone with Space Marine Corporals like us! Why don' cha forget flyboy space jockey hubby for a bit and come to a hotel room wid' me?"

"What were you doing in there?" Nova demanded. "This is off-limits for you, Corporal! If you get out of here, maybe I won't put you on report!"

"Ya got gorgeous tits and a gorgeous ass, babe!" he yelled. "Saw you comin out of the shower and clothin' that bare ass! Let's get cha out of those clothes again, babe! Ya look too HOT in them!"

Then, the ugly Marine Corporal ran up behind Nova….

And, as she screamed with the sudden contact, he grabbed her breasts from behind and began to squeeze. Nova found the squeeze to be very painful and she screamed.

Then, he squeezed her bottom. Nova screamed again, appalled at the ugly Marine's breath…the crazed look in his eyes, and even the ugly pink scar on his nose.

Nova got her hands free, and then, just as she heard a door slamming somewhere, she grabbed the Marine's hands, pulled them off her breasts, and then, holding on tightly while she stomped the deck, she screamed "KIYYYYYAAAAEE!" and threw the Marine up and then over her shoulder.

The Space Marine flew through the air and crashed right through the huge frosted window.

The window exploded out into the hall as the Marine went through it with a loud yell, and then there was a loud tinkling and crashing sound.

Derek ran out of the locker room in just a towel yelling, "Hey! WHAT?"

Nova ran out, fists up, and she kicked the Marine, yelling, "C'MON you! Get up and fight me like a man if you're going to grab at me like that! C'mon!"

Then, she kicked him again as Derek said, "Nova, I think he's already knocked out!"

"Oh. Sorry. When I fight off perverts, you know I go a little overboard. Remember what I did to Sergeant Knox that time when he tried to grab me when the Argo's gravity went out when we got attacked by Desslok's Starflies?"

"Yeah," Derek said as he chuckled at the memory and the mental image of how Nova had looked when she had flung Knox around in zero-G. "You threw him right against the bulkhead and he hit the upper aft starboard screen on Bridge Number One!"

"I think he left a dent when he hit those screens," Nova chuckled. "When I was up there on a cherry picker looking at the screen connections the other day, I believe I noticed it's still there."

Derek whistled. "They're gonna make you pay for that window…"

"No, they'll make him pay for it," Nova said.

"Why?"

"Silly!" Nova said. "He's the one who put his hands on me! It's his fault, and not mine! I acted entirely in self-defense to protect myself and my virtue."

"Wakefield!" snapped Derek. "Get dressed and call the Shore Patrol. They need to pick this jackass up. Lend Nova your regular service sidearm….not DJ. Nova, if he wakes up and tries anything funny, you have my permission to ventilate him."

"Thank you," Nova said as she borrowed Wakefield's regular Astro-Automatic. Deke ran off carrying DJ over his shoulder.

A few minutes later, the Marine woke up. He noticed Nova pointing her Astro-Automatic at him.

He leered at her and said, "Baby, you look kinda aggressive!"

"Shut the hell up," Nova snapped. "You're under military arrest, buddy. And, boy, you are going to be in a load, a major load….of trouble."

"Yeah?" said the Marine. He sat up, rapidly…almost too rapidly, and he made a grab for Nova's weapon. Nova jumped back a few steps, keeping her weapon trained on him.

"You come one step closer to me, and I'll shoot!" Nova yelled.

Then, he made a rush for Nova and tried to tackle her.

Nova jumped back, stumbled, and fell on her butt with an angry scream.

She shot at the Marine, but her shot went wide and blew apart a ceiling tile, instead.

Nova aimed again and adjusted her sight picture, and she fired again, grazing the Marine's shoulder. She distinctly saw the laser charge hittting his shoulder and saw his blood hitting the side of the wall.

The Marine turned about, tore a fire extinguisher off the wall, and threw it at Nova. Nova jumped to avoid the missile (which almost slammed into her kneecaps) but she ran after the Marine and fired at him again, just as he threw himself into a closet and locked it.

Nova faced the closet. "Think you're getting away from me in there, you idiot?" she barked. "Wrong! I know how to shoot out locks!"

Nova fired at the lock, and blew it to bits. She pulled the door open and screamed at what she saw.

The Marine was in there.

But, he was lying there naked with his eyes wide open, and glazed, and he had flies crawling on his face.

Nova felt revulsion as she felt his face. Cold. Ice cold.

Her guess was proven right when she felt his neck.

No pulse.

No respiration.

"He's dead," Nova whispered out loud as Derek, Deke, and the Shore Patrol found her. "Derek! This is the Marine who was just chasing me! That face is unmistakable…see that scar? He's dead!"

"Dead?" Derek said.

Nova nodded her head, mystified. She looked at his bare right shoulder. "I just shot him there when he was running from me," she said. "I grazed him! I clearly remember that!"

"Nova, this guy has no damn wound on his shoulder," Deke said.

"Yeah….that's the weird part," Nova said. "If I didn't wound this Marine, then, who did I wound? And this man is as dead as a rock and is going cold already, so he apparently has been dead for hours. How could he have tried to rape me just a few minutes ago?"

Derek gritted his teeth. This makes no sense, he thought.

THE WILDSTARS' HOUSE

THREE HOURS LATER….. (About 2010 Hours)

"Derek, thank you for that shower when we got the kids in for their nap," Nova said as she lay in bed naked with Derek. "It got the taint of that man, so-called, off me. Whoever he was…"

"Nova, thank you for not…you know…refusing me," Derek said hesitantly as they cuddled while kneeling unclothed on their bed. "I mean, given that you just got grabbed…and that it's happened before, you have the right to be distrustful of men now and then…"

"You're not just men," Nova huffed. "You're you, Derek. The man I love. The man I married. The commander I respect; even if I think some of your ideas are stupid at times….as for…what we just did…I needed and still need to be with you…to bleach the taint of being molested again out of my mind….and I really have to take that test for my Black Belt soon. Then, go up a few more levels…"

"How do you feel…I mean…about these things when they happen to you?"

"Used. Wasted. But I know the people that pull this crap on me are not shining examples of mankind. Sparks and his bunch; troubled and desperate men with issues. Stovall. An utter scumbag who also completely raped poor Dawn years ago! This Space Marine Corporal Jenkins that we just met? Or the man…whoever he was…who took his identity? A drunk and a womanizer based on his jacket."

Derek then looked at her breasts. "You poor thing….they're turning red there….is that where he squeezed you?"

Nova nodded. "I think I'm going to be showing some bruising in the morning. She then turned around and showed Derek a handprint on one of her bare buttocks. "He got me here, too. I've going to have to be a little more modest on the beach, heat or no, until these heal up. Then, I'll be happy to wear a bikini…or go naked for you…again."

Derek smiled at her and held her again and tenderly kissed her, vey carefully caressing the hurt areas on her body with a gentleness that made Nova want to cry.

The phone rang. Nova picked up, making sure that the video was off, sighing "Moshi-moshi…." She listened for a bit and then said, "Doctor Sane! Are you serious? Yes….and you say the evidence you and the CID Detective saw was…?"

Derek wondered what was going on untiil Nova said. "I'll meet you there in the morning at 0700, then. Bright and early! Thanks. Goodbye…"

"What was that about?" Derek said.

"We know Corporal Jenkins is dead," Nova sighed. "They found something weird from the blood sample taken from the wall. Remember I told you that I shot him, and some of his blood hit the bulkhead by that fire extinguisher? They found his blood. It does not match Corporal Jenkins. Not at all!"

"That doesn't make any sense," Derek said.

"Yeah…you're telling me," Nova said. "There's going to be an autopsy tomorrow morning so we can see how long Jenkins was really dead when we found him in that closet! I'll have to be there to assist Doc Sane. Can you give the kids breakfast?"

"I think so," Derek said.

"Thanks," Nova replied…with a wan, pale smile.

III. ZOLTAR'S NEXT MOVE

Planet Spectra

Bast Island

(Earth Date) Thursday July 28, 2208

0700 Hours Earthtime

In the meantime, on Spectra, a ship came in on Bast Island.

General Egobussar greeted the ship. Zoltar stumbled off the ship, holding his hastily bandaged shoulder.

"What happened on Earth?" demanded Egobussar.

"It was not a good day," hissed Zoltar. "I found a random Space Marine known to be a womanizer, murdered him, and took his identity. Then, I attempted to rape and kill our first target, that damned Star Force woman Nova Wildstar. Right?"

"I take it the attack was a failure, Lord? Did her man do that to you?" asked Egobussar, looking at Zoltar's shoulder.

"NO! She did it herself by shooting me! After throwing me through a plate-glass window while she had…a dress on! The damned woman is a trained special forces warrior and an absolute maniac! If we could get her to join Spectra, I think we could make a very effective Devil Star Assassin out of the skinny little bitch!" Zoltar roared. "Oh. She doesn't like me very much, either."

"I sort of grasped that," chuckled Egobussar.

Zoltar grabbed some wine, poured himself a big glass, and slammed down the bottle. "Fucking bitch!" he snapped. "Oh! Are we still torturing that Ensign to death?"

"Yes. We're close to breaking her, but…"

"All right. Ensign Louise Kelly will die today. I will execute her. And I intend to do the job myself…slowly," said Zoltar. "Have her brought to the Medical Wing. I plan to…dissect her…"

"Dissect her?" said Egobussar.

"Yes. While she is strapped down to the operating table, naked and stll very conscious…"

Zoltar and Egobussar laughed like demons at the thought of seeing the poor woman die in torment.

In an examining room in Central Hospital, Corporal Jenkins' sad dead body lay under a sheet.

Nova, in her nurse's wear, pulled the sheet off his face and bowed her head in a silent prayer for the Marine's soul in which Doctor Sane joined. The only ones there were the two of them and a morgue denier who would assist the small doctor and slender nurse and soon-to-be-Medical student in their post-mortem of the Marine.

Soon, the autopsy began. Nova was surprised to observe that Sane was stepping back on purpose and letting her do most of the work.

"Why are we doing it this way?" she asked as she worked at making the Y-cut from collarbones to pubic bone in Jenkins' nude body.

"You're about to be a doctor," Sane said. "You're going to need the experience, Nova. Have a look at this chart made by the Medical Examiners' office. They did a probe of his liver temperature when they brought him in here around 1900 Hours yesterday. You look at those numbers and tell me what you see…"

Nova looked at the numbers through the lab goggles she had on over her eyes. "If these numbers are right…this man was dead for five hours at the time that the man wearing his face and identity assaulted me…time of death, around 1100 Hours that morning." Nova worked with a bone saw to remove the front of Jenkins' rib cage. "Substantial edema and bleeding in the lungs….see that, Doctor?"

"Not hard to see. Nova, now I'm seeing bruising at his throat. Get that area opened up."

Nova worked to gently cut open Jenkins' throat. She looked carefully at the exposed regions. "Crushed larynx….crushed windpipe…substantial bruising in the tissues in the neck," Nova said. "Doctor, I'd say that this Marine was manually strangled to death…by a very strong person…"

"Looks like he was strangled one-handed, Nova," said Sane. "See the marks?"

Nova had a look at the bruising and whistled. "Whoever did this to him had the strength of a vise." Nova then went quiet. "And the man who assaulted me was remarkably strong, too. He squeezed my breasts, Doctor. I woke up this morning…I usually sleep in the nude because of this heat…and because Derek likes it. I have a few small bruises around my breasts…and…"

"Nova, if you don't mind, could you undo your tunic and show me?" Sane asked. "Mister Yamamoto, please step out of the room for a few minutes?" he said to the denier.

The morgue attendant left as Nova said, "I was thinking of showing you after we get finished, but, all right," Nova said as she took off her gloves. Then, she stepped back, took off her goggles, and removed her hair cap and mask. Then, she opened her nurse's minidress, pulled it off over her head, and took off her bra and stepped out of her panties, standing before Sane a moment later in the nude except for her sandals. She sat on an examining table, allowing Doctor Sane to look at the bruises on and around her breasts with a penlight while she took her sandals off. "Nova, this must have hurt."

"I barely noticed at the time because I was full of adrenaline and I was fighting him. My counterattack took him by surprise," Nova said as she turned over onto her stomach, bracing herself against the examining table with her toes. Sane looked at her bottom and whistled. "Don't tell me this isn't hurting you…look at that damn bruise…"

"I'm taking some pain meds, self-prescribed," Nova said. She also said, "You'll see a bag over there. I brought along the blouse and skirt I had on yesterday, so maybe we can take scrapings off them for skin and DNA of my actual assailant." Sane nodded, noticed something as Nova moved around and he gently said, "Spread your legs a little…please." Nova blushed but she let Sane have a look at her nether regions and intimate parts as Sane noticed a very small deposit on the outer part of her womanhood. "Don't tell me this isn't a semen stain," Sane whispered softly. "Nova…did your assailant…did he penetrate you?"

"No," Nova said in a very soft voice. "I gave him a good fight and he never even got my skirt up or my panties down, thank God. That's from Derek. I must have missed it in the shower. We made love at home that evening by mutual consent after the incident. I specifically asked him to…so I wouldn't feel so dirty and filthy afterwards. Thank heavens that Derek is still the only man in the universe I've ever had intercourse with. And that's the way I mean to have it until I die."

"I'm done looking," Sane said. "You can get dressed…we can finish the autopsy," he said, giving Nova's bottom an affectionate pat stemming from their long friendship. Nova smiled at Sane, sat up, kissed him lightly on his bald head, and walked away to dress. When Nova had her clothes back on and pulled on a fresh pair of gloves, she and Sane went back to examining the remains of Corporal Jenkins after Sane called Yamamoto back in. They looked at Jenkins' organs, saw evidence of further bruising, and took blood samples and samples of other body fluids. They made notes, observed damage to his form, and Nova made up microscope slides of blood samples taken from Jenkins and a bit of the unknown blood found on the wall after she had shot her assailant (who was, of course, Zoltar in disguise in Jenkins' form and uniform after he had killed the real Jenkins, but they did not know that yet). With a grumble, Nova consented to have some of her own Type A Positive blood drawn by Sane as a control to compare the unknown party's blood against.

Commodore Wildstar came into the room a while later while Nova and Doctor Sane were at work.

"Hi," he said. "How is the analysis, going, Doc?"

"We're getting closer to something, but I'm not sure what yet," said Sane.

"I have some results on the blood work," Nova said. "Oh, hi, Derek! Following me to work?" she quipped.

"You could say that," Derek said as they both laughed a little before Nova turned back to the results.

"Doctor," Nova said. "There are so many different genetic markers here that this blood is definitely not human."

"Which sample is it?" said Sane.

"The one from off the wall, Doctor," said Nova.

"Let me see that," said Sane. "You're right," he said. "Wildstar, that person Nova shot yesterday was not human and not from Earth at all."

"Alien operative," sighed Derek. "Congratulations, Nova…you fought off some alien…terrorist…rapist…whatever."

"I must have been lucky," said Nova.

"Yeah, you're lucky it's not you on that autopsy table!" Derek snapped.

"Don't you think I know that, Derek," Nova said, a little testily. "Sorry. Just tired. I didn't sleep well last night…"

"Makes two of us," said Derek. "What do you plan to do after you finish this analysis?"

"Come home early with Alex and Ariel?" Nova said. "If that is all right, Doctor…I need a partial sick day…after what happened…"

"No problem," said Sane. "It's a great thing you came in today at all," he said.

"You could sort of say it was personal," Nova said, as she looked at the body on the table. "Derek, if you'd step out to let us finish? I'll see you in the cafeteria later…"

"Okay," said Commodore Wildstar.

Later on, Derek sat with Nova in the hospital cafeteria, sharing a sort of desultory breakfast at about 1130 Hours. Nova had run out of the house having eaten nothing but some toast and coffee, having devoted most of her time to bathing the twins, dressing them, giving them breakfast, and letting them nurse a little before she had left. Now, back in the pink romper and thongs she had worn out of the house, she said, "You look as if you've barely slept, Derek…"

"I did barely sleep. I heard you tossing and turning when you were trying to sleep," Derek said. "Nova…do you think you might need to see a counselor?"

"Maybe," she sighed. "Give me about a week, though. After that last time, when Stovall got at me years ago, I didn't need one…"

"No…but you did spend a few nights awake crying in my arms," Derek said softly. "It's just…after these things happen to you…I do not like seeing you suffer…"

"I hope that alien operative doesn't try anything else…with anyone else," Nova said. "Who was he, and what did he want?"

"I wish we knew who it was," Derek said. "How's the work on the Argo's computers going, by the way?"

"Sort of slow," Nova said. "We may have to pull an all-nighter on the ship in a few nights…"

"Let me know so I can bring the kids," Derek sighed.

"Derek…you don't have to," Nova said.

"Do you think I feel comfortable letting you out of my sight…after what happened?" Derek demanded as his hand closed over Nova's.

A few days later, in the early morning hours of August 2, the Wildstars were, indeed, staying on the Argo. Jonathan was staying on board with his Junior Space Cadet Corps unit, while his parents had come aboard the docked ship with Alex and Ariel to work with Sandor, Diane Henson (soon to be Sandor), and Kyle Kantalkos, one of the civilian engineers working on the Argo's main computer.

They had worked for most of the day. Finally, Nova and Derek tucked themselves in with Alex and Ariel in their cabin. They tried to settle down and rest. When that didn't work, Derek and Nova made love. Then, Nova was finally able to get some sleep.

Nova woke up beside Derek after her post-lovemaking nap in a strange mood.

Derek looked at the look in her eyes, and she looked confused and dazed.

"Nova, are you all right?"

"I just had the weirdest dream," Nova replied. "I mean, this dream is the dream that tops all weird dreams…"

"And…? Well, what happened in your dream?" Derek asked.

"I dreamt I was patrolling the ship during an intruder alert, Derek. I was walking around holding my Astro-Automatic, and I had on my helmet, gloves, and my gunbelt…"

"What was weird about that?" Derek asked.

"Well, except for a pair of backless high-heeled sandals on my bare feet…I didn't have anything else on! In this weird dream, I was patrolling the ship in the nude, Derek. And I found that to be pretty weird…and disturbing. I hope it doesn't portend any…"

They were both interrupted by a high-pitched cry from one of the baby carriers. "Alex!" Nova said. She sat up, threw off the covers, and tiptoed in her adorable real-life nakedness to his little portable crib. "What's wrong, honey? Hmmm?" Nova said as she picked her baby son up. In the heat, he wore nothing but his training pants. Nova brought him to the bunk, checking under his pants for wetness. "You are kind of wet…but do you want something else?" she said.

"Yeh," he said. "Sorry no potty…just stayed sleepy…"

"That's okay, sweetheart," Nova purred as she took off his training pants and cleaned him with a baby wipe while he giggled. A moment later, Alex got what he wanted; namely, his mother's breast and milk. Both she and Derek smiled at him as he nursed at his mother's bare breast; the naked baby boy and his naked mother were a gentle picture of contentment.

Ariel woke up and cried a moment later. Derek got her; he picked her up, checked her training pants, found they were also wet, so he removed them, walked her to go potty in the head of the Captain's cabin at her request, and then he came back and his naked little daughter in her mother's lap, where she found her mother's other breast and began to nurse.

Then, Derek pulled his wife into his lap, kissed her, and wordlessly and tenderly held most of his little family as his youngest children fed from their mother.

It was a scene of peace, happiness, and bliss.

Finally, Nova was done with the twins, who began to fall asleep again as they were given fresh training pants by their loving parents.

Then, with plenty of kisses, the two sleepy lttle ones were put back into bed.

"Now what do you want to do, Nova?" asked Derek.

"Let my breasts air out…and cuddle," Nova said. "Then, I'm sorry…I have to put on some clothes…"

"Why?" teased Derek.

Nova laughed. "Silly! I can't really patrol the ship like this…naked…" Nova kissed him and said, "I'm perfectly happy to go naked in our house, our yard, around the pool, or on that beach on a hundred-degree plus day, but not the ship! I have to take a shower and get dressed…"

Derek kissed his wife and let her slip off to shower. Nova came back in from the head ten minutes later wrapped in a towel, which she threw off to dress.

Derek's eyes widened as he saw Nova pulling on a very sexy lacy red pair of panties…then, she pulled on her usual gold shipboard uniform.

Then, while looking for her boots, Nova happened to notice a computer screen that was flashing…and beeping.

"What?" she said. "Derek…look at this..CRITICAL TIMING MALFUNCTION…" and it's in red.

"What is it?"

"A damn computer alert…it's been breached again!" Nova sighed, pulling on her boots as the phone rang. She answered it.

"Yes? Diane? You've got it? Okay…you do the initial checkout….call me if you need assistance," Nova said. "Thanks."

"Well?" Derek said.

"Diane's got it. She'll call us if she needs help."

Diane was in a rushed mood, and she was a bit annoyed by the alert that the main computer had flashed on her screen in the cabin she was sharing for the night with Steve. The timing was the worst possible, coming just literally just moments from her stolen precious moments with Steve. After getting off the phone with Nova, Diane had just pulled back on her skirt and top, leaving her sandals behind because she had to slide down an access tube or two and climb down a people mover or two since not everything that led to that deck was working, and for Diane, it was easier to go down the ladder rungs barefoot in the warm ship than in her platforms. Diane didn't particularly see anything wrong with this, since when aboard ship, Nova also ran around barefoot often when she was not in full uniform. In fact, the two women had both been barefoot here in the computer room before dinner.

Diane thus ran into the Argo's mainframe control room, her bare feet padding softly in the almost empty room at close to 2100 Hours. It was hot in there, but the deck felt nice and cool under her bare feet. Miss Henson knelt down near the nearest terminal to look at it. Nothing looked abnormal on the outside of the program, but she checked other aspects of the software. Finally, Diane found what she was looking for and whistled softly. "Now, what kind of Goddamn alert is this?" she said out loud as she knelt a summer-bare knee on the deck to look at a readout. It read:

LEVEL 14 ALERT: POSSIBLE TROJAN-LEVEL TWO WARP CORE PROGRAMMING HIVE.

"Now, how would a Trojan get into this level past the firewalls and blocking programs, let alone the extra level of security Nova and I put around it so we don't have so many maladjustments coming out of warp?"

Diane punched a few keys on the keyboard and came to an ugly conclusion as she read the firewall incursion reports. "It's not internal; it's EXTERNAL. Someone's been loading code into the system from outside. But who? And from where?" Henson said out loud. "This fucking ship. This fucking computer!" Diane was about to pick up a phone to call Steve down here at once when she heard a noise. Diane turned around like a scared rabbit.

Then, she heard a laugh, and saw a single male figure walking up. "Oh, it's just you, Kyle!" Diane said with a laugh as she saw the smiling, bearded face of the young man who was Frank Carmody's civilian engineering assistant from Rockwell. "And what is it that makes you wander around my Goddamned ship at just past nine at night, Mister Kantalkos? Trolling for girls? Or guys?" Diane said in a teasing tone while covering her breasts with one hand and her arm. She knew that her nipples would be showing through the thin material of her top, and…around him..it didn't feel right to let her body show. He wasn't Star Force; and he wasn't part of her extended family…who had seen both her and Nova in all sorts of states of dress and undress in the past few months. In fact, right now, he was giving off to Diane a vibe as if he was some kind of Space Marine; a Space Marine with sick thoughts on his mind.

Diane didn't know if Nova would catch this vibe, because she considered herself a bit more streetwise than the young, blond and rather high-strung genius who had her mind on thirty things at once and sometimes gave off to Diane the vibe that she had just consumed four cups of coffee but was filled with naivete. Diane was picking up a vibe of "this is someone who is bad fucking news", so she just glared at Kyle and backed away from him with a look of "don't fucking touch me" in her eyes. And Diane again realized there was something else. The firewall incursions. And one of them had been from here. She was sure she had just found the saboteur, and Diane knew what she'd have to do. Namely, she'd probably have to arrest him.

"Hey?" said Kyle. "Why do we look so hostile all of a sudden?"

Diane said, "Cut the bullshit, Kantalkos! This firewall shows four incursions in the past ten minutes. I've just picked up that the control node that one of them entered the system on is right here on this deck. The others are from off the ship through the comm system. And someone has stuck an unauthorized back door from Communications into the mainframe. And it sure wasn't me! Who was it, Kyle? Do you have a logical explanation for this shit?"

Kyle's voice seemed to change a little as he said, "Henson, have you ever wondered who sent that bug-ship into the Sol System a few weeks ago?"

"Some power or group called Spectra, and some so-called General of theirs named Ibn Zoltar." Diane looked around as Kyle got behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. She immediately slapped him and yelled "HANDS OFF, ASSHOLE!"

"Why not?" said Kyle as he shocked Diane by running a pair of fingers down her shoulders and then down over her sensitive breasts and nipples, covered only her her silken pink top, which was, again, not that unusual….she somehow remembered a barefoot Nova going up a Jeffries Tube the other day in a warm part of the ship in nothing but her cutoff shorts and a bandeau swimsuit top.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME!" Diane screamed. Then, she grabbed up a piece of conduit from off the deck and yelled, "Hands up! Where I can see them! NOW!" she barked.

Kyle raised his hands and said, "Much obliged, ma'am, Now what are you doing?"

Diane refused to answer him, but just picked up the phone and banged on the cradle buttons four times fast while keeping her Astro-Automatic pointed at him. Then, she dialed in "*89". At that moment, the phone would be ringing in a special tone over in Steve's cabin. It was a panic tone meant to sound an Intruder Alert to the XO at once. When Sandor picked up, a message on his phone would let him know where to send help-or where to come himself.

"Ma'am, we still look so unfriendly," said Kyle as his tone of voice turned strange, hard, and furtive. "What's a pretty girl like you holding a pipe on me for? And where's your little skinny dirty-blond friend? You know? The real pretty one? The one who gives off that message 'I want to be fucked so bad' with those big pretty eyes?"

"That's bullshit! Kneel down on the deck and put your hands on your head!" Diane barked. "NOW! For all I know, you're the one who has been sabotaging the Goddamn ship! And your behavior towards me just now was way out of bounds! Consider yourself under military arrest, asshole!" Diane came at him, about to do a rough pat-down of his person while holding the pipe on him.

Diane wished she had taken Nova's advice and put on a weapon after that incident with the drunken Space Marine this morning.

But, Kyle didn't let the next step happen.

Instead, he reached up and came at Diane with his right hand up.

As quick as lightning, Diane swung her weapon at him, meaning to hit him in the head with it. Her enemy moved with a speed that was utterly inhuman as he dodged the conduit, and he lashed up with a booted foot and kicked Diane in the wrist, knocking her pipe out of her hand. It hit the deck with a loud clatter.

Then, he shoved Diane down as hard as he could.

She hit the deck, falling in a most undignified position as her skirt hitched up and her bare legs went up as she tried to steady herself on her feet. Diane could tell, by the breeze…that her underpants were showing…the sexy lacy pair…intended only for Steve's eyes to see her in. She guessed what was on his mind then. She guessed the systems incursion had been a trick intended to get her or Nova down here…so he could rape one of them.

You fucking sleaze, Diane thought with anger and hatred in her heart. You're not a good man…you're a fucking dirtbag! Good thing we crew never had that damn strip poker game you were joking about…you pervert, not that elite outfits like the Star Force ever do that sort of thing! You're gonna be in so much trouble for this!

He came at her again, and Diane was able to swing with a fist, connecting with his jaw. Then, she kicked him; it was meant to be right in his balls, but, instread, it just hit his upper thigh.

"Come here, little bitch!" Kyle said, laughing like crazy as Diane punched him again. She immediately cursed herself for not practicing more recently as he grabbed her again by her top and slapped her across the face while she tried to claw at his eyes. He held her against the bulkhead and said, "Little fucking spitfire, ain'tcha? Good…I love it when they fight me; you see…I've had lots of women…and even some men…usually tied up for special delivery for me," he said in a voice that was becoming flat and strange and didn't even sound like Kyle's anymore…it sounded…almost effeminate…almost clipped. "The Luminous One has been so good to me with his little tidbits…"

A moment later, Kyle shoved a cloth over her nose and mouth. Chloroform, damnit to hell! Diane thought angrily as she gagged at the sweet smell of the chemical and tried to rip the cloth away from her mouth while Kyle hit her open-handed in the side of the head, making one of her ears swell and ring with the impact. Diane Henson was very familiar with the stuff. She had made quite a bit of it in her time in some of her advanced inorganic chemistry classes at the Academy years ago. Diane knew that it was a compound of the trihalomethane family.

Nova had once told her in a conversation the two women had been having about chemistry that most developed nations had stopped using it as an anesthetic by the beginning of the 20th century because it had a nasty tendency to cause heart arrythmia that could be fatal in a hurry. Diane also remembered Nova and Doctor Sane saying that even though less-developed nations had still used the stuff, the James Conventions of 2065 that had ended the major part of the Unification Wars had banned its medical use entirely.

Her senses reeled as she suddenly felt as if her arms and legs were made of lead. Her eyes dulled as she felt her heart beginning to speed up. She still tried to fight Kyle, kicking at his knee very hard.

Diane tried to scream, but Kyle forced her to her knees. He began to shimmer weirdly (or was that an effect of the drug?) as his form twisted and melted. His black hair lengthened, and Diane thought she saw a glimpse of bizarre long blonde hair as she looked back over her shoulder at her tormentor and tried to kick him in the crotch with her other bare foot while she grasped the deck with her bare toes to gain leverage.

However, kicking wasn't that effective when your legs flailed all over the place like you were drunk because you were half knocked-out on chloroform! Suddenly, the lights went bright as an intruder alarm went off on the ship. The attack stopped for a moment as Diane drunkenly dove for her piece of conduit, but she was kicked in the arm abruptly by a red-booted foot as she fell on her bottom and she saw the form of a very different man as the lights faded.

"Who ARE you?" Diane whispered at the bizarre-looking cloaked figure in a strange violet and red uniform and grotesque mask trimmed in gold. A moment later, she remembered and said, "You're that Spectran bastard, aren't you?"

He had a cruel-looking mouth set off with red lipstick as he laughed a scornful laugh and said, "Ibn Zoltar of Spectra at your service, BITCH! In case you were wondering, I'm going to kill you as a strike at your government, little heroine! But you'll become my wife first! Just like I tried to do with your slutty blonde friend Nova the other day, Henson!"

"Not fucking likely…I'm about to be Stephen Sandor's wife…" Diane said in a pathetically slurred voice as she staggered up, and deceptively smiled at Zoltar as she stood to "hug" the beast, who must have been about six feet tall or so tall to her frame, which was just under six feet tall. Diane spat in the unmasked part of his face with all of the spit she could muster up from her dry mouth and then went to punch him in the head as she tried to rip his crazy mask off so she could use a Space Marine move to smash in the bones of his nose with the heel of her hand, thus shoving bone fragments up into his brain and killing him.

Zoltar countered by tripping her. Diane fell again, and she screamed as he nicked her cheek with his knife, which she almost got from him. However, he responded by ripping her top off. Diane's bare breasts tumbled out as she felt the shame of being exposed against her will by someone else.

Then, there was more chloroform as he made her eat the rag and breathe in more of the noxious fumes as Diane would remember the next three or four minutes or so for the rest of her life.

Half-unconscious, Diane was pulled up by her hair like a rag doll and thrown onto her stomach. She heard Zoltar's cape snapping as he came at her from behind. There was a rustling of cloth at his end as Diane felt utter nausea as she saw the part of him he had abruptly exposed….while he was laughing at her.

And he had an erection!

Diane was someone, who, like Nova, admired men. While Nova was more artistic about it, Diane just liked to see a good, strong man stripped down to the point where he was exposed. She thought Steve had a particulary nice body and a male member that was just gorgeous. She had also seen her former boyfriend Derek nude on the beach a few weeks ago, and had observed that since he had gotten older and filled out more, that her former rival and now friend Nova was a very lucky girl.

But, to Diane this Zoltar's…member…looked grotesque, like a parody of the human form. Next, as the world reeled, Diane felt her skirt and panties being torn from her in one rough motion, leaving her naked as he touched and stroked Diane's exposed and vulnerable genitals with gloves that felt slimy and greasy like something from a sewer. Henson remembered the times when her former boyfriend Randy Parmon had forced himself upon her like this, and she felt sick. Zoltar began to lewdly feel her breasts with his other hand as he laughed in her ear, "You're getting wet! You like this, don't you?"

"I hate it…I hate you….." Diane whispered. Then,was forced onto her knees by his weight, and then, she was given more chloroform. It made her weaker than before…it made her woozy…

She tried to kick him but she missed his crotch by a mile.

It didn't matter much, as Zoltar pulled his naked captive into his lap….

And Diane, woozy, sick, and half-dead..felt utter revulsion as he went up inside her!

He grabbed her breasts with one hand as he put his other hand on her buttock and forced her onto her knees as he began to pump at her like some animal. Diane felt a lot of revulsion, but, surprsingly, little pain. In fact, there was physical pleasure…unwanted physical pleasure as her womanhood, the amoral dumb tissue that it was, responded to him as if Sandor was inside her in the act of love.

It went on for maybe a minute…like a bad dream; a half-conscious nightmare….this parody of lovemaking, until the drug wore off enough for Diane to kick back and crab-walk forward; just enough to pull him out of her. But he grabbed her again, and whispered,"That's fine…I'm about to explode anyway, bitch!" Then, he did something utterly sick.

He took her again…but not in the usual place as he slid up inside her bottom. Diane screamed at the pain, but Zoltar held her down, as he….

Oh, God, no, she thought. Please…please…make this stop!

Diane coughed and spat, and then she gritted her teeth in rage as she saw Zoltar touching himself again, and then felt him going back up inside her in the usual place…and grunting and shivering as he began to climax..and part of the….stuff went up inside her. Then, he pulled out, and something wet, hot and unwelcome sprayed against her bare bottom, her back, and her cheek all at once while she struggled against his thighs literally just centimeters away from being penetrated again by this freak. She made him jump back in a yell of pain by pivoting around and unexpectingly biting his partially bare thigh like an animal in her desperation to keep something of her own chastity. She hoped as she aimed for him that she could grab him and just castrate him with the next bite, but then she saw her conduit on the deck and felt for it.

A moment later, both rapist and victim jumped as they heard footsteps and heard the click of a weapon.

Zoltar pulled away from Diane and threw her to the deck, yelling, "YOU FUCKING BITCH!" at someone who was there as an Astro-Automatic suddenly went off.

The first shot just missed Zoltar and slammed into a computer console, creating sparks and fire as smoke suddenly began to fill the compartment.

Diane coughed, and as the smoke cleared for a moment, the first thing she saw was a helmeted, slender figure in gold and black, firing at Zoltar like a machine with her teeth gritted.

Diane had never been so glad to see Nova Wildstar in all of her life, as, with a scream behind her visor, Nova fired at Zoltar. Somehow, the first shot missed by centimeters as Zoltar moved his head, while the second shot lanced into his chest, making him gasp in rage.

"YOU ROTTEN BITCH!" Zoltar snarled. "I got this one, but you were the little whore I, Ibn Zoltar the Illustrious Warlord, wanted to rape tonight! Little fucking heroine!"

"Why don't you fucking try me, then Zoltar?" Nova snapped, using language Diane had never heard coming out of her mouth before. "Picking on someone who's unarmed? That is neither fair nor just! You damned bully! You make me SICK!"

Zoltar came at Nova like an enraged Colossus, drawing his weapon as he came at her at point-blank range. He fired once at Nova's head, but she managed to just dodge the energy bolt that would have blown her brains out. Instead, it only singed her helmet a little as she yelled, "STEVE! DEREK! WHERE'S MY BACKUP? HELP ME SURROUND HIM! DIANE'S HURT!"

Zoltar aimed again, at Nova's heart this time as he backed her against the bulkhead as she hed her weapon just as remorselessly upon him as Diane began to cry in the background….Diane was ready to grab for the conduit and to try charging him again, but then, she heard a sudden high voice as an electronic scream came.

"NO ONE HURTS MY NOVA!" burbled the high voice as IQ-9 came in on his treads as fast as lightning and as remorseless as Death.

Zoltar turned to face an enraged little red robot who reached out for him with his extensible arms. He was grabbed under the armpits and thrown head-first against the bulkhead, where he saw stars. IQ-9 pivoted about and came in like a killing machine….at the same time that Nova fired at Zoltar again, hitting him in the leg Behind Nova, another Astro-Automatic went off like a thunderclap, and Zoltar suddenly felt another bolt of energy ripping through his body near his heart, below the place where the woman had gotten him once in the chest with a lucky shot. It was hard to breathe all of a sudden, and he coughed up blood.

He heard a scream a moment later as Diane got up and hit him right in the balls with her conduit. Zoltar doubled over in pain and looked around the room at his enemies.

His enemies were the tall, naked woman he had just raped, a shorter, fully-dressed woman in gold and black holding her weapon on him as she ordered him to "Drop your weapon, NOW, Zoltar, Goddamn you!", the ugly little robot who was backing up the Lady in Gold as if he was her personal pet Doberman, and, last of all, the two men who came into the room.

One was a tall, relentless Colussus taller than even he was, in white and blue with his black hair cut in a severe crewcut and a controlled, cold rage on his face. He had a blaster out.

The other was of a younger, shorter man in white and red, with the wild hair of a Samurai, burning dark eyes, and his teeth gritted in an even more visible rage. His blaster was not only out but was still smoking. Zoltar took in the sight of the five of them, the advancing robot, the naked victim who had bit at and had hit at his sacred person and was still trying to fight like some little bitch wildcat, the bitchy little armed Valkyrie in gold and black who had wounded him the other day and had tonight interrupted the party and had just earned herself a one-way trip to his rape rooms and torture chambers on Spectra if he ever captured the little dynamo someday. There was also the young wild-haired man running for him with a smoking blaster, and the taller man with the crewcut who was advancing on him like Frankenstein's fabled Monster (and who sort of looked like him, too, to Zoltar) and he decided to cut his losses and run. Zoltar hit a button on his wrist, and he faded away in a bizarre spectrum of light as something like a vicious-looking birds' head swallowed him up and he was gone.

Diane looked back, and cried, "Nova, please help me! Please! Where's Steve? Where's Derek?"

Diane's eyes then focused on the newcomers as Nova knelt down to tend to her. Then, she saw that one of them was Steve, and she fell against him in the nude with a broken sob. Sandor swept her up in his arms and rocked her like a broken child as Diane heard his familiar soothing voice saying, "Diane, love… I'm here for you…I'm here for you…he's gone…you're safe…it'll be all right. What did he do…?"

"Raped her," Nova said as tears filled her eyes. "I caught him doing it to her and pumped several shots into the bastard myself before you guys showed up!"

"Steve, It was horrible! Yes….he raped me, all right? You won't ever want me again after this…I've been polluted…so….let me at Nova's gun!" Diane said in a broken voice.

"That's ridiculous," Sandor said bluntly as he knelt down beside Nova and gently kissed Diane. "Wildstar! Can I have your shirt? She should be covered up…"

Derek came over, and began to open his shirt, but Nova said…"Derek…no…it'll compromise the evidence…she's…all covered with his junk," she said with a whisper. "The poor woman's going to have to just go naked until I can examine her in Sickbay. Luckily, it's not that far. If this was me, I'd want you to keep me undressed if possible, too," Nova added.

"Where's Doctor Sane?" Derek whispered.

"He went home for the night with Mimi," Nova said. "I'm in sole charge of Sickbay tonight. Luckily, I'm just about qualified to handle something like this by myself. And it'd be better if she's examined by another woman, I think. Diane? I'll be looking at you myself," Nova added. "Can you stand up? I'll help you up…"

Diane nodded, but she didn't get very far even as Nova helped to pull her up with an audible grunt. A moment later, Sandor swept her up in his arms while Nova helped get her legs adjusted. Diane smiled a little through her tears, since Steve's and Nova's hands felt so good and clean on her.

Diane then began to cry again as Steve held her and rocked her back and forth in his arms. Steve looked at her…at what the enemy terrorist had done to her, and his teeth gritted in the sort of rage-filled look that Diane knew he got when he was about to kill someone. "Did he have…full intercourse…with you?" he whispered. "My God….he…shot his crap all over you…he…"

Diane closed her eyes and shook her head very hard. "Yes….darling…he forced me to…but I pulled him out of me…not very..welll…I'm…chlorod….but…this stuff…he has on me…it burns me…it hurts!"

"I know," said Sandor. "I'll help clean you and then I'll wash you myself when they're done. Let me carry you out of here…there's stuff all over, and broken glass all over the place," he said as adjusted her in his arms. Steve saw that she was not fighting him off, at least. Given what she had been through, the fact that she still trusted her fiancee' was at least a healthy sign. "Steve…your hands feel so good on me…his were…slimy.." Diane said. Then, looking at IQ-9, she said, "Thisll sound iraatinal, but send IQ and Nova and Derek outta here…make love to me right now…please…"

"Why, love?" Steve whispered as Diane shifted position and opened her legs; he saw then that her womanhood was glistening slightly with fresh excitement…she wanted him…and in the worst possible way. The thought of anyone seeing her like this, right now, naked, and vulnerable, made him….sick…

Nova looked at Diane with compassion in her eyes and said, "Diane….I know how you feel…but you have to be examined, first. Then, if you want to be alone with Stephen, I'll leave you two be in Sickbay, okay?"

"Okay," said Diane.

"IQ, get the hatch open," said Derek as Steve carried Diane naked to Sickbay while she shut her eyes, just drowning in the feel of his hands on her body…they were clean, warm…comforting.

She was carried like that to Sickbay, right in his arms.

Diane cried out, "Nova, it's cold! So cold!" as her stethoscope was on her bare breasts a few minutes later in Sickbay as she tried to gently listen for her heartbeat while palpating her breasts and ribs for damage as Diane knelt on the examining table. Nova had changed into one of her Medical tunics and sandals with a lab coat on over everything while talking with Derek,

"I know," Nova said gently. "You'll feel weird for a while. The stimulant drug I injected you with is taking effect and bringing you out from under that chloroform. I have to make some notes on my recorder. Okay?"

Diane nodded dully while Nova said into a digital recorder, "Subject is in good health; Caucasian. Height, from top of head to soles of feet, 177.8 centimeters, or 70 inches old measure. Weight, 64.41 kilograms or 142 pounds old measure. Subject was found in the nude. Subject's skin partially covered with small amounts of blood and copious amounts of what appears to be male ejaculate. Ejaculate unusually thick and slightly alkaline in Ph test…subject.."

Diane screamed, "I'm not a fucking subject, Nova! I'm a human being named Diane Catherine Henson! Okay?"

"Diane, you know the protocol in sexual assault exams involving aliens," said Nova quietly as she paused the recorder. "In fact, you and Sandor helped Doctor Sane and I write it, remember?"

Steve, who was present, stroked Diane's bottom as gently as possible. Diane smiled a little…he was reassuring…just by his presence. Nova looked at him and said, "Sandor, we have enough samples and photographs from her buttocks now. You can begin washing her off. Just leave her rectal and genital areas unwashed for now. We still need to examine those. We'll be very gentle, Diane…don't worry…"

Diane nodded, not being able to stop the tears as she heard water being sloshed around. Then, there was the gentle feel of a warm sponge on her bare bottom, and she began to cry softly as Stephen washed her. She had not only insisted that he be here for everything…per her request, he had not taken his hands off of her since she had arrived here like this, in front of a concerned group of Derek, IQ-9, Nurse Tasha Cleveland, who got Nova some supplies and left, and the civilian contractor Frank Carmody. Derek and Carmody had asked Diane a few questions about the intruder and the attack, and she had answered before Derek left with Carmody. Then, some blood had to be drawn. Diane was checked for possible sexually transmitted diseases, and Nova was relieved when she checked the computer scanners a few minutes later after taking the Petri dish out and she saw that the standard tests all had come through negative.

When Stephen washed most of the semen off of her, he helped Nova to get Diane up, and poor Diane shivered a little as she knelt there completely naked. She didn't know it yet…but because of her feelings of being unclean from the rape, she would go naked for nearly the next two days, washing herself as often as possible…or allowing herself to be washed by her fiancee'. "Lie on your stomach, now, Diane…and relax your legs…" Nova said softly. "This part will hurt. I know from lots of personal experience of being on the receiving end of these gynecological instruments. I'll be very gentle with you…."

Diane did so, sobbing as she heard Nova pulling on a latex glove. Then, Tasha Cleveland came back in and spread Diane's buttocks slightly and gently as Nova put her hands on her…and…

It took forty-five minutes. Diane endured swabs, and a careful exam, first of her rectum, and then, on her back, of her center. She squeezed Steve's hand hard as the freezing cold tools went on her body there…. curling her toes in shame and discomfort as Nova looked up her, and used a swab. "Positive on semen traces here in the outer area," she said quietly. She looked at Diane and said, "Evidence of two acts of penetration…one shallow…maybe an hour or two ago…the other deep, and about three hours old…more semen…Diane, you said he didn't…?"

Diane shook her head. "No! I hate to say it…but he came inside me and then pulled right out. The other stuff was from Steve and I. I…we had intercourse three hours ago…the semen deep up in there would be his…I think?"

"Possibly," Nova said. "And don't look so ashamed when you talk about you and Steve making love. Derek and I were in bed with each other three hours ago, too." Nova then handed the swab to Cleveland. "Tasha, test this right away! Check this against Sandor's new known DNA profile since he was operated on," Nova snapped as she handed Cleveland some swabs.

"Yes, ma'am," she said. After taking some slides and putting them in the analysis scanner, Cleveland got a report as she looked through the small electron microscope attached to the unit. "First swab is the Commander's seminal fluid, all right, it is a perfect match. That seems to match about seventy percent of the semen found inside Diane. The second swab is just…weird. Unknown profile, and evidence of gene-splicing at the basic level. The profile is blurred, but the being who generated this…stuff…is definitely an alien, certainly a mutant, and may be a hermaphrodite…it's sure not your fiancee', ma'am. We're using him as a control; he's a normal human. "

The scientist in Nova popped up and she said, "Hermaphrodite? Now, that sounds…interesting. Tasha, please make sure that's preserved. At some point, I want to have a better look at that stuff!"

Diane added, "I also have to improve my fighting technique, Steve. He got me as if I was a little girl or something like that. Nova, would you train me?"

"Sure," Nova said "I need to get my black belt, Derek, and I have to get better in shotokan karate, too. I have to improve!"

"It's fine, Nova, Diane…we can work on that later on, whenever you feel up to it…," Sandor said.

Nova then said to Diane, "Some of his stuff…is up there, too, near your cervix…along with Steve's…Diane, I hate to tell you this, but there is a possibility, however remote, of pregnancy, either from Steve…or from…."

"Ibn Zoltar," Diane said. "Let's just call the Goddamn Freak Zoltar from now on," she added. "His genitals looked larger than the normal human's…wider, too…"

"I see," said Nova. "There is that chance you'll end up pregnant from him. We won't know for a few days…certainly not until after the wedding on Saturday and the honeymoon….Of course, the possibility is much greater that it would be from Steve…if it even happens…"

"I knew of that…it's not such an unpleasant idea," Diane said as she smiled weakly at her fiancee. "In fact, it's still not such a bad idea…Nova…he didn't get his…thing up me for long…I wouldn't let him…I fought him like a wildcat but it wasn't good enough!"

"Nova, Diane, you both know you're not supposed to fight off a potential rapist like that," said Tasha Cleveland. "It could have put your life in danger….I…"

"Tasha, you're not me!" Diane snapped. She lay back her head and laughed a grim laugh. "Thank God that Zoltar is a lousy rapist…all I got was felt up, got screwed for maybe thirty seconds… and got some junky juice of his on my butt, up my ass, and up my privates…and thank Heavens, the party got interrupted….!" Diane shook her head, looked at Sandor, and frankly said, "Steve, if I want to bear anyone's child, I'd much rather have it be yours," she said as she brushed Steve's leg with her toes. "I can, Nova…right?"

"Yes, but because that alien semen was alkaline, I want to check you again in twelve hours and then in twenty-four hours on your back, bottom, and private regions for evidence of burns. You said that you were feeling tingling sensations on your buttocks and in your rectum…I gave you a suppository for the irritation there," said Nova as she finished taking samples from Diane. "I'd like to admit you, Diane," Nova said, "And keep you in just a light hospital gown, or…"

"Thanks, Nova. But skip the gown. I'm more comfortable like this right now," she said. "And just getting air to my bottom and womanhood would help, don't you agree? And it's hot, so the best way to solve that problem is for me to just run around naked. Right?"

Nova bit her lip, "I guess…well…I guess I'd choose to go naked, too, if I were in your situation. All right, then. I know where you live….I'll come over and make a house call tomorrow….how's that? Steve, you can have my lab coat," Nova said as she took her own lab coat off her back after taking some things out of the pockets. "Wrap her in this so she'll at least leave the ship with something on her. I'll see you tomorrow, Diane…okay?"

"Sounds good, Nova," Diane said. They embraced and then Nova helped put her lab coat on Diane.

TO BE CONTINUED….