Chapter 2
The only place harder to get permission to visit would be Area 51. It had taken months of filing special requests, asking or begging for favors from more people than he ever wanted to know, in both military and political circles, but the end result was worth it. He was there, and that was enough, even if they were limiting his visit to just a few minutes.
The anticipation was unbearable, he finally resolved to hold his breath for a few seconds just to make the sound of his own breathing through the respirator of his space suit go away.
Finally, the door in front of him slowly opened to reveal the Yamato Sea. It was a truly amazing site to see, the sun shined brightly in the sky, and the Earth was visible in magnificent detail just over the horizon. The ice that made up the ground reached that horizon and shined a bright white under the sunlight.
He steeled himself before stepping out onto the ice. The ice asteroid was larger that he had remembered, although it couldn't have changed very much. It was vast, but that was not why he was there. Jordy Venture had come to the Yamato Sea with a definite purpose.
He kneeled down, looked into the ice until he thought he could make out the outline of the long buried Yamato deep near the center.
In his helmet, Jordy smiled. "Well, Mark, I finally talked them into letting me come up and see you. I know you are here, not at the memorial down on Earth. You will always be with Yamato.
"I just wanted to let you know that I'm graduating from the Academy tomorrow and--"
Just then, Jordy's suit radio came to life with the words he hoped would be late in coming. "Jordy Venture, your time limit is up. Return at once."
Well, that hardly seemed fair. "OK. I'm coming. . . Talk to you later, Bro."
Jordy stood to return to the bunker for his trip back to Earth when something caught his eye. In the blackness of space, a section of space seemed to ripple slightly. Then with a flash, a trio of glowing ship silhouettes appeared there, then merged into a single Gamilon battleship.
Hardy, Conroy, Sgt. Knox, Royster, Orion, Mark Venture, and over a hundred other names and headstones surrounded the proud statue of the late Captain Avatar. Each headstone was about two feet tall with a name written on it, and the face that went with that name carved next to it. But more than that, each stone held memories that none of the onetime crew members of the Yamato would ever forget.
Doctor Sane, a short round man with very little hair, shouted at the top of his lungs, "Fall in!"
The clusters of people separated and formed ranks in front of the old doctor. Derek Wildstar and his wife Nova were at the front, flanked by their two children, who did their best to come to attention like their parents.
If the old doctor was amused by the children in the crowd that tried to emulate their parents, he did not show it. These get togethers were about the only time when the Doctor remained formal.
"Although it has been five years since Yamato was destroyed; we, the crew of the Yamato and their descendants, renew our vow never to forget you," the doctor shouted.
"Your sacrifices have not been in vain. Earth has once again grown strong, with a new fleet to protect it. Our relations with other worlds have been prosperous, with no wars.
"Even while fortune shines on us, we will never forget the struggle it took to achieve our good fortunes. We will not forget you.
"Salute our fallen comrades!"
As one, everyone crisply raised their right fist up to their hearts in salute.
The red squat robot, IQ-9 busied himself by joining in a game of tag with the children. They would duck in and around the headstones, and the gracefully awkward robot would follow. Young Miyuki Wildstar and her younger brother Mark tried to circle wide around IQ, but the robot extended his arm several feet in front of them.
In a fit of giggles, the two children turned and ran back towards the rest of the adults in their attempt to escape from the robot.
Wendy watched as the children suddenly started rushing towards her. They rushed past her in a flash, jumping over the picnic basket at her feet, and almost knocking her off balance. IQ-9 followed a second later, reaching a hand out and smacking her firmly on her bottom.
"IQ!" she screamed, while taking cover behind her husband, Homer.
"Wendy is it! Wendy is it!" the robot joyfully cried out. "Bet you can't catch me!"
"I bet I can!" she hollered, and took off after him.
Homer would have reassured her about the robot's friskiness, but was too busy laughing. "He is never going to change."
Dr. Sane and the others at the table agreed. "True, but at least now he won't just be picking on Nova."
"It means she is now officially part of the family, nice going, Homer," Derek Wildstar added, while Nova smiled an agreement.
On the table, Dr. Sane's old cat mewed, then curled back up and returned to her sleeping.
The youthful communications officer blushed. After so many years of his teasing Wildstar over Nova, he was unprepared for compliments about his own relationship.
Desperate to change the subject, Homer looked around and saw a familiar aircar parking nearby. "Hey, looks like Sandor and Kitano finally showed up.
Homer knew Sandor since their first mission on Yamato, Sandor with his close hair cut, and a noticeable lack of eyebrows had been the science officer who could always be relied on to save the day by inventing some new device.
The heavily tanned Kitano he didn't know as well. Kitano had trained on the Yamato when they went back to Iscandar after the Comet Empire had been defeated. Wildstar had seen something in him, and trained Kitano as a bridge officer. The training had apparently paid off, since Kitano was now the Captain of his own ship. Homer tried not to be too jealous, especially since Wildstar didn't seem to mind being captain of a patrol ship, while Kitano was given the fleet's Flagship.
Kitano called out to them. "Sorry we were late. Apparently Sandor couldn't get his own ride and had my ship called in as his personal space taxi."
Homer was surprised at how much Kitano had matured... when they first met, Kitano was so ridged that he had not sense of humor at all.
"How do you like captaining the Andromeda II?" Wildstar asked.
"The job is a lot harder than you made it look, but she is a good ship," Kitano replied.
"Certainly better than her predecessor," added Dr. Sane with a raised bottle.
Nova turned to the doctor, "Be fair, Dr. Sane. Under Giddeon, the Andromeda served well up until the end."
"Her operational design is certainly better than her predecessor," Sandor interjected.
"I'll drink to that!" Cried out the doctor, waving around his Sake bottle. "Anyone care for some more 'spring water?'"
"What about you, Sandor?" Wildstar asked with a smile. "I haven't gotten any reports from you recently, what black projects have you been busy with lately?"
"Derek, you know better than to discuss business here."
Sandor smiled at both of them. "Its all right, Nova. He knows I can't discuss it. Besides, it would ruin the surprise. What have you been up to?"
"Nothing new..." Wildstar responded, sounding slightly depressed.
The "beep beep" of pagers started to sound.
Homer jumped as his own pager went off. He checked it to confirm. A recall signal, he had to get back to headquarters immediately. As he stood to find Wendy to explain that he had to leave, he saw Wildstar, Dr. Sane and virtually everyone else checking their pagers as well.
Something big must be happening, he thought.
As he walked down the corridors of the Earth Defense Headquarters, Derek Wildstar was unable to shake the old frustrations. Why was it that they gave him top level clearance, and that he had earned the respect and trust of all the high level officers so that they valued his opinions enough to seek him out, but the only command position they had offered him in the last five years was that of a Patrol Ship. With a level of control that he wish he could have had in his youth, he forced the resentment down and rushed to the main control room.
"uh, Sir?"
He didn't recognize the young woman who was trying desperately to keep up with him, if she hadn't spoken, he never would have noticed her. He supposed she was the one who took Nova's job when she took leave to take care of the kids.
"Yes?" He asked.
"Commander Mizutani wanted me to give you an update on the situation."
"Proceed." He did not slow down.
"A Gamilon battleship just warped into orbit, and they are upset about something. We don't know what. The Gamilon captain's name is Noble. The Commander wanted you to handle the talks since you have the most experience dealing with them."
Wildstar came to the door, and paused before opening it. "Thank you."
The young lady smiled, and then nodded for him to go on through. "You had better go on in, the communication is in progress."
Taking a deep breath, Wildstar entered the control room. Commander Mizutani was standing at the center of the raised platform, sitting next to him, Homer was running the communications board. All eyes in the room were fixed at the large view panels that took up the entire far side of the room.
Captain Noble's face filled the screen. Like all Gamilons his skin was light blue, but his head was mostly bald, and looked like he should have been wearing a monocle. The pride and arrogance about him reminded Wildstar of the Gamilons of old. The arrogance was not just in his manner, it also carried very clearly in his voice.
"Leader Deslock demands to know why you have attacked him, and kidnapped our people! You must answer for your crimes!"
Not quite like old times, Wildstar thought. They didn't use to be the sort to talk first, but then he and Deslock didn't use to be friends.
"Captain Noble. I am Captain Derek Wildstar. You may tell Deslock that we have taken no action against him or his people."
The sneer that appeared on Noble's face spoke volumes. "Leader Deslock... believes you. I do not. I think I would do better if I took your world apart piece by piece, until I found our people, and all of you were dead."
Wildstar faced him with a cold stare. "Are those the orders Leader Deslock gave you?" It was a gamble, he was counting on the blind loyalty that Deslock inspired. Most of the Gamilons he had encountered had been ruthless, but true patriots.
"No, Captain. They are not. I am to warn you, so you may defend yourself. We plotted the course of the force that attacked us. They are headed here. But, since they are holding Gamilon citizens on board their ship, you are not to destroy it. I will preserve the lives of those Gamilons, and I can destroy you if you place their lives in jeopardy."
The screen went blank.
Wildstar turned to the Commander, "I would take him at his word, Commander."
"I will, but if it comes to it, I will risk another war with Gamilon in order to protect Earth. Homer, mobilize the fleet."