My Ongoing Sci-Fi Story Series On Wattpad
So for about the past year I’ve been writing an ongoing sci-fi story series on Wattpad titled THE RELIANT. Here is the synopsis:
“The adventures of Captain John Yager and the gallant crew of The Alliance starship The Reliant. In the year 2136 following the brutal Karnin war, disgraced Captain John Yager gets a chance to command another starship even if it’s an older almost decommissioned ship like The Reliant. With a crew of misfits and fellow rejects, John works to regain his reputation-and his sanity-again.”
Like George Lucas did with the story for Star Wars, The Reliant is a combination of numerous other sources that have influenced me over the years, including Star Trek, eighties action flicks, westerns and, of course, Star Wars. I also began writing this story series as a sort of rebuke to all the “wokeism” of current sci-fi, including in franchises like Star Trek & Star Wars, as I deal with subjects and topics in these stories in a non-”woke” way that would likely get one labeled as some sort of “istaphobe” on sites like-where else!-Twitter. Like the original Star Trek shows, some of the stories are serious while others are more comedic (like, of course, the “Tribbles” episode) and other stories are rather satiric as there are mentions and references to “old school” sci-fi like Star Wars & Star Trek along with other things that I grew up with during the 70s & 80s.
Here is one of the stories from The Reliant titled The Naked Planet:
The Reliant received a distress call from the planet Rincon. Rincon was a resort planet. However, unlike other vacation planets, the guests and inhabitants of Rincon were nudists. This was why Captain Yager was really hoping there was another ship within the vicinity of the planet who could respond to their distress call.
No such luck.
The Captain transported down to the beach town of Oceanus along with his first officer Commander Steiner and his chief of security Bortis where the distress call originated from. However, to their surprise, no one was there to greet them.
“Where is everybody?” asked Lisa.
“Don’t know,” replied John.
“This is where the distress call came from, isn’t it?”
“Yes, unless someone is playing a trick on us.”
“And why would anyone want to do that?” a voice behind them asked.
John quickly took out his laser pistol and aimed it in the direction the voice was coming from. Standing behind them was a portly man with a bald head and a blue body looking curiously at then. And, yes, he was completely naked, much to John’s chagrin.
“Who are you?” John demanded.
“I’m sorry,” the blue man said, waving his hands frantically in front of him. “I didn’t mean to startle you. Please don’t shoot!”
“Right,” John said as he slid his pistol back into its holster.
“May I ask who you people are?” the man asked them. “And why are you still wearing clothes? You do know that guests are required to be nude, don’t you?”
“We’re not guests here. I’m Captain John Yager of the Alliance ship The Reliant. We were responding to a distress call. You wouldn’t happen to be Grogo, would you?”
“No,” the man said, smiling. “My name is Hermie.”
“Hermie,” John said, “do you know where I can find Grogo, the guy who runs this place?”
“I’m right here, Captain,” another man, also naked, said as he walked up to them. “I’m Grogo.”
John looked directly at Grogo’s face and dared not look down much further than that.
“You’re the one who sent the distress call?” John asked him.
“Yes, I am.”
“Would you mind telling me why you sent the distress call? To be honest, I really can’t see any trouble here.”
“Well, Captain, I’m sure you’re aware that Rincon requires everyone, including our guests, to be nude.”
“I’m aware,” John said, sighing. “Go on.”
“Well, we have some recent guests who refuse to go nude. And I would like for you to deal with them.”
John narrowed his eyes at Grogo. “Excuse me?”
“I would like for you to make these guests leave, Captain.”
John sighed again as he rubbed his head in frustration.
“So, let me get this straight, you sent out a distress call to an Alliance ship to have them come down and handle some unruly guests?”
Grogo nodded. “Yes, Captain.”
John stopped rubbing his head. “Don’t you have security or some other employees who can take care of this?”
Grogo seemed bewildered by the suggestion. “No, Captain. That’s why I sent out the distress call.”
“You know, people normally send out distress calls for something more serious like, say, they’re being attacked and not for something trivial like some of their guests won’t go around naked.’
“Captain, our rules and our ways might seem trivial to you, but we take them very seriously. This is our way of life. And, as a member of the Alliance, we expect your ship or any ship to help us uphold our rules and our ways.”
“You’re right, Grogo,” John said, nodding. “So where are these guests you’re talking about?”
“They were last spotted over that hill,” Grogo told John, pointing at the hill.
John looked over at the hill Grogo was pointing to.
“All right,” John said. ‘We’ll take care of it.”
Grogo nodded approvingly. “Thank you, Captain.”
He turned to Lisa and Bortis. “Let’s go get this over with.”
John and the the rest of the landing party walked up the hill past the other nudists walking and laying about. He tried his best to avert his gaze away from all the naughty parts and jiggly bits and not to look at them as he kept his gaze straight forward. He couldn’t believe he was doing this. Instead of facing down hostile aliens, he was reading people the riot act about refusing to take their clothes off. He wondered how did his career come to this?
“You look uncomfortable, Captain,” Lisa remarked, snickering.
John let out an annoyed grunt in response to Lisa’s sarcastic quip like he so often did.
John finally spotted the guests Grogo was referring to. They were pretty easy to spot since they were the only guests wearing clothes. He walked up to the group-comprised of two men and two women-who were sitting on a towel.
“Hello,” he said to them.
They all looked up at him. “Hello,” one of the men said back.
“I’m Captain John Yager of the Alliance ship The Reliant.”
“Hello, Captain.” The man stood up. “What can I do for you?”
“Well, I’ve gotten some complaints about you and your group.”
“Complaints about what?” the man said like he couldn’t fathom why anyone would make a complaint against them.
“Are you serious?” Lisa, who was standing behind John, said to the man.
“What’s your name?” John asked the man, ignoring Lisa.
“It’s Ray.”
“Ray, here’s the deal: Rincon has its rules and, if you and your friends want to stay here, you have to abide by them.”
“Meaning what, Captain?”
John shot Ray a look. “Do you really need for me to spell it out for you? I mean, just look around. What do you see?”
“I see naked people.”
“Bingo,” Lisa interjected.
“So you’re saying if we want to stay here we all have to be naked too?”
“Right again,” Lisa said.
John let out a frustrated sigh. “Yes, Ray, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“And if we don’t? Are you going to remove this by force? Is that why you’re here?”
“Listen, Ray, that’s the last thing I want to do, especially over something like this. But the Riconians take their rules and their ways very seriously like they do on every other planet in the Alliance. You and I may think it’s trivial, but they don’t. And, as a member of the Alliance, I’m required to help them uphold their rules and ways. Besides, there are other vacation planets you and your friends can go to.”
“But none are as nice as this one.”
“That may be true. But you can’t stay here and wear clothes the same way you can’t have your way with a slave girl on Xanu. You understand what I’m telling you, Ray?”
Ray thought about what John had told him for a moment.
“Yeah, Captain, I understand what you’re saying. We’ll leave.” He looked over at his friends. “Let’s go, guys.”
“Thank you, Ray.”
John watched Ray and his friends walk away from them. He was relived when he saw them go. He wanted to get off this crazy planet as soon as he could himself.
“Let’s get the hell out of here, shall we?”
Lisa grinned at John while Bortis was as stoic as he ever was. They started to walk away themselves when they noticed a naked green-skinned woman leaping out of the water like a fish.
“Hey,” said Lisa, “she looks like an Alterian.”
“Yes, she does,” John agreed. “In fact, she looks like . . .” His eyes grew wide when he realized he was in fact looking at his tactical officer. “Tamala?!”
“Hey, guys,” Tamala as she stepped out of the water, her green skin glistening.
John quickly looked away as Tamala stepped up to them.
“What’s wrong, Captain?” Tamala askedhim.
“I thought you were on vacation, Lieutenant,” John said while still looking away from her.
“I am on vacation. “
“Why here?”
“I heard some people talking about this planet when we were at Alliance base 214. This reminds me of some places on Alteria where you can swim around with nothing on. What are you guys doing here?”
“We were responding to a distress call.” He tried not to take a peek at his naked Lieutenant. “Tamala, could you put something on, please?”
She grinned at him. “Captain, you’re blushing.”
“Yeah, well, let’s just say I never thought I’d ever be seeing my tactical officer in the altogether.”
Tamala and Lisa giggled, which made John blush all the more. In spite of his embarrassment, John could understand why Tamala would take her vacation on this planet. Alterians were half-amphibian, so they gravitated toward the water.
“Tamala, would you mind?” John said to her.
“Okay, Captain.” She went over and grabbed a towel from off the ground and wrapped it around her. “Is that better?”
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” John said as he finally looked at her, breathing a sigh of relief.
“No problem, Captain,” Tamala said, smiling at him.
With that, John took out his communicator and turned it on.
“Mr. Renjay,” he said.
“Yes, Captain,” said ship’s pilot Zack Renjay.
“We’re about to transport back to the ship. Is there any trouble up there?”
“No, Captain. Everything’s fine up here.”
“Hey, Zack,” Tamala said into John’s communicator.
“Tamala?” Zack exclaimed. “What is she doing there?I thought she was on vacation.”
“She is on vacation, Mr. Renjay,” John told him.
“Really? Is she naked?”
“Mr. Renjay!”
“Is she green all over?”
“MR. RENJAY!!!!”
“Okay, okay, Captain. I’m shutting up now.”
“Thank you, Mr. Renjay. Captain out.”
He switched off his communicator. He turned to his crewmates who were looking at him. Both Lisa and Tamala had big grins on their faces. John knew they were having a laugh at his expense, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to get out of there once and for all.
“Now can we please get the hell out of here?” John said, letting out a frustrated sigh.
“You mean you don’t want to stay here and get naked with everyone else?” Lisa said sarcastically.
“Listen, if you guys want to stay here with Tamala and have a good old nude time, have at it. But I’m going back to the ship.”
“So am I,” Bortis said curtly.
“Well, Lisa?” asked John, being a little sarcastic himself. “How about you?”
“Nah,” Lisa said, shaking her head and still grinning. “We’re just funning with you, Captain.”
John let out another annoyed grunt in response.
“Tamala,” John said to her, “we’ll see you back onboard the ship later on. Enjoy the rest of your vacation.”
“Thank you, Captain.” She smiled at him. “I will.”
As Tamala removed her towel and jumped back in the water, John, Lisa and Bortis switched on their transporter bands around their arms. Within seconds, they were all engulfed in a bright white light as they were transported back to The Reliant . . .
Epilogue
Back on the bridge, John sat in his chair and tried to get the sight of all those naked aliens he saw on Rincon, especially that of Lieutenant Tamala, out of his mind.
“So what did you think about the naked planet, Captain?” Lisa asked him.
“Commander,” John began to say, sighing heavily, “I’ll be honest with you, I would rather face down a horde of angry Karnins than ever have to go down to that planet ever again.”
“Captain,” Lisa began, snickering, “I didn’t know you were such a prude!”
“I’m not a prude, Commander,” John quickly pointed out. “It’s just that I feel there’s a proper place and time for everything. Besides, if I want to see a bunch of naked aliens, I could just run one of Mr. Renjay’s programs in the Holoroom.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” Zack said, nodding his head in agreement.
While Lisa snickered some more, the door to the bridge opened and ship’s android Roger stepped in. Nude.
“Oh my god,” Lisa exclaimed as Roger walked past them. “Roger, are you-”
“Naked? Yes, Commander.”
“Roger,” John huffed, trying not to lose his cool with the android, “why are you walking around my bridge naked?”
“I just wanted to see why some humanoids found it necessary to go around without any clothing.”
“And?” Lisa asked him, grinning widely at the inquisitive android.
“And I find it quite . . . freeing.”
“Freeing or not,” John began to say, “I want you to put some damn clothes on, Roger. The last thing I want is some anatomically-correct android walking around my ship for anyone to see.”
“Yes, Captain. I’ll do that right away.”
“Please do, Roger.”
John averted his gaze away from Roger as he stepped off the bridge to put on his uniform per the Captain’s orders.
“I wonder if other ships go through this with their androids?” Lisa asked John.
John shook his head and groaned as he rubbed his forehead in frustration like he so often did aboard the ship.
“Tell me again why I took this command?”
“There, there, Captain,” Lisa said as she patted him on the shoulder. “You know you like us.”
John gave his first officer a crooked grin and grunted. Lisa giggled as she looked over at Bortis.
“What did you think about the planet, Bortis?” Lisa asked the stoic Morlon.
“Disturbing,” he said in his usual terse manner.
“Do Morlons ever like to get nude?” Zack asked Bortis with a grin.
“Only with our mates,” Bortis replied without grinning.
A few minutes later, Roger stepped back onto the bridge wearing his uniform.
“Thank you, Roger,” John said to him satisfactorily. “That’s much better.”
“You’re welcome, Captain,” Roger said as he took his seat in front of his console.
“And Roger?”
“Yes, sir?”
“I suggest the next time you wish to experience what it’s like to go around naked you do so in your quarters, preferably with the door locked.”
“Yes, sir.” Roger nodded. “I will make sure to do that in the future.”
After Roger turned around in his seat, John looked at a grinning Zack.
“Mr. Renjay,” John said, “lay in a course for the nearest Alliance base.”
“Yes, sir.” He paused as he keyed in the coordinates. “Course laid in, Captain.”
“Let’s go.”
The Reliant flew off toward the nearest Alliance base . . .
Here is the link to my story The Reliant for anyone who would like to read it:
