============================ Episode #117: A Letter Home Reel 1 ============================ "Are you quite sure it will work?" "No, sir." Bennington's voice was grim. "I figure it's fifty-fifty that even a single packet will make it to Earth. This is a real shot in the dark." Orion sighed. "Fine, then. Did you include my personal packet?" "Yes, sir." "Very well. You may proceed." "Aye, sir." It was a huge chance they were taking, but with recent events the need to let Earth know what was happening had become quite clear. Bennington, along with Lunestes and a couple other techs, had an idea for communicating with Earth without Hanasu's assistance. They hoped that by activating a low-level Fold envelope, they could focus a narrow beam of radio waves to Earth while circumventing the light-speed barrier. It was a jury-rigged process, and there was little chance that it would work. But the attempt had to be made. On Bennington's signal, communications began. Position reports, several pleas for medical assistance, casualty counts, and, perhaps most importantly to the crew, over two hundred letters to friends and families, were all sent to Earth, where the planet was wishing itself a happy 3030. Most of the letters would never make it. *** Eileen Pearcy was only Eileen Pearcy for about fifteen seconds after she woke up. It was her routine to shower as Sailor America, and therefore she began her day the same way, every day, at four in the morning. "America Star Power, Make-Up!" That overwith, she went through the complex task of getting out of her fuku and into the bathroom. It wasn't easy, and she often wished for someone else to help her with it. Sometimes she imagined that it was so, and it was Jen Sakachi who did the deed. After completing her morning routine she went to work. Down the hall, a left, down a bit more, two consecutive rights, an elevator ride up seven stories, and she was at her office. It had a nice brass nameplate on the door, which read: "Sailor America, Her Majesty's Minister of Public Relations and Deputy Liaison to the Fleet Admiral, Royal Star Navy." Impressive, but it mainly involved writing press releases. Or at least, telling her secretary to write press releases. "G'morning, Sayuri." "Good morning, Sailor America." "Anything important come in on the wires?" "A small coup d'etat in the Arab Union. Everything seems to be under control there, though." Sayuri looked through her notes a bit more. "The colony world Erodasu's crop failures haven't improved. They're requesting assistance. And that's about it." "Any word from Pleiades?" "No." "Damn." It was the most frustrating thing to her: the fact that no word had come from H.M.S. Pleiades in weeks. Everyone in the Navy was worried about it, but the general public knew nothing of Pleiades's disappearance, and it was mainly because of Sailor America. She went into her office, sat, and put her feet up on her desk as she grabbed a handlink. Her conversation with Sayuri had been mainly to make sure that nothing earth-shattering had happened overnight, but to do her job efficiently she had to skim all the major newspapers. Her job, such as it was, was to make sure that the Crystal Millennium looked good in the press. That meant writing press releases, deciding how and when certain things would be announced, and so on. For example, there was the decision to keep secret the disappearance of Pleiades. It had been deemed unjustified to start a panic in Crystal Tokyo over the vanishing of a single ship, and had simply let Pleiades fade into the background. After all, they had more important things to worry about. Such as gearing up for war. *** A few hours later, America had finished skimming the newspapers: the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, London Times, Tokyo Herald, and the Lunar Observer, among others, and made her way through another rabbit's warren of corridors. Five minutes after leaving her office, after going through four security checkpoints, America made it to the vast cavern of Her Majesty's audience chamber. It was beautiful, with filigreed gold and crystal chandeliers, crystal floors, ornately framed mirrors and paintings on the walls, and in the center of the far wall, the massive twin thrones of the Neo-Queen and her husband. They were empty. The only reason she had come in here was because it would take another five minutes to go around the back way to Her Majesty's private chambers, and in particular Her Majesty's solarium, where Her Majesty was having her most Royal and Majestic breakfast of cold cereal and orange juice. She entered the room, nodded to the two Senshi standing sentry duty today, Procyon and Altair, and curtsied to the beings arranged around the table. "Your Majesties, my Lord, my Ladies, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter." She bowed in turn to Serenity, Endymion, Artemis, Luna, Diana, and the two Senshi. "America, good morning." Serenity was all smiles, which didn't escape Sailor America's notice. "Pull up a chair, if you don't mind." She did as asked. With that, the formality was gone. Serenity succumbed to the pomp and circumstance when in public, but in private she like things as informal as possible. "Have a good briefing, Sailor Jupiter?" "Yes, America. Good luck!" "Thanks," she replied with a chuckle that was answered around the room. It was an old joke, dating back to the first time America had briefed the Queen on matters of public relations. America's talk came right after Jupiter's talk on national security. America pulled out a handlink and began reading notes from it. "Well, you're up .00034% in the polls, which puts you at a 99.99902% approval rate." She shook her head sadly, but a smile graced her face. "You've gotta pick up that .00098, Serenity." "I know," the ruler of Crystal Tokyo answered, laughing. "I should get cracking before I lose my reelection bid." This earned more laughs. 'Funny,' thought America, 'how I'd get to be on such good terms with an absolute monarch like Serenity. Especially that I'd be on a first name basis with her.' America had once been the only person to call her Serenity in conversation. It had been a novel concept, and after awhile the Queen decided that she liked it, despite the protests from Luna and Sailor Mars. It was far more preferable than being called "Your Majesty" and "Your Grace" by her closest friends. Now her entire group of close relations and advisors called her Serenity-sama. It beat her full title. "Anyway," said America after the laughs died down, "nothing really earth-shattering in the PR department. A British newsmagazine wanted to do an interview with you, but I managed to talk them into having it with one of the Senshi instead. Is Sailor Polaris okay? She really likes that kind of thing, you know." "Polaris? She's okay, I suppose . . . ." "Luna," asked Artemis, "Neptune's in Europe right now, isn't she?" "I think so. That goodwill tour, wasn't it?" She leapt down from her position on the table, where she had sat in a specially designed chair, and went to a computer console specifically made for felines. "Yes, she's there until the eighth." "Well," said the white cat, "do you think Neptune will meet their approval?" "Certainly," said America with a smile. She punched buttons on the handlink; the necessary preparations would be underway in seconds. "Um, I don't think you can dodge out of this one, though. The Sun wants to do an interview on the state of the Crystal Millennium. You turned them down back in 2943, and I don't think you can do it again." "Dash it. What was the excuse I gave then?" "Tummy-ache," came the reply from Endymion. "And before that, PMS. I don't think they bought that one." "Great." She slouched down in her chair, and the crescent moon on her forehead glittered in the changing light angles. "And I suppose you're going to tell me-" "-that it would be a PR disaster if it got out that you turned down an interview for no good reason. Yep." Well, she seemed to be in a good mood, so . . . "Although if you went public with Pleiades-" "NO!" Everyone turned to regard Mars. "We've been through this before. No panic." "As I recall, it wasn't my people who opposed publicity at all. Our departmental forecasts said that it would calm people down quite a bit, rather than the current absence of information, Sailor Mars." America was not one of the raven-haired Senshi's greatest fans, and it showed. "In fact, I do believe it was our dear deputy commander-in-chief who pushed for it to be hushed up!" "We know all this, America," said Luna, trying to placate the two. "Now, if you could please get on with your agenda, we'll-" "Fine. You want me to get on with it? I'll get on with it." She turned to the Queen. "Serenity, I hereby recommend that we go public with all information we have about the reappearance of the Dark Kingdom, and also our loss of contact with both the colony worlds and Pleiades." Serenity looked over to Sailor Mars. 'Just like her,' thought America. Won't make the tough decisions, and shoves them to her flunkies. Then again, America was one of those flunkies herself, but . . . . "Serenity, I must insist we not do that." "Why not?" pressed America. "We've got enough on our hands trying to defend against the Dark Kingdom without the doubly difficult task of covering it up!" "Well if you're going to-" "Hold it." It was said in a completely conversational tone, but the Queen's words quieted them down instantly. "Thank you." She rose, and walked over to the window, still in her dressing robe. She looked out at the expanse of Crystal Tokyo for a bit. "I do not need to tell you how hard I have worked for this city and its people. All of you were there when I did it." At her seat, America stifled the urge to tell Serenity that after all, she had only been born eighteen years ago, and hadn't been around for the founding, or much else integral to its history. "I have poured my heart and soul into this city, and I do not think you can imagine how I felt to see it attacked. Twice. "The second time was the worst, you know. Knowing that it was the senshi that I myself hand-picked turning against the Crystal Millennium . . . I wished to die that day. "That was twenty years ago. After it was all over, I swore to myself that my city would never again face such peril. *Never*. And I do not make oaths lightly. "America, in your opinion, will letting out word of recent events cause a direct threat to Crystal Tokyo?" Sailor America gulped. When she asked for opinions, it meant that what you were about to say would be a lot more important than you thought. "No." "And you, Sailor Mars?" "Wh-" "I asked Mars, Sailor Jupiter. Sailor Mars, your answer?" "No, not directly, but-" "Very well. Sailor America, I will be giving a speech to the nation in three hours. I would like that speech ready in two hours. I will be laying out everything that has happened since we lost the first colony. Do I make myself clear?" Two hours? "Crystal clear, Serenity. With your leave." And with a bow, she beat a hasty retreat. After that, Jupiter was the first to speak. "Serenity, you can't mean this!" "I can, and do." She returned to her seat and pushed her spoon around in the bowl of cereal. Scooping up a spoonful, she inspected the mush of marshmallows and grain puffs. "Why do Lucky Charms always get mushy?" she asked her husband. Endymion sighed to himself. After making tough decisions, his wife always seemed to go off on insane tangents, probably to keep herself from thinking about the consequences of her actions. The best thing to do in these situations was to humor her; it was a small price to pay for being married to the most powerful and most wonderful person on Earth. "I don't know. Perhaps we can figure it out together, hm?" "Definitely. Luna, Artemis, Jupiter, Mars, please leave the room. And send in a microscope." *** In her office, Sailor America was hard at work. She was now on her twelfth attempt, and she certainly hoped that it would do the trick. One last revision, and . . . there! "The world's finest paper airplane," she whispered to herself, turning the folded piece of paper over and over in her hands. "Perfect." She brushed some brown hair from in front of her eyes, wound up, and made a perfect throw to the open doorway. It was unclear how far it would have gone, though, since her secretary stuck her head in the door at that precise moment. "Sailor America, I have the-OW!" "Oh, Sayuri, I'm so sorry!" She leapt from behind her desk to check if Sayuri was all right. "I didn't know you were going to do something like that-" "Obviously." "-but you really should learn to knock." "I'm sorry, Sailor America." She produced a white envelope. "This just came in from headquarters, priority 7(j)." "Damn. I hate signing for all these 7(j)'s!" They were usually classified military documents, so that America would know which press rumors were just rumors, and which ones were true information that had to be vigorously denied or admitted, as conditions warranted. 7(j)'s were *never* allowed to be transmitted via computer more than once, which was why it wasn't in her email inbox. She signed the necessary form and handed it to Sayuri, who discreetly left the room. America opened the envelope and took out the two pages of typewritten text. After reading it the fourth time, she called for Sayuri. "Tell Queenie that she'll have her speech before she knows it." *** Serenity squinted before the cameras. She wasn't accustomed to set speeches, and certainly not in front of her audience: the world. When the request from the Crystal Tokyo PR office came for all of Earth's media channels to carry Serenity's speech, everyone decided to bite. Such a request had never been made, and the waiting list for press corps to get into Japan was legendary. Now, Serenity stood before twelve thousand journalists from all over Earth, Mars, Venus, the scattered colonies and research stations beyond the asteroid belt, and a dozen colonies in other star systems. So many had come that the presentation had been moved from the main press conference room in the Crystal Palace to the Royal Concert Hall, where the Philharmonic usually played. The acoustics were perfect, despite the hall's size; it had been custom designed by Sailors Uranus and Neptune, who had gotten tired of the acoustics at the old hall, and so one at the far side of the room could hear Serenity's voice without reverberations or echoes. Quite an accomplishment. America's press release said only that an announcement would be made that would have "a profound affect on every man, woman, and child on Earth." She had rapidly come to regret that announcement when it was pointed out to her by several thousand people that the word she wanted was 'effect,' and not 'affect.' She thought it was a bit far to go for a grammar flame, but in any case . . . she stepped up to the podium. "Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please." At Sailor America's voice, the buzz of conversation died down. "I have a couple of ground rules. First, there will be no questions until the end of Serenity's announcement. Anyone who doesn't comply with that rule gets the gate, okay? "Second, the question and answer period is ninety minutes exactly. I've got a stopwatch, people, so don't try me. "Third, NO FLASHES! I don't know why some of you still insist on them, but turn them off, or I'll have to get American on you, okay? "Good. Now, ladies and gentlemen, Her Majesty Neo-Queen Serenity!" There was polite applause, and then Serenity began. *** At the Sakachi home, Jen's parents watched intently as Serenity spoke. *** "People of Crystal Tokyo, citizens of Japan, members of the human race: "My most helpful Secretary of Public Relations received a letter yesterday. At her urging, I have decided to read it to you in its entirety. Please be patient. "'My dearest Eileen: "'How are you? I hope you are well, and I apologize for the few communications I've sent you. Bit of trouble with our communications systems, you see. "'Anyway, we're in a real pickle out here. Remember history class at the School, when we learned about the Beryl campaigns in 1000 and 1995? Anyway, from what we've figured she had a daughter, and that daughter is the one behind all this. She was the one who took out all those colonies, and she wants a piece of Serenity. "'You remember that one time we were talking about how all of CT's enemies are named after crystals? Well, they're still at it. This ruler calls herself Selenite, and she's already done a number on us. "'She's more or less bragged that she scoured some of our colonies. In our first meeting, our long range communications systems were smashed, and Princess Usagi was nearly killed . . . we still don't know how she survived. We've managed to make it only by the barest of margins. "'Sometimes I think that there's no more reason to fight. Eileen, I have looked into the face of death so many times. I've seen an entire world laid waste, and then had to destroy its ruins to save myself. I've seen a young woman in the prime of life cut down, and now living on a thin line and I don't know if Hanasu will make it. Dr. Sampson is doing all she can, but I really don't.'" Slowly and unobtrusively, Sailor America sidled out of the room. It was quite easy; everyone was hanging on Serenity's words. "'But I will fight regardless. Why? Because we're Earth's only hope. You see, this entire adventure has shown to me Selenite's main weakness . . . perhaps the only one we can exploit. She continues to pursue us, even as she should be continuing her reign of terror against Serenity's colonies. Selenite is woefully single-minded, and that is the one chink in her armor we have. If we on Pleiades can keep her occupied and mad enough to focus on us, then all the more time will be given to Earth to prepare. "'You're in PR, Eileen. You know just how woefully unprepared we are against an invasion. Personally, I think that Serenity will be forced, much like during the Black Moon, to draw all her forces around Earth, and concede the rest of the colonies and the Solar System. And this time, I don't think that the senshi from the past will be able to help us. "'It's not totally hopeless, you know. We've learned many things about planetary defense, from both the Black Moon and the Sailor Wars. But I don't think it will be enough. My forecast . . . my forecast is that nothing short of the full use of the ginzuishou will stop Selenite. Kami help us all if it comes to that. "'But we tried. That's the important thing. That's why we carry on against insurmountable odds. I've said it a billion times, Eileen, and I'll say it again. I love you, truly I do. And if it means dying just to give you another year, or month, or hour of life, I'd do it in a heartbeat. *That's* why I'm out here. For love. "'Well, I got a bit mushy there, but I don't care. Just as long as I had another chance to tell you how I feel, okay? I don't know if I'll ever have another letter to send, or another dispatch, but . . . tell Serenity to forget about us. We'll take care of Selenite. Serenity can take care of Earth. "'With warmest regards, and my undying love, Jennifer Sakachi. "'PS Thought I forgot, didn't you? Happy Birthday!' A pause. "You have heard what Sailor Orion has to say. With that in mind, I hereby place the Royal Star Navy on full alert. All leave is canceled. I also strongly urge all world leaders to make preparations for an alien invasion." She kept a straight face. "Now might be a good time to get all your disagreements worked out. "I know what you are going to ask. No, there will be no reinforcements sent to Pleiades's aid. Yes, I know exactly how defenseless they are. Yes, I know that my own daughter is there. But that letter was the last thing we received from the ship. I do not think that I can in good conscience refuse their last wish. They said for us to put Earth first. And so we shall. And we shall win, for ourselves, and the preservation of love such as that between Eileen-san and Jen-san, for love like that cannot be broken. "Any questions?" The room erupted with noise. *** Sailor America leapt out of the cab and threw some money at the driver. True, since the Kingdom was now officially at war, there was no need for a military woman like herself to actually pay for transportation, but she liked to be polite. And he'd gotten her there in record time. Racing up the steps to the porch of the little townhouse, she detransformed back into her normal clothes. Here she differed again from Jen; beneath her transformation she liked to go casual. Clad in jeans, a red sweater, and sneakers, she knocked on the Sakachi's door. "Who is it?" "Eileen!" 'Forgot, they don't have an SI answering the door,' she thought. The door opened, and Eileen found Jen's parents looking worried. "Uh, hi. Can I come in?" Her father practically fell over himself. "Of course, of course, have a seat, please." She came inside, and noticed that the vid was showing Serenity's conference. "Oh damn, she finished the speech too early. I told her to draw it out." She sat down. "So, how are you two?" "The letter." Jen's mother was to the point. "It's genuine?" "It's genuine. I don't think anyone else in this century uses a phrase like 'in a pickle.' "Did she mean everything she said?" Eileen just looked back. "Has Jen *ever* said anything she doesn't mean? Relax, I think she's fine." "Really?" "Oh yeah. A bit nervous, but anyone who isn't nervous out there needs to have their head examined. There's a couple things wrong, though. She didn't mention Princess Usagi except in passing. And there's something else there, something I can't quite pick out. But considering the circumstances, she's fine." Eileen looked at the vid, where Serenity was answering another question. "Shouldn't you be there?" asked Jen's mother. "Nah. Serenity can handle anything she likes, when she has to. She always could. When the chips are down, she comes through. My job is to just prod her along, and help her along, and I think I do a fine job at that." She made one of her trademark smiles, the smile that had her face on more t-shirts than Mercury and Venus combined, and that was a feat. "And . . . I just want you to know that you should be proud of Jen. I'd love to be there with her, and share whatever she's taking, but them's the breaks, hey? And she *will* come back, okay? No crying about your POW, MIA, or whatever abbreviation you want to come up with." "Yes," said Isao. "We know . . . but thank you." "Hey, anything I can do." She got up. "Now, I've really stayed too long; Sailor Mars will have my head for leaving the conference early. But I can handle her." She grimaced. "Luna's another story, though." At the door she gave her good-byes. "If you need anything, information or stuff, just give me a call, okay?" "Of course," said Isao. "Wait," said the mother, "how will you get back to the palace?" Eileen smiled, a slow, happy smile. "Air Senshi. The rooftops are my highway." And with a shout, transformation, and a prodigal leap, Sailor America was away, humming the theme to Easy Rider to herself.