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Episode #118:  At the Last Trumpet
Reel 1
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	Number One was in trouble.

	"Number One, I believe I foretold dire consequences if you failed. 
Am I correct?"

	He gulped; his throat was amazingly dry.  His wounds were
excruciating, but he dared not show weakness before Selenite.  He had barely
made it out of his personal flagship before Pleiades blew it to pieces, and
would much rather be laying on a cot somewhere.

	Rather than waiting to die.

	"You are correct as always, my Queen," he coughed.

	"And was I correct in placing my trust in you?"

	Loaded question: that was the only thing he could think.  No matter
what the answer, he would be royally screwed in more ways than one.  "My
Queen, I feel that I need more time to prove my worth.  Serious damage was
inflicted upon the ship, and-"

	"SILENCE!  Number One, you have totally failed me in every respect. 
I have no further use for you.  Number Two!"

	A slightly slimmer man stepped out from the shadows, carrying a
walking stick and walking with a definite swagger.  He bowed deeply to
Selenite.

	"Number Two, the man you see before you has humiliated himself, the
Dark Kingdom, and most importantly, *me*.  I see no further purpose in
keeping him in my service.  As my new commander, you may deal with him as
you see fit."

	"You wish is my command, my Queen," he said smoothly, letting his
grin show his dazzling teeth.  "You need not worry about this thing any
longer.  Consider him as good as dead."

	"Excellent."  She leaned forward.  "Now, after you have disposed of
this refuse, seek out and destroy this ship called Pleiades.  And as you
remove Number One, here, remember that you *will* succeed.  Fail, and your
fate will be the same as his."

	"I hear and obey, my Queen."

***

	It was yet another staff meeting, and Sailor Orion was hearing it
from her first officer yet again.

	"And therefore, I say we quit this whole charade.  We just take a
couple of them prisoner, and interrogate the hell out of them until they
tell us exactly where Selenite's hiding.  Then-"

	"Sailor Moon, do you then propose we 'interrogate the hell' out of
Selenite?  You may not have noticed, but our victories in this campaign have
been by the slimmest of margins!  When they come at us with an attitude
other than total annihilation, I'll be glad to bring them aboard.  Until
then, I have to continue our current plan."

	"And what would that be?" countered Sailor Moon.  "Wander around
space until we find Selenite's house?"

	"If needs be.  Actually, Commander Bennington thinks he's on the
verge of a breakthrough.  If it works, we'll be able to back-track the
trajectories of any Dark Kingdom ships.  He has virtually the entire
engineering department working on it . . . or didn't you read the report?"

	Moon smiled disarmingly.  "It had your name on it, so I figured it 
couldn't be of much importance to me."

	Sailor Moon had several ways of smiling.  One, the way she was using
now, was the 'kawaii little girl' approach, which gave the impression that
everything that was said was some kind of joke.  Orion had long suspected
her first officer of using that smile to hide her true opinions on topics of
discussion.  Now, for the first time, she intended to call her to task on
it.

	"Really, Sailor Moon.  Hmph.  Very well, as you don't seem to
think it of much importance, you can contemplate it in your quarters.  For
the next twenty-four hours."

	"WHAT?"

	"Captain, are you quite sure that-"

	"Discipline on a military ship must be maintained, Kim.  Sailor
Moon, you are hereby confined to quarters for the next twenty-four hours. 
Good-bye."

	Sailor Moon stood, then sat, then stood again, clenched fists
against the table.

	"*Now*, Sailor Moon, before I add insubordination to your tally. 
You've already got disrespect towards a superior officer."

	"Sir," tried Kim again before Moon could say something unwise, "I
agree that her comment was out of line-"

	"Hey!"

	"-but I don't think that . . . grounding . . . Sailor Moon like that
is going to solve anything."

	"Agreed," joined in Sammy.  She rather liked the pink-haired
commander, and didn't want to see this go on her official record.  "I mean,
it's not like we're even a military ship, and-"

	"-Sammy," said Orion tiredly, "if you haven't noticed the war we're
in, then I weep for you.  This ship became a military vessel the moment the
first shot was fired."

	"And that's all the more reason not to suspend her," cried Sammy,
grabbing the opportunity.  "If there's an emergency, we're going to need all
the hands we can get!"

	The captain conveniently side-stepped this bit of logic.  "People,
I've made my decision, and I don't really feel like arguing with you. 
Sailor Moon, get to your quarters before I escort you myself."

	"No."

	Orion stood, and entered a mildly offensive posture.  No-one knew
what would have happened next if the call from the bridge hadn't come down.

	"Enemy ship contact, say again enemy ship has been contacted. 
Captain to the bridge, please."

***

	Number Two was quite dissimilar from his predecessor.  Where Number
One was bulky almost to the point of obesity, Number Two was thinner,
leaner.  He had a walking stick, presumably for style, but actually because
of an injury sustained in his tumultuous youth.  Then again, life on Hell
had been very unforgiving to a kid like him.

	But all that was several hundred years in the past.  He and
Selenite's four assistants had spent centuries building up a fleet to
destroy the Earth, and now he commanded one of the fleet's finest.  He had
even named it in a prodigious leap of historical prowess; he loved the past,
especially English history before 1300.

	Thus, he sat on the bridge of Pridewen, waiting for the report to
come in.

	"Probe away, your Excellency."

	"Very good," he replied.  "Tell me once you have a pickup."

	His plan was rather simple.  A small probe would attach itself to
Pleiades's hull, and transmit the sounds inside.  How the people inside
reacted to Pridewen's shots had far more importance to him than how it
maneuvered in space.  He had studied recordings of Number One's attempts
against this 'Sailor Orion,' and was confident that he wouldn't make the
same mistakes that One had.  Even if, by some chance, he failed, he'd have
recordings from which to base future assaults.

	"We're getting audio now, your Excellency.  Alert sirens . . . they
know we're here."

	"Tell me when they're about to use their primary weapon."

	"Of course, your Excellency."

***

	"Okay, everyone but Sailor Moon, get to your stations."  The captain
punched a button on the desk.  "Bridge, sound general quarters.  I'll be up
there shortly."

	"Aye, sir."

	"Yes, sir."

	The bridge crew left the room as the GQ alarms went off.  Orion
walked to the door, then paused.

	"Sailor Moon, I don't have time for this.  But this *will* be
settled later.  For now, truce?"

	The pink-haired one's mouth was straight.  "For today, Sailor
Orion."

	"Good enough.  Let's go."

***

	"Situation?" snapped Orion as she came onto the bridge.

	"Single ship, sir.  Slightly different configuration from the last
one.  No response to communications."

	"As usual," Orion muttered.  "Fine, tell engineering to warm up the
Gertie."

***

	"Your Excellency!  We're reading power spikes in the aft and lower
parts of the ship!  We believe that they are readying their weapon!"

	Number Two laughed a terrible laugh.  "Wonderful.  Can you get a fix
on the spike?"

	"Yes, your Excellency.  We've already put a fix on it, and it's been
fed to tactical."

	"Capital!"  He laughed again, and leaned forward.  "Destroy it."

***

	"Engineering reports that the Gertie is ready, sir."

	"Thank you, Vanessa."  Sailor Orion straightened up in her chair and
flipped up the control cover.  "Let's toast this turkey!"

***

	At Number Two's command, an awesome barrage ranged out from
Pridewen.  Four missiles and three lasers fired.  None of the lasers
connected, and that was the plan.

	The true purpose of the lasers was to restrict Pleiades's movements. 
With beams of monochromatic x-rays bracketing the ship, she couldn't
maneuver to avoid the missiles.

	The missiles didn't have warheads.  They didn't need them.

***

	"Incoming!  Three . . . no, four missiles!"

	Orion thought quickly.  "Evasive maneuvers!"

	"No go, sir!"  The helmsman was frantic.  "Sensors show we're
surrounded by x-rays!"

	"Go through them."

	"Belay that!  Sailor Moon, I give the orders around here.  You want
to cook us all?  Helm, try to decelerate and-"

	"No time!"  Vanessa looked again at her panels, and decided to take
the initiative.  "Brace for im-"

	Obviously, she didn't get it out in time.

***

	On thinking it over afterwards, Sailor Orion decided the previous
hits on the ship were just primers.  This was the granddaddy of them all.

	The bridge rocked, and everything went dark.  For about three
seconds, that is.  After that, the computer panel in the aft portion of the
room started sparking, and the strobe-light effect lit things up rather
nicely.

	Orion struggled to her feet.  Alarms were going off all over the
place. She looked about and realized that she had been thrown clear across
the compartment.  She was also bleeding from a gash in her forehead, but
that didn't seem as important.  Almost as an afterthought, she spat out a
tooth that had been jarred loose.

	She assessed the situation quickly.  She could probably get to the
situation panel more quickly than Vanessa could, since her talker was
somewhere in the shadows.  Then again, there was the electrical fire to
worry about.

	"Fire on the bridge!"  That managed to get another couple people up
and operating, as they raced to the fire extinguishers.  Orion decided that
things were desperate.

	"Antares, I need some help here.  Antares?"

	"Sir," said Vanessa, who had managed to get back to her post, "We've
lost the dedicated lines to the core.  Currently on emergency systems. 
Communications out, weapons out, no response from engineering."

	"Damn.  Helm, try full ahead!"

***

	Full ahead wouldn't work, mainly because of what was going on in the
engine rooms.

	"Eric!  LeVar!  Get to C-level and check the #5 conduit!  Move!"
Bennington continued to shout orders.  The ship's internal communications
had failed, and the headsets they all wore had been rendered useless.  They
were reduced to shouting out commands and hoping that they had been heard.

	The two scampered up the ladder, braving clouds of smoke and the
occasional fire.  Bennington watched them climb for a moment, then turned
his attention to other matters, as the place was total chaos.

	"You there!  Watch where you're aiming that hose!"  He ran over to
the young female ensign and gave her a crash course in fire-fighting.  He
had almost finished demonstrating to her precisely how to get the stream at
the base of the fire when the ship rocked again.

***

	Back on the bridge of Pleiades, Sailor Orion was flat-out panicking. 
Her ship was being pummeled, she couldn't fight back, and most ominously,
she wasn't getting any damage reports at all.

	"Vanessa, it would be quite nice to know precisely what's going on
here!"

	It took awhile for the reply to come, during which time the ship
rocked a couple more times.

	"Sir, we still don't have internal communications.  I'm relying on
the voice-activated phones, and-"

	"Yeah, well I figured it was something like that.  No Gertie, eh?"
She turned to Sailor Moon, who was tending to some of the injured.  "Moon,
would you like to do something about this?"

	"Do you think the ginzuishou works on technology?"

	"No, but I was hoping you could maybe shoot back at that ship out
there!"

	"Well, it wouldn't be my first-"

	"Good girl.  Try to buy us some time, okay?"  Orion hurried over to
speak to Engineering directly over the phone.  Sailor Moon ran a gloved hand
through her pink hair and thought for a moment.

	She had the power of the ginzuishou; it resided in a locket on her
chest.  It was a matter of some controversy as to exactly how she'd gotten
it, since it was identical to the one her mother had.  As far as Sailor
Orion was concerned, she had other things to worry about than where her XO's
rock came from.  So Sailor Moon tapped into the crystal's power slightly to
get an idea of where their attackers were.  Now came the real test.

	In a flagrant violation of the First Law of Thermodynamics, Sailor
Moon pulled an immense quantity of energy from nowhere at all, concentrated
it into a beam, and shot it from a random point in space to the ship.

***

	On Pridewen, Number Two couldn't believe his eyes.  A beam of
pink-white light had materialized from a point slightly in front of their
crippled prey, and had stuck his ship.  His vessel reeled, sending him on
uncontrolled cartwheels all over his bridge.

	"Retreat!" he shouted.  He had no time for this.  The ship wheeled
away, using its FTL drive to get clear of Sailor Moon's attack.

	Explaining this one to Selenite would not be pleasant.

***

	"Eric!  Come down from there, boy, I need you down here!"

	"Aye, sir!"  Cautiously, Eric made his way down the ladder, leaving
LeVar to tend to matters in another tight part of the ship.

	Twenty minutes ago, word had come from the bridge that the battle
against the Dark Kingdom had ended.  This meant nothing to those involved in
damage control, though.  The engineering compartment was still a mess, and
they were still scrambling to repair it.

	As soon as Lunestes got down from the ladder, Bennington clapped him
on the shoulder and explained what needed to be done.  Nodding, the younger
man raced off to the Fold generators, which had been dealt a potentially
crippling blow.  Eric's job was to make sure the 'crippling' part didn't
carry through.

	Bennington wheeled, prepared to take on his next task.

	"Commander!  I need some help here!"

	"Bouyer!  You layabout, what the hell are you doing up there?  Don't
you know how this boat works?"

	Never should have taken on that rookie, he thought to himself,
climbing the ladder.  Bloody hold-my-hand rookies, didn't know a thing about
battle situations, even after constant drills.  He got to the top of the
ladder and crawled inside, preparing a tongue lashing for his pupil.

	Ten seconds later, a gout of flame washed out from the very same
passage.

***

	Orion was in shock.  She stood on the smoky main deck of
engineering, breathing through a portable filter that fit over her nose and
mouth.  It also made it hard to keep from crying.

	"There was nothing you could do for them?"

	"No, sir."  Sampson was grim; She'd been in the medical profession
for a decade, but she could never get used to the pain of losing a patient
regardless of whether or not she could have done anything.  "They were as
good as dead when my people got to them.  They're lucky they didn't survive,
in a way."

	In front of them, nurses zipped up the two body bags.  They would be
taken to the infirmary to be held until memorial services.  Then, the
bodies of Ensign LeVar D Bouyer and Lieutenant Commander Gustav M Bennington
would be shot into space, and finally return to the cosmos that spawned
them.

	Around them, crew members tried to keep busy, still working on
repairs.  It had been three hours, and the hectic pace had slowed down. 
Orion regretted it; while frantically busy, they wouldn't have had time to
mull over the deaths of their comrades.  Now, they only had little things to
do.

	Orion turned to her new chief engineer, Eric Lunestes.  "Mr.
Lunestes, you are now given the field promotion of Lieutenant Commander.  I
wish it were under happier circumstances, but the engineering department of
Pleiades is yours."

	"Yes, sir."  Eric bit back tears.  He and Bennington had been close,
closer than usual on such a tight-knit ship.

	"You'll handle it, Eric.  I know you will."  'Do I?  Kami-sama, he's
in his twenties.  All of us are.  I'm nearly nineteen, for God's sake! 
We've never had to face death like this, and I don't know if we can handle
it.  I don't know if *I* can handle it.'

	Forcing a face free of tears, she continued.  "Eric, keep your
people busy.  The more they're working, the less they'll think about what's
happened."

	"Of course, sir."

	"And . . . and keep an eye on them.  If any begin to look like
they're having problems coping, notify Dr. Sampson."

	"Yes, sir."

	"Good.  Carry on."

***

	On the bridge, all was quiet.  It had been a day since the attacks,
and the funeral would be in a couple hours.

	Sailor Orion was in her cabin preparing her eulogy, which left
Sailor Moon in charge of the bridge.  There wasn't much to be in charge of;
it had been decided to perform a Fold and try to get the Dark Kingdom off
their backs.  Astrogation was still working on the intricate details of
plotting a course between two uncharted stars, so they simply sat and waited
in the middle of nowhere.

	With nothing to do, all were left with their own thoughts.  Sailor
Moon was worried about this.  They needed something to do, but there was
nothing to be done.  She looked about her.  The normally cheerful and happy
threesome was far too solemn.  Vanessa punched at her console listlessly,
and Kim just stared blankly into hers.  Sammy was hunched over hers,
occasionally letting out an audible sob.

	And these are the strong ones, Sailor Moon thought.  It was worse all over 
the ship.  Crew accidents were up 40%, and almost every one had reported to the 
infirmary for counseling.  Sampson was swamped, and had pressed Antares into 
service, putting his extensive library of psychological knowledge to work.  Even 
worse, the infirmary had had to deal with five attempted suicides.  All had been 
unsuccessful, and the would-be suicides were in confinement.

	We can't go on like this, thought Sailor Moon.  She slipped on a
headset.  "Antares, do you have any ideas on how to cheer this motley crew
up?"

	The reply was a bit slow in coming.  "No, Sailor Moon.  The best
that I can come up is to give them and yourself some time.  Hopefully you'll
be able to get on with it."

	"Myself?"

	"Yes, Sailor Moon.  You're mourning too, even if you try to hide it. 
And the fact that you're trying to hide it is worrying everyone else even
more."

	"Don't worry about me, Antares.  Just tell me how Orion's doing."

	Antares approximated a sigh.  "She's taking it rather hard. 
Bennington was a good friend of hers, and of her father's, too.  She's
crying, and she doesn't mind admitting it.  And personally, I think she'll
be a bit unpredictable for a couple weeks.  But she can handle it.  I
wouldn't want anyone else in charge of pulling this ship back together."

	"Can't stop gushing about her, can you?"

	"She's not perfect," admitted the computer.  "She's made quite a few
mistakes.  But she can pull this crew out of its funk, and right now that's
what counts."

	"And me?"

	"Wait and see."

***

	The main shuttle bay was the only place big enough to house the
entire crew.  Therefore, it was natural that the funeral be held there.  All
of them were assembled, with the senior staff on a small platform, and the
two closed caskets before it.  Open casket was out of the question; the
burns were too severe.

	"We are gathered here to pay our last respects to Lieutenant
Commander Gustav Bennington and Ensign LeVar Bouyer.  These two brave men
served Pleiades well, and died so that we may live."

	Sailor Orion gulped.  She hated funerals.  She'd managed to weasel
out of her grandfather's a few years ago, and she had seriously considered
letting Sailor Moon take charge of it.  But it was her duty, especially
since, in an indirect way, she had been responsible for their deaths.

	"I know that the next few days and weeks will be difficult for all
of us." She swallowed again and ran her tongue over the gap in her teeth. 
The tooth that had been knocked loose during the attack hadn't been
recovered, and Orion had refused a replacement.  She'd smile a tooth short
for a long time, mainly to remind her of her failure.

	"But I believe that we can all take these events in stride.  Let
their deaths not be in vain, but for a better purpose."

	'Does she realize how fake she sounds?' asked Sailor Moon of herself,
sitting in a row with the other senior officers behind the captain. 
'Trotting out tired old cliches like that . . . come on, give the crew some
credit!'  But outwardly she remained stoic, only occasionally fingering the
black armband that she wore on her right arm.  The entire crew had them, and
would wear them for a week in remembrance.

	Sailor Orion continued.  "For a better purpose, I don't mean so that
we can go home and drink a toast to them.  I mean for us to insure that
there *is* a home to return to.  And a home for them to return to, someday."

	She wiped her eyes and gestured to an officer standing next to the
closed caskets.  She nodded and the pallbearers, all but two female,
were carrying the black coffins to the airlock to the left of the platform. 
It was originally designed for delivery of objects too big for the corridor,
but not really requiring the main doors to be opened.  They placed the
caskets inside, then retreated as the doors closed and cycled to the
airtight state.

	Orion gulped again and went through the ritual of how they had the
sure and certain hope that one day the vacuum would yield up its dead. 
"'Behold, I tell you a mystery: we shall not sleep, but we shall be changed;
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye: at the last trumpet.  For the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible.'" It was
one of Orion's favorite verses from the Bible, despite the fact that there
were only eight Christians onboard, and she wasn't one of them.  Bennington
was, and it fit somehow.  And Shintoism certainly had nothing against
saying Bible verses at a funeral.

	With a final gesture, the captain signaled for the switch to be
pulled.  As Antares played a recording of Amazing Grace, since no-one on
boardcould play the bagpipes, the airlock's doors blew wide open, sucking
the coffins out into space.  There they would drift until the Crunch or the
Heat Death.  Sailor Orion watched this for a moment, then turned to the
assembly.

	"Dismissed."