============================================= Episode #124: All Quiet on the Western Front Reel 1 ============================================= There are many things to be said for experience. For example, take warfare. It's a fairly bloody procedure, involving lots of death and destruction. It's very tiring, to say the least. Those seasoned in the art of war often learn ways to deal with this. They will sleep whenever the opportunity presents itself, whether it be for a couple hours or a couple minutes. It's important to stockpile it against the time when you'll need it. Sailor Orion wasn't sleeping, even though she had the chance. The shuttle that had gone out to reconnoiter Selenite's position wasn't due back for several hours. She couldn't sleep, though. She was too worried about what was about to happen. She rolled over in bed for the nth time, and picked up a handlink, seeing that it was already on and displaying page 435 of a book on nineteenth century naval warfare. 'Why is it there?' she asked herself. The answer was slow in coming, but it came to her. Before the Battle of Trafalgar, Admiral Nelson had toured his ships, making sure everything was in readiness before facing his opponent. His appearance had been a rallying point for his men; they performed valiantly and saved the day. It wasn't so good for Nelson, though. He died during the battle. Then again, thought Orion, consoling herself, she didn't have an entire fleet to worry about. She just had to defeat a nearly invincible armada. She was reminded of another fleet, the English fleet, in its defense of the English Channel against the vastly superior Spanish Armada. There, the underdogs had prevailed, and the proud Spaniards were chased north, fleeing around Scotland to come back south on the west side of the British Isles. Two British victories. Which one would she emulate? Or would she have a victory at all? *** At about 3:00 hours ship time, Virgil entered the shuttle bay completely intact and unharmed. Power had been restored hours ago, and her occupants were quite warm, in contrast to their earlier condition. They were a little frightened as well, but that was to be expected. Sailor Orion greeted the shuttle's crew at the hatch. "Have fun?" she asked her first officer as she stepped out. "I've had better times," Sailor Moon said carefully. "Listen, we've got some pretty interesting information here, and-" "Good, we'll talk about it later. In the meantime," said Orion, who was already escorting Sailor Moon to the door leading from the shuttle bay to the corridor, "you've got a brother and a niece who've been worried sick about you." "Really, captain, you should know better than to mix family and business." "Well, you've got a lot more experience with this sort of thing than I do." "True," admitted Sailor Moon. *** "So," said Sailor Orion some time later, "what have we got?" "Okay," said Sailor Moon, standing in front of a screen in the conference room which displayed a grayish-blue planet. "This is what Selenite calls home. She named it Hell. Roughly 1.15 times the size of Earth, comparable atmosphere except for a slightly higher sulfur content. It smells down there, but we could survive for a month or so with no overt ill effects. "We determined that the center of the energy emissions was about here," she said, gesturing at a slightly white patch of land, next to a broad blue expanse that had to be a sea. Further study had shown that it held no life. "So, you can guess that Selenite's headquarters is there as well." "Of course," muttered Sammy. "Unfortunately, there was some pretty heavy cloud cover there when we passed it. Our best pictures of D-point," and here the screen blinked over to show close-ups of the headquarters, now given the rather inauspicious name used a thousand years and uncounted light years away, "indicate that there's a heavy ring of anti-air defenses surrounding D-point. We suspect, though, that actual ground defenses are rather light." Now there's some cheery news, thought Orion wryly. Any ground attack will be chewed up before it reaches the surface, but once you get there, things will be okay. "That's about all we know about the planet, other than that it seems to be rather sparsely inhabited. We think most of the population is within the fleet." Sailor Moon's expression turned grim. "The fleet is the hard part. Over eight thousand ships, many bristling with weapons, all arranged to surround the planet. There's no safe angle to attack from, and they can react to a pinpoint assault in a matter of minutes. "That's about all." She sat. "Right," said Orion, standing to regard what was now her battle staff: Eric, Sammy, Kim, Vanessa, Sailor Moon, and Chibi-Jen, who she included mainly because she seemed to have no reluctance to reveal knowledge of the future. "You've got the facts. Now do we have a plan?" *** Three hours of heated debate later, they indeed had a plan. Orion decided to outline their results. "Okay, now as Vanessa-san said, we'll come around from the other side of the star. The stellar interference should keep them from detecting us for a pretty long time, enough to give us a fairly good jump on them when they do spot us." The heads arrayed around the table nodded. She walked to the screen and displayed a schematic of the fleet. "Now, once they detect us, I'll generate an Orion Nebula around us." "And try not to collapse it, captain?" Orion let out an unguarded chuckle. "Just for you, Sammy, I won't. Anyway, the main function of the nebula will be to further mask our approach, and add to the confusion." "If that's possible," said Kim. "We don't really know if their sensors can get through the cloud." "They couldn't figure out that we were a shuttle and not an asteroid, Kim," replied Sailor Moon. "I wouldn't overestimate them." "I wouldn't underestimate them either," said Orion mildly. "When we come in with both barrels blazing, they're going to be putting us under a lot more scrutiny than a little rock. "Anyway, we come at them from the cloud. At this point," and here she gestured to the screen, where a track of their projected path was overlaid on top of the diagram, "Eric will come into play. "We've finally figured out his forte. Apparently, he can generate a shield. It's nominally for self-defense purposes; he could maintain it around himself indefinitely. Given his father's tendency to protect, I suppose it makes more than a little sense." "So," said Vanessa, who hadn't heard this before, "when Number Two made his last attack against us . . . ?" "That was Eric's shield, being augmented by Chibi-Jen in some way we still don't know about. We don't have any magic experts outside Sailor Moon, and she knows as much about it as we do." The screen changed to a close up of Pleiades. "We estimate that with Chibi-Jen's . . . well, for lack of a better term, her gestalt abilities . . . Eric can keep us relatively unharmed for three hours." "That's all?" asked Sammy, surprised. "Space battles tend not to last long," said Sailor Moon, "and outnumbered as we are, it'll be over quickly." "Right," agreed Sailor Orion. "Most battles of the Second Sailor War lasted for less than half an hour. So, with Eric-san hopefully shielding us, Sailor Moon and I will be free to use our respective weapons. "By this point, we're entering the fleet, and our cloud cover is dissolving. We're going to rely on a combination of rapid-fire Nebulas and whatever miracle Moon can dig up with the ginzuishou." Eric spoke for the first time. "How long was that again?" "Well, we figured your best time would be three hours. You probably won't have to hold out much longer, though." Orion took off her glasses and inspected them carefully. "Of course, once we get on the planet, it may be another thing. I don't think I can conscionably take Chibi-Jen down there with me-" "Whoa, wait a minute captain!" shouted Moon. "We didn't discuss anything about you going on the surface!" "Well, it seemed better than your plan," said Orion defensively. "I'm the captain, after all-" "Exactly," said Moon strongly. "That's why you need to stay on the ship." Orion was forced to say something that came very hard to her. She'd tried for quite awhile to ignore the fact that her first officer was next in line to the throne of Crystal Tokyo, but now she simply had to play her last card. "But you're the princess. You shouldn't have to endanger yourself like that." Sailor Moon sighed, then waved a warning finger at her captain. "You know better than that. I gave up the princess bit when I came on board." "With a few exceptions," noted Antares. "True," said Moon sheepishly. "With a few exceptions. "But anyway, you've got to stay on the ship." "What? Well, Sailor Moon, I'd say that just because I'm the captain is no reason to stay on the ship." "But . . . Selenite's *mine*. You don't actually think you can knock her out long enough for stage two to work, do you? You're a rookie; you've only been a senshi for a year. Granted, it's been a hell of a year, but it's a year nonetheless. You can't take her on and expect to survive. "I can, though. Face it, Sailor Orion, it's my destiny." "No." The strength in Orion's voice was surprising. "I won't have you go down there and get yourself killed in the name of destiny or some other crap like that." "Come now," said Moon, trying to be convincing, "there's no way out of it. Us Serenitys have been defeating the Dark Kingdom for thousands of years, you know. Besides, I'm our best hope for an early resolution. If I do my part perfectly, we won't even need stage two." "I think we will," said Orion slowly. She looked to Chibi-Jen for support, but her eyes were as stone. She wasn't getting any foreknowledge this time, not for this. "I don't think we can truly consider our objective complete until Hell is completely annihilated." There was silence for a moment. "Well," said Sailor Moon, "if you want it that way. But you'll still need me down there." Orion managed a smile. "I get the idea I can't stop you, but I'll try one more time anyway." "Sorry, but I can't do it, sir." She was genuinely sorry. But this was a job best left for born senshi, regardless of the qualifications of Orion. Besides, she really didn't think that Orion could handle evil face to face. She'd been fairly isolated, with only one instance of close-quarters combat on Katsuragi II. She'd never had to look the Wiseman in the face, had never fallen from a skyscraper only to be saved at seemingly the last possible moment, simply didn't have the experience that Sailor Moon had. She simply wasn't ready for something like this. Of course, she herself wasn't too sure about her abilities to cope. "Right," said Orion after a moment, "so that brings us to phase two. We swoop down close enough to the planet for the shuttle to get out and attempt to land." "Which promptly causes whatever ground troops they've got to crawl all over it," added Vanessa. "So that no-one's watching when the strike team parachutes out and heads for D-point," finished Sammy. "The damnedest plan I ever heard of," said Eric, shaking his head, "but somehow or another it seems right." "Yes," said Orion. "The simulations show that it gives us the best chance of neutralizing Selenite long enough for the third part to kick in. I've talked to Chibi-Jen at length about this, and we're fairly certain that she can teleport you all out. She insists it's been done before, so escape won't be a problem for you." She took a deep breath. This was the hard part. They had learned several lessons from Katsuragi II, the most important perhaps that when Sailor Orion used her attack, it carried on without regard for gravity. It had worked just as efficiently on the surface as it did in a vacuum, and the mess they'd left on the planet was proof of that. Since then, almost as an idle morbid hobby, she had been working on the calculations for just how much energy it would take for her attack to destroy a planet. She hadn't employed Antares' assistance; she hadn't wanted him to know about it. Thus it had gone slowly. On top of that, she'd never been very good at mathematics, and so a good amount of guesswork had been involved. The final result, though, was what she presented to the bridge crew. "I've estimated that I can destroy the planet once and for all. But I'm going to need some help." "Precisely how much again?" asked Sailor Moon. "All of you. All the . . . well, I hesitate to say it, but all the royalty. Chibi-Jen, Eric-san, and you, Sailor Moon. From what little I remember about magic theory back at the school, you three are the only ones who can supply the magical energy necessary." "But isn't that what the Gertie is for?" asked Eric, who wasn't too keen on the idea of his being used as a magical battery. "I included the Gertie in my calculations," said Orion. "It won't be nearly enough to help us, though, and the ship will need the extra power for our getaway." "Ah," sighed Vanessa, "the getaway." She slumped over with her head on her arms. "That's my favorite part." "Oh," said Sammy playfully, trying to cheer up her friend, "that's just because you've got to plot the course." "Yes . . . ," said Kim. "Yes, the getaway," continued Orion. "When the planet goes up, it'll be impressive." "Impressive is one way of putting it," said Moon wryly. "Spectacular is another." "Yes," said Orion with a smile, "well, it should be easily visible on Earth in a few thousand years. Anyway, when it goes we're not going to want to be within a few light-years of it. So," she said, turning to the Trio, "your job will be to Fold us the hell out of there the moment the planet starts to go." "But not too early," added Moon, "or we'll be gone before we can set it off." "But," said Vanessa, whose job it would be to orchestrate the Fold, "can't we just blow the planet without taking care of Selenite?" "No," said Moon, "we don't know her capabilities. For all we know, she may have some way to counteract the Nebula. Or an escape route. If she does, then we've lost our trump card." "I don't know," said Sampson, speaking for the first time, "I'm no tactical genius, but I'd say that this plan has far too many things that can go wrong. Seems awfully shaky to me." "Yes," admitted Orion, "it's very questionable, and to tell the truth it is shoddy. If we had more time, or better personnel, we'd be better off. But none of us here are military experts, you know. This is the best we can do. "And I'm fairly confident it will work. After all, if it doesn't, then Chibi-Jen wouldn't be here, would she?" She pointed to Chibi-Jen, a gesture whose effect was somewhat dulled by the fact that the girl in question wasn't there. "Where is she?" squeaked Orion in a tone somewhere between a roar and a scream of terror. "She was right here a moment ago!" She began looking about frantically. "It's okay, captain," said Kim. "She stepped out awhile ago. Said something about using the little girls' room." "Ah." She attempted to regain her composure. "Well, any questions?" *** Meditation had never been something that came easily to Sailor Orion. Her family had never been very religious, and her training in Shinto and Buddhism was sketchy at best. Her visits to the local Shinto shrine were few and far between, and she didn't even know the names of the priests close to them. Therefore, as the artificial night closed in on H.M.S. Pleiades, she didn't meditate, but rather read a book. It was titled "Victory: At What Cost?" It was written by a fairly prestigious, yet unorthodox, historian, and concerned the Second Sailor Wars, and specifically its conclusion. She had a lot to think bout. Tomorrow would undoubtedly be the most pressure-filled day of her life. She knew full well that the future of humanity was riding upon their deeds. Victory was unlikely at best, she knew. The point all along, from the moment Pleiades was built, was to slow down Selenite's fleet and buy the Earth some time. If they happened to significantly lessen the Dark Kingdom's numbers, so much the better. But they were mainly a suicide squad. And yet Serenity put her only daughter aboard. Terrible things had been said by some historians, but she remained convinced that the Queen would never sacrifice her daughter for anything. Serenity would sooner die herself. The evidence bore that out: there was the example of Serenity's own mother, who died to defeat Beryl on the moon thousands of years ago, and to give her daughter a better life on Earth. There was Serenity herself, who had jumped off that building so long ago in the vain hopes of saving her daughter. It was rather clear that Serenity wouldn't put Princess Usagi in such danger unless she was absolutely certain that she would be all right. Hence, they would prevail. She didn't care to ponder the alternative. "Captain?" came the call from outside her cabin door. "May I come in?" "Certainly," said Orion. The door swung open, and Dr. Sampson came in. "Oh, hello, Doctor. What can I do for you?" "Well," said Sampson, taking a seat, "you can start by telling we what you're thinking about." "Right now?" At Sampson's nod, she continued. "Right now, I'm thinking about war and history. Rather apt, wouldn't you say?" "I would," said the black woman. "Tell me, you're the historian. What will the books say about us when this is all said and done?" "You'd do better to ask Chibi-Jen about that," Orion replied, giving a nervous laugh. She still wasn't totally used to having a daughter, and she suspected that she never would. "She seems to be the authority on the future around here." "Yes," admitted Sampson, "there is that. But there's also your opinion. Why are you doing this?" "Pardon?" "Why are you doing this?" repeated Sampson. "There's got to be a reason why you're taking us in. You've had every opportunity to chicken out, and we're still here, with just a few hours until the show starts. No," she said quickly, in response to the protesting look on Orion's face, "don't tell me why. Tell yourself." She rose. "Just a bit of professional advice, okay? Good night." Sampson left, and Orion told herself. *** Eric wasn't worried about the battle. He had other things to do, like make sure the power systems could keep up with the prodigious demand they would be taking tomorrow. So he worked. *** Chibi-Jen slept. Even girls from the distant future need their rest. *** Sailor Moon went to Orion's cabin some time around 22:00. "Good luck," said Moon. "Don't give up," said Orion. *** In an apartment that was part of the Crystal Palace, on the western rim of the Pacific Ocean, on the planet earth, a nineteen year old brunette looked up at the stars, watched, and waited.