==================================================== Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Orion A fairly original fanfic by LeVar Bouyer Episode #304: Let Us Beat our Plowshares into Swords ==================================================== Crystal Tokyo 28 February 3035 Sailor Cassiopeia paced back and forth in front of the double doors that led to the royal family's quarters. It was morning, time for the daily briefing, and today she had quite a bit of important news to relay to Her Majesty. "You know," said Sailor Altol, "you really should try to lighten up." Altol was one of the two senshi standing guard duty. She was terribly bored by the job, though; she was a veteran of the Second Sailor Wars and was a bit frisky for some real action. Even a job like Cassiopeia's, hanging around with Serenity, that would be an improvement over simply standing in front of a door all day. "Lighten up?" asked Cassiopeia, brushing a stray lock of hair from her eyes. "Yeah, calm down a little, maybe lay off the coffee? You've been going to these things for a month now and you're *still* a bundle of nerves." Altol giggled like an eighteen-year-old. Then again, she looked and sounded like an eighteen-year-old if you ignored her eyes. Look in her eyes, and one saw thirty-three years of hard-won experience. "At least stop pacing. You're making *me* nervous!" "Sorry," mumbled Cassiopeia. She wandered over to a nearby couch and absently played with the pleats on the light blue skirt of her sailor fuku. Altol was right, she shouldn't be this nervous, so why- She heard a chirping sound. Frowning, she reached into nowhere and pulled out her communicator. "Yes?" "Cassiopeia?" came the slightly tinny voice from the small device, which looked sort of like a wristwatch. "It's Sailor America." "Sailor America? Aren't you . . . " *** "On the moon, yes." Sailor America leaned back in her chair, down on the floor of RSN Headquarters. Once again she was bored out of her skull while her lover went to meeting after meeting after meeting, and the brunette had nothing better to do than ring up old acquaintances, and maybe pick up a bit of news on the side. "So, any news you want to tell me about Serenity's return?" There was the sound of a sigh on the line. "No, she's still terribly tightlipped about it. I don't even know if she's told the planet senshi why!" Sailor America hummed and strummed her fingers on the console before her. "Think there's a chance she just decided to come back on a whim?" "No way," retorted Sailor Cassiopeia quickly. "You can see it in her eyes. She's got a hell of a poker face, you know, but every once in awhile I can see through it. She's afraid of something, and it isn't monsters under the bed. "Today I think she's going to tell us, though. I can't see her keeping it to herself much longer; Mars is already champing at the bit in meetings, and-" "Calm down. Mars is *always* feisty at meetings, it's her job. Now lemme know how things turn out afterwards, okay?" "But-" "Good. Bye bye!" She terminated the connection and closed her eyes. She didn't know how much more of being out of the loop she could take. "Cassiopeia's a good kid," she whispered to herself. "She can handle things." Sighing, she lifted an elbow and put it on the console. "WAAAH!" She jumped back as an assortment of angry looking lights and noises were produced from the computer. "What did I do?" A tech rushed over and began setting things aright. "Probably hit the wrong button, sir. You should probably be a bit more careful in the future, sir." "Right," said America. "You made these things rather unstable, you know." "The systems work perfectly well if you know how to use them," the technician replied in as cold a tone as she dared use in front of a senshi, and then crouched down to attend to matters beneath the computer. Sailor America winced and decided that it was probably best to find someplace else to mope around. *** "Fat lot of good that does me," said Cassiopeia moodily. The doors swung open and Luna trotted out. "You can come in now," said the black cat conversationally. Lately she had been rather lax on protocol, probably because of Diana's return. The cat had been on the moon for the last few years, for reasons known only to Luna and Artemis. Diana had returned a month ago, however, and had been about to go and rejoin Small Lady when Serenity so unexpectedly returned. "Okay," said Sailor Cassiopeia. She straightened her hair and stood, trying to appear self-confident. Down the hallway she went, the path slightly familiar after two months. Past the kitchen, dining room, and Small Lady's bedroom. 'I'm never going to get used to this,' she thought to herself. The Princess slept in that room! Next in line to the throne, and she slept in that room! Here Sailor Cassiopeia was, about to meet Neo-Queen Serenity in Her Majesty's own study, such as it was. Quite a bit of progress for a girl who just a decade ago had been a toddler playing on the beaches of Kyushu. Past a bathroom, and then a white door. She knocked. "Come in!" "Pardon the intrusion," she said ritually, bowing. "Good morning, Sailor Cassiopeia," said Serenity, dressed in a long- sleeved pink blouse and white slacks. She sat in an nondescript armchair that was upholstered in a cotton-like fabric. On the couch next to the bookcase were Sailors Jupiter and Mercury, and Sailor Saturn stood against the window. Serenity's study was perhaps Sailor Cassiopeia's favorite room in the Palace; the walls were covered with bookcases, the seats were the best she'd ever sat in, and Serenity truly seemed relaxed there. "Please sit down," said the Queen, gesturing to the empty seat. "We should begin about now, I think." Sailor Cassiopeia sat, and a screen slid down from the ceiling in such a position that they could all see it. "We aren't going to war, are we?" she asked. The silence that answered that question frightened her terribly. The screen lit up with the faces of those planet senshi not in the room, with the exception of Sailor Pluto, who had disappeared to places unknown. Even Small Lady was in her senshi form. Sailor Cassiopeia pulled out a handlink and found that she was in Yokohama, reason unspecified. "Very well," said Serenity, "now that we are all here, I can tell you. Something is going to happen. I do not know what it is, but I do know that it will be a catastrophe for the Kingdom." "How do you know this?" asked the image of Sailor Mars. "A premonition." Sailor Mars arched an eyebrow. "You weren't precog the last time I checked, Serenity." The Queen's eyes flashed in the slightest hint of anger. "Let me explain, please. I was on the moon. It was not during the Silver Millennium, I could tell that. It was not the present day, either, with the bases and excavations. It was just . . . different. There was no atmosphere, yet the Palace was standing, and I had the impression of a multitude of people inside and below. "I turned to look at the Earth. I remember . . . it was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen, all blue and white and green like a marble in the middle of the deepest black you could imagine. But . . . at the same time, I felt that something horrible had happened there, something terrible beyond imagining. "I looked back at the palace, and my mother was standing before me. Not Ikuko Tsukino. My *mother*. She said only 'Welcome home.'" Serenity took a deep breath. "And then I woke up, more terrified than I had ever been in my life. That is when I decided that I had to return home, immediately." The image of Sailor Neptune looked angry. "Why didn't you tell us this earlier? Mars or I could have-" "Could have done what?" interrupted Sailor Mars. The picture on the screen was resigned. "Acted as seers and interpreted her dream for her? You know as well as I do that that vision could mean any of a hundred possible things!" "Which would be all the more reason to tell us, so we'd have more time to sort them out!" "And how would you do this? Pick ideas out of a hat and see which one sounded nicest?" "You two want to calm down a bit?" interjected Sailor Venus. She and Uranus shared a panel of the screen; both were on the moon. "Right, we're not going to solve anything by arguing like this," said Sailor Mercury. Sailor Mars sighed. "I know. My apologies." "Sorry, Serenity," added Sailor Neptune. "But you still might have told us earlier." "I was hoping that maybe I could get a bit more about it by myself." She smiled wryly. "I suppose that did not work, did it?" "Not hardly," said Sailor Jupiter. She frowned. "No hints about what might have happened on Earth? None at all?" "No. I have told you everything that I know about this." "Hm." Sailor Jupiter rubbed her chin in thought. "In any case," said Serenity, "any suggestions?" "Mars and I can get to work trying to pin this down," said Sailor Neptune confidently. "You *do* still know how to do fire readings, Sailor Mars?" Sailor Mars smiled. "Depends. Is the Moon still in Earth orbit?" "Looks like it," said Sailor Venus. "Good, then I'll get right on it, and you'll use the Mirror?" "Yes," replied Sailor Neptune. "Good," said Sailor Jupiter. "If I may suggest it, I think Sailor Mercury should head a team and look around the excavation sites some more." "More?" asked Sailor Uranus. "We've been combing over the place for *decades* now!" "All the same," she replied, "things are different now. There might have been some changes. Anyway, I'll work on intelligence, see if the other confederations might be up to something. They haven't tried any funny business since South America; I'd say they're due. I may need the assistance of Sailor Saturn in that." Saturn nodded. "Your Majesty, as a precautionary measure I'd like to recall some senshi to Earth, just in case." "Of course. Thank you all for coming." "Um, Your Majesty, sirs?" Cassiopeia raised her hand. "Er . . . why was I called here?" "Really, I'd have thought that you knew that by now," said Sailor Jupiter. "You now know everything that we know. It's your job to make sure that the press doesn't get too close to the truth as of yet . . . and make sure they don't get too far, either. We can't afford a panic, understood?" Sailor Cassiopeia suddenly felt very young. "Yes." "Good. Let's get to work then." *** The leaders of the various confederations met again around a table identical to that in Calgary, which was identical to that in Cairo, which was identical to that in Kiev. The council members were always insistent on keeping their meeting places constant. During conferences, they were to eschew all thoughts of location or time, and only think of the here and now. Then again, there was no ignoring what was outside the room. Potsdam, the place where 1090 years ago the superpowers had carved up Germany amongst themselves. It was also the site of a slightly important battle during the Formation Wars, and a plaque sat in the center of the town to commemorate that. The council was just outside of town, in a hotel that had been commandeered by half a dozen security agencies. Absolute secrecy was the rule; nothing could be leaked under any circumstances. This was the main reason that the report Victor Mohammed al-Fayit had been reading was tossed not into a wastebasket, but directly into the hands of a waiting agent who took out a match and proceeded to burn it in the sight of the twelve. "Well Victor, what do you think?" asked David Ronowski. Fayit leaned back in his chair, a neutral expression on his face. "I'm rather surprised, actually. I hadn't thought the simulations could be so optimistic." "Don't forget that even the most optimistic estimates don't give much hope if we use them too rashly." As host, Mina Cabot sat at the head of the table. "Titan remains a last resort, ne . . . er . . . doesn't it?" "Yes," replied President Sean Prathachulthorn. He sniffled a bit: having been in the rain almost all the previous day, he had a bit of a cold. "Frankly I'd like to avoid using it altogether." "It is a rather neat idea, you have to admit," said Ronowski idly. This meeting was mainly to sort out a few details. The actual mechanics of the first part of the plan were already in place; they had simply to execute it. "Lay a bunch of nukes along the edge of the Pacific/Japan plate, set them off, cause an earthquake, and watch the fun." "Fun for you, perhaps," said Prathachulthorn darkly. "You don't have a million citizens to evacuate away from the resultant tsunami." "Bull. I've got the coast of an entire continent to deal with, and figuring out the plans for that were *not* easy." "'Reimbursement,' you say," replied Prathachulthorn, mocking the tone Ronowski had used so many times in the past weeks and months. "I'm sure we can pay for your expenses." Including the complete redesign of Vancouver into an unbreakable fortress? wondered Ronowski. His beloved capital city had been in a state of construction chaos for the past six years. It now seemed like something out of a science fiction movie, with glittering metal buildings that were supposed to be able to retract into the ground when attacked. He wasn't sure why the engineers had started referring to it as Vancouver-3, however. "That could turn out to be an expensive project. But we can cross that bridge when we come to it." "Yes. Either way, we've had no difficulty planting the charges. Crystal Tokyo has no navy to speak of." He smiled. "But we do. Evading their meager submarine fleet was hardly difficult, and I doubt they even knew we were there." "I hope so," said Liu quietly. "If they found them before things started to get going-" "-then we were simply running an exercise, we quietly remove the charges, and that's the end of it, with Serenity none the wiser," interjected Ronowski. "But it won't come to that. We won't detonate unless we're confident of success." "And our definition of success?" asked Fayit. "Just so we're all informed, you understand." "Intelligence indicates that Serenity would capitulate if we can hold on to either Hokkaido or Kyushu for more than two weeks," announced President Rostov. "She may be tough, but if we incur enough casualties and hold on to their land long enough, I think that she'll eventually decide it's not worth it. "In the end, between Heartbreaker and Henso, I believe we can win this decisively. She hasn't the strength in numbers that we have, and Heartbreaker will put us on a very even keel. Even without that, Titan will topple her, or at the least break Crystal Tokyo's back." "A very good assessment," replied Ronowski. "Ladies and gentlemen, according to the timetable, Project Henso will begin in twenty-four hours." He smiled a devious smile. "Let's begin." *** "WHAT?" The face on the screen looked terrified, but she stood her ground. "You are ordered to return to Earth as soon as possible and report to the RSN's Earth Headquarters." Sailor Orion sat upon the desk of her temporary office, finalizing details before Seiza came to the moon the next week. She had just finished a two-hour long marathon run-around session with the personnel office regarding a number of transfers and was in no mood to hear that it might have all been for naught. She hadn't realized how much paperwork and bureaucracy had been shielded from on her first trip out, but now she was receiving it in spades. Now yet another headache had come upon her. "Stay calm," she whispered to herself, "stay calm." Louder, she said, "Did they tell you anything about Seiza, more specifically what the hell I'm supposed to do about it? She's arriving next week, you know, and departing a bit after that, and it would be sort of nice to *be* here when it happens!" The communications tech shrank down into her seat a bit more. Receiving a tongue-lashing from a sailor senshi wasn't her idea of a good time. "I'm sorry, sir, but that's the order I've been told to relay to you." She swallowed. "Um . . . I'm to request acknowledgment as well, sir." "Acknowledgment? *Acknowledgment*?! By the kami, I'll give you acknowledgment all right!" She was about to say more when she heard the door slide open. Orion turned to see Sailor America standing just inside the door frame, leaning against it. The redhead closed her eyes and sighed. "Very well. Order acknowledged. Return to Earth immediately." The tech visibly relaxed. "Thank you, Sailor Orion. Out." The image disappeared. Orion hopped down from her desk and turned to face it. She picked up a handlink, pulling up the last accessed file. It was an article from a historical journal on reasons for the American Revolution, a topic all but abandoned since 1980. Recent finds had reopened the debate, however. She tossed it up and down a couple times, and then hurled it at a far corner with all her might. True to its construction, the handlink didn't shatter, but bounced around a couple times before slowly coming to rest in lunar gravity. Sailor America simply stood. Finally she said, "I take it you got the message too?" "The recall? Yes." "About a dozen other senshi are being recalled as well. They all looked about as happy about it as you did." America walked over and wrapped an arm around her lover. "You shouldn't take it too hard. If we're lucky we'll be back up here by next week." "I know, I know." She sighed and sat down on the desk, then lay down full on it, her legs dangling over one end, not noticing the handlinks on the desk that poked her in the back. America sat down in the seat and rested her head slightly upon Orion's stomach. "Wanna talk about it?" Sailor Orion sighed, making Sailor America's head bob up and down once. "It's just that . . . I don't know, all the stress lately with Seiza . . . maybe it's getting to me. There's just . . . I'd like very much to go to sleep, but I can't. I've got too much to do, I'm afraid. Now this, calling us back when there's so much else to be done, and-" "Shhhhh." America reached up and put a single gloved index finger on Orion's mouth in the universal gesture for quiet. "Take it easy. You're going to make yourself sick with all that stress, and a sick Jennifer is not a happy Jennifer, okay? Just stop trying to be so perfect! "And don't give me that stuff about how you don't try to be perfect," she added. "I've seen you in the afternoons in the gym, trying to work out and read journals at the same time. You set the highest damned standards for yourself, and then work yourself to the bone to meet them. That's a surefire recipe for a nervous breakdown, and I won't let you do that to yourself!" Sailor America's brown eyes were set now as she looked into Sailor Orion's blues, slightly masked by the reflections off her glasses. "I won't, okay? Even if I have to do your work for you, you're not going to go crazy on me, okay?" Sailor Orion looked back at America. Finally, she broke into a smile. "Fine, I'll take it easy." Sailor America smiled back. "Good." Orion sat up slowly, putting America's head in her lap. "Right after I file this report." "Jen!" "Kidding, kidding!" said Orion, planting a kiss on her lover's forehead. "But seriously, there are some things that absolutely have to be done before we leave." She looked up at the ceiling. "Ayanami, when will the next shuttle be departing for earth?" "The next shuttle is scheduled to leave at 21:00 Lunar Standard Time," replied the AI. "Would you like seats for the trip?" "Yes, please. Two." "Done." "Good." She looked down at the brunette. "Now are you going to get up, or do I have to move you?" "But it's so much nicer here," said Sailor America in a mock-hurt tone. "I'm sure it is. But you'll have to move, or else we'll both be in hot water." "Fine, fine," said Sailor America, reluctantly standing. Sailor Orion hopped down from the desk as well and began arranging the papers and handlinks into some semblance of order. "I'll go pack our stuff. Just don't work too hard, okay?" "I'll try," replied Sailor Orion, settling into her seat. "Oh, and Eileen?" Sailor America paused as she was about to go through the door. "Yeah?" she asked, turning around. "Thanks." She smiled. "No problem at all." *** Sailor Cassiopeia raced down the hallway and nearly ran into him. "Excuse me, I'm in a hurry," said Cassiopeia, ready to run off." "Wait!" Hideaki Aizawa, rookie reporter for one of Crystal Tokyo's more popular papers tried to get Cassiopeia's attention. Both were on the way to the briefing room of the Palace; Sailor Cassiopeia was simply in more of a hurry. "What's going on? It's one in the morning and you're calling a press conference, why?" He had checked the nets himself; nothing particularly noteworthy had happened in the last couple of days. "Urgent news," she replied, trying to get past him. "About what? For kami's sake, I've been through the news nets, and-" "It hasn't been on the nets yet, but we're doing this so that the public will be informed when it does." Sailor Cassiopeia sighed and bowed her head, then looked back up, her eyes blazing. "Fine, I'll tell you, but I'm not answering any more questions until the conference. To put it shortly, at five minutes after midnight our time, an American cutter was sunk by a Russian submarine in international waters. Russia isn't apologizing, and the AC isn't sounding very happy about things. That's all I have time for right now. Bye!" She finally maneuvered past him and ran for the briefing room. Hideaki stood for a moment, scratching his head. "This doesn't sound good." ===================== Begun: 17:29 10 April 1998 Finished: 14:17 13 May 1998 Final draft: 15:11 15 May 1998 Final edit: 16:23 20 February 2001