(Rating: G)

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Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Orion 
A more-or-less original fanfic by LeVar Bouyer 
Episode #401:  After Today, a Normal Senshi Again
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	"Correct.  Now, one of the major results of this was that the Allies
had to plan another way to dethrone Serenity, which led to the War of 3035."
The teacher nodded and continued walking across the front of the room.  "Now
who can tell me why an immediate attack was not possible?" She scanned the
four or five hands that were raised in response, then chose one.  "Aoi?"
 
	The prim and proper girl with short black hair smiled.  "Because
they needed time to prepare for such a prolonged military campaign, sensei,"
said Aoi.
 
	"Um, no.  If the Allies needed time they wouldn't have wasted time
they didn't have by retaking the Sinai in October 3034.  You're thinking too
militarily."
 
	"But you're-" 
 
	"Anyone else?" asked the teacher, turning away from Aoi and leaving
a chastened expression on the face of the would-be teacher's pet.  The other
hands went down; obviously they'd been thinking along the same lines as Aoi. 
She withheld a sigh and looked around, wondering why her lessons on 3035
always seemed to fall flat on their faces.  Heavens, it had only been six
years ago; it was more current events than history.  Perhaps another
surprise exam would be in order . . . but she had one more thing to try.
 
	"Joseph?" 
 
	"Uh . . . yes, ma'am?" 
 
	"Do you know why an immediate attack wasn't possible?" 
 
	"Um . . . because it would appear too suspicious for the Allies to
attack on the heels of the failed terrorist coup d'etat?"
 
	The teacher was silent for a moment.  "That was what I wanted, yes. 
Well done, Joseph!"
 
	"Th-thank you, Sakachi-sensei," replied Joseph, unaccustomed to 
actually being right. 
 
	"Okay, so now-" Dr. Jennifer Sakachi was cut off by the ringing of
the bell.  "-we're out of time.  See you guys tomorrow," she continued,
raising her voice over the noise of students passing in the hall outside and
the noise of students inside the classroom packing away their books. 
"Remember, chapter four is to be read and summarized for tomorrow, and there
is the possibility of a short-answer quiz on what we've covered today! 
Bye!" She imperceptibly slouched her shoulders and retreated to her desk. 
Technically her day at Ai Furikato Senior High School was over now, at
13:00, but her day at the University of Hinansho was just beginning.
 
	She began putting handlinks, papers, and assorted items into her
briefcase, mentally running through the list of things to do in the hour
before her 14:00 lecture of HIS 113, Early Crystal Millennium History
(1999-2197).  It was an introductory freshman course with twenty-three
students, and one of the two reasons she ever went to the University of
Hinansho.  She patted the now closed briefcase affectionately.  Jen had
graded the last batch of exams, and they were a marked improvement over the
last ones.
 
	With a last look around the now empty classroom, she nodded to
herself and briskly walked out of the school, which was in a city called
Nagano-2, which was on a planet called Hinansho, which was several hundred
light years from Earth.
 
*** [title sequence] *** 

(This is the first of two times I'll actually include the entire thing)

[Two silouettes outlined against a red moon.  They appear to be wearing
senshi uniforms, but aside from a slight wind that ruffles the skirts, the
figures are unmoving.  In the lower right corner, a yellow digital clock
counts down the minutes, seconds, and tenths of a second, starting from
1:20.0.  This clock stays in the same position for the entire opening.  Just
before the first drumbeat, the taller of the two leans over to kiss the
other.  Right after the first one, the screen goes to black, with the kanji
and kana for 'Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Orion' in yellow lettering.  Then, as
the song segues into the vocals, the screen is divided into two halves,
reminiscent of the Sailor Stars opening.]

[For the next four lines, images of Jennifer Sakachi dominate.  There are
four paired shots, each lasting only as long as the line does.]

[Jen on the left standing at attention, dressed in the black regulation RSN
uniform, as if for an ID photo.  She is smiling slightly.  On the right is a
sort of control room half filled with computers and people.  Jen is
overlooking the scene.]

[1:05]	There comes a time

[Jen in a schoolteacher's uniform on the left, and explaining something at a
chalkboard to the right.]

[1:02]	When you face the toughest of fights

[Sailor Orion, striking a dramatic pose on the left, and Sailor Orion in the
middle of a battle on the right.]

[0:58]	Searching for a sign

[Jen in an offwhite sweater and jeans, smiling broadly with her hands in her
pockets, outlined against a starry night.  On the right, three quick images:
Jen on her knees in a flower bed working with a trowel, Jen playing the
saxophone and looking embarassed, and Jen in a tennis outfit, smashing a
forehand.]

[0:55]	Lost in the darkest of nights

[The next three lines are similar to the previous ones, except that Eileen
takes the spotlight.]

[Eileen in her RSN uniform, smiling uncomfortably and fingering the collar
as if she's too hot (which in fact she is), on the left.  On the right,
Eileen in a picture with three as-yet-unnamed female officers, all in
uniform, all grinning.]

[0:51]	The wind blows so cold

[Eileen in nice business attire, sitting behind a desk and looking fidgety.
On the right is Eileen standing next to a window in a busy office, leaning
against it and looking down at the street below.]

[0:50]	Standing alone

[Sailor America, striking a pose of her own, while on the right is America
in action.]

[0:57]	Before the battle's begun

[Dual shot of Orion and America in a split-screen; the scenery shows them in
two different locations in a nighttime city, but they're both looking right
at each other.]

[0:44]	But deep in your soul
[0:42]	The future unfolds

[They both look up as day breaks and the sun turns the sky from black to
purple to pink to yellow to blue in an instant.]

[0:41]	As bright as the rays of the sun

[during the very quick instrumental bridge going trom :41 to :38, quick
images flash by: the two senshi in various stages of battle, various
pictures of a headquarter complex, a mountain range, a city on a bay, two
moons in a sky, a classroom, and a final close-up of the right half of
Orion's face and the left half of America's.]

[As the clock continues to count down, more pictures of Orion and America
fighting various enemies in both day and night are seen.]

[0:38]	You've got to believe in the power of love
[0:31]	You've got to believe in the power of love

[America, looking exausted, looks up and smiles as Orion rushes in from
offscreen and gives her a bear hug.]

[0:23]	It gives meaning to each moment

[Jump shot to another battle.  Orion is blasted aside by some beam weapon.
America rushes to her side.]

[0:20]	It's what our hearts are all made of (just look inside)

[Jump to a shot of Jen and Eileen looking over a city at nighttime, holding
each other closely.  The sky is full of stars, and a hint of dawn is in the
east.]

[0:16]	You've got to believe in the power of love
[0:09]	In the power of love
[0:06]	In the power of love

[Slow fade to black.]

	16:55.  Jen sagged at her desk, exhausted.  The lecture had gone
rather well, all things considered.  It was the questions afterwards that
had dogged her.  A full half of the class had come to her office with exams
in hand, demanding to know why their grades weren't higher.  Admittedly she
was glad to see their enthusiasm, but quite frankly she hadn't been in the
mood to bicker over one or two percentage points.  Wearily she picked up her
glasses from where she had set them a minute earlier and replaced them on
her face.
 
	"Come on," she said quietly, "just five minutes longer."  The
redhead looked up at the clock on the wall of the tiny office which was all
the history department was willing to give her.  Five minutes, and she could
leave without having to deal with her erstwhile graduate student--the
student she spent a good part of each day wishing she didn't have.
 
	"Quite a far cry from the sailor senshi days," she mused to herself. 
"No more drills, no more fighting, no more worrying whether or not I'll live
to see tomorrow, no more therapy, no more endless months and years in
space." She undid the top button of her uniform blouse--at Furikato High,
even the teachers wore uniforms--and listlessly pushed a pen back and forth
on her desk, eyeing the two exams she had grudgingly agreed to regrade. 
"Just the civilian life."
 
*** 
 
	In the vast inky blackness of space, far far from Earth, something
moved.  Civilian life would shortly become more complicated.
 
*** 
 
	Jen Sakachi walked along the sidewalk, feeling for all the world
like a schoolgirl carrying home a bad report.  Her appearance reinforced
that; the thirty-year-old woman looked nineteen at most.  Idly she let her
heels kick the briefcase she held behind her, mentally planning out the
evening.  A slight fall breeze rustled her skirt and set it to flapping
against her calves.  'Going to be cold soon,' she thought, 'need to find the
longer skirts.'
 
	"Hey Sakachi, need a lift?" 
 
	Jen turned around at the light, yet familiar voice.  A red sports
car had stopped on the road beside her, its driver hidden in glare of the
afternoon sun against the window.  "No thanks, it's just two kilometers to
my house," she called to the driver.
 
	"I could make it worth your while," added the driver.  Then the door
opened and the driver popped out, dressed in a conservative business suit.
 
	Jen recognized her immediately, and a sly smile came to her lips. 
"Oh, I dunno," she replied.  "Perhaps I could use the exercise, especially
considering what a certain somebody has been saying about my weight."
 
	"JEN!" protested Eileen, her cool completely gone.  Jennifer smiled
a bit more broadly and then stepped off the curb to get in the car.
 
	"Just joking, Eileen."  The brunette got in the car as well, and Jen
gave her a kiss on the cheek.  "What's up?" Eileen usually didn't pick Jen
up from school.
 
	"Just got off from work a bit early.  Satellite interference was
making contact with Earth almost impossible." She sighed, cursing the sun. 
"Anyway, how was your day?"
 
	"Not too bad," conceded Jen.  "First period was rather hellish,
though."
 
	"Figures." It wouldn't be Jen's first horror story about her first
period class.

	They made the turn into the driveway of their home, a modest two
story affair with an apple tree in the front yard.  A few leaves lay on the
ground as the red car came to a stop, and the two made their way inside as a
slight breeze picked up, rustling them away.
 
*** 
 
	In space, the something became somethings.  They slowly fanned out,
hidden from most detectors, biding their time.
 
*** 
 
	Jen lay in bed, Eileen snuggled next to her beneath the ample
covers.  Another full day.  "Eileen?" 
 
	"Hm?" murmured the brunette, already half asleep. 
 
	"Do you like your job?" 
 
	"Do I like being a anchorwoman?  It beats a real job, I guess." 
 
	"Do you miss being a senshi?"

	Eileen stiffened slightly, barely enough for the redhead to notice.
"Why?"

	Jen stared up at the darkened ceiling.  "Is this right?"

	"Is what right?"  Eileen rolled over to face her lover.  "It's too
late at night for existentialism."

	"This.  Here we are, leading perfectly ordinary lives, when we've
spent years training to be extraordinary.  That doesn't seem the slightest
bit odd to you?"

	Eileen hmmed to herself a moment, then gave Jen a quick kiss on the
lips.  "It seems to me that the universe owes us for six years of pain and
suffering, and has decided to make it up to us by giving us a leisurely
retirement here on Hinansho." She rolled back over.  "And if this is how the
universe plans to repay us, I have no problem with it.  We're due. 
G'night."

	Jen's eyes narrowed in the darkness.  "Thanks a lot."

	"I'm here for you!" replied Eileen brightly from beneath the covers.

	Jen sighed, pulled the covers closer to herself, and went to sleep.
While she loved to think about things like destiny, she had to agree with
Eileen.  Bedtime wasn't the time for such thoughts.
 
*** 
 
	The next morning's first period was a survey course of European
history.  Jen wrote some notes on the board.  "So, these are the basic
tenets of Protestantism as seen during the Counter-reformation.  First,
that-" She heard a high-pitched beeping and nearly froze.  With great
willpower, she forced her hand to finish the sentence she was writing.
 
	"Excuse me, class."  Jen briskly walked out into the hallway,
reached into nowhere, and pulled out the communicator that she hadn't used
in six years.  "Sakachi here."
 
	"This is headquarters.  We're going to level two alert.  Be
prepared."
 
	There was a click as the connection closed, and an icy ball formed
in her stomach.  It was the first level two alert since she arrived
on-planet; the first time Sailor Orion's services had been needed since the
war.  "Understood," she said to the empty hallway.  

	Jen brushed her hair back a bit, took a moment to stop herself from
shaking, adjusted her glasses, and went back to the class.  "Now, where were
we?" she asked brightly, turning back to the chalkboard and writing more
notes.  She ignored the looks of suspicion and fear on the faces of her
students.  They knew just who she was and what she had done, even if they
didn't let it show.  She'd found they were willing to treat her as Dr.
Sakachi the teacher, not Sailor Orion the heroine.  In the past it had
worked well for both sides.
 
	They had heard the beep too, and unfortunately for her, this
intrusion of senshi affairs into the class had not gone unnoticed.  She had
to wonder what they were thinking, whether they were as afraid as she was. 
If they weren't, they soon had reason to be.
 
*** 
 
	"Sir, stellar interference is reaching a new maximum.  We're losing
ninety-two percent of the signal."
 
	"Hmmm."  Nagano-2 was the capital of Hinansho, and was home to the
main communications nexus among other things.  In the main control room of
the planet's complex communications network, which was coincidentally a few
floors above planetary defense headquarters, the two sole occupants peered
at the displays.  "Have you tried using the new FW-310 signal boosters?" 
 
	"Twice, and still no go."  The young man ran a hand through his
hair.  "I don't know what to make of this . . . maybe it's just an unusually
heavy period of stellar interference."
 
	"That's possible," conceded his superior, who had a doctorate in
astrophysics.  Nozomi, the star Hinansho revolved around, had a history of
erratic radiation spikes.  These spikes often interfered with the delicate
system of psi-satellites that linked Hinansho with the Sol System and the
Moon, where Queen Serenity II was still making preparations for her subjects
to build a new capital.  The radiation was generally in the low-band radio
ranges, which meant that it took a lot to cause any biological damage.  At
the same time it was in the perfect range to interfere with the new
psi-satellites which were still in an experimental stage of development. 
Now it seemed possible that they could completely lose their link with the
Moon, and that would leave them completely alone on the hinterlands of the
Moon Kingdom.  Hence, the level two alert earlier.
 
	"Hmm," the superior repeated.  "Boot up the HA-210 system.  If we 
can't get any more signal, we'll have to do our best with what we have.  
The decryption routines should be able to extrapolate the rest of the 
data...and if not, we'll have to wait for more data."
 
	"Yes sir, will . . . will . . . ." 
 
	"Hm?" 
 
	"I think you should look at this." 
 
	He bent down to look at the radar screen.  A number of fuzzy blobs
were arcing across the generally fuzzy background left by the radio
interference . . . arcing very fast.  He didn't hesitate and immediately
turned and lifted a black phone.  "Yes, shipyards?  You weren't expecting
anyone any time soon?  Yes, I understand.  Several, but . . . no, you can't
allow anyone to know.  As a purely precautionary, yes.  Okay, bye now, and
good luck."
 
	He turned to his subordinate.  "They're expecting no-one.  Call 
down to Valhalla and report 'em as hostile, be ready to give whatever data 
you can."  The superior, a lieutenant in the War of 3035, turned away to 
wipe a tear.  "It's 3035 all over again." 
 
*** 
 
	Three hundred meters below the surface, fifty meters below
communications ops, was the Planetary Defense System Coordination Center,
abbreviated PDSCC, and for an obscure reason nicknamed Valhalla. It served
the same function Royal Star Navy Headquarters did on the Moon, and the old
Earth Headquarters in Crystal Tokyo, except on a much smaller scale. 
Normally the days passed slowly at Hinansho's brightly-lit nerve center,
occasionally interrupted by a passing cruiser.  Now, things were slightly
more busy, and almost everyone wished the three usual commanders were
there.
 
	Lieutenant Hayato Kwakami was listening to the latest report. 
He was watch officer and therefore senior official that morning, in the
absence of any higher-ranking officers.

	"Sir, we've lost contact with three more geosynchronous satellites,"
said the talker.  "That makes eight sats we've lost, total."
 
	Hayato frowned.  "Landline backups?" 
 
	"We've already switched over." 
 
	"Any more news on the UFOs?" 
 
	"None, but the radar blurs are moving closer.  Estimated points of
impact: Miyagi and Akita provinces in the Northern Hemisphere, Shizouka in
the south.  No word on prefectures either, there's just not enough radar
data."
 
	"Then get the data, dammit!" shouted Hayato, throwing the entire
stack of reports to the ground.  His voice reverberated in the rather cozy
confines of Valhalla, bringing the entire place to a standstill.  "Get the
data before things get any worse."
 
	"Ye . . . yes, sir.  Initiating emergency search radar." 
 
	"And put Nagano-2 under full alert." 
 
*** 
 
	Eileen Pearcy, along with most of the broadcast team for the
Nagano-2 Nightly News, watched a large video screen.  A cameraman was on the
roof of the twenty-story tower shooting the scene from outside, where
military trucks were racing all over the city.  No official alert
announcement had been made yet, but the inhabitants of the Second Nagano
City knew something was wrong.  "Any word from Valhalla?" she asked,
wondering if she should pull rank and get some answers.
 
	"Just an advisory not to spread rumors," replied her producer.
 
	"Dammit," she muttered under her breath.  She knew the Hinansho
Defense Force's PR director, she'd even taught him most of what he knew in
the past year or so.  So why was he being such a bonehead?  "That's it, I'm
giving Goro a call.  Be right back, guys." She trotted down to her office,
high heels clicking on the floor.  Once there, she quickly dialed the number
and got the operator.  "What the hell's going on?" asked Eileen angrily. 
 
	"I'm sorry ma'am, Valhalla is at a high level alert and is not 
accepting nonpriority calls." 
 
	"This *is* a priority call." 
 
	"What is the nature of the priority?" asked the operator, almost
bored.
 
	"AND WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO ASK?!?  This is Captain Eileen 
Pearcy, a.k.a. Sailor America, so get me Lieutenant Goro Egami and GET 
HIM NOW!" 
 
	Another lesson in relations: shouting works wonders.  She was 
connected with Goro within seconds.  "Pearcy-san?" 
 
	"In the flesh," replied Eileen, leaning against her desk.  "What's
up?"
 
*** 
 
	In Valhalla, things were rapidly descending into panic.  "Oh,
nothing much," remarked Goro, watching Hayato nearly take a young tech's
head off for not being able to pinpoint the location of the invaders. 
"Latest news is that we have a UFO ready to skim the atmosphere, and the
path'll bring it directly overhead.  I figure we'll alert the city very
soon."
 
	"And we haven't been told?!?" 
 
	"I'm waiting for the-" 
 
	"EGAMI!"  Goro snapped around to regard his superior, rapidly
straightening into attention.
 
	"Y-yes?" 
 
	"Notify the broadcast companies, tell them the situation.  We're
going to need the entire population below-ground just in case, and for God's
sake, DON'T CAUSE A PANIC!"
 
	"Yes sir, you can count on me."  Hayato stomped off, and Goro leaned
back into the phone again.  "It's official now.  Nagano-2 is now under a
state of emergency.  You're to get the word out immediately.  Keep things
calm, okay?"
 
	"And me?" 
 
	"What?" 
 
	On the other end, Eileen nearly pouted.  "I'm a senshi, you know. 
I'm not going on active duty?"
 
	Goro looked over at the retreating Hayato.  "I think you'll have to
use your own judgment there.  If I ask, he's likely to rip my head off." He
didn't bother mentioning this was a bad trait in a commander.
 
	"Great," muttered Eileen.  "Jen?" 

	"She'll probably be called in within the next couple minutes." 
 
	"I see.  Thanks, and good luck." 
 
	"You too, sir.  Bye." 
 
*** 
 
	The beeping from nowhere came again, more insistently than the last
time.  Jen reached into nowhere and pulled out the communicator, this time
not caring about doing so in front of the class.
 
	"Sakachi here." 
 
	"Activation code is 635G," came the cool crisp voice.  "Please 
acknowledge." 
 
	While her emotions fell into a tumult of terror, her training took
over.  "I acknowledge that I am now reinstated into active duty as captain
in the Royal Star Navy," she replied in an equally cool tone.
 
	"Very well.  Report to Valhalla immediately.  That is all." 
 
	She pushed the button on the communicator to end the transmission
and looked up at her class.  Half of them were confused, the other half
looked to be scared stiff.  She sympathized with the latter half, especially
once the emergency sirens began to wail.  "Okay, down to the shelter.  I've
got some business to attend to."
 
*** 
 
	"To repeat, a state of emergency has been declared for the Minsaka
and Hizen districts until 23:59.  All civilians and nonessential personnel
are requested to stay indoors on a low floor or basement.  All military and
emergency personnel are ordered to report to their posts immediately."
 
	"Clear!"  The tech thumbed off the microphone into which Eileen had
been speaking.  Immediately the message began to loop, being broadcast on
all radio and television stations, as well as most public announce systems. 
At the same time, the few remaining sound techs began to head for the
basement themselves.
 
	"Ma'am?" asked the lone remaining intern in the studio.  Eileen
leaned against a shelf stacked with tapes.  "Aren't you going to the
shelter?"
 
	Eileen pulled out a photograph.  From the intern's angle, she
couldn't tell who it was of, but the edges of the photo were frayed, as if
from long use.  The brunette closed her eyes and bowed her head.  When she
came back up, her brown eyes were open and blazing with determination.  "You
go ahead, I have some work to do." She reached into nowhere and pulled out a
slim stick with a few ornamentations attached.  Once more into the breech. 
"America Star Power, Make-Up!" The familiar sensations of the transformation
enveloped her, and when it was complete, Sailor America stood where Eileen
Pearcy once was.
 
	She started towards the stairs, then stopped, turned, and looked out
the window.  'Third floor,' she thought to herself, 'about ten meters.  I
can handle that.' She nodded, grabbed a swiveling chair from a desk, and
hurled it through the plate glass window, shattering it into a few thousand
pieces.
 
	"MA'AM!" 
 
	"Don't mind me," said Sailor America, "it was the quickest way out. 
They can deduct the damages from my senshi paycheck if they like," she
continued with a smile.
 
	"How much do they pay you?" asked the intern, momentarily awed. 
She'd known intellectually who she worked with, but this was the first time
she'd truly seen it.
 
	Sailor America paused with one foot up on the windowsill, her legs
nearly touching the leftover shards of glass.  Looking back over her
shoulder, she replied: "Whatever I want them to." Then, with a quick motion,
she leapt out the window and onto the street below.  She hit the ground
perfectly, then glanced to her left and right to see what was going on.
 
	It took her awhile to look up, but once she did, it was quite a
surprise.  An orange trail was streaking through the sky, and it was
beginning to look as if it would hit Nagano-2 dead center.  Fascinated, she
watched as it drew closer.  Yellow dots arced up from some point behind the
hills and mountains that surrounded the northern end of the city, but the
anti-air defenses had no effect.  Just as she was preparing to unleash her
attack on the invader, it began to pull up.  A small object appeared to drop
off from it, but the main streak was definitely pulling up and away.  Within
seconds, it had disappeared in the blue midday sky as soon as it had
appeared, falling behind the skyline to the east.  Sailor America could
heard emergency sirens racing to the scene; the defense forces were on their
way.  "Might as well join them," she murmured, and took off running.
 
*** 
 
	She regarded the slim stick with mixed emotions.  It had been six
years since she had used it in anger, six years she had spent healing her
physical and mental wounds, moving on, putting her life back together after
the hell of 3035.  She had earnestly hoped she would never have to use it in
wartime again.
 
	Jen still had no confirmation that her services would be 
necessary this time, but she undeniably had the suspicion, the hunch, 
the feeling that this was a turning point, that she was getting back 
in the saddle.  She didn't like it a bit. 
 
	She reached into nowhere and pulled out a small scrap of paper,
regarding it lovingly.  "Eileen," she whispered.  Then she looked up at the
window of the classroom and the scene before it.  The defense forces were
converging on a slightly smoking crater a kilometer or so away.  She looked
back down at the paper, folded it, and returned it to the nothingness it
came from. "I'll kiss you again, Eileen.  I swear it.  Orion Star Power,
Make-Up!"
 
====================

Ending theme: Suki to Itte

[Nothing fancy here; just Jen and Eileen sitting on a park bench on a sunny
day as a couple with a stroller, an old lady, a gaggle of kids, and finally
three female officers stroll by.  At the end, Jen leans over and gives
Eileen a kiss on the cheek which she holds until a fade to black.]


(Rating: PG-13) 
 
================================== 
Episode 402: America the Beautiful 
================================== 
 
*** [title sequence] *** 
 
	Sailor America dashed through the now-deserted streets of Nagano-2,
putting the years of work at the indoor track to good work.  She barely
broke a sweat as she made the turn down Fifth Street to Akagi Boulevard. 
Twelve blocks distant, almost as long a straight stretch of road as could be
had in Nagano-2, a pall of smoke hung over Kino Park.  She reached into
nowhere and pulled out her communicator.  "Valhalla, this is America. 
Status?"
 
	The response was slow in coming.  "Uncertain," came the slightly
tinny voice.  "We sent a team out there to attempt communications."
 
	"And?" 
 
	"And . . . one of them survived.  The rest were drowned." 
 
	Drowned?  The impact site was a good couple kilometers from Nagano
Bay.  "What were they doing at the bay?"
 
	Another pause.  "You mean . . . sir, you haven't been told?"  There
was the slightly sound of papers rustling.  Sailor America looked up and saw
that she was just three blocks away.  The communicator was silent as she
dropped into a walk, the streets empty.  Before, there had been the sound of
sirens and alarms, but now even that was gone, replaced by a slow, steady
rumbling that seemed to come from all directions at once.  She looked
around, searching for the source.  There was none to be found, though. 
Nothing but deserted sidewalks, traffic lights still cycling through the
familiar green-amber-red sequence, stores with their doors still wide open. 
There were plenty of cars, to be sure, but none of them were moving.
 
	Sailor America ignored most of these things.  The civilians were 
probably in the basements of the buildings around her -- briefly she
castigated herself for lacking the foresight to build a few shelters 
-- cowering and waiting for the end of this alarm that had interrupted an
otherwise perfectly normal day.  As she reached the final block, she found
some yellow "POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS" tape lying on the ground, knocked to
the ground by some impact or another.  Shrugging, she stepped over it
gingerly and continued on, almost to the lip of the crater that now loomed
before her.
 
	It was about ten meters in diameter, with a depth that couldn't be
determined easily due to the smoke that filled it.  If she had to guess
she'd put it at five or so meters.  The noise seemed to be slightly louder
here.  She looked back at the distance she'd come.  No-one to be seen; where
was the defense force?  She reached for her communicator once again. 
"Hello?"
 
	"Oh, we thought you'd gone off-air.  What is it?" 
 
	"Erm . . . where is everyone?" 
 
	"Our forces are almost exactly on the other side of the 
crater, if I'm reading your position right.  Sailor Orion is with them, by the 
way." 
 
	It was exactly what she wanted to hear.  "Okay, tell them I'm on
my-OOPF!" She fell to the ground hard, bouncing once on the scorched
pavement.  A spray of water splashed in her face, keeping her from slipping
into the embrace of unconsciousness.  That, and one other thing.
 
	"GRAB MY HAND!" screamed a female voice.  On instinct, Sailor
America reached out with her right hand, and nearly had it ripped out for
her trouble.  She flew a meter up in the air and then landed in the bed of a
pickup truck which peeled out away from the crater as fast as it could.
 
	Sailor America blinked, still in a slight shock, and looked up at who had 
grabbed her.  "Jen?" 
 
	"Hi there," said Sailor Orion, who sat against the cab of the truck
with a worried yet relieved expression on her face.  "Got here just in time,
it seems."
 
	"Where have you been?" asked Sailor America, brushing off her knees.
Apparently Valhalla had had its information wrong.
 
	"Hitched a ride with these GIs here," replied Sailor Orion, jerking a 
thumb at the cab.  In front, two men in uniform looked ahead warily.  
"Although after they saw what we're up against, they were a bit 
apprehensive . . . and I can understand why."  She gestured behind the truck.

	Sailor America pushed herself up to a sitting position and turned
around.  She promptly wished she hadn't; behind the truck and receding in
the distance was a monster.  There seemed no other way to describe it:
nearly four meters tall, almost eight hundred kilograms in weight, it was an
appalling sight.  

	Sailor Orion whipped out her communicator and began relaying a
description in a calm, disembodied voice, unwilling to accept the reality of
what was before her.  "Unknown is roughly humanoid, but with three eyes
instead of two . . . the third appears to be between and slightly above the
two other eyes.  Skin color is a dark blue, hands are, um, dripping . . .
can't tell with what from this distance.  Unknown is not moving, re . . .
wait, it's moving now, moving towards us . . . oh shit!  Be right back!" She
shoved the communicator into nothingness and banged on the window at the
back of the cab.  "Can't you get this thing to go faster?"
 
	"Yes sir, but she takes awhile to accelerate!" 
 
	Sailor Orion glanced back.  "That thing isn't taking any time at
all.  Move!"
 
	"Aye aye, sir!"  The electric motor whined louder. 
 
	The redheaded senshi took out her communicator again.  "Valhalla,
this is Orion, is the governor there?"
 
	"Yes sir, but he's occupied." 
 
	"Get him, tell him it's of the utmost importance." 
 
	"I'll try, but I can't promise anything."
 
	She Orion bit back a retort.  "Very well.  You've got thirty
seconds." She closed the link and turned to Sailor America.  "We're in
danger, and so is the city.  The Defense Forces are terribly unprepared, so
that leaves us.  Feel up to it?"
 
	It wasn't a question of choice, and Sailor America knew it.  The two
of them simply had to keep the whatever it was contained until the
xenobiology experts could figure out what to do with it.  The Defense Forces
hadn't even existed in a proper sense until the Exodus, and their most
powerful weapons couldn't possibly be used in Nagano-2 without leveling the
city.  For that matter, Sailor Orion was near-impotent as well.  That left
one alternative, and she swallowed hard.  "Today was going so nicely, too,"
she muttered.  "Just another typical day at work." Another kind of work
beckoned now, she knew.  "Sure," she said more loudly, "I'm game."
 
	Sailor Orion counted silently.  "Our friend couldn't get anyone on
the council.  Therefore," she continued, raising her voice and speaking into
the communicator for the record, "I am assuming command of the planet
defense forces as of now." She looked up again.  The beast, formerly a
comfortable two hundred meters away, was closing rapidly.
 
	"Driver!" shouted Sailor America.  "Make a left!"  The driver
understood immediately; if they kept in their present direction, they risked
leading the beast farther into Nagano-2, therefore increasing the potential
damage to the city.  The two senshi grabbed on to the sides of the truck as
they skidded across an intersection, just nicking a parked car.  A few
moments later came a second left, and then they were heading back for the
crater and Nagano Bay.  

	"America, are you ready?" shouted Orion, too busy to add some words
of comfort for her lover.
 
	"Yeah!" shouted back America, who hadn't fired a shot since the 
closing moments of the War of 3035. 
 
	"Go!" 
 
	Sailor America closed her eyes.  "American Blazing EAGLE!" 
 
	The familiar firebird swooped forth, arcing towards the galloping
beast who was now merely fifty meters away, and impacted in a flash of white
light and smoke.  The shockwave was slight, and only shook the truck a
little bit as they spun in a 540 degree turn and sped away.
 
	Sailor Orion was already on the communicator.  "Valhalla, Sailor
America has fired on the intruder, direct hit, say again direct hit.  Stand
by for damage estimates . . . ." Her jaw dropped open.  "Valhalla, no damage
to intruder, say again no damage to intruder." 'We're in trouble,' she
thought.
 
*** 
 
	"We're in trouble," said Hayato Kwakami.  Normally a mere watch
officer, he had commanded Valhalla since the crisis had begun.  The real
commander, Captain Yujiro Aida, had been vacationing in the mountains north
of the city.  A recall order had been sent, but it was anyone's guess as to
when he might arrive.  As for the trio who ranked immediately below him:
Lieutenant Commanders Kim Young, Vanessa Leeds, and Sammy Porter, they had
been conducting inspections in the south.  For the moment he was on his own. 
"Right, pull the defense forces back."
 
	"All of them?" asked a junior strategy rating who doubled as a
communications tech.  "Sir, that'll leave the entire city to . . . whatever
that is!"
 
	"Mr. Hattori, we're already strained to the limit!  I can't bloody
well throw away men and women I can't afford to lose, can I?"
 
	Hattori backed down.  "Of course, sir . . . of course.  I'll order
the withdrawal immediately."
 
	"Good.  Any luck raising the senshi?" 
 
	"They're still out of communications range somehow; we can't reach 
them." 
 
	Hayato growled.  "I don't need to tell you that those two senshi are
the best and only line of defense this city has, perhaps this entire planet. 
Find them and tell them to eliminate whatever that thing is . . . NOW!"
 
	"Very well, sir," said Hattori resignedly.  He already had a dozen
messages from the xenobiology department of the university urging every
effort to take the beast alive, but they seemed doomed to be ignored.  "All
units, this is Valhalla.  We're flying the coop.  Fall back and regroup
outside city limits, say again regroup outside city limits.  We're going to
let the senshi handle this.  Heaven help us if they can't."
 
*** 
 
	The truck continued to pull away as Sailor Orion tugged nervously at
her back bow.  The beast had withstood a direct hit by Sailor America, and
even now was accelerating.  "This isn't good.  Any ideas?"
 
	Sailor America gulped.  "Double team?" 
 
	Sailor Orion frowned and looked around.  "Too dangerous; we'd
probably take out half the city with us.  What we need is to get it to a
deserted area."
 
	"That'll take too long.  We need something better . . . Minobe
Park?"
 
	"Better than here!" replied Sailor Orion.  She leaned over to rap on
the back of the cab and give directions.
 
*** 
 
	Two minutes later, the truck was barreling into Minobe Park as fast
as it could.  Minobe was the largest park in Nagano-2 and covered three city
blocks, complete with two hills, a pond which was wonderful for ice skating
in winter, a playground, and plans for a picnic area.  To its south were the
fringes of the downtown area, to its north low sturdy houses.  The park was
empty now, however, save for the military truck as it tore up the grass
which had just been mowed a couple days earlier, swerving to avoid a tree.
 
	"I hope this works," shouted Sailor America over the whining of the
engine, whose motor was being overworked as it scampered over the ground. 
"We haven't tried this since . . . ."
 
	"Don't mention it," said Sailor Orion with a grimace.  Too many bad
memories there.  "Okay, here we go.  Stop the truck!" The vehicle's brakes
screeched as it skidded across a cricket pitch, finally crashing to a stop
and crushing the wickets.  The senshi leapt out, as did the driver and other
passenger, who immediately fled for the cover of some nearby trees.
 
	Sailors America and Orion stood side by side, staring down the beast
as it charged at them.  "Ready?"
 
	"Yep."  Deep breath.  "Orion Nebula . . . ." 
 
	The familiar cloud of hydrogen followed the beast as it came closer. 
Sailor America realized how little time they had; if she didn't act now,
they would be destroyed by the shock wave.  "American Blazing Eagle!" she
shouted quickly.  

	A rather smaller eagle of fire swooped down from nowhere and into
the cloud, detonating it in a flash of light and flame visible kilometers
away.  Sailors America and Orion were immediately blasted twenty meters
distant, luckily landing in a hedge of soft-needled bushes.  The bushes
didn't stop them, but slowed them down long enough to roll safely to a stop
in an adjacent children's playground.  Sailor Orion slowly raised herself to
a sitting position and spat out a mouthful of sand from the sandbox. 
"Dammit, that gets annoying after awhile." She blinked sand out of her eyes
and looked around for Sailor America.
 
	The American senshi lay motionless some meters distant against a set
of swings.  Her limbs seemed to be intact; no obvious external injuries.  It
was the internal ones that worried Orion.  "Hold on, Eileen," rasped the
redhead, coughing as some of the sand irritated her throat and nose.  She
half walked, half crawled to Sailor America's position, and was promptly
stopped by a behemoth.
 
	The beast that had pursued them thus far tore through the hedge,
uttering a blood-curdling roar that echoed and reverberated throughout the
park, a roar that was heard for nearly a kilometer.  Orion winced, but
couldn't surrender her arms to cover her ears.  If she could only get closer
to America and move her out of the way . . . but nothing doing.  With
another roar, the beast cut between the two, leaning over Sailor America and
staring down with unmistakable malice with its three eyes.  

	For her part, Sailor America was just beginning to struggle and
move.  She slowly managed to roll over on her back and look up and right
into the gaping maw of the creature, saliva dripping to all sides.  If she
had been more conscious she might have had the wits to vomit at the
disgusting sight, but she couldn't manage even that.  All she could do was
shiver in terror and wait for the inevitable end.  She turned her head to
the left, not wanting to look death in the face.  In so doing, she caught
sight of Sailor Orion, still trying to go forward.  Immediately the sight
snapped her back to reality.
 
*** 
 
	That's my Jen. 
 
	That's *my* Jen. 
 
	And if I die now . . . 
 
	. . . she'll be alone . . . 
 
	. . . she'll die alone . . . 
 
	. . . she won't die . . . 
 
	. . . she won't die . . . 
 
*** 
 
	"SHE WON'T DIE!" screamed Sailor America at the top of her lungs.  A
murderous light glowed in her eyes, and then everything went white.
 
*** 
 
	Far below in Valhalla, pandemonium reigned.  Through various
external cameras, the staff had been observing the battle when the flash
came."What in God's name was that?" shouted Hayato.
 
	"Unconfirmed, sir!" replied the talker.  All the status screens had
turned to static; there were no reports from the outside world.  "Looks like
some sort of electromagnetic pulse, but slightly modified."
 
	"Thaumatological?" 
 
	"Perhaps, we can't be sure." 
 
	Meanwhile, down on the floor, Sakutaro Jimbo's face drained of
blood.  He stared at the spectrum analyses that had been the last bit of
recorded data before all the sensors went off-line.  He was one of the older
persons in the room; he had been at the ripe old age of seventeen when he
first enlisted in the Royal Army, had been three weeks short of his
eighteenth birthday when he was first assigned to Earth Headquarters beneath
the Crystal Palace.  Just two days into his tour of duty, the War of 3035
had begun, and for months he lived in terror watching the developments that
would spell out the end of the Crystal Millennium.
 
	He had been there on one particular summer day, and the similarities
with that day were more and more frightening.  Finally, he could contain it
no more.  Jimbo punched a button and reported to his superior.  Back at the
command post overhead, the talker got the third-hand message in a matter of
seconds.  "Sir, energy signatures match those of Sailor Hyades when 
she . . . went super!"
 
	Hayato dropped the pen he had been nervously chewing for five 
minutes.  "It can't be." 
 
	"Sensors on-line!  Getting video in now!"  The fight, however, was
essentially over.
 
*** 
 
	Sailor Orion had the barest fraction of a instant to see a blinding
white sphere expand outwards from Sailor America at a frightening rate,
enveloping the attacker and Sailor Orion alike.  The beast howled in agony,
but she shuddered with an indescribable feeling that she later likened to
"feeling fizzy." With an audible whoosh, the feeling passed.  she blinked
away the feeling and looked for the beast.  It was nowhere to be seen. 
Heart pounding in her throat, she whirled to look for Sailor America.
 
*** 
 
	'So,' thought America, 'this is what it's like to be electrocuted.'
The world seemed exactly the same to her as she stood on absolutely nothing
at all; her high heels were a full ten centimeters above the ground.
 
	From afar, Sailor Orion had to admit that she was a truly beautiful
sight.  Sailor America's brown hair blew about her face and closed eyes, her
red skirt with the single blue and single white stripes fluttered about her
skirt, her bows waved in the wind from nowhere.  She looked the essence of
peace as she stood motionless, hands clasped on her chest.  Sailor Orion
noticed the differences immediately.  The bow at America's back was longer. 
The pendant at her front bow was a heart instead of a circle; a star had
manifested itself on her choker.  Transparent flanges were at her shoulders. 
The double stripe on her collar had become a single one.
 
	Super Sailor America had arrived, and she was pissed. 
 
	"Where are you?!?" she yelled, and now it was her voice that echoed
throughout the park.  "Where the bloody hell are you?" She settled down the
last ten centimeters and began running off and through the hedge.  Sailor
Orion barely had the strength to follow her.
 
	On the other side of the hedge was the enemy, still recovering. 
America didn't seem to be in the mood to deal out mercy, however.  As she
stood on a slight hill above the beast, she pointed at the thing with an
index finger of iron.  "For interrupting a peaceful day, for menacing our
fair city, for destruction of public property and lives, I, Sailor America,
will *not* forgive you!  Defend yourself and prepare to die!"
 
	The creature uttered a single, slightly surprised roar.  It didn't
know it had the honor of being the first recipient of a post-Dark Moon
senshi speech in decades.
 
	"Eileen . . . ." 
 
	Sailor America smiled, and it was not pretty as she crossed her arms
on her chest.  "American . . . Stars . . . and STRIPES!" With the last word
she threw her arms out as if giving a hug to a crowd.  It was not hugs that
were being dealt, though, but a myriad of tiny sparkling starlike motes
accompanied by racing streamers of pure flame, all of which swirled towards
the target with unbelievable speed.  With the slightest sound, they
perforated the beast, inciting a scream of agony and pain that was just as
quickly cut off.  Silent now, it arced back, wavered, and then crashed to
the ground.  As the two senshi watched, the now dead body turned to gray,
then to ashes, collapsing in on itself and disappearing into a thin line of
dust.  Sailor America lowered her hands to her side and looked down at the 
remains.  

	Sailor Orion, huffing and puffing, came to her side.  "America?" 
 
	The brunette turned to Sailor Orion, the cold look of rage still on
her face.  On seeing her lover's eyes, though, the face softened and warmed. 
"Jennifer . . . how'd I do?" Her eyes glazed over, and to Sailor Orion's
shock she crumpled into the redhead's arms, unconscious.
 
	"EILEEN!" 
 
(Rating: PG) 
 
============================= 
Episode 403: Crisis Reactions 
============================= 
 
 
	The soft beep of the heart monitors was not all that broke the
silence of the hospital room.  There were the continual calls on the public
address system, the clattering of beds and gurneys as they were rushed down
the halls, the conversations of lightly injured people who had been put
there because there was no other place for them to go.  It was not the quiet
place of repose Jennifer Sakachi would have liked for her lover, but it was
the best she could manage.
 
	The redhead lay slumped in an armchair at Eileen's side.  The
brunette lay sleeping as she had since the afternoon before.  Now it was the
morning after, she still hadn't woken.  The doctors assured Jen that this
was perfectly normal, or at least what they assumed to be normal, this being
a new field of study.  After everything she had been through, Eileen needed
to rest, and thus Jen had pulled rank and gotten her lover a room alone in
Nagano-2's only major hospital.
 
	Jen blinked.  "Did I doze off?"  The napkins and cookie crumbs that
she had left on the night-stand earlier were gone now, and the blanket was
more neatly tucked around Eileen.  She had been intent on not sleeping until
Eileen awoke, but apparently she drifted off sometime during the night.  She
checked her watch; it read 7:02.  If it were a normal day, she would be at
high school working on her lesson plans, but it was no ordinary day.  Even
if all schools hadn't been closed due to the state of emergency which was
optimistically scheduled to end later in the evening, she would have stayed
there anyway.  Sighing, she flopped back and reached for the phone.  "Hello? 
Yes, this is Sakachi, room 357.  I'm ready to order breakfast now."
 
*** [title sequence] ***
 
	A few kilometers away, the capitol building of Nagano-2 was nearly
empty.  The executive council was in session within one of its meeting
rooms, and so was the person they advised: the governor.  Parliament itself
was out of session due to the elections in just three weeks, so today's
decisions would have to be made without a full parliamentary vote.  While
true that the governor could have called an emergency session, he had his
own bones to pick with Parliament, so he didn't.  Nagano-2 had no mayor, so
no-one fitting his role was there.
 
	"We obviously face the gravest crisis in our colony's young
history," began the governor.  "Yesterday's attack, by forces we still
cannot even identify, puts us all in great risk."
 
	"We know that," replied the undersecretary of the environment.  "So
what are we gonna do about it?  Communications with Serenity are gone, we're
out on the border, there's no-one we can call for help.  We don't have any
real spaceworthy ships, and the defense force is near helpless.  All we have
is two senshi, and one of *them* is sidelined!  What if another attack were
to begin tomorrow?"
 
	"I've already issued executive order A-33, authorizing the
construction of a new senshi gestalt device."
 
	"A gertie?"  Environment was aghast at the prospect.  "On a 
*planet*!  Dear heavens, man, do you want to kill us all?!"
 
	"No, I want to save us!  Who's to say the senshi can keep up
performances like yesterday?"
 
	"To do that," interjected the undersecretary of defense, "would 
require we break the budget-" 
 
	"And that would be covered by Her Majesty," replied the governor. 
"In cases of extreme emergency we can disregard the budget and spend as much
as necessary.  The different will be made up from the treasury."
 
	The undersecretary of finance lost his calm.  "Sir," he nearly
bawled, "our finances have always been precarious here.  If we're to meet
our goal of autonomy by the deadline, we can't afford to be indebted even
more!"
 
	"We have no choice," intoned the governor.  "We must do everything
in our power to preserve the colony." A silence fell over the table.  The
governor had already made enemies in his cabinet, and everyone knew who they
were.  Now, at a time where unity was called for above all else, he couldn't
afford petty arguments.  "Moving on, I've appointed Sailors America and
Orion as head of military forces.  I'm sure you have no objections?" They
nodded; it was an obvious choice.  "Also, we're going to attempt to boot
Antares."
 
	The undersecretary of science, technology, research, and 
development perked up at this.  "Restarting Antares?" she exclaimed.  
"But that wasn't scheduled for another two years!  The maintenance team 
isn't to arrive for at least a year-" 
 
	"Already taken care of.  Students from the university's computer
science department will be in charge-"
 
	"Children!"  Defense was furious.  "We're entrusting the most
powerful computer in light-years to CHILDREN?"
 
	"Over a thousand years the defense of Earth was entrusted to five 
*children*, as you say.  I think Antares will be safe in the hands of some
graduate students."
 
	Defense quietly fumed, more upset at Sailor Orion and Sailor
America's uncontested coup d'etat than the fate of the planet's
non-operational supercomputer.  The AI had been transplanted to a cave
beneath the northern Nagano mountain chain just five months before, and
since then efforts had been slowly underway to construct cooling systems and
put the pieces of Antares together.  That stage of reconstruction wasn't to
be completed for several more months.  Haste made waste, and Antares's
capabilities were something they could ill afford to squander.
 
	"Ah," said the governor, "one more thing.  Super Sailor America is
to be considered as superior in rank to Sailor Orion until further notice. 
That's all."
 
*** 
 
	"Rewind to time index 09:23:55, and replay at half speed." 
 
	"Yes, sir." 
 
	In a conference room on the fourth floor of the main House of
Parliament, the military leaders of Hinansho pored over all the data they
could, trying to find out as much as possible about what had happened the
previous day.
 
	Lieutenant Miyako Nishimura, chief of intelligence, rubbed her brown 
eyes and once again looked bleary-eyed at the screen.  It showed the 
absolute blackness of space, with a slight sliver of white denoting the 
star Nozumi at the extreme right edge of the picture.  In a corner, 
small yellow digits indicated the time the picture had been taken: 
9:23:55 Second Nagano Standard Time.

	The clock ticked on, each second taking twice as long as usual.  
Nothing happened, and then: static. 
 
	Miyako blinked at the sudden brightness.  "Run that through again,
please?  Reduce speed by, I dunno, eighty percent, starting from one second
before signal was lost."
 
	"Aye." 
 
	It was a painstaking process; normally the job would be shifted to 
an AI which could run through all the tedious work of looking at and 
deciphering patterns in the small, grainy videos.  The only problem was 
that Antares was still in mothballs.  Until he was up and running, they 
would have to do it the hard way, with older and slower computers. 
 
	The picture advanced frame by frame.  Even at that low speed, it
took the assembled group of twenty men and women by surprise when a golden
blur raced up from the bottom of the screen and quickly covered it.  The
picture turned unbearably white, and then there was the static.  Miyako
checked the clock; the destruction of the satellite on which the camera had
been mounted took less than a tenth of a second.
 
	"I think we can agree that it was a deliberate weapons attack." 
 
	"Yes," echoed a voice in the crowd.  "Laser, maybe?" 
 
	"A laser wouldn't have been visible.  Must have been a particle
beam." It was a moot point, seeing as how x-ray lasers had been in use for
about a hundred years, but bore repeating.

	"I'm leaning towards magic."  That raised a few eyebrows, but no
further comment.
 
	"No nukes, though.  They want this clean." 
 
	"Which means they're a lot like us," mused a high-pitched woman's
voice.  The general atmosphere was one of disorder, as usual, with random
people shouting out suggestions.  Miyako preferred it that way;
brainstorming lead to lots of off-the-wall ideas that wouldn't normally be
accepted.
 
	"Negotiation?" 
 
	"Might work, but we'd have to have a translator-" 
 
	"-which means an AI-" 
 
	"-which means booting Antares," finished Miyako.  "I've already
asked that the activation sequence begin as soon as possible, hopefully
they'll listen to me."
 
	Another voice spoke up.  "How many ships do we estimate?" 
 
	"Six.  Ground observers are waiting for nightfall to get a more
accurate count.  We assume the ships will be made of some sort of highly
reflective material that will reflect the light of the sun . . . at least
our ships are that way, and for sound reason." Miyako ran a hand through her
thinning hair and sighed.  Her specialty was ground defense, but as the
world had learned in 3035, there could be no real defense against space.
 
 
*** 
 
	In a hospital room eight blocks north, a nurse popped into room 357
to clear away the breakfast tray, and found Jennifer Sakachi fast asleep. 
"Poor dear," the nurse murmured to herself, doing her best to quietly take
care of the plates.  "Been through so much."
 
	Unnoticing, Jen lived in the past. 
 
+++ 
 
	It's a beautiful summer day.  About thirty degrees centigrade, with
a few puffy white clouds scudding across the sky.
 
	I'm laying on a grassy hill.  I know it's grassy because I can feel
it, can feel the cool blades against my body.  It's a wonderful feeling,
actually.  All I can say is that my sense of touch as a senshi is completely
different from my sense of touch as a regular person, even in my normal
form.
 
	I look out over the landscape.  To my back are some more hills, and
then the mountains.  Before me the hills roll down to the Sea of Japan.  Way
before they reach that point, however, my eyes light upon a small cottage,
the cottage where Eileen and I are living right now.
 
	Two weeks ago, during this summer of 3033, the Palace was very
nearly taken over.  I happened to be at the palace at the time, and was
caught up in events.  I suppose things really got bad when I was shot in the
back.  Literally.
 
	Now, I've been a senshi for about five years.  In those years I've 
been in more dangerous and tight situation than I care to remember.  Yet 
it wasn't until that one moment in a hallway of the Crystal Palace that 
I really and truly looked death in the eye. 
 
	But that was another time.  Eileen's coming over now.  She looks
very nice, as always, in her short white shorts and sleeveless red shirt. 
Her hair is tied back in a ponytail.  She's been complaining that her hair
sticks to her face when she sweats, and so she's been trying to get it out
of the way.  Personally, I think she looks a lot better with it loose, but
who knows?  Perhaps it will grow on me.
 
	"Hi, Jen." 
 
	"Hi yourself, Eileen." 
 
	"Feeling any better?"  She sits down beside me and runs her hand
through my hair, smoothing out the tangles that have been put there by the
wind.  I love it.  I love her.
 
	"I'm feeling better."  And it's true.  Every moment longer with
Eileen seems to make life better.
 
	"Jen?" 
 
	"Yes?" 
 
	"That week when we were both acting like assholes to each other,
just where were you?"
 
	Damn.  I take a deep breath.  "I was at my parent's place." 
 
	"I understand."  And that's all.  No accusations, no guilt trips.  I
can tell she's still a little hurt over it, though.  She turns away slightly
and leans back on her arms, looking out at the scenery.  A couple blades of
grass fall from her shirt.  Funny, it doesn't smell like it's freshly mown.
 
	"You're mad, aren't you." 
 
	"A little."  She's being honest.  I like that.  "But then 
again . . . like I said, we were both being pretty awful to each other." 
 
	"Yeah." 
 
	It was quiet for a bit.  It's these quiet moments that frighten me
right now.  I don't like the reminders.
 
*** 
 
	Noon.  Lunch time.  Eileen's taken some sandwiches and stuff from
the little cottage that we have, and we're sitting under the bright sun
having a picnic lunch.  I bite into a sandwich.
 
	"Tasty." 
 
	"Thanks," she says, accepting my compliment.  Neither of us is
particularly good at cooking, but what we make is edible if nothing else.
 
	I savor the taste of the cheddar and ham and snuggle next to her. 
"Any plans for the rest of the afternoon?"
 
	She turns to me from her sandwich.  She'd only been nibbling at it
before.  "Not really.  I have some reading to do, but it can wait."
 
	"Reading about Seiza?" 
 
	"Yep." 
 
	I can't take the silence anymore.  "What are you thinking about?" 
 
	"Hm?"  It's like she's in a daze. 
 
	"Right now, Eileen," I say, nudging her right shoulder a bit. 
"What's on your mind?"
 
	"Mars."  I look at her blankly.  "Sailor Mars.  I read her report on
what happened, so I was wondering.  Just why did you do it?"
 
	Oh.  "I don't know." 
 
	"Well you nearly killed yourself for her, you damn well *should*
know!" But the expression on her face tells me that she's more frightened
over what could have been than what actually was.  I don't take offense.
 
	It's a good question, though.  Just why did I take the bullet, so to
speak?  It's not as if Mars is a close personal friend or anything, or even
an acquaintance.  She's just a planet senshi who Eileen can't seem to stand. 
Probably as close to Serenity as any of the planet senshi could be, with the
possible exception of Mercury.  Was it that reason that I defended her?  So
Serenity wouldn't have to bear the pain of losing one of her closest
friends?
 
	Or was it something different?  Was it that I couldn't allow a
fellow senshi to die, that somehow the fact that both she and I work towards
a common goal obligated me to put my life on the line for her, just as she
later did for me?
 
	. . . just as Eileen did for me . . . ? 
 
	I cock my head to one side, thinking, while Eileen watches.  Then, a
gust of wind picks up, ruffling my hair.  It also blows away some of the
napkins.  Quickly admonishing me not to get up, she stands and runs after
them.  After all, this place was rather clean before we got here, and it's
only proper that it stay that way, even if the napkins are completely
biodegradable.  I idly watch her run.  I'm no expert on fitness, but somehow
I could tell that she isn't a natural runner.  Senshi training may have
improved her a bit, but she'll never be a track star.
 
	As I watch her ponytail bounce, it occurs to me just how different
she is from Mars.  Where Sailor Mars is the essence of Japan: black hair,
traditionally-minded, and a Shinto priestess, or at least she used to be; I
suppose she still is, Eileen is the essence of North America: brown hair,
progressive to the point of upsetting the applecart, to use one of her cute
expressions, and deals with the press, perhaps the one thing that an
American should be good at.  They invented the idea of a rabid media, after
all . . . and invented all sorts of other things, things that lead to the
destruction of my home and my country.
 
	And yet, when the opportunity presented itself, I unflinchingly
tried to save Mars's life at all costs.  Would I have done the same for
Eileen?  Undoubtedly.  But why for Mars, who at times seems to dislike
Eileen as much as Eileen dislikes her?
 
	Eileen slowly walks back, panting and clutching the napkins.  They'd
gone a bit further than she'd expected, and now a thin sheen of sweat covers
her.  "Well, that was a nice jog."
 
	"Yes," I say absently, still mulling over my previous thoughts. 
 
	"You'll have to get better, Jennifer," she says confidently.  "We
can't have you gaining weight while you're sitting around.  You'd lose your
girlish figure," she adds playfully, stooping down and giving me a slight
pinch in the side.
 
	"You'd still like me then, wouldn't you?" I ask, playing along. 
 
	"Of course," she says, giving me a hug.  Hugs are perhaps the most
underrated thing one person can do for another.  Just the reassurance of
physical contact, knowing that you're wanted, is worth almost anything else
in the world.  I hug her back, tightly.
 
	"I love you." 
 
	"Me too." 
 
*** 
 
	It's nighttime.  Eileen and I are cuddled together on the two-seat
couch of the cabin, watching some movie we both lost interest in ages ago. 
I lie back, the back of my head resting in her lap, and the sensitive spot
of my back resting on a pillow.  I turn my head slightly from the
uninteresting picture on the screen and on the far more interesting picture
of Eileen, her face framed slightly by a few strands of hair: her ponytail
has come a bit loose.
 
	As the only light in the room is coming from the screen, Eileen's
face flickers in and out of view as the scenes change.  Gradually, she
notices me as I gaze up at her, and absently stokes my head with her hand,
almost like a kitten.  It's not an unpleasant sensation at all, I realize. 
Feeling wanted never is.
 
	She smiles.  "You're so beautiful, you know that?" 
 
	"Only when you say it," I say, snuggling closer to her and almost
sighing with contentment.
 
	Eileen continues to stroke my head, and a wry smile appears on her 
face.  "Yeah." 
 
	The screen blanks out: it's a dramatic scene change, probably.  Then
it brightens again.
 
	"Eileen?" 
 
	"Hm?" 
 
	"I think I know why I saved Sailor Mars."  She said nothing, using
her eyes to tell me to go on.  "You don't like her too much, do you?"
 
	She draws the left side of her mouth up a bit in a slantwise smile. 
"How'd you guess?"
 
	"A hunch."  I snuggle into her lap a bit more and relish the warmth
that I find there.  I could stay there forever, but . . . .  "Anyway, I was
thinking.  You and Mars are so different in so many ways . . . but you're
both in control of fire."
 
	"If you want to call it control," she says . . . more like purrs,
actually, probably from the way I'm resting on her.  "I wasn't too skilled
at what I do then . . . not even now, really."
 
	"I know," I reply.  "I'm always getting lectures from Venus on how I
should practice more.  But . . . when I look at her, it reminds me a bit of
you."

	"Really?"

	"Well, not a lot.  Little things, like that one time you wore your
hair down and just came out of the shower, or when you just blow up at some
reporter."

	"I'd thought I was getting better about that," she squeaked.

	I reach up a hand to caress her cheek.  "You are, trust me."  A
sharp pang of regret stabs through my heart at the word trust, but it's gone
just as quickly.  "But that's just one of the things that reminds me of her. 
Remember years ago back at the School, first day, opening assembly?"

	"Yeah?"

	"Remember how mad Mars was when she left?"

	She laughs aloud at the memory.  "Mad?  I think if we hadn't been
students there she would have roasted us.  She still didn't like us
afterwards; remember that time in the elevator in '30?"

	"She looked ready to kill then, too."

	"Not kill, just maim," Eileen jokes.  "But why would-"

	"It reminds me of you because you're such opposites.  You're the
brash loud American-"

	"I'm only loud when you make me c-"

	"-and she's the traditional Japanese shrine maiden.  She still
attends ceremonies, you know, although they aren't publicized."

	"How do you know?"

	"I was invited to one."  That shuts her up, even though it isn't my
intent.  Time to explain.  "It was a few months ago, while you were with Her
Highness on that trip to Kyushu.  Surprised the heck out of me: I just wake
up one morning and there's an invitation to the opening of a shrine a few
klicks northeast.

	"I didn't completely understand what went on there; my parents
weren't very religious.  But seeing Mars in her shrine attire . . . I could
never see you like that, you'd never be a minister.  And yet, you'd be a
perfect minister too . . . does that make sense?"

	I look up at her eyes, and I see that they're clouded over with
confusion.  But she shakes the fog away and smiles.  "I think I do," she
says.  "You see a bit of Mars in me, and so a bit of me in Mars, right?"

	"I guess so . . . ."  I'm not terribly certain, but as she reaches
down and embraces me tightly, I decide that the only certainty I need is her
warmth and her love.

+++

	Jen opened her eyes slowly, still imagining Eileen's warm body. 
Blinking, a crestfallen expression came across her face as she saw she was
still in a room in Nagano General Hospital, sitting next to the comatose
Sailor America.  "Reality bites," she whispered, reaching over and squeezing
Eileen's unresponsive left hand.  "Get better soon, Eileen.  I love you."
She stood and walked out the door.


(Rating: PG-13)

=======================================  
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Orion  
A kinda original fanfic by LeVar Bouyer  
Episode 404: Standing Alone  
=======================================  
  

*** [title sequence] ***  
  
	Jen turned her head and coughed away from the mouthpiece of the  
phone.  "How soon?"  
  
	"Yesterday at around 22:00," replied the voice on the other end.  
  
	She shook her head and started walking along the sidewalk to school
again.  "I assume this'll be added onto the colonial debt?"
  
	"Right."  
  
	Jen closed her eyes for a moment.  She didn't particularly care
about the colonial debt; it was the Crown that paid her senshi expense
account, and how long it took her world to be fully self-sufficient was of
no concern to her.  Self-sufficiency had been a major goal since before she
had arrived, though.  For the governor to toss it away, things must be worse
than she thought, and if there were things going on that she, as interim
second-in- command of the planetary defense force, didn't know, that spelled
trouble.
  
	At school she found things remarkably normal.  
  
	"Stand!" said the class representative as she entered her first class of the  
day.  Jen frowned slightly; the room seemed warmer than usual.  She took 
off her dark green jacket and draped it on her chair, leaving her white 
blouse, small burgundy bow, and pleated gray skirt.  
  
	It was a slightly smaller class than normal. three absences in a  
class of twenty.  Jen wondered how many of those were due to parents who  
had decided to flee the city.  She didn't blame them.  If it weren't for  
her obligations in Nagano-2, she would have left for the less populated  
southern continent as well, and she knew the same went for a lot of 
people. 
  
	"Good morning, class.  I don't know what your other teachers will be
doing today in light of what happened a couple days ago, but here it's going
to be business as usual.  Now, if you'll pass your homework to the front of
the room . . . ." She trailed off and pulled the day's outline from her
briefcase.  She liked to keep her pocketspace free of such things.
  
	Jen turned her back to the class and began writing on the
blackboard.  When she had gone to high school, she remembered, there had
been no true blackboards, just a dynamic computer-operated screen at the
front of the room.  At the university that was the case as well.  In this
high school, however, it was back to the chalk and chalkboard system that
had prospered for over a thousand years.  She liked chalk for some reason,
liked the dust that clung to her fingers and got under her nails, liked the
satisfaction she got from wiping the eraser in broad swipes across the
board, making room for the next set of notes.
  
	She finished writing the first part of the outline and turned to  
the class to pick up the papers.  A quick count: five missing.   
Subtracting three absences . . . .
  
	"Tonomi-chan, Gennosuke-kun, where are your papers?"  
  
	Tonomi stood and bowed in apology.  "I'm sorry, Sakachi-sensei, but
with all the excitement lately I didn't get a chance to finish it, and-"
  
	"What's your address?"  
  
	"33 East Sakura Street."  
  
	"Hayashi district?"  
  
	"Yes."
  
	"That was far enough away from the affected zone, there should have
been no difficulty at all.  One hour detention after school. 
Gennosuke-kun?"
  
	Tonomi sat in defeat, while the teenage boy who was actually taller
than Jen Gennosuke stood.  "Sakachi-sensei," the soccer player began in his
deep voice, "I apologize for not doing the assignment, but honestly I didn't
think we would be alive to turn it in, so-"
  
	"You had all of yesterday to finish it.  That's not a good enough
excuse."
  
	"But I was in terror and-"  
  
	"You were in terror?  Good, then you can write about it in detention
for one hour."
  
 	"How can you know what I felt!"  
  
	A silence.  Jen put down the chalk and papers and walked to
Gennosuke's desk.  "How?" She reached into nowhere and pulled out an item
that was far too familiar to her, and only slightly familiar to him.  "This
is how!" She held the henshin stick in front of his eyes for a long moment,
then returned it to nothing.  "One hour detention after school, every day
for the next week."
  
	"Sakachi-sensei!"  
  
	"That's enough, Gennosuke-kun, you can sit down."  Inside she was
still shaking with fear and rage that this kid had the temerity to lecture a
sailor senshi on terror.  She sure as hell hadn't seen him put it on the
line then, and she didn't want to hear his mouth about it now.
  
	Jen returned to her usual position, sitting on her desk.  Absently
she noticed that her hands were shaking, and then she realized why.  For the
first time, she had referred to her senshi duties in class.  She felt cold
and put her jacket on again.  Unsure of how to handle this, she carried on
the class in a subdued way, her usual enthusiasm gone.
  
	At a couple minutes to nine she picked up something on the edge of
consciousness, something that nagged and told her that something was
important.  Without even thinking she stuck her right hand into her jacket
pocket, and in so doing took hold of her henshin stick.  There seemed
nothing out of the ordinary, and she tried to continue on.
  
	"So then Frederick was forced to yield to the demands of his
advisors, which lead to the Stockholm accord of . . . ." She trailed off
despite herself and by chance glanced at her watch: 8:58.  The exact time
the first message had came for her to be on guard, just a few days ago. 
Looking up at the class, she could see that they remembered the significance
as well.
  
***  
  
	Lunchtime for Jen Sakachi generally meant a bento box consumed at
her desk in the social studies teachers' planning room.  As one of the
newest teachers at Furikato High School, she got the smallest desk, a tiny
one tucked away in the corner of the room.  She knew that relatively
speaking it was pretty big, certainly bigger than the students' desks, but
it still rankled slightly.  Of the six social studies teachers on the
faculty, only two had doctorates, and the other was the head of the
department.  Then again, at least the department here wasn't nearly as
snotty as the department at the University of Hinansho.
  
	She walked into the room a couple minutes after eleven.  Her first
act was to take off her jacket and drape it over the back of her chair; the
department head always kept the temperature a bit high.  Her second act was
always the same as well: she kicked off her black high heels and tossed them
under her desk.  Her third act was then to wriggle her toes, which now
tasted freedom for the first time in about six hours. The fourth act varied. 

	Today it was a conversation with Denbe Tsukahara, another teacher
who shared the lunch hour with her and two others.  Unlike most teachers, he
wasn't at all put off by a history teacher who looked like she should be one
of his students.  "How did that refresher exam go, Tsukahara-san?" asked Jen
as she sat in her cushioned chair and massaged her feet.
  
	"Not too good," replied Denbe.  He was a middle-aged man, slightly  
balding at the temples, with a sharp expression that had struck fear  
into more than one freshman government class.  His dark green necktie was
loose at the neck.  "Two thirds flunked, the rest barely passed, not a 
single A.  Dunno what's wrong, the way I've handled this section before 
has always worked."  He opened a bottle of grape juice and took a long sip.  
  
	"Tutoring sessions?" asked Jen.  She got up and went to the small
refrigerator, emerging with a bottle of iced tea and a bento box.
  
	"I offer them.  No-one comes."  He was silent for a moment.  "How  
many absences did you have today?"  
  
	"Twenty, most in my third period class."  
  
	"How were they?"  
  
	"I think they're taking it pretty well.  Only a few people didn't
hand in assignments, most seem to want to go back to business as usual."
  
	"Even though we don't know when we'll be attacked next?" he asked  
mildly, picking up a stack of tests and flipping through them.  
  
	Jen froze; she had been about to dive into her meal.  "Who says  
we're going to be attacked again?" she asked quietly.  
  
	Denbe looked surprised.  "It's common knowledge, isn't it? 
Shioko-san and I were discussing it between classes earlier.  First the
military goes nuts, then we lose our satellites, then that . . . whatever it
was comes, and you and Sailor America have to stop it.

	"Nobody believes that was the only one, so it's just a matter of
time before you're going to have to go out there again.  Can you teach with
that possibility?"
  
	"Tsukahara-san," said Jen calmly, "my being a senshi has never  
been a problem in the classroom.  Why do things change now?"  
  
	"Because we're at war, Sakachi-san."  The third voice surprised  
the two teachers.  
  
	At eighty-five, Okuni Hirohata was the oldest teacher at the school. 
She'd lived on Hinansho since the colony was founded, and had bent the rules
on age limits for space travelers when she came there.  Her age hadn't
crippled her in the least, though; beneath the gray hair and reading glasses
was one of the keenest minds in the building.
  
	"There's been no-"  
  
	"We're at war, and you know that as well as I do.  I may not be a
senshi, but I can read a newspaper!  So, when will your resignation be on my
desk?"
  
	Jen casually took a bite out of a Red Delicious apple.  "Never."  
  
	"What?"  Hirohata was flabbergasted. 
  
	"I'm not resigning.  I like my job, I like being here, I'm not  
leaving until it's either no longer fun or I'm dead, and I'm not dying  
anytime soon."  
  
	"Perhaps you didn't understand me, Sakachi-san.  I wasn't asking if
you were going to resign.  I asked *when*."
  
	The redhead chuckled at her desk and drank some more iced tea.  "If
you think you can pressure me to leave, you're mistaken."
  
	"Because you're the high and mighty Sailor Orion?"  
  
	"No."  She finished her apple in silence.  "Because I've got a
doctorate in history from the University of Crystal Tokyo, and you're not
going to fire someone with that."
  
	"Such . . . such . . . such unbelievable *arrogance*!  I'll be
talking to the principal, Sakachi!  Senshi or not, you'll respect my
authority!"
  
	Inside Jen was shaking.  Outwardly she tried to be cool, turning  
her back to Hirohata and continuing with her lunch.  She knew that she  
*was* being arrogant, though.  It was totally unlike her to have such  
disregard for authority, but it was her job, dammit, and she wasn't going to
leave it just because Eileen had nearly been killed doing her other job.
  
	Hirohata stalked off, and the rest of lunch passed in silence.  
  
***  
  
	Nighttime in Nagano-2.  Jen and Eileen's house was relatively far
away from the downtown area.  Also, the downtown area didn't have the lights
that most major cities did at night.  For that reason, light pollution was
relatively low, and the major constellations were easily visible as Jen sat
on a plastic lawn chair in her backyard, facing east.
  
	She pulled her arms close to her chest; two turtlenecks and a  
sweater weren't enough against the breeze blowing down from the northern  
mountains, a breeze that heralded winter just three months away.  The  
redhead sat like that for a moment, chin resting on her arms.  Then,  
with a sigh that was made visible by the cold air, she looked up to the  
sky.  
  
	The constellations in the sky of Hinansho would be completely
unfamiliar to any native of Earth.  As everyone on the colony wasn't too far
removed from Earth to start with, that meant that a good half of them were
still being named.  She looked at one particular constellation, which looked
a bit like Orion but with two extra stars in a more slanted belt, and one
shoulder missing.  It had been called Chibi-Orion after it was announced
that Jen would be coming there.
  
	For the most part, though, the constellations had been named after
local flora and fauna, a trend she happened to like.  The sky deepened into
black, and then lightened a bit as the first of Hinansho's two moons rose. 
She remembered the times she and Eileen had spent in this chair, usually
involving some lap sitting, looking up at these same stars.
  
	Jen had paid a visit to the hospital that afternoon.  Eileen's
condition was improving rapidly, and she was expected to get out of the
hospital in just a couple days.  Not too soon for Jen, of course.  She
didn't notice a shooting star in the northern sky.
  
***  
  
	"See, it's there again!"  
  
	"Hm . . . ."  Lieutenant Commander Sammy Porter frowned.  "Replay it  
again."  
  
	"Replaying."  Sammy, recently returned from the south, and a 
young rating were sitting in front of one of the Valhalla computer 
consoles.  The picture was one of a star field, with the print in the
lower left corner denoting it as a view of the northern sky at 100x 
magnification, 21:33 SNST.  A ground-based camera mounted to a telescope
had been observing one of the ships that had slipped into orbit. 
  
	The picture on the screen looked like it might show something
detaching from a larger ship.  It might also be a stray shooting star.  The
two of them were trying to figure out which of the two was correct.
  
	"See," said Ginko Nakane, the rating "it'd be a pretty big
coincidence for a meteor just happening to hit the atmosphere at this point,
especially as it's also the point one of the ships happens to be at."
  
	"But it's not impossible."  
  
	"No, sir."  
  
	"Keep going, then."  
  
	The same video rolled once more, with the same maddening lack of
information.  The meteor (or other unidentified object) streaked for two
seconds, just a bright star, and then disappeared.
  
	"Not much to go on," murmured Sammy.  
  
	"No, sir."  
  
	A long moment passed in silence before Sammy reached for her headset
and slipped it on.  "Kim, Vanessa?  Yes, as we suspected.  Mm-hm.  That's my
recommendation too.  Okay, let's do it." She took off the set.  "Good job,
Nakane-san." Sammy straightened from leaning over the rating's shoulder and
brushed her blonde hair back from her eyes.  It wasn't quite as blonde as it
had been a decade ago, and she certainly wasn't as young as she once had
been.  But she wasn't old either.  "Go to first stage alert, notify city
officials, designate target as Sierra-2-"
  
	"Thank you, Commander Porter, that'll do."  
  
	Sammy turned around, surprised.  "Captain Aida?"  
  
	The true commander of Valhalla, Captain Yujiro Aida, stood behind
her.  He gazed down at her with his gray eyes for a moment, then looked up
at one of the status screens.  "I'm in charge of this operation now. 
Initiate first stage alert and evacuation procedures."
  
	"Aye, sir," said Sammy, slightly resentful.  Didn't Aida trust her
enough to do things by herself?  She really didn't need her CO hovering over
her shoulder; she needed a commander who had a more hands-off policy . . .
like Sailor Orion.  "I'll let Sailor O-"
  
	"No."  
  
	"Sir?  She's the commanding officer, she's got to be informed of
what's happening!"
  
	"I need you to supervise the firing pattern against the object once
it arrives here." There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Nagano-2 would
once again be the target.  "We'll launch an even dozen SAMs at Sierra-2 as
it comes in, and then the PDFs will move in and clean up if necessary."
  
	Sammy didn't bother mentioning that there were only thirty surface
to air missiles left in defense of the city, with eight in the southern
hemisphere.  This attack would accomplish little but deplete already
dangerously low munitions.  She also knew that arguing this point would be
even more useless.  When Aida made a decision, that was that.  All one could
do was say 'I told you so' after it was over.  "Aye aye, sir." Aida moved
off to his command position while Sammy pulled on a headset.  "Yes, get me
the first artillery command, tell them to prep to immediate missile launch. 
No, we don't have a target yet, we'll let you know as soon as we do."

	She clicked over to another channel and began giving more orders,
ignoring the cries of protest.  Quite reasonable: they didn't like being
told to get ready to shoot down an object when they didn't even know what
they were shooting at, or when they would shoot, or even why.  The woman
sighed and ran a hand through her hair.  A decade after her last crisis
situation, and now the security of her two friends was gone.  Kim and
Vanessa were both at other stations in the bright room, too far away for
them to give her the support she needed.
  
	At the main command post behind her, Aida was just climbing up the
stairs.  "Do we have a visual?"
  
	"No sir," answered Kim Young, looking up from the ops console.  The
frustration in her eyes showed: over an hour's frantic search with radar and
ground sighters had turned up nothing.
  
	"Perhaps it was a meteor after all?" offered Vanessa Leeds over the
headset.  The alarm that went off afterwards proved that to be untrue.  

	The main status screen, which normally showed a map of Nagano-2 and
the surrounding area, now had a bright red and blinking dot to the north. 
"What was that?" roared Aida.
  
	"Unknown, sir, but observation post at Mount Takajima has gone off
the air!"
  
	"So, the worst case scenario," he muttered to himself.  "Right,"  
he said louder, "target Mount Takajima with everything.  When that thing  
moves, annihilate it!"  
  
	"Sir," said Sammy over her headset, "all our weapons were useless
the last time out, what makes this one different?"
  
	"I've given my orders, carry them out."  
  
	"Sir!  You're not answering-"  
  
	"I don't *have* to answer to *you*!  I'm the commander, you're the
lieutenant commander, is that clear?"
  
	"It's clear he's an asshole," whispered Vanessa to Kim on a private
line.
  
	"Crystal clear," replied Sammy in a cold a tone as she dared use. 
With a furious click she changed to a different channel.  "Attention all
aircraft in the Nagano-2 zone, attention.  Mount Takajima and the
surrounding area are now no-fly zones.  I repeat, anyone flying in the
Takajima area, a no-fly zone is now in effect.  Any objects in the sky
*will* be shot down for the duration of the state of emergency.  Thank  
you."  Then the hard order.  "First artillery, this is Valhalla.  Target  
Mount Takajima: if anything flies, shoot it down."  
  
	"Aye, sir."  There wasn't a very long wait before the missiles
started firing.
  
***  
  
	Jen had missed the shooting star earlier.  She didn't miss it when
the northern sky went ablaze with light.  She was too shocked for words,
could only stand from her chair and stare as the flashes and fireballs
detonated over the northern mountain range.
  
	"Kami-sama . . . ORION STAR POWER, MAKE-UP!"  No time to waste, time  
to head for Valhalla . . . after she locked the front door of the house.  
  
***  
  
	"Sir, incoming message from Sailor Orion."  
  
	Aida sighed.  "Tell her our plans, advise her to stay out of the
projected crash zone."
  
	"Sir," repeated Sammy, "she already knows that.  She's ordering-"  
  
***  
  
	"-Aida to call off those damned missiles NOW!  Tell him to sit back
and wait for further orders!  How's the evacuation of the city going?"
  
	Sailor Orion was running through the northern suburbs as fast as she
had ever run, her hair a red blur trailing behind her.  Absently she
adjusted her glasses so not as much wind blew into her eyes.  She had taken
the time to clip her communicator to the collar of her fuku, which allowed
her arms to swing free.
  
	There was a pause as Sammy spoke to Captain Aida.  "Slowly.  A good
part of the southern and western districts are still in the open."
  
	"Wonderful," sighed the senshi.  She gulped.  "Any news on what
we're up against?"
  
	"No . . . sir, I'm being told to inform you that Captainr Aida has
control of the situation, and that I'm to ask you-"
  
	"Tell Aida that as soon as this battle's over he's fired."  
  
	"Sir?"  
  
	Sailr Orion turned a corner and narrowly avoided a supply truck. 
"You heard me.  He's acting irresponsibly and irrationally, I don't need him
in the big chair.  Let him know that as soon as possible, but there's one
other thing I need you to do first.  Has Nagano General been evacuated?"
  
	"Not completely, hospitals and elderly homes were evacuated first 
but it's still going slowly."  
  
	"Hrm.  Find Ei . . . Captain Pearcy.  She's to be moved outside the
city and kept safe at all costs." She grabbed the communicator and fiddled
with it a bit.  "If my communicator goes off the air, wake her and inform
her of the situation.  I don't know if she'll be able to handle it, but if I
go down she's all we have left."
  
	Sammy was silent.  "An . . . anything else, sir?"  
  
	"Tell her that I love her."  
  
	"Aye, sir."  
  
***  
  
	In Valhalla, Aida was furious.  "WHAT?"  
  
	"Those were her orders, sir, I'm not in a position to question-"  
  
	"SHUT THE HELL UP!  Get me Sailor Orion!"  
  
	"Yes sir, putting her on.  No visual, though."  
  
	Sailor Orion's voice, punctuated with the gasps of a distance
runner, filled the room.  "I'm a bit busy, Aida-san, I'll get back to you."
  
	"You-"  
  
	"You fired without permission, which was a blatant violation of my
orders.  You're relieved.  Unless you want to add mutiny to the list of
charges at your court, you'd better march right out of Valhalla.  Copy?"
  
	Valhalla was silent.  The usual murmur of techs giving and receiving
orders stopped, even the hum of the air conditioning units ceased.  All
turned to face the command center, and the one man who stood, purple-faced,
in its center.  "BITCH!"
  
***  
  
	She stopped on a slight rise outside Nagano-2, her back to the city,
the light of a dozen forest fires illuminating her flushed face. The
adrenaline that had fueled her dash to the foothills of the mountains still
coursed through her veins.  She had to stop herself from hopping up and down
in anticipation as the glitter of the flames glinted in the lenses of her
eyeglasses.  "Right," she said aloud, standing alone at the edge of battle,
"I'm ready."
  
	She heard a growl that turned into a roar.  Turning to her right
faster than any normal human could, she was still caught unawares by the
giant humanoid slamming into her and throwing her to the ground.  The two
tumbled down the hill as Orion struggled desperately, the beast's hands
around her throat.  As they crashed into a pool of cold, murky standing
water at the bottom of the hill, Sailor Orion had just enough time for one
thought before plunging back into the struggle for her life.
  
	"Help me, Eileen."  
  
(Rating: PG-13)

 
=================================================== 
Episode 405: I Get Knocked Down, but I Get Up Again 
=================================================== 

*** [title sequence] *** 
 
	Sailor Orion and the beast splashed into the water, its icy wetness
seeping through her fuku.  Gasping from the shock of the cold water, her
head sank beneath the surface as it wrapped its hands around her neck.
 
	'Not now!' she thought.  Summoning a reserve of strength, she arched
her legs against the thing and pushed as hard as she could.  The beast
grunted and flew back, releasing her neck but leaving several claw marks as
souvenirs.  Her choker was torn in two places and hung only by a thread as
she emerged from the pool and spat out a mouthful of water.
 
	The beast took no time at all to recover.  In an instant it was on
its feet, water dripping in the moonlight.  Sailor Orion slowly got to her
hands and knees, turned, and shivered, partly from the cold and partly from
fear.
 
	"RRRRAAAWWWWRRRR!"  The beast charged again, and this time all
Sailor Orion could do was throw herself further down the hill in an attempt
to dodge.  She was successful, though at the cost of bouncing even more.  By
the time she reached a road running parallel to the hill, she was pretty
banged up.
 
	Her body ached in dozens of places, but she sprang to her feet
anyway, hair rapidly drying in the cold mountain breeze.  She wasn't worried
about her glasses; the inherent magic of a senshi made them impervious to
cracks, shattering, smudges, fogging, dirt, or any of the other hassles she
put up with when she wasn't in her senshi form.  Even after getting dunked
in slightly muddy water which had left several dark marks on her fuku, her
vision was perfect.  She had a clear view of the beast as it trampled down
the hill after her.
 
	"Shit!"  Didn't the thing know how to quit?  Once again she sprang
into a run, but this time she didn't stop.  Now it was a sprint, with no
real finish line in sight.  Each step came with pain; she had probably
twisted both ankles, not to mention all the cuts and bruises she had to have
on her legs . . . but she knew the consequences of stopping.
 
	After a couple moments she realized she was running back towards
Nagano-2.  Did she have a choice?  The mountains were on fire, the city was
all that was left.  If she went into the city, even more people would be
endangered.  She stopped and turned.  The beast was still at 400 meters and
closing.  "Hold it right there!  Orion nebula . . ." Perhaps if she could
trigger a spark of some sort there might be a chance.
 
	It was useless.  With a final leap that froze Sailor Orion with
surprise, the beast jumped the last distance and knocked the wind from her
lungs, smashing her to the ground with a thud audible for hundreds of
meters.
 
*** 
 
	"What's going on out there?" asked Vanessa in a panic. 
 
	"No idea, sir," replied the talker, "we don't have any visual or 
audio.  Sailor Orion's communicator is out, probably shock damage." 
 
	Vanessa gulped.  She was in command of Valhalla now, after ordering
Aida to be removed in irons.  The oldest of the Trio by two months, she was
seemingly the natural choice for command, but how could she command when
her only real asset was being tossed around and she couldn't even see what
was going on?  Her uniform was growing less comfortable by the second.
 
	"We have a news crew going out there now, ETA one minute." 
 
	"Very well . . . oh, and per Sailor Orion's orders, send official
notification to Nagano General for Captain Pearcy to be awakened as soon as
safely possible and told of the situation."
 
	"Already on it," replied Sammy on her right.  "They say the soonest
she can be awoken is eight hours, and that's with an eighty-two percent
chance of brain damage."
 
	"Tell them to take their time, but also tell them that a delay over
twenty-four hours could mean it's all over."
 
	"Gotcha." 
 
	"Video crew arriving and setting up." 
 
*** 
 
	On a small rise about nine hundred meters from where Sailor Orion
had just been slammed into the ground, a network van from the Nagano-2
Broadcast Organization came to a stop on the shoulder of a little-used
access road.  Two camera techs immediately leapt out to set up their
equipment, while two more military techs starting working on the microwave
transmitter that would send the signal to headquarters.
 
	Edward Antonacci, an Italian immigrant who had been lucky just to
become a subject of Queen Serenity II, was both the driver of the truck and
the head camera tech.  "Come on, hurry up!" He grabbed a pair of binoculars
from the dashboard and looked off in the distance, flipping on the night
vision function as he did so.  "Doesn't look good."
 
*** 
 
	"We have video now, sir, coming through.  No audio." 
 
	The main screen flashed static for a moment, then a clearer image. 
With the characteristic green tint of night vision systems which was a
particular optical quirk that had survived for a thousand years, and the
help of a computer to clean up the signal, they could see the dim shapes of
one or two hills, the hulk of the northern mountains right in the corner of
a screen.  To the right a collection of lights marked Nagano-2, its
buildings still shining brightly.
 
	"We're going to try to zoom in on her," said Antonacci over his
communicator, which was patched into the Valhalla comm system.  The picture
shook for a moment, and then there was a white blur at the center of the
screen.  The green was gone now, and the picture was almost like being
there.  Many soon wished it wasn't that good. 
 
	"Dear God!" 
 
	"We're finished!" 
 
	"Kami-" 
 
	"QUIET PEOPLE!"  Vanessa had never shouted so loud in her life, 
but she needed it now.  Her voice could be heard throughout the room, 
even without a headset.  "Antonacci-san, status on Orion?" 
 
	"You . . . you can see it, sir.  Severe bleeding from the left leg, 
left arm, and forehead, probably a concussion . . . she's out of it." 
 
	Vanessa's blood froze.  That picture they had seen wasn't supposed
to happen to senshi.  Regular soldiers could go and get concussions.  Senshi
weren't allowed, not at all, not at all . . . , "get a medical team out
there NOW!  Call Nagano, tell them I want Pearcy-san up and ready for action
in one hour, or else we're all dead.  Inform all remaining planetary defense
forces to regroup at the city limits, we'll make a last stand there-"
 
	"Vanessa," cut in Kim, "you're overreacting!" 
 
	"Sailor Orion's dead, dammit, I think I have a right to!" 
 
	"She's not dead yet!" 
 
	Vanessa gestured at the screen.  The beast was back up, but Sailor
Orion wasn't moving.  Slowly, almost leisurely, the thing drew back its
claws for the killing blow.  "She is now." Vanessa closed her eyes and
turned away, unwilling to watch any further.
 
*** 
 
	She opened her eyes. 
 
	She saw the claws. 
 
	She screamed. 
 
*** 
 
	"Sir!"  The talker sounded astonished. 
 
	"I don't want to know, I don't-" 
 
	"Signal lost from Rover-1, sir, but that's not important.  We have 
senshi power-up readings matching Sailor Orion's location-" 
 
	"What?" Vanessa couldn't believe it to be true.  "Are you-" 
 
	"Readings at sixty-six percent and climbing rapidly, approaching
super levels in eleven seconds-"
 
	"Are you certain it's Orion?"  If it was, it would be a godsend, but
if not . . . .
 
	"No sir, certainty is at forty-eight percent.  Could be Sierra-2
powering up for the killing blow."
 
	Vanessa bunched her fists at her side and looked up at the screen
which was now filled with static.  What could Sailor Orion be up to?
 
*** 
 
	Sailor Orion stared at the claws.  They rested just in front of her
face; she could see the dark scales, chipped and rough from the combat they
had just been through.  They gleamed menacingly in the moonlight.  The sword
whose flat end pressed against the claws and kept them from impaling Orion
also gleamed menacingly in the moonlight.  "Wha . . . ?"  She let her eyes roam.  The claws of the beast shook
against the sword, the flat of the blade horizontal to her eyes and facing
both her and the beast.  

	The sword itself . . . celestial was the only word she could use to
describe it later.  She knew without thinking that it was named Kedalion,
and that it was hers.  A full meter long from tip to tip, the blade was
eighty centimeters, made from an unidentifiable substance that looked
somewhat like steel, somewhat like aluminum, and at the same time seemed to
be made out of pure starlight.  It was very thin, measuring a mere eight
centimeters across the flat of the blade, and a centimeter thick at the
thickest part.  The hilt and crossguard were gold, with green and blue
inlays adorning it, and on the pommel there was a miniature reproduction of
the constellation Orion, done with diamonds.  It was, all in all, the most
beautiful sword she had ever seen.  There was, however, the tiny detail of
how she had gotten hold of it and used it as a defense against the attack.
 
	She was given little time to worry about it.  The beast picked her
up by the sword which she clutched with her right hand, and tossed her
aside.  She scrambled to her feet, a cold fury beginning to burn in her
eyes.  It was time to end this.
 
*** 
 
	"We've got visual back!" shouted Sammy. 
 
	"Put it on," said Vanessa, her voice taut.  Was Orion even alive? 
 
	The picture that appeared on the screens answered that question 
immediately. 
 
*** 
 
	"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"  With a bloodthirsty scream, Sailor 
Orion raced back towards the beast, right hand brandishing her newfound 
sword before her.  She didn't notice the longer back bows on her fuku, 
didn't notice the heart that her pendant on her chest had turned into, 
didn't notice the star on her choker, didn't notice that her fuku was 
now bright and clean as if it were new.  All she saw was a nice, large 
target that would shortly cease to be.  "DIE!" 
 
	The beast turned, ready for her.  With almost a shrug it swung a
heavy arm towards her, intending to smash her into the ground again.  In a
lightning move, she made a slice with Kedalion, slicing through the sinews
and bone like a swimmer cutting into the water of a pool.  The arm flew off
into the air, blood fountaining everywhere.  A healthy portion splashed onto
her left side, scarlet in shocking contrast to the snowy white the fuku had
been before.
 
	Sailor Orion landed and immediately sprang back into battle
readiness, watching the beast howl in pain, wheeling as it sought to
recuperate from losing a limb.  She was unwilling to provide it that chance,
though.  Drawing to her full height, she held the sword to her face as if
saluting a king.  "Orion . . . ."
 
	She twirled Kedalion to her right, at the same time shifting her
grip slightly.  ". . . saber . . . ."
 
	Then, in a final sweeping upswing of the sword, she followed through
as if trying to slice a victim from one side of the hip to the opposite
corner.  Her prey was several meters away, but it made no difference as she
spoke the final word. "DISRUPTION!"

	A spear of white light streaked out from the sword at the precise
moment that it pointed at the beast, a light too bright to look at, a light
that overloaded the cameras in the distance and illuminated the area for
over a hundred meters.  It was almost like a supernova.
 
	The beam struck the beast and was apparently absorbed until a
collection of golden sparkles began to twinkle around it.  Slow and
scattered at first, they sped up and increased in number until finally the
thing was surrounded . . . and then with a final cry, the lights
disappeared, and the thing collapsed into a puddle of liquid.
 
	Sailor Orion stood still for a moment, sword still poised in
position from the follow-through to point behind her and to her left.  She
stared at her handiwork; there seemed no possibility of the thing to recover
from something like that.  Slowly, she took in her surroundings and herself:
covered in blood, dressed in the uniform of a super sailor senshi.
 
	She blinked.  "What am I?"
 
	She fainted. 
 
*** 
 
	In Valhalla, the stunned staff watched as Sailor Orion finished off
the creature, stood for a moment, and then fell noiselessly to the ground.
 
	"Target destroyed," said the talker in a quiet, awed voice.  
"Energy readings now at normal." 
 
	"Sailor Orion?" breathed Vanessa. 
 
	"Silent." 
 
	The room erupted. 
 
	"ETA on that med team!" screamed Vanessa.
 
	"Two minutes, they had traffic control pri-" 
 
	"SHIT!  Where's Sailor America?" 
 
	"Just being awakened, she should be ready in three minutes."               
  
	If she had been thinking more rationally, Vanessa probably would
have been more surprised at this.  Unfortunately, she wasn't thinking
clearly.  "GET HER IN HERE!"
 
*** 
 
	Black turned into blinding white, and only one thought was in her 
mind:  WATER! 
 
	Eileen's eyes scanned frantically for anything to drink.  She
snapped her head up to look and immediately flopped back down, exhausted
while barely making a move.
 
	"Captain," said a male voice, "you're still weak, please don't
move."
 
	"Who are you?" she asked.  Actually, her throat was as dry as a
bone, so it came out more like a rattle.
 
	He ignored her.  "Okay, she's alert, let's move her." 
 
	Without further preamble the bed she was in started moving.  She had
only time enough to look around and recognize a hospital room before her bed
was hustled out by three orderlies.  Two more nurses and a doctor
accompanied her, as well as two armed guards.  Eileen's mind whirled, trying
to make sense of so many happenings in so short a time.
 
	"Sir," said the doctor, "I'll explain quickly."  As he walked
briskly along down the halls of the hospital, he inspected an IV in her left
arm and removed it.  "You've been awakened per Sailor Orion's orders to
assume command of the planetary defense force.  Um . . . hold on," he said
uncertainly, knowing that she was in no position to hold on to anything.
 
	The bed bounced once, and then they were outside.  Eileen's eyes
were still trying to get used to being open, and now being subjected to the
harsh yellow lamps of the loading dock of the hospital was too much.  She
simply shut her eyes and waited for the world to calm itself.
 
	BOUNCE BOUNCE CLICK CLACK CLACK CLANG CLICK RUMBLE 
 
	"What in the name of God are you idiots doing?" she wanted to
scream, but her throat was still too dry.  It felt like someone had left
cotton in her mouth for eons.  Willing her strength, she managed to point to
her throat with her right hand.  The bed jiggled some more and then was
still.
 
	"Yes, I know, this method of reviving coma patients is still
experimental, and one of the side effects is severe thirst.  We've got
fluids on an IV hookup to you now, that should take care of it.  Here, this
should help some."
 
	She felt a straw inserted between her dry lips.  For a moment she
couldn't even suck, could only wait for the drops of water to moisten her
parched mouth.  Then, finally, she could suck it down in huge draughts.  She
barely noticed when the emergency siren began to whine directly overhead.
 
	The doctor coughed.  "Um, sir, I've got to fill you in on the rest
of what's going on here."
 
	"What's that noise?" she asked.  She nearly jumped at the sound of
her own voice; it sounded so out of place.
 
	"The siren.  We're in an ambulance, on the way to Valhalla.  Once
there, you'll need to take over-"
 
	"Where's Jen?" 
 
	"Jen . . . oh, Sailor Orion."  A cloud came over his features, even
though she couldn't see.  "I haven't heard any information about her yet,"
he lied, "I was simply ordered to awake you and bring you to headquarters."
Never mind that it was totally insane, and there was a damn good chance
she'd be killed trying to awake.  He'd been almost ready to reject the order
and let Pearcy rest, but in the end he had hoped that the natural luck that
all senshi seemed to share would kick in once again.  Luck had paid off once
again.
 
	"Uh-huh," said Eileen weakly.  "If I'm in charge, then tell me where
she is."
 
	"Sir, I don't-" 
 
	"Find out." 
 
	The doctor stood for a moment, unsure, then turned his head and
reached for a phone on the wall.  "Yes.  Captain Pearcy needs to know Sailor
Orion's status.  Yes, I understand." He hung the phone back on the wall with
a click.
 
	"Well?" 
 
	"She won." 
 
	The ambulance made a gentle right, then plunged into a tunnel whose
doors closed immediately after they entered, escorted by three police
motorcycles.  All  that remained to mark the spot was a basketball court and
a mural on the wall of an otherwise unassuming apartment building.
 
*** 
 
	A minute later, the ambulance screamed into a holding bay beneath 
Nagano-2.  By now Eileen had recovered just enough to be able to stand. 
She shakily walked out of the ambulance and stood, her bare feet curling 
up on the cold concrete.  No-one had thought to put different clothes on 
her, and so she made a stark contrast, her in her hospital gown and 
everyone else in uniform. 
 
	"Sir, we're not certain if you'll be able to transform in your 
condition, but-" 
 
	"So you want me to try, eh?"  She pulled her henshin rod from
nowhere and looked at it for a moment, getting used to the larger handle and
new ornamentations.  A crystal sphere sat atop the pink handle, with three
red, white, and blue stars embedded inside.  Otherwise it was identical to
the super henshin rods for all the other senshi.  "Fine then, let's do it. 
AMERICA CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE-UP!"
 
	All those watching her were dazzled by what followed.  The
disheveled brunette was surrounded by swirls of light and color, red and
white and blue coruscating about her.  Her clothes disappeared, replaced
piece by piece with a white bodysuit, red skirt with white and blue stripes
at the hem, red collar with a single white stripe, powder blue bows on chest
and back--the one in the back being much longer, and the one in front having
a heart-shaped pendant--white gloves with red piping at the elbows, dark
blue choker with a yellow star, golden tiara with a single red gemstone at
the center, and two transparent flanges at the shoulders.  With a final
flash, blue high-heels manifested themselves on her feet, and the
transformation was complete.
 
	"How do you feel?" asked the doctor immediately. 
 
	Super Sailor America turned to look at him.  "Well, let's take care
of Jen first, and then we'll worry about that, okay?"
 
	"Yes sir." 
 
*** 
 
	The recovery teams arrived on the scene, roaring up in their white
vans, and it looked like hell warmed over.  To one side of a hill they could
see a large patch of damp, almost muddy ground.  If the recorders were to be
believed, that puddle was all that remained of the beast which had seemed
bound to attack and destroy Nagano-2.  One of the teams immediately moved
over to collect what samples they could from the remains.  The other ran to
the prostrate form of Super Sailor Orion, who still lay on her side on the
ground.  Her right hand still gripped the sword that had materialized from
nowhere when she made her super transformation.
 
	"She's alive," said the head of the team, who was actually the
second highest ranking physician on the planet.  The highest ranking one was
now in Valhalla with Sailor America.  He shook his head in disbelief.  "Why
don't they teach us senshi physiology in med school?" he asked no-one in
particular.  Not expecting a response, he continued his examination, poking,
prodding, and feeling her with both his hands and his instruments.  "Looks
like she suffered a concussion, but senshi healing kicked in.  Same thing
with her legs, lots of healed bruises." He felt along her midsection. 
"Internal bleeding seems to have stopped, two broken ribs, but they're fine
now.  I think she'll need some painkillers when she wakes up, though.  Hm,
seems to be all the problems, except the usual super shock."
 
	Abruptly he stood.  "Okay, get her on the stretcher, I want her on a
glucose solution immediately.  Kenji, you were on the team working on Sailor
America, weren't you?" The younger medical student nodded as he and three
others lifted Sailor Orion's slowly-breathing body onto a flat-board, which
was then placed on a stretcher.  "Good, then you'll know what to do."
 
	"Yes, doctor."  Kenji took a moment to rearrange Sailor Orion's
right arm, which still clutched the sword, and placed it artfully on her
chest.  Then, thinking better of it, he grabbed a plastic baggy and wiped as
much of the blood as he could off the sword and into the bag.  Perhaps it
might be of use in the lab.  Then the van was on its way back to Nagano-2,
soon being met by a police escort, as the city awoke from a night of terror
and prepared to face another uncertain day.
 

(Rating: PG)

================================== 
Episode 406: A Moment's Reflection 
================================== 

	The two looked down at Jen as she lay silent under the sheet. 
 
	"Is she in pain?" asked Sailor America.  She and a doctor were in a
room in the infirmary of Valhalla, and being underground meant there was no
window.  It was a gloomy place, and Jen's condition didn't help the gloom at
all.
 
	"No more pain than you were in," Dr. Junko Kurukawa reassured her. 
She ran a pencil through her hair and sighed.  "But I'll remind you that
it's best that we not wake her as we did you."
 
	"I wouldn't think of it," Sailor America said quickly.  "I still
don't know how I recovered so fast!"
 
	"My guess is the transformation did it.  We've always known a
henshin results in a large amount of unaccountable healing; this could have
been an extension of this.  Or in your case, it could have been luck.  We'd
like to play it safe."
 
	"Right."  Her hand wandered to her back, playing with the long tail
of the bow there.  Sometimes she felt like she was in a dream, and that when
she woke up she'd have her regular bows and uniform back.  She was very much
awake now, though, and this was about as real as anything got.  "How long do
you think it might be?"
 
	"Hard to tell without a baseline.  Perhaps Antares has some info,
but last I heard the techs were still checking his power and coolant feeds. 
It'll be awhile until he's even on.  In any case you were out for about two
days, I'd expect at least that much from her.  Maybe more."
 
	Sailor America took another look at Jen.  She had detransformed
early that morning without incident, and the doctors were at a loss to
explain why.  Jen's eyelids fluttered slightly.  "She's dreaming," murmured
the brunette senshi.  "I wonder what she's thinking about?"
 
*** [title sequence] ***
 
8 December 3035 
Mare Crisium
The Moon 
 
	"How much longer?" asked Sailor America, yawning. 
 
	"Just a few more minutes," replied Sailor Orion.  "Couple more
senshi to go."
 
	Sailor America yawned again and stretched in place.  The two sat on
a brown couch in an out of the way lounge at Royal Star Navy Headquarters. 
Around them, a dozen or so other senshi milled about awaiting assignment.
 
	It had been eight months since the war had ended, eight months since
Japan as they had known it ceased to exist.  In that time there had been
plenty of work for everyone to do, with eighteen and twenty hour days being
the norm.  Sailor Orion hadn't slept in two days, Sailor America for three. 
Some senshi were going without sleep for a week at a time.
 
	For the eighth time, Sailor Venus walked to the podium at the front
of the room.  "Next up, Sailor Hyades." The first super sailor senshi of the
thirty-first century, the sailor with purplish-blue hair stood and presented
herself before Venus.  "You're going to Perikan-IV, better known as Nishin."
Sailor Hyades smiled slightly at the pun.  Perikan was Japanese for pelican,
of course; Nishin was herring.  "Don't blame me," protested Sailor Venus,
"it was the survey team that named it!"
 
	"It's okay, sir," replied Sailor Hyades.  "When do I leave?" 
 
	"Next week, on H.M.S. Taurus." 
 
	"Right."  She bowed and left; she'd have a week to pack her
belongings, get acquainted with her crew, and usher aboard two thousand or
so former citizens of Crystal Tokyo.
 
	That was the reason they were there: it had been decided that as the
Japanese people spread out across local space--relatively speaking; the area
they were encompassing was a sphere with a radius in the hundreds of light
years--a senshi or two should be assigned to each planet.  Not all of them,
by any stretch; half to two-thirds would remain in the RSN, the Moon with
Her Majesty, Mars, or Venus.  There was still a government to move to a new
homeworld, and a homeworld to find in the first place.
 
	The transition period had continued rather smoothly, with one
exception that most people tried to forget.  There were too many questions
surrounding the disappearance of H.M.S. Yamato with all hands, including
Sailor Centaurus.  Still, the monumental task of moving an entire monarchy
wasn't easy.  There had been mistakes, slip-ups, errors, omissions.  Sailors
Orion and America had done their part to help out, but now it was time for
the final decision.
 
	"Orion?" 
 
	The redhead jumped up and stood at attention.  "Yes?" 
 
	"You're assigned to H.M.S. Tuckwood, destination Hinansho, a planet
in the Nozomi system.  Nozomi-IV, to be exact." As Sailor Orion drew near,
Sailor Venus produced a handlink and handed it to her.  "Here's all the
vital information you need."
 
	"Y-yes, sir."  She slowly walked away, fighting the tears.  She had
in effect just been given her walking papers to leave the solar system
forever.  Even a seasoned star traveler like herself couldn't help but be
affected.
 
	"Oh, and Sailor Orion?"  She spun around.  "Sailor America will be
accompanying you."
 
	The redhead didn't know what to say for a moment.  "Thank you . . .
thank you very much!" 
 
	Sailor Venus smiled.  "Not a problem.  Oh, before I forget, there's
someone who wanted to see you.  Sailor Cassiopeia, could you show them up?"
 
	Sailor Cassiopeia popped out of seemingly nowhere, though actually
she had been waiting in the shadows for an order.  "Certainly.  Right this
way, please."
 
	The three senshi left the room through a side door, and immediately
Sailor Orion was lost.  She hadn't been on the Moon for very long and was
still unfamiliar with the layout of the new government complex at Mare
Crisum; it was easy to lose track of all the twists and turns and steps they
took.  She did notice, however, that as they went on they saw less and less
people.  Eventually they came to a completely deserted hallway that looked
like it had been abandoned since the base was built.
 
	"Sorry about not taking the scenic route," apologized Sailor
Cassiopeia.  "But it was the quickest way to get to her." Without ceremony
she reached for a door that looked like it had never been opened, threw it
open, walked forward five steps and bowed.  "Your Majesty, I present to you
the Sailor Senshi Orion and America."
 
	As if in a dream, Sailor Orion willed her steps forward and into the
room.  It was a normal looking room, probably a living room, but very well
kept and beautiful.  She realized that these were the private quarters of
Her Majesty Queen Serenity II . . . and her former first officer. 
 
	"Your Majesty," said Sailor Orion immediately, dropping a curtsey. 
Behind her, she felt rather than heard Sailor America step in and do the
same.
 
	The most powerful human in the universe got up from her couch and
sighed.  "I wish people wouldn't do that at times like these."
 
	"Your Majesty?" asked Orion. 
 
	"Do you know how embarrassing it is when people curtsey and bow and
go 'your majesty' and you're wearing jeans and a sweatshirt?" Serenity II
tossed a pink pigtail over her shoulder and straightened her sweatshirt, a
white one with an image of Sailor Saturn embroidered on the left breast. 
She had caught a lot of flak for having only a shirt for her best friend, so
she eventually had to get sweatshirts of all the planet senshi.  Then the
new senshi came along, and suddenly she had two hundred other sweatshirts. 
The war had sadly thinned her wardrobe.
 
	"Sorry, Your-" 
 
	"Usagi, please." 
 
	"But . . . I can't call you *that*, you're at the least my superior
officer-"
 
	"Now-" 
 
	"I'm sorry, sir, but at least you're Fleet Admiral . . . sir." 
 
	Serenity II sighed a sigh of defeat.  "Fine," she said, sticking her
hands in the pockets of her blue jeans.  She looked down at her white socks
and looked up at the three senshi.  Sailor Cassiopeia looked like she'd been
through this before, while Sailor Orion and Sailor America seemed at a loss
for what to do.  "Relax, please; I'm not here to lecture you or reprimand
you or whatever you think you're here for.  Have a seat."
 
	Sailor Cassiopeia remained at the door while the other two senshi
went to the couch and sat uncertainly.  Serenity II stood before them. 
"It's been awhile since Pleiades, hasn't it?" She smiled wryly, and just for
a moment Sailor Orion was strongly reminded of the woman's mother, Serenity
I.  "And we've both come a long way."
 
	"Well, I'm still Sailor Orion.  You're the Queen.  I'd say there's a
bit of difference between the two."
 
	"I didn't just mean position.  There was a time when you hated me."
 
	Sailor Orion took a moment to remember and then laughed.  "Yeah, I
guess so.  Well, you didn't make a very good first impression."
 
	Serenity II smiled.  "I guess I didn't, barging on board like I
owned the place.  Sometimes when I think back I'm glad of it, though."
 
	"Why?" asked Sailor America, leaning forward with interest. 
 
	"Because it taught me just how arrogant I was.  Can you imagine me
ruling with that streak I had?  It would be hell on earth!"
 
	Sailor Orion grinned: just seven years ago she would never have
expected to hear her first officer talk like this.  Now, as Neo-Queen, she
seemed completely at ease.  It was a very good thing to see, and it put any
reservations the redhead might have had to rest.
 
	"Anyway, you two have done a lot for my mother, myself, all our
subjects.  You've got all sorts of awards, and I know they don't mean
anything because you were 'just doing your jobs.'" Sailor America's mouth
closed; that was just what she was about to say.  "I just wanted to thank
you sincerely.  I know I'll never forget all you've done, even if the rest
of the universe does."
 
	"Not a problem . . . Usagi."  Sailor America said the last word
carefully, as if trying it out for the first time.  It seemed odd to refer
to Serenity II that way, but the Queen beamed.
 
	"Right," said Sailor Orion.  "It's been a pleasure, and who knows;
we'll probably meet again."
 
	"In a hundred years or so, perhaps.  I do intend to tour the 
Kingdom, but it'll take some time.  Oh yes, my mother and father send 
their regards as well."  Serenity I had taken up residence at the old 
Sea of Tranquillity, along with Prince Endymion and a few planet senshi.  
There were rumors that the planet senshi were just as tired as Serenity 
I, and all sorts of speculation on possible replacements, but the Palace 
refused to comment. 
 
	"Okay," said Orion, growing more casual.  It seemed sad that just as
they were getting to know their monarch, they had to go.  "We'll keep in
touch."
 
	"Of course," replied Her Serene Majesty, Serenity, the Third of her
Name, born unto this Earth as Tsukino Usagi, the Second of that Name, Sailor
Senshi of the Moon, Defender of Love and Justice, and Queen of the Moon
Kingdom.  "See ya around."
 
*** 
 
	"No, not a problem at all." 
 
	"You're sure?"  Maya Tokaji's breath condensed and swirled about in
the bitterly cold air.  She was dressed in orange survival gear: heavy
parka, thick pants, gloves, a hood, woolen cap, and even a wool face mask. 
She looked more like an Antarctic explorer than a supercomputer specialist,
but a supercomputer specialist she was.
 
	"Quite sure," replied Hoitsu Arakida, chair of the computer science
department at the University of Hinansho.  He was in his mid-forties, though
you couldn't tell by looking at him: he was dressed the same as Maya.  "Just
give me a couple of days to run the clearances through, and you'll be set."
 
	"Oh, thank you Arakida-sensei!" she exclaimed.  Her voice echoed in 
the darkened chamber.  She'd been trying to get on the third memory unit 
staff almost nonstop for the past forty-eight hours.  This time it looked 
like she'd done the trick.  Her eyes burned from the cold, and she could 
feel it seeping through her insulated boots and gloves, but she didn't 
care. 
 
	The two stood on an icy catwalk in what was now the most important
chamber in the world.  Below them, off in the darkness, were the two dozen
paired processors of Artificial Intelligence Unit Antares.  Elsewhere were
the memory banks, each capable of holding amounts of data that would be
inconceivable to the audiences who first watched HAL 9000 run amuck aboard
Discovery in the film 2001.  Still elsewhere sat the ROM drives which
contained Antares's actual personality, or simulated personality to a
minority of computer experts.
 
	Antares was a big computer, taking up three times the space he had
on Pleiades.  Much of this was simply because there was room to play around
with: two caverns had been dedicated to the AI.  However, some of it was
also due to upgrades.  Antares had twice the memory he had before, and seven
of the old processing units had been upgraded and replaced with the latest
Mizuno Mark IX's.  Sailor Orion had no small part in that: she had been sure
to call in some favors and make sure Antares was far beyond what most colony
worlds had.
 
	However, all that was dependent on a skilled and well-trained AI
maintenance and computer psychology team.  Sailor Orion had provided for one
of those too, one of the best in the Moon Kingdom.  They were scheduled to
arrive in mid-3042, which just a couple weeks ago hadn't sounded bad at all. 
The last of Antares's components had arrived two months ago, and only the
emergency had forced the techs to remove the parts from storage and install
them in a three hour frenzy of activity.
 
	The techs.  Hoitsu knew just how inexperienced a staff he had to
work with.  He himself had limited experience with AIs: a year of study at
Miyazaki, the Kyushu city that was home to both AIs and their designers, and
two years working with someone else who had spent time there.  That was the
most experience anyone on the planet had.  Two thirds of his staff consisted
of computer science undergrads at the University.  'Hell of an internship,'
he thought wryly.  His decision to allow Maya to work on the third memory
unit was therefore pretty meaningless; otherwise she would be on the team
trying to establish a reliable link from there to Valhalla, and she would
probably be equally incompetent there.  It didn't really matter which one
she did, she had a lot of learning to do in any case.
 
	A lot of work to do, too.  He would have liked two or three hundred
more people to work with, though he knew the professional crew would have
been closer to fifty or sixty.  Things were woefully undermanned, and that
wasn't even factoring in the time frame.  He hadn't slept in days, and
neither had anyone else.
 
	Yet he had to admit that things were working.  The cooling systems
were working flawlessly, and the frostbite he was risking was proof enough
of that.  A test boot of a single of the new processors had gone well five
hours ago, and a full boot was scheduled to commence in another three.  Then
it was a simple matter of hunting down the billions of bugs sure to be
present in the programming until Antares was sentient enough to fix them
himself, which would probably take a week.  Winning in the face of
impossible odds was the Japanese legacy, though.  They would manage, or die.
 
*** 
 
4 July 3036 
H.M.S. Tuckwood, in orbit around the planet Hinansho 
 
	"Happy birthday, Eileen."  Her voice didn't carry far in the crowded
lounge, but it carried far enough.
 
	"Thanks," replied Sailor America with a smile.  "That's what, the 
fourth time you've said that today?  And it's only one in the 
afternoon!" 
 
	"Fifth," said Sailor Orion.  "I can go for six, if you want." 
 
	"Go ahead!"  Sailor America laughed and kicked her heels up on the
table.  Before them, on the other side of a large picture window, spun a
blue-white world looking much like Earth.  The continents were in the wrong
places and in the wrong shapes, and there seemed to be a bit more water than
usual, but otherwise it seemed wholly Earth-like, except for the much larger
icecaps.
 
	This was Hinansho, the fourth planet in the Nozomi system.  Nozomi 
was a Sol-like star, a billion or so years younger and therefore a bit 
bluer in the spectrum.  It also had the interesting phenomenon of 
emitting large pulses of low-frequency radiation.  They had both read 
reports mentioning this and its effect on long range communications, but 
discarded it as unimportant.  Hinansho was also on the outer edge of the
liquid water zone for Nozomi, so they could expect cold temperatures.
 
	"Beautiful, isn't it?" asked Sailor Orion.  She'd thought she'd
never be able to see beauty again, after her near-mental breakdown just a
week out of port. She'd been in counseling since then, and the last session
had been the previous day.  In the official opinion of the ship's
psychiatrist, Orion had been cured of delayed post-traumatic shock brought
on by the 3035 war and the emptiness of space.
 
	Sailor America craned her neck to peer at a part of the planet a
support beam was obscuring.  "Yep." She smiled, and this one was enough to
melt Sailor Orion's heart.  "Thanks for the birthday present."
 
	Sailor Orion smiled in return and adjusted her glasses.  "No
problem." It was actually a coincidence that they arrived on Sailor
America's birthday, but it still made a nice present.  As far as they knew,
Hinansho would be their home for the next century or so at least.  It didn't
seem like such a bad place to spend a hundred years.
 
	"Sailor Orion to the bridge please," called the intercom.

	The redhead stood and stretched.  "Wanna come along?" 
 
	"Sure." 
 
	The two walked along the corridors of H.M.S. Tuckwood.  They
frequently had to stand to the side; the halls were as crowded as they ever
were, with people moving equipment, baggage, personal belongings,
everything.  In contrast to the orderly boarding that had taken a full week,
everyone seemed bent on being the first one off Tuckwood and onto their new
home.  Sailor Orion couldn't help but shed a tear or two; this would probably 
be her last starship command.  She'd had enough excitement for 
a dozen lifetimes; this was essentially her retirement.  To think that 
she would never walk the deck of a ship again was . . . painful.
 
	"Whatcha thinkin' about?" asked Sailor America, deliberately
thickening her Pennsylvanian accent and wrapping an arm around her lover.
 
	"Nothing . . . just that we'll be back planetside soon." 
 
	"Wondering what to do?" 
 
	"No, I know what I'm doing.  I've already received an offer from the
University of Hinansho, they want me to teach as an adjunct."
 
	"Adjunct?  You've got too much skill and experience to be an
*adjunct*!"
 
	"I guess you're right.  I'll probably try to talk them into letting
me on as a full professor."
 
	"Not probably, *will*.  You deserve it.  If they don't give you 
tenure, give 'em hell."
 
	"Yes, well . . . ."  She exhaled slowly.  "I want to teach high
school, too."
 
	"Why?"  

	They stopped at a hallway junction as two men moved a long metal
object that Sailor Orion couldn't identify.  If she had to take a guess
she'd say it was a lamppost, but she had no idea why a lamppost would be on
her ship.  "I'm not sure, actually.  It just seems like something fun to do. 
By university most students are so set in their ways; I think maybe I'll be
able to change more lives that way.  Nothing quite matches the enthusiasm of
a good high school student.  Especially the freshmen: you can see that they
actually care.  Sometimes they don't, but that's okay, because you stand a
chance of converting them."
 
	"And then you have the ones who are interested only to pump up their
GPAs." The men passed, and the two senshi continued on their way.
 
	"Well, that's a risk, but you keep going.  I worked in a high school
a bit while getting my doctorate, I think it would be lots of fun."
 
	"Yeah, lots of fun dealing with some rugrats." 
 
	"At least I won't be behind a microphone," she teased.  They reached
a final door, and it opened onto the bridge.
 
*** 
 
	"Pearcy-san?  He needs an answer now." 
 
	Eileen waved her hand at the aide.  "I'll be there late, and that's
that.  He doesn't like that, he can find a new anchor."
 
	"Okay."  The aide bowed and left the hospital room, leaving Jen and
Eileen alone again.  

	The brunette turned back to Jen's still-unmoving body and gripped
her right hand tightly.  "Jen, I know you can hear me.  It's been two weeks
now.  There's a substitute handling your job, but he's really doing a
miserable job.  The one they got for your university course is even worse,
and your grad student . . . I don't know how you survived his calling you at
two in the morning to ask questions, because I know I've been doing a lousy
job with it.
 
	"I really need you to come back, I really don't know how much longer
I can go on without you.  I need you to be back home, like we were before. 
Let's be like that."
 
	Eileen sat unmoving, hot tears searing their way down her cheeks.  
She didn't notice the slight pressure on her hands that grew and grew, 
didn't notice when Jen's reddish-black eyebrows fluttered and her eyes 
slowly opened. 
 
	She did notice when Jen managed to croak out, "Eileen . . . why did
you let your hair down?"
 
	Jen was soon too busy getting the bear hug of her life to notice
anything else.
 
============= 
 
(Rating: PG)
 
============================================ 
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Orion 
A relatively original fanfic by LeVar Bouyer 
Episode 407: Double Education 
============================================ 
 
 
	In orbit around the planet Hinansho, a short humanoid with slightly
gray skin and short-cropped green hair strode purposefully down a dark and
dour hallway of a starship.  The humanoid seemed oblivious to the disruption
the ship's presence had caused below in the past month or so.  Most humans
would guess that the humanoid was male, and they would be right.  They would
also guess that he wasn't from Earth or any colony world, and they would be
right about that as well.  None could guess his name, Bautsch, mainly
because it was a completely alien name.  Most would have called him elfin,
mainly because of his ears.
 
	Bautsch ignored the itch in his slightly pointed ears as he made his
way through the ship.  It was one of the best ships his people knew of in
the galaxy, and he felt he could best any other ship in single combat.  Such
was the pride of being a captain.
 
	There were some people higher than captain, however. 
 
	He reached a heavy double-door, guarded by two sentries who did
nothing to acknowledge his presence.  "Captain Bautsch, appearing as
ordered," he said to the door in an imperious voice that wasn't used to
being questioned.
 
	"You may enter," came the raspy voice from within.  The doors slid
open reluctantly, with whines and groans attesting to how long it had been
since they were given a proper maintenance check.  'Like too much on this
ship,' he thought silently.  

	He snapped to attention and entered the room.  Inside it looked much
like an interrogation room.  The walls and ceiling vanished into a black
murky gloom, giving the impression of great size.  In the center of the room
was a rectangular desk, bathed in a white overhead light.  The person seated
at the desk remained in the all-pervasive shadow.  Three meters before the
desk was another spot of light, this one empty.
 
	This wasn't Bautsch's first visit to this chamber: he knew his role. 
His boots echoed as he went to the second circle of light and stood, staring
into the shadow behind the desk.  "You called for me, my lord."
 
	"Yes," came the rasp again.  "You have failed me twice.  Explain
yourself."
 
	This, too, was expected.  "My lord, the champions we sent against
this planet were of ample strength to defeat the sailor senshi we knew would
be here.  We did not anticipate the senshi's ability to compensate and
evolve.  We have now accounted for this, and we do not expect a repeat of
the previous two performances."
 
	"Is this a guarantee?" asked the rasp, and Bautsch immediately saw
the danger he was in.
 
	"There are no guarantees in war, my lord." 
 
	There was a grunt in reply.  "Hmph.  You were taught well." 
 
	"I was taught by you, my lord.  There is none better." 
 
	Silence. 
 
	"You have my permission to dispatch another champion to the surface. 
See to it that the sailor senshi, whoever they are, are destroyed.  That is
all."
 
	"Victory be thine, my lord." 
 
	"Until the next battle." 
 
	Bautsche pressed a fist to his chest in salute, spun on a heel, and
walked out.
 
*** [title sequence] ***
 
	Eileen's red car pulled into the faculty lot at Furikato High, its
sleek sporty design in contrast to the more conventional cars and minivans
already parked there.  It was still early, and the student lot also filled
as others walked in from neighboring areas.  "You're sure you want to do
this?" she asked, putting the car into park.  She anxiously rubbed her hands
on her blue jeans and looked over at the redhead in the passenger seat.
 
	"Quite sure," replied Jen, looking through her briefcase with a
frown.  After a moment her eyes lit up and she pulled out a dozen sheets of
paper.  Pulling a paper clip from nowhere--she had found that it helped to
have a good supply in her pocket space, especially since she had a tendency
to lose such things--, she clipped the papers together and reinserted them
in the briefcase, closing it with a satisfying click.  "I've already missed
two weeks of classes, and I don't want to know how bad a job my substitute's
been doing."
 
	"You should know what kind of job he's been doing, you call him
twice a day!"
 
	"I have to relay lesson plans," protested Jen, but she was smiling. 
She couldn't wait to get back to teaching, to put the previous battles
behind her.  Taking one last look at herself in the rear view mirror, she
stepped out of the car and carefully closed the door behind her.
 
	"Okay, then," said Eileen.  Her voice sounded slightly distant from
inside the car.  "Have a nice day, and take care of yourself."
 
	Involuntarily Jen stuck her right hand into nowhere and gripped her
newly upgraded henshin stick for a moment, then moved on and felt the hilt
of her sword.  "I will," she said quietly.  "See you later," she finished
more cheerfully.  Winking, she turned and made her way to the school
building, almost skipping as she went.
 
	Inside, she noticed a major change that she remarked on in the
teachers lounge, or rather would have remarked upon if she hadn't been
showered with greetings on entering.
 
	"Good morning, Sakachi-san," called out Denbe. 
 
	"Good morning, Tsukahara-san!" replied Jen, smiling.  The other
teachers made similar greetings.  Overall they were a fairly friendly group
who didn't socialize much outside of school, but were warm and gentle while
there.  She liked them much more than the university faculty, for certain. 
At least here they didn't treat her like a pariah for looking the age she
did.
 
	By unspoken agreement no-one spoke about why she had been absent for
so long.  As far as they were concerned, she had been sick for a couple
weeks and had come back.  Nothing was said about the performance of Sailor
Orion those nights ago.  Jen was only too happy to oblige them with business
as usual.  "Where are all the students?" she asked of no-one in particular
as she sat at her desk, organizing test papers that had been given and
graded in her absence.  "I was walking through the halls, it's like half of
them are gone."
 
	"Only a third, actually," replied Denbe.  "Their parents got out of
town and took the kids with them.  Can't really blame them, it's not too
safe."
 
	"Everyone else stayed, though." 
 
	"They trust the authorities."  Authorities meant senshi, at least in
this case, and everyone knew it.
 
	"Hm.  You guys are managing, though?" 
 
	"Yep."  He took out a stick of chewing gum and began munching on it
as he looked at the clock.  About three minutes before they would have to go
to their respective classes and start off the day with morning
announcements.  "Truth be told, I kinda like it.  At least we're getting our
smaller class sizes," he joked.
 
	"True, but at what cost?" 
 
	The usual banter and conversation that filled the room ceased. 
 
*** 
 
	"When will they be here?" asked the undersecretary of defense
impatiently.  He took out a pipe and nearly lit it before remembering the
rules against smoking in the conference room.  "They were due ten minutes
ago!" He put the match away and chewed at his pipe a bit anyway.
 
	"Sailor Orion has to come from her school, though," reminded the
undersecretary of education.
 
	"No excuse for Sailor America to be late too.  Are these the sorts
of people we're to have in command of the planet's defense?"
 
	"Do you have anyone better in mind?" asked the governor acidly. 
 
	Any reply Defense might have had was cut off by the knock on the
door.  The double wooden doors swung open to admit two senshi.
 
	"Sailors Orion and America reporting as ordered, sirs," said Orion 
crisply. 
 
	"You're late," replied Defense immediately.  "See that it doesn't 
happen again!" 
 
	"Sirs-" Sailor Orion began. 
 
	"No excuses!" 
 
	"There were extenuating circumstances-" 
 
	"And we don't want to hear them!" 
 
	"I had teaching obligations-" 
 
	"Have you heard *nothing* I've said?" 
 
	"-and therefore I was delayed.  America had similar circumstances." 
 
	Defense turned to the rest of the council.  "See, you see with what
temerity she treats us?"
 
	The others seemed largely unimpressed except for Agriculture, who
poorly concealed his stares at Sailor Orion's legs.  Happily for him, Sailor
Orion was too annoyed with Defense to notice.  "If you're done with your
usual complaints," droned the governor, "we've a report to attend to."
 
	Sailor Orion sighed, her chest heaving.  She'd thought she would
never again have to deal with government bureaucracy, having traded it in
for academia.  How wrong a woman could be.  She and America sat in two
chairs at the end of the long table.
 
	"First things first," said the governor.  "Last night Antares made
it through a full boot.  Secondary initialization is underway at the moment,
and Arakida-sensei expects he'll be fully operational by the weekend."
 
	Sailor Orion's eyes lit up with excitement.  "Would I be able to
talk to him now?"
 
	The governor shrugged.  "I don't know, you'd have to ask
Arakida-sensei.  At the moment I'd rather he put priority on the dedicated
data links to Valhalla.  The AI's tactical analysis skills will be of great
use in future attacks.  As for those attacks, it will continue to be our
assumption that they may come at any time.  This is a joint determination of
all departments, particularly defense and science.  The xenobiologists at
the university also had a hand in this."
 
	"But you've still decided against evacuation?" 
 
	"Sailor America," replied the undersecretary of transportation, "we
have no reason to believe Nagano-2 is any more likely to be attacked than
any other major city."
 
	"Bull," said Sailor America.  She glanced up the table defiantly at
Defense.  "The first two came straight for the city, which I'll remind you
is the largest city on the planet!"
 
	"We *still* don't know what they're after," warned Science.  "We
don't know who they are, why they're here, anything!  As a scientist it's
the best and worst of situations, building up our knowledge base from
scratch . . . and I don't need to tell you how badly off that puts us from a
military point of view."
 
	Indeed she didn't.  "I understand, but still, it's hard to ignore
the fact that twice they've come for Nagano-2.  We must have *something*
they want."
 
	"Perhaps it's you?" proposed Defense.  Sailor Orion raised an
eyebrow, but he seemed to be serious.  "You're one of the two most powerful
people on this planet, probably the only sources of magical energy for light
years.  If there's one thing that would single out Nagano-2, I'd think that
was it."
 
	"Still doesn't explain why they want to kill us," Sailor Orion said,
pouting in a manner Sailor America could only call cute.  She resisted the
impulse to give her lover a hug.
 
	"Because you're a threat?  They don't like short skirts?"  The
governor shook his head.  "We can argue this all night, we'd still have the
same problem.  Moving on, then, the council has unanimously decided there
will be no evacuation.  We'll continue as best we can normally."
 
	"Would that be safe?" asked Education. 
 
	"Not necessarily," said Interior, "but consider this.  We need a 
central base of operations.  Nagano-2 already fits most of the criteria 
we need for one, but it isn't perfect.  We have crews working around the 
clock to get the city battle-ready, but to support the crews we need the 
city to continue on as it is now." 
 
	The faces around the table stared at the undersecretary of the
interior.  A middle-aged and boring man, he had a tendency to be difficult
to understand at times, especially when he hid his statements in long
compound complex sentences that tested the parsing ability of the listener. 
"What I mean to say is that an evacuation would cripple attempts to fortify
the city."
 
	"Thank you," said Defense.  The man silently wondered why he
couldn't have just said that to start with and saved everyone some trouble. 
"We can't abandon the city until it's been organized as a proper
headquarters.  So the civilians stay."
 
	'This is madness,' thought Health silently.  She was one of the most
junior members, she had had little to say about anything since the crisis
had begun.  "The excuses I'm hearing to justify putting civilians in harm's
way, it's barbaric!  Don't we care at all about them?"
 
	"Shelters have been constructed-" 
 
	"Yeah, I know, I was the one who proposed them, and we *still* don't
have enough room for even half the city's population!" She turned angrily to
the two senshi.  "Remember *that* the next time you two go ripping through
the city and laying it waste!"
 
	"Wait just a minute," protested Sailor America, "only one attack has
been inside the city, and in that case we had no choice!  Would you rather
we just let the damn thing trash Nagano-2?  What happens to your precious
civilians then, hm?"
 
	She regretted the words the instant they left her mouth, but it was
too late.  "My precious civilians?  MY PRECIOUS CIVILIANS?  Listen to you! 
You're a bloody savage, is what you are!  As if they're just civilians . . .
they're the whole reason you're HERE!  And to toss them off!  By the kami, I
wish Serenity were here to strip you of your stripes right now!"
 
	Sailor America didn't react, other than to bow her head.  She knew
she deserved it.  She felt a squeeze on her left hand and looked over to see
Sailor Orion's face beaming comfort and reassurance.  The brunette senshi
weakly returned the smile.
 
	"Contain yourself," said Defense sternly.  "You've only been here
four months, you've no room to speak of such things."
 
	"I was appointed by parliament, I've every right!" shot back Health.
"And in case you forgot, only parliament can remove me, and I don't think
they'll be in much mood to after you suspend the elections!"
 
	Defense growled, and the governor seemed displeased as well.  The
council had decided, or more accurately defense had decided, in light of the
present emergency the parliamentary elections scheduled in just a few days
would be indefinitely postponed.  This wouldn't endear them to the
parliament, which had already applied pressure on the governor for
overstepping his bounds.  There could even be talk of impeachment once it
was all over, a power almost never exercised by the traditionally impotent
body.  For now, however, parliament would have to remain silent and stew,
and that also meant balking at any changes the governor might want to make
in his parliament.
 
	The governor looked at the senshi apologetically, as if embarrassed
to let a family matter spill out in public.  "I think that will be all,
we'll continue the briefing in private.  Good day."
 
	Sailors Orion and America stood and bowed.  Once outside Sailor
America wasted no time making her opinion known.  "They're rotten, the whole
bunch of them.  We should throw the whole pile of them out, you know it!"
 
	"I'm-" She halted, interrupted by a sound that was now becoming all
too familiar: civil defense sirens.  "Bloody hell, we can't *buy* a break."
 
*** 
 
	"What's the situation?" 
 
	"Another baddie, this one's coming in from the western plains and
moving fast." Kim's voice calmly rang out through Valhalla as the senshi
talked with the base via communicator.

	"Point of origin?"

	"Unknown."  Kim could almost hear the senshi on the other end think
to themselves: typical.  "Best projected intercept would be on route
forty-seven, exit twelve." On a status screen the area in question was
displayed; route forty-seven was part of the loop system that ran around
Nagano- 2.  This particular part went through a lightly populated suburb
that had already been evacuated.
 
	"That's a good five minutes drive from here," mused Sailor Orion. 
The senshi were at the capital complex, in the north-central part of the
city.
 
	"That's assuming normal traffic; we're clearing Eighth Street for
you.  ETA is in about ninety seconds."
 
	"What?" 
 
	"I said it was moving fast." 
 
	Sailor Orion looked about in the growing twilight before finding a
nice blue 3042 model year Shirow, the newest and fastest sports car to hit
the Hinansho market.  It would do nicely, with a top speed close to two
hundred kilometers per hour.  "Hop in," she said, cheerfully disregarding
the fact that the door was locked.  Pulling Kedalion out of nowhere, she
stabbed the lock with the point and the door conveniently opened.  Sailor
America jumped in the passenger side.  "Computer, emergency override,
authorization SO-Alpha!"
 
	"Authentication successful," answered the car's computer, and the
engine roared to life.  Orion gripped the wheels tightly.
 
	"How much time, Kim?" 
 
	"Sixty seconds." 
 
	"Let's go, then!"  She floored it. 
 
	The car peeled out of the parking lot, screaming through the 
streets.  At each intersection two police cars blocked traffic, giving 
them a clear route to the rendezvous point.  It was clear, however, that 
they wouldn't make it in time, even as they accelerated past one hundred
kilometers per hour. 
 
*** 
 
	"They're not going to make it," said Vanessa. 
 
	"I know!" answered Kim.  She stood up and fingered her headset,
looking at the maps.  Past the exit, the target would pass a shopping center
and a residential subdivision before entering the city proper.  "Tell them
to make a stand at Katka Mall, the bloody thing's going too fast." Another
glance at the map showed a single battery of artillery in the way.  "Unit
Forty-Four is to fire as soon as the thing's in their sight."
 
	"Aye, sir." 
 
*** 
 
	Unit Forty-Four consisted of three eight-centimeter cannon with a
range of about two kilometers.  Manned by a crew of five, the orders to fire
came as a great surprise.  They scrambled to turn the guns around,
eventually cursing the computer-aided guidance systems and aiming at the
target by hand.  Finally, the guns began to fire their shells, hoping that
they would be enough to slow the thing down.
 
*** 
 
	The end of Sailor Orion's brief joyride came far too late, in her
opinion.  The speed with this it had accelerated had made her uneasy,
despite the fact that she thought nothing of traveling several times faster
than the speed of light.  She was quite glad for it to come to an end, but
rather disliked the manner in which it had come to an end.  "Um, Eileen?" 
 
	"Yeah?" 
 
	"I think the brakes are dead," she said calmly, pumping the brake
pedal and getting no response.
 
	"Oh." 
 
	They were nearing the mall.  The road they were on approached the
mall from a hill that overlooked the mall.  Sailor Orion guessed that unless
she made a sharp turn, the car would fly over the hill and crash to the
ground below.  With grass to both sides it seemed as good a place to jump as
any.  "On three.  One, two, THREE!"
 
	The doors flew open and the two senshi leaped to either side,
rolling several times to cushion the fall.  Despite this, it was still
rather painful, and they both came up slowly.  The car, its useful service
at an end, flew on another fifty meters before exploding in a spectacular
fashion on the parking lot.  The senshi had no time to sit and watch.
 
	"Ready?" asked Sailor America. 
 
	"Yes," lied Sailor Orion. 
 
	A cloud of dust announced its coming.  Its features were indistinct,
but Sierra-3 seemed to be wasting no time in allowing them a closer look. 
In fact, it didn't seem like it would stop at all as it neared the well-lit
parking lot, but Sailor America had other plans.
 
	"American Stars and Stripes!" she cried, not taking time to set up
for a quick shot and hoping her aim was true.  Billions of tiny motes sprang
forth and collided with the beast, bringing it up rearing as if it had hit a
brick wall.  Howling, the brownish humanoid fell to its back, twitching.

	Sailor Orion was in no mood to show it mercy as she brought her
sword into a salute.  "Orion Saber Disruption!" As quickly and
anticlimatically as that, the beast disappeared in a plop of basic organic
chemicals.  "All right!" she cried out in a flash of girlish glee,
high-fiving the equally ecstatic Sailor America.  "Too easy!"
 
	"I'm not complaining!" Sailor America grabbed her communicator. 
"Valhalla, this is the Hinansho Sailor Team, mission accomplished."
 
*** 
 
	Valhalla was similarly exuberant.  "Very well, HST," replied Kim,
grinning broadly.  "We acknowledge." With a click she closed the connection. 
If they could keep beating the enemy like this, survival wouldn't be a
problem at all.
 
*** 
 
	In orbit, eyes watched, and strategies were made. 
 

(Rating: R) 
 
================================================ 
Episode 408: I Had a Little Help from my Friends 
================================================ 

*** [title sequence] *** 
 
	One of the more interesting features of Nagano-2's underground
headquarters was the shower room.  Wide and spacious, it had been a holdover
from previous plans to make Valhalla just an ordinary bomb shelter.  It
boasted three dozen shower heads and enough square meters to have a nice
game of field hockey.  It was the perfect place for two senshi to wash up
after a hard day of work defeating an alien.
 
	It also boasted an "under construction" sign: it was being converted
into storage space.  Thus Sailors Orion and America, after debriefing a few
floors above in a conference room, had to go to a small secondary shower
room.
 
	The room was small, with half a dozen narrow stalls which barely had
room for one person, let alone two.  Jen found herself constantly bumping
her elbows into the walls of the enclosure.  From the sounds Eileen was
making to her left, it seemed that she was having trouble adjusting too.
 
	"You know," said Eileen as she took a moment from her attempts to
clean herself just to stand under the steady stream of water and relax, "if
all our enemies were this easy to pick off, being a senshi wouldn't be bad
at all."
 
	"I know," replied Jen.  Blindly she reached for a bottle of shampoo. 
"Much more fun, too, I think."
 
	They both winced as the water temperature momentarily surged and 
then returned to normal.  "Remind me to complain about the plumbing," 
said Eileen, checking herself to make sure she hadn't been scalded 
anywhere.  "That's the third time that's happened since we got in here." 
 
	"Well, maybe-"  The lights went out, and the water stopped.  Neither
moved for a moment in the pitch blackness; the only sound was the dripping
of water from hair, bodies, shower heads, and the breathing of the two
women.  "What was that?"
 
	"I don't know," replied Eileen uncertainly.  Turning slowly, she
went to where she thought the door to the stall should be and reached for
the theoretical position of the handle and found it.  From the creaking of
the door next to her she knew Jen was out too.  "Should we towel off?"
 
	"Do we have that kind of time?  We don't know what caused this."
 
	"It could have been a simple accident," Eileen offered, sounding
more like she was trying to convince herself of it.  They both knew the
emergency lights should have clicked on as well.
 
	"We can't afford to take that chance." To that, there could be only
one other response.  Still dripping wet, the two senshi performed their
magic.
 
	"America Crystal Power, Make Up!" 
 
	"Orion Crystal Power, Make Up!"  For a brief moment, the shower room
was bright as noonday as a flash of light heralded the transformations of
Hinansho's two sailor senshi.
 
	"Now, what next?" asked Sailor America, wondering if her high heels
were waterproof and skid-resistant.
 
	"Can you give us some light?"
 
	"I can try."  Concentrating on her power for a moment, she tried 
to summon a single star from her attack.  After a few brief flickers, it 
worked: a single point of light, much too bright to look at directly, 
appeared in America's hands and lit the entire room.  

	As she and Sailor Orion cautiously walked towards the door, both
wondered what could have happened.  The hallway wasn't any brighter; only
half of the battery-operated emergency lights were on.  They proceeded down
the halls, not meeting anyone else.  Sailor Orion stopped at a red-painted
storage locket that was at floor level and knelt down to open it.
 
	"What is it?" 
 
	Sailor Orion rummaged around a bit, the various contents of the
locker rattling loudly.  Finally, she stood triumphantly and slapped a metal
cylinder in Sailor America's gloved hand.
 
	"Flashlights," she said, beaming. 
 
	A moment later two beams of light cut through the darkness of the
subterranean base, which was still silent as a tomb.  Sailor Orion couldn't
even hear the murmur of the air conditioning units.  At one point she
thought she heard footsteps from the level above, but couldn't be sure.  As
they reached a stairwell that would take them to Valhalla, the lights
flickered on once, then twice, and then stayed on.
 
	"Took long enough," muttered Sailor America.  They nearly ran down
the four flights of stairs, impatiently running their ID cards through the
security checkpoints.  Ordinarily the computers would recognize their fuku
and let them in without having to use the cards, but apparently they hadn't
finished initializing.
 
	The actual doors of Valhalla were very plain in comparison to its
purpose.  Simple steel doors three centimeters thick guarded the main
control center; anyone who came this far wasn't going to be deterred by a
door, no matter how thick, and how many people that determined would try to
invade a humble colony world?  The doors weren't even locked.  Sailor Orion
simply turned a handle and walked right into chaos.  Seemingly every person
in the room wanted either her or Sailor America's attention, and wanted it
right there and then.
 
	"Allow me, Jen," whispered Sailor America into Sailor Orion's ear. 
The brown haired senshi stepped forward into the crowd.  "QUIET!" 

	They fell silent, and Sailor Orion's calm voice cut through the
tension.  "Sammy, status report.  What the hell caused that power failure?"
 
	"We're still trying to trace the source.  It was probably Antares!"
 
	Sailor Orion had no response for that.  Nagano-2 was powered by two
fusion plants, each on opposite ends of the city.  The two were capable of
providing for the power needs of the entire northern hemisphere in an
emergency.  Granted, that wasn't much, considering how lightly populated the
entire planet was, but still, this sort of emergency was just the reason why
there were two.  What could have happened to use that much energy?
 
	"Confirmed," said a voice that rang out throughout the room.  The
senshi glanced up to one of the screens, which showed a short looking man in
a heavy orange survival coat.  From his breath which condensed in the air
before him, Sailor Orion guessed him to be with Antares.  "We did it."
 
	"How?" asked America simply. 
 
	"We got a signal from one of the watch stations, thought it might be
another attack.  So we . . . we tried to boot Antares into full battle
readiness." What looked like a scowl crossed his face, though it could
easily be an involuntary shiver.  It was a good ten or so degrees below
freezing there, after all.  "He wasn't ready.  Went into some kind of
feedback loop and ended up trying to pull all the power from the planetary
grid.  The dampening systems managed to stop the surge before the core or
peripheries were damaged, but a *lot* of capacitors blew out.  Two of our
people died from shrapnel injuries.
 
	"Antares is undamaged, yes.  Tactically, however, he's useless 
until we've had time to run more tests, or barring a miracle.  He's 
capable of some self-repair, mind you." 
 
	"That's all I needed to know," replied Sailor Orion quickly. 
Antares was essentially useless for now, but they at least had power.  She
and America were also going on no rest at all.  It had been just five hours
since the last enemy was defeated, and now it seemed very likely that they'd
have to go at it again.  Sailor Orion took a deep breath and tried to calm
down.  "Do we have any sort of clues about what it is?"
 
	"Just two transient signals from one of the southern telescopes, and
a very faint radar blip that disappeared as soon as it was detected."
 
	Sailor Orion thought it over for all of one second.  "Order the
evacuation of Nagano-2 and the mobilization of the armed forces."
 
	"Sir," protested Kim from her seat, "half the residents are still
returning from the shelters, and-"
 
	"-they'll have to go right back," answered Sailor Orion.  "We're on
alert as of now." She inwardly growled: the clocks read 01:33, and she
didn't relish the thought of sending parents and children heading for the
shelters again at this hour.  "No, belay that.  They can go back to their
homes, just make sure they stay there!"
 
	"Y-yes sir!"  Kim and the rest of the staff were surprised by this
reversal, but immediately moved to put it into place.
 
*** 
 
	Far out over the ocean that lay to the south of Nagano-2, a titan
slowly emerged from the murky waves, lit only by the faint light of the
stars and one of Hinansho's moons.  After a pause, it began to glide north. 
Very very fast.  The sonic boom it created disturbed fish near the surface,
and for a week afterwards fishermen found themselves catching less than
their share of fish.  The champion drew closer to the site of combat.
 
*** 
 
	"Infrared detectors have been tripped," called out Vanessa.  "Seems
to be coming in from the ocean, intercept point Kenson Beach in fifty
seconds."
 
	"Right, we need as much artillery as we can get between Kenson and
Nagano.  Kim, get on it."
 
	"Aye aye," replied the short black-haired woman, dashing off to give
orders.  Sailor Orion turned to her lover.  "That artillery isn't going to
do the trick.  We're going to have to go topside again."
 
	"Again?" asked Sailor America in disbelief.  "We just got finished
with one of them."
 
	"Consider it a warm-up.  "We'll get back with plenty of time for
breakfast."
 
	"I hope so," said Sailor America reluctantly. 
 
	"Sammy, you're in charge!" called out Sailor Orion as the two senshi
made their way to the express elevators.
 
	The blonde looked up from her computer console, surprised.  "Why not
Vanessa?" It was Vanessa's turn in the rotation.
 
	"Just a hunch." 
 
*** 
 
	"Senshi arriving at contact zone," reported Kim.  The external
sensors were almost at full strength once more after the earlier power
failure, and showed their adversary.
 
	A long, pregnant pause. 
 
	"That," said Sammy slowly, "is a very big youma."  No-one bothered
correcting her; they all knew spectral scans denied the possibility of it
being a true youma.  It was definitely big.  Once again humanoid, except
with arms twice as long as would be proportional, with a total height of
nearly six meters.  It gangled.
 
	"Sailor Orion," continued Sammy, "we have a visual on Sierra-4. 
It's a humanoid life form approximately six meters in height, moving due
east at two meters per second.  Do you copy?"
 
	Sailor Orion's voice came through the speakers with a bit of noise. 
"Yes.  Can't see the thing yet, though." 'Six meters?' she asked herself in
disbelief.  How in heaven were they supposed to beat something the size of a
small building?

***
 
	Overhead, the sky exploded.  On Sammy's orders, dozens of flare guns
were constantly fired into the air, with the goal of illuminating the area
for the two senshi.  It was another three hours to sunrise.  Under the
strobe-lit sky Sailor Orion and America crept forward, eyeing the shape in
the distance.  From three hundred meters away it looked more like a house
than a monster.
 
	"Should we take it here?" asked Sailor America.
 
	A note of impulsiveness crept into Sailor Orion's voice.  "No, I
have a better idea." A surge of confidence building from their previous
success, she unsheathed her sword and brandished it, running headlong
towards the thing.  "I'll take the top!"
 
	Sailor America nodded and ran afterwards.  "I've got his legs!" 
 
	At fifty meters, the thing finally took notice of them.  Slowly it
turned, and as it did the senshi could see that its eyes burned with a cold,
distant light.  Sailor Orion didn't plan on looking at it for long.  "Orion
Saber Disruption!" she cried, aiming for its arms and torso.
 
	"American Stars and Stripes!" shouted Sailor America, going for 
its legs. 
 
	Both attacks hit dead on.  For a moment the stars and stripes
blinded the two, and it was a few seconds before they could see their
impact.  Direct hits: the beast lay immobile on the ground.
 
	"Yatta!" crowed the brunette.  "Two for two!" 
 
	"RRRRAAAAAWWWWWRRRRRR!"  The two leapt back, half in fright, half in
surprise.  The formerly vanquished champion lumbered to its feet . . . or
rather its foot.  One leg had been blown off, and its left arm and shoulder
lay in a puddle on the ground.  As they watched, though, the leg began to
regenerate rapidly.
 
	"Run," was all Sailor Orion said.  The two senshi turned and
sprinted back towards the city at full speed.  For a senshi, this was an
impressive speed indeed; any senshi could sprint faster than any normal
human, and maintain that speed for kilometers at a time.  In ten seconds
they were up to nearly fifty kilometers per hour, their feet scarcely
feeling the heat due to magical interference.
 
	The beast lumbered behind them, but slowly and clumsily.  The senshi
were far away in no time at all.
 
*** 
 
	"Sailors Orion and America are falling back, Sammy!" 
 
	"I know!" the blonde shouted back at Kim.  On the map, the two blue
dots that denoted the sailors were moving back towards the city, while the
single red dot of Sierra-4 followed at a much slower, almost imperceptible
rate.
 
	"ETA?" 
 
	"Two minutes for the senshi, closer to seven or eight for Sierra-4." 
 
	Sammy clenched her fists.  'Dammit.' "Call up Fifth Unit," she said
quickly, pointing to a lime green dot to the north of the chase.  "They're
to fire everything they have at that thing and slow it down as much as
possible, okay?"
 
	"Aye aye," replied Kim, who had already had the orders ready.  The
Fifth Unit of the Planetary Defense Force, fifty troops strong with surface
to surface rockets, rifles, and a few land mines at its disposal, had been
waiting to move and needed only the signal to go.
 
	"Vanessa," continued Sammy, "notify Project G that they're needed
now."
 
	Vanessa's eyes widened.  "Sir, the council expressly-" 
 
	"Do it Vanessa!" said Sammy testily. 
 
	The brunette shook her head slowly, but got to work on it anyway. 
 
	"Oh, and Vanessa?" 
 
	"Yes?" 
 
	Sammy bowed her blonde head for a second.  "If . . . when the
council asks, I'll take full responsibility.  You were following my orders,
nothing more."
 
	Vanessa paused in the middle of her tasks to turn around and face
Sammy, but Sammy had turned to face the wall, hiding her emotions behind the
mask of duty.  A tear caught in Vanessa's eye; they'd all been there before,
the three, they all knew what it was like to be in the big chair and make
the decisions.  It was times like these she was glad not to be a senshi. 
She adjusted her microphone.  "Project G leader, this is command.  Mobilize
and stand by for further orders."
 
*** 
 
	Sailors Orion and America didn't look back at the explosions and flames that
occurred behind them; they were too busy running in terror.  "What now?"
gasped Sailor America as they nearly flew through a small suburb.  Sailor
Orion had just enough time to see some of the doors were still open, the
lights still on in the houses.  The town had been evacuated in a hurry.
 
	"We keep running," replied Sailor Orion, sucking in great gulps of
air.  "Hopefully . . . the cavalry . . . can slow it down . . . long enough
for . . . us to . . . think of . . . something!"
 
	The two reached the crest of a hill and tried to stop.  Super speed
was a clear advantage, of course, but it didn't come with enhanced stopping
abilities either.  The best they could manage was a sort of graceful tumble. 
Coming to a stop, they turned to face the behemoth.  The flare guns were
still being fired, so they could see the vague shape of Sierra-4.  It slowly
lumbered closer, unfazed by constant weapons fire.  Two kilometers distant,
it stopped and turned towards the north.
 
	Sailors Orion and America turned and watched as it meandered away,
parallel to the city limits.  For the second time since the battle had
begun, they were stunned.  "Do we chase it?" asked Sailor America. 
 
	"Are you kidding?  We report in first, *then* we chase it!" 
 
	"Why?" 
 
	Sailor Orion slumped her shoulders and sighed as she reached for her
communicator.  "Because after that I have no idea what we'll do." She
punched a button.  "Valhalla, this is Orion, status?"
 
	"We read Sierra-4 as moving north-northeast at a couple meters per
second," replied Kim.
 
	Sailor Orion pulled up a mental map of the city, and overlaid its
and their position.  After looking at a street sign, she could see that she
was now outside the northeast corner of the city.  "It's going to Antares,
isn't it?"
 
	"That's the projected course, sir." 
 
	"Right.  Evacuate the complex up there and close it up tight." 
 
	A voice she hadn't heard in years cut into the conversation.  "I
wouldn't recommend that, Jenny.  I can take care of myself, but I'd much
rather have my staff."
 
	"Antares?  I thought you were down!"  The senshi was too surprised
to take offense at the diminuative name.
 
	"You thought wrong."  A long pause.  "I'm not yet at a hundred
percent, but this will have to do for now.  The tech crew is working as hard
as they can, and you have other things to worry about.  You have a gertie
arriving in about one minute, rendezvous point is the Thirty-third Street
bridge over the loop."
 
	"Whoa now, what are you saying?"  A gertie?  It took forever to 
make one of those.  They couldn't have made one on such short 
notice, could they? 
 
	"A gestalt device," explained Antares patiently, "just like on
Pleiades.  Granted, this one has a lower theoretical yield, and lower power
requirements, and is slightly smaller since it has to be portable-"
 
	"You've built one!" 
 
	"No, the physics department of the university built one." 
 
	"I didn't know they knew how." 
 
	"They didn't.  I told them the basics and provided a couple examples
of how previous models were built.  I also told them that each device needs
to be calibrated individually, and of the risks involved in activating one
without proper testing."
 
	Sailor Orion nodded to herself, still surprised that her old
'friend,' so to speak, was alive again.  "But they went ahead and did it
anyway."
 
	"The target's ETA to my location is thirty minutes.  I don't think
there's any other choice."
 
	She was forced to agree.  "So, do you think it'll work?" 
 
	"Best case scenario gives a forty-four point six percent chance of
success.  Worst case, zero."
 
	"That's what I always missed about you, your encouraging 'can do' 
attitude." 
 
	"I try my best," replied the computer warmly.  Sailor Orion smirked. 
 
	"Is this thing for one person or two?" asked Sailor America into her
own communicator.
 
	"Two is what it was built for.  Whether or not it'll work is a 
crapshoot." 
 
	"That works, then," Sailor Orion said with a shrug.  She didn't have
any better ideas.
 
*** 
 
	"This is *not* going to work," said Sailor America, shaking her
head.
 
	"There comes a time," mused Sailor Orion, looking over the small
controller she held in her hands, "when you have to take a leap of faith,
and hope that the people and equipment behind you are properly prepared."
 
	"And this is one of those times?" 
 
	"Yes." 
 
	"How many do we have left, so I know to be out of town for them?" 
 
	"Ha ha."
 
	The parking lot they stood in was deserted, pools of yellow light 
from the lampposts spotting the black asphalt.  The shopping center 
itself was dark and silent: the power usually feeding it had been 
diverted to the Gertie that sat in a truck which was the only vehicle in 
the lot.  Four technicians had been sent along with the truck, all of 
whom looked like they had gone without sleep for a couple of days.  The 
brightest of them seemed to be surviving only by munching on candy bars. 
 
	"You arm it using this switch," said the tech, munching on a bar and
pointing with his free hand.  "Then, you just do your thing.  Only thing you
have to remember is that you cannot let go of it until you're finished with
the attack."
 
	"What happens if I do?" Sailor America asked belligerently. 
 
	The tech took a moment to remove the bar from his mouth, then made a
gesture with both his hands.  "Boom.  Whole thing explodes, as far as we can
tell from the sims.  Then again, this whole thing is so jury-rigged we'll be
lucky if we don't get blown up trying to turn on the damn thing!"
 
	"Have I mentioned how much pride and trust I have in you and your
team?"
 
	"We built this damn thing in two days, *sir*, it's the best we can
do!" He stared down the senshi with wide eyes, the now-forgotten candy bar
fallen to the ground.
 
	The brunette backed away.  "Okay, I'm sorry then."  She made a note
to talk to whoever was in charge of this operation.  That much stress
couldn't be healthy.
 
	"Here he comes," said Sailor Orion quietly, or tiredly; Sailor
America was too exhausted to tell herself.  Sailor America was also too
tired to ask why her lover was so certain it was male, if anything.  They
turned to face their adversary.  Behind them, the techs got to work flipping
switches and activating electronic boxes Orion didn't understand at all. 
The crew wasn't running, though, which she supposed was a good thing.
 
	"Tallyho!"  It was moving as slowly as ever; apparently its
prodigious speed over water couldn't be achieved on land.  Most of it had
turned black from all the weapons that had struck it, but it seemed unfazed
by them.  Before it, two police cars raced away, gunshots echoing as they
sped past the shopping center.  Above them all, the sky gradually lightened
as dawn broke.
 
	"Ready, Eileen?" asked Sailor Orion, gripping her controller.  It
was a small calculator-sized box, attached by two thick wires to a host of
devices in the truck.
 
	"Ready as ever, Jennifer."  She swallowed hard and held her
identical controller shakily.
 
	"Gertie power at maximum," called out the head tech.  Above, the
lights flickered once, twice, then went out.  Simultaneously, a whining
shriek came from the truck.  "Um, I wouldn't wait very long if I were you!"
he hastily added.
 
	"Gotcha," nodded Sailor Orion.  "Okay, on three.  One, two, three!"
Both the senshi flipped on their controllers.  Both reacted differently.
 
	For Sailor Orion, it was unpleasantly like being electrocuted.  A
thrill of power surged through her entire being, from her toes to her chest
to her ears to her fingertips.  She was conscious of one thing, and that was
that she had to let this out, and NOW.  Fighting unconsciousness, she
brandished her sword and began her attack.
 
	For Sailor America, it was unpleasantly like being on fire.  Her
entire body felt like it was aflame, and she could only think of one thing
to put those flames out.  Her facial expression unwittingly matching her
lover's, she brought her arms out to their ready position.
 
	"Orion . . ." 
 
	"America . . ." 
 
	"Saber . . ." 
 
	"Stars . . ." 
 
	"DISRUPTION!" 
 
	"AND STRIPES!" 
 
	The two attacks leapt forward from the women, enhanced far beyond
their normal capabilities with the technological support.  With a blinding
flash they met the opponent, who howled as its upper half sparkled and
melted into a soup of basic chemicals and its lower half simply vanished
into nothingness under a spray of streaking stars.
 
	"Got him," whispered Sailor Orion, releasing the trigger switch on
the gertie and allowing it to power down.  Sailor America did the same.  "We
did it."
 
	Behind them, the whine built to a crescendo.  "Um . . . ," began
Sailor America.
 
	"DOWN!" screamed Sailor Orion, panicking, and rightfully so.  As
they hit the rough pavement, the whine reached ear-shattering proportions
and then culminated in a fiery explosion.  The makeshift gertie, unable to
withstand the strains placed on it in such a short time, self-destructed and
instantly killed all the techs who had been in and near it.
 
	The two senshi ducked their heads down, wincing as bits of debris
rained down around them.  Both knew that had they been a few meters closer,
their remains might have been part of that debris.  Finally, after she
stopped shaking, Sailor Orion pulled out her communicator.  "Valhalla, this
is Sailor Orion.  Target eliminated.  We need a recovery crew here
immediately . . . and a coroner as well."
 
	"Acknowledged, they're on their way.  Good job."  The connection
closed with a click.
 
	"Good job my ass," said the redhead bitterly, rolling over on her
back and facing the rising sun.  "Real great job indeed."
 
	Sailor America got to her hands and knees, crawled over, and held
onto Sailor Orion tightly, holding her until the tears finally came.  It was
the only response she could think of.  Words at that point were useless.

 
(Rating: G)

======================== 
Episode 409: School Days 
======================== 
 
*** [title sequence] ***
 
	It could be said that two weeks after the fourth attack, Jennifer
Sakachi's life could be broken into several parts.
 
	First, there was Jen the person.  She was Eileen's lover, the young
woman who liked to dabble at gardening even though she wasn't very good at
it, the first and only historian of the Green Oaks Community Organization. 
She had a membership at the Nagano-2 Lawn Tennis and Swim Club, even if it
was rarely used.  This was the Jen most people never saw or even heard of,
the Jen who wore old beaten jeans and sweatshirts, who liked making her
lover blush with ribald suggestions and then following up on them in the
bedroom.  This was the Jen who never seemed like she had a care in the
world.
 
	Next there was Sakachi-sensei the teacher.  Even in this guise she
had two flavors: the high school pedagogue and the university professor.  In
both forms, she was prim and proper, rarely joking.  She had all the
pressure of looking no older than the students she had to teach, and of
being a newcomer to the art of teaching.  After all, she'd had her doctorate
for less than a decade, and that was a doctorate that she knew full well she
had earned in far less time than anyone else.  It wasn't as if she *hadn't*
earned it.  She knew she had one of the keenest minds there were, as far as
history went.  If it hadn't been for other extenuating factors she would
most likely be world-acclaimed for her abilities.  In any case, as a teacher
she was good, but not great.  She sometimes took longer than necessary to
return papers, had a reputation for being overly strict, and at least in
high school had a tendency to gloss over some of the more unpleasant events
of recent history.  This was the Jen that most people feared or hated.
 
	Then there was Sailor Orion, the sailor senshi.  Sailor Orion was a
curious blend.  One of the new senshi produced by Neo-Queen Serenity I's
'recruitment' program, she had first transformed in May of 3029.  Though
raising a few eyebrows having a relationship with another senshi, Sailor
America, she had been right there for many of the significant events of the
last decade.  On Hinansho she was viewed as a hero and veteran of the bitter
war of 3035, the planet's defender, the fierce soldier who, along with
Sailor America, watched over the colony world and protected it from all
evils.  This was the Jen that most people loved, the one they idolized. 

	There was another half to this as well.  It was the Sailor Orion who
hated and despised killing in any form, and consequently hated herself all
the more when she was forced to do so.  It was the Sailor Orion who had very
nearly gone insane after seeing first-hand the devastation of the war
against the Allies, and who had spent most of the voyage to Hinansho going
through therapy to keep from cracking.  It was the Sailor Orion who had
lived over a decade knowing that she had the ability to completely destroy
the ecosphere of a planet, having been there once to witness it.

	The true Jennifer Allison Sakachi was a meld of these three types,
with a sort of intangible quintessence thrown in besides.  That quintessence
explained why she liked the twentieth century band Soundgarden, why she
loved riding in fast cars but hated driving them, why a senshi made a good
history teacher or vice versa.
 
	On this late October afternoon, the main component of Jennifer
Allison Sakachi's psyche was that of the college professor, since she was
standing in a lecture hall at the University of Hinansho.  The subject of
today's lecture was the Formation Wars, as usual.  As she had done her
doctoral work on that period of history, she had rather logically been given
this freshman level course on the beginnings of the Crystal Millennium.  It
was her favorite part of her work at the university.

	She began writing on the vidboard again.  It wasn't a true
chalkboard like the ones at the high school, but one that took what she
wrote on a small digital pad and reproduced it on a larger scale on the
board.  It was possible to pre-plan an entire lecture and advance it frame
by frame, but she preferred to put a bit of spontaneity into her work.
 
	"This culminated in the Free Earth Movement," she said clearly,
writing the same words on the board in standard romanji.  Kanji was rarely
used since Serenity came to power; while it was still taught, only a few
people used it regularly.  She put the pad down for a moment and went to the
board; most of what she wanted them to take notes on was already there, and
now she intended to talk about it a bit.  "The Free Earth Movement only
lasted six years, and was largely isolated to Europe.  As it had a number of
indirect effects on Crystal Tokyo, though, we'll go into a few details.
 
	"The movement had two clear aims, along with a bunch of other ones
that weren't clear at all and which don't really matter in the long run. 
The first was, in the words of Martin Andes, 'for the Earth to be free from
all pollution.' Andes didn't just mean the standard definition of pollution:
air, water, ground, et cetera.  He included minorities, particularly those
of African and Amerind descent, the clergy, New Zealanders, and anyone whose
name began with the letter S."
 
	She smiled at the class, remembering her reaction to his views the
first time she read of them.  "He wasn't quite sane, you see; analyses of
his writings show that he was a deeply paranoid man." She paused, but only
one or two people laughed.  Inwardly she sighed; her jokes, such as they
were, almost always flew over the heads of her students.
 
	Folding her hands behind her back, she began to pace in front of the
class, her fingers playing with the pleats of her skirt.  Looking out of the
corner of her eyes, she saw the usual.  Four students diligently copied
every word she said, about eight more only wrote down the important things,
and the rest simply stared with varying degrees of interest, ranging from
total to none.  All in all, fairly typical.
 
	"In any case, we've established that he had some noble goals, but
others that can only be described as coming from the lunatic fringe.  That
leads to his second main tenet.  He was firmly against any sort of ruling
government: monarchy, republic, communism, anything.  He was especially
against the rumors he had heard about attempts at a new monarchy in Japan.
 
	"This was, of course, what would become Crystal Tokyo and the system
of government that has lasted to the present day.  At the time, the future
Neo-Queen Serenity knew nothing of Andes.  However, one of his fanatical
followers, Justin Bakker, took hold of these ideas and got the bright idea
of going to Japan and informing them of these evils.
 
	"Along the way, Bakker fell on hard times.  He hadn't been able to
get hold of a plane as he'd planned, and trying to walk across Asia was
turning out to be a bad idea.  Along the way he was captured by some
confederation or another, but that isn't important.  What *is* important is
that he so influenced the leaders of the confederation that when it was
taken by the Third Arab Republic three years later, those views were
absorbed and carried out with a vengeance.
 
	"The result of this was the Pakistan campaign of 2177, in which over
a million Pakistani were slaughtered for no other reason than being
Pakistani.  This, one of the last acts of the Revenge Campaign, was one of
three that pushed Serenity into action.  The other two, you'll remember, we
discussed during the last class period.
 
	"So, we have Serenity preparing to make her first real non-defensive
moves in the Formation Wars . . . and it seems we're just about out of
time." As usual, the two students napping at the back of the room snapped up
to attention at those words.  She hid a smirk; that kind of student could
always tell when it was time to leave.  "Any questions?" There were none, as
usual.  "Okay, then, remember to have chapter eight finished for next time. 
Oh, and don't forget there's an exam next week, be sure to come to my office
if you need any help."
 
	As she was putting her books and papers away, one of her female
students drew near to the desk.  "Um, Sakachi-sensei?"
 
	"Yes, Akagi-san?"  Jen looked up at the girl, slightly distracted. 
Akagi had long black hair that reminded her somewhat of Sailor Mars, and
blue eyes quite a bit like her own.  She also had a build that wa
simpressive, to say the least.
 
	"Um, I'm not quite sure I understand some of the material,
especially the Ayoucoub treaty . . . could you help me with it?"
 
	Jen looked at Akagi's face, then her body posture and eyes, all in
less than a second.  Inwardly she sighed.  They were so obvious when they
did this.  "Certainly," said Jen brightly.  "How about tomorrow at the
library?"
 
	"Actually, maybe you could come to my house?  I don't like walking
around at night, especially after what's gone on the last few weeks, 
and . . . ."
 
	Jen decided to end this rather sad attempt at seduction.  "I'm
sorry, Akagi-san, but I'm going to have to insist you meet me either at the
library, or at a group study session I'm having at the coffeehouse later
tonight.  I've gone to too many homes where the kid 'forgot' about a meeting
and was off playing basketball; I don't do that anymore."
 
	Akagi's face fell slightly, but the girl with black hair kept up a
smile.  "Oh, that's okay then.  I'll try to get some study partners before
the exam."
 
	"Okay," replied Jen, silently counting her blessings that this one
hadn't been persistent.  "If you need anything else, you know my number."
 
	"Yes," said Akagi.  She bowed and left quickly.  Jen sighed and
finished packing her briefcase.  There was still one more thing to deal with
today.
 
	The hallways were fairly crowded with students as she walked up the
two flights of stairs from the third floor of the humanities building where
her history class was taught, to the fifth floor where her office was
located.  She came to the door and tapped at the small panel in the door
frame to open it automatically.  It had a doorknob, but with one hand
holding her briefcase and the other holding a trio of books, it was a bit
too much for her to handle.  The lights popped on automatically as she
entered, tossing her case and books on a battered armchair and walking
around to sit at her terribly disorganized desk.
 
	It was a tiny office.  Actually, it was little more than an
oversized coat room that had been converted when she came to teach.  The
walls were slightly yellow, the carpet brown and aged far older than what
one would expect for a building that was relatively new, the desk an old
beaten secondhand model.
 
	Jen tried to look on the bright side.  She looked like a nineteen
year old, plain and simple.  Anything that gave her more respectability and
stature was a good thing in her book, and assuming the air of an old hand at
history didn't hurt.
 
	On the other hand, she had accomplished more by the time she was
twenty-one than some of the other faculty had done their entire lives, and
she figured she deserved some credit, credit some said was being given by
her even having the job in the first place.  Many in Crystal Tokyo had
claimed that she hadn't spent as much time on her thesis as would ordinarily
be proper for a graduate student.
 
	As for graduate students, one of them was waiting outside her door. 
"Ahem."
 
	Jen turned around; she had been in the middle of sitting down when
the call came from the entrance.  She saw a short, stout student, male, with
short black messy hair, dark eyes, and an expression that seemed to
perpetually ask where he was and what he was doing.  'Great,' said Jen to
herself, 'wonder boy is here.' She sighed.
 
	Kyosuke Yamazaki adjusted his glasses nervously.  "I was just behind
you when you, um, came up here, and, er, that is, if you don't mind . . . ."
 
	"Have a seat," invited Jen, taking her own seat and kicking her
shoeless feet on her desk, narrowly avoiding an empty teacup.  Nervously,
Kyosuke sat down on the very edge of the armchair, trying not to disturb the
books already there, and trying with a lesser degree of success not to take
advantage of the view that Jen was giving him.  The fact that it was Jen's
way of injecting humor into the situation by flustering him into a relaxed
pose never occurred to him, as it never would have occurred to anyone. 
"Now, how are things going?"
 
	"Not too good," he said slowly. 
 
	Jen frowned; it was almost always his response.  She reached under a
stack of papers and pulled out two manila folders.  "Last time we talked you
said you had pretty much wrapped up the attribution problem with Sir
Fleming's records.  Did that fall through?"
 
	"Um, yes . . .the library says I owe a fine for not returning the
indices on time, too."
 
	"You know," she said, "if you didn't put things off until the last 
minute, you wouldn't have these sorts of problems.  This isn't the 
first time I've told you this!" 
 
	"I know," he said, "but I never have enough time-" 
 
	"That's bull," she replied simply.  "Twenty-five hours in a day,
that's plenty of time.  Your problem is that you're not *using* your time!"
 
	"But-" 
 
	"No buts!  It seems like every day that I walk by the VR arcade at
the student center, you're in there playing your games!  You're a graduate
student, not some high school kid.  Take some responsibility!"
 
	She hated raising her voice, but she felt it was necessary. 
"Honestly, I don't know if you've put in a single real day of work since I
agreed to be your advisor!  That was a decision based on your grades and
your prior performance, but if I'd known you were going to be like this . .
. ." She trailed off.  Strictly speaking, she had barely known Kyosuke when she decided 
to advise him on his thesis.  Jen had just received a memo in her office one
day saying that a Kyosuke Yamazaki was planning a thesis defense based on
the first fifty years of Crystal Tokyo.  Particularly, he planned to look
into the effects on the few remaining Ainu who lived on the island of
Hokkaido.
 
	Jen, having done her doctoral work on the Formation Wars as a whole,
saw it as a golden opportunity to prove her worth.  Here was a young
student, only a half dozen years younger than she was, aiming for a time
period that immediately followed hers.  It seemed natural for her to advise
him.  Of course, gaining respect in the eyes of the rest of the faculty for
advising such a brilliant student to such a wonderfully solid and
thought-provoking thesis would just be a side effect.  She wouldn't use it
to get back at all the nay-sayers who said a sailor senshi with a bona fide
mental history couldn't make a good professor, oh no.

	She had found, however, that things weren't turning out nearly as
she had expected.  Her 'brilliant' student turned out to have a terrible
lazy streak, always ready with an apology and an excuse for why he didn't
have a request slip filled, why he was behind schedule with his outlines,
why he had missed a meeting.  He was, in short, a slacker, and she didn't
feel that any slacker deserved a doctorate.  She had worked harder than
almost anyone to get hers, juggling the punishing demands of a grad student
while serving as a sailor senshi, and in so doing earning her degree in a
fraction of the time it ordinarily took.  Anyone willing to have her as an
advisor should, in her opinion, be willing to put forth at least half that
much effort.
 
	Kyosuke was the type of fellow who expected to get something for
nothing, though.  A fundamental difference in their personalities, but Jen's
stubbornness wouldn't let her hand him over someone else.  She'd started it,
so she would finish it.  For his part, Kyosuke simply stared blankly at Jen
as she went on her near-rant.  Finally, he asked, "Is that all?" He looked
like he'd rather be watching a movie.
 
	"Is that all?" echoed Jen incredulously.  She looked mutely at her
erstwhile student.  An expression of disbelief, followed by sadness, then
disappointment, and then finally an impish smile that heralded a joke in
progress.  "Yes, yes I suppose that will be all for now.  By the way, I'd
like you to read a little something and take as much useful information as
you can from it.  It would be a good source of material."
 
	"Um, sure.  What is it?" 
 
	Jen stood, walked around the desk, and handed Kyosuke a rather thick
hardcover book.  He read the cover aloud.  "A Short History of the Formation
Wars, by Dr. Jennifer A. Sakachi, et al." He looked up.  "Isn't this your
thesis?"
 
	"Exactly.  What better place to start studying Crystal Tokyo than
with the war that started it?"
 
	"But this'll take weeks to read!" 
 
	Jen's eyes got a certain glint in them.  "You have until Friday. 
Get reading." She derived no little pleasure watching him almost bolt from
her office, but after a moment the thrill was gone.  HAving lost her
enthusiasm for an afternoon of grading, she decided to pack it up and go
home early.  It didn't take long at all; all her important things were in
her briefcase.  Walking out, she locked the door, left a note that she could
be contacted at home, and went to the elevator.  Then she stepped out of the
elevator, went back to her office, put on her forgotten shoes, and went back
to the elevator, breathing a brief sigh of relief at avoiding the rest of
the history department faculty.  She didn't know if she felt like putting up
with their comments today.  After a couple years, she was still the
'rookie,' as they called her, and their cruelty, whether intentional or not,
was not one of the highlights of her usual day.
 
	The ride down and to the parking lot was uneventful.  Along her walk
to the parking lot she passed a couple of her students and greeted them
warmly.  The campus was the sort that was always open.  Between the
buildings that surrounded the quad, there were frequent glimpses of
Nagano-2, whose three tallest buildings were to the southeast of the
university.  One could also see the tall, geologically-speaking new mountain
chain that had reminded the original settlers so much of their old home that
they had named the city in honor of it.
 
	If she cared to keep going for a few hundred more meters, she would
reach the dining hall and student center, and beyond it the dormitories. 
Or, if she wanted to turn the other way, she would reach the athletic fields
and gymnasium.  Her goal, however, was a small lot hidden from most of the
grounds by a steep hill.  The walk down the concrete steps was generally
treacherous in winter, but now it wasn't so bad.  Only a few leaves from the
trees that had begun to lose their foliage provided a slight hazard.
 
	She got into her green sports car and drove off towards home, taking
a slightly longer route to avoid traffic.  Her normal path was being
diverted for construction . . . recovery, actually.  This particular area
had been hit by an errant artillery shell during the first attack, and the
cleanup was not yet complete.
 
	"Computer," said Jen, speaking to the simple simulated intelligence
that lived in her car.  It cost a pretty penny, but a senshi's expense
account covered almost any cost imaginable.  "Connect me to Antares,
please."
 
	"Working . . . done."  Not only was the SI small, but it was quick. 
 
	"Hey, kiddo," came the light baritone. 
 
	"Hi there," she replied, settling back in her seat and wriggling her
shoulder blades into the cushion contentedly.  "Anything interesting happen
today?"
 
	"Nope," replied the AI, connected to her car using an encrypted
radio which linked her to Valhalla.  "Everything's been quiet, except for
someone flying a hang glider into restricted airspace.  Nice and peaceful."
 
	"Any messages?" 
 
	"Three hundred fifty-six." 
 
	"Any *important* messages?"  She made a right turn from the freeway
to a residential street and slowed down considerably.
 
	"Two.  One from the Undersecretary of Defense, asking for a meeting
tomorrow at 14:00.  I told him you weren't free, but he insisted."
 
	Jen sighed.  "I'll call him tonight.  That faculty meeting is too
important to miss."
 
	"You know he'll give his speech about 'the safety of the people of
Hinansho,'" said Antares in return, making Jen grin with his perfect
imitation of the blustering Defense undersecretary.
 
	"I don't care," said Jen lightly.  "Eileen can go, no need to have
both of us there."
 
	"He'll shout." 
 
	"Let him shout." 
 
	"I understand," said Antares, who was silent for the rest of the
trip, which didn't last long.  There were only a few gentle turns before she
reached 72 Akihabara Drive.  Eileen's red sports car wasn't there yet.  No
surprise: Jen was home early.  Indeed, as she got out of the car she caught
sight of two elementary school students walking by.  Apparently they
recognized her from one of the community organization meetings, since they
waved to her from across the street.  She waved back, smiling.  Sometimes
she thought that aside from Eileen, these were the only ones she protected
Hinansho for: the innocent ones.
 
	Walking to the door, she stooped and picked up the evening paper. 
She then stood for a bit, breathing in the air.  "Ack." She sneezed, bits of
dead leaves irritating her nose.  'Yet another reminder of autumn,' she
thought grimly, 'and that we'll have to get those leaves raked soon.'
 
	On a lark, she set her briefcase and books down on the front step
along with the paper, and walked around to the side of the house, opening
the gate of the natural wooden fence.  The backyard was a bit greener than
the front, but more cluttered too.  Strewn here and there were the planting
beds left over from Jen's previous attempts at gardening.  During her
counseling on the trip to Hinansho, she had worked a bit with hydroponics on
her doctor's orders, and she had hoped on arrival that her green thumb would
carry over.  It hadn't, and the dead vegetables and flowers attested to
that.  She was emphatically *not* a gardener.
 
	Her next-door neighbor was, however, which annoyed her to no end. 
 
	"Hey, Sakachi-san!" came a high pitched, nasal voice. 
 
	Jen grumbled; things just got better and better.  "Good afternoon,
Kurmochi-san." Doi Kurmochi was a bachelor man who was perhaps the most
annoying person she had ever met.  As far as she had been able to tell, he
had nothing better to do all day but putter around in his garden and pay
almost weekly visits to her doorstep.  Eventually she had managed to pin
down a pattern behind the timing of his visits, but once he noticed that she
and Eileen were always out when he came to the door he began to come at
random days and times.  Eileen had suggested that they both come to the door
one day in full senshi attire and tell him once and for all to leave them
alone, but Jen insisted on being open.  Thus, she had to stop and talk with
him, when a dozen other things called her attention.
 
	"How ya doin', Sakachi-san?  Getting a bit cold, isn't it?" 
 
	"Yes, yes it is," she replied, looking at a knothole in the fence. 
One of the oddest things about their conversations was that they rarely
actually saw each other.  The fence was high enough for Jen to see over, but
she rarely drew that close.  A short man, Doi couldn't hope to look over it. 
Much of the time Jen didn't even face him when she talked.
 
	"I hope you wore a jacket today?" 
 
	"No, a sweater was good enough."  'Last day for it, though,' she
thought.  Winter was definitely coming, and even now she wished she was
wearing her windbreaker.
 
	"You'll catch a cold!" 
 
	"I'll be all right."  Jen knelt and inspected a tuft of grass that
seemed greener than its surroundings.  Squirrels, probably, or a rabbit who
had managed to get under the fence.  Need to have that fixed.
 
	"I have an old jacket in my shed here, I could get it for-" 
 
	"That's okay, Kurmochi-san," Jen sighed, "I'll be going in for a
bit-"
 
	"May I-" 
 
	"-to get dinner ready and get caught up on some reading.  Bye!" 
 
	"Wait, there was one other thing I wanted to ask you!" 
 
	"What *is* it, Kurmochi-san?"  Jen had to keep from marching right
to the fence and giving him a piece of her mind.
 
	"Do you ever have nightmares?" he asked in a soft voice. 
 
	"Huh?" 
 
	"Just wondering.  I know being a senshi must be hard at times . . .
forgive me, I've never really brought up your job before or anything, I'll
be seeing you later.  Bye!" Finishing on his usual high and screeching note,
she heard him shuffle along through the fallen leaves of his yard and into
his house.
 
	She blinked twice, then shook her head.  Unbeknownst to her, a maple
leaf lodged in her hair, which would make an interesting surprise for Eileen
once she got home from work.  Alone with her thoughts, she went around to
the front of the house and walked inside.

	"Yes . . . yes I do." 

 
============= 


(rating: PG) 
 
========================================== 
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Orion 
A passably original fanfic by LeVar Bouyer 
Episode 410: Three Conferences in November 
========================================== 
 
 
	"It's too dangerous!" pleaded Eileen.  "You shouldn't go!" 
 
	"It's my duty," Jen said resolutely.  "I don't have any choice." 
 
	"But you know what they'll do to you!" 
 
	"I know all too well," she replied.  Jen took one look at Eileen's
desperate face, with the usual brown hair pulled back in a ponytail down her
back, dressed in a conservative gray business outfit, and dropped her
briefcase on the foyer floor.  Gazing into her eyes, Jen reached forward to
embrace her love.  "I'll be back before you know it," she reassured Eileen,
giving her a peck on the lips.  "Don't need to worry."
 
	"But . . . it's . . . parent-teacher conferences!" 
 
	"I think you're blowing this out of proportion," Jen said with a 
smile.  "Bet you just wanted an excuse to get a kiss out of me." 
 
	"I *never* need an excuse for those," replied the brunette
defiantly, proving her point by smacking Jen with a long passionate kiss of
her own.  After several long moments, Eileen released her lover.  "See?" 
 
	"I'd like to see again," replied Jen breathlessly.  Blinking and
trying to calm herself, she straightened her jacket and bow.  The jacket was
a deep navy blue today, with brass buttons showing the importance of the
conferences.
 
	"I can do that," said Eileen, reaching up and starting to undo Jen's
bow.
 
	With a sigh, Jen pushed Eileen's hands away.  "I'd love to, but
it'll have to be later.  Right now, we both need to be getting to work."
 
	"All right, but I'm going to hold you to that."  Eileen stepped back
and rearranged her hair, afterwards bending down to pick up two umbrellas
from a stand and hand one to Jen.  "Here you go."
 
	Jen took the umbrella and grabbed her raincoat from the rack. 
"Okay, but I hope you'll be holding more than just that."
 
	"Oh, I will." 
 
	Jen smiled.  If there was one good thing about their coming to
Hinansho--and there were several--, it was that their sex life had improved
considerably.  Something about being under the same roof as the Neo-Queen
had hovered over their bedroom for years, and now they were free of that. 
"Let's go, then." The two raincoat-clad women walked out into the cold
November morning.
 
*** [title sequence] *** 
 
	Parent-teacher conferences were quite a big deal for schools in the
Moon Kingdom.  For Her Majesty's subjects to keep pace at a time where great
change was sweeping across humanity after centuries of relative stagnation,
a proper education was absolutely essential.
 
	The usual books claimed a key part to this was parental involvement. 
To this end, each November and April parents of students were to meet with
their teachers in order to discuss how things were or weren't going.  These
meetings were mandatory, and could easily run over an hour.  Naturally, this
took quite awhile.  As part of the year-round system on Hinansho, the
November break consisted of nothing but conferences and meetings.  Students
would return in December, have a brief break for Christmas and New Years,
and then carry straight on until early February.
 
	The upshot of all this was that Jen was in the middle of the usual 
conferences.  Today she only had three scheduled.  The first one she 
didn't expect to have any difficulty; she was a good student.  The other 
two would be a different story. 
 
	Arriving in the assigned classroom, she sat at her desk and waited
for the parents of the first child.  Jen decided to leaf through the files. 
"Eiko Zenki, female, seventeen years old, born 25 February 3024.  Interests
include soccer, tennis, blah blah . . . ." She skipped to the important
stuff: personal opinions from other teachers.  "According to her soccer
coach, she's not aggressive at all.  Great on defense, refuses to take
chances." Jen adjusted her glasses and flipped on to her grades.  "In my
class, mixed results.  Hard worker, not very imaginative but generally
coming up with the right answers.  Probably lacks interest in learning for
its own sake, but keeps up to stay successful."
 
	"We couldn't agree more." 
 
	Jen looked up quickly to see a husband and wife standing in the
doorway.  "I'm Hirobumi Zenki, and this is my wife Mitsuko."
 
	The teacher quickly stood and bowed.  The Zenki bowed in return. 
"I'm Jennifer Sakachi, Eiko-chan's teacher.  Glad you could make it." She
blushed slightly.  "Just how much did you overhear?"
 
	"Only good things, Sakachi-sensei." 
 
	"Have a seat," offered Jen, and they sat.  "I'd like to start with
her grades, of course, as they're the most quantitative way to determine
your child's progress.  However," she warned, giving the usual spiel,
"grades aren't everything.  A student with straight A's could easily be
understanding nothing in class, and a failing student could be very bright."
The parents nodded.  "That said, Eiko-chan's homework and in-class
assignment grades are superb.  She's always on time, never leaving anything
half done.  Very hard worker.  However, her test scores are another matter. 
They're consistently in the lower third of the class, which is very
surprising.  Her homework shows that she understands the material, but the
tests say otherwise.  Has she always had this problem?"
 
	The parents looked at each other.  "I don't think so," said
Hirobumi.  "No other teachers had said anything about it before, and I don't
remember her bringing home bad reports before."
 
	"Well, we've had two exams so far this semester, both failing
grades.  Quiz grades are low too."
 
	"If-" 
 
	"Just a minute," said Mitsuko, cutting off her husband.  "You say 
her grades are in the lower third.  Where are the rest of them?" 
 
	"Sorry," said Jen, a look of puzzlement coming over her face, "I 
don't quite understand." 
 
	"What are the grades for the other students?" 
 
	Jen looked through her files; there were no rules against asking
about the progress of other students, within limits.  "They range from a B+
to several F's."
 
	"What's the average?" 
 
	"C-." 
 
	"Is that *normal* for an advanced level class?" 
 
	Jen picked up a pen and began to toy with it nervously.  "Well, you
have to understand that the additional challenge of-"
 
	"So you're saying you routinely flunk a good chunk of your high 
school classes?" 
 
	"Not intentionally-"   It was, of course, the wrong thing to say at
that point.
 
	"Not intentionally?  You fail my child, and you say it isn't
intentional?  Did you ever stop to think that maybe if you weren't one of
those sailor senshi, you might have the time to do your damn job properly?"
 
	"Mitsuko!" shouted Hirobumi in shock. 
 
	"I'm talking here," growled Mitsuko.  The short woman whirled back
on Jen, who was leaning back in her chair, slowly shaking her head in
disbelief.  "Now, how can you teach and be a senshi at the same time?  How
can you give my Eiko the attention she needs, or anyone for that matter? 
Answer me, dammit!"
 
	"Zenki-san," said Jen cautiously, "I assure you that my duties as a
senshi interfere as little as possible with my duties as a teacher.  Quite
honestly, I'm surprised that you'd think me inadequate for the job, and-"
 
	"-and so you'll go on blaming poor Eiko because *you're* too busy 
playing soldier!  You're a teacher, damn you, teach!" 
 
	Jen dropped her pen. 
 
*** 
 
	"Hey Eileen!" 
 
	Eileen smiled at the man at the front desk as she walked into the
NBO lobby.  "Hi there Kaji-san," she replied.  As usual, she stopped and
hopped up on the desk to talk to the security guard for a bit before heading
upstairs.  "How are things going?"
 
	"Boring as always," complained Kaji, sipping at his coffee.  The
balding man dramatically pressed his hand to his forehead, putting on a show
for anyone who cared to watch.  "Woe, woe, woe is me, forsaken to guard duty
at the dullest broadcast company in light years!"
 
	Eileen struggled to stop laughing.  "Might be dull, but it's a
paycheck."
 
	"Right," replied the man.  He finished off his cup of coffee and
looked mournfully at the empty cup.  "I heard you're going to be giving a
pep talk this afternoon?"
 
	"Not quite a pep talk, no, but we hope it'll be informative."  The
former secretary of public relations for Her Majesty stretched and yawned. 
"I'll see ya around lunch time."
 
	"Sure thing, Pearcy-san."  Kaji waved as she hopped down and went to
the stairs, eschewing the elevator.  She only had to go up three floors,
after all, and in her estimation a bit of exercise never hurt.
 
	Eileen thus strode into the third floor office of the NBO Evening
News, a large, bustling newsroom that was almost always busy.  Eileen
considered it her home away from home.  Just as Jen taught for the sake of
teaching, neither expecting nor accepting a paycheck, so Eileen did her job
of anchorwoman for the evening news for free, simply because she liked doing
it.  There were some who pressured both of them to be full time senshi,
especially considering the present situation, but in her opinion maintaining
a sense of normalcy was more important.  History recorded that the original
five senshi had been students as well, and to the best of anyone's knowledge
had never missed a day due to battling the various forces of darkness. 
Eileen figured that she, twice their age, could manage to hold down a
full-time job and be a senshi too.
 
	The entire staff welcomed her in their various ways.  Some simply
looked up and nodded, others waved, a few shouted out their hellos.  Eileen
returned them all with a smile.  Where Jen was serious and preferred the
silence and solitude of a library or office, Eileen thrived on the busy,
active atmosphere of the news room.  At any given time there were a half
dozen interns rushing off on some errand or another, secretaries on phones,
reporters working on stories, directors in production meetings, and so on.
 
	Eileen loved it.  She knew everyone by name, and always managed to
get in touch with each one in some way or another.  It usually took her a
full ten minutes to get from the glass door to the door of her office, such
as it was.  Although she rated her own office, she had taken a common
cubicle along with most of the staff.
 
	She followed her usual pattern.  Raincoat on the small coat rack
next to the door.  Walk to her cubicle at the intersection of two walkways,
put down her purse and umbrella, sit down and switch on her computer.  Get
back up, walk over to the small kitchen, and fix a cup of coffee.  Back to
the desk, sit down, and drink the first cup while reading the news.  Then it
was usually time to get to work on the night's program.
 
	Today was different, since that night she was to give an interview
on the present situation.  Observations showed that their enemies were still
in orbit, even though they hadn't made any hostile moves, or indeed any
moves at all.  The uncertainty of not knowing when or here the next attack
would come had many on edge, and it had been decided by Eileen alone, based
on previous experience in PR, that a word from one of the higher ups would
help to soothe the public.  Eileen was the natural choice.  Upon arriving on
Hinansho, she decided not to become the military's press liaison officer. 
She'd done her time dealing with the press, now it was time to cross over
the line.  That had led to a couple awkward moments; some of her coworkers
were the same reporters she had given the run-around to in Crystal Tokyo.
 
	One of them happened to pop his head into her cubicle. 
 
	"Hey Eileen." 
 
	The brunette looked up from her second cup of coffee.  "Oh,
Shinnosuke.  How are you?"
 
	The man smiled thinly.  Nearing his forties, he had once been one of
Eileen's enemies in the press conference room of the Palace.  After the two
had moved to Hinansho, it had been he who first offered the job at the
Nagano-2 Broadcast Organization.  He never admitted, even to himself, that
he missed their friendly banter.  "I'm okay," he said softly, scratching at
his black hair.  "You, on the other hand, look exactly the way you did the
day you announced the sinking of that one ship, you know, the one that
started the '35 war."
 
	Eileen thought for a bit.  For the life of her, she couldn't
remember what the name of that ship had been.  "Remind me.  Just how was I?"
 
	"I just told you; you looked just like you do now.  Cool, calm,
collected, and ready to tear the throat out of someone."
 
	Eileen raised an eyebrow. 
 
	"Kidding about the last part, Pearcy." 
 
	Eileen raised the other eyebrow. 
 
	"Eileen, everyone knows that when you're that calm, there's
something up."
 
	"Just a normal interview," replied Eileen.  She leaned back so she
could just see a strip of gray sky through the window and over the wall of
the cubicle.
 
	"An interview with me." 
 
	"Like I said, normal." 
 
	Shinnosuke sighed and leaned a shoulder against the partition.  "The
last time you gave an interview like this, we were at war."
 
	"I won't mince words with you, Shinnosuke.  We are." 
 
	He declined to press the issue.  "So, you're the boss.  What am I
allowed and not allowed to ask?"
 
	"No holds barred." 
 
	He glared.  "You've said that before, and then you pull that
national security crap on me.  I just bet you'll do it again!"
 
	Eileen put down her now empty coffee cup.  Shinnosuke noted that the
side had super deformed drawings of Sailors America and Orion on the white
background.  He stared at it a moment too long, and when he finally broke
away he met Eileen's cool gaze.  "Ask me anything, right here, right now."
She sat up straighter and grabbed a ballpoint, playing with it.  "Come on,
just to prove that this is on the up and up."
 
	Shinnosuke wasn't stupid.  "Is this on the record?" 
 
	"Do you want it to be?"  Her phone rang.  "Antares?" 
 
	"It's Momoko from accounting," replied the AI. 
 
	"Tell her I'm busy." 
 
	"Righto." 
 
	"Eileen, are you sure-" 
 
	"You want me to tell you everything, I'll tell it.  And we both need
to preview the questions, don't we?  So, start asking them!"
 
	"Erm . . . ."  Shinnosuke hadn't been expecting this.  Truth be
told, he had some other things to do that morning and really couldn't afford
to stop and do an impromptu question and answer session.  On the other hand,
he was a reporter, and no reporter worth his salt could refuse an
opportunity like this.  Perhaps he should start easy.
 
	"Well, how do you feel about the entire situation?" 
 
	"I feel great.  Next?" she asked quickly. 
 
	"Who's sending these things?" 
 
	"We don't know, and we have no guesses." 
 
	Shinnosuke pushed the point. "None at all?  You've certainly had
enough time to find *something* out!"
 
	"Lemme tell you something, Shinnosuke.  The military is down.  We
had two dozen fighter craft before this started, and that's down to three
that we're holding in reserve.  The army has never been anything more than a
way to defend Nagano-2 against conventional forces, and it's pretty much
useless.  We don't even *have* a navy.  When it comes to this planet's
defense, there's Sailor Orion, and there's me.  The three commanders in
Valhalla come up with ideas, while Antares runs the probability checks. 
Every other night we run drills, and those drills are eighty to ninety
percent successful.  That's it."
 
	Shinnosuke took a deep breath.  "Isn't that going to disturb the
populace?"
 
	"Probably," replied Eileen casually.  "But I think it's more likely
that they'll be reassured.  We're telling them the whole truth."
 
	"That's not what your head of PR says." 
 
	"I *taught* her, Shinnosuke, she apparently didn't learn properly."
Eileen glowered for a moment, then regained her composure.  "'Always give
the public credit, they're always smarter than you think.' Anyway, next
question?"
 
	"You mentioned Valhalla earlier . . . ." 
 
	"Yes, that's the nickname for planetary defense headquarters.  It's
a couple hundred feet below us."
 
	"Why is it called Valhalla?" 
 
	Eileen blinked.  "Um, I don't know, actually.  The three commanders,
Commanders Leeds, Porter, and Young, are sometimes called the Valkryies,
though considering the traditional role of the valkryies most of the
enlisted folk try to avoid that.  I don't study mythology so I wouldn't know
anything else . . . call it whim, I guess."
 
	"How likely do you think it is that we'll win." 
 
	"We will win, I guarantee it." 
 
	"You sound pretty confident," said Shinnosuke slowly. 
 
	"I'm giving a pep talk, I damn well should."  She grinned.  "Any
other questions?"
 
	"Um, no, I don't think so . . .  but that's an idea of, er, what to
look forward to tonight."
 
	"Great!" replied Eileen brightly.  "I'll see you then!"  She turned
to her computer screen and immediately started typing up a memo, ignoring
Shinnosuke.  It was a dismissal, and so he walked out of the cubicle, head
spinning.  A typical morning for Eileen.
 
*** 
 
	A couple tens of thousands of kilometers above all this, a man in a
ship observed the weather patterns over Nagano-2 and scowled.  "Changes your
plans, doesn't it Bautsch?" asked a feminine voice from behind.
 
	"Not drastically, my dear Holbrow."  Bautsch straightened from
leaning over the instruments.  On the lone computer screen of the panel, a
satellite picture of the Nagano-2 area showed a large gray mass of clouds
hovering over the city.  It moved very slowly, and didn't look likely to
disappear for a couple of days.
 
	He turned to regard his equal.  Holbrow technically was his second
in command, though during this mission they had become closer to partners,
and he outranked her in name only.  She was the same height, with the same
green hair, except for it being grown longer.  Her gray eyes glinted with a
hint of amusement, which Bautsch ached to slap out of her.  "No, Holbrow,
this doesn't change anything at all.  I'll just have to wait two more weeks
until sending the fifth and sixth."
 
	Holbrow raised an eyebrow, which was dimly visible in the darkened
room.  It was ship's nighttime, and its small crew was mostly asleep.  "I
thought your plan called for three?  After all, you couldn't get the job
done with one or two."
 
	Bautsch grumbled.  His plan to send the fourth immediately after the
third had merit; wasn't his fault the senshi hadn't been sufficiently
exhausted.  "The seventh will be sent tomorrow.  Cloud cover is irrelevant
for it; we just need to insert him at an early hour and wait for our plans
to come to fruition.  Phi will pilot it in."
 
	Holbrow raised her other eyebrow.  "Phi?  How'd you manage that?" 
 
	"He'll command a cruiser when this is over." 
 
	His counterpart laughed.  "*Another* one?  How many do you plan to
give away?  We only have three!"
 
	"This is the last one." 
 
	Holbrow leaned into Bautsch's face.  "You've said that too many
times, especially when we're making love."
 
	Bautsch wrinkled his nose.  "Don't remind me of that."  Not here,
not now.  "I promise you-"
 
	"Oh, I've heard *that* too!" 
 
	"Dammit Holbrow, this WILL destroy the sailor senshi of this planet,
that I swear.  Then we can suck this planet dry and move on to our next
target."
 
	Holbrow backed off, going off to look out a porthole at the blue
planet below.  "I still say we should forget about this miserable ball.  Go
straight to Earth, take out that brat Serenity."
 
	"Serenity II," corrected Bautsch.  "If the information we've gotten
from the people on this planet is correct, there have been some changes on
Terra, and her daughter is in charge."
 
	"Daughter," whispered Holbrow with barely concealed fury.  "That
bitch has a *daughter*.  After what she did to our ancestors-"
 
	"Patience, my sweet," interrupted the man, "patience.  Our race
shall have its revenge." He turned to the screen again, to the clouds that
still hid the capital city of the Hinansho colony from sight.  "Very soon,
my love, very soon . . . ."

(Rating: H) 
 
	Note: this gets *quite* hentai at times.  If the idea of two women
making love is offensive or objectionable to you, then a) why did you read
the last fifty-odd episodes? and b) you'll want to skip this version of this
episode (this is 411a).  Episode 411 is the extended version; this just
covers a particular scene hinted at in the 'clean' version.  If you consider
yourself a fairly mature and open minded person, then by all means read
ahead.  Otherwise, 411 awaits you elsewhere.
 
============================================== 
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Orion 
A more or less original fanfic by LeVar Bouyer 
Episode 411a: Modern Agriculture 
============================================== 
 
*** [title sequence] *** 
 
	"This better be a damn good treat," groused Eileen.  For the
thousandth time she shoved aside a stray branch as they walked through the
woods.
 
	"Trust me, it is," said Jen, stooping to avoid another branch that
Eileen would rather push away.  They both had their hiking boots on, and Jen
wore a field pack with a few supplies.  "Isn't this great?  Just you, me,
nature-"
 
	"Snow," said Eileen, watching a single flake fall from the sky.  "I
thought they said it wouldn't snow until Tuesday."
 
	"They were wrong, I guess."  They kept walking on for a bit, each to
their own thoughts.  Jen was conscious of the crunch of dead leaves beneath
their boots, and the way their path was uneven.  There were all sorts of
little bumps and tiny rises, and every now and then a larger bump and crack
told her she'd just stepped on a twig, or a branch, or once a fallen tree
trunk that they had to climb over.
 
	She also thought of her enemies.  Somewhere in the sky above them,
someone or something had sent four creatures to Nagano-2.  The first had
seemed to have the goal of destroying the city, the second and third had
never been given the opportunity to get that close, and the fourth, a
mystery, had seemed to be bent on reaching Antares.
 
	Something didn't add up to her.  Why Hinansho?  There was nothing
vitally important here, no ginzuishou, no magical artifacts.  In fact, the
only magical things here were Jen and Eileen themselves in their roles as
sailor senshi.  Perhaps that was it, then, maybe they were after the senshi
after all . . . but still, why?  Who in the universe would both know who the
senshi were and want to eliminate them?  Had some of Selenite's forces
somehow survived?  That would explain it; they'd almost certainly go after
the woman who had spearheaded the demise of their queen.  Still, she'd like
to see them face to face.  She hated not even knowing what her adversaries
looked like.
 
	Glancing behind her, she saw Eileen.  Despite the Pennsylvanian's
complaints, she could see that Eileen loved hiking.  She'd heard plenty of
stories of how Eileen would wander around the Lebanon Valley area, sometimes
all the way up to Indiantown Gap.  It had sounded beautiful to Jen.  All
that farmland on the valley floor, the hills to either side, fishing
unsuccessfully in the Quittapahilla, the small stream that bordered Eileen's
hometown of Annville.  Eileen was an outdoors girl, no doubt about it, and
Jen was glad to see her happy.  Her thoughts wandered off, and by
coincidence her thoughts were along the same line as Eileen's.  Then again,
lovers often think the same thing at once too often to be coincidental. 
Perhaps it was something else.
 
	The brunette walked on, taking in her surroundings.  She knew they
had no clear goal in mind, and yet at the same time she wasn't worried about
getting lost.  Even without an inertial tracker to give their position and
the cabin's to within five centimeters, she was confident she could guide
them back if necessary.  So, she looked around.  A typical forest, with a
few vines here and there, fallen branches and trees, few animals.  This
didn't surprise her; Hinansho was low on fauna, and most had been imported
to the southern hemisphere for ranching.  Too late in the season for
squirrels, she supposed.
 
	Eileen took in another bit of scenery: the person she regarded as
the most beautiful and all-around best person in the world.  Sometimes
looking at her made her want to just jump Jen wherever they were, and
sometimes she could just sit and stare at her for hours without laying a
finger on her.  It wasn't just physical, she knew; if it were her looks
alone Eileen probably would have moved on years ago.  No, it was her heart. 
Jen had a way of putting a hundred percent into everything she did.  She
knew that a lot of people were intimidated by that.  Eileen didn't mind; a
strong personality was just another thing to love about her, her willingness
to put everything into their relationship.
 
	Jen wasn't perfect, she knew.  She worked herself too hard at times,
she had a tendency to expect too much from others--and herself, too.  She
was still healing from the catastrophe of 3035; there were more than a few
times when Eileen had to give Jen a shoulder to cry on, when the memories
became too much and the redhead would sob herself to sleep, hating herself
and calling herself unlovable.  Those were the times that Eileen loved being
there for her lover, soothing her and telling her that no matter what
happened in the past, she would always be there for her.
 
	There was also the sex, the consummation of all their feelings and
affections for each other.  Making love with Jen was always wonderful for
both of them.  Eileen had been surprised more than once at the creativity
and enthusiasm Jen brought to bed, especially considering that Jen's
position as a teacher of history almost dictated that she be cool, calm, and
collected at all times.  That all went away in the bedroom, though, and she
knew she could count on Jen bringing her to the peak time and time again.
 
	All these thoughts ran through Eileen's mind, even as she
methodically noted the trees, the branches, the little landmarks that would
guide them back when necessary.  Even so, she found that their walk was
becoming more and more difficult.  She could feel her bottom and hips
starting to chafe ever so slightly.  When she realized just what had caused
it, she blushed.  "Um, Jen?"
 
	"Yes?"  She stopped and turned to look at Eileen. 
 
	"I think we should turn around now." 
 
	Jen frowned and leaned against a moss-covered tree trunk.  "Why? 
We're making good time, still plenty of daylight." Another snowflake fell.
 
	"Well . . . I've kinda got an itch, y'know . . . ." 
 
	"Oh," said Jen very slowly.  "I see, then.  Yeah, we should get back
and let you relax for a bit, then." A familiar glint came into Jen's eyes. 
"Yes, relaxation."
 
	Eileen looked into Jen's eyes and shivered slightly in anticipation. 
"Let's go, then."
 
*** 
 
	After watching the sunset, Jen finally walked into the cabin and sat
down on the bed next to Eileen, the overhead lamp on the ceiling the only
illumination for the small room.
 
	"Sleepy times, Jen," said Eileen, fluffing a pillow. 
 
	Jen smiled and took off her boots and socks.  "Already?  I can think
of a few things I'd like to do before then."
 
	Eileen had played this game before.  "Such as?"
 
	Jen peered over the lenses of her glasses.  "You."  Slowly and
deliberately, she stood over Eileen, who lay on the mattress, and removed
her sweater and T-shirt, tossing them aside in a corner.  Eileen looked up
and admired her lover, red hair cascading down her pale back, young breasts
hidden from view only by the white cotton bra Jen favored.
 
	Jen looked down, then with a distracted expression knelt down next
to Eileen.  "Eileen?"
 
	"Yeah?" 
 
	"I love you."  She leaned over and rolled on top of Eileen, kissing
her passionately.  As they kissed, their hands wandered over each other's
bodies, Eileen finding the button and zipper of Jen's jeans and undoing them
in a barely controlled frenzy.  After a quick moment they were loose, and
Jen wriggled to help Eileen slide the jeans down her long, smooth legs. 
Eileen smiled at the sight of Jen's white panties with tiny green polka
dots.  'They match her hair,' she thought idly.  She explored Jen's mouth
with her tongue, as Jen did the same with hers.
 
	Finally, Jen broke away gasping for breath.  She looked down at her
panting partner, red hair framing Jen's expectant face.  The urge to just
tear away Eileen's clothes and take her there and then was almost
overwhelming . . . 'but,' she thought, 'some things are so much better when
they're long and drawn out.' If patience was a virtue, Jen was a saint.  The
redhead carefully removed her glasses and placed them on the floor next to
the bed.
 
	Eileen looked up at Jen.  Despite the cold outside, the brunette
began to sweat.  "Jen . . . I need you now."
 
	"In due time." 
 
	Eileen felt her nipples harden even more, and a dampness grew
between her legs.  "No, I mean *now*."
 
	Jen went to her hands and knees, crawling over to Eileen until their
bodies overlapped.  The redhead bent down to whisper ever so slightly in
Eileen's right ear, punctuating every word with the gentlest of licks.  "In
. . . due . . . time," she said in her usual contralto, laced with
unmistakable lust.  

	Eileen shivered twice, uncontrollably.  "My God, you have no idea
what that voice does to me . . . ."
 
	Jen moved her head again so Eileen could see the smile.  "I know
exactly what it does, Eileen.  But that," and here she sat up, bottom
resting on Eileen's stomach, her taut body looming up over the brunette,
"was just a warm up."
 
	She bent down and buried her face in Eileen's flannel shirt, which
had by now become unbearably hot.  Smiling to herself, she slowly exhaled
through her mouth, her warm breath spreading through the cloth of the shirt
and having an undeniably arousing affect on Eileen's chest.  Then, with
infinite care Jen reached down and undid the first button, then the second,
revealing the brunette's collarbones.
 
	Eileen's only response was a sharp intake of breath. 
 
	For the next three minutes, Jen carefully undid all the buttons on
Eileen's shirt, finally reaching the spot where it was tucked into her
jeans.  "We seem to have a problem," said Jen softly.  "But we'll get to
that." Reaching back up, she pulled Eileen's shirt back to either side,
revealing the white bra the brunette wore, and the rest of her well-toned
body.
 
	Eileen breathed heavily, her heart racing as she knew what would
come next.  It always did.
 
	With blinding speed Jen took her attention away from Eileen's
breasts and to her belt, undoing it in a flash, unfastening her lover's
jeans and almost ripping off the garment, carelessly tossing it in a corner
of the cabin.
 
	"Silk?" asked Jen, looking down.  "No wonder you couldn't make the
hike easily.  This won't do at all; these'll have to go.  But *first*-" She
lay atop Eileen, facing down, and enveloped her mouth in another kiss. 
Eileen responded with vigor, their tongues flicking and duelling as her body
pressed back, managing to flip them both over so that she was on top. 
"Mmph!"
 
	Eileen smiled and reached for Jen's arching back, hooking her
fingers on the clasp of her bra and unfastening it.  For her part, Jen's
hands wandered over Eileen's breasts, her stomach, her bottom, and finally
resting on her inner thighs.  The brunette gasped as Jen applied a
featherlike touch to her sensitive thighs, occasionally extending a teasing
finger towards the junction of her legs.  She never lingered long there,
though, never even touching the cloth that covered her womanhood.
 
	This had the desired effect.  Distracted, Eileen squirmed, trying to
drive herself backwards into Jen's wandering hands.  The redhead moved just
as quickly, taking care to avoid Eileen's goal, though the scent of both
their arousal made it difficult.  Jen had to force herself not to hook her
fingers under Eileen's panties and give her lover the pleasure they both
sought.
 
	As she slid, Jen's bra slipped off, being left forgotten in the bed
sheets.  Eileen sat up and looked down at her taller lover and her perfectly
formed breasts.  Jen's dark pink nipples were fully erect, and Eileen
grinned sadistically, poking at one with an index finger.  Jen moaned in
response and edged her fingers closer to Eileen's crotch, which was of
course just what Eileen wanted.  With a gasp, the brunette bent her head
down and brushed her lips over the tip before engulfing it in her mouth.
 
	"Kyaaa!"  Jen screamed with delight while Eileen smiled.  After so
many years, she knew exactly what turned her lover on, and few things did
that more than what she had just done.  She continued suckling on her
breast, unheeding of Jen's bucking and thrashing.  Finally, she relented,
leaving her lover to pant heavily.
 
	"Kami-sama," whispered Jen, twitching.  It wasn't enough to bring
her to her peak--it never was--but it brought her ever so close.  Her eyes
narrowed with determination.  It was payback time.  Rolling over, she stood
and matter-of-factly removed her panties, revealing her nude body to Eileen. 
Eileen felt a familiar warmth within her; a stirring of the same desire that
manifested itself whenever she saw Jen in such a state.  From her feet up to
the top of her head, Eileen saw her as one hundred and eighty-three
centimeters of feminine perfection.
 
	Jen twirled slowly, putting on a show and feeling a dampness between
her legs that only increased.  "Like what you see?" she asked rhetorically. 
"Let's see how you feel it, then!" Without further preamble she sat on
Eileen's stomach again, this time her back facing the brunette's face.  For
her part, Eileen groaned with pleasure, feeling the warmth and wetness of
her lover upon her tummy.  "Take it off," Jen said simply, pointing behind
her at the bra.
 
	Eileen unhesitatingly arched her back up long enough to pull off her
bra, dumping it to the floor of the cabin.  Her breasts were now exposed to
the air, slightly smaller than Jen's.  Jen slowly slid her bottom forward on
Eileen's chest, deriving her own pleasure from the friction of skin against
skin.  As she slid, she lowered her head as well, so that when her face
finally reached Eileen's crotch, Jen's own bare wet sex was clearly visible. 
Eileen stared at it, inches from her face.
 
	Jen didn't pay any attention to this.  At the moment her entire
world was centered on a piece of silk cloth that covered a slight curved
mound.  She craned her head, taking in Eileen's scent as it seeped through
the slightly damp panties.  Closing her eyes, she then breathed ever so
softly onto Eileen's womanhood.
 
	"JENNIFER!" screamed Eileen, hands gripping the sheets and bundling
them tightly.  Her face flushed a bright red as the orgasm instantly took
her, and Jen noted the panties got a bit darker with Eileen's arousal.  She
inhaled the scent again, and again exhaled, eliciting the same response. 
Unable to take any more, Eileen relented and drove her tongue forward.

	For a split second Jen froze, every muscle taut.  Then, she let her
breath out, again sending Eileen into paroxysms.  Jen's head finally slumped
forward, resting her cheek on Eileen's body.  The brunette smiled, feeling
the second warmth between her legs.  Idly she let her hands run through the
red hair that had now spread itself over her legs.
 
	'That was fun,' thought Eileen.  'But it's not over!'  She renewed
her oral assault on Jen's body, lazily going up and down, never lingering
long at any one spot but never in a hurry either.  This was perhaps her
favorite part of their lovemaking, being able to pleasure her lover so much. 
She would gladly do this all day, if the only thanks she got in return was
Jen's happiness.  It was simply all the better since she got so much more in
return.  She slowly arched her hips, feeling Jen's hands tug at her panties. 
As Jen removed them, Eileen continued her lovemaking, taking in that taste
and smell that was uniquely Jennifer.
 
	Meanwhile, Jen tossed aside the panties, seeing no further use for
them that night.  What lay behind them was more interesting.  Not wasting
any time, she wanted to express her love and thanks for the pleasure she was
receiving that moment.  At this point, the quickest way to do that was to
make Eileen delirious with pleasure, and that involved centering her
attention on one tiny part of her anatomy.  Forcing her tongue into a tight
curl, she ran it around and around Eileen's clitoris, mercilessly exciting
the bundle of sensitive nerves.  From the gasps and frenzied assault on her
body, Jen could tell that it was having the desired effect as climax after
climax surged through the brunette.  She raised her eyes from her task and
saw Eileen's toes tightly curled.  Jen smiled and went back to taking her
lover to heaven.
 
	After a few moments she relaxed slightly, letting the pleasure build
in herself until she reached and passed her peak with a gentle sigh, then
continued on.  She knew that Eileen liked things quick, hard, and often, and
Eileen knew that Jen liked things slow, soft, and sparingly.  Sometimes the
balance didn't quite work out; Jen was occasionally too talented in bringing
Eileen's hormones to a boil and as a result went at Jen too quickly, and
sometimes Jen would get tired and not make love with the fervor Eileen
needed.  Today was slightly better than average; both could feel that they
were in synch.  Gradually they both built up their passion, Jen's sighs
coming more frequently, Eileen's gasps now coming constantly.  Eileen,
sensing Jen's peak approaching, prepared to finish off the night.  She
poised two fingers together, positioned them at the entrance, and
*pushed*. 
 
	Jen, with a squeal and a loud long sigh, delivered a final flick of
the tongue that brought Eileen over the edge for the last time.  The two lay
limp and panted for a moment, neither making any move to get up.  Then, Jen
slowly turned herself around and planted a long kiss on Eileen's lips.  "I
love you, Eileen."
 
	"I love you too, Jennifer," replied the brunette, a tear streaking
her cheek.  The two embraced, falling asleep in each other's arms.
 
 

=============================== 
Episode 411: Modern Agriculture 
=============================== 
 
 
	Jen finished stuffing the last bag into the trunk of their rental
car.  "That's the last of it!" she called to Eileen.
 
	Eileen finished trying to brush out the coffee stain on her jeans. 
"Okay, I'll just lock up then." 'Stupid me,' she thought, 'shouldn't have
been in such a hurry.' She walked back and keyed in the locking sequence on
the door.

	Jen hopped into the driver's seat on the right side of the car and
buckled her seat belt, as Eileen did the same a moment later.  "Sure we
didn't forget anything?" asked Jen, taking off her gloves and leaving them
on the dashboard.  Outside it was a cold damp day, and she was happy to have
thick woolen red gloves to wear and warm hiking boots on her feet.  She was
happier to have a car whose brake and gas pedals could be almost instantly
adjusted for the heavier weight.  

	"Did you remember the flashlights?" 
 
	"Yep, and the lamp, and the flare gun."  Eileen glanced over at Jen. 
"In case of emergencies," explained the redhead.
 
	"Jen, we're senshi.  If we can't handle something, how is anyone
else going to?"
 
	"What about medical emergencies?  One of us could break a leg or 
something!" 
 
	"Hm . . . I suppose."  Eileen still didn't like having something 
dangerous like that around.  But at least it was a vacation.  "Let's 
go." 
 
*** [title sequence] *** 
 
	Getting this vacation had been one trial after another.  The 
biggest was Jen herself. 
 
	"Jen, we need some time off." 
 
	Jen looked up from the stack of tests she was grading.  "What was 
that?" she asked, pushing her glasses up on her nose. 
 
	"Time off.  A break.  Vacation.  You know, what civilized people do
when they've been working too hard.  Last time I checked, we fit both
categories." Eileen pulled up the other chair in the study and sat down. 
Actually, there were three other chairs, but they all either had papers or
books in them.
 
	Jen put down her red pen and leaned back in the swiveling chair. 
"You know we can't do that."
 
	"We can't?  Who's going to stop us?" 
 
	"I am," replied Jen firmly.  "We're senshi, and Nagano-2 is in
danger.  We can't leave the city until the emergency is over."
 
	"Jennifer, you know as well as I do that there are regulations for
that.  We're both RSN officers, and we're due for some rest and relaxation. 
It's *required* to keep commanders from going insane." Eileen noticed that
Jen didn't flinch at the word.  Good.  "Ordinarily a psych officer would
have to validate it, but as we're effectively in command of the planet, I
think we can get by without that."
 
	She could see Jen starting to crumble.  "But what if something
happens?"
 
	"Then Valhalla calls us, we get in the car, and we're back within an
hour.  The mountains aren't far away at all."
 
	"Where do we stay?" 
 
	"I know a producer at NBO, he'll let us use his cabin.  Beautiful 
place, up in the woods . . . ." 
 
	Jen closed her eyes, and Eileen smiled.  It was now a foregone 
conclusion, even if Jen didn't know it yet.  "It'd be a chance to get 
away from the university, the high school, Valhalla . . . ." 
 
	"Well . . . ." 
 
	"Besides," said Eileen, getting up and crouching down next to Jen,
"there are all sorts of other things we could do up there, like practice my
massages." She moved her right hand to Jen's chest and let it slide down to
her lap.  "Lots of . . . mmm, fun things."
 
	Jen blushed and squirmed slightly.  "I suppose I could get a sub for
the day and cancel my university class."
 
	"That's the spirit!  I'll put in for leave and get a rental car." 
 
*** 
 
	They were on the 44, the main route leading from Nagano-2 up to the
mountains.  It originally had been built to provide easy access to Antares's
resting place beneath the hundreds of meters of rock.  A side effect was
that it was also a key road to many of the area's tourist spots.  A number
of resorts had found niches in the mountains, and there were several ski
slopes on the other side of the range.  However, it was too early in the
season for skiing; the first snowfall of the year had not yet come.  Jen and
Eileen had little company on the drive north.  Once or twice they passed a
supply truck, but that was all.
 
	Eileen looked idly out the window at the passing scenery.  As they
climbed from the abbreviated coastal plain of Nagano-2, through the
foothills, and into the real mountains, the early morning mist grew thinner
and thinner.  Eventually, they were above it.  Eileen glanced in the
rear-view mirror and saw Nagano-2's three main skyscrapers poking up out of
the fog.  Somehow it gave her great satisfaction to see that the four
previous attacks had left them untouched.
 
	She glanced over at Jen, whose concentration was on the road and the
music; the history professor had set the stereo to play her beloved
Soundgarden, and 'Spoonman' was blaring out the speakers.  Eileen didn't
mind that at all; she'd learned early on to tolerate Jen's little
idiosyncrasies.  If Jen wanted to listen to that ancient twentieth century
band, so be it.  It was another thing to love about her.
 
	"Jen?" she asked loudly. 
 
	"Yeah?" replied Jen just as loudly.  She reached over and dialed
down the volume.  "What is it?"
 
	"I know you just got one of the resident subs for your high school
classes, but who did you get to teach your 14:00 class?"
 
	Jen smiled at a private joke.  "Someone very competent, full of 
energy, bright, and enthusiastic." 
 
	"You didn't get Kyosuke, did you?"  Jen said nothing, but simply
grinned some more.  Eileen smiled a bit as well.  "You know he's way too
lazy to be any good teaching."
 
	"He wants a doctorate, it's time he learned what he'll be doing for
a living." She giggled.  "Besides, I want him to be answering questions for
once instead of asking them.  He'll get plenty of them, I'm sure."
 
	The brunette adjusted the seat to tilt back slightly and laughed. 
"You're a terror, Jennifer."
 
	"Yes, and you love it." 
 
	Eileen reached over and grabbed Jen's left arm.  "I love that, and
other things." She leaned to kiss Jen on the cheek, and tried to move to her
lips.  A moment later, after Jen had managed to regain control of the car
and Eileen sheepishly sat in the passenger seat with her hands in her lap,
they made the turn onto a smaller access road.  "Memo to self," said Eileen
quietly.  "Cars aren't a good place for romance."
 
*** 
 
	"So, this is it?" 
 
	"Looks like it." 
 
	Jen made a left off the rather bumpy dirt road and onto an even
smaller road, one that was nothing more than two worn tire tracks with a
strip of greenish-brown grass running down the middle.  To both sides of the
road was a thick forest of trees, cold and grim, with only a few dead brown
leaves dangling on the deciduous trees.  Evergreens were a novelty on
Hinansho, having been transplanted from Earth, and so the only green needles
to be found were on saplings here and there.  Aside from the road and the
cottage they knew was at its end, the saplings were the only sign that
mankind had ever breached this part of a new world.
 
	Eileen liked it already.  She could entertain herself for days
hiking up here, and she could be relatively certain no-one would interrupt
her.  The cottage had no computer and thus no AI pickup; Antares wouldn't be
there to spy on them.  It was very likely that there was no-one else for
kilometers.  'Just me and Jen,' she thought, tingling at the opportunity.
 
	Jen thought otherwise.  "Are you sure that roof isn't leaking?"
 
	"It's a traditional design, Jen, it's supposed to sag like that."
Eileen wasn't too sure of that at all, but as long as it didn't collapse
while they were there things should be okay.
 
	"If you say so."  They pulled in front of the cottage and hopped out.  
Around them it was fairly quiet, with only the slight rustle of the wind 
and a far-off bird call.  Jen walked around a bit, shoving her hands in 
the pockets of her formfitting jeans.  She shrugged a bit in her jacket 
as her breath condensed in the cold mountain air.  "Other than that, not 
a bad place at all." 
 
	"Brand new," agreed Eileen.  "The producer wanted it to look this
old, actually." That made sense: on a colony world where almost everything
was new, it was the old that stuck out in people's minds.  Eileen glanced
down at Jen's jeans and smiled at the view.
 
	"Eileen," said Jen without turning around, "are you looking at my 
butt again?" 
 
	"Um . . . yes.  How could you tell?" 
 
	"Lucky guess."  A pause.  "C'mon, we should get this stuff in the
house."
 
*** 
 
	A few hours later they were inside, along with everything they had
brought with them.  A fire was roaring in the fireplace, and the two simply
lay on the tiny couch, relaxing after all the lifting.
 
	"Not too bad for a morning's work," remarked Jen, toying with
Eileen's brown ponytail as the brunette lay with her head on Jen's bosom.
 
	"Not bad at all," agreed Eileen.  She wriggled her shoulders and
slid deeper into her comfortable spot.  She glanced up to see the fire
reflected in Jen's glasses.  "Aren't you glad we came up here?"
 
	"Of course," replied Jen.  "Although I'm still waiting for all this
fun you promised me . . . or do I have to find it myself?" Her other hand
snaked around to Eileen's backside and caressed it through the fabric of her
jeans.
 
	"Either way works.  And really, Jen, you don't need to sneak a feel. 
All you have to do is ask."
 
	Jen bent and kissed Eileen's head softly, breathing in the scent of
her hair.  "Sometimes having to ask isn't as fun," she whispered, just
within Eileen's range of hearing.  She gave a final squeeze and then sat up
a bit straighter, forcing Eileen to get up as well.  "Let's do something
different."
 
	Eileen pouted.  "Do we have to?" 
 
	"I'll give you a treat later." 
 
	Her eyes lit up.  "Well, if you put it *that* way . . . ." 
 
*** 
 
	"This better be a damn good treat," groused Eileen.  For the
thousandth time she shoved aside a stray branch as they walked through the
woods.
 
	"Trust me, it is," said Jen, stooping to avoid another branch that
Eileen would rather push away.  They both had their hiking boots on, and Jen
wore a field pack with a few supplies.  "Isn't this great?  Just you, me,
nature-"
 
	"Snow," said Eileen, watching a single flake fall from the sky.  "I
thought they said it wouldn't snow until Tuesday."
 
	"They were wrong, I guess."  They kept walking on for a bit, each to
their own thoughts.  Jen was conscious of the crunch of dead leaves beneath
their boots, and the way their path was uneven.  There were all sorts of
little bumps and tiny rises, and every now and then a larger bump and crack
told her she'd just stepped on a twig, or a branch, or once a fallen tree
trunk that they had to climb over.
 
	She also thought of her enemies.  Somewhere in the sky above them,
someone or something had sent four creatures to Nagano-2.  The first had
seemed to have the goal of destroying the city, the second and third had
never been given the opportunity to get that close, and the fourth, a
mystery, had seemed to be bent on reaching Antares.
 
	Something didn't add up to her.  Why Hinansho?  There was nothing
vitally important here, no ginzuishou, no magical artifacts.  In fact, the
only magical things here were Jen and Eileen themselves in their roles as
sailor senshi.  Perhaps that was it, then, maybe they were after the senshi
after all . . . but still, why?  Who in the universe would both know who the
senshi were and want to eliminate them?  Had some of Selenite's forces
somehow survived?  That would explain it; they'd almost certainly go after
the woman who had spearheaded the demise of their queen.  Still, she'd like
to see them face to face.  She hated not even knowing what her adversaries
looked like.
 
	Glancing behind her, she saw Eileen.  Despite the Pennsylvanian's
complaints, she could see that Eileen loved hiking.  She'd heard plenty of
stories of how Eileen would wander around the Lebanon Valley area, sometimes
all the way up to Indiantown Gap.  It had sounded beautiful to Jen.  All
that farmland on the valley floor, the hills to either side, fishing
unsuccessfully in the Quittapahilla, the small stream that bordered Eileen's
hometown of Annville.  Eileen was an outdoors girl, no doubt about it, and
Jen was glad to see her happy.  Her thoughts wandered off, and by
coincidence her thoughts were along the same line as Eileen's.  Then again,
lovers often think the same thing at once too often to be coincidental. 
Perhaps it was something else.
 
	The brunette walked on, taking in her surroundings.  She knew they
had no clear goal in mind, and yet at the same time she wasn't worried about
getting lost.  Even without an inertial tracker to give their position and
the cabin's to within five centimeters, she was confident she could guide
them back if necessary.  So, she looked around.  A typical forest, with a
few vines here and there, fallen branches and trees, few animals.  This
didn't surprise her; Hinansho was low on fauna, and most had been imported
to the southern hemisphere for ranching.  Too late in the season for
squirrels, she supposed.
 
	Eileen took in another bit of scenery: the person she regarded as
the most beautiful and all-around best person in the world.  Sometimes
looking at her made her want to just jump Jen wherever they were, and
sometimes she could just sit and stare at her for hours without laying a
finger on her.  It wasn't just physical, she knew; if it were her looks
alone Eileen probably would have moved on years ago.  No, it was her heart. 
Jen had a way of putting a hundred percent into everything she did.  She
knew that a lot of people were intimidated by that.  Eileen didn't mind; a
strong personality was just another thing to love about her, her willingness
to put everything into their relationship.
 
	Jen wasn't perfect, she knew.  She worked herself too hard at times,
she had a tendency to expect too much from others--and herself, too.  She
was still healing from the catastrophe of 3035; there were more than a few
times when Eileen had to give Jen a shoulder to cry on, when the memories
became too much and the redhead would sob herself to sleep, hating herself
and calling herself unlovable.  Those were the times that Eileen loved being
there for her lover, soothing her and telling her that no matter what
happened in the past, she would always be there for her.
 
	There was also the sex, the consummation of all their feelings and
affections for each other.  Making love with Jen was always wonderful for
both of them.  Eileen had been surprised more than once at the creativity
and enthusiasm Jen brought to bed, especially considering that Jen's
position as a teacher of history almost dictated that she be cool, calm, and
collected at all times.  That all went away in the bedroom, though, and she
knew she could count on Jen bringing her to the peak time and time again.
 
	All these thoughts ran through Eileen's mind, even as she
methodically noted the trees, the branches, the little landmarks that would
guide them back when necessary.  Even so, she found that their walk was
becoming more and more difficult.  She could feel her bottom and hips
starting to chafe ever so slightly.  When she realized just what had caused
it, she blushed.  "Um, Jen?"
 
	"Yes?"  She stopped and turned to look at Eileen. 
 
	"I think we should turn around now." 
 
	Jen frowned and leaned against a moss-covered tree trunk.  "Why? 
We're making good time, still plenty of daylight." Another snowflake fell.
 
	"Well . . . I've kinda got an itch, y'know . . . ." 
 
	"Oh," said Jen very slowly.  "I see, then.  Yeah, we should get back
and let you relax for a bit, then." A familiar glint came into Jen's eyes. 
"Yes, relaxation."
 
	Eileen looked into Jen's eyes and shivered slightly in anticipation. 
"Let's go, then."
 
*** 
 
	The next day was spent mostly at a nearby river.  It was barely a
river, really; it could just as easily be called a large brook or stream. 
In any case, Eileen had her heart set on catching some fish during this
little trip, and this was her chance.  Jen sat on the bank of the creek and
watched dubiously as Eileen assembled her fishing rod.  "Jen, did I ever
tell you about the time I caught a ten pound bass?"
 
	"No." 
 
	"Good, because I never did."  She finished attaching the reel and
tested winding it up.  "Best I ever managed was a goldfish that someone had
dumped out into the Quitty." Eileen looked up to the sky, but the clouds had
been replaced with sun.  No snow today, apparently.
 
	"Did you keep it?" 
 
	Eileen, satisfied with the reel, finished threading the pole and
attached some bait to the barbless hook.  "Of course not.  I threw the poor
thing back." She glanced over to make sure Jen was clear, then drew back and
cast.  "What was I going to do with a goldfish?"
 
	"You have a point," replied Jen.  She shifted a bit; perhaps sitting
on the cold, slightly damp ground was a bad idea.  "You never tried to fish
back in Crystal Tokyo."
 
	"All the streams designated for fishing were packed.  You needed to
place reservations a week or so in advance, and fishing should be something
spontaneous, you know?" Jen nodded.  "Besides, I didn't want people to think
that all us Americans know how to do is hunt, fish, and kill people."
 
	"We don't think that." 
 
	"You'd be surprised."  Eileen waited patiently for a good half 
hour, neither of them talking.  Jen watched a bird swoop down, come to 
rest on the other side of the stream, cock its head, and then fly off 
again. 
 
	"Slow day," said Jen at last. 
 
	"Yes." 
 
	More silence.  "You're not too good at this, are you?" 
 
	Eileen frowned.  "I'd like to see you do better." 
 
	"Okay, let me have a shot."  Eileen handed the pole over to Jen, who
cast it out again.  Not ten seconds later she felt a tug at the line.
 
	"Son of a . . . okay Jen, what you have to do is reel him in.  Just
keep a good grip on the pole with one hand, and . . . here, lemme help." She
reached over and pressed in close to Jen, trying to guide the red haired
woman's hands to the proper places.  "Good heavens he's strong!" she
exclaimed.  The tug was almost too much, and Eileen felt it slipping.
 
	"I'm losing it, Eileen!" 
 
	"Okay, on three you hold on as tight as you can and fall back.  One,
two-"
 
	She never got to three.  The fish, apparently the strongest fish on
the planet, gave a last mighty pull, pulling the two into the water with a
splash.
 
	"KYAAA!" 
 
	"ARGH!" 
 
	Dripping wet and freezing, Jen and Eileen leapt out from the stream,
making an instant decision and abandoning both the fish and the pole.  A
second later they decided to abandon Eileen's bag, too, as they ran back to
the cabin.
 
*** 
 
	"This," said Jen, "is much better." 
 
	Eileen made no reply, but simply sank lower in the tub.  The cabin,
for all its rustic nature, was fully modern when it came to the bathroom.  A
large hot tub big enough for two was there, along with a shower, toilet, and
sink, and it was the hot tub that they were using.
 
	Jen blinked.  She had left her glasses outside the tub, and so the
rest of the room was mainly a blur.  She could see Eileen, but little else. 
Squinting, she couldn't even make out the pattern of Eileen's swimsuit. 
"Don't you think so?"
 
	Eileen popped back up.  "Yeah, it's great."  She closed her eyes and
let the warmth seep into her bones, thoroughly chilled by her splash in the
water.  "We should get one of these at home."
 
	"Where'd we put it?" 
 
	"Hm."  Eileen thought.  The basement of their home was out; too far
away from the second floor bedrooms, and too close to all the junk they'd
accumulated over the last ten years together.  So was the first floor, with
its living and dining rooms, kitchen, foyer, and study.  The second floor
would have to be it; just knock down the wall to the second guest room,
which was nothing but a glorified closet anyway.  "Second floor.  We get rid
of the second guest room."
 
	"What if we-" 
 
	"We've only used the first one three times, I doubt we'll have need
for the other anytime soon.  I'll call a contractor when we get back."
 
	"Okay," said Jen, nodding.  She adjusted a strap on her swimsuit and
sighed.  "I wish we could stay here forever."
 
	"Forever, eh?  I had to convince you to come up here!" 
 
	"Well, if staying here means an endless string of last nights, then
I can live with it." 
 
	"We can do that at home, too," smiled Eileen, reaching under the
water and tugging slightly at Jen's swimsuit.
 
	Jen blushed slightly, but made no move to dissuade Eileen's move. 
"Well, I can think of other things to do at home, too . . . ."
 
	"But?" 
 
	". . . I wouldn't want to disturb the neighbors." 
 
	Eileen paused for a moment, then laughed, pushing off and causing a
wave of water to surge as she plowed through the soap bubbles to hug Jen
tightly as they kissed.  "Oh, you perv."
 
	"Can't deny that," said Jen with a smile.  She gave Eileen a gentle
squeeze and hugged her again.  Too bad it was back to work tomorrow.
 
*** 
 
	The drive back on Sunday afternoon was uneventful.  Eileen drove
this time, through the woods and secondary roads that would lead to route
44.  "So, what do you think?" 
 
	"About what?"  Jen had been staring out the window when Eileen
snapped her back to attention.
 
	"About *them*," replied Eileen, pointing to the sky and the aliens
above.  "They cut us off from Earth, they've got us at their mercy, but we
beat them back four times.  What's next?"
 
	Jen sighed.  Back to work indeed.  "Whatever's next, we should be 
ready for it.  The public knows what's going on and is cooperating with 
us, the military is as ready as it's ever been, gertie stations have 
been set up throughout the Nagano-2 area.  That leaves you and me." 
 
	"Are we ready?" 
 
	Jen would have loved to smile and say, 'you better believe it,' but
she couldn't.  "I hope so."
 
	They made the turn onto 44, and then before them lay a gorgeous
sight.  Nagano-2 stood in all its splendor.  Three hundred thousand souls
lived, worked, studied, and played in the biggest city for light years.  The
three main skyscrapers proudly reflected the red light of the setting sun,
while the dozen or so lesser buildings stood resolutely around them.  Below
them all, the small shops, apartment buildings, school, and thousands of
other buildings that made up Nagano-2 lay on the coastal plain.
 
	Both senshi took in a breath of awe.  "It's beautiful," said Jen
softly.
 
	"Yeah," echoed Eileen.  "This is our home for a long time to come."
 
	"And we can't afford to let it fall," continued Jen.  "No matter
what.  Although . . . ."
 
	"Although?" 
 
	"If it came down to saving Nagano-2 or saving you . . . I truly
believe I'd save you."
 
	"Jennifer," said Eileen softly.  Nothing more needed to be said. 
 
======= 
 

(Rating: PG-13) 
 
============================================== 
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Orion 
A more-or-less original fanfic by LeVar Bouyer 
Episode 412: Valhalla Delenda Est 
============================================== 
 
	Bautsch grinned.  It was time. 
 
*** [title sequence] *** 
 
	Jennifer Sakachi hadn't quite yet become used to the days and days
that went by without any move from their enemy.  To be sure, she wasn't
wasting the opportunity.  In addition to her usual roles, every other night
and all of Saturday she and Eileen would conduct drills in Valhalla, running
the staff through all conceivable scenarios.
 
	What if they sent two at once?  Three?  Four?  What if they could
fly, or swim?  What if they got abnormally large, or abnormally small?  What
if they were radioactive?  So many unknowns to deal with, so little time. 
Antares tried his best, with both his processing power and his needling
sense of humor, but the strain was wearing on her, on Eileen, on everyone.
 
	She sighed at her desk.  With a look of frustration she opened a
drawer and tossed in her red ink pen.  "I'm too distracted to correct
these!" she said loudly, ruffling her hair.
 
	"Then don't." 
 
	Jen looked up to see Eileen standing in the doorway of the study. 
"You snuck up on me."
 
	"Jennifer, an elephant could sneak up on you when you're at work. 
Kyosuke knocked on the door half an hour ago, I told him you were busy."
 
	Jen frowned.  "You should have gotten me." 
 
	"I know the look you get when you're thinking about a problem.  It's
the look that says 'I don't want to be bothered, and if you do bother me,
then God help you.' So what's up?"
 
	The redhead sighed and massaged her forehead.  "I had a nice long
talk with the council today, and parliament too."
 
	Eileen winced.  "You took them both at once?" 
 
	"No, it wasn't anything like that.  I called the council first. 
They're scared, but can't afford to show it.  Thus, they just sit back and
stay quiet until either us two beat whoever's behind this, or we're all
dead.  I got the distinct feeling that to some of them, it doesn't matter
which happens as long as they're safe when it does."
 
	"Cheerful," said Eileen in a voice that was anything but.  "What did
you tell them?"
 
	"That I liked it that way."  She nodded at Eileen's raised eyebrow. 
"They're staying out of our way, which means little interference.  At this
point I'd rather work on saving this planet than dealing with a bunch of
frightened politicians."
 
	Eileen agreed.  "And parliament?" 
 
	"They still want the council removed.  The speaker in particular
really has it in for them, probably because of the suspension of elections."
 
	"You know," said Eileen slowly, "the rules say we're not to
interfere with colonial governments."
 
	"Title III, Section Nine, Paragraph Two, Clause B.  I've read it so
many times I can give it to you verbatim.  Unless there's something going on
that would directly contradict the tenets and philosophy of Her Majesty,
then we, as Her Majesty's representatives, can't act.  The council hasn't
gone quite that far.  When they do, though, I'll have them arrested in a
heartbeat." Her eyes narrowed.  "They're gambling with the safety of the
planet, and I don't like it."
 
	Eileen opened her mouth to say something when both their
communicators chirped at once.  They shared a glance, and then Jen pulled
hers out and clicked it on.  "Sakachi and Pearcy here."
 
	"Sirs, this is Kim.  I think you should come and see this." 
 
	"Is it-" 
 
	"It might be." 
 
	"Understood.  Go to standby alert." 
 
*** 
 
	Sailors Orion and America walked into Valhalla.  Outside it was
snowing slightly, the first snowfall of the year.  A thin blanket of white
was beginning to cover the ground, and they had driven slightly slower than
usual to compensate.  Sailor Orion wondered for a moment if that had
anything to do with things.
 
	"Ah good, you're here."  Kim was all business, and Sailor Orion
smiled.  At least the valkyries didn't go through that annoying routine of
announcing her presence.  If she wanted an automatic greeting she'd play a
recording.  "Here's what we've got.  Two days ago we got an odd reading
north of the mountains.  We didn't think much of it, since it didn't repeat,
and Antares said it could have easily been a sensor problem.  Now, we've
gotten two more of those readings, and one of them was right here."
 
	"Nagano-2?" 
 
	"Valhalla.  We couldn't localize where it came from, just that it
was from headquarters."
 
	Sailor Orion frowned.  "Full security sweep of the complex." 
 
	"Already on it, sir, Twenty-two percent of headquarters has been
checked out."
 
	"Okay, then, what about the other two?  Anything else on them?" 
 
	"No, and the last pictures we got before the clouds moved in showed
no activity from the invaders." Sailor America huffed.  "That's when we
called you two in."
 
	The green and blue senshi nodded.  "Good move, if anything happens
we're right in the middle of things.  Now we just wait for something to
happen."
 
	Vanessa looked over at the trio.  "Sirs, bad news." 
 
	Sailor Orion suddenly had the idea that something had happened. 
"Bad guys?"
 
	"Two signals, one of them three kilometers east of the city, the
other eight klicks northwest."
 
	"Then it's official.  De-" 
 
	"Wait!"  Sailor Orion turned with surprised to Sailor America.  The
brunette leaned over to whisper in her ear.  "Let me do it this time, Jen."
 
	Sailor Orion smiled, despite the seriousness of the situation. 
"Okay."
 
	Sailor America pumped her fist and marched to the front of the
slightly elevated platform, eyes twinkling with excitement.  "Declare a
state of emergency, put the military on first stage alert, evacuate and
secure the city!"
 
	"Aye aye, sir!" replied Kim, Sammy, and Vanessa in unison.  The
three commanders immediately went into action, and moments later the rest of
the two dozen officers in the room did as well.  Sailor America grinned with
satisfaction as the status boards showed Nagano-2 moving into readiness
posture.
 
	"Suggestions?" asked Sailor Orion. 
 
	"Looks simple to me.  I'll take one, you'll take the other."
 
	Sailor Orion nodded.  "Do you want the east one or the west one?" 
 
	"West.  I'm a western kind of girl, don't you think?" 
 
	This earned a laugh from Sailor Orion and smiles from the valkyries. 
"That's what I always thought too, Sailor America." She looked up at the
map.  "They're not moving very fast."
 
	"No sir," answered Sammy, "we have choppers tailing both of them. 
Speed is about twenty kilometers per hour."
 
	"Destination?" 
 
	Antares drew two yellow lines on the map of Nagano-2, each arcing
out from the red dots of the targets.  Each target had a number next to it;
the eastern one was Sierra-5, the western was Sierra-6.  The lines both
converged on:  "Valhalla." 
 
	"My god," whispered Sailor Orion.  "They've found us." 
 
	"Couldn't it be a coincidence?" asked America hopefully.  "Nagano-2
isn't that big, after all."
 
	"That's quite unlikely," replied Antares coolly, "especially as
there's nothing aboveground to distinguish the site.  There's only an
apartment building, an elementary school, and a parking garage."
 
	"So they know we're here," murmured Sailor Orion.  More loudly, she
continued, "Well, too bad for them, because we aren't waiting for them! 
C'mon, America!" The two senshi dashed for the transports that would get
them to the surface.
 
	"Good luck, senshi!" 
 
*** 
 
	Sailor Orion strapped herself into the chair.  This was one of the
alterations they had managed to make during the recent lull in activity. 
Through a network of magnetic rails and tunnels, either or both senshi could
be launched from Valhalla to any of thirty-two locations on the surface. 
The only limit to this system was the senshi themselves; even their
magically enhanced bodies couldn't handle the fifteen gee acceleration the
lifts could produce.  Thus, they went slower than top speed.  It was still
impressive to travel straight up with an acceleration of five times normal
Earth gravity, or at least, impressive was what most people called it.
 
	Sailor Orion called it ten seconds of terror.  All the warning she
got was a shrill one second tone, and then she was off, rocketing through
the various tubes and tunnels.  She closed her eyes during the trip; the
drills they ran through weekly had taught her that she handled it better
that way.  Then, in a split second, the chair slowed down and finally
stopped.  She opened her eyes and saw a short flight of steps leading
outwards.  Without hesitating she ran for it, not taking notice of the small
hallway she was in.  She was promptly on the surface, in a now-deserted part
of the city.
 
	"Sailor Orion, it should be coming at you from Sixth Avenue. 
Altitude fifty meters, so heads up."
 
	"What am I looking for?"
 
	"Um, humanoid with wings is what the preliminary reports are saying. 
Pretty big, too, can't miss it."
 
	The senshi heard a boom from the west.  "Sailor America's started."
She looked up, and in an instant her sword was out.  "Valhalla, I see it!"
The reports had been right; a large humanoid form, about six meters tall,
with wings sprouting from its back for a wingspan of close to twelve meters. 
The wings flapped gently in the cold air, and even from a hundred meters
away Orion could feel the wind gusts it was creating.  The snow swirled
about her as she watched it, waiting to see if it would notice her.
 
	It turned its head at her and changed direction. 
 
	"And it sees me!"  She immediately ran from the supposed cover of
the alley and out into the street.  Without looking back, she could feel it
was in pursuit.  'First priority,' she thought, 'is to prevent undue
property damage.' To that end she ran away from the town center, and in so
doing forcing the champion to make a full turn.  The senshi had no clear
plan in mind, just trying to delay until she or Antares thought of one.  In
all probability it would be Antares; her concentration was taken up with
trying to maintain her balance on the snow that was accumulating on the
ground.
 
	Her enemy forced the issue.  She heard a crackling, and then a
sudden heat at her feet.  Her instincts kicked in as she leaped forward,
just avoiding the spark of lightning that kicked up bits of asphalt.  With a
barely audible grunt she twisted her body in midair, landing on her bottom
and immediately rolling up into a standing position, sword poised at the
ready.  She saw another spark of energy arc out from the thing's eyes and
home in on her, and she raised her sword to block the shot.
 
	Sailor Orion was surprisingly successful.  The shot deflected
harmlessly off the sword and into a patch of snow covered grass nearby,
scorching it.  The redhead blinked.  "Nice," she muttered.  Then her eyes
narrowed.  "Time to finish this."
 
	The thing now circled overhead, waiting for the most opportune time
to strike.  It didn't realize that Orion was thinking the same thing. 
Finally it made a swoop, and for the first time she could see the thing's
arms spread wide.  She gulped at the sight, then brought her sword back up
into position.  "Orion Saber DISRUPTION!"
 
	The attack traced up from her sword, surging through the falling
snowflakes and right onto the beast.  For a second nothing happened, and it
continued to hurtle towards her.  Sailor Orion immediately jumped out of the
way, rolling up to a ready position four meters away.  This turned out to be
a good thing, as the magic of the attack took hold.  The beast dissolved
into a collection of organic chemicals that splattered onto the pavement
where she had been, staining the snow with pinkish-red splashes.
 
	Sailor Orion looked down at the mess, and then at her boots. 
Happily, none of the goo had gotten on her, and that was good.  Getting out
her communicator, she eyed the scene again and pitied the cleanup crew that
would be around soon.  "This is Orion.  Sierra-5 is dead.  How are things
with -6?"
 
*** 
 
	Sailor America had been assigned to Sierra-6, and the results had
been largely the same.  On being sent to the surface, she had quite simply
screamed the whole way in terror.  No matter how many times they drilled it,
it still scared the hell out of her to be shot up at such speeds.  So, she
let it all out.  In retrospect she would say that if nothing else it helped
to relieve stress.  Thus, arriving at the surface, she saw a champion much
like the one Orion had faced, though she didn't know it at the time.
 
	"Looks like a giant bat," observed America quietly as she watched it
circle overhead.  She smiled slightly.  "Time to call the exterminators."
Legs far apart, back erect, she looked up at it and began her attack. 
"American Stars and Stripes!" The twinkles and streamers shot forth from her
arms, scoring a direct hit on her quarry.  Sailor America turned her face
slightly to shield her eyes from the glare of the explosion.  Blinking her
eyes to get rid of the afterimage, she was taken by surprise when she heard
a rush of air and then was knocked to the ground from behind.
 
	"Shit!" she exclaimed, bringing her arms up to protect her face. 
Her white gloves kept her hands from getting skinned on the pavement,
although it still stung a bit.  Hearing a scream, Sailor America rolled to
one side just in time to avoid the thing as it came back for the killing
blow.  She sprang to her feet, blue high heels not slipping a bit on the
snow-covered street.  Turning, she saw the beast circling in the sky once
more.  The brunette senshi was impressed; her enemy had survived her attack,
albeit not without damage.  It was definitely favoring its left side.  Good,
then: she had a point of weakness to exploit.
 
	The thing swooped down again, and Sailor America froze for a moment
in shock at its sheer speed.  Just as it was about to impale her with its
claws, she leaped to one side, rolled, and sprang back on her feet.  Without
even thinking, she got off a snap shot.  "American Stars and Stripes!" she
called again.  This time it met with more success.  The beast burst into
flames, wings crinkling in the heat.  Unable to regain altitude, it crashed
into an apartment building, setting it aflame.  But America would count it a
victory; her opponent was definitely dead.  With a look of satisfaction and
a bit of leftover fear, she pulled out her communicator.
 
	"Valhalla, this is Sailor America.  Sierra-6 is down, thanks to me. 
How did Orion do?"
 
	"She took care of -5; she just called a couple of seconds ago,
actually."
 
	"Okay, can you link us?  We'll be heading back to base shortly." 
 
	"Aye, sir, will do.  Good work." 
 
	"Thanks."  The connection to Valhalla closed with a click. 
 
*** 
 
	"Switching her over now," said a communications officer. 
 
	"Thanks," replied Commander Kim Young, settling back into her seat. 
For the first time, their opponent had sent two monsters at once, and the
senshi had beaten both of them handily.  All in all, it was a good night's
work.  She yawned and brushed a barely visible bit of lint from her dark
black uniform.  She hated nighttime engagements, hated having to leave her
husband at home while she helped coordinate the planet's defenses.  She'd be
so much happier when this was all over.
 
	Kim blinked.  At the front of the room, by the large wall with
various status screens, two male officers seemed to be having a dispute. 
She could just make out that one of them was a lieutenant, but she couldn't
see the rank of the other.  Frowning, she pulled on a headset.  "You two! 
Stop that right now!" Her voice carried through the entire room.  The
lieutenant immediately backed off, but the other, an average looking man,
turned to face the command post and its three valkyries.
 
	He said something loudly.  No-one in the room understood him, mainly
because it was a language no human had ever heard before.  Kim and a few
others correctly guessed that it was malicious.  In particular, it was an
ancient oath that roughly translated meant 'may you and your kin die in
pain.' The man then proceeded to point a hand at the post and blast it with
a beam of bright light.
 
	Kim and the others dove for the floor.  Dimly Kim heard a coffee cup
shatter on the tiles.  Then she clearly heard the explosion as the wall
behind the post took the brunt of the blast.  It was at that point that the
screaming started.
 
	Kim glanced over and saw Sammy slap a button on a nearby console. 
The blonde was already shouting into her headset, even as the alarms began
to sound.  "Security alert, this is Valhalla . . . we're under attack!"
 
	There was a click, and then Sailor Orion spoke on the line.  "What
the hell?"
 
	Sammy peeked over the edge of the railing.  The man was still there,
but he had turned his attention to the status screens.  One by one he shot
them up, sparks flying as the brightly-lit displays succumbed to his power. 
"Sir, it's one of THEM!  They're inside Valhalla, I don't know how-"
 
	"We're on our way," interrupted Sailor Orion.  "Just don't let that
thing out!"
 
	Sammy nodded, though her hands were shaking.  "Yes, sir."  She
closed the connection and turned to face the two other commanders.  "We're
to keep it in this room."
 
	There was another explosion; the main map of Nagano-2 was now gone. 
"And how the hell do we do that?" snapped Vanessa, uncharacteristically
angry.
 
	Kim didn't bother to answer.  She was already over at another
console, issuing the computer commands to close all doors to the chamber. 
However, at this point it looked like the doors would do as much good as
tissue paper.
 
	Sammy reached for a storage locker planted into the floor and pulled
out a number of service revolvers.  "I guess these are as good as it gets as
far as weapons," she said, handing them out to the staff.  There were four
others at the main post along with the trio, all as old or younger than Kim,
Sammy, and Vanessa, all just as frightened.  Sammy tried to remember back to
the last time she had taken a firearms proficiency test.  As she recalled,
she had barely passed.  More screams from the floor snapped her from her
reverie.

	Peeping over, she saw that their attacker had turned his attention
to the staff.  Most of them never stood a chance: they were coordinators,
administrators, technicians; not infantrymen.  Those who couldn't run away
to the relative safety of the rear consoles were incinerated; those who
tried to draw weapons were similarly dealt with.  In moments, the smoke and
smell of charred flesh filled the room.  Sammy choked back on the bile that
rose in her throat, and she could hear behind her that some of the younger
techs hadn't been as successful.
 
	The three commanders primed their weapons and prepared to return
fire.  Perhaps if they got it mad enough it would concentrate on them long
enough for the senshi to arrive.  This would of course be at the cost of
their own lives.  Sammy targeted the beast, pulled the trigger, and silently
wished she had never decided to go to command school.
 
*** 
 
	Sailor Orion stared at the communicator in horror.  "America, did
you-"
 
	"I heard it, I'm on my way down!" 
 
	"Me too!"  She clicked off the communicator and dashed back for the
elevator that had taken her to the surface.  Strapping in, she hit the panic
button that would return her to the subterranean base.  As she hurtled down,
a parade of possibilities crossed her mind.  How?  How could the enemy have
not only found their headquarters, but planted one of their men into it? 
The six previous ones had all been huge, grotesque, and generally hard to
miss.  Surely someone would have noticed one of *those* things skulking
about headquarters.
 
	Then, as the lift decelerated, her thoughts turned to a more
personal nature.  Did she and Sailor America have the strength to defeat
another one of these so soon after getting rid of two of them?  How many
were dead?  How many would die before it was over?  The lift came to a stop,
and the time for thinking passed.
 
*** 
 
	In one of the hallways that lead to the heart of Valhalla, Orion met
up with Sailor America.  Exchanging few words, they ran on, passing security
personnel, military police, medics, and repair crews.  All were waiting for
the all-clear; reports told of extensive damage and casualties.  Sailor
Orion caught the looks on some of their faces as they passed; they all
looked as scared and angry as she felt.  Finally, they arrived at the doors,
which were surrounded by half a dozen military police with rifles drawn. 
They didn't put them down as Sailor Orion and Sailor America came to the
gate and activated the overrides to open it.
 
	"Okay Eileen, on one . . . two . . . three!"  The doors slid open,
admitting smoke and the stench of death into the hallway, and two sailor
senshi into Valhalla.  Visibility was almost zero; half the lights were
gone, and the status board was dark save for one or two small fires.  A pall
of smoke covered everything.
 
	Sailor Orion fought back a cough and grabbed on to Sailor America's
hand.  The two crept into the room, knowing that just a meter ahead and to
the left were the four steps up to the command post.  A beam of flame tore
through the smoke and out at them, and the senshi leapt into the relative
safety of the command post.
 
	"Sailor Orion!" cried Sammy, glancing up.  The air here was slightly
clearer, but it was still hard to make out Sammy's face.  As Sailor Orion's
eyes adjusted, she could see Kim and Vanessa there as well.  "You made it!"
 
	The redhead couldn't help but smile, despite the situation.  "We
said we would, didn't we?" she replied, giving Sailor America's hand a
squeeze.  Her face turned serious.  "What have we got?"
 
	Vanessa was all business.  "Humanoid, so close that he *was* human
to me, a bit under two meters tall, dark hair, male.  Can shoot some sort of
energy beam from his hands.  He's already fried most of the room, most of
the computers are dead, we've lost the link with Antares . . . ."
 
	"We'll handle it," said Sailor America confidently.  "Right?" 
 
	"Yep," said Sailor Orion, not feeling half as confident as her lover
did.  Another spear of light arced overhead, hitting a corner of the ceiling
and sending sparks and debris showering down.  The two senshi and three
commanders dove under the consoles for protection.  "Anyone else alive in
here?"
 
	"Probably not," replied Kim.  "The crew we had here is dead, at
least, and Vanessa and I are both slightly injured.  We haven't heard
anything else from the floor."
 
	Sailor Orion said a bad word.  "Okay then, we'll have to pop up
shooting.  Are you ready?"
 
	Sailor America nodded.  "Whenever you like." 
 
	"Okay."  She drew her sword.  "One.  Two.  THREE!" 
 
	The two senshi sprang up, faced the spot they guessed to be the
origin of the last beam, and unleashed their attacks.  "American Stars and
Stripes!"
 
	"Orion Saber Disruption!" 
 
	The magic swirled into the smoke and vanished without a sound.  The
two senshi blinked.  "Where'd he go?" They both felt a tap on their
shoulders.  Slowly, each turned around to face behind them and saw an
average looking man in RSN uniform.
 
	"Hello," he said.  He raised his hands and pointed one at each
senshi.  The following flash cut through the smoke to illuminate the entire
room.
 
(Rating: PG-13)  
  
================================  
Episode 413: The Agony of Defeat  
================================  
  
*** [title sequence] *** 
  
	Sailor Orion's blue eyes opened wide as the light began to blaze
from the hands of her attacker.  The beams surged forward and then flew past
the two senshi.  Acting purely on instinct, the two dove to either side,
though not fast enough to avoid the beams entirely.  Sailor America's
ponytail was very lightly singed as she swung to the right.
 
	The man's face was one of shock as his feet gave out from under him. 
In a lightning move, Sammy had scrambled over and made a well-timed sweep of
her legs at the man.  Distracted, his attack flew up into the ceiling,
punching a hole in it and sending debris crashing down to the floor.  For
her part, the blonde immediately rolled out of the way as Kim and Vanessa
brought their sidearms to bear on the attacker.
  
	The two senshi were still rolling away, neither quite realizing how
close they had come to death.  Sailor America was the first to recover,
coming to her feet shakily but steadily.  Sailor Orion was slower.  Her
heart was still pounding from the adrenaline the blast had spiked into her
system, and her instincts told her to stay on the ground.  It was a struggle
for her intellect to force her up into a ready position.
  
	Kim and Vanessa took just a split second to make sure the senshi and
Sammy were clear.  Then, both released the safeties on their weapons and
fired at point blank range, pumping high-energy micro-plasma charges into
the attacker's body.  Kim's face was frightened, but Vanessa's held
undisguised glee.  It was payback time indeed.  All watched as its body
twitched and spasmed.  Much to their dismay, while each shot was hitting
home, there was none of the searing of flesh that was to be expected from
being shot with a plasma pistol.  It was getting hit again and again, and to
be sure the thing's uniform was gradually being seared off, but they weren't
having any real impact.  Most seemed to simply be absorbed by his 'skin,' so
to speak, leaving only the kinetic impact.
  
	Sailor Orion simply stared with her sword drawn, unwilling to go any
further into the line of fire.  The commanders were pouring everything they
had into it, and now Sammy had drawn and was firing her weapon as well.  All
they could manage to do was push it further back and away from the others.
  
	Sailor America glanced over at Sailor Orion, who was on the other
side of the stream of fire from her, and nodded once.  Sailor Orion nodded
in return, signaled to her three commanders and mouthed the countdown to
America.  Three, two, one.  "NOW!" shouted Sailor Orion, aiming her sword at
the attacker.  "Orion Saber Disruption!"
  
	"American Stars and Stripes!"  
  
	Kim, Sammy, and Vanessa said nothing, but simply kept firing, all
three concentrating on his chest.
  
	The thing reeled from the combined attack, but to its credit it
didn't crumple.  Rather, throwing its arms back, it broke off the magical
and conventional attacks, knocking the senshi and officers to the ground. 
Then, eyes closed, it slowly faded into nothingness without a further word. 
There was silence in the room for a moment, save the panting from the five
women and the distant hooting of alarms.
  
	"Did we beat him?" asked Sailor America.  
  
	Sailor Orion leaned on her sword for support.  "No, we only beat him
back.  He's still alive, for certain." She looked around.  "But he's
finished his job for now." Valhalla was in ruins.  The status board was
smoking, the rows of computer consoles were either sparking, burning, or
dead, bodies were everywhere.  Over everything hung a pall of smoke.  Sailor
Orion sighed tiredly; as much as she hated it, her job wasn't over yet. 
"Sammy?"
  
	"Y . . . yes?"  Sammy Porter was still shaking from her encounter. 
Her pistol lay forgotten on the floor.
  
	"You're in charge for now.  We need to transfer to the backup
command center until this place can be repaired, okay?" Backup command was
actually a much smaller room than this one, much closer to the bridge of a
starship.  Its other major characteristic was that it had actual windows. 
It was located in the main government office complex, across from the
Parliament building.  Sailor Orion remembered that it was considerably more
cheerful.
  
	"Roger," replied Sammy.  In a daze, she brushed some dust from her
uniform and made her way to her companions.  After a few moments'
deliberations, they split up and began to take control of things, first
opening the doors to Valhalla and admitting the various teams.
  
	While security worked on making sure the chamber was safe, the
medics flooded in, immediately conducting triage on the mostly dead bodies
on the floor.  It was a gruesome task, and a depressing one as well.  "They
never stood a chance," said Sailor America quietly, coming to stand next to
the other senshi.  "No weapons, no warning, nowhere to run.  How can we
possibly defend against something like that?"
  
	The redheaded senshi could only sigh.  She knew time was essential,
but couldn't force herself into the hurry that was necessary.  "I don't
know.  Maybe it left some clues behind, though." She shook her head.  "Right
now we have to regroup.  This could just be a spoiling attack before a
full-scale invasion."
  
	"Keep the citizens in the shelters?" asked Vanessa expectantly.  
  
	"Yes.  The council will have to be notified of this as well." Sailor
Orion's tone showed that she didn't relish that thought in the slightest. 
If she wasn't a senshi and the planet's best hope for survival, they'd
probably be clamoring to put her in irons for the job she had done.
  
	"I'm on it, sir," answered Kim.  She lifted a phone, then replaced
it in its cradle.  "It's dead," she said simply.
  
	Sailor Orion sighed and detransformed into the same black naval
uniform everyone else wore, much to the surprise of Sammy.  "Sir?" she
asked.
  
	"Yes, I know," answered Jen.  "Somehow, a sailor fuku doesn't seem
appropriate in this sort of atmosphere." She gestured to the room as a
whole.  Security had done its job, and now the medics were removing the dead
and injured.  The repair crews were still assessing the damage, trying to
decide what could be fixed, replaced, or completely thrown out.  She looked
at her watch.  It was only 22:00.  "Kim, Sammy, Vanessa, Eileen, I'm going
to need to meet with you in a few hours at the new headquarters.  Kim, could
you make sure there's some lasagna there, at the least?"
  
	"Yes, sir."  As the valkyries dashed off, Sailor America took the
hint and detransformed as well.
  
	"So," asked Captain Sakachi quietly, "what will the press make of  
this?"  
  
	"Nothing," said Captain Pearcy just as calmly.  Jen was surprised by
this.  "As far as the public will be concerned, there were two and only two
enemy attacks tonight.  Both were on the surface, both were handled easily. 
There's no evidence topside anything happened down here, so why worry them?"
  
	Jen frowned.  "You're talking about concealing information."  
  
	"Damn straight," replied Eileen.  "And in the long run, it'll help a
lot more than it'll hurt."
  
	The redhead crossed her arms.  "You're the expert in these things,  
Eileen, but still . . . ."  
  
	"The other choice would be to go on TV tomorrow morning and tell the
public that the enemy went straight to the heart of our operation, raised
hell, and got clean away.  I'm sure Nagano-2 will feel a *lot* better about
that, won't it!" Eileen stepped back; she hadn't meant to raise her voice. 
"Sorry Jen, but you're going to have to go with me on this.  I hate hiding
the truth as much as anyone, but if we don't then we're going to have panic
on our hands.  Just let me handle it."
  
	"I guess you're right.  You'll handle the details?"  
  
	The brunette managed a smile.  "I've been doing this kind of stuff
for years, it'll be a piece of cake.  It'll be easier, too; give these
military types orders of secrecy and they'll shut up, I can tell you that
much."
  
	"Okay."  Jen brushed her lips against Eileen's.  "We've got work to
do; I'll see you in a bit."
  
***  
  
	Bautsch sighed.  His plan had worked perfectly up to a point. 
First, distract the senshi by sending them some surface opposition. 
Meanwhile, the third operative sneaks into their headquarters, raises some
hell, waits for the senshi to walk into the trap, and then eliminate them. 
It had almost worked, he thought wistfully.  "But I couldn't anticipate
having a damned COWARD as my Sixth!"
  
	The 'Sixth,' an alien much like Bautsch with light blue hair, could
only cringe.  Blushing wasn't a trait his evolutionary ancestors -- or for
that matter, his creators -- had seen fit to keep around.  "My lord, I *had*
the senshi, I swear it!  They were right in front of me-"
  
	"SO WHY AREN'T THEY DEAD?"  The fury in the man's voice took the  
Sixth by surprise.  
  
	"I . . . I was attacked-"  
  
	"By a THIRD senshi?" roared Bautsch.  
  
	"No, my lord!  One of their regulars, I think a female-"  
  
	"A FEMALE!"  
  
	"I always warned you to beware the female species, Bautsch," drawled
Holbrow, stepping out of the shadows.
  
	"Not now!" he warned.  
  
	"Oh no," she replied, leaning against a column.  "I wouldn't miss  
this for all of Hinansho."  
  
	Bautsch scowled.  "Stay out of this.  You haven't been dealing with
these humans as long as I have; the old stories passed down don't even
*begin* to do them justice."
  
	"My Lord, I must agree," said the Sixth.  "I've looked into their
eyes, they're very strong."
  
	"I *know* they're strong," said Bautsch as if to a child.  "If they
were weak we wouldn't even be fighting here!"
  
	"But . . . ."  He trailed off, seeing the look in the face of his
superior.  Time to try another tack.  "I *did* gain all sorts of
information!" He produced a small card, about twice the size of an ordinary
playing card.  Bautsch took the card and slipped it into a slot in a sort of
computer, and watched with delight as pictures, diagrams, and text flashed
on the screen.
  
	"Locations of their headquarters and backups, computers...power
stations, evacuation routes, weapons depots, fuel centers . . . everything
we needed and more!" With undisguised surprise he looked up at the Sixth. 
"Well done!"

	"Perhaps you're not such a failure after all," mused Holbrow,
peering over his shoulder at the data.  "However, our leader hasn't been
fully convinced.  We're to work together on planning the next operation."
  
	Baustch's face turned stony.  "I work alone," he said in a stern
voice that brooked no argument.
  
	"It's not for you to decide, lover boy," she replied, adding a hint
of sultriness to her tone.  "Our Lord orders it, so we will obey . . .
unless, that is, you plan to make some power play of your-URK!"
  
	Bautsch had, in a lightning move, gotten up, grabbed the woman's
throat, and slammed her into a pin on a nearby wall.  "Do NOT question my
allegiance again, Holbrow, or so help me your body will NEVER be found!"
Holbrow could only nod weakly.  He let go, letting her sag to the ground. 
"Just don't do it."
  
	"Right," she managed to utter.  
  
	"So," he said, making a visible effort to regain his calm, "we have
orders from our Lord to eliminate the senshi as quickly as possible, which
shouldn't be too hard with the data we have now, and who knows?  The Mark
II's are ready now, we can begin energy-collecting operations soon.  That
should keep those two bitches busy until they die their miserable deaths!"
  
	Holbrow coughed several times, nodding in agreement.  Mentally,
though, she began to make plans.  Bautsch's continued existence, she
decided, was becoming hazardous to hers.
  
***  
  
	Captain Jennifer Sakachi fumed.  "They said *what*?"  
  
	"They won't come to the main conference room, sir," replied Vanessa. 
"They say it's too far of a walk."
  
	Jen hmphed in response and walked to the windows, Jen's favorite
part of the new command center.  They slanted inwards at a forty-five degree
angle and faced southeast, admittedly an odd direction for windows to face. 
She liked them anyway; they provided a view of the Parliament building and
other government offices to the east, and to the south two of Nagano-2's
three major skyscrapers.  Beyond it, on a clear summer day one could even
see the sparkling of sunlight on the waters of Nagano Bay.  Now, however,
the skies were gray and leaden.  Last night's fallen snow had stopped for
now, but the clouds held the promise of more to come.  There was already two
centimeters of snow on the ground, giving the city below the sixth floor
room a thin white blanket that shone in the early morning sunlight.
  
	"What's your answer, sir?" asked Vanessa, snapping the captain out
of her contemplation of the city.
  
	A glint came into Jen's blue eyes as she turned and faced the room. 
"We'll have the meeting here, by teleconference."
  
	"Here?"  Vanessa was incredulous as she gestured to include the
entire room.
  
	'Here' was the backup command center.  The reasoning had apparently
been that anything able to take out Valhalla wouldn't care much whether
headquarters was underground or not.  Thus, they had decided to place it in
the above-ground regional headquarters of the Royal Star Navy, which was
coincidentally the same building the Council met in, and the same one in
which the RSN had a recruiting office.
  
	Cozy was one way to describe it.  The ceiling was much lower, about
as low as a typical office building.  It was mostly dark, as was almost a
tradition with command centers, but the windows offset this to a large
degree.  Next to the windows was an open space of about two meters.  Then
came the various computer consoles all arranged in a rather haphazard
fashion; the usual rows that larger rooms featured didn't exist here, nor
was there a 'crow's nest' or central location overlooking the rest of the
room as there had been in Valhalla.  The floor was level instead of tiered,
which meant in part that the screens at the front of it were often obscured
by some person or another.
  
	In the center of it all was a simple table.  Around it were three
commanders and a sailor senshi.  Sammy Porter sat on the edge of the table,
while the others either leaned against it or, in Vanessa's case, sat on a
stool next to it.  The sailor senshi wasn't in her traditional attire, to be
sure, but she was still easily recognizable.  Eileen Pearcy, wearing her
rarely-used captain's uniform, smiled at the rest of the group.  "Yeah,
here.  We've got the equipment, and if they're too lazy to come down to the
conference room then we're too lazy to go up there and meet their lazy
as-selves," finished Eileen, catching herself before using the rather
naughty word.  Even if the majority of the staff agreed with her opinion of
the planet's leaders, that didn't mean she could just call them whatever she
liked.  At least, not yet.  
  
	She saw nods around the room.  This was the normal day shift, called
in a few hours early due to the emergency.  Eileen felt a tear come unbidden
into her eye; the normal shift for this hour had been almost wiped out last
night.  The other two shifts would be short on personnel while they juggled
schedules around.  Eileen was ashamed to admit that it didn't matter all
that much to her; she'd hardly ever been down to Valhalla, had barely known
the people there.
  
	"Set it for ten minutes from now, then," said Jen, breaking in on
Eileen's thoughts.  The redhead came over from the windows, adjusting the
white turtleneck of her uniform shirt.  She usually left the corresponding
blue jumpsuit a bit unzipped, but the heating in the room was apparently
still buggy, and she needed a bit of protection from the chill.  Twirling a
lock of straight red hair, she hopped up to a perch upon a railing.
  
	She liked it here, for certain.  It reminded her so much of
Pleiades, in both appearance and atmosphere, that sometimes she could
persuade herself she was in space again.  Still, she could just turn around
and look out the windows.  Their very existence drove home her situation: on
a planet far from safety, with only her and her lover to protect the world
from the unknown and the council.  "So," she said in her professor tone,
"anyone have any new data?"
  
	"Well," began Sammy uncertainly, "we're still going through the
Valhalla debris.  Right now we hope to find some sort of biological
residue."
  
	"Which is very hard," interjected Antares tinnily.  The sound system
in the new headquarters was definitely subpar.  "Any possible alien matter
is being drowned out by all the bits of human that are in there."
  
	"We've had to run over the whole place with handheld scanners, sir,"
said Vanessa.  "It's taking a *long* time."
  
	"And no results to show for it," said Jen glumly.  "How about the
other two we fought topside?"
  
	"We've been luckier with that," said Antares.  "Sailor America's
target was mostly destroyed, but yours had quite a few strands of DNA left,
and the fact that there even *was* DNA is very promising news.  Whoever
developed this can't be too dissimilar to us."
  
	"Can't?"  
  
	"Well, it depends on what you call dissimilar.  I'm assuming DNA
agreement of greater than seventy percent.  Most mammals are within a couple
percent, other animals vary.  The xenobiology department of the university-"
  
	"It's wonderful how the university professors end up doing the work
our intelligence branch should be doing," grumbled Eileen.
  
	"Lieutenant Nishimura tries the best she can," said Antares.  "It's
hardly her fault that no-one saw fit to put the best spooks in the Kingdom
on this little planet."
  
	Everyone looked over at Captain Sakachi.  The redhead held up her
hands in protest.  "I can't pull every string, guys.  If I'd known-" The
main screen went blank, then displayed a picture of a few men and women
sitting around a plain wooden conference table.
  
	"Planetary council requesting a conference call, sir," said Sammy
belatedly, hopping down from her perch on the table and attending to her
little patch of instruments.
  
	"Captain Sakachi," said a gruff voice.  
  
	"Mr. Secretary," said Jen, just as curtly.  She didn't relish having
this conversation in the slightest; it was only out of a sense of duty that
she was even relaying the information personally.
  
	"Why aren't you here?" he asked.  
  
	'Typical,' she thought, 'leaps right into his accusations without so
much as a "how do you do."' "Mr. Secretary, given recent events I think I
should stay here, where all the information is.  We don't know when the next
attack might come, after all."
  
	"And another chance to fail, yes," said Defense absently.  The
governor raised a hand in protest, but Jen had had enough.  Standing to her
full six feet, she faced the screen, its light aiding to make her eyes
inscrutable behind her glasses.  "Your temerity won't be tolerated any
longer.  As of now you are relieved of duty!  Sammy, that goes in the book."
  
	"Sir, are you-"  
  
	Jen whirled to face the blonde.  "That was an *order*, Sammy!"  
  
	"But he's not technically in the military-"  
  
	"Then he's under arrest."  
  
	Eileen stepped forward hesitantly.  "Jen, are you-"  
  
	"Later, Eileen," said Jen in a warning tone.  Right now she was
Captain Jennifer Sakachi, and if she allowed herself to slip back into the
role of Eileen's lover, she'd lose it.  "Now please, Sammy, the Secretary
will be placed under arrest for the charges of reckless endangerment of the
colony, harassment, and impeding a military operation.  Do it!"
  
	"Ay-"  
  
	"Belay that!" shouted Eileen.  No-one in the room was more surprised
than Jen.
  
	"Eileen?" she asked slowly.  
  
	"Captain Sakachi," said Eileen simply, and that said it all.  Jen
froze in the middle of opening her mouth to say more.  In all the years from
3029 to 3041, Eileen had never called her by that title.  Never.
  
	Jen adjusted her glasses with a chastened expression.  "As she said. 
Belay the arrest order." Sheepishly she looked up at the furious face of
Defense and spoke quietly.  "Mr. Secretary, my apologies.  I was out of
line."
  
	"DAMN RIGHT!  Mark my words, Sakachi, I'll have you in irons for
this!  Serenity herself will bust your ass right down-"
  
	"Kill the audio," said Jen in the same soft voice.  The shouting
ceased, and she waited for Defense to realize he was no longer being heard. 
"Put it back on." There was a click.  "Mr. Secretary, let me make something
perfectly clear.  I'm a sailor senshi.  I'm a captain in the Royal Star
Navy.  I'm under no obligation to apologize to you, be nice to you, or even
*tolerate* you.  I'd be within my rights to have you arrested at any time I
please.  Keep that in mind the next time you decide to go about insulting me
and my work." Defense made as if to stand, but Jen wasn't finished.  "This
meeting is a courtesy on my part.  If you don't have any interest in it,
I'll be glad to send some MPs over there and make sure you don't have to
listen through to its conclusion.  If that's not the case, then my advice is
to sit down and SHUT UP!"
  
	Eileen frowned slightly, but said nothing.  
  
	Defense shuddered.  Everyone in the situation room could imagine the
thoughts going through his head: this upstart history professor who
occasionally dabbled at being a sailor senshi . . .this sailor senshi who
occasionally dabbled as a history professor . . . this thirty year old
redheaded woman who looked just like a nineteen-year-old girl.  She was the
most powerful person on the planet, and all his political and military
experience didn't change that.
  
	He hated her.  That much was clear.  He resented her for being so
beautiful, so smart, so successful.  She had accomplished by twenty-five
what he would never be able to accomplish if he lived for a thousand years. 
And what he hated her most of all for was that he had to obey her orders. 
He and the council pretended to be in charge, but it was truly just the two
senshi being polite that kept them in control.  Clearly, he had pushed his
luck too far this morning, and Sakachi had chosen now to demonstrate just
where the limits were.  The rest of the council was silent, content to let
its most volatile member hang himself out to dry.
  
	"Is there anything you would like to say?" asked Jen simply.  
  
	Defense sat up even straighter.  "Nothing, Captain.  Please give  
your report."  
  
	The room as a whole breathed a sigh of relief.  "I'd be glad to,"
muttered Jen.  Louder, she continued.  "Yesterday evening, at . . . ."
  
	"17:54," supplied Vanessa.  
  
	"-we detected a possible attack coming towards the city.  Myself and
Captain Pearcy went out to engage and destroy the enemy.  We did so with
great success . . . however, during this a third enemy somehow got inside
Valhalla.  We've found that in addition to wreaking havoc on Valhalla by
destroying equipment and people, it had as an additional goal the theft of
information from our computers." She looked over at Kim.
  
	"Sirs," said the black haired woman with only the slightest hint of
nervousness in her voice, "we've been looking at the access logs for the
computers, with Antares's help, and we've noticed that a number of sensitive
files were accessed right before the attack."
  
	"It's possible," said Antares, "that they were accessed for a
legitimate purpose.  If someone with sufficiently high access wanted to,
they could erase their own 'fingerprint,' so to speak, so that they wouldn't
be recorded as having done the deed."
  
	"But," continued Kim, "there are only two people on the planet  
with that authority: the sailor senshi."  
  
	"And we were a bit busy at the time," said Eileen wryly.  
  
	"That means that it was the alien who accessed our computers,"
concluded Jen.  "Meaning our enemy is a lot more clever than we've given
them credit for."
  
	"Any other information?" asked Science.    
  
	Jen managed a smile at that.  "We have DNA samples, multiple
visuals, probably a lot of info that we couldn't have gotten otherwise. 
Don't worry, the xenobiology department at the university is already on it. 
Within a week we should have a good picture of just who we're up against."
  
	"And then?" asked the governor.  
  
	"Then," said Eileen, "the ball is in your court, whether to attempt
negotiations or just take the war to them.  Lots of options, best decided on
by the politicians."
  
	The council seemed to brighten at this.  "Yes, we'd be glad to be of
assistance in the coming days and weeks," said Interior with a smile.  "Be
sure to keep us apprised."
  
	"Of course," answered Eileen, leaning against a console and saluting
in a decidedly casual manner.  "See ya."
  
	The council vanished, replaced by a sea of atmospheric data. 
Everyone in the room sagged in relief.  Jen turned to Eileen, shock evident
in her eyes.  "How did you *do* that?"
  
	The brunette shrugged beautifully and made her way to the door. 
"You've just got to know how to deal with politicians," she drawled, patting
Jen on the bottom as she left and earning a smile from the redhead.  Captain
Sakachi shook her head slowly in admiration and wondered for the millionth
time what she had done to deserve a wonderful woman like Eileen.
  

(rating: PG-13)

=================================== 
Episode 414: The Second Time Around  
===================================  

*** [title sequence] ***  

	November slowly slipped away and turned into December on Hinansho. 
The major attacks had stopped.  Weeks passed without a full-scale alert,
which in its own way was a great relief for the valkyries.  A second problem
had arisen however, which Eileen termed the 'annoyances.' The first came two
days after the attack on Valhalla.
  
	It was a Saturday.  Jen strolled along a downtown street in
Nagano-2, on her way to a music shop.  Since arriving on Hinansho, she had
been working off and on with the alto saxophone, admittedly with little
success.  She had quite a way to go before she could really call herself
competent with the instrument.  In any case, she needed some valve oil for
the sax, thus the trip downtown.  Musing on this, and thinking also of the
fingering for a piece she was working on, she was caught unawares by the
screams of terror just ahead.
  
	The redhead glanced up, bracing for an explosion, a fire, or most
likely one of the huge monsters they had been fighting since September. 
Then she saw the commotion, and there was only one thing for her to do. 
"Orion Crystal Power, Make-Up!"

	Thus transformed, she raced towards the disturbance, forced to dodge
panicked shoppers who were trying to get away from whatever was the source
of it all.  Finally, she found herself in front of an Italian restaurant. 
She was well acquainted with it, having gone there numerous times to sample
their lasagna.  That alone was enough to send her to new heights of anger.
  
	"How DARE they attack the best lasagna in light years!"  Sailor
Orion rushed into the restaurant, not bothering to call in backup.  The
first thing she saw was what looked for all the world to be a giant ziti. 
"Ziti?" she asked no-one.  "Who the hell comes up with this?" The laugh that
threatened to erupt from her mouth was cut off when the pernicious pasta
shot a stream of tomato sauce at her.  Even from her distance she could feel
the heat; it would have burnt her badly if she hadn't dodged.  Another
stream came, and Sailor Orion thought to deflect it with her sword Kedalion.
  
	She glanced down at the blade, now coated with melted cheese. 
"Right, that's it." She glared at the nefarious noodle.  "You're going down,
pasta-boy!" Had she been less annoyed she probably would have been deeply
embarrassed over her impromptu speech, but the beast's smaller size gave her
more confidence.  "Orion Saber Disruption!" she called, going through the
motions.  Her aim was true as the killer ziti crumpled into a puddle of
carbohydrates, sugars, and something else.  The rush of the kill dying down,
Sailor Orion narrowed her eyes and walked forward into the kitchen.
  
	The place was in ruins; here an oven was overturned, there two
baskets of tomatoes had been smashed to pulp.  More disturbingly, three
cooks lay motionless on the floor.  She crouched down next to one of them
and found that he was still breathing, at least.  Similar inspection found
that the other two were also alive, just unconscious.  Moving on to what had
caught her attention the first time, she saw it, sticking up out of the
puddle she had just fought.  The senshi bent over to look at it more
closely.
  
	"A card?"  
  
	The puddle dried into a line of ashes, which then vanished.  
  
***  
  
	The 'annoyances' made many repeat appearances, all falling into the
same general pattern.  Annoyance pops out of nowhere, attacks several people
by draining their energy, can't be stopped by conventional means, has to be
defeated by one or the other senshi.  Chemical analysis of the sparse
remains showed no match with youma or any other previous enemy.  There was a
seventy-five percent correlation with a short-lived species known as
cardians, but Antares was a bit cautious about the data.
  
	"I'd like to have more information, really," confided Antares to Jen
as she sat brooding in command and control.  She had taken another day off
to figure out the situation, fully aware she was falling behind with her
classes.  It was fast approaching the point where she would have to take a
leave of absence and have a more permanent substitute take over for her. 
Damn shame, too, as teaching had done so much to take her mind off the
planet's various problems.
  
	"But?" she asked.  
  
	"But the last four you fought didn't even leave ash.  They must be
getting weaker."
  
	"I've got no complaints," said Jen.  She leaned back in her seat. 
"It's just tiring, is all.  One per day for two weeks . . . how much longer
can we keep this up?"
  
	"By my estimates, three-"  
  
	"Don't tell me, Antares, just don't."  Jen sighed and massaged the
bridge of her nose.  "I'm going to take a drive.  Vanessa, you're in
charge."
  
	"Aye, sir."  
  
***  
  
	Stopping by her home to change into some jeans, University of
Hinansho sweatshirt, and light winter jacket, Jen drove to the university
itself.  Specifically, she pulled into the parking lot nearest the sciences
building that held the biology, psychology, chemistry, and physics
departments.  Her destination was physics, in the basement of the building.
  
	Walking down the hallways, she wondered why it was so dark.  She'd
been in psychology a few times, and it was definitely much brighter than
this.  Half the lights in the hall were off, and most of the classrooms were
dark and silent: unusual for the middle of a school day.  Finally, she came
to and knocked at the office of Dr. Etsuya Shiotani, chair of the physics
department.
  
	"Come in!"  
  
	Jen opened the door.  "Ah, Sakachi-sensei!" said the burly old man,
smiling and bowing effusively.
  
	"Shiotani-sensei," replied Jen, bowing.  "Any progress?"  
  
	His face fell.  "Not quite," he began sheepishly.  "We've-"  
  
	He was cut off by a wave of Jen's hand.  "Don't worry about it,
Shiotani-sensei.  If you'll excuse me?" She picked up a stack of papers from
a battered yellow couch which sat beneath a chalkboard absolutely coated
with equations.  Glazing her eyes at the writing on board--which was
actually a developing theory of faster-than-light communication--she sat
down and spread her arms across the back of the couch.  Shiotani sat down on
top of his desk to face Jen.
  
	"Etsuya . . . I don't think I've really told you how much you've
helped in the last few weeks."
  
	The physics professor waved his hand.  "It was nothing."  
  
	"Nothing?  You and your students have saved this planet many times
over!  The gertie systems, the lifts, Antares . . . the scientists of this
university have been great!  I've got a whole stack of recommendations on my
desk; I want medals for all of you.  I know it can't be enough to repay what
you've done-"
  
	"Sakachi-sensei, we'd do it for free.  Now stop worrying and come
along with me, I want to show you something."
  
	The two went out the door and down two flights of stairs.  "How many
subbasements does this place have?" asked Jen, looking nervously at the
slightly damp walls.
  
	"Just three, a fourth is planned in a couple of years. 
Sakachi-sensei, how much do you know about modern quantum field mechanics?"
  
	"Um, just a tiny bit at the School, and most of that was
propulsion."
  
	"Good, that's just what I'm talking about.  You understand the basic
principle of the Fold drives we use to cheat the light-speed barrier?"
  
	"Erm., I think so."  She had barely survived her physics courses
because of the fiendishly difficult math involved.  They left the stairwell
to find themselves in a damp and very cold hallway.
  
	"Then you understand that one of the principles of using a Katajisto
field to move a ship is symmetry.  A symmetrical field produces a nice
ripple in space-time that allows a ship to travel from point A to point B
without actually moving along line AB, right?"
  
	"Right."  That much she understood, at least.
  
	"An asymmetrical field, however, will cancel out a symmetrical one. 
That's why it took so long to discover the properties of a symmetrical
field." He came to one of a number of closed doors and punched a combination
into a keypad.  It beeped satisfactorily, and Shiotani gestured for Jen to
step into the lab, which was only slightly brighter than the hallway.  He
lead her through the lab, which was filled with all sorts of equipment the
history teacher could make neither heads nor tails of.  "The reason I'm
telling you all this is because of what we're working on.  One of our
priorities since this mess started has been establishing contact with
Earth."
  
	Jen nodded.  The similarities with her time on Pleiades were too
striking: alone on the frontier, with no way to report home on what was
going on, and little hope of assistance until the next supply ship arrived
shortly after Christmas.
  
	"It would help so much if we didn't have that stellar interference,"
continued Shiotani.  "Even if we couldn't contact the Moon, they'd know
something was up with our silence.  But this star . . . everyone knows it's
susceptible to this sort of thing, that's why this world was passed over as
the new seat of government.  There's no way they could know this blackout is
different from any other.
  
	"So, we've been trying to punch through the jamming.  One of the
first things we thought of was Engineer Bennington's ploy on H.M.S. 
Pleiades." Jen looked up sharply at that, surprised that Shiotani's line of
thought would parallel her own.  "Despite the brilliance of Bennington's
idea, it won't work in this situation.  He only had to overcome the lack of
a telepath.  Now, with psi-repeater satellites, we just have to find a way
to get the signal through the jamming.  As it turns out, there are two
solutions."
  
	Their path through the lab ended abruptly, at a heavy metal door
plastered with almost every imaginable warning label.  "A bit of a joke,"
explained the physics professor, "it's perfectly safe." He didn't notice Jen
cringe as he pulled a handle, causing the door to creak open.  "The first
solution is to initiate a low-level fold from here, stick the communication
signal in the envelope, and aim it at earth." He smiled slightly as Jen
gasped both at his words and the room they had just entered.  It was
completely empty, save for a single oblong silver cylinder resting on its
side in the middle of the room.
  
	Jen looked over at Shiotani.  "Is it safe?"  He nodded, and she
stepped forward to inspect it more closely.  There were few markings on it,
and those that were there were similar to what she'd seen once or twice on
torpedoes.
  
	"Solution one is not a real option.  The tidal forces created by the
field would tear a large chunk of the planet apart.  That's bad," he added
in a softer, self-mocking tone.  "So, this is solution two.  We package the
whole deal in a standard torpedo casing and shoot it outside the ecliptic. 
There, we can safely activate it and send a distress call back to Earth."
  
	"Is that possible?"  
  
	"If we can get it up in the air, pointing in the right direction,
and manage to give it enough fuel, then definitely."
  
	Jen smiled.  "How soon will it be ready?"  
  
	"Um, it's not quite that simple.  You see, getting it into the air
would be difficult enough.  Ideally we'd use a chemical rocket, but we sort
of don't have any of those.  So with your permission, of course, the plan
would call for one of our remaining fighters to take it into orbit and then
let the device's thrusters work for itself."
  
	"Kinda small, though," said Jen dubiously.  
  
	Shiotani sweatdropped.  "That would be the next problem: how to fit
the thrusters, guidance, fold drive, and power plant in the casing.  We
haven't figured out how yet."
  
	"How soon?" she asked again.  
  
	"We don't know."  Jen scowled.  "Look, we're doing the best we can,
Sakachi-sensei.  Considering we're trying something that no-one has ever
attempted before, you might want to give my boys a bit of slack!"
  
	Jen bowed her head.  "Sorry, but you do understand that we need help
immediately.  Sailor America and I can't keep this up forever."
  
	"Yes," replied Shiotani, "we're trying."  He coughed nervously.  
  
	"So, assuming things work out on your end . . . you would need some
sort of diversion, wouldn't you?  I doubt the enemy will stand still while
we try to put something into orbit."
  
	"Yes," nodded the physicist.  "Any help you could give would be
crucial."
  
	"You'll have it.  I don't know how, but you'll have it."  She
reached out a hand to stroke the slender cylinder.  "This is our best chance
out of this mess, and we won't allow it to be squandered."
  
***  
  
	Several days later, Jen sat in her study.  On various shelves and
spare chairs were books and papers from her teaching.  They had lain
untouched for days, though.  She didn't know how far along her students
were, and somehow it didn't seem quite as vital anymore.  The day before,
she finally did what had been almost inevitable: made arrangements for a
permanent substitute to take over her classes.  She knew she no longer had
time for teaching, not when the defense of the entire planet lay on the
shoulders of her and her lover.
  
	The redhead ran a pencil through her hair and sighed, turning
another page.  Another one of the never-ending status reports to read
through: threat assessments, intelligence reports, budget requests; the list
went on and on.  She couldn't handle it herself anymore; the valkyries came
by twice a week to help her sort out all the data, and Antares did his best
as well.  Despite all this, she was still basically the commander of the
Hinansho Defense Force, as she was contemplating renaming it, and unless she
wanted it to become the Hinansho Resistance Force, she had some work to do.
  
	Eileen knocked gently on the wooden door before entering.  She bore
a tray with a teapot, cup, saucer, and sugar, and gently placed it down on a
small table set up just for that purpose.  "How's it going?"
  
	"Slowly," replied Jen.  She took off her glasses, blinked, and then
replaced them.  Eileen read the tension in her lover's face and immediately
went behind Jen to massage her shoulders.  After a minute of this, Jen began
to relax into her seat, relieving some of the stress that was building up. 
Eileen stopped for a moment to pour Jen a cup of tea, which the redhead
thankfully sipped.
  
	"The council met again today."  
  
	"Did they?" asked Jen.  She didn't know; she hadn't left the room
since mid-morning.
  
	"Yeah.  Half of them want to cut the pretenses and just make you
interim governor.  You, I, and the rest of your, well, our staff have pretty
much taken over anyway."
  
	"The charter says-"  
  
	"Jennifer, forget the charter.  The reality is that we're in charge. 
They want to make it legal.  Let's not stop them, okay?"
  
	Jen blinked at the sudden forcefulness and craned her neck to look
behind her at Eileen, who had resumed massaging her shoulders.  The normally
playful and relaxed brown eyes were unreadable now.  "Okay," she nodded. 
"They can go ahead.  It'll be a pain explaining it to Her Majesty, though."
  
	Eileen's reply was cut off by the ringing of both their
communicators.  The two sighed in unison and pulled out the devices. 
"Sakachi and Pearcy here," said Jen.  "Please don't say it's another
annoyance."
  
***  
  
	"No sir, it isn't," answered Kim.  The black-haired woman sat at her
post in headquarters, the late-afternoon sun cutting a sharp diagonal of
light across one corner of the far-too-small room.  Around her, chaos banged
at the door as the normal watch was replaced by the alpha shift.  Kim
yawned; she had just clocked out and was walking to the parking lot when the
alert came in.  "This looks like one of the big ones."
  
	Kim blinked as her superior said a bad word.  "Yes sir, the anomaly
is just north of the city and moving south rapidly.  It hasn't made any
overtly threatening movements." A pause.  "Yes, they're already evacuating."
Another pause.  "Ten minutes, fifteen at the most.  I can feed you the
coordinates if . . . ah, okay, there you go.  Okay sir, good luck." She
closed the connection and opened another.  "Go to first stage alert!"
  
***  
  
	Sailors Orion and America reached the point of last contact with the
enemy, having decided to take a car instead of running.  It was a normal
street corner, with a few three-story apartments all around.  "Kim," said
Sailor Orion into her communicator, "did anyone get a visual on this thing?"
  
	"No, just the odd power readings that matched those of the target
that destroyed Valhalla."
  
	"You know I hate when you do this to me."  
  
	"Sorry," squeaked Kim, and the connection fell silent again.  The
two senshi popped out of the car and walked cautiously, each covering the
other's back.
  
	"So-"  
  
	"There!" screamed Sailor America, pointing down a street.  She was
answered by a streak of flame, which both senshi dove to avoid.
  
	"I think that was him," said Sailor Orion calmly.  
  
	"What makes you say that?" asked Sailor America sarcastically,
scrambling to her feet as Sailor Orion did the same.
  
	The two stood for a moment against the cold brick wall of an
apartment building, facing away from whoever had attacked them.  "That
looked a lot like the guy we faced in Valhalla!" exclaimed Sailor Orion.
  
	"Impossible," began Sailor America, but they both knew that the
mysterious stranger looked just like him, and the one in Valhalla hadn't
been destroyed.  At least, they hadn't seen him destroyed.  "What do you
think he's doing now."
  
	Sailor Orion was one step ahead of her, already speaking on her
communicator.  "Do you have any cameras in a position to see it?" she asked
Kim.
  
	"No, the only one nearby was a traffic camera, and it's been knocked
out."
  
	"Great."  Sailor Orion looked at Sailor America.  "One of us needs
to go out there and see what's going on."
  
	"I will."  
  
	"No you won't, I will."  She held up a finger to forestall any
argument.  "You'll cover me."
  
	Sailor America seemed about to protest, but thought better of it. 
"Okay."
  
	"On three.  One, two, THREE!"  Sailor Orion raced out into the
intersection, as Sailor America poked her head around from the side of the
building with her hands raised in an offensive posture.
  
	Sailor Orion blinked.  She had expected to be faced with a hail of
fire, not . . . nothing.
  
	"Stay careful, Jen," said Sailor America, her breath condensing in
the winter air.  The redhead nodded once and crept forward slowly, waiting
to be attacked.
  
	Nothing happened.  "You know," said Sailor Orion, "maybe-"  
  
	She was cut off by the sound of an explosion two blocks away.  
  
	"-not," she finished, looking up.  A cloud of smoke was rising in
the distance.  A thought occurred to her, and she pulled out her handlink. 
Sailor America was soon at her side.
  
	"What is it?"  
  
	"Just checking what's in that direction.  Dammit!"  She brought her
gaze up into Sailor America's brown eyes with fear and anger.  "One of the
Gertie stations is there!"
  
	Sailor America gulped.  In the brief time since the attacks had
begun, a half dozen of the devices had been constructed and strategically
placed around the city.  The idea had been that they would be able to reach
one no matter where in the city they were.  It had been a good idea, but now
it seemed that their enemy aimed to take away that ability from them. 
Worse, they were already certain that only Gertie assistance could defeat
this enemy.  Sailor Orion spent all of two seconds thinking it over.  "He's
going to go after the next Gertie; it's twelve blocks away."
  
	Sailor America made a burst of mental arithmetic and came to the
obvious conclusion.  "Let's go." Immediately afterwards, the two were
running at full speed towards the location of GS-03, racing against time to
save the weapons they needed now most of all.
 

(Rating: PG-13) 
 
============================================================= 
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Orion 
A relatively original fanfic by LeVar Bouyer 
Episode 415: Starlight, Starbright, First Star I Save Tonight 
============================================================= 
 
*** [title sequence] *** 
 
	The two senshi raced once more through the streets of the Second
Nagano City, this time fully realizing how crucial their mission was. 
Before, the enemy acted with unclear goals; most of their opponents seemed
bent on general destruction, with the exception of two that had gone for
Antares and Valhalla.  Now, they knew exactly what was at stake: their
ability to win.
 
	Station GS-03 wasn't much to look at; it looked like a slightly
larger than average telephone booth, with a few yellow and black caution
stripes around it.  It was positioned in the same location a typical booth
would be, too, which made it hard to defend.  The two senshi would have to
anticipate attacks from any direction.  Sailor Orion ran through all these
possibilities immediately and came to a conclusion she didn't like.  She
grabbed her communicator.  "Kim, anyone there have any ideas on how we can
handle this guy?  Our methods didn't work the last time, for certain."
 
	"No," answered Lieutenant Commander Young.  In the background little
could be heard; command must be about as quiet as it got.  "We're stumped. 
Antares is too, he says plan B is your best shot."
 
	"B?" 
 
	"Blast the hell out of it." 
 
	Sailor Orion almost sighed, but thought better of it.  Time was at a
definite premium.  "Okay, we're going to have to take our chances.  Plug
in." Her bows and skirt swirled and flared for a moment as she spun 180
degrees, putting her back to the Gertie.  Then she reached without looking
for a small, almost invisible black cord that ran from a protrusion on the
Gertie to the center of the back bow of her fuku.  This particular design
apparently ran the gestalt from the small of the back, rather than from the
hands as she had on Pleiades.  She didn't know why; in all probability only
Antares knew.  He had kept the plans in his memory, and had taught the
engineering students only what they needed to know to build the device in
the shortest time possible.
 
	On the other side of the gertie Sailor America was doing the same. 
She absently rubbed the shoulder pad of her super sailor fuku and wondered
why it was there.  It didn't seem to do anything useful, that was certain. 
Then the edge of it turned a glowing red as a silver streak nipped it. 
America snapped her head up, tracing back to the source of the beam.  A
figure stood atop a three-story apartment building, cape blowing in the cold
winter wind.
 
	The brown-haired senshi didn't say a word, simply turned and brought
her arms to bear.  "American Stars and Stripes!" The sparkles and streamers
raced up from her hands, the Gertie magnifying their size and brilliance to
the point of making it painful to watch. Her gloved hands didn't feel a bit
of the warmth, but the mysterious man did, leaping up to avoid the heat.
 
	Alerted to the threat by the cry, Sailor Orion spun around and
brought up her sword.  With a quick cry she called out her attack name.  Her
quarry was moving too quickly, though, and she couldn't manage to keep up
the pressure.  Her attack needed time to work, and he wasn't giving it to
her.
 
	Above, the man landed on a rooftop.  It was all he could do not to
cry out in pain; his left arm had been partially liquefied, and his fingers
and hand dripped messily on the gray gravel that covered the rooftop.  These
damned sailor senshi, he should have destroyed them when he had the chance. 
Cursing, he teleported again.
 
	Sailor Orion was immediately on her guard once she felt the pressure
change.  A body had just teleported next to her, and the displacement always
produced a very small change in air pressure.  Most people couldn't sense
it, but a senshi could, and was trained to do from a very early point.  On
instinct, she reached behind her with her arms and grabbed hold.  The senshi
then flipped her newfound prize over, slamming his back into the ground.
 
	"NO!" cried the Sixth, but it was too late.  Sailor America was
immediately there, two fingers pressed to his skull.
 
	"One move, pal.  One move and you'll be seeing stars, and that'll be
the last thing you *ever* see.  Got it?"
 
	The Sixth was nothing, if not a survivalist.  A lower-rank entity
might have tried a suicide move, or perhaps self-destructed, taking the two
senshi with him.  He happened to like being alive, though, and perhaps there
was a way to turn this to his advantage.  He nodded once, and for the first
time the senshi had a prisoner of war.
 
*** 
 
	Headquarters was a beehive of activity as plans were made to secure
and hold the prisoner.  The xenology experts were almost screaming to get a
detailed look at him, intelligence wanted a vigorous interrogation as soon
as possible, the more hard-core militants wanted the captive killed.  It
seemed for a moment that there wasn't enough of the prisoner to go around.
 
	"Vanessa," said Kim from across the situation table, "Lieutenant
Nishimura from intelligence says they have a temporary holding cell ready."
 
	"Hold on." Vanessa punched up the latest report from the
xenologists.  "The specialists say they want an observation window,
preferably several of them."
 
	Kim nodded and spoke into her headset again, looking up after a
moment.  "Intelligence is balking.  They'll agree to cameras, but no
windows."
 
	"Hm, let me see if they'll agree to it."  Vanessa opened another
connection to the xenology department.  It was a small matter for her,
actually.  She had acted as a liaison between departments on Pleiades;
handling the relationship between the pure-minded scientists and the almost
paranoid military was easy for her to do.
 
	After another minute of negotiations, they had finalized the
agreement.  Intelligence would place eight cameras and a dozen other sensing
devices to measure temperature, humidity, sound, and various other things. 
Two speakers were also included.  A moment later, orders were already in
place for an armored car to pick up the prisoner -- designated Papa-Zero-One
-- and transfer him to the detention cell.
 
	Kim leaned back in her seat and stifled a yawn.  It was now 01:13;
she, Sammy, and Vanessa had been there since 08:00 and sent the rest of the
staff home.  Now they were working with the overnight shift.  Sailor Orion
had already called and specifically ruled out calling in the alpha shift. 
There were other preparations to make as well.  Shiotani had been contacted
and, by Orion's orders, told to prepare Project Hanasu.  None of the
valkyries knew what Hanasu was, but whatever it was seemed to have terrified
Shiotani, who insisted there wasn't enough time.  For now, though, there
were more important things to tend to.  "Yes, this is Young.  Could you
bring up some coffee?"
 
*** 
 
	04:55 found Sailors Orion and America standing in an elevator as it
slowly descended into the Hinansho Defense Force's underground base.  The
two had had little reason to go there recently, other than one check to see
how repairs to Valhalla were going.  Sailor Orion knew, though, what they
had just captured would put all the repair plans on hold.
 
	The redheaded senshi sipped tea from a cup as she leaned against the
wall of the lift.  Sailor America had already gulped down a soda heavy in
sugar and caffeine.  "They say he speaks Japanese," said Sailor America,
breaking the silence.
 
	"Makes a certain amount of sense.  We could see that this one is
different from the rest."
 
	"You think he's more intelligent?" 
 
	"Most likely, but I wouldn't want to take it for granted.  He could
just be a reconnaissance drone; it would be a logical conclusion.  I'm
rather interested in the xenologists' report . . . ." She trailed off as the
elevator announced their arrival at the appropriate floor.  Straightening
her skirt, she stood straight and walked out, Sailor America following
behind.
 
	The two senshi walked into the makeshift detention center, Sailor
Orion still holding her teacup.  The base had never been designed with the
expectation of prisoners, and they had built the cell in what had once been
the armory before all the weapons were moved elsewhere.  The control room
was small and cramped, with one wall filled with video monitors.  Despite
the efforts of the officers there, both women occasionally felt hands and
arms bumping into the bottoms of the two senshi.  They tried their best not
to say anything about it; there was nothing to be done, really.
 
	"How are things going?" asked Sailor Orion.  One of the monitors
switched to Sammy's face.  Behind the blonde, the sky was just barely
beginning to lighten as morning came.
 
	"He's finally starting to stir from all the tranquilizers they
pumped in him," replied Sammy.  "He should regain consciousness very soon."
She didn't mention how lucky they had been that he hadn't overdosed and died
on them from their lack of knowledge about his physiology.
 
	The redhead nodded.  "I understand."  She looked at the rest of the
monitors, which showed the alien as he lay motionless on a bed.  Nothing
else was in the room except for it.  The bed itself had no sheets, and the
bedposts were bent in such a way that there were no sharp edges.  They
wanted no possibility of their captive committing suicide.  He looked so
average; he had been mistaken for just another officer in Valhalla . . .
was he an exception, or were all the upper-level aliens like this?
 
	With a sudden snap, he was awake and sitting upright.  The control 
room staff gasped at this. 
 
	"Security fields holding!" 
 
	"Guards report all clear!" 
 
	"Cell is intact!  No electromagnetic breaches!" 
 
	"Calm down, people!" shouted Sailor America, raising a white-gloved
hand.  "He just woke up, let him snoop around and see what his situation
looks like.  Are the xenologists watching?"
 
	"Every second," confirmed a tech. 
 
	"Good, I'm going to need their opinions on this."  On the screens
the being groggily moved to its feet and looked around.  Sailor America
tried to put herself into his position: captured just a few hours before,
forced under duress to surrender to the enemy, immediately drugged and
brought to an unknown location, presumably deep in hostile territory.  She
thought she knew what he would think next: was escape possible, and if so,
how?
 
	Now to see if her theories were correct. 
 
*** 
 
	He looked around.  Gray walls, gray floor, gray ceiling, all made of
the same unyielding metallic substance.  He briefly summoned his power,
albeit greatly weakened, and found that he couldn't muster enough energy to
punch through it.  More observations: there were cameras, lots of them. 
Rather primitive design, he could easily eliminate them, and then perhaps
there would be a weakness to exploit.  Raising his hands, he aimed at one of
the corner cameras.
 
	"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said a female voice.  He looked
about frantically, but the acoustics of the room hid the source.  "Calm
down, I promise no harm will come to you as long as you don't do anything
foolish."
 
	He blasted a camera. 
 
	"That was something that I'd call foolish." 
 
	He blasted another. 
 
	"My name's Sailor America." 
 
	And another. 
 
	"I think you should know that if you don't stop immediately the
pressure in the room will increase to several dozen atmospheres, killing you
instantly.  Now are you going to talk, or die?"
 
	A fourth camera was destroyed.  Five remained.  Then he felt a
sudden, aching, burning pain in his groin, and he fell to the floor
screaming.
 
	"Actually, I lied.  That was an infrared laser.  It would be easy
for us to incinerate you alive with it, but we'd rather see you unharmed."
 
	The being struggled to catch his breath.  "I'd rather die," he
croaked.
 
	"We won't give you the option.  Look, I'll break it down for you. 
We're tired of fighting, and I bet you are too.  All we want is to send a
small delegation up there to negotiate and find out what we can do to end
this."
 
	"No interrogation?" 
 
	"We have all the information we need," she lied.  They needed
everything they could get from their captive, but Sailor America was betting
her reverse psychology would loosen his tongue.  If she was wrong . . . she
tried not to think of what would happen if she was wrong.
 
	"You'll provide me with the proper equipment?" 
 
	"You'll use your own." 
 
	"What guarantee do I have that you won't kill me?" 
 
	"If we wanted you dead," said Sailor America patiently, "we would
have killed you by now.  Oh, there is one other condition.  The delegation
must include myself."
 
	The being was smart for his kind, but not smart enough.  Baustch or
Holbrow would have seen the trap instantly, but he never did.  "To
surrender?"
 
	"As a gesture of goodwill."  The captive could almost see Sailor
America smile warmly.  "Just because your people have been trying to kill
ours doesn't mean we can't have a friendly conversation."
 
	He nodded in what he thought was understanding.  "I see, then.  I'll
make the arrangements immediately."
 
*** 
 
	Two hours later.  The sun had now fully risen in the mostly cloudy
skies of Hinansho, on a mid-December day which held the promise of being as
eventful as the day that had preceded it.
 
	In the room with the slanted windows which served as the new home of
headquarters, Sailor Orion looked out over the now-silent city.  It was
still on an alert status after the battle the night before, and the
redheaded senshi was already considering whether she should order the full
evacuation of the city.  It was quite possible things could become so
dangerous as to outweigh any safety the city could offer.  That was in the
back of her mind, though; one other thing seemed much more important.
 
	"I'm sorry, but I won't allow you to go up there alone." She pivoted
on her right heel to face the slightly shorter Sailor America.  "I'll go
with you!"
 
	"Sailor Orion," said the brunette, "I know I'm not the tactician,
but think about it.  You're needed on the ground.  I sure as hell can't
coordinate everything that needs to be done here, and even with the ability,
the people don't know me as well.  You have the skill and the respect needed
to lead.  I've got the skill and respect needed to 'negotiate.' Anyone can
see that I should go and you should stay, and we're wasting time discussing
this, so let's get moving!"
 
	Sailor Orion bowed her head.  "I don't want to lose you," she said 
very quietly. 
 
	Sailor America walked towards Sailor Orion and gently lifted her
head with her left hand.  "You'll never lose me, Jennifer.  I swear it." She
gave her partner a gentle, passionate kiss, pushing Sailor Orion's back into
the cold slanted window.  When Sailor America broke off the kiss, the
tenderness in her brown eyes lingered a moment before it was replaced by
resolve and determination.  "Now let's get to work."
 
	She turned and went back into the fray of command, followed closely
by Sailor Orion.  The rest of the staff, who had tactfully found other
things to do during the exchange between their two superiors, now stood to
face them, ready for orders.  They didn't have to wait long.
 
	"Sammy," asked Sailor Orion, "how's the transportation going?" 
 
	"Shuttle zero-one is fueled and on standby at the spaceport, as is
the fighter escort," recited the blonde.  She didn't even have to look at
her console.  "Three Mark-11 Executioners, the last fighters in the Defense
Force."
 
	Sailor Orion held back a wince at the reminder.  Everything they had
was being put into this mission that had been conceived and developed in
just a hundred and twenty-two minutes.  It *had* to work.  "And the
payload?"
 
	"Hanasu is mounted on one of the Executioners."  Sailor Orion raised
an eyebrow.  "Antares says she can still fly."
 
	"Let's not put words in my mouth," chimed in the AI.  "I said there
was a sixty-five percent chance that the fighter could handle the extra
weight.  Dr. Shiotani and myself are much more worried about the power
supply; as it stands now it'll be a craps shoot as to whether enough power
can be generated by the fighter's destruction for this to work."
 
	The redhead blinked.  "What?" 
 
	"It's the only solution that will work, Jenny.  The only thing we
have portable enough for a fighter to carry along with the device is the
fighter itself.  If it goes to afterburners and maintains it long enough, we
can channel the excess energy and harness it for the device.  In the process
the drive will overload and self destruct; the trick is to get the device
clear before that happens."
 
	She mulled this.  'Afterburners' was an anachronism; the actual
mechanism at work was light years removed from the twentieth century method
of dumping raw fuel into the engine exhausts.  The overall effect was the
same, though; a short term, high gain boost in thrust and speed.  The method
was never meant to be used for more than three or four seconds at a time;
exceeding that limit was invariably fatal to both fighter and pilot.
 
	She had to smirk bitterly at this; she wouldn't have known even this
much if it wasn't for the war.  Modern fighters, while capable of space
flight, were usually kept in the atmosphere.  It had been judged futile to
consider sending fighters up against full-fledged starships; that was what
the main ships of the navy were for, and consequently the Royal Star Navy
boasted only a single fighter carrier.  When the aliens had first attacked
in September, almost all the fighters were mowed down in the skies over
Nagano-2 in the failed effort to destroy Sierra-1.  These three were the
last left, and had previously been deemed too valuable to waste in even a
reconnaissance flight.  'Oh well,' she thought, 'that's why they call it a
last-ditch effort.' "Does the pilot know what's required of him?"
 
	"Yes," answered Antares.  "We would have liked for me to pilot it
remotely, but the transmission lag involved rules that out.  The pilot is
one Keishi Yamura.  He was injured in the second attack and isn't expected
to survive much longer." A pause.  "He volunteered, Sailor Orion."
 
	The redhead nodded somberly.  "I'd like to talk to him before we
start, but I don't think we have enough time."
 
	"Three hours, seventeen minutes, thirty seconds." 
 
	"Thought so."  She privately resolved for him to posthumously
receive the highest commendations for his bravery.  "How about our
passengers?"
 
	"All waiting on standby," answered Vanessa.  She checked her
computer.  "They're having a last-minute lecture on emergency procedures."
 
	"They won't need them," said Sailor America lightly.  "We'll make it
just fine."
 
	Sailor Orion nodded with more confidence than she felt.  "Right. 
How about our prisoner?"
 
	"He's still in holding.  Making final arrangements, I think." That
had been one of the biggest disappointments: their failure to extract any
information from the captive.  Aside from a few scraps of their language,
they hadn't learned anything from him.  The xenologists had screamed for a
biopsy and been turned down every time.  He was their ticket to orbit, and
hopefully safe passage for long enough to launch the distress signal which
was the true goal of this mission.  Diplomacy was a bonus, but the real
prize would be getting word to senshi-controlled space.
 
	"Okay, then."  Sailor Orion looked at the main board.  Three hours,
thirteen minutes, forty-eight seconds.  "Operation Phone Home commences in
about three hours," she announced, wondering once again about her lover's
rationale in choosing that particular name.  Another one of her old American
movies?  It would fit, along with her new interest in the ancient American
sport called baseball.  In any case: "Good luck, everyone."
 
*** 
 
	At the spaceport, little was said. 
 
	"Stand strong, Eileen." 
 
	"See you later, Jennifer." 
 
*** 
 
	Sailor America leaned back in her seat and tried to relax as the
shuttle slowly climbed up from the bounds of Hinansho's gravity.  There were
so many uncertainties in this plan, the least of which was the one splinter
fighter that would rocket off in one hundred and twenty seconds, according
to a quick glance at her watch.  The hope was that they would be close
enough to the main ship that they would choose to capture the shuttle rather
than destroy it.
 
	She turned to look at the rest of the passengers.  Two
representatives from the governor's cabinet: education and defense.  Two
representatives from Parliament.  Two from the University.  Two military
police, conspicuous in the red turtlenecks of their uniforms that replaced
the usual white.  One alien, almost a complete unknown, growing more and
more confident as they neared his ship.  And one sailor senshi, in space for
the first time since her arrival on the planet years before.
 
	She clasped her hands and looked out the window as the blue sky
rapidly turned to black.  The alien didn't know what was coming, and they
had to keep it that way so he didn't alert his fellows.  When it came, the
aliens would hold all the cards; the other two fighters, while armed to the
teeth, couldn't hope to defeat the ship.  Soon enough, they would know what
was what.
 
*** 
 
	Keishi Yamura gripped the controls tightly.  In a very short while
it would be time for him to sacrifice himself.  He knew he would die months
ago.  He had lingered on life support after shrapnel from his first fighter
had ripped through his body.  Now, awake only because of the massive amounts
of painkillers coursing through his veins, he remembered only his duty. 
Wait for the appointed time, arm the device, aim for Nozumi, hit the
afterburners, and rocket off like hell.  After twenty seconds, after the
heat was unbearable, after he was long past the point of no return, he would
push a final button and send the device rocketing away.  The precious
distress signal would fly past the bounds of Hinansho's orbit, and to the
faraway repeater satellites that would take their plea to the Sol system.
 
	He had made his peace; now there was only the waiting. 
 
*** 
 
	Bautch looked up with shock at the alarm.  "What's going on!"  He
had been told that the humans were returning the fallen champion to
surrender themselves and throw themselves on their mercy.  He had thought
nothing of their small armed craft; they could do no harm.  But now . . .
what was the third of their armed ships doing?
 
	Holbrow stood by his side.  "I don't know . . . a suicide run?" 
 
	"There's nothing out there but empty space!" 
 
	"Perhaps-"  She was cut off as the craft on the screen exploded with
a flash.  "Perhaps it was a suicide run after all."
 
	Bautsch shook his head.  Such foolish humans . . . where would their
race be without the sailor senshi who had stopped his people so long ago? 
"It seems-"
 
	"My lord!" shouted a peon.  "Something detached from the human ship
before it exploded!"
 
	"WHAT?" roared Baustch.  "Where-" 
 
	"Towards the primary of this system!" 
 
	Baustch turned slowly to his former lover.  "The primary." 
 
	"And their communications satellites.  Looks like they managed to
contact their Queen after all."
 
	Baustch turned white, both with anger and with fear.  Could victory,
seemingly inevitable for so long, be snatched away from them once more? 
"Now, Holbrow.  We must end this now." Before it's too late.
 

(Rating: R) 
 
=============================================================== 
Episode 416: Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All About You 
=============================================================== 
 
	In Nagano-2, Sailor Orion was on her tenth cup of tea in as many
hours.  She had once heard another senshi say that tea and coffee would
always keep you awake, whether from the caffeine or the pressure of a full
bladder.  She had had her fill of both lately.  Being a senshi was sometimes
a pain when she had to use the restroom, since the process involved-
 
	"Sir," said Sammy, breaking in on her thoughts, "we have a
confirmation signal!"
 
	Sailor Orion nodded once and looked out the window.  It was growing
more cloudy, but the weather forecasts said snow was unlikely.  In a way she
was thankful for the gray curtain which hid the events in orbit from view. 
It was easier this way, relying on the instruments and readouts of
headquarters rather than looking up into a blue sky and watching the flash
of a fighter on its last mission.
 
	"Another signal, sir," said Sammy moments later.  "Capture." 
 
	The redhead closed her eyes.  "Kami help her." 
 
*** 
 
	On the shuttle, things were going from bad to worse.  Out of
necessity, Sailor America had been the only one to know about the plan, and
so the rest of the passengers panicked when one of their fighter escorts
rocketed off and away from the shuttle.  They panicked even more when the
ship suddenly rocked with a jolt.
 
	"Calm down, everyone!" shouted Sailor America, who had been
expecting something like this.  She used her communicator previously to send
the two signals to Nagano-2.  Now there was nothing to do but wait while
they were taken aboard the alien vessel . . . then again, she could baby-sit
the rest of the passengers, too.  "Everything's under control, just get back
to your seats." The cabin made a sudden sickening roll, and the artificial
gravity vanished.  "Just stay calm!" she called out, feeling her ponytail
drift up into the air.
 
	Her mind went back to the first rules of public relations; always
appear as if you have all the answers, even when you have none.  So even as
their tiny frail craft was drawn towards the enemy ship, she worked on
calming the frightened people onboard.  After all, there would be plenty of
reason to panic later.
 
*** 
 
	Baustch stormed through the dark hallways of his ship, Holbrow close
behind.  "Is the bay secure?"
 
	"Not even a canaxgonne could get out of there," reassured Holbrow,
referring to a small insect that had been common to their homeworld.  "We've
been watching.  They've made no attempt to leave their vessel."
 
	"The fighters?" 
 
	"Destroyed, as you ordered.  No survivors." 
 
	"The *other* fighter, Holbrow." 
 
	She quailed, but showed no outward sign of fear.  "All indications
are that it managed to send its signal in time."
 
	Baustch took in a deep breath.  "Then we must assume that their
Queen knows of our presence, despite all our efforts."
 
	"You know *he* is going to want to reprimand you for this," she said
with no small amount of glee.
 
	He shrugged.  "I'll surely be awarded handsomely for capturing one
of the sailor senshi.  You've read the legends just as I have; once their
Queen learns we have her bodyguard, she'll sacrifice herself if necessary-"
 
	"Listen to yourself!" said Holbrow sharply, stopping the alien man
in his tracks.  "She'll kill herself for *one* of her guards, when she has
at least a dozen others?  Think about it: if she can afford to dump two
senshi so far from their home, she *must* have something waiting in
reserve!"
 
	"Our lord has promised our victory if we can capture this world for
our own.  We just have to move quickly, and the more you talk to me the less
quickly I can proceed!  Now go make yourself useful and check what the ones
on the surface are doing!"
 
	Holbrow wisely kept her anger in check and turned around to head
back to the control room.  Fine, let him have his way.  When the time came
to lead the ground invasion, she knew who would be picked to head it.  Then
the glory for bringing the humans to their knees would go to her.  She
laughed with just a hint of apprehension.
 
*** 
 
	The holding bay was filled.  Baustch's most trusted guards ringed
the shuttle, and as he entered four more moved to flank him.  He walked
steadily towards the captured shuttle, silent save for the steady beat of
his boots on the floor.
 
	In a row before him stood the occupants of the shuttle.  Three
showed signs of a struggle: two men whose uniforms stood out from the rest
because of their red turtlenecks, and one other who looked to be a scientist
of some sort.  Only two in the group interested him, though.  He came to the
first.
 
	"Sailor America." 
 
	The brown haired senshi looked back at him with a carefully masked
expression.  Not masked enough, though.  He could see the slightest hint of
fear and uncertainty in her brown eyes.  She said nothing.
 
	"You and your partner have caused myself and my people a great deal
of difficulty over the last several months."
 
	"Who are you?" she asked calmly, almost in a bored tone. 
 
	"You may call me Baustch." 
 
	"Hm.  Well then, Baustch, I apologize.  If possible we would have
tried to cause you much, much more."
 
	The alien gazed hard into her eyes now, but the fear and uncertainty
were gone, replaced with a twinkle he couldn't quite place until he saw the
sides of her mouth drawn up in the very slightest hint of a smile.  He
smiled.  "You're a cocky one.  I like that." She smiled more confidently.
 
	Baustch drew back his right hand and slapped her full on her left
cheek.  The senshi of America's head spun a quarter turn around, and she
couldn't help but let out a small gasp to accompany the smacking sound of
violence.  Slowly, she turned her face to look back at Baustch, and now her
eyes showed fear . . . and anger.  'You'll be sorry for that,' they seemed
to say.
 
	He would enjoy breaking this woman.  Oh yes.  "I will speak with you
more in a moment, Sailor America." He turned to the guard nearest him. 
"Have her taken to a secure location.  The rest of you may go."
 
	A dozen heavily armed guards proceeded to grab America and half
lead, half shove her out of the bay.  The senshi didn't struggle; from here
on out she knew it was a game to survive as long as possible and wait for
help to come.  When she was presented with an opportunity to escape, she
would try.  For now, though, she would conserve her strength and bide her
time.
 
	As she left, a guard was uncertain as to what to do with the other
prisoners, and said as much.  Bautsch shrugged.  "Kill them, torture them,
makes no difference to me.  Do not fight over our trophies, though," he
warned, quelling the rumbles of satisfaction and expectation that ran
through his ranks.  "If your squabbles damage one screw on this ship, I'll
pick ten men from every division and have them thrown out into space,
understand!"
 
	"YES, MY LORD!" shouted the aliens. 
 
	The rest of the humans were hustled out, some shouting ineffectually
for freedom.  Their cries were ignored, but in a way none of them knew until
later, they were lucky.  These were less bloodthirsty beings; killing them
would be too simple, and not enjoyable enough.  Soon, all that remained was
the human ship, Baustch, and the Sixth.  The green haired alien quietly
walked to his champion.
 
	"You performed well," he said warmly. 
 
	"Thank you, my lord!" 
 
	"However, you also allowed the senshi to send a signal to their
home.  The punishment for this is death.  Good bye."
 
	The Sixth had only enough time to open his eyes wide before Baustch
raised his right arm and sent him flying back into a wall, killing him
instantly.  With a cheerful motion, the alien commander brushed off his
hands and proceeded to leave the bay.  Time to check on his very important
prisoner.
 
*** 
 
	In Nagano-2, morning had turned to afternoon.  The core group of
Kim, Sammy, and Vanessa was still at their posts.  The situation table was
fast becoming a mess, though, with napkins and coffee mugs and torn sugar
packets.  Outside the windows, the afternoon sun was struggling to break
through the clouds.
 
	Sailor Orion stared into space as she sat at a small table, as far
away from the bustle of command as possible.  There seemed nothing else to
do; all possible preparations had been made.  Her lover was committed up
there, and all they could do was wait for help from outside the system to
come.  She was now in extreme sleep deprivation; without adrenaline to
sustain her, all she had was tea, and that wasn't enough.  Her head rested
on her folded arms as she sat at the table, half paying attention to the
goings on in the room.  Every once in awhile she completely fell asleep. 
Then the images came: Eileen in a torture chamber, Eileen impaled on a
stake, Eileen being violated by some alien monster.  Those were always
enough to snap her eyes into full alertness.
 
	She was tired; they all were.  She wanted to go to bed, but she knew
the loneliness that awaited her there.  She couldn't eat; the stress and
tension were getting to her, and the last meal she attempted, at about
23:30, had come back up after a few minutes.  She took off her glasses,
massaged her nose, and sighed.
 
	"I wonder what Eileen is doing right now?" 
 
*** 
 
	At that point, Eileen was wondering if there was in fact a God, and
if She was in the mood to answer some prayers.
 
	"Sailor America!" called Baustch coldly.  "I would speak with you!"
 
	"Eat shit and die," she spat.  She was boxed up in a small cubical
cell with two meters to a side, with one wall left as empty space.  This
space held a force field; she had found this out the hard way.  She had been
sitting on a convenient bench when the doors of the larger chamber had
opened.  Then she got another look at her captor.  He seemed vaguely elfin,
except that few elves she had seen in books looked so sinister.  There was
distinct malice in his eyes as he sized her up.  She stood with hands on her
hips, the red of her skirt matching the anger she felt.  "What have you done
with the others?"
 
	"They are alive, that's all you need to be concerned about." 
 
	"Answer my question, you son of a bitch!" 
 
	"Why you-"  He rushed to the cell and stopped just before he would
have run into the containment field.  "Do *not* test me, Sailor America, or
you will regret it!"
 
	"The only thing I regret is not killing you when I had the chance!"
 
	He raised his hand again, and again a bolt of energy flew forth,
hitting her in the chest.  She cried out and fell to her knees, not knowing
anything could have hurt that much.  Bent over, she could only pant as the
alien continued.
 
	"Now, I am going to tell you a little story.  It starts over a
thousand of your years ago, when two of my people--my ancestors--came to a
world called Earth."
 
	"That's a lie," she said weakly, gathering her strength.  "Aliens
have never come to Earth-"
 
	Another blast of energy.  "Oh, they did, I assure you.  I'm well
acquainted with the legends.  It was a city called Tokyo, in what you call
the year 1995 Common Era." Sailor America's mind flew: 1995 CE, what had
happened then?  "In that year, my ancestors came to your planet, the last
two members of a dying race, desperate for energy to survive.  They
encountered five young girls who seemed determined to foil their attempts. 
You and I know them as the sailor senshi."
 
	In a flash, it came back to her.  Ages ago, back when the senshi
were just fourteen years old.  That had been judged too young an age; almost
all the newer senshi had begun at seventeen or eighteen.  There had been a
brief contact with two aliens, but as she remembered it there had been a
benign outcome.  "But that came out all right!  The aliens went on their way
after the senshi sorted out the source of the misunderstanding-"
 
	"The senshi *thought* they had sorted out.  But they never bothered
to follow up, now did they?  After the two, Ail and Ann, went off back into
deep space, they began to prosper.  Seven hundred of your years later they
reached their old homeworld, and began to rebuild it.  Something went wrong,
though.  A climate failure nearly wiped out the population, and those who
remained chose to try to find someplace else to live.  There were two
groups, each traveling in a different direction."
 
	"And you're one of those groups?" 
 
	Baustch glared at the senshi.  "We *were* one of the groups, a
hundred years ago.  Time and fatigue have cut down our number, until only
three of our ships are left."
 
	"So why did you come here?  To take over?" 
 
	"Taking over this world would be easy, sailor senshi.  We have
weapons that could destroy your precious city in an eyeblink.  No, our
purpose here is twofold.  First, to kill you and your partner." He smiled
maliciously.  "We do have a bit of a grudge against you, you understand, but
it's not totally personal.
 
	"You see, after we get rid of you two, we can proceed with our
original plans.  Our ships run on life energy, it's far more efficient than
your fusion power.  Ordinarily we'd use animals and harvest their energy. 
However, after such a long voyage our supplies are dangerously low.  We must
have the energy your planet's population can provide, and once you and your
partner have been dealt with we can proceed at our leisure."
 
	For once, Sailor America didn't have anything to say.  A dozen
insults crossed her tongue, but none seemed vile enough to suit her captor. 
"You . . . you . . . ."
 
	"Pleases don't waste your breath insulting me.  It will profit
no-one, you know that."
 
	She finally gathered herself enough to ask a coherent question. 
"What about the other group?"
 
	"They were destroyed by a supernova twenty years ago," he said,
smiling grimly.  "Their distress calls as they died were . . . well, we
shan't dwell on that.  You need only know that in your orbit sits the last
remains of our proud race, and that we are going to ensure against our
extinction."
 
	Sailor America sighed, then seized upon a freshly realized hope. 
"Serenity won't take Hinansho's loss lying down, Baustch!  You can bet
anything that as soon as she gets our signal she'll send the entire fleet
running here!  You've signed your death warrants," she concluded, smugly
crossing her hands on her chest.
 
	"When your precious fleet comes, they'll see a ravaged planet.  We
will be long gone by then, to bide our time in deep space.  We'll have
plenty of energy to wait, and then we'll make our way to your home system. 
Your Queen will face a reckoning for what she did to us all those years
ago."
 
	"You're insane." 
 
	"I'm tired, actually.  Tired of traveling, tired of maintaining this
ship, tired of telling my people they need wait just a little bit longer."
He shook his head.  "No waiting, not anymore.  It ends now, Sailor America. 
In a moment I will broadcast to your partner an ultimatum.  If she does not
surrender within an hour, your city will be taken by force."
 
	"You'll never win," she said calmly. 
 
	"I already have," he replied with equal calm.  "Good day." 
 
	"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" she screamed, but he was already gone. 
Pounding a fist against the wall, there was nothing for her to do but sink
to the bench and weep in frustration.
 
*** 
 
	Baustch met Holbrow in the control room.  "What are they doing down
there?" he asked without preamble.
 
	"Nothing," she replied quietly.  "No movement aside from normal
civilian traffic, which seems to be lighter than usual."
 
	"*No* signs of preparation?" 
 
	"None, which doesn't mean they aren't preparing for it in some way,
of course."
 
	"Of course," echoed Baustch.  "Time to tell them their duty. 
Connect me to their headquarters." The requisite frequencies had been stolen
during the assault on Valhalla weeks before; it stood to reason that they
couldn't have changed all of them.
 
	"Connection established with foreign host, my lord," called one of
the menial workers.
 
	"Sailor senshi!" he called immediately.  "This is Baustch.  I offer
you a choice.  Surrender yourself to us, or die.  If you choose wisely, you
need only reply to this transmission, and we will take care of the rest. 
Should you make the wrong choice, we will destroy you.  You have an hour in
which to initiate a response.  Oh, and we have your other sailor senshi in
custody.  She is unharmed, for now." His voice hardened even more.  "You
have one hour.  Do not delay."
 
*** 
 
	In the command room of Nagano-2, the late afternoon sun barely broke
through the windows, turning the clouds a deep orange.  As Baustch's voice
died away, dead quiet held sway.  No-one moved, no-one said a word.  All
simply looked to their leader.
 
	Sailor Orion stood in her now-customary spot next to the windows,
head bent in thought.  After a full minute, Kim decided to speak up.  "What
will we do, sir?"
 
	The redheaded senshi would have liked nothing better than to just
detransform, throw her henshin rod to the floor, and walk out to die . . .
which would mean giving up on Eileen.  That was absolutely inconceivable. 
"Recall all personnel on leave and go to first stage alert.  All nonmilitary
personnel are to be moved at least ten kilometers outside Nagano-2--that
goes for police and fire departments, too.  Keep a garrison of military
police to prevent looting . . . wait, belay the previous order on
nonmilitary personnel.  Nonessential personnel are to leave, whether in the
military or not." She closed her eyes.  This was a war now, and she had to
prepare for an invasion.  Memories of 3035 came unbidden, as did the tears.
 
	She looked at the staff; half rookies still coping with the
high-stress conditions of the command center, the rest seasoned veterans who
could handle anything, led by the trio of Sammy, Kim, and Vanessa, three of
the people she trusted the most in the world.  She didn't know what would
happen next, didn't know how long until reinforcements from Earth could
come, didn't know how long Nagano-2 could stand with the meager forces she
had left at her disposal.  She knew only one thing: Eileen was up there, and
Sailor Orion would make sure she made it back home safely . . . no matter
what the cost.
 

(Rating: PG-13)
 
================================== 
Episode 417: The Darkest of Nights 
================================== 
 
	Once again the civil defense sirens began their slow whine across
the city of Nagano-2.  The city's residents, already tired from all the
alerts in the past four months, carried out the now-routine tasks of leaving
their homes and going to the shelters, but they were stopped by radio, by
television, by police cars with bullhorns attached.
 
	On Akihabara Drive, Doi Kurmochi stopped in the middle of walking
out his front door.  Next door, the lights in the Sakachi/Pearcy residence
were dark.  No surprise; usually when things went wrong those two were
already at the trouble spots.  He didn't lose any sleep over their
preparedness and felt proud to be able to say he lived next to the planet's
sailor senshi.  Something else had caught his eye, though; the flashing
lights of a police car.
 
	"We repeat: all citizens are ordered to leave the city immediately! 
Local police will direct you to the appropriate evacuation routes.  Take
only what you can carry.  Remain calm, and move quickly!"

***[title sequence]***
 
	Kurmochi stood and stared at the receding car, then looked around at
the rest of the neighborhood.  Some seemed confused, but the majority were
taking the warning seriously, racing back into their homes and coming back
with jewelry, momentos, and other personal effects.  Gulping, he ducked back
into his house.

	"Is this the end?" he asked softly, running a hand along a wall he
had lovingly wallpapered himself.  What other explanation could there be? 
Apparently the authorities didn't think Nagano-2 was a safe place to be,
even in the shelters.  If Nagano-2 wasn't safe, even with the senshi to
defend them, was there really a safe place anywhere on the planet?
 
	Time to think quickly.  First he grabbed his car keys, then went to
a closet and retrieved a handlink from under a pile of coats.  Dashing to
the kitchen, he took an old grocery bag and stuffed in a bottle of milk,
half a loaf of bread, some cereal, a few other cartons of food, and a salt
shaker he happened to see on the table.  Then it was upstairs, where he
tossed in the wedding ring from his first and only marriage, some soap, a
towel, a change of clothes, and a pair of boots.  Satisfied, he ran back
downstairs and to his car, wasting no time in starting it and peeling out of
his driveway.
 
	The traffic jam that awaited him had to be seen to be believed . . .
but then again, with all Nagano-2's residents trying to get out as soon as
possible, it had to be expected.  Hopefully he would get out in time before
whatever it was that was going to happen.  Perhaps the sailor senshi would
even be able to handle it.
 
*** 
 
	Sailor America looked up at the sound of footsteps.  "Prisoner!"
bellowed the guard.  She blinked several times at the sight.  The guard
looked almost human.  His appearance was much like the one called Baustch,
aside from minor differences in size and hair color.
 
	She looked at him with undisguised hatred.  "What do you want?"
 
	"Your presence is required." 
 
	"By who, the cook?  Gonna eat me now?" 
 
	"Our Leader."  Sailor America could hear the capitals in the title. 
"Come now."
 
	She stood, making a show of stretching her limbs.  The glimpses she
caught to either side confirmed her fears.  Hiding just out of sight on the
other side of the barrier were another half dozen of the aliens, just
waiting for her to make a breakout attempt.  Hiding a sigh, she stepped
forward to the field.  No heroics, at least not now.  "Okay . . . take me to
your leader." Another minute's walk found her in the same chamber Bautsch
had been in months before.  Unblinking, she stood under the single
spotlight.  "How can I help you?" she asked in as sarcastic a tone as she
could manage.
 
	"You are the sailor senshi called America." 
 
	Inside she was fluttering.  This was obviously the leader of the
whole operation, and probably the only reason she hadn't been killed
outright.  This scared her more than anything had before and she knew she
had to be on her guard.  However, there was only one way she could face that
fear: humor.  She looked down at her sailor fuku.  "Sure looks like it.  And
you are . . . ?"
 
	"You will ask no questions!  Now, tell me.  What opposition will we
face when we make our assault on your world?"
 
	"You mean 'when you order other people to make your assault for
you.' You sure don't seem like the type to pick up a gun yourself." She
could almost hear the inquisitor's eyes narrow.

	"Such temerity will not be tolerated." 
 
	"Or what?  What are you going to do, kill me?  If you were going to
do that I'd be dead already.  You obviously want me alive, so you might as
well admit-AH!" She gasped in pain, bending almost to her knees in shock. 
The pain was like a thousand daggers all over her body.  It was all she
could do not to scream in agony.
 
	"There are things we can do that are worse than death, sailor
senshi.  Now tell us what we want to know."
 
	The brunette cast glances around.  As far as she knew, none of the
guards had come in here with her.  Perhaps this was her chance.  "Hm, you're
in luck then.  My specialty is information." She smiled despite the pain. 
"For example, this is how I deal with scum like you!  American Stars and
Stripes!"
 
	The aliens had made no attempts to bind her; her hands were free to
aim at the plausible commander of this expedition.  All her power flew into
the attack as the sparkling stars and streamers raced towards the darkness,
and just as quickly vanished.  No explosion, no flash.  Sailor America
blinked, hearing the rustle of a gown in the blackness, and then two
footsteps.  No figure emerged from the dark, though.  Then a single, slim,
pale white finger emerged from the gloom to point at the senshi.
 
	The next moment for Sailor America felt ten times worse than
anything she had felt before.  It was a dubious miracle that she didn't pass
out from shock.  For now, it was all she could do to curl up in the fetal
position and shake with the agony of it all.  Her tears collected in a small
pool beneath her flushed cheek.
 
	"I do not care how many times I have to do that.  Your kind have
shown mine no pity and no remorse, and I will show none to you.  You know
the location of your partner, the other sailor senshi.  You will tell it to
me."
 
	She let out a croak.  "Never."  Another shock of pain wracked her
frame, and another, and another.  She shook uncontrollably.  "You can hurt
me all you want, it won't matter."
 
	"I am the oldest living member of my species.  I have been alive far
longer than you.  You *will* tell me where the sailor senshi is, or else my
people will ransack every house and building on your miserable planet."
 
	"Well, I guess you'll just have to do that, then . . . too bad I
won't get to see your face when Sailor Orion cuts your head off."
 
	Through the ringing in her ears, she heard footsteps approaching. 
She opened her eyes just enough to perceive the figure: two meters tall,
green hair, elfin ears, dark almond-shaped eyes, dark clothing.  With a
single hand he picked up the senshi nearly three meters into the air. 
"Stupid bitch," he said simply.  Then he threw Sailor America to the ground,
and after that all for her was darkness.
 
*** 
 
	The operations center for the last defense of Nagano-2 was the same
familiar room in the heart of the city.  Emergency shutters had been slid
over the windows, though, and flashlights and first aid kits were placed at
strategic locations.  They fully expected to get hit, and hit bad.  On the
street below, two vans waited with engines running, in case the staff needed
to get out in a hurry.  Other than a few military police and the remainder
of the army, Nagano-2 was empty.
 
	Sailor Orion looked at the clock.  6:01; the hour given them by the
aliens had long ago elapsed.  Had it been a bluff after all?  Or perhaps it
was the weather?
 
	She meandered over to a computer and pulled up a weather report.  In
defiance of computer models, a snowstorm was brewing to the west and moving
in fast.  It was the worst possible situation for all the citizens forced to
evacuate, she knew; now they had to deal not only with the cold but with the
snow as well.  They would have the best portable heaters available, but it
would still be tough.
 
	Sailor Orion gritted her teeth and cleared the screen.  'That was
all the more reason to finish this *now*,' she thought.  'We can't afford a
prolonged siege in more ways than one, either we win quickly or we've
failed.' "Status?" she asked impatiently.  Adrenaline kept her going; she
couldn't remember the last time she had slept.
 
	"All sections report clear," replied Vanessa, unable to hide the
exhaustion in her voice.  "MPs are making a second sweep, but everyone
should be out of the city except for military personnel."
 
	"Artillery and infantry units report ready," chimed in Sammy. 
 
	"Cavalry is ready, added Kim.  "Well, what's left of it."  The
armored cavalry, already in short supply before the attacks began, were in
true peril now.  They were still poised to make a brave attempt at
protecting the city.
 
	As was she.  "Okay, then.  Any signs of a defold?" 
 
	"None yet, sir," answered Kim.  "Minimum ETA for a ship from Luna is
still four days away."
 
	"Signs from the enemy?" 
 
	"Their ships don't seem to have made any movements," replied Kim. 
 
	"No further word, I suppose," mused Sailor Orion. 
 
	"No, sir." 
 
	She tapped a green-booted foot.  "This waiting is getting on my-" 
 
	"Air warning red!" called out Vanessa far more calmly than she felt. 
"Four incoming targets, bearing zero-nine-four mark zero-nine-zero, speed
one hundred sixty kilometers per hour, range forty-nine hundred meters,
closing in on us fast!"
 
	"Sound general alarm, launch all remaining rockets!  Impact zone?"
Now that the waiting was over, Sailor Orion felt herself re-energized and
ready to make it through the home stretch.
 
	"Right here," said Antares.  The AI had been busy coordinating
defense and generating threat estimates, but was still paying attention to
the now-brightly lit control room.  One of the status screens now showed a
map of Nagano-2, with a solid light blue circle centered on a northern
suburb of the city.
 
	"Oh good, a nice isolated location." 
 
	Then three more dots sprang up, one in the harbor, one behind the
Parliament building, and the fourth, nearby, was right about at their
location.
 
	"They're splitting," intoned Vanessa gloomily. 
 
	Sailor Orion glared helplessly at the screens, but she knew there
was nothing that could be done.  Four impact points, four points from which
their damned champions would attack, and she could only cover one of them. 
One thing to do, it seemed.
 
	"Have our forces move to the other three locations as quickly as
possible.  Once there, they're to try and contain the invaders, understood?"
 
	"Roger," replied Vanessa.  She turned on her stool and began giving
orders.  The brunette knew just how hopeless the fight would be, but even if
they could buy Sailor Orion seconds, it might be worth it.
 
	"Warm up a Gertie for me," added Sailor Orion as she trotted out the
door, fully conscious that it could be for the last time.  "I'm going to
take the first one myself."
 
	"Good luck, sir!" called out half the staff as she left.  Then, all
was business as they went to work trying to save the planet.
 
*** 
 
	Sailor Orion didn't have far to go.  The nearest Gertie was just
across the barren street, and it took just seconds to tap into its power. 
This was good; she could already see the clouds rippling away from a growing
dot in the sky.  She yanked out her communicator even as she drew Kedalion. 
"ETA?" she asked the control room.
 
	"Twelve seconds to impact!" replied Sammy. 
 
	The senshi assumed a defensive stance, resting on the heels of her
boots and readying herself for what would come next.  Too late to ask for
computer guidance; this would have to be done herself.  "Orion Sabre
Disruption!" she cried, bringing her arm down in the sweep needed to
complete her attack.
 
	She missed. 
 
	The senshi stood unblinking for a moment, staring at her quarry
which grew closer and closer.  Finally, the voice in the back of her head
came screaming to the front.  'MOVE!' She ran for cover, trying to get all
the traction out of her green boots that she could.  At this Sailor Orion
was successful; she had a meter to spare when the champion came to a sudden
halt just centimeters above the ground.

	Her thoughts were in a turmoil; how could she *miss*?  Senshi
weren't supposed to miss; it was impossible.  She couldn't recognize the
arrogance of that mindset, the arrogance in the idea that senshi were
somehow immune to the normal failings of soldiers in a combat environment; a
lesson the war of 3035 should have taught her.  Nor could she recognize the
fatigue of the last several days that had led her to this point.  All she
knew was that she had missed, and could very well end up paying for her
mistake with her life.
 
	Frantically she kept scrambling, not hearing the clanks behind her. 
The champion was emerging from its re-entry protection, the four sides of
the egg-shaped shell falling away like the petals of a flower.  Out of it
stepped a creature straight from Hindu mythology: bipedal, but with four
arms.  The many pointed teeth of its mouth were bared in a vicious smile.
 
	Sailor Orion finally turned, judging herself far enough away . . .
and immediately wished that she hadn't.  The beast--champion, she corrected
herself--was imposing enough.  Wasn't it overkill for three of those four
arms to wield swords as long, if not longer, than her own?
 
	Her first impulse was to go for the jugular again and try to liquefy
her opponent.  However, her recent error had put a dent in a confidence
already severely shaken by Sailor America's captivity.  She drew her sword
with a shaking hand, but not to unleash her most effective attack.
 
*** 
 
	In headquarters, men and women turned their attention from their
urgent tasks to look up at the main monitors.  Sailor Orion was displayed
there, despair beginning to show in her large blue eyes, her body locking
itself into an elementary defensive posture from fencing.
 
	Kim gaped at the sight.  "What the hell is she *doing*?" 
 
*** 
 
	Truth be told, the redheaded senshi didn't know.  From a tactical
standpoint it was a horrific blunder, but she could see no choice.  Thus: a
swordfight.
 
	The champion looked down at the senshi, its face clearly readable. 
'You seek to do battle with *that*?' it asked silently.
 
	Sailor Orion's only reply was to take a step forward, keeping a
barely steady hand on Kedalion.  She had taken up only the most rudimentary
training in fencing, but she also had the innate luck and intuition of a
senshi.
 
	The creature was in no mood to let her have the first blow, though. 
With a snarl it launched itself at her.  Sailor Orion dived out of the way,
rolling to the left and attempting a pass with her sword.  This too missed,
cutting only air.  She kept moving, rolling up on her feet.  In an amazing
shift of momentum, she rocked back for only an instant before leaping
forward and pressing the attack.  The champion, caught unawares, howled as
Kedalion found its mark, cutting through the thick natural armor of its body
as if it were paper.  Blood, thick and red, ran down the blade and dripped
silently on the cold gray sidewalk.
 
*** 
 
	"Sierra-10 has sustained damage!" called out Sammy as she peered at
her computer.
 
	It was little solace; the other three fronts of the battle were
going very badly.  Two of the champions had already chewed up the token army
units they had scrapped together, and the third was well on its way.  The
two free champions were making their way to Sailor Orion's position,
wreaking severe damage to the city as they went.
 
	'It doesn't take a tactical genius to figure out what's next,'
thought Vanessa grimly as she shifted slightly in her seat.  She was busy
trying to clear up traffic for the northward-moving evacuees.  Every once in
awhile, though, she could spare time to brush back her slightly long brown
hair and look at the big picture.  The big picture was beginning to look as
if none of them would survive the day.
 
	She felt like crying in frustration, like just giving in to the urge
to scream and rail in frustration.  Instead, she dipped into the well of
resolve and determination that had gotten her and her friends out of so many
situations, going back to their days on Pleiades.  Thus, Lieutenant
Commander Vanessa Leeds took a deep breath and shoved all the doubts and
fears aside.  Time to go to work.
 
	She looked up at her screen and returned to organizing the civilian
retreat, ignoring the drama that was unfolding on the monitors above.
 
*** 
 
	The two combatants seemed frozen in time: the champion, hunched over
and looking at its wound, and the senshi, gazing at her bloodied sword with
a look of wonder.  'I did *that*?' she thought.
 
	The attack came without warning.  The champion, apparently peeved
beyond belief, made a quick rebound and slashed forward with two of its
swords.
 
	Sailor Orion saw the attack from the corner of her eye.  Without
even consciously thinking of it she leapt to the side.  She wasn't fast
enough; she could feel first the biting cold of a blade, then burning heat
as the pain of it hit her.
 
*** 
 
	"She's hit," said a tech quietly. 
 
*** 
 
	In the cold December midmorning, Sailor Orion was suddenly very
calm.  Perhaps it was the shock of being injured.  Things began to telescope
outwards for her, happening in slow motion, and her mind became less human
and more like a computer.  A running commentary of her thoughts at that
moment would look a bit like this:
 
	Cut to left lower abdomen, about eight centimeters in length,
perhaps four millimeters deep.  Kidneys intact, intestines intact, no major
blood vessels broken, multiple smaller arteries and capillaries broken. 
Bleeding, rate slow, no immediate danger from blood loss.  Otherwise body
okay.  Decision: continue fighting.
 
	This took about a microsecond. 
 
	Target is two meters away and receding.  Is protecting both flanks,
but may be vulnerable in back.  Problem: back too far away, unable to move
into position in time.  Solution: throw sword at target.  Rejected: unable
to guarantee accuracy.  Solution: throw self at target.  Decision: throw
self at target.
 
	This took another microsecond.  Then things sped up again.
 
*** 
 
	In orbit, Sailor America was brought to the control center of the
lead alien ship, head bowed.  Not out of fatigue, but shame: her hands and
legs were in irons.
 
	'Such a disgrace!' she thought angrily.  Wasn't it enough they had
her here, hundreds of kilometers from her lover, unable to do anything to
help her?  Did they have to bring her to their bridge so she would be forced
to see her lover's defeat?
 
	"To your knees!" bellowed a guard.  Behind the guard, Baustch stood
watching approvingly.  The alien commander was quite pleased: one sailor
senshi in custody, the other about to die, Holbrow out of his hair on
another ship--he had made up some excuse or another for her to be there, and
she had bought it--their Leader showering him with praise for a job well
done.  Yes, life was good, and it was about to get much, much better.
 
	"He said to kneel," said Baustch, laughing.  He walked over and
forced Sailor America's head and body to the ground with a powerful push of
his right arm.  The brunette's cheeks burned, and her fists shook with
anger.  'Oh yes,' she thought, 'there will be a reckoning for this.' She
kept her silence.
 
	"As you can see, sailor senshi, your partner's life is about to come
to an end." The image before them was from the champion's own eyes, turning
back to see the red gash opened on Sailor Orion's side.  The picture quality
was too poor to make out details, but from what Sailor America could see her
lover was in bad shape.  "And I think you should also know that as soon as
she is eliminated, we'll be sending down our full force." Baustch turned his
back from the picture, triumph clearly written on his face.  "So, anything
you'd like to say to eulogize your friend?"
 
	A single tear fell from Sailor America's right eye as she watched
Sailor Orion pull herself up, and then her crestfallen expression changed to
one of sheer delight.  Before her eyes, the red-haired senshi sprang up and
leapt towards the champion.  The champion couldn't see the blow it was
dealt, but she, as well as all the other aliens watching, could see Sailor
Orion's arm fully extended.  There was only one thing that could mean.
 
	As the image slowly dimmed, and finally went completely to black,
Baustch finally realized by the looks on his compatriots' faces that
something was wrong . . . and Sailor America began to believe once more.
 
*** 
 
	Sailor Orion bent to one knee, panting with the effort.  Her sword
still lay buried to the hilt in the body of her rapidly decaying opponent. 
With an absent expression she rose and took it out, bracing her left boot on
the thing for support.  She inspected it a moment.  It was definitely very
messy.  Without thinking, she swept it through the air, and in so doing in
and out of her pocketspace in a flash.  The messiness was gone now.
 
	Standing, she realized for the first time on a conscious level the
severity of her injury.  It hadn't been deep, no, but it was still bleeding
at a steady rate.  She would have liked to take out the first aid kit she
kept in her pocketspace, but there wasn't that kind of time.  She could hear
the rumble of more combatants coming towards her position, and there was
nowhere to hide.  She had to take out those three enemies, and take out the
alien ships that loomed overhead.  There wasn't a shred of doubt left in
her, though.
 
	Eileen Pearcy, Sailor America, her lover, was up there, and nothing
in the universe was going to stop the love that bound them from reuniting.
 
	It was time. 
 
========================= 
 

(Rating: PG-13) 
 
============================================ 
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Orion 
A relatively original fanfic by LeVar Bouyer 
Episode 418: The Toughest of Fights 
============================================ 
 
 
*** [title sequence] *** 
 
	In orbit above Hinansho, the lead ship of what had once been a great
civilization sat poised and waiting.  Its shuttle bays were crammed with
troop carriers, waiting for the word to begin landing in Nagano-2, which
would be hopefully a city free of senshi.  Hopes had been dashed, though. 
On the bridge was a fading hologram of Sailor Orion as she pulled her sword
from the first of four champions that had been sent to kill her.
 
	While a smile of pure confidence shone on the captive Sailor
America's face, fury and just a touch of fear contorted that of the alien
commander, Baustch.  "That . . . insufferable . . . *bitch*!"
 
	"Y'know, old Baustchy," drawled Sailor America in the thickest
Pennsylvania accent her Japanese would allow, "for someone so bent on
revenge you don't seem to remember your history too well.  Senshi
*never* lose." 
 
	That earned her a backhanded slap, but the welts she could feel
rising were worth it, she decided.  It was getting easier to get under his
skin, and that meant that his command over the situation was slipping. 
Thus, more ridicule.  "Too bad you can't do anything about her as easily as
you can me."
 
	"Shut up!" 
 
	"Or what?  You'll shoot me?  Get serious, it would kill you to get
rid of me before your revenge was complete."
 
	"Don't put me to the test," he warned. 
 
	"Um, maybe you should look back there," she said helpfully,
inclining her head to the screen.  He was just in time to see the second of
his last four champions vanish with a ripple and a splash.
 
	"NO!" 
 
*** 
 
	For the first time in hours, Sailor Orion smiled.  Two more
opponents had come barreling in just moments ago.  The first had been easily
dispatched with her Disruption attack: a quick snap shot with Gertie
assistance had seen to that.
 
	Now the second was definitely showing more caution.  It kept moving,
kept shifting; Orion knew a surprise shot wouldn't work again.  So, what to
do now?
 
	"Hey, you!"  The champion, which closely resembled a bipedal
cockroach, cocked its slightly rectangular head.  She doubted that it
understood Japanese, but it could tell something was amiss.  "Yeah, you, the
big ugly roach!" Despite the cold, sweat ran down her face from a
combination of exertion, stress, and nervousness.  "Come on, show me what
you've got!"
 
	It was now clear to the champion that a challenge was being made. 
It began to stalk closer, a smile contorting its insectoid face.  Smoothly,
she reached for her communicator.  "Girls, when I give the word I want you
to hit access thirty-three."
 
	"Aye, sir," replied Kim, immediately seeing Sailor Orion's risky
plan.
 
	The senshi continued to back away slowly, trying not to pay any
attention to the part of the street covered with yellow and black caution
stripes, as well as warning signs printed in English and Japanese.  She kept
walking, finally finding herself against a storefront.  "Well, what are you
waiting for?" she asked.  "Don't have the guts to finish me off?" She made a
beckoning motion with her arms, fearful that she might have miscalculated. 
If it chose to leap at her . . . the champion took one, then two steps
forward onto the caution area.  "Now, Kim!" The young lieutenant commander
acted quickly.
 
	Valhalla had been built in the early days of the colony, part of the
prevailing movement for large, underground control centers.  A number of
shafts were built through which equipment and material for construction had
been sent.  If the true intent of Valhalla was to create an impregnable
fortress, the empty shafts would have been filled in.  That had never been
the plan, though; a long-term goal was for it to be converted into
additional space for the city above, and that meant they would need
sunlight.  Besides, who knew if there might be a situation requiring a quick
exit from Valhalla?
 
	Or in this case, a rapid entrance.  There were two ways access
tunnel thirty-three could be opened.  The doors could slide open, or they
could be blown open.  This latter was intended only for emergencies, but Kim
figured this definitely qualified as one.
 
	The heavy doors suddenly shook as the locks and bolts holding them
in place were explosively dislodged.  They lingered in place for just a
moment before quickly falling inwards and down, taking the champion down
with them.
 
	Sailor Orion smiled, knowing that while the thing could do plenty of
damage down there, the empty command center would ensure that no lives would
be lost.  Best of all, all the exits were doubtless being sealed.  There was
no way out.  Two down, two to go . . . but it wouldn't be that easy.
 
*** 
 
	In the skies, orders were being given.  "Our Master is making plans
to go down to the planet.  Prepare the carrier."
 
	'Baustch seemed in a hurry,' thought America bemusedly.  'Then
again, losing half your strike force will do that, I guess.' In her time on
the ship she had learned a bit about the displays on the bridge.  There was
one that showed the status of all the ships the aliens had.  One, hers, was
moving into a position to launch the invasion force.  A second was
supporting the first, and a third-- Holbrow's--was off to itself.  She had
had her suspicions of what the third planned, and she was by now only
waiting for Holbrow to make her move.
 
	"Bautsch," said Holbrow, surprising most on the bridge of the alien
spaceship.  'Nice timing,' thought Sailor America idly.  The alien looked
up, but said nothing.  "I signal my intent to assume control of the fleet. 
I intend to order a full retreat; you're welcome to join me."
 
	So, now it was out.  "Holbrow, you foolish, foolish woman.  At the
brink of victory you turn tail and run.  I *am* surprised at this.  Don't
worry, though; I will make sure you don't live long to regret this." He
turned to a gunnery officer.  "Make ready to-"
 
	"Anomalous reading, my Lord, one moment." 
 
	"What *is* it?" asked Bautsch impatiently. 
 
	"A ship is dropping into the system." 
 
	In that moment, Sailor America's heart leaped. 
 
*** 
 
	Headquarters knew nothing of the events hundreds of kilometers over
their heads.  The specter of two champions and one sailor senshi to beat it
was frightening enough.
 
	"Doesn't look good," said Antares quietly.  The normally flamboyant
AI had remained mostly silent, having his own roles to play.  "She's both
injured and outnumbered, and the nearest access tunnel is two kilometers
away."
 
	"Recommendations?" asked Vanessa, more out of duty than any
expectation of help.
 
	"At this stage," replied Antares, "the best solution I can offer is
prayer."
 
	No-one had a chance to respond before a cry came from a
communications officer.  "Incoming transmission from off-planet, but this
can't be . . . ." He trailed off, at a loss for words.
 
	"Put it on," commanded Sammy.  Enemy reinforcements?  If so, it was
truly over for the brave defenders of Nagano-2.  One of the screens
flickered, then resolved.  Only a few officers recognized the woman for who
she was, but she wasted no time introducing herself.
 
	"Repeat, this is Sailor Cassiopeia commanding H.M.S. Kaze."  The 
senshi grinned.  "How may we be of assistance?" 
 
	A stunned moment of silence: then the room erupted with celebration. 
There were hugs, cheers, shouts, and applause.  Kim, however, kept her head
and brought everyone back to business.
 
	"QUIET!"  The command center finally calmed down, and Kim spared a
smile.  "Welcome to Hinansho, sir.  We've been waiting for you.  Now, there
are three ships in orbit.  The lead ship contains several humans including
Sailor America.  By Sailor Orion's orders, the other two are to be
destroyed."
 
*** 
 
	"Understood," said Sailor Cassiopeia,  Around her a hushed bridge
crew looked on at the scene.  Kaze was by no means a new ship, and the rapid
refitting of her drive and replacement commanders had been difficult to
adapt to.  The miracle had been pulled off, though; at great fuel
expenditure and several physical side effects that had made their return to
normal space quite unpleasant, they were ready to perform their duty.  She
swiveled her chair around to face the two other senshi behind her.  Sailors
Phoenix and Adhara looked back eagerly.
 
	"Allrighty, then," said Sailor Phoenix.  "Let's go down and rassle
them around some."
 
	Sailor Cassiopeia giggled at Sailor Phoenix's outrageously faked
accent and nodded.  "Engineering, prepare gertie for attack."
 
	The dance began.  "Helm, come to zero-six-zero mark zero-four-five,
then all ahead full," said the first officer.  He would be commanding the
ship while the three senshi provided the firepower.
 
	"Aye aye, sir," replied the helm.  H.M.S. Kaze swooped in for the
kill.
 
*** 
 
	"Enemy ship!" shouted the spotter.  Baustch's orderly bridge was
rapidly collapsing into chaos.  Half the crew had threatened outright mutiny
on the spot.  It would have been an embarrassing blow for the alien, if it
weren't for more pressing matters.
 
	Holbrow was gone, he knew without looking.  She was probably pulling
away and broadcasting surrender messages on all bands, desperate to escape
the wrath of Serenity's warriors.  Fine then, let the cowards go.  There
would be time enough to deal with them if--when victory was won.  For now,
though . . . "Order our trailer to come about and destroy the enemy.  We'll
deploy our landing vessels.  Inform them that the safety of our Leader is at
stake."
 
	"You won't win," said Sailor America confidently.  "That's only the
first ship; space will be swarming with them soon enough.  Face it, it's
over."
 
	Bautsch opened his mouth to deliver a defiant reply, then realized
the reality of that simple statement.  Serenity had reinforced in time: the
one thing that would guarantee defeat for the aliens.  He had lost. 
Unfortunately, Sailor America had yet to learn an important lesson: that
there are few things more dangerous than a commander who knows defeat is
inevitable.
 
	"Change of plans," he softly said with a malicious grin.  He had
lost, yes, but he would not go gentle into that good night.  "We're going to
have a bit of fun first."
 
*** 
 
	On the surface, Sailor Orion wasn't believing what Sammy was telling
her.  "Could you repeat that?" asked the senshi incredulously.
 
	"They're here!" said the blonde joyously.  "Sailors Cassiopeia,
Phoenix, and Adhara, on H.M.S. Kaze!"
 
	Sailor Orion had a million questions she wanted to ask, but the most
pressing would have to be attended to first.  "Tell Sailor Cassiopeia that I
need help down here," she panted.  "I really don't know how much longer I
can hold out!"
 
	There was a pause while the plea was relayed, a pause during which
Sailor Orion could hear the two remaining champions drawing closer.  "Sir,
they can't.  Kaze is fighting heavy resistance, they can't risk sending a
launch down."
 
	The senshi could have wept with frustration.  "Very well, then.  I
wish her luck . . . tell her that Sailor America's safety is paramount.  She
can worry about me later."
 
	"Y-yes, sir!" 
 
*** 
 
	Sailor Cassiopeia nodded upon receipt of the request.  The love
Sailors America and Orion shared was often the subject of discussion among
senshi.  Not because romances between senshi were rare: about a third of the
sailors had admitted to being bisexual or lesbian after the 3035 war, and
relationships between them were not unheard of.
 
	No, their relationship was notable for its longevity.  Most love
affairs only lasted a few months, perhaps two or three years in exceptional
cases.  The strains then began to show, and it was all over.  Sailors
America and Orion had been together for thirteen years, a length of time
second only to Uranus and Neptune.  They had stayed together for as long as
Serenity and Endymion.
 
	Yes, the union between the redhead and the brunette was well known 
among the senshi.  Was it any surprise Cassiopeia and the others were 
willing to fight in order to preserve it?  "ETA?" she asked. 
 
	"Thirty seconds to best range," answered the talker.  Not too bad at
all.  Kaze was a bit of a big sister to Pleiades; longer, slightly less
maneuverable, much more heavily armed.  She was clearly a warship, and it
was time to wage war.
 
*** 
 
	The third ship, known to the humans only as Gamma, never had a
chance.  Kaze rushed towards it, showering the ship with torpedoes and
lasers.  The captain tried to maneuver, but even he had to admit that he and
his crew were out of practice.  Two hits to the midsection doomed the
vessel; it cracked in half and exploded silently.
 
	The three senshi commanders of H.M.S. Kaze grinned; one down, and 
they hadn't even had to use their abilities.  Now for the second. 
 
	"Sir, this is very odd . . . incoming transmission from Beta." 
 
	Sailor Cassiopeia leaned forward.  "What, they're going to surrender
or something?"
 
	The comm officer blinked.  "Um, that's exactly what they're doing,
sir.  I can put it on for you."
 
	"-request asylum.  We repeat, this is Holbrow.  I and my crew
unconditionally surrender and request asylum.  Please, *please* respond!"
 
	Sailor Cassiopeia glanced over to Sailor Adhara.  "Do we buy this?" 
 
	"Firing solution for Beta set, ready to fire on your command," 
said the talker. 
 
	"Hmm," mused the head senshi.  Suddenly being in command after 
years as a press relations expert wasn't as much fun anymore.  "Do we 
take this as genuine, or what?" 
 
	"Disable their engines," suggested Adhara.  "If they're sincere
they'll understand, and if not it'll keep them from causing trouble."
 
	Sailor Cassiopeia nodded.  "Sailor Phoenix?" 
 
	"I agree," replied the shortest sailor senshi.  "We should inform
them first, but definitely keep them from shooting us in the back."
 
	"Okay then, we're agreed.  Weapons, target their engines and shoot
to cripple.  Comm, tell them our intentions and send another order for Alpha
to stand down."
 
*** 
 
	Sailor America half stumbled, half fell through the passageway.  Two
guards flanked her sides, constantly giving her pokes and shoves to keep her
going.  Behind her stood a subdued Bautsch.  The senshi tried to think
through the pain and exertion.  The last scene she had seen on the bridge
was a picture of the ship recently arrived in system, after which she had
been hustled out.  The brunette suspected that the alien commander was
making sure of his own retreat and leaving the rest of his crew to fend for
themselves.  She didn't particularly mind this, as long as he took her with
him.  She suspected that it wouldn't be good enough for him to let her die
on the ship.  No, his misguided mind needed something more.
 
	The ship rocked.  "Your so-called friends seem to be firing on us,"
said Bautsch mockingly.  "Imagine that . . . they don't even know one of
their own is aboard."
 
	"They know," said Sailor America uncertainly.  "Otherwise this ship
would be in pieces right now."
 
	"Lies," came the reply.  They reached the same holding bay through
which she had entered the ship.  It was full of smaller craft now, and she
could see the aliens loading them with what could only be weapons.  "Our
invasion force," said Bautsch with a flourish, sweeping an arm forward to
encompass the agglomeration.  "We had hoped to use it before Serenity could
send you help, but we'll have to make do." He stopped, and the guards
brought Sailor America to a halt as well.  "Put her inside," he said coldly.
 
	"Making me go so soon?"
 
	Bautsch turned to make his own preparations.  "Oh, and shut her up
too."
 
	One of the guards raised his club.  "Yes, my Lord."  Then all for
Sailor America turned black.
 
*** 
 
	Sailor Orion sighed and leaned against a cold marble wall.  She was
getting tired of running; in the last few minutes she had run clear across
the city.
 
	Above her the battle raged.  The last report she heard said the most
dangerous alien ship, the one holding her lover, had fled to the other side
of the planet.  A second had been destroyed, and Sailor Cassiopeia was
directing Sailor Phoenix and others to board the third, which left her to
hold off the last two champions.  She was out of ideas.  They wouldn't stay
still long enough for her to destroy them without gertie support, and
wouldn't leave her alone long enough to ready and use that support.
 
	Idly she looked out at the gray waters of Nagano Bay.  The light
snowflakes which had begun to fall were intensifying, and this time it would
probably stick.  Nagano-2 should have a nice blanket of snow this time
tomorrow.  Whether she would be around to see it was questionable.  The bay
wasn't frozen; in all the years humans had lived on Hinansho it never had. 
Its waters continued to lap at the harbor area, at the beaches, at the
inlets and covers further to the east and west.
 
	Lapping . . . splashing . . . . 
 
	"That's it!"  She gulped; it was chancy but it had to work. 
"Vanessa, where's the nearest access to Valhalla?"
 
*** 
 
	In headquarters, the brunette checked a map.  "Gate sixty-three is
about a block south, but there's no explosive-"
 
	"No no no, I don't want to repeat our last trick."  She took a deep
breath.  "I'm going to go there myself and lure them in.  Once I'm inside,
I'll need you to flood it."
 
	"Sir!" 
 
	"No time for questions, Vanessa!  There should be a way to open the
water accesses to Valhalla, right?"
 
	Vanessa checked the blueprints.  "Three, sir, right at water level. 
Sir, it'll take hours to completely fill the chamber." She tried not to
think of their former headquarters filling with near-freezing water.  "And
if you're inside-"
 
*** 
 
	"-I won't get out.  Right."  That was the one flaw in the plan. 
"Just make sure it's open when I get there, and that *no- one* gets out of
there once I've led them deep enough.  Once it fills, we'll drown the lot of
them."
 
	"Y-yes, sir." 
 
	"Good girl."  She heard a growl; they had found her.  "Get going!"
She sprinted down the street, just in time for an energy beam from one of
the champions to strike her former position.  Bits of marble whizzed by, two
grazing her legs and drawing blood.  Looking ahead, she saw a police car,
burned out and smoldering in the middle of the road.  With a single leap she
jumped and cleared it, landing without a pause and continuing her run.
 
	She tried not to scream when the pursuing champions kicked the car
out of their way, sending it flying past her to crash into the glass front
of a department store.
 
*** 
 
	Vanessa turned to her computer and began tapping out commands.  She
paused a moment and checked for the eighth time.  Once again, she saw that
Valhalla was deserted.  There were no humans down there, just the one
champion from earlier in the conflict, who was now stumbling blindly through
a storeroom.
 
	Her hand shook as she reached for the final controls.  The three
doors to Valhalla were another leftover from a plan to use the underground
base to house submarines.  That plan had been resurrected in the last few
weeks, and in fact a motion had been made to include it in the budget around
3050.  For now, though, they had water on one side and empty space on
another.  That is, until things changed.
 
	With five keystrokes from Vanessa, they slid open.  Seawater began
to pour into the chambers, first splashing into bare storerooms.  Then the
water pressure began to press harder on the internal walls, which quickly
succumbed.  Soon the entire complex was flooding.  She looked up at a red
countdown clock.  It began at 1:20:33.  In an hour, twenty minutes, and
thirty-three seconds, Valhalla would be flooded to sea level.
 
	Hopefully her commander would be out of there by then. 
 
*** 
 
	Sailor America opened her eyes slowly, wincing each time her
surroundings shook.  "What the hell?"
 
	No-one seemed to be in a mood to explain anything to her.  She
looked around.  A small room, probably a shuttle of some sort, and from the
shaking it was apparently doing a lot of maneuvering.  'Screw it,' she
thought, closing her eyes again and conserving her strength.  They were
clearly in space, and if they were hit out here there was nothing she would
be able to do about it.
 
	Behind her, Bautsch and his Leader conferred. 
 
*** 
 
	"Maintain fire," Sailor Cassiopeia said.  H.M.S. Kaze was pummeling
the alien ship with fire, but so far Alpha seemed to be taking no damage. 
In one way it was a relief; her goal was to capture it intact, after all. 
Then again, how could they capture it when they couldn't disable its weapons
or engines?
 
	"We've got to use our attacks," Sailor Adhura said.  Sailor Phoenix
had been left with Beta while they chased Alpha around the planet, and now
they were back to their original location above Nagano-2.
 
	"Sailor America's still on there.  If we risk killing her-"
 
	"We won't."  Sailor Adhura grinned.  "Who won the targeting
competition two years back?"
 
	Sailor Cassiopeia blinked, then smiled as well.  "Go on, I'll cover
you."
 
	"Ok . . . wait!"  On the screen, threat estimates reformed.  The
large ship was spawning dozens of smaller ones.
 
	"Landing vessels," announced the talker.  "They're fanning out,
probable landing site Nagano-2."
 
	"We mustn't allow them to reach the surface!  Helm, hard about, fire
control recalculate for the smaller-"
 
	"Already done, ready to fire on your command!" 
 
	"Shoot!" 
 
*** 
 
	Sailor America looked up again.  The shaking hadn't abated; in fact
it had gotten much worse.  She was getting the distinct impression that they
were being fired on.
 
	"When will they stop firing at us?" asked Bautsch with irritation. 
 
	Okay, one question answered.  Now she could only hope the ship she
had just left would survive unscathed.  After all, there were still a few
humans left on board.
 
	Another shudder.  It was getting warmer and warmer, and suddenly
Sailor America had to fight down the fear her captors hadn't thought through
the consequences of re-entry.  Being burnt to a cinder in Hinansho's
atmosphere wasn't her idea of a fun time.
 
	Further forward in the cabin, Bautsch was directing traffic.  Now in
the protective blanket of the atmosphere, there was less need to worry about
defense.  Now was the time to attack.  "Right there," said Bautsch, pointing
out the window.  He recognized the city from reconnaissance pictures. 
Nagano-2, the only diamond in the rough-hewn planet.  Perhaps Kaze would be
reluctant to bring her weapons to bear on a city full of civilians.  Had
Bautsch known that Nagano-2 was virtually empty, he might have chosen to
strike out for the outlying areas, where even now the city's population
continued to flee ground zero.  Instead, they went for the city itself. 
Unfortunate, considering the stray missile from the battle above that struck
the right wing of the craft.
 
	Sailor America heard a boom, then a bang, and then she was airborne. 
The cabin made a sickening 360 degree roll, sending her and her captors
flying.  She took the worst of it: with her hands and feet still bound, she
couldn't make any motions to protect herself.  She couldn't help cursing as
she slammed into the walls.  One blow almost cracked her head open, but the
brunt of it was taken by her tiara.  Even so, blood began to well up from a
cut on her forehead.
 
	The big picture wasn't much better.  Wounded, the alien vessel tried
desperately to right itself.  Bautsch himself took the controls, steering
his ship towards the harbor.  A water landing seemed to be their best
chance.  Sailor America rose to her knees just in time to see the slate gray
waters of Nagano Bay filling the forward window.  That was all she needed to
see; in an instant she was back down, tucking into a ball and not caring if
her guards saw her exposed bottom or not.
 
	Seconds later she ship crashed into the water.  Skipping twice like
a stone, it then continued the impression by sinking like one.  Dazed,
Sailor America could only sigh after the impact.  All this, just to be
drowned in the waters of her home.  She was more surprised when she felt a
strong hand pull her out of the ship and into the cold water.  Then surprise
took a back seat to survival.  She held on tightly to the hand and arm,
struggling against a current that seemed always to pull them *down*.  Tiny
bubbles escaped from her mouth as her legs kicked her forward--'hadn't
they been tied?' she thought--and drove her forward and *out*.
 
	Then Sailor America lay panting on a metal floor, the rushing of
water audible in the background.  She blinked and began to shiver.  Being
doused in near-freezing seawater hadn't been pleasant.  Her gaze fell on a
sign hanging from the gray ceiling which she read aloud.  "B-level 12-15. 
Elevators 20-22." There were a number of arrows on the sign as well, which
looked rather familiar . . . and then she knew.  "Valhalla!"
 
	"Correct," said a stern voice that she had heard once before.  She
shivered, and it wasn't because of the cold.  Sailor America was definitely
in bad shape, but she wasn't so far gone that she couldn't joke.
 
	"Y'know, calling you 'master' or 'leader' is so formal.  Don't you 
have a regular name?  Bob or Ted . . . hell, I'd settle for Akira!" 
 
	The cloaked figure--how he had kept his robes through the spin cycle
they had just been through was beyond her--looked down.  "Sailor senshi,
when you have lived as long as I, then you may call me Afibo.  Not before."
 
	"You're too touchy."  She began to stand cautiously, moving more
confidently once she saw that he wasn't about to kill her.  "So, why'd you
save me?"
 
	"I had a need for you." 
 
	"Uh-huh.  Where's Bautsch?" 
 
	"Dead, the stupid fool." 
 
	She had no response for that.  She looked around some more, and
decided that she didn't like standing in five centimeters of water.
 
	Make that six.  Then seven.  "Maybe we should get out of here?" 
 
	"Lead the way."  They made their way to a stairwell and began
climbing.
 
*** 
 
	Ignorant of all these details, Sailor Orion was running for her
life.  As it turned out, getting the two champions to follow her into
Valhalla was simple.  They were now lumbering down a service hallway in an
upper level of the complex.  Her plan would work better the further down
they were trapped, though.  Thus, she couldn't take the more efficient
stairs; they wouldn't fit.  Instead, she was forced to use the freight
elevator shafts.  It was a harrowing trip, using emergency overrides to open
doors out into the empty shaft, jumping down two or three levels, and barely
managing to catch another door.  She was making decided progress, though. 
It was too bad that the champions who pursued her were so often on their
targets.  She hadn't been able to get either of them to just fall down a
shaft and die already.
 
	"Kim, are you still there?" she asked into her communicator. 
 
	"Still waiting, sir.  You have twenty-two minutes, thirty-seven
seconds.  All accesses will close in four minutes sir, you need to get out
of there!"
 
	"Just a moment," she said breathlessly.  She looked ahead: a long
straight passage with no side doors or exits, just the one at its end.  She
knew it was a T-junction; if she could get there in sufficient time, then
she could break around a corner and lose them.  She broke into a full run,
her boots clicking on the floors.  She could feel them beginning to thrum
with the rush of water, water which had to be very close to her level now. 
No time to waste.  In a flash she was to the double doors, which she flung
wide open to admit her guests.
 
	They rushed through, eager to get at her.  After a moment, she
peeped around the side of the door and breathed a sigh of relief.  She knew
that just a few meters away they would find an elevator, and logically
conclude that she had fled further down.  Now was her chance to close some
of the security doors and run for higher ground.  "Sammy, I'm on my way up,
start closing up the complex . . . and remember-"
 
	"-to leave a route open for you."  Sailor Orion could almost hear
her subordinate's smile.  "One step ahead of you, sir."
 
	"Good work.  Oh, have . . . ."  She trailed off.  She thought she
had heard something, ever so faintly.  A shout?  She crept closer towards
the source, an elevator shaft, and placed her ear against the door.
 
	"Have I what, sir?" prompted Sammy.  Sailor Orion ignored the
communicator, straining to hear anything else.  There it was again: a shout,
definitely female, definitely . . . .
 
	"EILEEN!" 
 
	"Sir?  Sir, what is it!" 
 
	Sailor Orion drew her sword and wasted no time, prying the doors of
the elevator open.  She peeped down the dark shaft, through which the sounds
of rushing water could be heard, and what was decidedly her lover's voice. 
She didn't hesitate a moment.  "Sammy, reopen all sector doors, and make
sure the main ones remain sealed as per orders."
 
	"Sir, I-" 
 
	"Goodbye, Commander Porter."  She closed the connection and took a
deep breath.  Then, she leapt down the shaft and into the icy waters below.
 

(Rating: PG-13)

Last call. 
 
============================================= 
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Orion 
An original fanfic by LeVar Bouyer 
Episode 419: Sayonara at the End of the Dance 
============================================= 
 
	Two short tones sounded in headquarters.  The assembled techs were
completely silent.  "All entrances secure," Vanessa said finally.  "Valhalla
is sealed." A second clock still ticked down the time until the base
completely flooded.  Three hours after that, they were to reopen the doors.
 
	"Guys," said Sammy, "I've confirmed that it was Sailor America's
communicator down there." It hardly mattered now, but there was a tiny bit
of solace in knowing Sailor Orion wouldn't have to die alone.
 
	"What do we do?" asked a lieutenant (j.g.) from communications. 
"Should I contact search and rescue to-"
 
	"Sailor Orion's last order was not to open the entrances before the
three hours were up, no matter what the reason." Kim seemed resigned to the
fate of the senshi, yet determined to honor their commander's final request. 
"We will follow that order to the letter, is that clear?"
 
	"Yes, sir." 
 
	"Good.  Contact Sailor Cassiopeia and request instructions.  Until
we get word from them, we'll maintain alert status and allow damage crews to
get to the affected areas." She sat down, thoroughly disliking this side of
being in command.  There came a chorus of "aye-ayes", but she knew them to
be less confident and enthusiastic as they might have been if one of the
senshi had given it.

	For the thousandth time she wished her commanders were still here. 
 
***[title sequence]*** 
 
	Sailor Orion looked at the one named Afibo with murder in her eyes. 
The alien held Sailor America as a shield while the brunette continued to
struggle.  All could hear the sound of water rushing two levels below.
 
	"Last warning," said Sailor Orion, her voice barely under control. 
"Release Sailor America and come with me peacefully, and I guarantee in the
name of Her Majesty Queen Serenity the Second, you will be treated fairly. 
Refuse, and you'll die." A pause.  "Your call."
 
	"Our race is dead already," spat Afibo.  "What you haven't killed
you've captured, and we do not choose to linger long in captivity." He fixed
a cold glare at the senshi with the green skirt.  "Yes, I will die, and I'll
make sure you die with me."
 
	Sailor Orion bowed her head ever so slightly, and her glasses turned
opaque with the reflection from the overhead lights.  She drew Kedalion to a
ready position.  "Let her go, damn you!"
 
	"No." 
 
	"Kyaaa!" She charged, sword raised.  Afibo raised an arm to parry
the sword blow, but Sailor Orion had anticipated that.  She tossed Kedalion
aside to embed itself in the wall.  Taking the outstretched arm, she swung
the alien around while delivering a solid shoulder check.  Afibo was knocked
off balance, but to Sailor Orion's dismay retained his grasp on America. 
Both fell to the ground, the brunette unintentionally cushioning the alien's
fall.  Sailor America grunted from the crushing weight.
 
	Sailor Orion wasn't finished yet.  With an inarticulate shout of
rage, she kicked Afibo savagely in the midsection.  Then again, and again,
not feeling any pain through her green boots.  Finally, she composed herself
enough to fashion the words.  "Get off her, you thrice-damned bastard!"
 
	He finally rolled over, but still kept an iron grip on Sailor
America.  Both tumbled down the hallway as Sailor Orion ran over to grab
Kedalion and stalk after them.  The alien crashed into a wall and Sailor
Orion took advantage.  Two powerful kicks to the head should have killed the
being, but Afibo seemed unfazed.
 
	For her part, Sailor America was still looking for a way out.  All
her struggles to break free from the alien's grip had failed so far, and her
attempts were growing increasingly desperate.  This would be the most
desperate yet.  She was counting on something all senshi were taught from
day one not to count on, yet had sustained them for thousands of years:
luck.
 
	Without the arm motions to use as a focus, having only the 
concentration of her own mind to guide and direct it, she uttered her 
attack phrase.  "America Stars and Stripes!" 
 
	Sailor Orion barely had enough time to realize what was going on
when she shut her eyes and began to turn away.  Even then, she could see
bright outlines through her closed eyelids when the attack fired.  In other
circumstances she would have been impressed: Sailor America had managed to
use her power at a low enough level that she didn't burn herself or anyone
else in the hall.  All it did was effectively blind Afibo.
 
	He stumbled, in the process letting go of Sailor America.  She
wasted no time in getting away from him, leaving Sailor Orion to face down
the staggering alien.  The redhead stood at her full height.  "Her Majesty
believes in forgiveness.  You have one last chance: surrender."
 
	Afibo reached inside his robes.  Fearing the worst, Sailor Orion
automatically assumed he was reaching for a weapon.  She acted accordingly. 
With hardly a thought, she swung her sword high, detaching Afibo's head from
his body with a simple, sickening swish.  The headless corpse dropped to the
ground without a sound, blood instantly forming a puddle on the metal floor.
 
	A puddle rapidly being diluted by water. 
 
	"C'mon Jen, this level's flooding too!"  Not giving Sailor Orion any
time to consider what she had done, Sailor America grabbed onto her hand and
led her down the hallway and towards a stairway.
 
	The two raced up four levels, then paused.  Valhalla had never been
a very deep base, and they were almost at the top level, which was separated
from the surface by four meters of rock, topsoil, some token armor plating,
and, of course, all the basements and subbasements and garages and subways
and utility tunnels of Nagano-2.  It was terribly depressing to think that
those four meters prevented them from avoiding death by drowning.
 
	Sailor America would not be defeated.  "American Stars and Stripes!"
she called again and again, each time blasting through a bit more of the
barrier.  The water was pooling around their knees when Orion drew her sword
a final time and struck at the ceiling.  Then the gray light of day broke
through, and they were out.
 
*** 
 
	Three days later. 
 
	"The last prisoners . . . er, defectors, have been transferred,
Sailor Orion," said Sailor Cassiopeia with a hint of relief.
 
	"Understood." She was in the main command center: the sixth floor
room where the latter half of the war had been planned and thought out. 
"One question, though?"
 
	"Yes?"  Sailor Cassiopeia was on the bridge of her ship, Sailors
Adhura and Phoenix at her side.  After a couple days to sort out the messes
left by the invasion, H.M.S. Kaze was preparing to leave the system.  It was
due to be relieved the next day by a larger group of ships carrying needed
supplies.  This was essentially good-bye.
 
	"Why have a dozen of the aliens been left here?  Especially the
commander, Holbrow . . . I'd think intelligence would want to question her."
 
	"They do," answered Sailor Cassiopeia.  "That's why . . . oh, hi
Sailor America!" She waved to the brown haired senshi, who had just stepped
into the control room and moved into range of the visual pickups.
 
	"Sorry I'm late," said Sailor America, brushing back her ponytail. 
She made a beeline for her lover.  "Had some last minute business to attend
to." She smiled, wrapping her arms around a surprised-looking Sailor Orion
and giving her a rather lengthy and passionate kiss.  Sailor Orion could do
nothing but respond in kind.  The rest of the control room coughed
nervously, or found dust and grime on their computers to be deserving of
particular attention.
 
	On the screen, Sailor Cassiopeia simply grinned.  "Nice to see the
RSN's lovebirds are still together," she said with a wink.  Inwardly she
sighed; when was the last time she had made love to her boyfriend?  She
really did neglect him, as she had all the boyfriends and girlfriends she'd
been through since she lost Sailor Rigel on the 5th of April, 3035.  She
forced the thoughts from her mind.  Let her enjoy the love she could see
between these two.  "You know, Royal Star Navy regs prohibit public displays
of affection like that," she said with a smile.
 
	The two finally broke off.  Sailor America turned to face her
protégé.  "Screw the regs," she said cheerfully, reaching down and giving
her lover a last squeeze on the bottom before separating.
 
	"That's what I say," Sailor Cassiopeia answered evenly.  "Anyway,
like I was saying, Intelligence is coming here.  Apparently Holbrow is
really keen on staying on your planet, she wouldn't hear anything about
going to the moon."
 
	"Maybe she's afraid of Serenity." 
 
	"Or her mother, more likely," added Sailor America.  "The present
queen is an unknown quantity to her."
 
	Sailor Orion nodded.  "Makes sense." 
 
	"How are things going down there?" asked Sailor Cassiopeia.  She
hadn't had much time to check on what the civilian population of Hinansho
had been doing.
 
	"Things are almost back to normal," replied Sailor Orion, leaning
against a computer with Sailor America at her side.
 
	Sailor Cassiopeia raised an eyebrow.  "That depends on what you--oh,
what is it?" she asked, turning to a tech on her bridge who had asked for
her attention.
 
	"Incoming transmission," explained the man.  "Type E, from Luna." 
 
	Almost in unison, the command staff in Nagano-2 blinked. 
 
	"E type is experimental," explained Sailor Cassiopeia.  "It's a
slight variant of what we used to get our ship here so quickly.  Very close
to simultaneity, close to 70% under ideal circumstances." She rubbed her
chin reflectively.  "Y'know, I'd bet it's-"
 
	"-her Majesty," finished the first tech.  "She, well, she wants to
speak with you."
 
	Everyone in the command room in Nagano-2 looked back at Sailor
Orion.  "Why do you think it has to be me?" she asked, though she knew the
answer.  Before anyone else could give it, the image on the main screen
flickered and changed to a surprising sight.  They had expected Queen
Serenity II, and to be fair that was who they got.  They hadn't expected the
planet senshi gathered with her, along with the Queen Mother and her
husband.
 
	"I take it that your silence is one of respect?" asked Serenity II 
with an ironic smile. 
 
	"Well, that is . . . ." 
 
	"No need to explain yourself, Sailor Orion."  There was a long
pause; even this new method of communication involved lag times close to
thirty seconds.  Apparently she had waited for a response, but refused to
show any surprise when she didn't get one.  "Anyway, I just thought I'd say
hi to you guys, and congratulate you on your impressive showing in the last
few months."
 
	Sailor Orion bowed automatically, despite the hundreds of light
years separating them.  "We did our best, your Majesty."
 
	"Your best," said Sailor Mercury, "would put many others to shame. 
Given your circumstances I have nothing but praise for you, Sailor America,
and the others.  Be sure that the rest of us feel the same way." The others
nodded their agreement, even Sailor Uranus, who had to be given a gentle
nudge.
 
	"We're particularly impressed by your command staff," added Sailor
Neptune.  "They played an excellent role in supporting you throughout the
crisis."
 
	"Th-thank you, sir," stammered Sammy. 
 
	"No," said Sailor Venus as she shook her head, "we should thank 
*you*.  If you hadn't stopped the aliens, they would have moved on to Earth,
and who can say what they might have done then?"
 
	"We would have sent them packing," Sailor Mars said.  Sailor Venus
responded with such a cold look that Sailor Mars was forced to make the
amendment, "simply because we had more numbers."
 
	"To get to the point," said Sailor Jupiter, "you three--Kim Young,
Sammy Porter, and Vanessa Leeds--are truly deserving of praise, and we plan
to deliver it.
 
	"Effective immediately," said Sailor Uranus, "the three of you are
promoted to the rank of commander.  H.M.S. Kaze will be leaving in another
week, that should be enough time for you to make preparations."
 
	Sailor Pluto shifted the Time Staff from one hand to the other. 
"You've got two dozen captains throughout the RSN clamoring to get you
assigned to their ships.  You're in great demand, and you've earned it." The
senshi of time had been absent quite often in the last few years. 
Apparently this occasion was important enough for her to come out of hiding. 
"You should be proud."
 
	The three valkyries looked at each other, then at the screen. 
Vanessa spoke for them all.  "Your Majesty, sirs, we *are* honored, truly. 
But we can't accept."
 
	After the time delay, looks of shock rippled through the planet 
senshi.  "What?" asked the Queen, a slight frown on her face.  "But-" 
 
	"We can't," continued Sammy simply.  "Sirs, we've been through
everything with Sailor Orion, and lately with Sailor America too.  We can
say without a doubt that they're the best commanders anyone could ask for. 
We wouldn't want to serve under anyone else . . . and if you transfer us,
we'll have to resign." Vanessa and Kim nodded their agreement.
 
	The Queen Mother reached over to nudge Sailor Mars on the shoulder. 
"I *told* you they wouldn't do it," she chided with a grin.  Sailor Mars
mumbled an incoherent reply.
 
	Sailor Orion noticed none of this.  "You . . . you would really do
that?" she asked incredulously.  "This is the chance of a lifetime!"
 
	Sailor America put a gloved hand on her lover's shoulder.  "Some
things are worth passing up others for." She leaned up to give Sailor Orion
a quick kiss.  "Especially you!"
 
	The redhead blushed.  "Thanks," she murmured. 
 
	"Well then," said Sailor Saturn, "there's no reason to make you do
something you don't want to." Not waiting for approval, she pressed on. 
"You're promoted to full commanders anyway.  However, you'll remain assigned
to Hinansho for as long as you like."
 
	The valkryries bowed as one.  "Thank you!" 
 
	"Don't mention it."  Queen Serenity II turned to face the Nagano-2
senshi.  "Keep up the good work.  Perhaps we'll meet soon."
 
	"We'll look forward to it," said Sailor America.  Sailor Orion
nodded as well.
 
	"Your latest dance with danger is at an end, Sailor Senshi."
Serenity smiled.  "Goodbye."
 
*** 
 
	Nighttime in the Sakachi/Pearcy household. 
 
	Jennifer and Eileen lay wrapped under a blanket in their
second-floor bedroom, an occasional giggle or sigh or moan echoing off the
walls.  Finally, Jen came up for air, Eileen just a moment later.  Both lay
panting for a moment, a thin sheen of perspiration covering their faces.
 
	"We haven't done this in much too long," said Jen breathlessly. 
 
	"Saving the world puts a damper on romance, Jennifer," said Eileen
with a smirk.
 
	"A damper, yes."  Jen kissed Eileen gently on the nose.  "But
nothing can ever truly put it out."
 
	"True."  Eileen rolled over to check her clock.  23:53.  "So, what
are you doing now that all this is over?"
 
	"Hm . . . school is out until mid-January, so I'll probably hang
around here for awhile, or at headquarters.  Maybe fix up around the house,
do some research.  You?"
 
	"I have a three week vacation planned," she said.  "Christmas *is*
tomorrow, even if the world has made us forget about it.  And I intend for
us to be together for it."
 
	Jen smiled and kissed her lover passionately.  "Perfect."  She began
to leave a trail of kisses down Eileen's mouth, then her chin, neck, and
between her breasts.
 
	BRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGG! 
 
	"Dammit," muttered Jen quietly.  "The phone!" 
 
	"Sounded awfully like that old alarm clock you had . . . never
mind." Eileen reluctantly withdrew from her lover's attentions and hit the
receive button on the night-stand, careful to choose voice-only.
 
	"Hello, Eileen Pearcy speaking."  She had stubbornly refused to use
the Japanese "Moshi-moshi, Pearcy desu," feeling that she had to maintain
her American identity.  Jen felt that Eileen chose odd spots to pick her
battles, but otherwise said nothing.
 
	"Um, hello, Pearcy-san . . . is Sakachi-sensei available?" 
 
	Eileen choked back a gasp as Jen resumed kissing Eileen's chest. 
"No," managed Eileen eventually, "she's very much involved with me at the
moment."
 
	"Will she be available later?" 
 
	"Not in this . . . ohhhh . . . lifetime." 
 
	"Um, what about my thesis?  I haven't been able to get in touch with
her about it in awhile, you see, and I just wanted to know if she could give
me some advice."
 
	Jen mumbled something muffled.  As a part of Eileen's anatomy was in
her mouth it was hard to make out.  Eileen cocked her head and tried to
figure out what Jen had just said.
 
	"I think her advice was for you to go to hell."  Jen giggled,
forcing the brunette to chock back yet another gasp.  Instead, she said:
"Maybe I heard incorrectly, though."
 
	"M-maybe I should call back another time?" 
 
	"Yes," said Eileem amicably.  "And once classes start again, you
know her office hours."
 
	"Erm, yes." 
 
	"Good.  Bye now!"  She was all mock-anger as she closed the
connection.  "Silly boy."
 
	"Silly girl," teased Jen.  "Trying to talk on the phone when your
lover is trying to pleasure you."
 
	Eileen smiled broadly.  "What can I say?  I'm a born multitasker!" 
 
	"Multitask this!" said Jen.  Gleefully she hit a switch and turned
out the lights.
 
 
*** 
 
	The two senshi walked out into the snowy Christmas morning.  By
mutual unspoken consent they wore their sailor fuku, not noticing the cold
at all.
 
	They strolled along the sidewalk, pausing a moment to admire the
handiwork of a snowman in the front yard of a neighbor, and grinning as they
noticed the fake red hair and blue eyes attached to its face.
 
	"Doesn't look a thing like you," said the first senshi to the other.
 
	They went on, continuing to a particular point on a hill about half
a kilometer from their home.  It overlooked most of the city, but not all of
it; the University and a couple public buildings were north.  The main three
skyscrapers which marked the downtown area could be seen, easily
distinguishable in the pre-dawn mist.
 
	The two senshi sat down, the shorter of the two first making sure
their bench was clear of snow or indeed any wetness.  The blackened wood
would probably cause trouble the next day, but that was unimportant.  They
sat in silence for a few minutes.  Once the taller looked at her watch and
said something to the shorter, which made both laugh.  Then all was quiet
again.
 
	Finally, the event they had waited for had come.  Both stood and
watched as the golden yellow sun called Nozomi rose over the horizon of the
city of Nagano-2, on the planet Hinansho . . . the planet whose very name
was 'sanctuary.'
 
	A beautiful sight, both thought.  Neither thought of the sun
glistening off the skyscrapers, or the blinding brilliance as the light
reflected from the new-fallen snow that blanketed the city in a shroud of
purity and serenity.  No, their thoughts were on each other, as each
appraised the other's body with eyes that had seen the sight so many times,
and yet saw it again for the first time on countless mornings like this.
 
	By mutual unspoken consent they detransformed, and while both were
warm, it wasn't because of the heavy coats they now wore.  It was because of
the power of something greater than wool and cotton, more fearsome than the
tamed fusion power that lit the thousands of lights in the city below and
the sun that rose to shine its rays upon millions, something that in fact
powered the abilities that allowed them to change form as easily as one
changes her sneakers.
 
	It was the power of love. 
 
	"I love you, Jennifer Sakachi." 
 
	"Aishiteru, Eileen Pearcy." 
 
	The two kissed, the sky turned blue, and the new day began. 
 
 
=========== 
 
Finished: 23:01 10/07/99 
 
	Well.  What do you say after finishing a work that's spanned two
years and nearly two megabytes of text?  I have no idea, but this is what I
think.
 
	I didn't anticipate things lasting this long.  Then, very soon after
I finished the first season, I realized that I couldn't imagine stopping. 
As soon as fall of 1997, while working on Sailor Moon O, writing Sailor
Orion had become an integral part of my life.  Even now I find it hard to
think of what I'll do with my time now that it's over.  I think it will be
some time until I feel as motivated to write anything as I did for this
story.
 
	It's near obligatory to say thanks to a few people at the end of
something like this.  I'd like to thank anyone who's ever emailed me
regarding it, even if it was something as simple as 'I read it, I liked it.'
I remember pleading for any sort of feedback at all back at the beginning;
that hasn't been a problem since.
 
	I fear that if I listed all the people who've emailed me, one of two
things would happen: a) I'd leave someone out inadvertantly, b) the list
would be too bloody long.  Thus, I'll keep it as short as possible.
 
	First, I'd like to thank the #fanfics IRC channel on Undernet.  In
existence since the summer of 1998, the collection of authors and readers
there have kept me sane during the last two seasons, which have no doubt
been the toughest and most grueling.  To name them all: Greenbeans (my
prereader for the final season and long-time fountain of advice, who I truly
can't thank enough), Vincent Diamante (who doesn't like the story, and isn't
afraid to admit it: that in itself is just as vital as any praise imo),
Devin de Gruyl, Daniel Amsler, Josh Smith, Michael Borrelli (resident Jen
otaku), Corvus (pinch-pre-reader for the last bit, and one of the most
brutally honest people I've met), Rick Ewing (long-time correspondent), Sean
Gaffney (even if he skipped the last season; he kept me from getting too
dark), Kevin Callahan, and John Hitchens (who now likes Chibiusa.  If BSSO
has accomplished nothing else, let it be said that for this reason alone it
is a success).
 
	Of course I have to include k-chan, self-proclaimed #1 jeneileen 
otaku, and Victor Naqvi, prereader for seasons 1 and 2.  Also the 
#moonscribe bunch, particularly Devon Smith, J.D. Archer, Joan McDougal, 
and Raymond Chuang.  The fanartists: Zelig (the first), Elisabeth Hegerat
(by golly, I *know* I got your name right this time), and Karama.  Art was
something I had to depend on others for; while I've managed a single sketch
of Jen, I know I have a long way to go until I meet their level.
 
	There are some others I'd like to mention.  Jeff Hosmer and Chris
Davies, for taking my little universe and having their own particular brand
of fun with it, Sailor Skuld of ASMR for putting up with my near-weekly
submissions for the last two years, Matthew Campbell for more or less
inspiring the last arc of season two, Heles MacAnemy for inspiring 210, and
to Mark Latus and Andrea Principe, for proving to me that fan-created senshi
don't have to suck.  Without that piece of knowledge I'd never have
attempted this work.
 
	So what comes next?  For Jen and Eileen . . . it sounds cliched, but
they live happily ever after.  Given the last ten years they've lived
through I think they've earned it.  For me?  There are other anime series
out there, other fanfics to be written.  None, I think, I'll be as attached
to as I was to this one, but life must go on.  Perhaps I might return to
this universe I've created (after all, after putting this much work into it,
it's a shame to just throw it away), but nothing like the frenetic weekly
pace that's so easy and so hard to do at the same time.
 
	In any case, I've saved one more thank you to you, the reader, some
of whom just started reading a week ago, others who have been with me since
that mid-March afternoon in 1997.  I've said before that I write for my own
benefit, and that's true.  But it wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable without
knowing that there were others out there who liked my little yarn.
 
 
LeVar Bouyer (ldbouyer@earthlink.net)
Glen Burnie, Maryland, USA 
3 August 1999

Final edit: 13:11 19 March 2001