(Rating: PG)
 
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Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Orion 
A relatively original fanfic by LeVar Bouyer 
Episode 407: Double Education 
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	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.