(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.