A few forewords. (this gets long, so skip to the row of equals signs if you're in a hurry). I now hate series with a vengeance. Writing twenty-six episodes for the first season was hell. Thus, think of this as a movie, because I'm not doing another weekly. Incidentially, I use a PC. This is based on the Sailor Orion series available at http://members.nbci.com/lbouyer/orion/. Out of nothing more than curiosity, please read it. A few reasons why: -little of what you are about to read will make much sense if you don't -it wasn't outright trashed by SM fans. -I think of it as my greatest achievement, since it was written at a rate of about 20kb per week for 23 weeks. A brief note: for reasons that will become clear, Chibi-Usa will be referred to as Small Lady throughout, to confuse avoision . . . I mean, avoid confusion (taking half a year to write a fanfic does strange and not altogether sick things to happen to one's mind). Sailor Moon and her pals are owned by Naoko Takeuchi, et al. Jennifer Sakachi and Eileen Pearcy were created by me, however, and so I'd appreciate it if you contacted me before using them in any fanfics you might be writing (that goes for Sailors Orion and America, too). Profuse thanks to everyone who read the Orion series, and even bigger thanks to those who wrote to me. You know who you are, and you all helped to make this possible. I guarantee that this ending will be far less predictable (knowing glare at a couple of people), and mathematically accurate to at least an order of magnitude (even bigger glare at someone). By name, I'd like to thank Jon Carp for previewing a couple of times, and Victor Naqvi, that lovable lover of punishment, who seemingly couldn't let a day go by without begging for the latest update of SMO. I'm sure he could recite the whole damned thing verbatim right now. ========================= Stage directions appear once in this story. This is it. [Open on a black screen. There is a very slight brightness at lower left that increases as the song begins] Kanashimi ga ima Sailor smile [the brightness envelops the entire screen and turns a subtle shade of blue-green] Kisekio okosuno Sailor wing [fade into a face in profile. It's outlined against the bright background, so we can't see who it is. The odango give a hint, though.] Daredatte kagayaku hoshio motsu [a spotlight goes on, and we see Eternal Sailor Moon, smiling as usual] Makenai! [begin a quick pan of a line of senshi. They are, in order, Sailors Eternal Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Pluto, Moon, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, America, and Orion. It takes as long as it takes for the next three lines to be sung.] Ashita e seeraa eru Zettai! Tsukamaeru! Seeraa sutaa Kono chikai todoke ginga made [pan ends. We now see the kanji and kana for: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon O ] [This next portion is very similar to the stars opening, mainly because it /is/ the stars opening, slightly modified. During this next portion, the screen will be split into two parts. The left hand side will show the senshi's civilian identity. The right hand will show them as sailors, at the end of their transformations. You can figure out the timing yourself.] [Usagi: Stuffing her face (if you must know, it's with some kind of pastry) Ami: Reading USENET (if you must know, it's soc.support.shyness) Rei: Sweeping the temple steps Makoto: Cooking (if you must know, it's shiitake mushrooms in a clam sauce) Minako: Playing volleyball ] Anata ga kieta sono toki kara Sagashitsuzukeru tabi ga hajimatta Kibanda chizu ni wa sutenshiru no tenshi no e [Fade to a red screen. The black silouettes of two senshi are seen. We don't know who they are. Yet.] Yubi sasu saki wa daaku na koroseumu ga matteru [Jump cut to a shot of the Tokyo skyline at night, with a full moon.] Furueru mune ni wa ano hi no himitsu no kisu [Jump cut to Tuxedo Kamen standing atop a lamppost (yes, I'm shameless).] Donna ni tsurai sadame demo oitsuzukeru kara [Switch to whiteout, which fades to show Eternal Sailor Moon brandishing the Eternal Tiar.] Kookai wa shinai seeraa aizu Anata ni tsuite ku seeraa uindo [Zoom out to show the other four inner senshi flanking her. Left to right: Venus, Mars, Moon, Mercury, Jupiter.] Kono uta wa hoshi no michi shirube [Jump cut to all five senshi and Tuxedo Kamen looking off into the distance. They're frightened by something, but we can't see what it is.] Makenai! Ashita e seeraa eru Zettai! Mitsukeru yo! Seeraa sutaa Tenshi no hane de tobitatsu no. [Slowly fade back to black. Just as the next line begins, suddenly brighten back to the scene described earlier. To recap, civilian identity on the left, transformation pose on the right, background colors match the sailor fuku. Setsuna: Looking keenly off into the distance Haruka: Popping out from under the hood of a car she's working on (if you must know, it's a Mustang.) Michiru: Looking up from a sheet of music, violin in hand (if you must know, it's Mahler's 6th, movement four, starting at measure 750.) Hotaru: Laying in a grassy field (yes, I know, there is no transformation sequence as of yet. Just think one up.)] Hitoride hashiru mishiranu michi Yatto tadoritsuita kono torideni Frasco no soko anata ga nokoshite itta [cut to a white background, where three senshi are silouetted. The background glare dimishes, and we have just enough time to see the faces of Sailor Chibi-Moon, Sailor America, and Sailor Orion, in that order.] Shirenno hoshi no hitokakera saa jumon'o tonaeyou [Jump cut to a starlit hill. Jen and Eileen are holding each other and looking up.] Kore wa futari no mirarsu na syukumei [Jump cut to a balcony of the Crystal Palace, where Small Lady is looking anxiously to the east.] Kakomo miraimo tobikoete oitsuite miseru [Bright flash, and now we see the Thirteen (Eternal Moon, Tuxedo Kamen, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Pluto, Uranus, Neptune, Moon, Saturn, America, and Orion) all lined up and ready to fight on one side of the screen. On the other are the two silouettes from before. We still can't see their faces.] Kurushisaga ima seera aizu Kisekio okosuno seera oisu [Eternal Sailor Moon raises the Eternal Tial.] Daredatte unmeino hoshio motsu [Bright flash and a whiteout ensue.] Makenai! [Slow fade back to black, with Earth in the center.] Ashita e seeraa eru Zettai! Tsukamaeru! Seeraa staa [A la most SM openings, we see the senshi flying towards the camera (and passing it) with smiles.] Kono chikai todoke ginga made [Sailor Venus brings up the rear, and her orange skirt provides a nice segway to an orange screen that darkens to red. Silouetted are the mystery senshi, now on either side of the screen.] Kookai wa shinai seeraa aizu Anata ni tsuite ku seeraa uindo [The two senshi start running towards each other.] Kono uta wa hoshi no michi shirube [AS they meet, there is a flash, and suddenly we're looking at the face of Neo-Queen Serenity. She fills the screen.] Makenai! Ashita e seeraa eru [She smiles. We zoom out slightly to see Endymion.] Zettai! Mitsukeru yo! Seeraa sutaa [He's smiling too. We zoom out a bit more to see Princess Usagi. Tenshi no hane de tobitatsu no. [She's smiling too. We do a slow zoom out for the rest of the song to see all the senshi there, striking chracteristic poses. On the last note of the song, we jump to black. Stay on black screen for five seconds, and slowly fade into scene one....] Peace Memorial Park Crystal Tokyo 7 July 3030 14:36 Local Time Jennifer Sakachi flopped her head down on the cool green grass and sighed. "You're absolutely correct, Sammy. And you thought you were stupid." She rolled over and smiled, ignoring the fresh-cut grass blades sticking to her jumpsuit. "I told you you'll do fine on the exam." "Yes," admitted Lieutenant Sammy Porter. "But I wanted to be sure." In reply, Jen simply looked out at the wide expanse of Crystal Tokyo. The gleaming city shone in the bright sun, a sun that radiated the perfect amount of light and heat. And if by chance you found that light too excessive, you could do as Jen and her friends had done and retreat under the shade of a wide tree. This particular tree was birch, and had been planted some years ago in commemoration of the end of the Second Sailor Wars. Around its white trunk, there was room for Jen, Eileen, Sammy, Vanessa, Kim, and Princess Usagi, all of whom were technically on leave. However, they all were in standard uniform. And Sammy hoped not to be in it anymore. It had been a couple months since their defeat of Selenite. After their triumphant return, Sammy had decided to go up for a commission as Lieutenant Commander. Doing so required taking a special exam, and it was a practice exam question on the Second Sailor Wars that she had gotten right. Small Lady looked up from the blade of grass she was playing with, looking dreadfully out of place in her jumpsuit instead of her colorful sailor fuku. "Why so quiet?" Jen replied without looking back. "Eric." "Ah." She would have added more if all their communicators hadn't started screeching at once. "EWO EWO Emergency War Orders, Emergency War Orders. All naval personnel are to report to their stations immediately. Say again, all naval personnel are to report to their stations immediately. We have a code one, say again code one." The insanely calm voice was cut off with a burst of static. Jen looked around at her senior officers. Without exception, their faces were pale as the birch tree. "Code One?" whispered Eileen. She worked in the press relations office, ran it actually, but even she knew what it meant. "Right," responded Jen. She stood, and began to fish around in pocket-space for her henshin stick. Trying to stay strong for her crew, she continued. "A direct attack upon Earth." She extended a fist into the air. "ORION-" She was cut short by the emergency sirens. Looking around, she saw Crystal Tokyo still gleaming in the sunlight as though nothing was wrong. But the air-raid sirens were going off, sirens that hadn't sounded since the last drill, twenty-five years ago. "Tsukino-san, tell me what you're seeing to the north." Small Lady was similarly shocked. "The anti-space batteries. They've been fired once, for Mother's thousandth birthday. They-" There was a bright flash, and everyone dove for the ground. "Cover your ears!" shouted Jen, bracing herself for the shockwave. It came a moment later, rocking the ground. Looking up, she saw a starship diving towards the city, surrounded by the blinding light of weapons intended only for use in space, not close atmospheric combat. The ship looked familiar from her history books. "Ursa Major! Sailor Pollux's ship!" But it was impossible; Ursa Major had been destroyed in the climactic battle of the Second Sailor Wars, along with her sister ship Ursa Minor, commanded by Pollux's twin sister Sailor Castor. That had been ages ago. She managed to crawl over next to Small Lady and shout in her ear; with all the noise it was the only way to be heard. "Where's your mother? She's the only one who can deal with a full-sized starship at close range!" "Hold on," replied Small Lady. "I may be able to tele-" There was a final, blinding flash. Royal Star Navy Headquarters Mare Crisium, The Moon 14:40 Crystal Tokyo Time 17:40 Lunar Time From the ruins of Royal Star Navy Headquarters, Sailor Mars slowly dragged herself from under a scorched computer console. She had been in Central Command when Pollux came roaring out of literally nowhere. Just popped out of hyperspace, guns blazing. Mars barely had time to get out a warning to Earth before the hell got blasted out of the Moon. In seconds, the kilometers of rock beneath the surface and the vacuum of space had molten, and fires were everywhere. Mars had rapidly gone from trying to organize a return strike to keeping what few base personnel remained alive. So far, she had confirmed two hundred survivors in the rubble of Naval Headquarters. Two hundred, out of the two million who lived and worked in the Navy's nexus. Even as she managed to pick herself up from another falling computer, she saw on a screen Earth getting blasted by Pollux's ship. She didn't need an overlay to see that it was Japan that was being targeted. She saw a bright spot in the midst of bright spots, and watched in horror as it expanded, overtaking Japan, China, the Korean peninsula. When it reached Australia and Hawaii she started looking for another functioning headset. Finding one, she rapidly dialed up the shipyards over the planet Mars. "Mars yardmaster, this is Crisium. Scramble and fold all ships. I say again all ships are to fold out of the system immediately. Restrictions on folding near gravitational bodies are hereby lifted. MOVE THEM DAMMIT!" Even as she saw the bright light expand outwards from Earth, even as it neared the Moon, she knew she was too late. It was confirmed for her when she, and the rest of the Moon, were wiped out of existence. A bit later, the rest of the universe was as well. Tokyo Juuban district 12 October 1998 6:23 AM Local Time "BWAAAAHHH! I'm late!" It had been a couple of months since the last coming of Typhoon Usagi, but Juuban was due. Luna responded to Usagi's antics as she had for the past four years: she put her paws over her ears. "Byemomi'llseeyoui'mreallylate!" Frantically munching on some toast, the sophomore raced off to Juuban High School, scarcely noticing the objects and people she passed. A mailbox, awaiting people to drop mail into it. Ami Mizuno, who glanced at the blonde blur with interest, wondering why she was in such a hurry; there were fifteen minutes until roll was called. With her walked Urawa Ryo, who had just recently moved back into town. Shaking their heads, they continued their discussion of current politics. Makoto Kino, who was in just as much a hurry. Three officers of the Royal Star Navy, who had just dropped back into reality after a protracted absence. "Aggh!" Eileen was the first to recover. She looked about wildly. "Wh-where are we? First we're about to die, and-" "Maybe we're already dead! Maybe we're-" "Ladies, can we calm down?" They both turned to look at Jen. "In case you haven't noticed, we're causing a scene!" They looked around to see that Jen was correct; a crowd of people had gathered around to see the three rather attractive women who had come out of nowhere. "Okay people, just carry on with your business!" shouted Jen, shooing them away. She hoped that her experience as captain would allow some authority to seep into her voice. Eventually the crowd dispersed, leaving the three identically dressed women standing on the sidewalk. "For future reference," said Jen, "when we drop into twentieth century Tokyo unannounced, try to do it more smoothly, okay?" There were nods all around. "Good. Now let's get going." They started walking together. Juuban district 6:27 AM "20TH CENTURY TOKYO!!!" A thud. Three of them, in fact. "Ladies, can I help you?" Juuban High School 2:00 PM Usagi, Ami, Minako, and Makoto walked out of Juuban High, discussing the usual things: homework, cute guys, how nice it was not having to worry about any kinds of supernatural events. They'd gotten rid of Galaxia over a year ago, and it seemed that the Sailor Senshi days were over for awhile. "So, guys," chirped Usagi, "who's up for the arcade?" "Not me," said Ami, "I've-" "-got some studying to do, right." Makoto and Usagi finished it for her. "Exactly," said Ami brightly. "Would you like to join me? Ryo-kun and I will be studying the latest modifications to the Standard Model!" The other three sweatdropped. "Er, not exactly...so, you with me, Mako-chan?" "Right! See you later, Ami-chan!" "Bye!" They went their separate ways. Juuban District Park 2:07 PM After walking halfway home, Ami decided to enjoy the Indian summer by studying outdoors in the park. Seeing her usual park beside her, the one she passed every day, she entered and found a nice tree which hadn't lost too many of its leaves yet. She settled down beneath it, waiting for Urawa to show up as she turned the pages of her book. She was fairly happy that he'd returned. She was, in fact, downright optimistic. With no sailor business to worry about, she could be like all the other teens for once and have a personal life. 'Well,' she thought, 'not quite like all of them.' She could still transform into Sailor Mercury; she'd tried it one night, just to make sure, and there was still lots of schoolwork to get done. But it was still nice to be able to have some personal time, which she was spending more and more of with Urawa. He had bulked up quite a bit in the intervening years. Not to the point of being a muscle builder, but enough that she was the envy of quite a few female classmates. She had just gotten through page 203 of her book on Welsh culture and history when a voice tore her away from her studies. "Good afternoon, Mizuno-san," said a voice that was familiar. Ami looked up, blinking for a moment since the figure had his back to the low autumn sun. "Oh hi, Furahata-san. What are you doing here? And . . . who are they?" The blond man laughed. "Oh, you don't think I work at the arcade twenty-four hours a day, do you? After seven years there, I think I've earned a bit longer lunch break than most." "And them?" Ami referred to the trio of women who accompanied him. They were a rather interesting group. One was a brunette, who from her body language seemed to have more than a casual relationship with the other, a rather tall redhead with glasses. Ami had hung around with Haruka and Michiru enough to tell that these two were lovers, and didn't mind letting others know about it. Then there was another interesting sight: pink hair, red eyes . . . Small Lady? But this person was far too old; she looked to be in her teens, perhaps even early twenties. In fact, the other couple seemed to be in their teens as well. They all wore black jumpsuits which appeared to be uniforms. With a bit more time, she would have liked to inspect their insignia more closely, but she didn't want to gawk. She resigned herself to the fact that they went to some school she hadn't heard of. Then again, they did look to be college aged. The brunette hanging on to the redhead had no problems with gawking, though. "Jen! Isn't that Sa-" "Hush!" "Oh, these girls?" Motoki grinned. "Believe it or not, I just found them in front of the arcade. I think they're immigrants or something, but they speak great Japanese. Odd accent, though. Anyway," and here he gestured to the redhead of the trio, who bowed, "here's Jennifer," the brunette, "Eileen," and the pink-haired one, "Usagi." It was Ami's turn to be shocked. "Usagi?" "Yeah. Weird, isn't it? She even looks a bit like meatball head." "Usagi?" Ami seemed to be having trouble getting past that. Small Lady winked at Ami, and made a silencing motion. "I'll explain later," she mouthed. "Furahata-san," said Ami slowly, "perhaps I can show them around Tokyo a bit?" From the nods Small Lady was giving her, she knew she'd made the right decision. "Well, okay. Now you girls have somewhere to stay, right?" "Well . . . ." "Yes, definitely," said Jen, cutting off Eileen. "We've got a place." "Good. Well, I'll be seeing you. Goodbye!" Once Motoki walked off, Ami almost grabbed Small Lady by the collar, undecided between giving her a hug and throttling her for showing up again. "Chibi-usa-chan! What are you doing here? Why are you so old? And who are these people?" "Sailor Mercury! It's so great to meet you!" Eileen pulled a scrap of paper from a pocket, along with a pen. "Could I have your autograph?" "Eileen!" "Ouch! Why'd you pinch me? You know I don't like that kind of thing in public!" Ami had turned a rather shocking white. "Who . . . who are you? And how do you know who I am?" She reached for her henshin stick. Jen sighed. "Well, I'd hoped that things would go better, but . . . Mercury, you're just going to have to trust us, here. We know your identity, and we haven't tried to shoot you. That's a good start, right?" "Well..." "Good. Now, we need you to contact . . . um . . . have to remember the names." She turned to Eileen. "We learned these, right? But it's been so long since they're used them. There's Rei . . . ." "Right, and Minako." "Um--hm, but there's another M, mmm . . . Makutu?" "Mekoro?" "Makotsu?" They hit upon it at the same time. "MAKOTO!" They did a high- five. "And Neo . . . Seren . . . her Highness." It was a supreme effort to get it out. "Right," said Jen. "Get all the senshi together. The outer senshi as well, if you can. The cat's fully out of the bag, and we need to tell you all about it." "All right." She trusted these people for some reason. It was something they just exuded; Rei could probably explain it better. She began scribbling a note for Urawa so he wouldn't worry about where she was. "But where are you from?" Small Lady smiled. "You couldn't tell? We're from the future!" Tsukino residence 2:30 PM Usagi was toiling over homework. It had taken years for her to get the message, but she was finally doing her homework on a regular basis. Luna simply sat at the foot of the bed daydreaming, when Usagi's communicator started beeping. "What?" Usagi fished around in her bookbag and dug out the device. "Ami? What's up?" "We've . . . well, we don't have a problem, but it's definitely something you should hear for yourself. I'm calling a meeting at the Shrine in half an hour. Be there, and make sure Luna's there too." "Is it sailor business?" asked Usagi seriously. "Yep." "I'm there." She closed off the connection and looked at Luna. "Come on, we've got go!" "Right!" Makoto's apartment 2:32 PM "Makoto?" "Yes?" She was rather annoyed; she had all four burners on the stove going to cook up a killer meal, and she really didn't want to bother with her senshi obligations. "Meet us at the shrine, half an hour. Something's come up." "Damn!" "What was that?" "Oh, nothing." Makoto mentally crossed off dinner from her list of things to enjoy today. "I'll be there." "Good." Aino residence 2:33 PM "Minako? Minako!??" Artemis looked in the laundry room, in the bathroom, in the kitchen. He had answered Ami's communication, and was now trying to find her to tell her about the meeting. After some more searching, he found her outside. "MINAKO! What are you doing?" "Climbing a tree, why?" "That tree's a sapling!" A bit of an exaggeration, but it was rather young. "So? It's not going to collapse or anythiiiiiiiing!" Thud. "Right, steady as a rock. Come on, we've got a meeting to get to." An apartment in Upper Juuban 2:35 PM "You have reached the home of Kaiou Michiru and Ten'ou Haruka. We're sorry, but we're not in right now. If you'd like to leave your name and number, we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Please leave your number at the beep." The machine beeped. "Hello, Haruka-san? Michiru-san? We're holding a special meeting at the shrine. I know you're probably not interested, but I think this will prove intriguing to us all. It's about Crystal Tokyo. Oh, and tell Setsuna-san and Hotaru-chan if you can, okay? Arigato." Click. USS Carl Vinson West Pacific Ocean 350 kilometers due east of Taiwan 2:59 PM Japanese Standard Time Rear Admiral Harold Bell had seen many things in his thirty year career in the Navy. He'd been through Vietnam and the Persian Gulf, both times being decorated for bravery and cunning. As his nuclear powered aircraft carrier plowed through the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean on its way to Auckland, New Zealand, he reflected to himself on how spectacular his career had been. He would have had another story to add to his list of favorites if he had merely looked out his cabin window. If he had, he would have seen a woman in a short sailor fuku materialize about thirty meters in the air, and would have seen that woman fall twenty of those meters before disappearing again. But he didn't, and so he continued pondering the past. Tokyo Hikawa Shrine 3:02 PM "Are we all here, then?" asked Ami. She and the rest of the inner senshi sat in the room. One call had been received from Haruka, saying that they had some other things to attend to, and would be a bit late. They had promised to contact Setsuna and Hotaru, though. "Right, then I guess I should start. We've got visitors." "What kind?" asked Makoto immediately. "Good guys. At least, I think so. I do know that they could have attacked us if they wanted to." "So they've got the jump on us?" asked Minako. "Hardly encouraging." Artemis nodded, while the others just looked baffled. Ami just shrugged noncommittally and turned to the door. "Okay, you can come in!" Perhaps she should have prepared them a bit better for it, but emotional impact was not something she dealt with very well. The three from the future walked in and sat opposite the senshi. "Good afternoon, everyone," said Jen. "And these are?" asked Rei. She had been rather unhappy when three strangers had come with Ami, not giving names. Ami had remained tight-lipped about where they were from. "In order, they are Eileen Pearcy, Jennifer Sakachi, and Usagi Tsukino." For the first time, they drew the connection with the pink hair. "Chibi-Usa!" Usagi leapt up to give her daughter a hug, made even more incongruous since the younger was now slightly taller than the elder. "I've missed you!" "Same here, Mama!" "Aren't they cute, Jen-chan?" "I suppose so," whispered Jennifer back to Eileen. "But we'll have to see how cute Her Majesty is when she hears the news." "Her Majesty?" Everyone snapped around to see who had said it. Outlined in the door were four figures. The one closest to them continued, "Exactly who would Her Majesty be to you?" Jen stood and squinted. If she could only get a good look at them, but that voice . . . add a few years, and you had: "Sailor Uranus!" The figure stepped forward suddenly and drew to within inches of Jen. "Yeah? What about her?" Jen thought carefully. The Sailor Uranus of the thirty-first century had toned down quite a bit from her twentieth century personality, she knew. From what she'd read, Uranus, or Ten'ou Haruka as she went nowadays, was a paranoid who barely tolerated the inner senshi, and would do anything for the Neo-Queen and her mission. The possibility that the history books might be wrong never occurred to her. "Well," said Jennifer belligerently, "I just happened to notice that you're her." "What did you say!?" Haruka got a calming hand on her shoulder from Michiru, as she and the other two stepped forward. The others wore similar looks of surprise: who were these people, and how did they know about the sailors? "Sailor Pluto? Sailor Saturn?" Jen asked it more or less out of formality. As an afterthought, she bowed. Pluto and Saturn returned it. Saturn took a moment to smile at the younger Usagi. Or rather, the elder Usagi, since the Usagi of the twentieth century was seventeen, while the Usagi of the thirty-first century was about 940 years old. Even taking her physical appearance into consideration, the pink-haired Usagi still looked about twenty. Haruka had calmed down somewhat. "Ami-san, you'd better have a good explanation for all this." "Well," said the blue-haired girl, "I don't." She gestured to Jen. "She does, though." "And she is?" asked Michiru. "She's someone I met at the park today. She said that-" "You know, you needn't talk about me like I'm not here." Jen drew up and stood, facing down the tall dusty blonde. Haruka immediately reassessed the situation; not many women were taller than she, and of those who were, fewer had the guts to remind her of that. "I'm Jennifer Allison Sakachi. And this-" "Where are you from?" "Usagi! Don't interrupt!" "It's okay, Luna-san," said Jen, the hints of a smile creeping up on her face. "To answer your question, Your Majesty, I'm from . . . around here." She closed her eyes and tried to recall a map. "About three kilometers north of here, and about 1000 years in the future." 'Now,' thought Eileen, 'why didn't that shock the twentieth century senshi more? Oh, of course! The Princess.' That more or less gave away their date. "Wait," began Rei, "isn't the Black Moon around in a thousand years?" "Rei," said Setsuna, "I believe that you may want to pay more attention to our guest here, and ask fewer questions." Rei thought of a retort for that, considered it, and decided to drop it. Setsuna was the expert on time, after all. "Fine. Please continue, Sakachi-san." "Jen-chan, please. I'm only nineteen." And the captain of a starship besides, but that's life. "A very *mature* nineteen," said Eileen, clutching Jen's shoulder with an air of propriety. Haruka and Michiru shared a raised eyebrow. "Anyway," said Jen, who had the grace to blush, "to continue the introductions, this is Eileen Pearcy. Here's the Princess, I think you know her already." Greetings were exchanged. "Now, before we get started, one question I still haven't had answered. What's today's date?" Ami answered. "12 October." At Jen's hard stare, she continued. "1998." "Oh shit," muttered Jen. Her companions blanched. "Huh? Is something wrong?" Visibly, Jen got herself back under control. "Oh, it's nothing." 'It's just that the world is, for all intents and purposes, going to end for you in about a year,' she thought. "Nothing at all." "I think we need to explain exactly who we are," said Small Lady. "Okay," said Jen. She stood. "Eileen, I think they need a demonstration. Perhaps this will convince them that we're on their side," she added, looked directly at Rei and Haruka. Eileen rose as well. "Right. Shall we?" "Let's." "Orion Star Power, Make-Up!" "America Star Power, Make-Up!" "Moon Crisis Make Up!" Their transformations died down. Artemis was the first to speak. "Call your parents; we're going to be here awhile." *** "And that's basically what happened with Selenite," concluded Jen, who had just finished explaining the salient points of H.M.S. Pleiades's campaign against the Dark Kingdom. It was slightly edited, of course, to remove references to Eric, or Chibi-Jen, or the Princess's adventures in the vacuum, or for that matter anything that might influence events in the future. This was a task made doubly difficult by the fact that the planet senshi had some knowledge of the future when they sent Sailor Orion off against Selenite. The tricky part was figuring out just how much the planet senshi had known. Eileen looked at Jen worriedly. "Jen, do you need a drink of water?" "I suppose so," said Jennifer. It had been a long speech. Usagi rubbed her eyes; staying awake for the whole thing had been difficult for her. "So we've got to face the Dark Kingdom again?" "Nope," said Eileen. She turned to Rei. "If you wouldn't mind, a drink please?" "Of course," said Rei, getting up to head for the kitchen. "There's one thing that doesn't make sense," said Michiru. "We know," said Small Lady. "Why are we here? Well, we think that it's a temporal problem." Usagi immediately brightened. "No, mama. Temporal, not temporary. That's why we needed to talk to Pu . . . Pluto. We were hoping that she could shed some light on things." Setsuna fought down the shiver of panic that threatened to run down her spine. She couldn't let them see her flustered. "I'm not too sure. My visions of the future . . . they're still the same." "Have you gone past 3030? Physically, I mean?" Michiru had the face of one who has just a couple more clues to fill in before completing one of those monster crosswords. "No," said a surprised Setsuna. "That is, I can't remember ever going beyond . . . beyond . . . ." "Beyond when, Pluto?" asked Jen, already knowing the answer. "Beyond July fifth, thirty-" She was cut off by an explosion. 4300 block of Cherry Hill Road 5:23 PM Captain Hiroshi Asokara had been with the Tokyo police force for twenty years. He was pretty certain that he'd seen it all. He'd seen far more than he wanted to when the sailor senshi popped up, that was for certain. Never in the history of the force had so many weird things happened to one particular district of Tokyo in so short a period of time. He'd been a grizzled veteran, though, and relished the uncertainty of duty in Juuban until the weirdness well had apparently run dry. He'd thrived on not knowing when the next youma, cardian, droid, daimon, lemure, paredory, or phage was going to show up. But now, it had been calm for nearly a year, without a peep from the senshi. Now, as he looked up at the thirty-meter high fireball that was rising up from a group of fenced off power transformers, he was rather anxious to see the senshi again. Heaven knew he wasn't in a position to do much about it. Nevertheless, he was nothing if he didn't have his duty. He picked up the radio in his car and dialed it in to precinct headquarters. "This is unit thirty-four, and I've got an emergency. Code 005, say again 005, at the transformers in the . . . 4300 block of Cherry Hill road. Need backup immediately, over!" "Roger unit thirty-four," came the cool voice of the dispatcher, "be advised nearest assistance is ten minutes away. Do you require military assistance?" "Hell yeah! And get the fire department down here, too!" "10-4. Understood." There was another explosion, and Hiroshi dived behind his squad car. He peeped back over to see that she was still at it. As a police officer he should be doing something. But it was now officially a 005, the code that the Tokyo police used to describe anything that was best dealt with by teenage girls in short skirts. Gotham City had the Batphone, and Tokyo had 005. Hikawa Shrine 5:24 PM 005 was far more efficient than the police realized. When there were only five senshi busy with Rubeus and company, Ami had had an idle interest in police band communications. She had noticed that they used various numbers and call signals to get things understood faster. And of course, she'd noticed that any fight that the senshi were involved in, or even were going to be involved in, got the 005 tag. So she'd set her computer to alert her to whenever the police called in a 005. Thus, while the others were frantically looking outside to find out the source of the explosion, Ami had already whipped out her computer and was finding out where it had hit. "The explosion was centered-" "-three kilometers west, by the transformers?" Ami was surprised. "Right! How'd you know?" Haruka simply pointed to where the smoke and flames rose into the air. "Oh." Meanwhile, Jen and Eileen were looking at the plume of smoke warily. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Eileen. "Depends," said Jen. "Are you thinking about how to prevent those aches in the mornings afterwards?" "No." "Damn. I guess I am thinking what you were thinking." "Hm. I liked what you thought I was thinking better." "Me too." "Yeah." Eileen walked over to Usagi. "Your Majes . . . Serenity, we think we know who's causing this." "Who?" asked Usagi. "Are we going to have to deal with it?" she said in a tone that said that she wanted the answer to be no. 'And will you stop calling me Your Majesty?' she didn't ask. "Yes. We'll tell you when we get there." She nodded to Small Lady, who nodded back. "Everyone, transform!" 5:26:02 PM "America Star Power, Make-Up!" "Orion Star Power, Make-Up!" "Moon Crisis Make-Up!" The three future senshi did not make a speech or strike a pose. They just started running. 5:26:54 PM Haruka and Michiru shrugged. "Uranus Crystal Power, Make-Up!" "Neptune Crystal Power, Make-Up!" "Pluto Crystal Power, Make-Up!" "Saturn Crystal Power, Make-Up!" The four outers made abbreviated speeches and took off in the direction of the future senshi. 5:28 PM Luna only had to glare at Usagi. "Mercury Crystal Power, Make-Up!" "Venus Crystal Power, Make-Up!" "Mars Crystal Power, Make-Up!" "Jupiter Crystal Power, Make-Up!" "Moon Eternal make-up!" The five inners made several protracted speeches and a couple photo-worthy poses, and then ran off. 5:30 PM "Luna?" "Yes, Artemis?" "We've got to work on their timing." 4300 block of Cherry Hill Road 5:31 PM Hardly out of breath, Sailors Orion, America, and Moon arrived at the scene to find that things were not going too well. One squad car was already in flames, with the driver nowhere in sight. They could hear the sirens of fire trucks in the distance, but for now it was up to the senshi. "Where is she?" asked Sailor Moon, looking around frantically. They knew that she had to be behind it; given recent and future events, it was the only alternative that made sense. Sailor America had taken out her handlink from her pocket. In a pinch it could function as a scanning device. Normally, its range would be augmented by the local AIs. Unfortunately, the local AI wouldn't be built for several hundred years, so they were left to their own ends. "I'm getting a pretty strong trace here, Jen," said Sailor America, excitement at the back of her voice. It was due to a couple factors. The first was her inexperience. Unlike Sailor Moon and Sailor Orion, she'd never been in a combat situation. She had her powers, but she rarely practiced; a PR secretary didn't need them. She was leaning a lot on the experience of her two companions, and unconsciously edged closer to Orion. For her part, Orion was quite conscious of this. The second factor was that for the first time, she was doing more in a fuku than making announcements. She felt wonderfully alive, finally earning the title of sailor-suited soldier. Orion didn't share her enthusiasm, though. "Silly," she said in a tone totally unsuited for combat, yet quite appropriate for a bedroom, "would you mind giving me some space to work with here?" "Oh, sorry," replied Sailor America, backing away a bit. "Over there!" shouted Sailor Neptune. 'The cavalry arrives,' thought Sailor Orion. She looked over at where Neptune and the other outers were, surmised what they had to have seen to shout such a warning, and wheeled to face their threat. *** Eternal Sailor Moon and the other inner senshi came rushing up to see an extraordinary sight. Atop a blazing transformer was a senshi. She was in typical sailor fuku, with the white bodice, a midnight blue skirt and choker, and shockingly lavender bows and boots. Her tiara was gold, with a midnight blue stone embedded within it. As for her face . . . it was pure hatred. Right now, it wasn't a warm hate. It was a cold hate, the hatred usually reserved for Nazism or Judas Iscariot. It was a hatred of everything she saw around her, and it was a hatred that the inners had never seen before, even with all the enemies they had faced in the past. "Who is that?" asked Jupiter. "I don't know," said Mercury, pulling out her computer. She suspected that this new sailor was up to no good. A few meters away, she could see that the other senshi were arrayed in a more or less offensive position. She then realized that it was a mixed bag; while the outers were clearly in a mood to fight, Sailors Moon, America, and Orion were in a definite defensive posture. They even seemed to be backing away, which caught Uranus by surprise. "Hey," she shouted, "where are you going?" Sailor Orion began to edge towards the queen: that is, towards Eternal Sailor Moon. At the moment, she fervently wished that the queen was really there, and in her full power. "I'm moving back to safety, and I'd advise you do the same." "Why?" "Because she," she said, pointing up to the senshi that hadn't even moved yet, "is the most dangerous person on the planet right now." "Oh really?" said Uranus. "You haven't seen me in action then, have you? World Shaking!" The yellow blast of energy surged towards the new senshi, and flew right through her. Or rather, would have if she had not made a prodigious leap up and out of the way. Neptune was prepared, though. "Deep Submerge!" The new senshi dodged this as well. Neptune looked over to Sailor Orion, who along with the other Moon and America seemed to be . . . cowering behind Eternal Moon? That made no sense at all! "Um, Sailor Uranus? Sailor Neptune?" Both the addressed senshi snapped their heads around, looking for the speaker. They found her, perched atop a telephone pole. "Up here, idiots," said the voice derisively. "Nice to see that you haven't changed. Still just as incompetent." "Do we know this character?" asked Jupiter. "Know me? Know me? Kami-sama, will you know me?!?" Sailor Orion bent down to whisper in Eternal Sailor Moon's ear. "Your Majesty, I suggest you get out the ginzuishou and take out this senshi. Now." Beside her, Sailors Moon and America nodded their agreement. The new senshi smiled and leapt down from the pole, making a perfect landing. "Well, all you need to know is that I'm Sailor Pollux, and that I'll be destroying you. I've got other engagements, so . . ." She tapped an earring and disappeared, leaving a loud bang behind as the air slammed into where she had been. Behind Eternal Moon, Sailor America finally stopped shaking. "God, that was close." "Close? Close?!?" Sailor Uranus put her face to within millimeters of America's. "Dammit, aren't you senshi? And yet you just run away? Dammit, we were *fighting* out there! What the hell were *you* doing?" "WE," replied America just as heatedly, "were trying to stay alive. And if you knew half of what we knew, you'd have the same reaction! Why, if-" "Sailor America, you might want to calm down," said Orion quietly. "The hell I will! Call me a coward, will she?" "Eileen, please!" That shut her up. Sailor Orion detransformed and turned to Eternal Sailor Moon. "Your Majesty, we've got to talk." "Out here?" "Of cour . . . oh, that's right. Secret identity." She looked around. Luckily, no-one had seen her transform. But that brought up another question. "Your Majesty-" "Would you please stop calling me that?" "Oh, sorry, Your . . . Your . . . Serenity-sama. Won't happen again. Anyway, we don't exactly have a place to stay, and-" "Well, Small Lady can stay at my house," said Eternal Sailor Moon, smiling at her daughter. "Um . . ." began America. The cats finally showed up. "Right," said Luna, "*please* tell me why you're shooting the breeze in your senshi forms in public?" "Well," said Mars, "we were just discussing accommodations, and, er-" "Can it." Tsukino residence 8:21 PM Usagi and her daughter sat in the mother's bedroom. It had changed little in the three years since she had first become Sailor Moon. Back in 1995, there had still been the bunny comforter, the general rabbit motif, et cetera. There were a couple changes since then, however. A life-size poster of the Three Lights hung on the wall. It was autographed as well, which made it doubly valuable; in addition to the signatures of Seiya, Yaten, and Taiki, it also had the signatures of Sailors Star Maker, Healer, and Fighter on a back corner away from prying eyes. The poster wasn't the only item in what, for lack of a better term, could be called Usagi's trophy case. There was a solitary petal from a flower left over from their encounter with Fiore. There was a shard of glass that had been left over from one of Nehelenia's mirrors. There was a stack of Sailor V manga, every one painstakingly yet cheerfully autographed by Minako herself. Then there was the prize jewel, the pride of her collection. Dolls. Each thirty centimeters tall, one for each senshi. Mercury, Venus, Moon, Chibi-Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Tuxedo Kamen. All in the original packaging. All with lifelike detail. Except for her own, all personally autographed. These were not dolls you got at the local toy store. These were dolls that you ordered from special catalogs that wouldn't even let you subscribe if you weren't in the right tax bracket. They had been a present for her seventeenth birthday. She had been absolutely stunned when she got them, but the others had just smiled and told her that it was nothing compared to what she would get on her eighteenth birthday. Small Lady looked over the collection approvingly, listening as Usagi told her how she'd gotten it. She found it hard to keep from crying when she got to the part about her eighteenth birthday. She had to admit it wasn't as if it were unexpected, as she listened to her mother drone on. She'd known for centuries what would happen on 30 June 1999. She knew even better what would happen just two years later. More perhaps than anyone else in the world, she knew all the terribly fateful things that were destined to keep happening on Usagi Tsukino's birthday. But it wasn't fair for her mother to have such high hopes for a future that would come crashing down so soon. She couldn't dwell on that now, though. There were important things to worry about, such as Sailor Pollux. "Mama," said Small Lady, "there's some stuff I've got to tell you about." "Later," said Usagi. "I've got so much else to tell you, and-" "It's important, Mama," insisted Small Lady. "It's about Sailor Pollux." "Who?" Residence of Haruka Ten'ou, Michiru Kaioh, Hotaru Tomoe, and Setsuna Meiou 8:21 PM "So you two will be here," said a briskly walking Haruka. "The bed's a king size . . . or would you like doubles?" The sarcasm dripped from her voice. 'Gee,' thought Jen, '*she* sure has a lot of room to talk.' Eileen vocalized it. "Oh, a king-size will be fine, Uranus," she said, holding Jen closely. "We're inseparable. You can just stick to your doubles" "Oh?" said Haruka, bringing Michiru around and holding her around the waist protectively. "Well, where did you get that idea?" "It's common knowledge in the thirty-first, Uranus. We're also familiar with how you tried to hide it." "Hide what?" asked Haruka. "Oh, nothing," said Eileen, giving Jen a peck on the cheek that rapidly turned into something far more serious. "Really?" asked Haruka, doing the same with Michiru. 'What the hell's going on?' thought Jen and Michiru simultaneously. They might have stayed like that for hours if Setsuna and Hotaru hadn't come in at that point, carrying a couple bags that bore the names of Tokyo's more prominent department stores. "We've brought some clothes, we figured that those uniforms must . . . oh, have we interrupted something?" Her tone was mocking, but Setsuna remained as stony-faced as ever. Hotaru, however, didn't even bother to hide her smile. "Shall we talk, or are you guys going to go for the menage a quatre?" Mizuno apartment 8:34 PM The Mizuno's door bell was a typical doorbell. It gave a high tone and a low tone, in that quick order. It was easily audible from anywhere in the house, but it was especially audible when one waited right next to the door as Ami did. She peeped out the window and breathed a sigh of relief and happiness, then opened the door and let in Ryo Urawa. "How are you, Ryo-kun?" asked Ami politely. "Fine, thank you," said Ryo warmly. "Is your mother home?" "Right here," said Ayumi as she popped out of the kitchen. "Nice to see you again." "Same here," said Ryo. "So you're here for more late-night studying, right?" "Yes, Mizuno-san." "Okay. There's some coffee cake in the dining room if you want it. I've got the graveyard shift at the ER, so I'll be catching a nap now while I can. Ami, you know the routine: wake me at the right time." "Of course, mother." "I know you will. Good night." Ayumi padded up the stairs, leaving the two alone. "It's nice she trusts us," said Ryo as he picked up his bookbag and followed Ami to her bedroom. "Why wouldn't she?" asked Ami rhetorically as they entered. Her room surprised many; it wasn't in a blue motif, but a green one, and far from being sparse, the walls were covered with posters. Admittedly, they were generally related to the fields of astronomy and medicine, such as the life-size poster of the human muscular system, but they weren't bare and austere either. Urawa had raised an eyebrow once at the life-sized Sailor Mercury poster, but had never mentioned it. They both sat before her desk, on which were a computer, lamp, and a couple of books. Urawa shook his head once again. "What's wrong?" asked Ami. "It's just . . . you don't read the fan groups on the Internet, do you?" "No, definitely not." "Well, if they found out that the great Sailor Mercury uses a Macintosh..." "Right," said Ami with a laugh. It was, she felt, one of the best parts of their relationship. They'd been pretty good friends since he'd come back to Tokyo, and remarkably they'd stayed that way. They'd had numerous opportunities to take their friendship to the next level, but they hadn't, and in fact hadn't progressed past the kissing stage. Neither was particularly inclined to do anything more serious, and they were happy that way. Whereas most teens would have some sexual activity in mind when they said "study night," Ami and Ryo meant it literally. "Well I can't imagine using anything else. Windows hasn't come up with anything good for ages, OS/2 is dead and buried, and Linux still has some way to go. Anyway, what do we have tonight?" "Oh, we've got some good stuff tonight. Fresh, too. Anatomy and physiology; the unit test is next week, and . . . ooh, a surprise: American literature. We've got an exam on Fitzgerald, focusing on The Great Gatsby. But before that," he said, gazing levelly at Ami, "you want to tell we what was going on this afternoon?" There wasn't any point trying it hide it from him. There never was. "Oh, you know, the usual. Senshi from the future show up, and one of them tried to kill us all." "Chibi-usa-chan is back?" Ami pulled her A&P textbook from a satchel and opened it to the appropriate chapter. "Well, yes. But she's not so young anymore. She looks to be in her twenties." "Oh, and what are you calling her now, since she's obviously not chibi?" "You don't want to know. But she's not the interesting one. The fun part is the other two: Sailor Orion and Sailor America." "Who?" "That's what I said. They're from the future. Let's just say that they, well we change the rules about senshi in a thousand years. But the kicker . . . you know how Uranus and Neptune are, right?" "Yeah, they're . . . wait, so you're saying that Orion and . . ." "Yes." "Are like that . . ." "Yes." "With each other?" "Yes." "Wow." "Yeah. Well, it's the fourth one who's against us. We know almost nothing about her. All we know is that she doesn't stay around long, and that the three new senshi are scared to death of her." "Great." "But why worry about that?" "But-" "Don't give me that stuff about how you didn't sense it. You and I both know you haven't predicted anything bigger than the weather for years." "Yes, you're right, but . . .it's just that sometimes I feel . . ." he pondered for a moment on how to phrase it without offending her presumably feminist sensibilities. "Sometimes I think I'm . . . I have to, well, you know . . . ." "You mean you think you have to put on formal wear and protect me from the various and sundry forces of evil?" He sweatdropped. "Well, something like that, you know, would . . . er . . . um . . . ." "Ryo-kun," she said softly, "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." "And the senshi bit?" "If you weren't used to that by now," she said slyly, "you wouldn't be here studying, would you?" She was right. He had to admit that she was perfectly right. He didn't have to say it aloud, though. They both knew it. "I'm being silly, aren't I?" "Yes. But if you weren't silly every once in awhile, I'd never be able to put up with you." "Really?" "Really." She leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Now," she said, suddenly all business, "let's get back to work." She promptly returned to the land of academics, and in so doing never noticed the blush that spread across Ryo's face. North Atlantic Ocean 50 km SSW of the Azores 4:34 AM Atlantic Standard Time 12 October 1998 Splashdown. A few seconds later, Sailor Castor emerged spluttering from the cold green waters of the Atlantic Ocean. She treaded water, seeking land and not finding it. Where was she? One moment, she'd been tracking down Pollux, and before that . . . it hurt too much to ponder that. For now she had to find land. She liked to swim, but wherever she was it was cold, and she'd rather not stay in it too much longer. Drawing on a inner well of strength, she heaved herself out of the water to her waist, straining to see above the waves. She didn't see much; in the predawn light, all she could see was the faint glow of bioluminescent organisms that lived on the surface of the sea. But . . . there. Perhaps two kilometers away, a pair of winking lights: one red, one green. A ship. 'Or at least I hope it's a ship. Otherwise, I'm screwed,' she thought, and began breaststroking her way towards the lights. Several hundred meters below her, a single indigo earring drifted down to the bottom of the ocean. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, DC The United States of America The Oval Office 4:50 AM Eastern Standard Time 13 October 1998 President William Jefferson Clinton sighed. He'd had a long night, frantically drumming up support for the Democratic Party. There was a real chance that his party would regain a majority in the House of Representatives, and he was trying to ensure that it happened. He didn't really think that his second term had been a failure. True, fast-track had died a painful death in 1997, but things still seemed okay. With no worries about re-election in 2000, he could really try to concentrate on more important matters, such as the situation in the Pacific. Details were still sketchy, but it seemed that a new volcano was forming a few hundred kilometers east of Honshu Island. There were a couple small islands nearby that were being affected, and one of them had a large contingent of US citizens. It was a true pain, trying to arrange for their transport from an island that was accessible only from the water. He had been told that the easiest solution was to send a couple ships from Okinawa, Midway, or Pearl Harbor to pick up the nationals and their possessions. But he also knew what some of his advisors didn't: that certain Code Black projects were going on there, namely one Project Hourglass, and couldn't be retrieved by just any ship. Code Black projects weren't classified. Classified implied that there was something to cover up or conceal. Black projects were simply Black: there was no earmarking in the defense budget, and if you inquired about them, you got stony looks from federal agents or worse. He'd been assured that there was none of the stuff going on there that fed the rampant rumors of the American media. No secret alien research, no hidden UFOs, no extraterrestrials, no black helicopters, no plans for world domination. Well, there were black helicopters. And the potential for world domination was there, if they could only iron out some of the details. "So you recommend sending an *entire* task force?" he asked the Secretary of Defense, who was there with three other cabinet members. "Mr. President, we cannot allow any problems. This must be done perfectly the first time; Professor Tomoe insisted upon it." Chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Admiral Dennis J. Dell, leaned forward, his dress uniform sparkling. You couldn't tell from his appearance that the sun still hadn't risen on this day. "If it takes a task force to keep others from interfering, then so be it." He pointed at the map that had been set up next to Clinton's desk. "Carl Vinson is just doing maneuvers off Okinawa. She should be able to steam on over, sir." "Good. Do it," said the leader of the free world in his Arkansas accent. As is so often the case, the long-ranging implications of his decision were to him invisible. Residence of Haruka Ten'ou, Michiru Kaioh, Hotaru Tomoe, and Setsuna Meiou 13 October 1998 5:02 AM JST Jen opened her eyes slowly and moved her eyes over to the nightstand, where the digital clock gave the time in soft, reassuringly red numerals that were a beacon in the pre-dawn gloom. It wasn't there. She sat up with a start, disturbing the still form of Eileen at her side. She looked around wildly, disconcerted. This was a far cry from their bedroom at their apartment. Then it hit her. She wasn't in her apartment. She wasn't in Crystal Tokyo. She wasn't in the thirty-first century. She wasn't home. She was on the same planet at the same time as Sailor Pollux, and that frightened her more than anything else in her relatively short life. 'No time to waste,' she thought as she pulled aside the covers and walked to the closet. "Lights please," she said, and then tripped over a pile of uniforms. "Jen? You're up?" Jennifer picked herself up from the floor and glared at the lamp, dimly outlined in the predawn light that seeped in from the drawn window shades. "Yes, I'm up. How are you?" "We're still in the twentieth." "So is Pollux." Eileen nodded, and shivered in spite of herself. The past twenty-four hours hadn't been a dream. "Could you flip on the light, please? This place has a serious lack of AIs." "Sure." Eileen reached over to the pink lamp and switched it on, bathing the room in a warm yellow glow. As she moved, the blanket fell from her chest and revealed her breasts. Jen let her gaze linger awhile, then turned away. There was a time and a place for that sort of thing. Jen opened the closet, eyeing the purchases Sailor Pluto had made yesterday. But . . . her name was Setsuna. She had to get used to the senshi having civilian personas, no matter how awkward. She wasn't sure she could do it. Especially the Queen; she was the closest thing to a goddess that Jen was sure of, and calling her Bunny just didn't fit. There were a wide variety of outfits, from clothes appropriate for just bumming around the house to formal gowns. She had a suspicion that they would fit her and Eileen perfectly. Pluto was like that. "Right, so what shall we wear?" *** After showering, dressing, and so on, Jen and Eileen went to the dining area dressed in jeans and sweaters. Jen's sweater was a soft blue, while Eileen had chosen a forest green that was an interesting counterpoint to her lover's hair. Jen looked around; the place was silent. "What time do they get up?" "Well," said Eileen, "I suppose that when you're a planet senshi you get up whenever you like." "Hmph," was all Jen had to say in reply to that. She turned to check what was in the cabinets, and so didn't notice when Hotaru glided in clad in her school uniform. "Dammit, don't they have tea?" "We do." Jen was startled, jumping and banging her head on the open cabinet door. In the recoil from the collision she rocked back, stumbled over her own feet, and slammed her head against the refrigerator. She then said a string of very bad words. "You know," said Eileen calmly, "for such a small voice, you certainly can startle people, Sailor Saturn." There was no response. Eileen wasn't surprised; in her few meetings with Saturn in the future the Sailor of Silence had never been very wordy. "Um," said Jen as she rubbed a reddening spot on her forehead, "if we've finished the Jen-bashing part of the morning, I'd appreciate a little sympathy here." "Oh, I'm so sorry, Jen!" said Eileen, immediately hugging Jen closely and plastering kisses all over her forehead. They rather predictably went on to other parts of her face, and probably would have proceeded further if Michiru hadn't stumbled in groggily heading for the coffee pot. It had rather conveniently been set to an alarm, and there were already several cups of the stimulant waiting in the pot. Michiru wiped some sea-green hair from her eyes and looked blearily at the pair. She then muttered something to herself, poured a cup of coffee into an immense waiting mug, and went back to another part of the house, still muttering. Jen and Eileen stood unmoving, looking at the spot she had occupied. "What the hell was that?" they asked in unison. "Michiru-mama isn't much of a morning person." Jen simply blinked, while Eileen smiled slowly. "What's so funny?" demanded Jen. "Well, it explains why Sailor Neptune never attends Her Majesty's morning briefings." "Um-hm," muttered Jen. "I see there's a lot more about the past year that you're going to have to tell me about." "Among other things," said Eileen. She gave Jen one of those looks. Hotaru rolled her eyes and set about preparing breakfast. "So," she said, "you want to tell me a bit about what the hell's going on?" Jen looked at Hotaru strangely, then nodded. "Well, for that you'll need to know a bit of history, and I'd rather wait until the other senshi are awake and with us to discuss it." "History?" asked Hotaru, genuinely interested. "Great!" "But don't you have school?" "Not for a while yet." "I see. Anyway, I guess I'll start. After the Black Moon conflict-" "And what are you two doing up at this hour?" asked Haruka acidly. She was dressed in a T-shirt and boxer shorts, and Jen had to tear her eyes away from the blonde's body. 'Keep control of yourself,' she thought, 'or else you might fall in lust with her.' "We always get up this early," said Jen primly. "The Royal Star Navy keeps all hours, Uranus." "And a good PR secretary always keeps abreast of news." Haruka nodded, ignoring for the moment Jen's use of her senshi title. Truth be told, it was more than a little unnerving to be told that from a total stranger. But Setsuna had insisted that it was safe. Obviously another one of those times where the guardian of time had her reasons, and would not reveal them until she was good and ready. "So," said the sandy-haired woman, grabbing some coffee and putting cream and sugar into it, "what were you about to say?" "Well, before I was interrupted by you," said Jen as she turned back to regard Hotaru, "I was explaining how after the Dark Moon invasion-" "Good morning," said Setsuna as she padded in. She was dressed immaculately in a power suit and looked to be ready to go. "I trust you're all doing well this morning, especially our two guests." Jen buried her head in her hands. Eileen patted her on the back. "You want me to pick things up?" "Have I done anything wrong?" asked Setsuna. "No," said Hotaru calmly, "she's just been cut off for the second time." "Ah." Setsuna smiled. "Hotaru-chan, don't you think you should be heading off for school?" The black-haired girl looked at the wall clock and nodded. "I'll be going then." Eileen looked at Haruka for a moment. "Don't Uranus and Neptune have to go to school as well?" "No," replied Haruka. "We're in university now. With the Galaxia crisis over, we don't need to be so close to the Princess. Of course, we got full scholarships and went to university early." Jen and Eileen stared at her, disbelieving. She gave Eileen and Jen a hard stare in turn. "It would seem that recent events would nullify that." "Right," said Jen after a moment. She wasn't especially thrilled about it. True, she'd done her part to protect the queen, but again that had all been at relatively long range. She still wasn't sure how she would handle close-quarters combat, and she was almost certain that Eileen couldn't. "Anyway, I guess you're returning to high school. Shame, really. So, you guys are going back to twenty- four hour surveillance?" Haruka blinked for a moment. "How did you know about that?" Jen smiled. "Ancient history. So you're going back to high school?" "No. You two are." Jen blinked, then looked over to Setsuna, who had another one of her infuriatingly unreadable expressions. "What? Um, this may come as a surprise to you, but we're nineteen. We'd hardly fit into high school, and-" "Pardon me, Sakachi-san," said Setsuna, "but both you and exchange student Pearcy here will fit in perfectly." Silence. "Yes, it's very simple actually. You two are exchange students from North America, which will explain away the differences in your accents that are really due to a thousand years of linguistic drift. There are several states and provinces that require high schooling to the age of twenty, so you'll have no problems. Now-" "Wait just one minute here, Pluto," interjected Eileen. "Aren't you going a bit fast here?" "Yes. You've got class in half an hour; you'd better get going." "Oh no," protested Eileen, "there's no way you're getting me-" "Is there? Very well, since you leave me no option." Setsuna stood up straighter. "Sailor Orion, Sailor America, you are hereby ordered to assume undercover activities at Juuban High School until further notice for purposes of protecting Her Highness. Understood?" 'Two can play at this game,' thought Jen bitterly. If it was Naval regs she wanted, it was Naval regs she'd get. "Aye aye sir, but we will require funds for our use." Setsuna would not be baited. "How much?" Jen calculated inflation rates and came up with an answer. "Seven trillion yen." Haruka very calmly and deliberately got up and reached across the table. She then proceeded to give Jen a slap across the face. "Care to try again?" "Why you-" Eileen beat her to it. "Look, Uranus, what the hell's your problem? In case you haven't noticed, we're all senshi here, so unless you want to be no better than Sailor Pollux out there, I'd recommend you get real civil real fast. You hear me?" "Kindly remove your hand from my body," said Haruka in a voice that would have frozen helium. "Please." Memories of the movies she'd seen on the Second Sailor Wars flashed across Eileen's mind, and she let go of Haruka's collar. There was no need for a repeat of that when a relic from the real thing was wandering around outside. She'd sworn to protect her Majesty. She'd never thought that it might involve leaving her plush desk job behind. "Fine." Eileen backed away, then slouched with her arms crossed. "Now please tell me why asking for seven trillion is a bad thing." "Because," said Haruka just as icily, "that is a figure which approaches the gross national product." "Ah." Eileen cast an accusing eye towards her lover. "Jen, you did figure the inflation rates correctly, didn't you?" "Well, I tried. You know how I am with math." Setsuna remained implacable as always while Haruka held back tears of frustration. "If you'll check your history, you'll realize that the most convenient form of currency right now is the credit card, and you'll find those in your bookbags. Now, when you come home from school," and at this Eileen growled, "you can tell the rest of us what's going on. Otherwise, it's a Saturday, and you'll only have to put up with it for one day." "Well, if you put it that way-" "I do. Now, I've taken the liberty of getting you some uniforms, and you've got very little time to waste so you'd better be going. "Oh, and do try to keep the lovey-dovey stuff to a minimum." Juuban High School Front Courtyard 6:28 AM Juuban High's main trait was that it started so damned early. From 6:30 AM to 3:30 PM, the students were at work getting all the elements of a quality education. This didn't soothe Jen and Eileen in the least; they'd been through all this before and didn't care to repeat it. They stood under a street sign, looking as uncomfortable as possible in their uniforms. "You know," said Jen, "I never thought I'd say this, but I prefer our senshi uniforms. They seem more natural than these . . . things. I mean, in my book, a skirt isn't supposed to come down below my a-" "Sakachi-san! Pearcy-san! Good morning!" Their heads snapped around. It sounded like two people speaking in perfect unison with each other, which had to be impossible. No-one could think along the same lines like that, not unless . . . but that was ridiculous. 'Not ridiculous enough,' thought Eileen, as Usagi and Minako came around the corner walking in step. The two blondes seemed not to give a care in the world, which was probably why they both tripped over a crack in the pavement and went flying. Jen and Eileen shared a raised eyebrow. "That," said Jen, "is Neo-Queen Serenity?" "And Sailor Venus?" They sweatdropped. Oblivious to this, Ami and Makoto came around the corner as well, avoiding the blondes. Obviously it was a common occurrence. They bowed and gave their greetings, and the two from the future did likewise. "Going to school? Aren't you a bit old for that?" asked Ami. "It was Pluto's idea," growled Jen. "If you have any way of getting us out of this, Sailor Mercury, I'd appreciate it." Ami just shook her head slightly. "Where's Her Highness?" asked Eileen. "Her Highness?" said Makoto, puzzled. "You mean Usagi? She's right here." Eileen sighed. "No, Her Highness. The Princess. Sailor Moon." "But . . . oh. Small Lady." "Right." "Um . . . ." How to explain this to her? Ami took over. "She exercised her royal prerogative and stayed home, something Usagi would love to do sometimes." "But . . . but . . . it's not fair!" How dare she just stay home while they went to school! Jen crept up next to Eileen. "Come now, it can't be all that bad, can it?" "We're back in school, Jen. Surely you remember the last school we were in." "That's why it'll be fun. Compared to the School, this'll be a breeze." "I only wish I could share your enthusiasm." "Really?" Ami and Makoto watched the give and take curiously. It was almost like watching Haruka and Michiru, but with a couple almost imperceptible differences. Perhaps the most notable one of these was that Haruka and Michiru were much more subtle about their affections. "Anyway," said Jen, "it's not like we're going to be taking classes." "We aren't?" "No," said Jen, waving a finger, "I've already got it set up. We're student teachers." "Since when?" asked Eileen. "Since you went in there and told them." There was a pause. "Well," said Ami, "we'd better be going, right Mako-chan?" She punctuated this with a gentle elbow in Makoto's midsection. The brunette took the hint. "Right, we've got to get to class. Have fun!" They scurried off, leaving Jen and Eileen with the prostrate Minako and Usagi who were still twitching slightly. "So," said Eileen conversationally, "precisely how do you expect me to pull this off?" "Well, since you've got the silver tongue..." "Not in public, Jen." ". . . I figured that you could manage to convince the school officials that we're student teachers. After all, I'd think that your PR experience would help with some double talk, and-" "Ladies?" They snapped around to see a tall, rather official looking man peering over his glasses at them. "You'll note that you're more than a little late at this point, and . . . precisely who are you?" Eileen decided to go for broke. She bowed. "Jennifer Sakachi and Eileen Pearcy, your student teachers. We just arrived yesterday." "Ah. Meiou-san told me about you two. Delinquents in the United States, eh? Trying to fool me? Well ladies, I'm well aware of your tricks. Now I've got your schedules, so follow me." Jen forced a laugh. "Ah, you must have confused us with two other people, you see we're . . . ." She trailed off as the man produced a sheet of paper. To it was attached a color photograph of herself. The sheet had all sorts of personal information, and basically made her out to be an American exchange student. "Damn." SS Christine Fritz North Atlantic Ocean 7:05 PM Atlantic Standard Time Sailor Castor shivered again beneath the blanket. "Thank you," she said, taking the proffered cup of tea. She was in the wardroom of SS Christine Fritz, a cargo carrying ship on her way from Gibraltar to Halifax, Nova Scotia. After spotting the old ship, she had swum desperately and climbed aboard, passing out before anyone noticed her. A deck watchman had then seen her on his way from one point to another, and she'd been rushed down to the wardroom to be revived. Sipping at the tea, she looked at the faces surrounding her. If she had to guess, she'd say they were of Greek descent, though a thousand years of racial mixing tended to make hash of distinguishing characteristics. They looked to be apprehensive, and a little surprised. She couldn't blame them. How many times do you pick up one of the sailor senshi on a boat in the Atlantic Ocean? She swallowed a mouthful of the terribly bitter tea and decided she felt well enough to talk. "I am fine. Thank you for your assistance," she said in textbook Japanese. One or two of the men rocked back. The others stayed put, but incomprehension joined the other looks on their faces. "I said," she repeated patiently, "that I am fine. Thanks for your help. Could you please contact Crystal Tokyo and inform them of my whereabouts?" She thought about this, then amended it. "On second thought, could you take me to a radio?" Pollux is still running around out there. Got to warn CT. She didn't get an answer. The men still looked puzzled. 'What's wrong with these people?' she asked herself. Japanese was fast becoming the lingua franca of Earth. So much trade went through Japan that it was an economic liability not to speak it. She decided to try again in the only other language she knew. "I fine. You very much help." She knew her English teacher was probably rolling in his grave right now, but that was probably the best she could manage. At least this seemed to jump-start the men. They spoke among themselves for a bit, and then turned to her. One man spoke up. "You are most welcome," he said slowly. Obviously he was having as much trouble with English as she was. Another man went to the wall to grab a phone. 'With any luck,' she thought, 'he's dialing up a translator. Good. The sooner I get back to Crystal Tokyo, the sooner I can ice Pollux.' Looking around at her surroundings, her gaze fell upon a calendar. She blinked. The month was incomprehensible, but the year . . . the year was the kicker. 1998. Juuban High School Cafeteria 12:40 PM JST Jen trudged into the lunchroom, shoulders drooping. How was she supposed to know the reasons for the collapse of Sumerian civilization? That had been thousands of years ago; her history classes had simply mentioned that there used to be Sumerians, and that was it. True, she was now a thousand years less removed from Sumer, but she still wished the teacher had stuck to current events. Those were of far more importance at the moment. She found three of the inner senshi at a round table, along with Her Majesty and Eileen. Eileen had a completely different schedule, sharing only history classes. She made her greetings and sat down next to Eileen, who sat next to Usagi, who all sat opposite Makoto, Minako, and Ami. "So, anyone else unable to stand this hellhole?" "It beats the alternative," said Usagi mildly, wolfing down something unidentifiable. "Which is?" "Meeting that Sailor Polecat person." "Pollux," corrected Jen icily. "You can also call her the Scourge, if you like." "I take it you two have met?" said Makoto. "No," said Eileen, who was in culinary trouble. Everything at the cafeteria was traditional Japanese fare, she hadn't had a good cheeseburger in days, and it was starting to chafe. "Pollux was a few years before our time." "But you obviously know a lot about her," pointed out Ami. "You'd think she was some huge historical figure." "She is. You had Hitler, we've got Castor and Pollux." "Kami-sama, there are two of them?" Usagi seemed ready to faint. "No," said Jen. "Perhaps we'd better explain." "Why don't you get on with it?" asked Minako. "Oh, I will, Sailor Venus." Minako sighed. Was it impossible to get Jen and Eileen to use their real names rather than their senshi ones? "Okay," said Jen, "it goes a little something like this . . . ." The Tsukino State College (commonly referred to as the School) Vickroy Hall Room 48 29 March 3010 7:59 AM "Ai! Hurry up, we're going to be late!" cried Aii Furikato to her sister. The rehearsals for the graduation ceremonies were in exactly sixty seconds, and while she knew she hadn't a chance of getting them there on time she felt compelled to try. "I'm on my way," said Ai, her voice muffled from behind the bathroom door. "Um, could you toss my uniform in here?" Aii grabbed the garment from its place of repose on the floor and entered the bathroom where a dripping Ai was desperately toweling off. "Thanks." She took the uniform in one hand and finished drying off with the other. Then, in a rather complicated maneuver that defied description, she put down the towel, pulled on her undergarments, and reached the halfway point of pulling on the sailor fuku before getting hopelessly entangled. It was this contingency that Aii was there for. She helped Ai into her clothes, just as she had for the past year. "Thanks," Ai said again. "Now, where's the . . . thanks." She took the proffered hair dryer and began trying to make some sense from the shattered ruins of her hair. "How much time have we-" "We're three minutes over." "Damn," they said in unison, then laughed. "Come on," said Ai, "let's get going!" She raced out the door, and Aii was left to let out a sigh towards the ceiling and follow. Running through the halls, Aii pondered the long twisting road fate took. To start with there was the coincidence of their birth: they were identical twins. Both shared the same black, relatively short hair, rather liberal build, same bottomless black eyes. Ai was older by a mere five seconds. This was not a normal occurrence in the medical profession; twins were usually separated by a couple minutes. For all intents and purposes, Ai and Aii were the exact same age, a similarity reflected in their names. That single vowel had been the cause of many confusions over the years. Neither wanted it changed, though. The similarities hadn't ended there. Despite being in different classes almost all the time, they earned identically high marks from first grade to high school. When they took the Exam and compared answers afterwards, they found that they'd put the exact same ones. When Ai's results came in, they hugged each other knowing that they were both in. At the School the pattern continued, and so when they for all intents and purposes clinched the top spot in a tie, no-one was surprised. It all led up to today. Today they graduated, today they became senshi, today they got to join the hundred or so others who got to wear that damnably short skirt. There was some reason it was so short, but Aii had forgotten it. They reached the auditorium just in time for Pomp and Circumstance to start. Time for rehearsal. *** Sailor Castor, also known as Aii Furikato, and Sailor Pollux, also known as Ai Furikato, took a break from waving to the crowds. It was the traditional parade after the graduation ceremonies, and they were now letting the world see themselves. It was a first as far as sailor suits were concerned. For the first time, two sailors had identical fuku. The typical white bodice, a midnight blue skirt and choker, and lavender bows and boots. Their golden tiaras had midnight blue stones embedded within them. While it had been hard to distinguish them before, it was downright impossible now. The only way to really tell them apart was to either read their aura, a feat only the most powerful could accomplish, or ask them. "So what do you think will be our assignment?" asked Sailor Castor. They'd taken it for granted that they would get the same posting. "I don't know," said Pollux. "Tell me," she said suddenly, "our job is to protect the Queen, right?" "Of course." That answer was automatic. "But to a greater extent, it's to protect the people of Japan." "And the people of the world, yes." "Now . . . ," and here she faltered. She'd thought through this many times. It should have been easiest to talk about it to her sister. After all, they'd shared everything for the past eighteen years. So why was it so hard to talk to her about sedition? Because she hadn't spoken to the people her sister had? "Now what?" "Now," said Pollux, her resolve hardening, "suppose the safety of the Queen was contrary to the safety of the people." "I don't follow." "Suppose . . . suppose that the Queen did something wrong. She made an error. An unintentional error, but an error nonetheless." "Well . . . I can't imagine that happening." "Ai, just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't. And it has happened. Remember, Serenity *knew* that the Black Moon would invade, and yet she did nothing," said Sailor Pollux with a finality that seemed to preclude response. "It worked out anyway." "For her. How many people died during that fiasco?" "If she had let on that she knew about them-" "They would have attacked sooner, and we would at least have had some idea of what we were up against." Sailor Castor frowned. That didn't make much sense, and she had an idea that Pollux knew it. "Is there any point to arguing what she should have done? Hindsight is twenty-twenty, sister. It worked out anyway," she repeated. Pollux sighed. "You just don't understand." "I guess I don't," said Castor sadly. "Once it wasn't like that." "Yeah. Guess we're finally turning out differently." Sailor Pollux looked up at a random point in the sky. Sailor Castor watched her and got a nasty suspicion. "Ai, exactly what was the point of this questioning?" "Just testing the waters," said Sailor Pollux, half to herself. "Hm?" "Nothing," said Sailor Pollux a bit louder. "Just wanted your opinions on a couple matters." She turned away, but before she did Sailor Castor could swear that she saw a smile in her eyes. Yumini Island 403 km east of Honshu Island 1:10 PM JST That smile . . . Sailor Pollux looked down at her handiwork. What had once been an island full of temporary buildings and laboratories was now an island full of smoldering embers. She'd taken the care of tossing the bodies of the eighty-seven American and Japanese researchers into the ocean. She didn't like the smell of death. There were too many bad memories associated with it. She stood on a promontory. Actually, it was the only promontory on the island, and that label was liberally applied; the rise she stood on was just six feet taller than the surrounding area. The wind picked up and ruffled her black hair and her skirt. It also brought the stench of sulfur, reminding her that a volcanic eruption was going on just a few kilometers away. Then again, the massive plume of smoke rising from the east did that job quite well. It was a shame that she'd had to kill them all; she had no real quarrel with them. She had enough hate for the Queen to last a lifetime; compared to that, any dislike she had for them was irrelevant. But they'd been so obstinate in protecting whatever secrets they had here, and so she'd had to remove them from the playing field. Now she had a base of operations. With an island being born nearby, interference would be spotty at best. She could just sit here and plan out how she would do it. She knew she would die in the process. That didn't bother her anymore; nothing did. As long as she took Serenity with her it would be okay. She looked out to sea. There looked to be some kind of aircraft. This deserved a closer look. F-14 Super Tomcat Fighter Aircraft BR-29 International Airspace A distance from Yumini Island 1:07 PM JST Captain Edward Barker squinted down through the light cloud cover, trying to pick out the tiny island. He had been sent from USS Carl Vinson following some disturbing reports from Washington. The Pentagon had lost contact with Yumini a couple hours ago, and he, along with his backseater Victor Naqvi, was to find out if the nearby volcano could have something to do with the loss of communications. Flying along at a relatively leisurely 240 kilometers per hour, he kept looking for anything suspicious. His backseater spotted it first through a break in the clouds. "Hammerman, I have eyeballs on the island. It's at four o'clock, you wanna pull us in for a closer look?" "Roger that, Mercury. Dropping to forty meters." Barker smiled again at his copilot's nickname. It had been automatic, considering his skills with the F-14's computer systems, as well as his self-professed obsession over Japan's infamous sailor senshi. Naqvi looked at a cathode ray tube that showed a radar display. True, the US military had been spending billions lately upgrading the electronics on all fighters, but the readouts still sucked. He infinitely preferred Canadian fighters. But they were technically one big NATO family, and he had to live with Yankee equipment. He didn't have to like it, though. "Hammerman, I'm still not picking up anything on radio. No chatter, not even emergency tracers. The beacon that's supposed to be at the helo pad isn't reading, either." He snuck another peek at the island, ignoring the two gee acceleration his partner put the plane through. His gaze fell for a moment on the plush Sailor Mercury doll that was nestled between Barker's ejection seat and the canopy. His good luck charm, he never went on a flight without it. They drew closer to the island. Naqvi peered out, using the twenty-twenty eyesight that made him such an asset for such a mission. "Getting clearer now, and . . . ." From the sharp intake of breath he heard in his headset, he knew Barker had seen the same thing. "Jesus H. Christ. It's like someone just scrubbed the island clean." "Mercury, you'd better phone home on this one." "Roger that, Hammerman." He toggled his microphone over and switched to the aircraft carrier's frequency. "Charlie, this is Bravo Romeo Two Niner, please acknowledge, over." "Roger, Bravo Romeo Two Niner, we hear you. Any news, interrogative?" "Unfortunately yes, Charlie. The island's clean. No signs of the settlement, say again no signs. We're pulling in now for a closer look, over." "Roger that, Bravo Romeo Two Niner, keep us informed, out." Naqvi squinted again, and then froze. It looked like . . . no, that simply didn't happen. Senshi weren't real, and there was certainly no reason to believe that there was one on the island. Yet that was what it looked like. *** Pollux smiled. How kind, the people of this time had given her a toy. Time to play. She brought her hands together and clasped them in what to the uninitiated would appear to be prayer. The F-14 was about to get an initiation. *** Barker was the first to see it. A purple streak almost too fast for the eyes, and suddenly a dozen cockpit alarms were going off. Barker quickly broke off their approach. "Holy shit! Mercury, tell me you saw that!" he cried, losing the cool all pilots traditionally had. "I hear you, Hammerman, somebody down there just shot at us. We've got an engine fire in-" "I'm on it." "Hammerman, something does not compute. Who the hell's down there?" "You got me, Mercury." *** Pollux smiled. The plane was coming back, probably to find out who was shooting. They'd find out shortly. *** "Hammerman, you aren't going to believe it, but it's a woman down there! She's . . . oh man, she's dressed like a senshi!" If it weren't for the fact that they had just been shot at, Barker would have sworn that Naqvi had gone crazy. Even with that, he was fairly sure that that was the case. "Get a hold of yourself, Mercury. There's no way . . ." And then he saw. He didn't have time to give the traditional last words of all pilots doomed to die in the air. *** Sailor Pollux watched the debris burn as it floated on the cool waters of the Pacific. It had been rather impressive. Obviously it was flying on a fairly large load of fuel. She thought she had seen something shoot up from the plane, possibly an ejection seat. It didn't matter though. She hadn't seen a parachute, and without it their landing in the water would be only marginally better than landing on concrete. It occurred to her that more would probably come to investigate the loss of the plane. So much the better. She was getting bored already. Juuban High School Hallway leading from the science to the social studies area 1:12 PM "So what happened next?" asked Minako She, along with Jen and Eileen, were on their way to their last class: Modern Japanese History. The pair from the future had just laughed when they saw the title. Jen's explanation of what brought about the second sailor wars had been cut short by the bell. Usagi and Ami had physical education, and Makoto had home economics. Upon inquiry, Jen had learned that Hotaru attended a private school elsewhere. The redhead thought a bit before replying. "Well, Venus-" "Please," said the blonde, waving a hand, "just Minako, okay?" "Okay, Venus. Anyway, after that . . . wait a minute." She stopped, which wasn't such a good idea in the crowded hallway. A couple of people bumped into her, knocking her books to the floor. Being new, several scratch marks appeared on their bright, shiny covers. Jen let out something akin to a sob and bent down to pick up her possessions. Her red hair fell down around her face, and she lost her peripheral vision. All she could see were her books. She felt her skirt lift up a bit and smiled to herself. "Eileen, I hardly think this is the proper time for this." "Proper time for what?" asked Eileen. She was in front of Jen and still held her books closely. Jen took some time to think this through. If Eileen was in front of her, then it was impossible for her to have been the one to take a peek up Jen's skirt. Which in turn meant that some random pervert had tried to goose her. Some random pervert who was going to pay. She whirled around, her fingertips reaching into her pocketspace and curling around her henshin stick. She saw the usual sea of anonymous faces. None seemed to be in a particular hurry. The suspect had escaped. "Damn," she muttered as the bell rang. "We're going to be late!" cried Minako in a tone that clearly indicated that she was familiar with the concept. Jen sighed. Hikawa Shrine 2:57 PM Sweep, sweep. 'This,' thought Rei, 'is probably the most relaxing part of my day.' Sweep, sweep. 'Forget meditation, forget showers, forget that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you just wake up. This beats it all.' Sweep, sweep. 'Just me, the broom, and all these goddamned leaves.' Sweep, sweep, whoosh, clatter, thud. Rei calmly walked over to where she'd thrown the broom. It had landed next to a planter which held a eucalyptus tree. She remembered it was a memento Grandpa had picked up somewhere or another. She'd always hated it. She picked up the broom and held it for a moment, then cast her gaze upwards. Being up on a hilltop as it was, the Shrine had a rather nice view of most of Tokyo. Today it was a bit obscured with smog, but still passable. Rei sighed. It seemed that every time they had a chance to just relax and enjoy life, something else came up to disturb them. This latest was the worst, though. They knew nothing about their enemy. They weren't even sure if they had an enemy at all. All they had to go on was a single senshi who apparently had it in for Usagi. Then there were those senshi from the future: an unknown quantity. There was a meeting scheduled for that night at the Outers' place, on the insistence of the redheaded one. Sakachi-san. She seemed only a couple years older than the planet senshi, and yet seemed to boast far more experience mixed in with truly incompetent intervals. The only reason she even trusted Jen was because Small Lady apparently did. She wasn't even sure she trusted Eileen. An American? As a senshi? She'd sooner buy into the idea of having a Sailor Earth around. Sakachi was truly annoying at times. She continued to insist upon calling them by their senshi names, which Rei didn't particularly like. One slip in a public place was all that was necessary to blow their secret, although the deference was rather gratifying. Nice to know she'd be keeping the masses in line in the future. Eileen seemed to know her place as well. Sometimes she seemed too much like Haruka, sometimes too much like Minako. She always seemed like the typical brash, loud-mouthed foreigner. Exactly how was this press flack supposed to help them against their as-yet unnamed foes? But Sakachi was the sticking point. From the way she avoided Rei, it was obvious to her that something happened between them, unless . . . no. There was no way that redhead could be interested in her. Surely she knew that Rei was off-limits. Then again, one could always use a bit of experimentation in . . . NO! She grabbed the broom. Sweep, sweep! Crown Game Center 3:08 PM Eileen looked around with her hands in her pockets. She was still in her school uniform, as were Jen, Ami, Small Lady, and Her Majesty. Her Majesty was in the process of getting annihilated in Sailor V vs. The Inhumanoids. Eileen was rather embarrassed to be here. The United States had worked long and hard to get rid of the stereotype that all American teens spent their time watching television, playing video games, and committing crimes. Here she was in a video arcade. "Serenity, could we please leave now?" The tiny animated Sailor V figure blinked out twice and then fell down. The machine mocked Usagi in a variety of musical notes. "See what you made me do?" yelled the future queen of Crystal Tokyo, gesturing at the screen. "Now I'm on my last life!" She turned her attention back to the screen. The other four blew sighs. "What's wrong Pearcy-san? Do you need to go anywhere?" Eileen blinked twice at the questioning from the blue-haired girl, then shook her head slowly. "I just need to be anywhere but here. Doesn't she have homework or something to do?" "Yes," sighed Ami, "but she's been putting it off lately." "Hmph. Mercury, here's-" "Please, call me Ami-chan." "Okay, Mercury. Anyway, have you considered just prying her away?" "Of course not, that would never work!" "Never know until you give it a try. Hey, Jen!" "Hm?" The redhead had been staring at the passers-by through the window, where it looked like a tour group was passing by. They were certainly off the beaten track; most tourist attractions were in other parts of the city. The only thing Juuban could really boast was a rather nice view of Tokyo Tower, and that only on clear days. "Jen, give me a hand please?" Small Lady watched this all silently. She knew her mother fairly well; she wasn't going to be moved from the game easily. But she was preoccupied with the future. It was strange for her to come to grips with it, though it had happened before. The problem was time. For the senshi, less than a year had passed between her first and second visits to the past. For her, it had been several years. Now it was worse, since from her vantage point it had been nearly twenty years since she'd last seen Tokyo as it was now. From the standpoint of the senshi, though, it had been a little more than a year. 'I really should be used to time travel by now,' she thought. By now she had done more traveling through history than anyone except Sailor Pluto. But every time seemed like the first time. She continued to watch as Jen halfheartedly tried, along with Eileen, to pull her mother away from the game. Their task was made immeasurably easier by Usagi's losing her last life. With no resistance, the three fell back, taking down Ami in the process. At another time, it would have been funny. Now, it was just distracting. She sighed and glanced out the window. The tour group now was gone far up the street. She wondered what kind of guide they had; he or she obviously had no idea how the city was arranged. Finally, the pile-up by the Sailor V game was sorted out, and those involved managed to right themselves. "Right, let's get moving!" declared Eileen. Usagi cast a lingering gaze on the game and then reluctantly made her way past the picture window to the door. This turned out to be rather unfortunate, because at that point the picture window exploded into a thousand pieces. *** The tour group numbered about twenty college students from Maryland who were taking an entire semester off to study in Japan. Their tour leader was also a student, which accounted for their being so far off the beaten track. They were paying for it. One girl, with blonde hair and curiously blue eyes, happened to be looking at the coffee shop they'd just passed. She wasn't sure if she'd blinked at the wrong time, but a woman in a very short midnight blue skirt had appeared out of nowhere next to one of the white wrought-iron tables. She had long black hair and appeared to be very upset, and the fact that she proceeded to blast the hell out of the arcade across the street merely confirmed this. The girl dove to the ground instinctively, and covered her head with her arms. Sparing a glance up, she saw that she wasn't alone in panicking. Jennifer Talbot's trip to Japan was turning out to just plain suck. *** Jen acted without thinking. She threw herself on top of the blonde Usagi, knocking her to the ground and hopefully out of danger. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Eileen doing the same to Small Lady. Ami had to fend for herself and dove for cover as well. Her Majesty let out a squeak and a protest. Jen looked up and saw a midnight-blue figure standing in the shattered frame. Their cover was obviously blown. "Transform!" "America Star Power, Make-Up!" "Orion Star Power, Make-Up!" Ami picked herself up from the dust and decided that secret identities would have to take a back seat for a moment. "Mercury Crystal Power, Make-Up!" "Moon Crisis Make-Up!" "Moon Eternal Make-Up!" *** Sailor Pollux smiled. All the make-ups in the world couldn't save them now. *** Transformation completed, Eternal Sailor Moon squinted through the dust which was still settling. A quick glance showed most of the other people in the center had left, which implied they were all at least well enough to walk. A good sign. Beside her, Orion gulped. Another dangerous situation, and there were no outer senshi to back her up. She couldn't use her own attack; Katsuragi-II had made that clear. Sailor America had an attack that might work, but she'd still never been in combat. Much as she loved her, she had to admit that the brunette was next to useless right now. Sailor Mercury's powers were among the weakest of all the senshi that existed at the time. That left either Sailor Moon. The Princess should be able to handle herself, but Her Majesty? 'Dammit,' she thought, 'it's *my* job to protect the Queen, not the other way around!' It didn't matter if she lived or died, as long as the Queen was safe. "Sailor Moon!" she shouted, trying to organize their attack. "Yes?" "Not you, the other Sailor Moon!" "Oh, sorry." Eternal Sailor Moon went over to Mercury, who was frantically trying to get a hold of anyone else. Sailor Moon heeded Orion's call and trotted over. "Just like old times, eh Skipper?" "Don't remind me, please, I'm trying to think." "Senshi! You know you can't stay in there forever. I'll be coming in soon, and it won't be pretty." "Liar!" shouted back Sailor America, who had crept over to Orion's position. "You'll never get in here!" Pollux's ears perked up. "You're a new one, aren't you? I don't recall meeting. Tell me, would you be from the future?" Sailor America looked over to Sailor Orion, who looked over to Sailor Moon. "Don't ask me," said the pink-haired senshi, "I don't know how she knows." "Right, perhaps you need another demonstration!" She raised a finger and casually pointed it at the arcade. A second later, the senshi were scrambling as red streaks laced through the dust and impacted on walls, games, and bows. "Lasers!" shouted Sailor America, panicking. The senshi dove for cover behind a bank of video games. They were rather thick, and provided some protection from Pollux's beam. Mercury pulled out her computer while the others took a moment to compose themselves. "No," said Mercury after a moment, "they aren't lasers. It's like Venus's Crescent Beam, but far more focused, and monochromatic." The others blinked. "Mercury, have you gotten any of the other senshi?" asked Sailor Orion urgently. She wasn't too keen on losing the Queen on her watch. They needed backup, preferably the outer senshi. "No, I couldn't get acknowledgment from anyone." "Great." Sailor Moon looked at Eternal Sailor Moon pleadingly. "Mama, you've got to use the ginzuishou. Now." "But . . . if I use it, won't I die?" "No! You're stronger than that!" Even as she said it, she knew it wasn't entirely true. This was Eternal Sailor Moon, not Neo-Queen Serenity, and the differences between the two were becoming more and more glaring. This woman couldn't beat Sailor Pollux single-handedly. Damn. Despairingly, she began to pull out the spiral moon heart rod. Sailor Orion rolled her eyes. "Sailor America, you're going to have to do something." "What? But I've-" "Never been in a fight, yes. Well, there's a first time for everything. Mercury, please back her up." Mercury noticed the 'please' that she'd included. It was exactly the please she'd give to a superior. "Right." She stood up and scarcely twitched as Pollux's blasts snipped at her short blue hair. "Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" Simultaneously, America popped up and saw the figure standing there. Sailor Pollux. Without even taking time to blink, she raised her hands and shouted her attack. "American Blazing Eagle!" Wild and untamed, the blinding white eagle of flame swooped out of nowhere and raced for Sailor Pollux. The evil sailor simply smiled and tapped her earring, disappearing. The eagle took no notice of this and flew right into the coffee shop, which obligingly collapsed into ruins. "Dammit!" America looked around, the adrenaline of using her power in combat for the first time still running. "I missed! Sorry, I need more experience." Orion didn't have time to comfort her. With the near total absence of leadership she was becoming more and more like the old Captain Sakachi. "Sailor Moon!" "Yes?" "Yes?" "I meant Her Highness! Your Majesty, when I mean you, I'll say Eternal, okay? Now Sailor Moon, try and take out the overhang there!" She pointed at the cornicework that was on the top of the building across the street. Pollux had returned to her previous position, but looked a bit more cautious. "Okay!" replied Moon. She brandished the Rod. "Spiral Moon-" "Jupiter Oak Revolution!" Pollux was knocked sideways and landed scarcely a meter away from the American tour group. Eternal Moon popped up to see who had fired the shot. "Sorry we took so long," said Jupiter. "We weren't sure that it was a genuine signal," said Venus. "And we didn't know where you were in any case," concluded Uranus. Next to her stood Neptune. Mars, Saturn, and Pluto were conspicuous in their absence, and Orion took no time in realizing this. "Where are the others?" she asked, exasperated. "We don't know!" shouted back Venus. They still knew next to nothing about their opponent, and were beginning to get a bit wary of their supposed ally in the form of Orion. "Look, you go out there and distract her while we prepare a little special for her." "What?" "Dammit," yelled Venus, "you said we were all admirals or generals or something in the future, why don't you act like it!" "Fine!" Orion stalked off in a huff and nearly got her head blown off for her troubles. Diving, she slammed against yet another video game, reminded that Sailor Pollux was still very much alive and well. She shouted a word very unbecoming of one of Neo-Queen Serenity's senshi, then turned and said something even more unbecoming when she saw. "Hi!" "Eileen! What the hell do you think you're doing? Get down!" "I *am* down, Sailor Orion." The senshi name was like a slap in the face. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm wearing a fuku here. When this is all over and we're back at the apartment, you can Eileen me to high heaven, but right now, try acting like a damned soldier!" "Oh, and you have room to talk? You've never been in a fight in your life!" "I'm in one now!" "Oh ho." "Sailor Orion, we're waiting!" cried Uranus from somewhere else. "Damn." *** "Deep Submerge!" Sailor Neptune's attack lanced out, and for the fifth time Pollux avoided it. "It would seem that you're losing your touch," teased Uranus, who was rather predictably standing back to back with her lover. "I'm sorry, I hadn't realized you had rubbed so much off on me." "You know that there's only one place I like to rub." "Only one?" "Yes. Space Sword Blasting!" Once again, the attack missed. But with every shot, they were getting closer; Pollux was just one senshi against half a dozen, and this time she didn't have her cronies from the thirty-first. It was just a matter of time now. "Love and Beauty Shock!" Pollux dodged again, a bit slower. She realized that she was slowing down and tiring. What was needed was a hostage, someone she could hold against them. She spared a glance out of the corner of her eye. *** Laying flat on the ground, Jennifer Talbot brushed some blonde hair from her eyes and tried to deny what she was seeing. In the past few minutes, a woman in a sailor suit had come out of nowhere and started blasting the hell out of other women in sailor suits. One of these women was now staring at her with something akin to malice. In fact, it was rather clearly malice. Jennifer shivered in spite of herself. *** Sailor America saw the look in Pollux's eyes as well. Pollux was clearly aiming to get a hostage, or worse. 'Dammit, bad enough she's going after us, but civilians too?' She spared a glance over to Eternal Moon. The senshi of this time looked to be doing a good job defending her and the Princess. Good. America got up and started running. "Eileen!" "Be right back!" Orion risked another peep. America was running out of the center and headed for the group of tourists she'd seen earlier. "What the hell is she doing?" *** "What the hell am I doing?" asked America, alternately sprinting and ducking, making her way towards the tourists. She knew that someone had to protect them, and the others weren't doing too good a job at that. She also knew that her loyalties lay with the Queen, but that didn't seem as important right now. Now a dozen meters away, and the toughest stretch. She had to cross the street and get over to them, in full sight of Sailor Pollux the entire way. She turned over to where Orion had been. "Orion! Give me a distraction!" "What?" It was too late. America took a deep breath, prayed to a deity she hadn't believed in for fifteen years, and made her dash. Halfway there she noticed that she wasn't drawing any fire. Good, Jen was doing her job. She hunkered down next to them, virtually rubbing noses with a blonde. "Hi! Sailor America, at your service. I'm here to rescue you." She looked into the blonde's eyes, and had to turn away. The eyes looked exactly like Jen's. *** Sailor Orion looked helplessly at America. What the hell was she doing? Provide a distraction? Her only power would effectively annihilate the biosphere. Perhaps if she produced a small enough cloud . . . but that would take concentration. She stood in full sight of Pollux. "Orion . . ." *** Sailor Pollux turned away from the tourists; something more attractive had caught her eyes. That pesky Sailor Orion, seemingly the only one out of the bunch who showed her the proper respect. Perhaps she was from the future as well? She reached a decision. It wouldn't hurt to have her around with her. Perhaps she could be converted over to Pollux's way of thinking. She wheeled around and aimed a single finger at Orion. "Stellar Flare." *** America turned around just in time to see a black cloud surge from Pollux's hand and slam into Orion. The red-haired senshi flew back and slammed into a wall, falling without a sound. "JENNIFER!" Unheeding, Sailor Pollux disappeared, only to reappear next to the fallen senshi. As Sailor Pollux bent over to pick up Orion, Sailor Jupiter turned to fire. "Jupiter Oak-" "No!" screamed Sailor Moon. "You'll hit Orion!" "But I won't," said Sailor Uranus. Her more tightly focused attack should have better results. "Space Sword Blasting!" The attack crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, and was right on target. But Sailors Pollux and Orion weren't there anymore. "Dammit!" "They teleported," murmured Mercury, echoing Uranus's sentiments. *** "Jennifer?" Sailor America's voice was thick with disbelief. "Jennifer, where are you?" Jennifer Talbot blinked. "Um . . . you know my name?" Sailor America didn't pay attention. She just stood and looked at the spot where Sailor Orion had been. It was now slightly smoking, thanks to Sailor Uranus. America just sat and stared at the spot, then at Uranus, and drew a conclusion. "BITCH!" With all the considerable speed a senshi can muster, Sailor America rushed towards Uranus, who was too surprised to do anything until the brunette was a mere meter away. She barely parried America's first punch, and couldn't even manage that against the second one. There was no third; Venus and Neptune stepped in to break up the combatants. Or rather the combatant, as Uranus hadn't even gotten in a return blow. "Bitch!" spat America. "You killed her, dammit, you killed Jennifer! Let go of me!" she shouted to Venus. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but she didn't care. "Dammit, I said LET GO!" "Little help here?" muttered Venus from the side of her mouth. Jupiter stepped in to help restrain America, who had reached a state of rage the likes of which Sailor America had never known. "Dammit, if I get my hands on you, I'll . . . I'll . . . damn!" She relaxed, and Venus and Jupiter did as well. She rubbed her face with her hand and tried to calm down. "Dammit, why'd you do it?" "Listen to me, Sailor America. She's not dead." "What are you . . . what? She's not dead?" "No, she's not," repeated Sailor Mercury. Sailors Moon and Eternal Moon stepped forward as well. Eternal looked particularly pale. "Pollux has her." Somehow, America managed to look even bleaker. "Pollux is alive?" "And she took Orion with her. We saw her teleport out." "Where is she?" "We don't know, and we won't know if you don't calm down. Can you do that?" The wild look came back into America's eyes. "Where is-" "Sailor America, I'm ordering you. Calm down, now!" That shook up America. For Sailor Mercury, the same quiet soul she knew in the 31st, to use that tone of voice . . . . "Okay. I'll try." She turned to Uranus, who was still seething yet kept it under control. "Uranus, I'm sorry." "It's okay," said Neptune, cutting off Uranus's reply. "I'm sure we all know how you feel, but I think the most important thing to do right now is to clear the area." They all looked around them, as if for the first time. The entire arcade was in shambles. Video games lay shattered or overturned all over the place, and many of the walls were either blackened or just plain on fire. Fortunately, everyone had gotten out in time so casualties were at a minimum. It was clear that no-one would be coming here for games anytime soon. "She's right," said Eternal Sailor Moon, who'd been silent for some time. "We've got to get to the shrine, and round up the others, fast. Things have taken a turn for the worse." They all nodded in agreement. "Um," said Venus, "do we run or something?" "Yes," was all that Neptune said in reply, and then she was off like a rabbit. "Damn." The orange-clad sailor shrugged and started off. The others also started sprinting to Hikawa shrine. "Sailor America." The brunette jumped at the words, and turned to see Jupiter place a firm hand on her shoulder. "Are you going to be all right?" America looked glumly at the scene. "Pollux is a monster. She wants one thing and one thing only: to see Serenity dead. She doesn't care what she has to destroy or who she has to kill to realize that goal." "If it's another long story, you'd better wait, then. But . . . would she . . . ." "Yes. If she thought killing Jen would accomplish her goal, she'd do it in a heartbeat." America wiped a tear from her face, her mouth becoming a thin line. "And if she so much as looks at Jennifer wrong, she'd damn well better wish she ends up in hell before she meets up with me!" Sailor Jupiter couldn't help but smile at the other's ferocity. "Keep that anger, and you'll be a warrior in no time. Tell me, how does 'In place of America, I will punish you!' sound to you?" HMS Ursa Minor 140 meters above Tycho Crater, Luna 28 December 3010 11:42 AM JST 2:42 PM Lunar Time Sailor Castor drummed her fingers on the armrest of her chair. She was phenomenally bored, with nothing to do but wait. Somewhere out there between the Moon and the Earth, her sister waited in a ship similar to hers. She wanted Castor dead. Castor looked around the bridge. It had seen its share of punishment. The War, which at this point was just The War, without any fancy titles, had only lasted half a year. But the effects were horrific: thousands dead, dozens of ships destroyed, with fully a fifth of Crystal Tokyo in ruins. The Taurus Offensive had been a mistake, and Sailor Taurus had paid for that mistake with her life. It hadn't ended there; her division of troops had been lost as well, and an unprotected sector of Crystal Tokyo had been laid waste by weapons meant to be used only in space. It had been the only effective ground force Serenity had, and now it was up to the Royal Star Navy to protect the city. So many mistakes in the past six months. Castor shook her head slowly. Hadn't they learned anything from the Black Moon? Well to be fair, they had. The defenses around the Palace itself had held, and Neo-Queen Serenity was as safe as anyone could be. The losses that the RSN had taken from Pollux's little band of rebels had not been without price to Sailor Pollux; it was assumed that Pollux was on her last reserves, and would be gambling everything on one final drive for Japan. Castor didn't think so. She was convinced that Pollux wanted to go after the one who had, in Pollux's eyes, started all this off. Sailor Castor. It was she, after all, who tried to convince her sister that fomenting revolt was a bad idea. It was she who had turned her back on Pollux after their falling out. It was she who was now the best hope Crystal Tokyo had to defend itself against destruction. She thought about the communiqué she had received from Headquarters. It had said that Pollux's ship, Ursa Major, carried a new type of weapon. What kind, Mare Crisium had been hesitant to say. Personally, she thought that they'd been caught making something they had no business making. Sailor Castor couldn't have known that Sailor Pluto had walked off Project Hourglass without another word, of course. She couldn't have known that Serenity had personally ordered Hourglass to be shut down. There was no way she could have known that Hourglass had proceeded under the strictest secrecy, installed on Ursa Major and intended for testing by Sailor Pollux. Only a handful of people knew under whose orders the project had continued, a fact historians would later lament. All she knew was that some obscure weapon was on Ursa Major, and that it was capable of taking out Crystal Tokyo in a single shot. It was her job to prevent that from happening. She didn't know how she was supposed to accomplish this, but she'd have to come up with something fast. "Sailor Castor, ship directly overhead!" "On screen." A camera mounted on top of the ship panned through 180 degrees, showing a sleek gray ship silently glide above them. It never noticed Ursa Minor; Castor's ship was hiding in the shadows created by the low, polar sun and the walls of the massive crater. It was unlikely that Pollux would expect Castor to be in such a disadvantageous position, anyway. "Right, here we go." Her plan would have to go into action: try to talk some sense into her sister. "Match course with Ursa Major and all ahead flank." "Aye, matching bearings. Proceeding at flank speed." *** "Captain!" cried an ensign, "ship bearing one eight zero mark two five five, identifies herself as Ursa Minor!" "Castor," muttered Sailor Pollux with a sigh. Couldn't anything go right? The last six months had been full of mistakes. Her attack on Crystal Tokyo itself had been a failure on so many levels. She hadn't gained any support from the rest of the world. She'd hoped that a successful attack would rally other nations to help her against a common enemy. Instead, she had lost what little support she'd had, as the other confederations chose to bide their time and await a more opportune time to attack. As for the morale of Crystal Tokyo and its inhabitants, it was stronger than ever. She'd wagered almost everything she had on the chance that a single, lightning attack on the shining symbol of Japanese prosperity would shake the resolve of Crystal Tokyo, and hopefully bring the people to rise up against Serenity. That was all she wanted, really: to remove Serenity from the throne, and put power in the hands of the people. Because . . . because . . . because . . . . She really didn't know anymore. Sometime in the last half year, all the philosophical arguments and debates and soul-searching had faded away, and all she had was the conviction that she was right, and all who opposed her were wrong. Serenity had to come down because it was what had to be done. All other reasons had long ago vanished. There was only the hatred of the Neo-Queen and her damned smile. Her third and final goal of the attack had been to get one last, golden shot in at the Palace. Just scoring damage would have been good enough for her, but to actually bring harm to the Royal Family was her ultimate goal. Damn them. Damn Serenity, damn her husband Endymion, damn her daughter Usagi, damn her planet senshi. All eight of them had been there: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto. They had combined their powers against Ursa Major's main cannon--the main cannon that could tear through a fully-armored dreadnought in the blink of an eye--and rendered the most powerful weapon in the RSN arsenal useless. Damn them. All she had now was hatred, hatred of a foe who seemed to thwart her at every turn, a foe who half a year ago had been an ally, a foe who above all had given her the very powers she used against them. She had had twelve senshi on her side. Now, all had been killed or captured, and she didn't know what had happened to those who lived. They could have been imprisoned on the penal colonies around Jupiter, they could have been handed over to the current Deputy Commander in Chief, Sailor Venus. She didn't know which was worse; the Senshi of Love could hardly be pleased at the destruction that had been wreaked so recently. Now, all she had was this one ship and its crew, now down to fifty who were loyal to her as she was sure no group could ever be. She knew they'd follow her to the ends of the earth, partly because they believed in her, but mainly because they knew the senshi would have no mercy on them if they were taken prisoner. It was her final goal: to go out in a blaze of glory. A thousand years ago, her ancestors had had a name for what she was going to attempt: kamikaze. The divine wind. She'd die, but her life had ceased to have meaning quite awhile ago. Serenity would die, and at that point nothing else mattered. Otherwise, what had she bent her efforts towards for the past year? She shook her head and got back to the present. Her dear sister was behind her, and undoubtedly prepared to make one last plea for peace. "Sir, she's trying to raise communications." "Ignore it." *** "Damn," whispered Castor. Things were not going well. For the duration of their trip from the Moon to Earth, Ursa Major had not replied to a single request from her. Now things were critical; Earth loomed big and blue on the screens, and it was clear that Pollux was gunning for Japan. "Sir, message from Crisium. They anticipate no assistance. Say again, we can expect no assistance. All other ships are either disabled or too far away. We're the last shot." "Anti-space batteries?" "Still off-line." A typhoon had hit Crystal Tokyo a week before, and a bolt of lighting had struck a central nerve in the city's defense systems. Only a single cannon remained, and it could only muster one shot. "We will be entering Earth's atmosphere in one minute. Ursa Major will be ready to fire on Crystal Tokyo in one minute twenty seconds. Wait, new orders. They're repeating themselves. We are . . . we are to prevent Pollux from succeeding in her attack at any cost." "Very well," sighed Castor. She was terribly tired. When this was all over, she was going to sleep, and damned if she'd wake up before a day had passed. "Put me on all frequencies. I want to make sure they hear this." *** "Another transmission, sir. All frequencies." Without being told, he put it on. "Attention Ursa Ma . . . no. Sailor Pollux, you are . . . no, no." A pause, and a crackle of static. "Ai, this is your sister. If what we had means anything to you, if you still have a shred of humanity left in you, please don't do this. You don't want Serenity dead, and I don't want to kill you to make sure you don't. As sister to sister, I beg you, don't do this. Just turn your ship around, and everything will be okay. Please?" "Fifty seconds to firing range, sir." Sailor Pollux pursed her lips. "Lock onto the palace. Divert all auxiliary power to the weapons systems and prepare the Gertie." "Aye, sir." "Sister, I'm waiting." "Turn that crap off," snarled Pollux, hoping she came off meaner than she felt. "Time?" "Forty seconds. Sir, Ursa Minor is powering up her weapons systems." *** "Forty seconds, sir. Weapons are now live." "Thank you," said Castor far more calmly than she felt. She had just ordered four nuclear warheads, fifty depleted uranium rounds, five batteries of x-ray lasers, and two batteries of grasers to be trained on Ursa Major. That kind of firepower wouldn't be enough to destroy the ship, though. That was what the Gertie was for. She lifted the cover on the control panel, wishing for a sign from her sister, any excuse to think that she would change her mind. "Thirty seconds, sir. Crisium wants to know what we're waiting for. They're *ordering* us to fire!" 'It's my boat, and I'll decide what I'm going to do,' was Castor's unspoken answer. "Steady as she goes. Prepare for atmospheric entry." As one, the bridge crew sighed. The ship wasn't meant to enter an atmosphere. The thinking was that if Pollux had managed it in an identical ship, there was no reason Castor couldn't do the same. The ship began to rock as it encountered friction with the atmosphere. Ahead of them, Pollux's ship was beginning to glow a dull red. "Ready the Gertie." "Aye, sir, Gertie is now being readied. Firing range for Ursa Major in fifteen seconds. Shall I reduce speed?" "Negative. Fire on my mark." *** Ursa Major plowed through the Earth's protective envelope of air with reckless abandon. Her crew had pretty much given up hope of surviving the day; their best hope was to take Serenity with them. "Ten seconds, sir. Castor is readying to fire." "Dammit." She swallowed. "Activate Hourglass." Yumini Island 13 October 1998 5:01 PM Japanese Standard Time "Activate Hourglass . . . ." Sailor Pollux looked over to Sailor Orion. The redhead still lay unconscious, sheltered from the wind by an outcropping of rock. Dusk was setting on and it would soon get colder, but she knew senshi could take very extreme temperatures. But it hardly mattered; her guest wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. She looked out to sea, still thinking about the past. She had to admit that on a day that had been full of mistakes, deciding to use that mysterious weapon had been the biggest one of them all. All she knew was what had been included in her orders, delivered a week before departure and two weeks before she decided to turn against Serenity. She'd thought that it would guarantee the elimination of Crystal Tokyo, but instead . . . well, no point dwelling in the past. She had more important things to worry about, such as how to bend this to her advantage. She had at her disposal a senshi who was obviously from the future. A future after 3010. That meant that her final attack had failed. Serenity was still in the far future. The only way to end that was to kill her now, before she was grown into her full power. Sailor Pollux was no fool. She knew that Serenity's death now would cause unimaginable paradoxes. Such a thing had never been done; that was what Sailor Pluto dedicated her life to preventing. But the senshi of time had been curiously silent during all this. Could it be that even she didn't know what was to happen? That was one of the many things that was bothering her. Another, more important one, was what had happened to her sister? JAL flight 4304 Great circle route between Los Angeles, California, USA and Tokyo, Japan 2:08 AM JST "Yes, thank you," said Aii Furikato in flawless Japanese to the flight attendant. She accepted the cup of coffee. "You're welcome," said the attendant, who went back to the front of the plane. Aii was the only passenger who was even awake. The past few hours had been mind-boggling. After finding out what year she was in, she'd somehow convinced the crew of the freighter to call for a helicopter. It was a minor miracle that they'd gotten one. It was a bigger miracle that she'd gotten all the way to Boston, from which she hopped a plane to Chicago, then to some place she'd never heard of, and then to Los Angeles, and then to Tokyo. She wasn't sure how all this was being paid for. One of the men on the ship had given her a piece of plastic and an English phrase book and told her to present these when necessary. Thankfully, the Boston airport had had the more important signs in Japanese. It was about at that point that some customs officers had demanded to see her passport. She had done the logical thing: run. Once she was sure she was far enough away, she detransformed into her uniform. By coincidence, it was still her dress blues. This had puzzled her until she remembered that she'd put it on as good luck before they'd gone into very low lunar orbit. Before Pollux . . . but that hurt too much to remember. She forced herself back to the chain of events that had led to her sitting in the first class compartment of a 747 somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. Somehow, wearing a uniform impressed people more. It logically shouldn't have. Unbeknownst to her, a thousand years of alliances formed and dissolved had made Japan's dress naval uniforms virtually identical to those of the United States in the twentieth century. Despite that, there were a few differences tha