"Well, you claimed the contents," Matt said as he hauled himself over the lip of the sub entrance and slammed the hatch shut. "The zombies are all yours."
Glaring down at the closed hatch, Kyle crossed his arms defensively. "It's not exactly what I expected," he replied grimly.
"Guess now we know why no one was coming out, wondering where they were. Probably came from a dimension where zombies took over the world."
"Blah. Didn't we just leave that party?" Kyle asked, before looking over the lip of the railing towards the gardens far below.
"Hey, Azeroth was still fighting that fight last I checked. They've at least got a chance. It's likely our buddies in the sub... Well. Didn't. If it follows standard zombie infestation fiction, at least. We'll have to clear the sub out to make sure of course." Matt didn't look exactly thrilled at the prospect.
"Great. Close Quarters Combat in an unfamiliar environment, in the dark, against zombies... I'll take lead, you cover my back," Kyle griped, before reaching down and pulling the hatch open again. When a pair of rotting hands reached out for him, he scowled and stomped on them as hard as he could, ignoring the snap of cracking bones even as the figure below them fell back into the sub with a muffled thud. "The things we put up with to get the best toys," he muttered, before jumping down, daggers drawn.
As Matt was climbing down the ladder behind Kyle, Serenity, facing her Senshi and Queen Saturn with no idea of the threat within the sub behind her, was in the middle of detailing her adventures on Azeroth. "-And she said 'Yes yes, your precious space-rock.'"
"Space rock?" Jupiter echoed loudly.
Serenity merely nodded. "That's about how I replied."
Uranus scratched her head. "You know... you're not really giving us much incentive here to trust these two, Highness."
With a sigh, Serenity nodded. "I'm giving you a condensed version of what happened. But I'm beginning to think that you all will have to learn as I did; through experience."
Mercury frowned. "I fail to see how experience will convince us where words have yet to, my Queen."
"Humans are fickle, quirky, and contrary beings, Mercury. Just look at Earth. Kyle and Matt are no different. What they say most of the time is not nearly as important as what they do all of the time. And since I met them, they've yet to act against me," Serenity stated.
"There's a difference between befriending a couple of wayward humans, and elevating them to a position nearly equal to ours," Uranus muttered.
"And yet, from what Serenity's been saying, these two seem to have just the right amount of luck, skill, and understanding to pull off the very task Serenity has charged them with," Lenee pointed out. She didn't show it outwardly, but she'd been delighted at seeing Kyle verbally take Uranus down a peg or two; it made it an easy choice to leap to their defense.
Mercury bristled, "I still think we should try diplomacy before bringing even more force to bear on an enemy we still don't understand."
Serenity closed her eyes with a tired sigh. "Mercury, we've gone over this before. I will not parley with a foe who's sole stated goal is 'Down with the Moon Kingdom!' and 'Down with Serenity!'"
"At the risk of sounding sycophantic," Lenee said, "I'd have to agree. Especially considering they've killed hundreds of innocents."
Mercury shook her head. "There has to be a reason for it, though! There is no logical reason for a sentient race to act with such hostility towards a sovereign kingdom without some justifiable line of reasoning!"
Serenity scowled. "Are you saying these attacks on my kingdom are justified?"
Mercury blinked, before shaking her head. "I misspoke, My Queen. It must seem justified to them, while to us, it is anything but. We need to find out why they think these attacks are reasonable, and to do that, we need to engage them in dialogue, not combat!"
"I will entertain the thought of discussing this with them when they approach my throne with the dignity and decorum all civilizations have shown in the past when dealing with us. Even without knowing the proper protocols, no foreign state has ever managed to screw up a first contact this badly. These are attacks, Mercury, not misguided attempts to get our attention. And I will respond to the attacks with whatever force is required to keep my people safe. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, Queen Serenity." Mercury said, knowing to press further now would be unwise. But she would bring this up later. To raise the aggressiveness of the responses was to invite a more aggressive attack. The situation was insane, but it seemed nobody but her could see that.
"Do you really think they should build a base on Mimas?" Lenee asked, cutting into the silence.
"Kyle's reasons were sound. And I think our perspective on that is somewhat skewed. Most of the commoners don't care about Saturn any more than they care about Earth. It's the nobles that have such negative views; the higher up you go, the stronger they are," Serenity pointed out.
"True, but you'll be cutting off a large number of potential recruits if none of the nobles will want anything to do with the new unit," Jupiter pointed out.
Serenity shrugged, "I'll pull the funds out of the treasury myself. Aside from financial support, I imagine there's little the nobles would have to offer, anyway."
Uranus frowned at that. "Wait. The nobility makes up the majority of the officers in the militias and guard units throughout the system. You can't mean they're going to willingly turn down that much experience and training."
Queen Saturn chuckled. "I don't think you grasped what Serenity was implying. This new unit is going to do things differently than the standard militias. I'd be surprised if there's not a period of time where the new Knights are forced to make the recruits un-learn some of what they're used to doing in the standard militias. Especially if they truly feel the current Guard is merely ornamental."
Uranus' jaw dropped. "That's... Insane! You can't just dismiss thousands of years of tradition based on somebody's ideas about what might work better!"
Serenity chuckled, "Some problems, Uranus, have more than one answer. Matt, Kyle and I were having a metaphorical discussion once, and at one point, they were both asked what the fastest way to a man's heart was."
Jupiter snorted. "Like Uranus would understand that," she muttered.
Uranus whirled on the Senshi of Jupiter, even as Queen Saturn and Mercury chuckled softly at the dig.
Serenity cleared her throat. "Anyway, as I was saying; when both were asked, Matt replied 'through his stomach,' meaning to win a man over, one could bribe them with good food. Advice, I must admit, that works all too well, most of the time."
"And how did our illustrious Outer Knight reply?" Mercury asked.
"'Through his ribcage.'" Serenity said with a smirk. "As you can see, that particular problem is not only solved in two very different ways, it can be taken in two totally different ways, as well."
"Yet, each could have a similar outcome," Artemis said, having exited the palace and only recently rejoining the four women on the lawn. Luna was right beside him.
"How so?" Jupiter asked, frowning in thought.
"If you've snared someone's heart, you can get them to do almost anything you want. And if they're dead..." Uranus started.
"They're not going to be stopping you," Artemis finished.
Mercury scowled. "And this is the kind of response you intend to provide with this new force?"
"Well, you have to admit," Artemis pointed out, "with an attitude like that, if these two are as good as Serenity says they are, they should fill the gap between the Militia and the Senshi nicely."
"I'll believe that when I see it," Mercury replied, frowning down at the advisor. "As it is, I'm going to have nightmares about the collateral damage someone that savage could cause with the skill Serenity says they have."
"Yes, and maybe someday Matt will cook you a fancy dinner, too," Lenee snarked, finally having enough of Mercury's obvious hostility. "What a horrifying thought."
Serenity quirked her mouth into a smile at the jibe, but let the remark slide.
Inside the sub, things were progressing about as expected.
"Two more behind you!" Matt yelled, moments before a dagger flashed by him in the darkened sub and sunk into the eye of a zombie that had managed to stumble up behind him. They weren't quiet by any means. Not only did they shuffle around and drag their feet, they moaned something horrible. Considering the numbers however, there were always one or two moaning, meaning there was noise everywhere, and in the cramped spaces, it echoed up and down the sub making it impossible to tell for certain how far away they were.
Currently, the stalwart duo were making a stand in the missile room, a relatively massive compartment full of large vertical tubes that rose into the darkness overhead like trees. Fitting, then, that it was sometimes referred to as Sherwood Forest. Or perhaps 'thicket' would be more appropriate; Kyle had been counting the tubes, and they seemed to abruptly cut off at twelve. Instead of another twelve, the compartment opened up into an open space that shouldn't be there. "That's not right," he muttered, even as he decapitated another shambling corpse.
Unlike the undead on Azeroth, these zombies seemed to be more or less stereotypical. Wounds to the body were ignored as they mindlessly moved to attack. After a couple attempts at dropping them through blunt-force trauma and bodily damage, they discovered much to their annoyance that only a telling head injury would do. Fortunately, they were, also unlike Azerothian undead, very stupid, and tended to swarm their targets. In an open area, that would be dangerous, but in the enclosed sub, against two blade-wielders who were used to taking on magically-enhanced undead, these things were less a threat, and more an annoyance.
"So, I was thinking," Kyle said during a lull in the fighting.
"Hmm?" Matt hmmed as he moved to decapitate two more zombies with a broad swing of his sword. He winced as the blade sunk an inch into a the steel of a bulkhead, and glanced behind him to see if Kyle had noticed, before tugging the blade free and deciding not to use such broad attacks in so narrow an area.
"Well, this sub is fairly deserted, right? So, as the claimants, we could potentially make use of it however we like..." Kyle elaborated, before ducking under the outstretched hand of a one-armed zombie, coming up inside its reach, and burying his blade in the undead eye.
"I suppose. Not like any of these," Matt paused to kick a zombie further away from him that had gotten too close, "...creatures, will object. Well, more than they currently are, at any rate."
"Right, so, what's to say we don't try to make this into a ship? I mean, it has nukes, it has a pressure hull. Frankly, it's almost an inside-out spaceship. Hatches open the wrong way, but I'm sure there's a way to fix that." Kyle threw another blade across the room, but his target stumbled over something on the floor at the last second, and the blade glanced off the zombie's skull and disappeared into the darkness.
"Hoh... Well... Shit," Kyle muttered, ignoring the blade he'd just lost and staring at the object on the ground the zombie had tripped over. Before Matt could ask, Kyle was moving, coming to a stop with a slide that let him scoop up the prize with a grin. He was so distracted Matt had to pierce the skull of another zombie that was wandering a bit too close for comfort.
"What? What is it?" Matt asked as he kept watch for more of the enroaching, lumbering horde.
After taking a second to look it over, Kyle hefted the bulky item, and turned towards Matt. "Zombie killer." To better punctuate his comment, he cocked the pump-action shotgun, and grinned as a red shell was ejected and hit the floor with a familiar plastic sound. Then he flicked on the mounted flashlight, shined it at the darkened alcove beyond, and grinned. "Jackpot."
"What was that?" Queen Saturn asked, looking up at the object in curiosity and alarm. It had come from within, but the sound was not natural, nor was it like anything she'd heard her friends do on Azeroth. More like a small, punctuated explosion.
Before anyone could respond, there was another blast, then a long string of them, these not quite as loud, but coming in rapid succession.
"Nevermind that, what was that?" Jupiter asked, frowning.
A minute later, two figures appeared on top of the object, Matt and Kyle crawling out of the top hatch, both now sporting new objects, some of which were slung, others held in their hands. Both were grinning.
"Well, you can forget archers," Kyle said, before hopping on the ladder and climbing down to the ground. Matt was right behind him.
"Why is that? And what are those?" Lenee asked, as the two came to stand before them.
"Balance of power," Kyle replied, smugly.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Uranus asked.
"Up until now, every fight in the Silver Millennium has been, barring magic, a knife fight," Kyle elaborated. "That's about to change."
"How so? You're not making any sense," Jupiter asked.
"We've got the only guns in the solar system," Kyle said, hefting the M-4 in his hands.
Matt cocked his shotgun with an evil grin. "And you don't bring a knife to a gunfight."
The balcony was near the top of Castle Carrus, giving it an unparalleled view of the surrounding land below. On one side, trees swept over the low-lying hills like a verdant carpet, thick and untouched, while on the other a lake spread lazily about, reflecting a mirror-perfect image of the distant mountains. It was something Prince Echion, heir apparent to the throne of Earth, had grown accustomed to seeing; amazingly, the sight had not dulled over the years. It was this magnificent scenery that occupied his attention as he listened with half an ear to Jaedite, one of the more faithful soldiers to his family.
"...and so, after Serenity announced to the surviving nobles that she was elevating these two newcomers to the rank of Guardian, she also declared she was implementing a new task force; one below the Senshi in terms of power, but more numerous and able to respond quickly to threats. These two new men are to head and lead this group."
"Interesting. It seems her majesty has found yet more powerful allies. And a new force to combat the growing threat to her kingdom? That's smart. Sounds like she's been planning this a while to announce it like that suddenly... Though it is suspicious that it has to do with the man that suddenly appeared at the ceremony. I wonder if the two events are connected?"
Jadeite bowed lower. "I have my best men still searching the forest for any sign of the starseed, but I could not sense it on his person. If he is involved with stealing it, he's either hidden it very well or passed it on to another. In either case-"
"Oh, that," Echion cut off Jadeite in mid-sentence, and rolled his eyes. "The whole theft claim was simply propaganda spread by my father. He didn't want word getting out that the intruder actually bonded with the Starseed, rather than simply stole it."
"He WHAT?" Jadeite nearly shouted as he looked up, barely remembering in time, despite his shock, to keep his voice within manageable levels.
"Merged with the Starseed of Earth. Right in front of me. I watched it happen with my own two eyes. I was supposed to be the recipient after all; it was sort of difficult to miss."
Jadeite stared in horror as his royal liege stated the theft of their greatest military hope as if he was merely discussing the weather. He barely found the strength to whisper, with a voice that was noticeably strained, "How is that possible?"
Echion looked thoughtful. "I don't know. It's most likely he's from Earth, though we do have reports of Serenity dabbling in all sorts of experimental magic; judging by his strange clothing and mannerisms it's possible he's not from around 'this' particular Earth. The castle is warded against teleportation from this plane of existence, but I don't believe it has any special wards against cross-dimensional boundaries. We should probably fix that. Of course, something in the transference ceremony could have drawn him to us..." He shrugged. "Without all the pieces to this particular puzzle, it's all conjecture, really."
"She had to have known," Jadite growled, before Echion interrupted again.
"He did me a favor, you know," Echion remarked offhandedly.
Jadeite's head snapped up in surprise. "Your majesty?"
Echion sighed. "You know me, Jadeite. I never wanted the responsibility; the entirety of Earth's problems, weighing me down, forcing my hand and making my decisions." He chuckled. "It appears my wish has been granted."
Echion face became stern. "However, we cannot let an affront against the Ruling House of Earth go without comment. Even if what we were doing wasn't exactly looked upon favorably by our neighbors, they have to know it was only an attempt to keep up with their vastly superior fighting forces. How many super-warriors do they have at their disposal now? Seven? Eight? Not including the Queen herself? It's appalling that they'd believe we'd be complacent with how unbalanced the power is between our two kingdoms." He shook his head decisively. "No. While not proud we went about this in secret, we shall not deny our actions."
"And what of this 'Matt' that currently holds Earth's Starseed?" Jadite asked, narrowing his eyes in contemplation.
Echion waved a hand negligently. "We'll allow him to keep it, of course. If he and his companion are as close to the Queen as you say, there's no real choice in the matter. A direct attack would be foolish, and I don't believe kidnapping or killing the man would serve any real purpose. For good or ill, the Starseed has decided to bind itself to the boy. It's out of our control now." He smirked. "However..."
"However?"
"There's nothing saying we can't join forces from time to time. It's possible that he'll feel the need to protect the Earth, and possibly its interests, through the bond he shares with the Starseed."
Jadite nodded approvingly. "Your orders then, my liege?"
"Keep an eye on things for now. Discreetly, of course. I'll be appointing you court liaison for the time being; publicly to show Earth having a renewed interest in Moon Kingdom politics. Privately, between the Queen and ourselves, to keep watch over Matt and to make sure our 'gift' is being used wisely. I want to learn more about the host of Earth's Starseed, and why it would choose him..."
Left unspoken were the words 'over me.'
"Of course, your highness." Jadeite bowed. "I shall not fail you."
"So, you're saying that those are more effective than swords?" Serenity asked, after an explanation had been given.
"In the right hands? Yes," Kyle replied, before frowning. "Granted, they've not been tested against supernatural threats, but I imagine that if a sword can kill a youma, bullets can, too."
Serenity looked at the small metallic object in her hand with a frown. From what Kyle had said, the copper-coated tip was all that struck the enemy, the rest merely served as a container for the explosive that propelled the bullet. She knew from what he said that the bullet would be traveling at a far higher speeds than most magic attacks, but still. Before she could voice her concern, Mercury pointed out what she'd also concluded.
"I can see them penetrating a standard youma; however, their size and shape seems more likely to incapacitation. Debilitating wounds, slow bleed-outs. A basic examination spell tells me that aside from a few small target areas, these wouldn't dispatch a human. And youma are far tougher."
Kyle nodded. "True enough. I was told the design philosophy behind those rounds was incapacitation. Kill one target in an army, and the rest keep coming. Grievously wound one, and you take him, and the companions needed to save him out of the fight."
Jupiter nodded. "Pragmatic and practical, if somewhat..."
Mercury scowled. "Barbaric." She concluded, frowning at the round she'd been handed with new scorn.
"So why would these be a better choice to arm your soldier's with than, say, swords, which, if not as effective at range, seem far more suited to dispatching an enemy with finality?" Serenity asked.
"Because, you're operating under the assumption that we will be teaching them how to place a single shot at center mass. Given a little creativity in applying the proper enchantments to their armor... Well..." Kyle grinned savagely, slipping a switch with his thumb and turning towards an empty area of the gardens. Before anyone could ask what he was doing, he squeezed the trigger, sending a stream of bullets into one of the earthen mounds a couple dozen yards away. The first few impacts were in a small area, but they started to stray, then move back towards the initial impact point, before the firing stopped, the magazine empty.
"Well, I suppose even a youma would fall over if given enough holes," Uranus said with a shrug. "As impressive as that was, though, wouldn't it make more sense to do a similar amount of damage with a sword?"
"I'm sure Her Majesty can guess the answer to that," Kyle replied with a scowl at the Senshi.
"That much damage from range would keep the men alive, without disengaging from the enemy," Serenity explained.
"And?" Matt prompted, joining in. He'd already discussed this with Kyle for a few minutes on their trek out of the sub.
Serenity frowned in though, but Queen Saturn got the hint. "Melee!" When everyone turned to look at her in confusion, she blushed, before elaborating. "Earlier, you said you wanted them to form an army with both ranged and melee units. If the melee units are covered by ranged units equipped with weapons like that, they can easily retreat while the ranged units engage and delay the youma."
"A pity you're royalty. Quick as you are to catch on to tactics from another universe, I'd love to have your help when the fighting starts," Kyle muttered, impressed despite himself. Hell, Mercury's deduction of the 5.56 NATO round's design philosophy was just about as impressive. They might lack the grasp of modern tactics he and Matt'd grown up with, but nobody here could ever be accused of being stupid. Recalcitrant and set in their ways, however... "Aside from these weapons, we also have an insane idea for this ship itself."
"You know, you've said before that it was a ship, but I afraid I have to ask just what your definition of 'ship' is, since it's obviously not the same as ours," Jupiter asked.
Kyle grinned, before turning to Mercury. "That scan of yours, can it do simulations?"
Mercury frowned. "It can scan an object, then describe the objects predicted reactions based upon a set number of external stimuli. A complete simulation is impossible, but for a given scenario, the results would be somewhat close, if not as easily modified."
After puzzling that out for a moment, Kyle shrugged. "Alright then. just... Umm... Scan it, then, before testing it at a hundred feet below the surface of earth's oceans."
"Below the surface? You want her to simulate it sunken?" Jupiter asked, puzzled.
"Just wait. And I never said full of water."
"You never said it wasn't, either," Mercury muttered, canceling the spell and starting over. The initial scan had revealed that it was surprisingly watertight, so barring the obvious openings, the request wasn't to difficult to fit in when it came down to overriding the detection of the obvious open hatch up top. After a few moments, the scan was complete, and the spell began digesting what it had learned, even as I parsed out the possibilities in the environment chosen.
"Oh... Oh my. I think I'm beginning to see what you mean..." Mercury mumbled, even as more details from the scan were made apparent. "Neutral buoyancy, believable speeds, no magic at all! Interesting armaments..." She trailed off as the torpedo display was replaced by a warning that blocked her view of the rest of the data as something new was discovered. Something new and important. As it had been designed, Mercury's spell was normally quiet, so as not to give away her position on a silent battlefield. It also helped in being unobtrusive when used around crowds. That said, there were certain circumstances that overrode those considerations, and right now, it had detected one of them. "Your majesty, we must move away from this thing immediately!"
Kyle rolled his eyes. "It's safe enough," he explained.
"Queen Serenity, this ships primary weapon is... are..." She trailed off as the data filled the screen, eyes widening. "Twelve long-range missiles, armed with eight warheads, each one containing enough destructive potential to destroy an entire city sector." Even more data made her face drain further. "No, it's... multiple sectors. Variable explosive potential? With dangerous after-effects... Multiple self-maneuvering explosive delivery systems?"
Kyle, who was trying hard to contain his mirth as the spell tried to make sense of a MIRVed ICBM, spoke up. "Dangerous though they may be, they require a lot of modification before they could pose a threat to us now. Each warhead is tied to an accelerometer. If it doesn't reach a certain speed, then it won't explode."
Matt frowned. "How do you know that?"
Kyle shrugged. "Hunt for Red October."
Mercury cancelled the spell as more and more details were given to her. "Queen Serenity! This... This thing is an abomination! Its sole purpose is to wipe cities off the face of the planet. It hides beneath the surface, with a hull designed to make it quiet and nigh-undetectable, and when the time comes, it rains down a hail of death and destruction on a scale that none but Saturn-"
"Hey!" Lenee protested.
"-Senshi Saturn could come close to emulating." Mercury finished.
Serenity frowned at this, before looking at Kyle. "You did say you would minimize casualties, didn't you? What did you call it? 'Collateral damage?' I think something like that would fly in the face of such a promise."
Kyle shrugged. "I'm pretty sure my bloodthirsty nature is barbaric enough without wiping out whole cities. At least, in the eyes of Mercury here, who seems to think I had a hand in developing this weapon platform."
"Even if you didn't, your desire for it speaks for itself," Mercury spat.
"It's an airtight ship, and I've been charged with protecting the solar system. Makes sense to me to use it as a form of conveyance. Unless you intend to just teleport from planet to planet," Kyle replied.
"Generally, that is how it's done," Lenee pointed out.
"What? Which part?" Matt asked.
"Teleporting. How else would you get around the system in a reasonable amount of time?" Uranus asked, frowning at their apparent lack of understanding.
Kyle was at a loss. "You mean... you all can just teleport wherever you want to go?" He whirled on Serenity, an indignant frown on his face. "What, exactly, am I going to be doing when my troops all teleport off to fight, and I'm left staring at an empty room?"
Serenity looked at him in surprise, before smiling. "I think you got the wrong idea. Very few people in the Silver Millennium have that kind of power. Point-to-point teleportation is limited by power, because power determines range."
"And the space between planets on the base plane is big," Jupiter elaborated.
"Base plane?" Matt and Kyle asked at the same time.
Mercury blinked. "Wow..."
"Oh, relax. Their Earth might not have even had an upper plane," Lenee said, coming to their defense.
Serenity sighed, before waving everyone over to a pair of marble benches nearby. Instead of sitting down, she halted them nearby, and waved at the path they all stood upon.
"This path is the base plane. It is the planets, the space between planets, and everything above and below the solar plane that is a part of my kingdom, compressed into a two-dimensional representation," she started. When her two friends nodded, she pointed at the bench. "This bench is the upper plane. It is comprised of a large, contiguous stretch of land that can support life. We are here," she pointed at a corner of the bench, "and here," she pointed at the corner of a stone on the path, "at the same time."
"So... The upper plane is a... Sort of... Merging? Of every planet's habitable surface area?" Kyle asked, frowning in though.
Serenity shook her head. "Not quite. The two planes intersect at some points, like here, but for the most part, they're totally different places. There are convergences that coincide with areas on each planet, but some, like on Neptune, are artificial."
"Artificial?" Matt inquired.
"Neptune is a gas giant, along with Saturn, Uranus and Jupiter. So the points on those planets would be..." Kyle started, before frowning.
"Places on the upper plane that are linked to random points on their surface?" Matt finished.
"Well, probably not on the surface. Maybe within the atmosphere?" Kyle surmised.
"Close," Serenity offered, waiting.
"Ooh! Within the gravity well?" Kyle tried.
Serenity nodded. "Right!"
"So why the points of intersection? If the habitable parts of your kingdom are all on the upper plane and act, together, as some sort of giant megalopolis, why bother with differentiating entire chunks of the kingdom as different planets?" Kyle asked.
"Because not all planets are gas giants. Some have surfaces that can be built upon. Others have moons that can be built upon, but no moons other than Earth's have any points of intersection," Mercury said, enjoying watching them come to terms with all this new information. Turnabout was fair play, wasn't it?
"Okay, so... the points are used as gateways between the upper and base planes, and some parts of your kingdom are built on the base plane, while the rest is all one big city on the upper plane?" Matt tried.
"Yes and no. The upper plane is habitable. But it's not fully developed. There are large sections of land that are uninhabited. And just because you can breathe there doesn't mean you'd want to live there," Serenity elaborated.
"So... Each planet is like a city, then?" Kyle wondered out loud.
"Yes. But remember; only the gas giants are cities on the upper plane only. Mercury, Venus and Mars are all populated planets on the base plane. And even the gas giants have habitats on their moons," Serenity detailed, seeing that both of them seemed to have gotten the geography lesson.
"Alright... I... well, no, I can't see that. But I can pretend. And after sleeping on it for a bit, I'm pretty sure I can wrap my head around it," Kyle muttered.
"It will come to you in time. As you get used to traveling, your mind will map it out. But as we were saying before; travel in the Kingdom-" Serenity started to say, before Kyle cut her off.
"Point to point teleportation that only works on the base plane, from intersection point to intersection point."
Serenity blinked, before nodding. "That's right. How?"
"Well, it's not that hard, once the system is explained," Matt said, before frowning. "And it would explain some of the need for us. If the Senshi are pre-occupied on one planet, they'd have to travel from their location, to a teleport point, then 'port to the target planet, and move to the location of the problem."
"Which is what we'd have to do, too... Leaving me to wonder how we could do it faster," Kyle said, looking at Serenity with a slight frown.
"There's more to it, though you're essentially correct. The enemy tends to disable the points closest to their location during an attack, so the senshi go to the nearest usable point, and usually have to run from there."
"And... we're supposed to do that as well? Even if we take off immediately, and the senshi are forced to wait before leaving whatever they're in the middle of, I can't see the arrival time being that different," Kyle said, frowning at another thought. Before he could voice it, Matt did.
"Even worse, once we're established on Mimas or wherever, the enemy would just have to close off the Saturn portal and we'd be stuck running to Jupiter or Uranus just to get back in the loop."
Serenity frowned herself at that. "Why would you be on Mimas?"
"Because we'd be based there?" Kyle explained, earning a glare from the assembled Senshi at the condescension in his voice.
Serenity's frown intensified, but not at his tone. "I wouldn't think you'd keep all your people in one location. I assumed you meant you'd train them on Mimas before sending them out and having a small team on each planet."
Kyle shrugged, "We could do that, but when there's nothing going on, I'd prefer to be there at first to help... 'direct them' in filling up their free time with something productive."
"Why not use the ship?" Matt asked, suddenly.
"What do you mean?" Lenee asked, glancing over at the ship in question.
"Well, if every planet, inner and outer, has a presence on some way on the base plane, and teleportation only works on the base plane anyway, then if the ship teleports from planet to planet, on the base plane, then we should be able to stay on Mimas, and still get to the problem area in less time than the Senshi," he elaborated, earning a surprised look from Kyle. "What? Didn't think I was paying attention?"
"No?" Kyle replied, his voice indicating he had thought exactly that.
Mercury, however, shook her head. "It wouldn't work. The enemy knocks out the teleporters, and even then, that thing is far too big to use them."
"Who said anything about using the point-based teleporters?" Kyle asked, getting behind Matt's idea.
"There's no mage in the kingdom that would try teleporting that thing from planet to planet!" Uranus cried, pointing at the sub in disbelief.
"It's a nuclear sub. Surely you have the magic to convert electricity to mana. Even at a bad conversion rate, I refuse to believe there's not enough power there to make it work," Kyle responded.
Mercury just sighed and pulled up her spell again, once more waiting for it to give her an idea as to how much power the ship might have to spare. What it detailed was somewhat shocking. Unless it was far less efficient than her spell predicted, it would have quite a bit of power to spare. "There... Might actually be enough in there," she muttered, before altering the spell slightly. After a few more pages of details, proposals, and projections, she dismissed the ephemeral paper. "At best, you're still looking at a three-day charge-up. Maybe less if we can fit some sort of mana-storage aboard."
Kyle smirked. "Those things were designed to sit underwater until they ran out of food for the crew. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that that could take six months. We're taking that and turning it into an inter-system shuttle. With all the storage space that opens up, I doubt we'll have any trouble fitting in all the mana-storage systems you can think of."
Serenity just smiled. "It's impressive what you can come up with when you work together, isn't it?" She asked, before looking the Senshi over. "Mercury, call your planet, have this ship moved there to be worked on. I want your best people to go over it, and see what they can do to make this plan a reality."
"Ahh, there are... Umm... Zombies on board," Kyle muttered, lamely.
"Zombies?" Serenity asked, deadpan.
"Undead. But not magical in any way!" Matt said.
Serenity sighed, before looking at him. "If the dead are walking, then there's something going on that isn't mundane," she said.
"No, really. I- we've heard of these before," Matt said, pointing at Kyle.
When she turned to look at the rogue, he shrugged. "Typical 'zombie apocalypse' zombies. Trauma to the brain kills them."
"And... how did this happen?" Uranus asked.
"Beats me. I think the popular cause is worms or viruses," Kyle said.
"Worms?" Matt asked.
Kyle nodded. "Yeah. I read a Stephen King story about a comet made up of worms that came too close to Earth and the worms brought the undead to life. Something like that. I think Romero's zombies were raised by radiation, though..." He trailed off in thought, but before he could continue, Serenity spoke up.
"Right. Whatever. Zombies. Do you both need to clear them out? Do I need to?" Serenity asked, brandishing the Ginzoishou.
Matt shook his head, drawing his sword and stepping back towards the Sub. "Naw, I've got this. Thing'll be clear before anyone from Mercury gets here." With that he headed back into the sub, turning to give everyone a jaunty wave before he began to climb the side.
"Well, if he says so," Serenity muttered, before turning to Mercury, who was sending off her orders to someone from her home planet. "Mercury, back him up. And see if you can find a way to make those weapons a little less overpowering..."
"What? Like take them out?" Mercury asked, even as she moved to join the paladin.
Serenity shook her head. "'Better to have and not need, than need and not have,'" she quoted, before turning her back on the Knight and Senshi. Mercury nodded at the reasonable response, even as she shuddered at the thought of ever needing anything so powerful.
"Shouldn't I be helping him?" Kyle asked, pointing at the sub, even as Mercury disappeared inside.
Serenity shook her head. "Not quite. You are due on Saturn."
"What?" Kyle and Lenee asked simultaneously.
Serenity chuckled. "Well, it would be difficult to pinpoint a location for your base without looking Mimas over. And you can hardly do that from here," she said to Kyle, before turning to Queen Saturn. "As for you, my friend..."
"Yes, Highness?" Lenee asked.
"I will be on Saturn within a day, perhaps two, depending on events. When I arrive, I will need my friend here, as well as a private room with... hmm..." She paused, looking Kyle over speculatively, before nodding to herself. "Lets say level seven arcane protections."
"Level seven?" Jupiter asked, with some alarm.
"Yes. Seven should be more than enough," Serenity said, before turning to Jupiter and Uranus. "And as for you two, I'm pretty sure you're capable of figuring out where you're needed." She paused, then, before grinning. "Ah, and don't tell Venus about this just yet. I'm looking forward to surprising her with Matt in a few days."
"Why her?" Jupiter asked.
"Why Matt?" Uranus asked.
Serenity grinned. "Well, he is the Inner Knight, isn't he? Best to introduce him to the leader of the inner Senshi myself, don't you think?"
Jupiter rolled her eyes, even as Uranus muttered "She's going to go crazy over him."
"Well of course she will," Jupiter replied, "he's a guy."
Uranus frowned. "Does that mean you're going to introduce Kyle to Pluto, too?" she asked. Then she smiled. "Because, I'd kind of like to be there when you do."
Serenity returned the Senshi's smile with one of her own. "I'm sure that can be arranged."