Another short chapter, but it still will be needed in this story, folks. This chapter will have a short discussion mainly between Luna and Queen Serenity in it. It will also provide a bit more background information about how the Moon Kingdom's government is set up, among other important story-related details here, folks. And it will also set up the next couple of chapters that will follow it here as well.
With no further ado, then, let's get back to the story here, everyone. TUS out.
Main Ballroom Of The Imperial Palace
Moon City, Moon Kingdom, Moon
June 20, 987
Meanwhile, while Rolando and everyone else was most likely checking out several parts of Edo's local area on Earth, back on the Moon, Queen Serenity and other sentients were currently in residence in Moon City's Imperial Palace for the first time in a considerable length of time. Among those sentients, of course, were her other five children and her husband, quite naturally. Luna and Artemis were also there by now as well, at least, in fact.
Luna asked Queen Serenity, as Queen Serenity was taking a break from certain various government-related matters for at least a little while, if not a long while, "Niti, how do you think things are actually going for Serena and the rest of her current crowd?"
"I don't know for sure, of course. But I still do hope that things are going well enough for them right now, quite naturally. I wonder if they're all okay, in fact, Luna."
"So do I, Niti. So do I. But you did let them go to Earth for a while, at least. So we have to hope that enough things are going right for them all, at least until such time as we might hear otherwise somehow."
"I suppose you're right, Luna. It's just that I'm missing them again, of course."
"They do need some time off periodically, I'm sure. And since last year, they haven't had as much of it as they might normally need to have of it, I think," said Luna.
"But we can't afford them to take too much time off, if I'm somehow going to be able to try to save them at all, I believe, Luna."
"I know how you feel. Believe me, I do. But most of them aren't yet teenagers, Serenity, if any of them are."
"Sylvia should be a teenager by now, I think."
"Maybe so, Serenity. But there aren't too many other girls who are in Serena's crowd and who are teenagers, if I'm not too mistaken about such things here."
"True enough, I suppose. I hate the fact that any number of young girls might actually have to train as Sailor Scouts as young as they've been having to do here for us. I really do hate it, Luna. And sometimes, I really wish that we didn't have to worry about the Negaverse at all. I know they'll come here to try to wipe us all out, and that they'll probably kill Daniel, in the process of doing so."
"As well as Serena and Darien, at least, of course."
"Especially Serena and Darien, if at all possible, Luna."
"And what of those beings of ours who we might eventually lose somehow, Niti?"
"We'll have to take the chance that we'll eventually lose them, most likely, in order to do what we can to try to protect as many of our other beings as possible. We're undoubtedly going to lose at least a few sentients, if not a lot of sentients, Luna. Whether we like it or not, we'll someday begin to do so, if we've not already begun to do so, at all, before our Moon Kingdom's end actually comes to us here."
"And what if some of our people can't fight, for instance?"
"Then the rest of us who still can must do whatever we possibly can do against our enemies, of course, Luna. I have this feeling that Serena will possibly be unable to fight as a Sailor Scout and still live well enough in this current time period of ours. If she tries, she might not be able to do that well enough here. And she might even be killed by our enemies as she tries to do that here."
"Which, of course, you'll not be able to stand sufficiently well in your very own life, Niti. And that'll then cause you to give up the Moon Kingdom for as many of our sentients as possible, for all the obvious reasons, I believe, in a very short period of time."
"Nothing at all is as important to me in my own mortal life, other than God, of course, as my friends and family are, Luna. Not even our Moon Kingdom. God's the most important being in three co-existing and co-equal persons that there has been, is, and ever will be, in my whole mortal life, Luna. I couldn't somehow save my parents, when their times actually came to them so far away from here, in fact. I couldn't somehow save my now-dead siblings, either. And I may not be able to somehow actually save my husband from a state of permanent enough death in the future. But I'll certainly do all I possibly can do, in order to save as many of our Moon Kingdom's sentient inhabitants that I possibly can save, no matter what the cost might be to me or to the Moon Kingdom."
"Even if it means your death?"
"Yes, even if it does, Luna, I'll still do all I can to save as many of our sentient beings, at least, as I possibly can, from our Moon Kingdom, somehow. Of course, I'm counting all of our Terran friends here, for all the obvious reasons, quite naturally, Luna."
"And the last such beings that you expect to see before you fall asleep here are who?"
"You and Artemis, if at all possible, of course, Luna."
"And who will finish the job once you fall asleep?"
"I have no idea, for sure, Luna. Or at least I don't, as of the current time here, in fact."
"Could other Scouts somehow finish the job here, if the need arose for them to do so?"
"I really don't know. I suppose that if they were somehow off their various worlds or moons, when the Negaverse attacked them all, they possibly could, Luna. I believe that if they're outside Jupiter's orbit, they might be able to do that here well enough, if they can elude our enemies well enough for a long enough period of time. As for those of us from Jupiter's mini-system inward, I don't know about that well enough here, in fact, Luna."
"Because the Negaverse is going to mainly concentrate all their major enough attacks closer to the Sun than Saturn and its mini-system generally are, in your opinion?"
"I believe so. A lot of our strongest defenses are closer to the Sun than they are to Pluto's orbit, if I'm not too mistaken here, Luna. And if they ruin them well enough here, the rest of the system could very well be theirs, if at all possible for them all here. They might even try to destroy Sol, if some visions and/or dreams that I've actually been having the last few days are sufficiently accurate in their respective natures."
"And if they destroy Sol somehow, then what?"
"I believe that the destruction of Sol would cause Sol to at least nova, if not supernova, here. Mercury might be destroyed. Venus might be gone. Earth and the Moon might be gone as well. And so might Mars, as a matter of fact, if I'm not too mistaken here. Which would then leave, at most, of course, just Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto in our solar system, if that happened somehow."
"If that happened, then what might be left of our system, in essence?"
"A black hole, maybe, in the middle of it, Luna. The remaining planets might be sucked into it as well, or they might be ejected out into interstellar space with all their moons and space stations, and anything else of theirs that still survives Sol's destruction. I don't really know for sure what might happen in our system if Sol's somehow destroyed by our enemies. But I am reasonably sure, however, that whatever happens, it'll be quite destructive and quite deadly, no matter what it is here."
"So Sol must somehow survive, easily enough, if anybody and anything else at all in the solar system is actually going to be able to do that here?"
"I very strongly believe that'll be the case here. As far as I know right now, the nearest inhabited solar system to us is more than four years away just at a velocity of normal light-speed, which is at least 186,200 Terran statute miles per second. I don't really know what it'd somehow be at most, if not all, possible faster-than-light speeds, for all the obvious reasons, either, Luna. Hyperspace, for instance, can appear to be rather fast to us. Or it couldn't, depending on what the prevailing conditions of it might be at any time anywhere at all in the Universe."
"And if our system is essentially destroyed by our enemies, how do we warn any or all of the inhabitants of nearby systems about our enemies, if at all possible?"
"I really don't know if we'll ever be able to do that somehow here, Luna. But I could be wrong about that, of course, Luna."
Just then, Artemis and Prince Raphael came in. And Raphael soon said, "Sister, the Prime Minister is wondering how much longer you'll be taking a break from government-related matters here."
"Tell them all that I'll be back in about forty or so minutes, most likely, if nothing else happens in the meantime that requires I attend to it as well before then, brother."
"Fine, Serenity. I'll tell them all that." Prince Raphael then left, not more than a few seconds later, in fact. Artemis, however, stayed behind, just the same. Serenity and Luna asked him why, once they were all alone again.
Artemis said, "Several of the currently-present Sailor Scouts were wondering if you'd be willing to train them for a while either today or tomorrow, Queen Serenity."
"Tell them to meet me first thing tomorrow after they have their breakfasts, if they really want me to train them for a while tomorrow, Artemis. It seems I'm quite booked for the rest of the day, at least. So they'll have to wait for a while for me to possibly be able to train them more as Sailor Scouts."
"But Junior Sailors Spyglass, Tranquility, Rising Sun, and Millennium, at least, were hoping that you'd be able to train with them today, Queen Serenity, if at all possible."
"That may not be possible today, Artemis. I expect that these meetings of mine today will last at least until sunset, if not even longer than that here. I hope that they don't, of course. But I still realize that they might actually do so, just the same, Artemis."
"Don't you honestly think Prime Minister Chalotaiki is sometimes quite misguided, when compared to your late mother-in-law Princess Ruth, Serenity?" asked Luna, not more than a few moments later.
"If you're asking, 'Do I think he's wrong about a lot of things?', Luna, then I'd probably have to say, 'Yes, I do.' But if not, then I'd probably have to say, 'Everyone can be a little hard to understand at times, Luna.' I may not like him, personally. But he's still my Prime Minister, at least as of the current time. The members of the House of the Elders actually chose him as their leader. And because of that fact, I had to appoint him Prime Minister."
The three of them talked for a while longer, then, before Serenity had to return to where she'd been meeting several of her government's leaders earlier. She wished she didn't have to do so, quite naturally. But she still did so, just the same.
Two more chapters will follow very soon after this one, before we cut back to Earth again, and see what Serena and others are up to there. We will learn more about the heretofore-unseen Scouts in the next chapter or two, before we cut back to Earth again. And we will also learn about some potentially disturbing things that Queen Serenity learns before we do so, as well.
Until the next chapter, then, I'll close this. TUS out.