I in NO way own any part of the Sailor Moon Metaseries.
"Capt'n." The Capitan's radio crackled. He pulled it off his belt, bringing it to his face.
"What?" he asked impatiently, he was on his way to the cargo hold with the last of the
energy to revive the Coffin.
"Capt'n, we've lost them, they snuck past the ambush some how."
"What! How did… never mind. Find them. Stop them!" The Capitan put the radio back on his belt and started running. He had to revive the Coffin NOW.
~/~/~
The door Ceres had found had led them into a long white hallway lined with handrails and with the pipes of the ship in plain view.
"We're below the main deck." Uranus stated. Neptune nodded and the two scouts started down the hallway. Saturn looked up at Ceres, who was trying to decide what they needed to do next.
"The Coffin's got to be somewhere in the cargo hold." He said walking after the two Scouts. Uranus spoke without stopping.
"Probably farther below, in the lowest hold." Saturn frowned.
"Why do you say that?" she asked.
"It'd be safest, if this Coffin is weak, then it'd most likely be where it would be most protected." Ceres was about to agree when they came to a fork in the hallway. To the left a sign read BRIDGE, while to the right the sign read HOLD. The group felt the ship rock under them, reminding them that the ship was leaving the harbor. Uranus looked right, then left, then at Ceres. "Time to split up." she said. Ceres realized what she meant, having looked at the signs himself, but still frowned. "We'll stop the ship, while you go below to stop this Capitan from reviving the Coffin." Ceres shook his head.
"There's no way I can take him alone." he said. Neither Uranus or Neptune said anything, but simply starred. His gaze followed that of the two scouts in front of him to the purple clad scout next to him. Saturn smiled.
"You two need to get down there and stop him. We'll meet up with you as soon as we stop the ship." Uranus said, in a tone like so many Sergeants Ceres had heard. He was about to protest, but before he could say anything, the two scouts had taken off down the hallway to the left. Ceres shrugged, realizing she was right, and turned to face the right hallway. He nodded to Saturn, and the two took off down the right hallway, Glaive and Sickle in hand.
~/~/~
Ceres and Saturn quietly crept through the door at the end of their hallway. The room they'd entered was a cargo hold, but Ceres didn't need a second glance to see that it wasn't the one he was looking for. From the crates that they were hiding behind, he could see that this cargo hold had been converted into a sort of practice range for the possessed crew. Most of the hold was dead space between the firing line and the targets at the other end of the hold, but one corner was a mock building, similar to the kind he remembered training on during his time with the Army.
'Humm…' Ceres puzzled the scene before him in his head. There were a number of the possessed crewmen in the hold, either practice shooting, or simply talking to each other. All were armed in someway, so a direct attack would be suicide. He heard Saturn moving behind him. "Maybe we can try to sneak around them…" he trailed off as he turned around to face Saturn. She wasn't there. Hearing the a sound and, looking up, he saw the teenage Scout had climbed a nearby ladder onto a scaffolding that ran the length of the hold. He smiled. "…or we can just go above."
~/~/~
Uranus and Neptune reached the top of the third set of stairs. The hallway they had taken had led to several sets of stairs, all of them leading to the Bridge at the top of the ship. As they passed through a door and rounded another corner, however, the two Outer Scouts stopped at what was in front of them. The large room they had entered was lined with bunk beds, several rows, each several beds deep. And in this room were a dozen of the possessed crew, as surprised to see the two Scouts as the they were to find anyone there. The surprised stunned both parties, but only for a second. The Crewmen rushed for their weapons, on racks at the far end of the room, While the two scouts both took advantage of their opponents being weaponless and attacked.
URANUS WORLD SHAKING
NEPTUNE DEEP SUBMERGE
The two attacks danced out across the room, hitting the slower of the crewman, turning them to dust, while most had made it to the weapons racks and the cover that they provided, and began to return fire with the firearms. As the Scouts took cover behind a bunkbed, they heard the ships intercom crackle.
"All hands! The Sailor Scouts are onboard!"
"Great" Uranus muttered.
~/~/~
As Ceres and Saturn crept along the scaffolding, they heard the ships intercom crackle.
"All hands! The Sailor Scouts are onboard!" It announced. Immediately, all the possessed crewmen below them stopped what they were doing and took off, running out the multiple doors to search the ship, including a door that read, AFT HOLD STAIRS. The room began to empty as Saturn reached the door leading to the same stairs from the scaffolding, when Ceres heard a door fly open behind him.
"Hey! It's them!" A crewman shouted. Ceres looked over his shoulder to see one of the Crewman stepping onto the scaffolding from scaffold access door on the other side. Rather than a gun, this one held a machete. The possessed man charged at him.
"Gogogogo!" he yelled to Saturn as he turned to face this opponent. His sickle wouldn't be any good at range, so he'd have to let him get close. He continued his charge, using his machete to try and stab him. Ceres swung his sickle up, catching his enemies blade in the crook of the sickle, taking a step back as he did. The Crewman pulled the machete back and tried to slash him. Ceres beat the weapon back with the back of his sickle, staggering the Crewman, and leaving him open for his attack.
CERES SICKLE SLASH
Like at the Airport, energy shot out of the blade and cut through the Crewman, turning him to dust. Ceres let out a breath, only to hear clapping. Looking back at Saturn he saw her clapping politely. Ceres smiled.
"I think I'm getting the hang of this."
~/~/~
Above them, Sailor Uranus and Neptune had their hands full. They were crouched behind a bed, pinned down by fire from the possessed crew. Neptune peeked her head over the mattress for a better look, before ducking back down to avoid the incoming fire. She looked at Uranus.
"There's eight of them." She said, "All behind the metal weapons racks at the other end." Uranus bit her lip. This was a tight spot, and more crewman would only come after that announcement had gone through the ship. As another burst of automatic rifle fire flew over her head, she got an idea.
"What?" Neptune asked, surprised by the sudden smile on her lovers face.
"You know what we could use here?" she asked in a rhetorical tone. Neptune frowned and was about to ask her, when she smiled as well, realizing what the blond scout meant.
~/~/~
On the other end of the room, the possessed crewman stopped shooting. One of them peered over the weapons racks that they were up behind. The two Scouts they'd been shooting at were no where in sight. He signaled to the others and the group all stood so they could see themselves. As they looked around the room, they saw the Aqua haired Scout stand, a similar colored mirror in her hand.
"Get 'er!" The leader of the possessed said, suiting action to words by bring his AK up. The rest of the crew raised their weapons as well, but before they could fire she raised the mirror.
SUBMARINE REFLECTION
Aqua colored energy flew out from the mirror and into the group. As the Crewmen reeled from this new development, the Sailor of the winds stood on the opposite end of the room, an intricate, curved sword in her hands.
SPACE SWORD BLASTER
The possessed crew had only seconds to see the yellow energy flying towards them. The eight men found themselves flying across the room, dissolving before they hit the far wall. Neptune looked at Uranus, an impressed expression on her face. The blond Scout looked back.
"Let's get to the bridge!"
~/~/~
Below decks, the Captain was preparing to use the last of the collected energy to revive the Coffin. Around him stood the remainder of the crew not searching the ship for the Scouts. As he approached the Coffin, he heard a voice behind him. A young female voice.
SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE
The door behind the Capitan flew off it's hinges and slid across the metal hold's floor, coming to a stop several feet from the doorway it once guarded. Turning around he saw, laying on the door, one of his crewman, weaponless now, and screaming as he turned into dust. The Capitan looked at the doorway to see Sailor Saturn and Ceres enter though the door.
~/~/~
"Stop right there!" Saturn said, pointing her glaive at the man closest to the Coffin. Given his uniform, Ceres decided he was the Capitan. 'and that means he's about to revive the whatever the Coffin is.' he thought. The Capitan only scoffed.
"Your too late, in another minute the full power of my Master will be realized." He snapped his fingers, and turned back to the Coffin. Ceres wondered what that gesture meant, only to realize when he heard six assault rifles go from SAFE to FIRE.
"Duck!" he yelled to Saturn, and the two warriors dove behind separate crates. They would have to get past six possessed crewmen before dealing with the Capitan. Behind the crate, Ceres knew he was in trouble. His attack hadn't the range necessary to hit any of his opponents, and they seemed to know this, focusing most of their fire on the purple clad Scout. Looking over at her, he saw her attack some of the Crewman.
SILENCE GLAIVE SURPRISE
One of the Crewman fell, already turning to dust. Ceres looked at the ground, trying to think of what to do, when the solution presented itself, literally at his feet. The Crewman guarding the door that Saturn had blasted through had been flown into the room with the door before turning to dust. His weapon had, however, slid away from him in the process, coming to rest behind the crate the Ceres was now behind. Putting his Sickle back on his belt, he picked up the weapon. It was a rifle he knew well. The exact same kind of rifle that he would use 15 years. He smiled as he stood, making the M4 Carbine click as he turned it from SAFE to FIRE.
~/~/~
Up on the Bridge of the BLUE TIDE the scene was quiet. A skeleton crew of three kept the ship on course. All of the sudden, there was a knock at the door.
"Get it." The one at the ships wheel said, not looking back. The other two looked at each other, then one shrugged, stood up, and went to answer it. Since the door lacked a porthole or window of any kind, he would have to simply open the door. Opening it, he was greeted by four hands that pulled him out of the bridge room with little more than a surprised grunt from the possessed man. The door slammed shut and the two remaining crewmen heard only muffled grunts from the other side. Then the knock came again. This time the two crewmen decided to answer the door together. That way, they reasoned, whoever was at the door couldn't grab both of them. As they pulled the door open, they braced themselves for the attack they knew would come, ready to counter and defeat whoever had attacked their comrade. The door swung open, but the crewman were surprised to see no one there. One took a cautious step into the hall. Instantly a blond figure tackled him. Before the other could reach for his side arm, an aqua colored blast of energy sent him flying down the hall.
With the bridge crew dealt with, Sailor Uranus stood up, admiring her handiwork with a rope they'd found and put to use on the two of the Crewmen. The two Scouts walked onto the bridge.
"There has to be a way to stop this ship." Uranus said, searching around the panel of lights and instruments surrounding the ships wheel.
"Here it is." Neptune said, pulling a lever attached to a round dial, changing where it pointed to from FULL FORWARD, to FULL STOP. The ship lurched as the engines were stopped and the large propellers were halted.
"Good." Uranus said to the Aqua haired Scout. "Let's get down to the hold." Neptune only nodded and the two Scouts dashed out of the room.
~/~/~
The last of the possessed crewmen fell as Ceres dropped the empty magazine from the M4. He threw away the empty weapon and he and Saturn both turned to the Capitan, who still stood facing the Coffin. He felt the Ship lurch and come to a stop beneath him as he pulled his sickle off his belt.
"It's over Capitan. Give it up." he said. The Capitan did not move. Not at all. After a few seconds, Ceres took a step towards him and the Capitan toppled over onto his back, limp. Looking at the body before him, Ceres saw a person drained of all the energy they could possibly carry. The "X" on his forehead shone for a second, before growing dark, looking more like a burn than before. This time it was Saturn's turn to realize that they were in trouble.
'Uh-oh." she said. Ceres, looking at the Coffin, at the "X" on the side that was beginning to glow, couldn't help but agree.
