Chapter Seventeen

She looked out the window and watched the arid, broken landscape of the Great Rift sweep past far below them. Beneath her, she felt the small transport she was on tremble and shake as it fought its way through the rough winds that ruled the skies above the seemingly endless scar that marred the dark perfection of Saturn's surface.

"You are nervous."

As always, her master's voice was calm and controlled. She shifted away from the window and quickly checked over the boxes stored in the back of the transport. The boxes held not only weapons, but also clothes, and other equipment that they might need during their stay in Requiem City. Only when she was sure that the boxes were secure did she return to the cockpit where her master sat at the controls of the transport.

"Why are you nervous?" he asked, his eyes fixed on the sky in front of them. Even so, she could feel the weight of his attention on her and she had to force herself not to fidget. It seemed that no matter how many things she killed she would always, in some way, be the same little girl he'd found in the ruins of a slaughtered village. The thought was both troubling and comforting at the same time.

"It has been a long time since I've left the Rift," she said softly as she settled into the co-pilot's chair. The chair adjusted to her height and weight instantly and she let her eyes slip shut. "I don't think that I'll remember how to act."

He slanted a look at her. "That is part of the reason that we are going. If you wish to have your revenge, you cannot hope to achieve it alone. Besides, I have no doubt that you will soon adjust. You are a survivor and a survivor adapts."

She supposed that much was true. When she'd first arrived in the Rift, she hadn't thought she could ever actually kill something. Now, she barely blinked when she killed. In fact, killing had become a little too easy, a little too automatic for her. Still, even if she could adjust her behaviour there were others things to worry about, such as her clothing.

Instead of the furs and skins she'd grown used to she was wearing what seemed like a slight variation of his usual outfit. She wore black trousers of some soft yet sturdy material that was flexible enough to never hinder her movements. There was a black cloak too, long like his, and made of the same, almost shadow-like cloth. The only real variation was her long sleeved blouse. Instead of black it was a dark purple, the colour of the horizon several hours shy of dawn. The colour was oddly comforting. Her mother's eyes had been that colour, and so were hers.

"I didn't ask earlier, but why did you give me these clothes?" she said.

He continued to stare out of the cockpit. "Requiem City is the closest major city to the Great Rift. The countless villages and towns that live in its shadow often hire bounty hunter's to deal with the more dangerous creatures."

"Shouldn't the city dispatch soldiers for that?" she asked.

He shook his head. "There are too many towns and villages to make stationing soldiers in each of them affordable. It is cheaper for the city to simply arrange for specialist bounty hunters whenever the creatures of the Rift become overly aggressive." His lips drew into a thin line. "I am known in the city as a hunter, of sorts. When they see how you are dressed they will simply assume that you are my apprentice."

She nodded and felt her lips curve into a grimace. Somehow she wasn't surprised that money was the motivation for not stationing soldiers in each town and village. How might things have turned out if there had been soldiers there when her village had been attacked? Sighing, she shoved the thought aside. It wouldn't have made a difference. The attack on her village had been planned. The soldiers either wouldn't have helped or would have been killed like everyone else. Still, there was one other thing that she wanted to ask him about with regards to what would happen when they reached the city.

"What will I call you when we are in the city, and what will I be called?" She hated how nervous she sounded, how weak, but she couldn't stop the tremor in her voice. For the past eight years she'd been nothing but 'you' or 'girl' and he'd always just been 'master'. She had no problems with using only such titles, but somehow she doubted that everyone else in the city would be so understanding. Indeed, there was a part of her, however small, that still cared what others thought of her. Ruthlessly, she silenced it.

This time he did look at her and beneath the full weight of his gaze she found herself almost shrinking away. His eyes, so dark that they seemed black, burned into her, and for a moment she couldn't move, breathe, or even think. He was no longer her master, no longer the man who'd taken her in and trained her. No, he was once again the man he'd been when she first laid eyes on him, that powerful, inscrutable, and unreachable killer that had laid waste the creatures that had killed her family like they were nothing. She swallowed and forced herself to meet his gaze evenly. The moment passed and he was once again looking out of the cockpit at the sky before them.

"What would you like to be called?" he asked quietly. "Would you like to use your real name?"

Her eyes widened slightly. Names were something that she'd learned he didn't like to talk about. Years ago she'd asked him what his name was and he'd refused to give it. In turn, he'd never asked for her name and she was sure that if she offered it, he would refuse. In her idle moments, she often wondered why he'd given up his name. On Saturn only a few groups of people went without names and none of them were pleasant.

"No," she said after several moments of thought. "I don't want to use my real name. It's enough for me that I can still remember it." Her fists clenched and she took a deep breath before speaking again. "In a way, I don't even think of it as my name anymore. It belonged to a little girl and that little girl died years ago with the rest of her family. Now… now, there is only me. I think it would be better if her name is never tied to all the blood I'll have to spill."

He nodded slowly in approval and for a second his lips curved into a smile, a real one, soft, and almost wistful. It was not an expression she'd never really seen on his face before, but she felt it suited him. He should smile more. "Very well, you don't have to use your real name, but you are right. We won't be working alone for this. You will need a name of some kind."

"So what will I be called?"

He pursed his lips. "On Mars, it is custom that a child not receive a name until they make their first kill. Until that day they are simply referred to as the 'son of' or the 'daughter of' their parents. For Martians, to be nameless is to be too weak even to kill. It is to be useless, to be worthless, to be nothing." His hands tightened almost imperceptibly on the controls and his jaw clenched. "On Saturn, our beliefs our different. A name is a gift, a reflection of our soul. To be nameless is to have no soul." He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them again they were almost gentle. "I have not had a name for many, many years, but there are those who call me Shadow for the way that I dress and the manner that I fight. Still, Shadow is not a name, it is simply a title."

She tilted her head to one side, not yet sure of where he was going.

"You are my first and only student, so that is what I will ask others to call you." He glanced at her. "If those we work with must call you something, have them call you Student, for it is what you are although I suspect that by the time we leave the city you will have a title of your own."

"Student?" she spoke the word slowly, wonderingly. It wasn't at all what she'd expected, but she supposed it would do. He was right, after all. It was what she was. "How much longer then, till we reach Requiem City?"

He looked at the display. "Perhaps another five or six hours." He tapped the back of her chair with one hand. "Sleep. I will wake you when we near the city."

X X X

"Student."

She woke from dreams of blood and death and black scales glittering in firelight to find something on her shoulder. In an instant, she was on her feet as her eyes scanned the area around her for any threat. Only when she realised where she was did she relax. She was in the cockpit of the transport and what had been on her shoulder was only her master's hand.

He regarded her with a slightly bemused expression and she was tempted to glare. She knew from past experiences that his instincts were much the same. The first time she'd tried to awaken him from sleep, he'd nearly killed her before he'd realised what he was doing.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Perhaps only a half hour from docking." He gestured at the window of the cockpit. "Look."

And so she looked.

And then she stared.

She could see Requiem City. And what a sight it was. The buildings at the heart of the city rose like countless titan fingers of black stone toward the dark, cloud-strewn sky. Lit in the dying light of the coming dusk, some of the buildings rose so high that they extended above even the clouds and vanished into the endless expanse of twilight far above. Slender bridges linked the buildings to one another, each bridge another strand in the web of some gigantic spider that spun not with silk, but with pitch.

Light glowed upon the sides of the mammoth buildings, shades of purple, blue, and red glittering in the growing darkness. Further out from the city centre, the buildings grew smaller, but each was still larger than any she had seen and even from a distance she could tell that all of them shared the same, imposing style. How, she wondered, could anyone have built things so huge?

As their transport began to work its way closer to the city, she saw countless dark shapes silhouetted against the sky and stiffened. But then she realised that the shapes did not belong to the great birds and dragons that stalked the barren wastes of the Great Rift. No, the shapes belonged to transports much like their own, a whole swarm of them moving in and out of the eldritch black hive of the city. Unbidden, an image came to her of the whole city laid low, it's countless spires and towers smashed to dust and the skeletons of its grandest buildings tumbling to the earth.

Some of her unease must have shown, for her master's voice cut into her reverie. "It is quite a sight, isn't it?"

She made herself nod. "I have never seen anything like it." That much was true, only she wasn't sure if she wanted to stay and continue to bask in the baroque splendour of it all, or simply turn and flee. Somewhere, deep in her gut, she couldn't shake the sense that there was something very wrong with the city.

They wove in and out of the buildings, her master deftly guiding the transport through the sea of traffic. As they continued toward their destination, she studied the buildings more intently. They were all done in the famous gothic style of Saturn. The facades were works of art, each of them detailed with the legendry of the planet and each bearing the scars of countless years of wind and rain and battle. A face flashed past her on one of the buildings and she flinched away. It was a face that she knew well for it appeared often in the history books. It was the face of the last Sailor Saturn. But she was supposed to have died so long ago that no one was certain if she'd ever really existed, or if she was just a myth. Certainly, in the countless years since then, no successor had appeared. That only made her wonder just how people knew what she had supposedly looked like. The images shown in books were probably just idealisation then, dreams, and nothing more.

Finally, they reached their destination and her master guided the transport to a stop on the roof of one of the smaller buildings away from the city centre. There was a dull thump as they touched down and then a hiss as he eased down the transport's systems.

"Remember," he reminded her. "Do as I say and follow my lead." With that he stood and she followed him as he opened the door of the transport.

There were people out there, more people that she had seen for a very long time. She dismissed most them instantly. They were fit and moved like they had training, but they lacked the grace and efficiency of movement that she had learned marked those used to killing. Most likely, they were common soldiers, used to taking orders from others and while dangerous as a group, almost harmless individually. Yes, she thought, they were no threat to her or her master.

The same could not be said for three of the others. One of them caught her eye immediately. He was an older man with a thick head of shoulder length grey hair. Unlike the soldiers, he moved with the easy grace of a born warrior and that was despite the massive sword he wore on his back. She examined the weapon more closely. From what little she could see of it, she surmised that it was likely a claymore or something similar, probably with a plasma-enhanced edge to allow it to cut through things that mere metal could not.

The second person to catch her attention was a younger man who stood just off the shoulder of the older man. He had dark brown hair and eyes of roughly the same colour but unlike the older man he seemed to prefer firearms. There was a rifle slung across his back and though she didn't much like guns herself, her master had insisted she learn to recognise and even use them just as well as anything else. But it was his eyes that really drew her attention. His eyes seemed to flick over the whole scene automatically and to take in each and every detail with practiced ease. He was also one of the few who did not immediately dismiss her upon noting her size and gender.

At last, she let her eyes fall onto the final person to catch her attention. There was a young woman there, perhaps four or five years older than her, and while she would normally have been considered exotically pretty with her bright blue eyes and blonde hair – both rarities on Saturn – there was a hardness about her that spoke of a life of constant battle. Moreover, there was a power inside her, one not dissimilar to the power inside Student, but softer somehow.

Student was shaken from her thoughts when the older man walked up to greet her master. The two of them met each other's gaze for a moment before there was a blur of motion. Faster than she would have believed possible, the older man drew his claymore and brought it around toward her master's head. Had her master been even a moment slower in drawing his own weapon, the blow would have parted his head from his shoulders. As it was, sparks flew as the two blades met and her master was pushed back, actually pushed back, for several inches.

"It's been a long time, Deran," her master said. "It seems you're still doing well."

The older man, Deran, laughed and tugged her master into a hug. Her master accepted the gesture, but she could see how uncomfortable it made him and how relieved he was when the other man let go. "And you're still the same." His gaze flicked up to her and she met it evenly. "Although I have to admit, I wasn't sure whether to believe you when you said that you had taken on a student."

"She is my first student," her master replied.

"I see." Deran nodded. "What should we call her?"

Her master smiled thinly. "Call her Student."

A curious expression crossed Deran's face and she wondered just how much the older man knew about her master's past. "Very well then, Shadow, we'll call her Student." He gestured at an elevator not far away. "If you would both come with me, I'll tell you exactly what we've got planned during your stay here."

She followed Deran and her master into the elevator as some of the other members of the staff began to unload the transport. By the looks of things, they would be given quarters in the building, which was at least one less thing to worry about. As the doors of the elevator closed she became increasingly aggravated by the stares that she was getting from most of the soldiers. She was well aware of the fact that she was not particularly physically imposing, but still, if they'd had any real combat experience they would have been able to tell that she was dangerous.

The elevator came to a stop and Deran led them through a series of corridors into a large conference room. There, he quickly gestured for both her and her master to sit as several others took seats at the table, as well. The two others she'd noticed on the roof, the young man and woman, took seats on either side of Deran. Clearly, they must be important. The older man was about to start talking, when one of the soldiers stepped forward.

"Excuse me, sir, but I have a question."

Deran nodded curtly. "Speak, soldier."

"That girl," the soldier pointed at her. "Why is she here?"

A chill descended over the conference room and she narrowed her eyes. She could see the way that things were plainly enough. The group they were with was like a pack, a big one, true, but a pack all the same and Deran was its leader. She was a newcomer here and the soldier was challenging her place in the group. She could simply ignore him and the implied insult to her master, but that would solve nothing. If she and her master were to work with this group, she would need to deal with this and deal with it in a way that left no doubt.

Wordlessly, she stood and as she glanced at her master she saw his eyes glitter with approval. Good, he understood. "Just don't kill him," he murmured.

"You don't think I can pull my weight," she said, her eyes boring into the soldier. Something of her real nature must have shone through, because he took an uncertain step back before he caught himself and steadied. "You think that I am harmless." Her voice was velvet steel.

"Well look at you," the soldier replied. "You can't be more than maybe fifteen and you're not even a big fifteen at that." He chuckled and looked at his fellows for support. "What can you do?"

"Hit me," she said.

"What?"

She smiled thinly and her eyes narrowed to slits. Out of the corner of her gaze she noted the amused smirk on Deran's lips. "If you can hit me then I will admit that you are right."

The soldier looked at Deran. "Sir?"

Deran laughed. "You heard her, or don't you think you can hit her?"

That was all answer that the soldier needed. With a growl, he stalked toward her and threw a punch. It wasn't a bad punch, but to someone like her who had been fighting the beasts of the Great Rift since she was a child, it was nothing. She slipped past it and pushed away from the table into the open space of the room. He followed her, punching and kicking, and as she dodged away from each one, she felt his frustration mount.

Guffaws from his fellows filled the room and she wondered if it wasn't time to end it. The next time he threw a punch, she ghosted low and let the blow sweep over her head. As she rose, she drove her fist up and into his solar plexus. His breath left him in a whoosh and as he crumpled, she grabbed the back of his head and flung him across the floor. He skidded across the carpet and scrambled to his feet, his face red.

With an incoherent cry, he charged again, his hands outstretched to grab her and drag her down to the ground. Rather than retreat or dodge, she stepped forward and leapt up to drive one knee into his chin. The blow snapped his chin up and his eyes rolled back into his head. He dropped to the ground, twitched and lay still.

"He isn't dead," she said when she felt the others stare at her. "You can check for yourselves." As several of the other soldiers rushed over to do just that, she let the silence inside her flare, let the crimson shadows inside her soul roar to life and fill the air with the eerie violet light that marked her power. "Is there anyone else who wants to challenge my right to be here?"

No one spoke up and she was sure that at least one person made the sign against evil.

Deran waited for the room to settle and for her to take her seat again before he began to speak. He tapped the console set into the table in front of him and the data projector at the centre of the table flared to life. A three-dimensional image of Requiem City appeared.

"This is Requiem City," Deran began before the image changed to a building near the outskirts of the city. "And this is our target. Our intelligence indicates that it is one of the Royal Family's main research facilities. As you can see it is made up of five buildings arranged around a sixth, central building. The outer buildings house a range of different facilities, from research labs, to libraries, and specimen enclosures. However our main concern is the central building." He pointed at the young woman beside him. "Anara will tell you more about that."

The blonde woman, Anara, nodded and the image changed again, zooming onto the central building before the outside of the building turned transparent to reveal its interior layout. "The central building houses the main data bank, which contains all of the information relating to research carried out at the facility. For obvious reasons, that information is invaluable. With it we can find out just what they've been up to and what they are planning."

"Why don't we just hack the thing?" someone asked.

Anara shook her head. "The main data bank is an isolated system. As far as we can tell the only way to access it is through the main terminal inside the data bank. Once we have a physical connection established there then we can broadcast the data out to our own systems for retrieval."

Student studied the image of the central building. It was enormous, probably the equal of all but the very tallest buildings in the city. "What else do they keep in there?"

An uneasy look passed across Anara's face. "We can't be sure of exactly what else is in there, but we suspect that the central building also houses several auxiliary power supplies along with the more successful research specimens."

Student's eyes narrowed ominously. "I see." She turned to study her master. He was watching her impassively, no doubt interested to see just what she was thinking. "This facility must be highly guarded, how exactly do you plan on getting inside it?"

Anara looked at the young man on the other side of Deran. "Van, explain."

The young man took command of the display and once again it showed the six building of the facility, only now it had expanded to show the neighbouring buildings, as well. He drew their attention to one building in particular. "The facility is almost entirely cut off from the rest of the city from security reasons. The only building that it is connected to is this one." He pointed at a large building joined to one of the outer buildings of the facility by a bridge. "This building houses the provincial governor's office. We are fortunate that he and his staff are more concerned with amassing a fortune and currying favour with the Royal Family than doing their jobs properly. Over the past several years we have been able to ingratiate several of our members into the buildings security staff. Tomorrow, when we make our attack, we will be able to access the bridge linked to the facility."

Van looked at Student and her master. "That's where you two come in. The bridge itself is not particularly wide and it is heavily patrolled. Any large-scale attack on the bridge would immediately result in a lockdown of the facility. We need you to take out the guards on the bridge quickly and quietly. Once we've secured the bridge, we'll be able to access all of the facility's buildings using the bridges that link them to one another."

"Why don't we just fly in?" The question came from one of the soldiers. "We could maybe bust a hole in the side of one of the buildings and go in that way."

Van shook his head. "There is a sizeable garrison protecting the facility. Moreover, the buildings themselves are protected by several laser batteries and plasma emplacements. Attacking from the air would only get us massacred." He turned back to the display. "Once we've infiltrated the facility we'll be splitting into several groups. All but one of the groups will head to the other buildings. There, they will plant two sets of explosive charges. Once all of the charges are in place, we set the first set off."

"You're going to bring down the buildings?" Student asked softly.

Van shook his head. "Not, exactly. The first set of charges is mostly for show. We need to draw the garrison away from the central building and the explosions will be our way of doing that. Once the garrison comes to investigate we can engaged them in battle and tie them up. While this is happening, the group that remained behind will infiltrate the central building and make for the main data bank. Only after we've retrieved the data and evacuated will we detonate the second set of charges. Those should bring down the buildings, or at the very least cause sufficient damage to set their research program back for years."

"I and Shadow will be leading the forces attacking the outer buildings," Deran said. "Van and Anara will lead the force infiltrating the central building. Student, you will go with them."

"Is there any reason for those groupings?" Student asked. "My master and I would work better together." Inside, despite herself, she felt a hint of not so much fear, but insecurity. Her master had always been there, always, and now on this mission it seemed like they would be apart. She forced the feeling down and clenched her jaw. This mission would be her first, real chance to strike back at the people responsible for her family's death. She would not mess up.

"I don't doubt that you and your master make a most formidable team, however we have reason to believe that there are certain people amongst the facility's garrison that share the powers that you and your master have." Deran scowled. "Past experience tells us that such people would be best left to you and your master. You'll be going with Van and Anara in case any of them are encountered. Of course, your assistance in dealing with any of the central buildings defenders would also be appreciated."

She nodded. "Understood."

"Good. In that case, let me go over the specifics of the plan in more detail."

X X X

After the meeting, Student and her master were given a tour of the building and then shown to their quarters. Those quarters were, to her surprise, quite opulent, bordering on extravagant. She took one look at the silk sheets and fluffy pillows and wasn't sure if she wanted to throw up or cry. She hadn't had fluffy pillows since she was a little girl and the sight of them brought back no small number of memories, many good, but just as many unpleasant. All of them, however, were unwanted. She simply could not afford to lose focus.

Not even sure of what she was actually doing, she began to strip the pillowcases off the pillows. She hunted through the cupboards and closets that dotted her room until she found ones that better resembled the plain, rough cloth that she'd become used to. Her master entered her room as she was changing the last of the pillowcases.

He said nothing for a few moments, but she saw her face in the mirror of the dresser near the bed. Her eyes were wild and filled with unwanted memories, and her teeth were bared. Her control was fraying and they both knew it. However, rather than admonish her, he simply helped her collect the unused pillowcases and store them away. Then he helped her exchange the silk sheets and other finery for the plainer variety found in the cupboards. Only then did he speak.

"You should go out and have a look around," he said. "It may be some time before we are in a city of this size again and tomorrow there won't be time to look around."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea." Away from the conference room and its familiar talk of tactics and battle she felt out of place. She wasn't used to walls of thick stone and fine things. She wanted, strangely, desperately, to be back in the small house in the Great Rift. She had known how things were then, had known exactly what she was doing. Now that she was taking her first concrete steps toward avenging her family, she was suddenly uncertain. What if she made a mistake? What if she wasn't good enough?

He thrust something into her hand. It was money, a lot of money. "Go take a look outside."

She sighed and closed her hand around the money. His voice had once again taken on the tone he used during training. He must want to teach her something but in typical fashion he wanted her to learn it for herself. "Fine."

"Just be back before dawn."

As she stalked out of her room and down the corridor, she chanced a look into his room. Unbidden, a smile crept onto her lips. He'd stripped his bed of all its finery too.

From their chambers she took the elevator down to ground level. The ride was a long one, but she welcomed it. It would give her a chance to think, to ready herself for what she knew would be a very different sort of world from the desolate wastes of the Great Rift.

The instant she was out on the streets of the city, she felt a wave of nausea sweep over her. It was different, too different. The titan buildings of the city rose up on all sides, blocking her view of the night sky with their great bulk. They were like tall, deathly shadows boxing her in and for a moment she had to struggle just to breathe. And then there were the people. From up in the transport, she'd not noticed just how many there were, but now she couldn't help but notice. They were everywhere and after years spent in the company of only one other person it was more than a little unsettling.

She watched them bustle back and forth along the street for a few minutes. Then her eyes drifted to what else was around her. She must be in the shopping district, because even here, at ground level, there seemed to be countless brightly lit stores promising only the finest goods and services. Despite its name and even its appearance, it seemed that Requiem City was a lively place.

Deciding to just start walking down the street, she winced as the sudden shouts of a spruiker filled the air. The man was loud and rude and the abruptness of his cries had her going for the sword she wore at her waist. In truth, she'd wanted to take her glaive with her outside, but it would have drawn too much attention. Swords on the other hand were much more commonplace, especially this close to the Rift.

The view of the city from the street was so different than what she'd seen from higher up. From higher up, all she'd seen was the towering gothic splendour of the city, its monoliths of black stone upthrust at the sky in defiance of age and ruin. The only glimpses of colour had come from the turbulent night sky and the small, fragile lights of dark purple, blue, and red that dotted the buildings.

But on the street, things were different. Glittering signs in florid shades of red and yellow and green exhorted her to enter store after store and spend and spend. The august silence that dominated the upper reaches of the city was replaced by the broken harmony of countless conversations spoken in voices too loud to be polite, and too shrill to be wholly sane.

On either side of her, people pushed past one another, faces down, hands shoved into pockets. Was this really what her planet was like? In the face of such quiet desperation, the life she'd led in her village and in the Great Rift seemed almost quaint, a throwback to another time and place. Ahead of her she saw a woman stop and fall and almost like magic the sea of people parted around her, but no one stopped to held. She took one step forward and then stopped as the woman raised a face made ruddy by too much alcohol and began to yell imprecations at anyone who would listen as she pawed madly at the air.

Student shook her head. She hated this place. Whatever strength of spirit that had made the city great that had carved the titan buildings onto the featureless plain in ages past was long gone. These people were nothing more than shadows of their predecessors and she could almost understand why the Royal Family had done what they'd done. What price a few lives, she thought, if it could stir the people of Saturn from their stupor, if it could make them great again? She laughed bitterly and then broke into a run.

She ran for a long time until she caught sight of Anara on the opposite side of the street. The other woman was going into one of the many bars that seemed to dot the district she was in. What was Anara doing there? Her eyes narrowed as several men in front of the bar exchanged looks and followed the older woman into the bar. She thought for a heartbeat and then crossed the street. The looks they'd exchanged had not been pleasant.

The doorkeeper at the bar didn't even move as she pushed past him. Her age, it seemed, did not matter. Her nose wrinkled in distaste as she took in the smell of the bar. It smelled of old alcohol, decay and other, far less pleasant things. Instinct guided her as she trailed the men to the far end of the bar where Anara was sitting and waited in the shadows for them to make their move.

She did not have to wait long. One of the men grabbed Anara by the shoulder and leered down at her. Then he said something that she didn't quite catch, but Anara's reaction was more than enough. She made a disgusted face and slapped him. It was, in Student's opinion the wrong thing to do. She might not have been around people much, but she could tell what type of people these men were. Anara should have used the opportunity to knock the man out cold, not simply anger him.

The man lifted his fist to strike and she waited for a split-second to see if anyone would do anything. No one moved, no even looked. No one cared. Except for her. She pushed off from the wall in a blur of motion and shoved her foot into the back of his knee. It collapsed under him and put his head level with the bar. She wasted no time and slammed his face into the hard wood. He went down and even before he'd hit the ground, she scooped Anara's glass off the bar and flung it into the face of the second man. The glass hit him and shattered. A harsh cry left his lips and he clawed at his face to try and clear the jagged edges of the broken glass away.

The third man rushed at her from the side and she dodged and stuck one foot out. He tripped and sprawled awkwardly on the ground. Before he could rise, she grabbed a chair and tossed it at his head. It hit with a dull thud and he gave a groan and then lay still. She turned back to the second man and drove a kick into his chest. The force of it hurled him into the nearest wall before he fell limply to the ground. She heard a cry from behind her and saw that Anara had dealt with the last of the men.

"What are you doing here?" the older woman demanded harshly. "Don't you know how dangerous this place is?"

Student nearly laughed. Dangerous? This place was nothing compared to the Great Rift and she'd just taken out three of the men without even trying. Still, a part of her was almost grateful for the other woman's worry. It had been a long, long time since anyone had actually seemed worried about her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw some of the bar's staff discretely drag the downed men to the door and then toss them out.

"I saw you enter the bar," she said finally. "And I saw them follow. So I followed too."

Anara looked at her for a long time and then nodded. "I guess I should be grateful." She sighed. "It seems you really are your master's apprentice." She patted the seat next to her. "Sit down, I'll buy you a drink."

She sat. "I don't drink."

"Of course, you're too young, and I know your master doesn't drink either." Anara looked at the bartender. "Get her a juice or something."

The bartender came back with a glass of juice. Student took a long sip of it and winced. It was cold and bitter, but it was refreshing in a way. How strange it was, she thought, that she was too young to drink, but not too young to fight or kill. Absentmindedly, she watched Anara buy another drink – juice. "Why is it like this?" she murmured more to herself than anyone else.

However Anara must have heard her. "Like what?"

Student wondered whether or not she should continue, but decided that she might as well ask. "This place… it seems wrong, somehow. It isn't like the Saturn that I know. It is lawless and chaotic and everyone looks and hears, but no one sees or listens." She took another long sip of her drink. "And everyone is so desperate."

Anara sighed. "So you feel it too? You've been out on the Rift a long time, Student. Things have been getting worse for centuries, but it's gotten really bad over the last decade." She shook her head. "Saturn's manufacturing capacity goes up every year, but it's all just weapons, things like ships and guns. Saturn is going to war and everyone knows it, it's just a matter of time. Oh, the Royal Family might say that we're just going to increase our contribution to the Lunar Empire's military, but nobody buys that. Never forgive, never forget, isn't that their motto?" She closed her eyes. "The Rift's been growing too, although you wouldn't notice since you're in the middle of it. Whatever the Royal Family has planned, it's big, and it's not good, not for any of us."

"Is that why all the people are like this?" Student asked.

"I think so. People aren't stupid. They can tell what'll happen once Saturn declares war on the Empire. We'll lose and lose badly." Anara drank the rest of her juice in one gulp. "The last time we fought the Empire and lost they gave us the Great Rift. Who knows what'll happen the next time. So people do whatever they can to take their minds off things and the old ways – the good ways – become little more than memories. The Royal Family thinks that seceding will bring back the glory of the old days, but they're wrong. It'll just get all of us killed."

"What did they do to you?" Student asked softly. "What did they take from you?"

Anara looked at her and her eyes glittered icily. "Hope, that's what they took from me." She pushed away from the bar and strode out onto the street. "You should go home, Student. I'll be fine."

Student wanted to follow, but she could tell that Anara wanted very much, very desperately, to be alone. The older woman was right. Who could blame everyone for being desperate when the very people who were supposed to watch over them seemed determined to lead them into oblivion? With a sigh, she pulled her cloak tighter about herself, and turned away.

She wandered the streets for several more hours before she headed back. Her master called out to her as she passed his room. "What did you see, Student?"

She stopped and stared ahead, eyes unseeing. "Nothing," she said softly. "There was nothing to see."

X X X

Author's Notes

As always, I neither own Sailor Moon, nor am I making a dime off this.

So, this chapter is another look at the past. One of the problems of having three separate timelines is that chapters are, by necessity, going to have to be split up between each of them. I've been waiting to write this chapter for a while, actually, just because it's the first time that our protagonist actually sees what a Saturnian city looks like. The answer, of course, is that it looks unlike anything she's ever seen and I wanted to try and get across both her awe at the sight and, her feelings of unease because of how different it is to what she's used to. Just like the Lunar Empire itself, Saturn has many faces, not all of them pleasant or noble. Really, it's almost as fun describing giant ancient cities as it is describing giant space battles. Now if only I could find a way to combine the two…

Anyway, this chapter was also a bit of a relief. The previous few chapters have been very enjoyable to write, but demanding at the same time. I found the change of pace to be a welcome one, as a story that maintains only one pace can often become quite taxing for both reader and writer. There is also the small fact that I like blowing things up in some of my stories, and this chapter hints pretty obviously that there will be plenty of that to come. Heh.

Coincidentally, the shorter delay between this chapter and the last one was due to some extra free time that I was able to snag during the week. When that happens and I do write something, rather than hold it back for a couple of weeks, I'll just post it up.

As always, I appreciate you feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.