Sailor X #17 High Tide
By: John Brengman
London Megacity 2:30 am
The cries of the newborn child echoed through the ramshackle building. Within the old building that had been a department store in better days Two men emerged from the shadow-filled room. One of the men wore a white lab coat and wire glasses. The other was dressed in casual slacks and a shirt. Both men searched the darkness cautiously, as if the cries of the child in the room were dangerous.
"Thanks for doing this doc," the man said as he pulled a cigarette from his coat pocket. "I don't know where I would've gotten a doctor this quickly if it weren't for you."
"You mean you don't know where you would have found someone who would perform an illegal surgery or make sure that neither you, your wife, or baby had Lucifer Chips implanted."
"Uhh, doc," the man stammered, fearful that perhaps he had mistaken the intentions of the doctor.
"Don't worry," the doctor replied quietly. "That's what the Resistance does. Anything we can do to keep the Foundation from getting control of more people. Have you thought of a name for your daughter?"
"Yes," came the reply. "My wife is naming her Jennifer, after her god-mother…"
A spherical shape floated in the air high above the wrecked city street, its electronic eye scanning the area. It's sensors passed over one building, then switched to infrared and flickered over the building once again. Satisfied with the cold blue lifelessness that it found, the surveillance drone turned its attention to the next building…a four-story abandoned store. It started a standard scan of the structure and found nothing.
Switching to infrared, it scanned the building again and discovered a blob of heat near the base of the structure.. With a quick pulse from its engine, the drone glided around to scan the site from another angle. It then switched back to its standard sensors and scanned again.
A micro-transmitter activated.
SURVEILANCE DRONE DN109-329 REPORTING FROM GRID 185.24 HEATHROW SECTION.
NON-REGISTERED HUMANOIDS DETECTED. NO CONTROL CIRCUITS DETECTED.
POSSIBILITY OF RESISTANCE INVOLVEMENT: 47 PERCENT
Having reported its suspicions to the police, the drone continued on to the next building.
== * SM * ==
The crackling flare of the fires burned bright as the police flame-throwers doused the broken building. The flames hungrily devoured the scattered wood, paper, and cloth that lay strewn about the premises. The strobing of the red and blue lights from the police cars could be seen for blocks around, and overhead, surveillance drones recorded the spectacle for the Foundation.
Above the din of the fires and the wail of the police sirens came the desperate cries of a man and his wife. Then, in an instant, fear and anguish bloomed as a plume of fire ripped through the core of the building. Mingled within the chaos were the piercing screams of an infant.
== * SM * ==
The silvery shapes floated far above the shadowy surface of the Negaverse. Slowly they pushed through the gray clouds and the perpetually black skies. Far below, the lights of the city below glimmered up as if trying to hide. At one end of the cluster of lights, bright beams of searchlights stabbed upward into the darkness in lazy waving arcs.
"They're out there," Queen Beryl mused as she looked skyward.
"I don't see them," Cass said worriedly.
"Don't worry," Beryl replied smoothly. "Scanners say that they're up there…" She pointed at a gap between the bright shafts of the searchlights.
"Your troops are ready to be deployed," Sandra reported as she joined Cass and the queen on the balcony in one of the "eyes" of the castle. "The left flank is commanded by Malachite, the center by Nephrite…"
Beryl noticed the pause. "And the right flank?" She asked.
"Scaramanga," Sandra spat.
Beryl turned to face Sandra and fixed her with a stern gaze. "Is there something wrong?" She asked. "Is there some reason that Scaramanga should not command the right flank?"
"We've met before," Cass quipped.
"We've met," Sandra agreed, "and not under the best of circumstances."
"Whatever," Beryl said simply. "Scaramanga is about the best leader that we have now that Zoisite and Jedite are dead. I need him, and I will need you to get over whatever you have against him because you will have to cooperate with him."
"Why?" Sandra inquired.
"Because I want you and the rest of the Sailors to split up into groups of three and join my army groups." Sandra was about to protest but Beryl continued. "This is the break you have been waiting for. Those are three troop ships and a command vessel. If those ships are fully loaded, and with the Slave Shield around Earth up, there is only one place those troops could have come from."
The implication sank in. "The Foundation," Sandra breathed. Beryl nodded gravely.
"If we can tie them down," Sandra started.
"…or better yet, destroy them," Cass chimed in.
"Then there'll be that many fewer troops when you launch your raid on the Foundation," Beryl said as she turned and walked out of the balcony. The two women quickly followed and started talking about which Sailor would be assigned where.
== * SM * ==
A slight fog covered the ground of the huge maintenance bay located under the castle. Metal-reinforced ramps dominated one side of the room and would take everything from vehicles to large numbers of soldiers to the foot of the castle's southern side…just to one side of the "jaws" of the garish stone structure.
Now the place bustled with soldiers checking rifles and ammunition clips and making sure they were ready to provide a fitting welcome to the "guests" their officers said was on the way.
The Sailors were grouped together on a walkway overlooking the entire scene. As the controlled fury of an army readying for war roiled below, the women were making the decision of which of them would go with which army.
"Uranus, Neptune," Sailor Moon said. "You will team up with Malachite."
Neptune nodded in acknowledgement. The others gave no sign that they'd even heard the instructions. Working with someone who in another place had been a deadly foe was hard to get used to.
"Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars," continued Sailor Moon, "you'll be teamed with Nephrite."
"Oh damn," Mars growled.
"What is it?" Sailor Jupiter asked.
"Nephrite's a scumbag," Mars replied.
"They're all losers," Uranus replied stonily. "What's your point?"
Sailor Moon cleared her throat, bringing everyone's attention back to her.
"The people running the Negaverse might be losers here just as they were in our universe," Sailor Moon said. "But right now, they are our best chance to get our queen back." Sailor Moon fought back a tear as she remembered her inability to save Neo-Queen Serenity from the cyborg who kidnapped her.
"So," she continued. "We're going to do what we can to help them for now, and that means splitting our power among their army groups.. Now, that being said, I, Venus and…oh Hell…"
"What?" Mars asked.
"Where's Mercury?" Sailor Moon asked.
"She was just here," Jupiter murmured as she looked around along with the rest of the Sailors.
Sailor Moon gazed down at the continuing bustle below. "We don't have time to search for her," she said. "The armies are about to move out. Venus, you and I will have to join Scaramanga without her."
The leader of the senshi breathed a heavy sigh. She had never been in a full-blown war. None of them had.
"Let's do this," she said before starting down the stairs that would take her and the others to the gathering armies.
"Let's do this for Neo-Queen Serenity."
== * SM * ==
"You see me now a veteran
of a thousand psychic wars…"
- Blue Oyster Cult
The hours of training in the Foundation could not prepare the two Sailors for the carnage that awaited them. Almost from the start of the battle, human waves of soldiers lunged toward the defending positions manned by the combination of the volunteers from Earth and the meager forces of the Negaverse's home army.
Sailor Neptune backed up further as a splattering of lasers spluttered across the ground where she had just stood. She was about to call upon the powers of her patron planet when she remembered Sailor Moon's final order: "Don't use your senshi powers unless you absolutely need to."
"Damn!" Neptune growled as she unleashed a deadly spray of laser bolts at a group of soldiers that were rushing toward her. Sailor Uranus was climbing a rocky outcrop that had once been a building of some sort and had her back turned to the fray. It was up to her and the other defenders near her.
The assault that Neptune unleashed sliced into the oncoming soldiers, most of whom collapsed bloodily to the soggy ground. One of the nearby soldiers shot a blast toward the next group of attackers. His lethal burst tore through the neck of his unlucky target and the soldier was thrown back, his blood splattering the barren turf mere seconds before his body landed.
The Negaverse defender who had scored that lucky hit was the next to become a casualty as the three people next to his target returned fire. One bright burst of energy burned a hole through his skull while another seared his right arm from his torso. The man's lifeless body fell off the rocky ledge.
Neptune looked up just long enough to see the falling corpse dropping right toward her. With a strangled yelp, she scrambled out of the way and the body fell behind her.
Laser blasts pelted the rock piled around Sailor Uranus. "Will you do something about those soldiers?" She yelled.
"Trying," Neptune replied grimly as she dropped two more on-coming attackers.
Uranus heard the whine of a laser pistol and looked down to see Sailor Neptune pinging at the enemy.
"Use your senshi abilities!" Uranus shouted.
"Sailor Moon said…" but Neptune's reply was lost as a hail of laser bolts slammed into the rubble around Sailor Uranus.
"To Hell with orders," Uranus growled. "She's not here getting her ass shot at….WORLD SHAKING!"
Neptune saw Uranus glow as she collected the energy that coalesced around her. "Hit the deck!" She screamed. Soldiers quit firing their weapons and dove to the ground where they were. The attacking soldiers kept up their advance.
The angry yellow glow surrounded Sailor Uranus and then roared twisting and turning forward. As the devouring energy rumbled over the landscape it slammed into everything in its way. Buildings were reduced to rubble.
Living things were reduced to nothing.
Finally, the roar of the destructive attack faded. The Sailors and their group were largely alone. Every so often a laser blast would splatter at the nearby ground, but Uranus had mauled the mass of humanity closest to the Sailors and their group, and the enemy was now in search of easier targets.
== * SM * ==
The Shuttle Bay aboard the Serena
Rachel entered the shuttle bay of the Serena and strode toward the squat shapes that sat at the far end of the room. The few personnel that worked here ignored her; she was a familiar sight.
Rachel walked past the elongated hull of a cargo ship and continued undaunted toward the nearest shuttle. A technician wearing the yellow one-piece jumpsuit of the shuttle bay workers approached. "Is there something I can help you with?" He asked. Rachel responded by pulling a small notepad from within the folds of her shirt.
"The captain wants a system-wide check done of all shuttle bay systems," Rachel replied as she tossed the pad to the man. "You will see to it personally."
"Yes maam," the technician replied as he caught the pad and briefly looked it over. Everything appeared to be in order, and he turned to go about his task.
Rachel was left alone, and she continued toward the nearby shuttle.
Technician Isoru Kaneda looked over the note pad that Rachel had given him thoughtfully. Something was out of place, upon further inspection. He had turned to head back to ask the young woman about it, but she had vanished. Instead, he headed to the side of the room and started up the stairs that led to the shuttle bay's offices.
Pushing through a door, he tossed the pad down next to another one that was laying on the counter next to the main control panels. He then sat down and started going through the diagnostic. Yes, the bay's runway lights checked out. The main lighting was working, the auxiliaries were on stand-by, the back-up power was operational. He toggled the switch for the bay's intercom. "Prepare to test shuttle bay doors."
Rachel slipped into the pilot's chair in the flight module of the shuttle and started activating the controls. As soon as the onboard computer was switched on, a voice said, "Please enter access code."
"Mercury-zero-zero-four," Rachel replied. The computer responded by activating the ship's flight controls.
"Activate compass," Rachel ordered. "Activate novice mode. Activate voice mode. Prepare for launch."
At that moment, "Prepare to test shuttle bay doors," resounded out in the shuttle bay.
Technician Kaneda made some other checks on the systems in preparation for the test of the shuttle bay doors. The hydrolics looked good, and the maintenance team's last report on the door suggested no problems. Still, protocol demanded that in cases when it was feasible, the shuttle bay doors had to be opened, then closed.
"Sir," came a voice over the speaker mounted on the control board. "We're ready to run the test on the bay doors."
"Alright," Kaneda said as he slapped the maintenance report down atop the two discarded notepads. "Go ahead."
"Aye sir," came the reply. Soon after, the doors began to open.
Kaneda started to pick up the maintenance report again, then stopped.
Two signatures stared up from the notepads peeking out from under the report. While "Sandra Tsukino" could clearly be read from both of them, the writing looked nothing alike. Kaneda picked up the maintenance report and studied the signatures. One was on an order closing the shuttle bay until further notice. The other was the one he had just been given.
A forgery!
Kaneda hurriedly toggled the switch to the microphone. "Close the bay doors! Now!"
"Too late sir," came the reply. At about that time, several red lights began flashing and a computer started an alert.
"UNAUTHORIZED LAUNCH IN PROGRESS."
== * SM * ==
"Hold your positions!" Nephrite shouted as a laser bolt scorched the air above his head. A second bolt forced him back into cover behind the corner of a shattered stone hovel.
"Can't you Sailors do something?" Nephrite asked Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Saturn as they huddled next to him. Sailor Mars unleashed a couple of quick shots at the advancing infantrymen before she had to duck behind the building across the road from where the others were pinned.
"We could…" Jupiter replied.
"Our orders," Saturn murmured quietly as she shivered from the sounds of the nearby gunfire. A stray laser bolt splashed into the ground in front of her and she backed herself even further against the wall.
With a flash of light the stone above Nephrite dissolved into rubble and started to fall. Sailor Jupiter quickly ripped him aside to save his life. Nephrite collected himself, then nodded to Jupiter with a smile. "We need to go," he said. The remaining defenders threw bolt after bolt at the advancing soldiers. "They're going to overrun us here."
Nephrite started to leave but Jupiter stopped him. "If we retreat a whole lot of people are going to die, and we may not have the people left to form another line further back."
"So," Nephrite said. "What do you propose we do?"
"Something I
should have done at the beginning of this," Jupiter growled. "A certain girl is
in for a bitch session when this is over….JUPITER GRAVITON POWER!" A force wave
blasted from Jupiter ripping the ground apart with a roar. The building in
front of her collapsed into rubble as the turf heaved under it. The force from
Jupiter's attack reached out and crumpled the advancing line of soldiers. The
men nearest to where the blast was aimed simply imploded into a bloody pulp.
Others slightly further away perished as the flesh was ripped away from their
bones.
However, despite
being mauled by the gravitic force of the jovian senshi, the attackers closed
the hole and continued the advance.
"Your turn, Mars,"
Jupiter yelled as she helped Sailor Saturn to her feet.
Mars gave a slight
nod, then backed a short distance away from the building. A quick smattering of
lasers pelted the ground around her as she came into view of the enemy, but
Sailtor Mars held her ground.
"MARS CELESTIAL
FIRE SURROUND!" Disc-shaped bolts of fire shot out and incinerated a few of the
nearest soldiers. Mars was forced to retreat, but a laser shot slammed into
her, throwing her against the wall.
Saturn turned to
go to her fallen comrade, but Sailor Jupiter stopped her with a firm hand
across her path. "Nail those bastards first," she said, "or we're all
finished."
Saturn spared a
concerned glance at Mars' crumpled form before she too stepped out into the
line of fire. A rain of bullets showered the earth and Saturn nearly dove back
into cover. As she was about to do so howver, her gaze carried over to where
Mars still lay motionless.
Nerves steeled,
two eyes glowered angrily at the oncoming enemy. In a cold voice that seemed
too loud to come from such a small frame, the command came forth:
"DEATH RIBBON DEVASTATION!" Razor-sharp ribbons of deadly energy exploded from Sailor Saturn and roared toward the nearby soldiers, who continued to advance despite the doom that rushed toward them. The surge of deadly energy knifed through man after man, tearing at flesh and bone.
Seeing that perhaps the tide of the battle in this area at least may have turned, Nephrite ordered his soldiers to continue firing.
Jupiter started toward Mars, but Nephrite stopped her. "You help your friend," he said. "I'll tend to Sailor Mars. Seeing that Saturn had already called for her glaive, Jupiter hurried to join her as Nephrite ran toward Sailor Mars.
"I just hope she'll be okay," Jupiter thought as she sent her hand knifing into one soldier's neck. Another soldier cracked his rifle across her back, but she merely turned and dropped the man with a right hook to the chin.
Saturn was making quick work of the soldiers near her as her weapon sliced through the light armor the soldiers wore. As the razor-sharp blade passed it left bloody trail in its wake. Saturn performed her deadly dance with the glaive in a silence as complete as the death she dealt out.
== * SM * ==
The relentless
pounding of the advancing infantry drove Scaramanga's troops back upon the
castle and toward the cliffs west of the leering visage. Sailor Moon spared a
quick glance in that direction. The skull-like stare seemed to glow red,
glistening with the blood being spilt to defend it.
A bolt of searing
heat whizzed by her ear, shaking Sailor Moon back to the matter at hand…finding
suitable cover from which to continue living, much less fighting.
An outcropping of
rocks provided shelter from the non-stop hammering of lasers. The rest of
Scaramanga's troops tried to stand their ground, but they were outnumbered.
Sailor Venus dove out of the path of a deadly blast behind the same rocky crag
and looked up at Sailor Moon.
"All this fighting
is murder on my hair," she quipped.
Sailor Moon
cringed as a blast ripped through the top of the rocks. "That among other
things," she stammered.
"What are we doing
hiding here?" Venus asked. "Use your powers!"
"No," Sailor Moon
replied firmly. "We want to catch them off-guard when we use them."
"That's bull, and
you know it," Venus stated.
Just then, the
rocks the Sailors were crouched behind shattered under a concentrated barrage
of energy. Stone shards rained down on the women as they turned to run.
As she turned to
flee, Sailor Moon saw the yellowish burst of energy that was the trademark of
Uranus' abilities.
"Damn!" Sailor
Moon growled. She continued running toward the cliffs, where the rest of the
defending soldiers were trying to form up in a final defensive position. A
laser bolt blasted at Sailor Moon and caught her left shoulder, and she fell
forward and grabbed at her now-useless arm.
Sailor Venus
fought desperately to get to her friend and unleashed a torrent of fire upon
the ever-nearer enemy that gave her enough time to reach the fallen Sailor.
"Come on, Sailor
Moon," Venus said with a thin smile as she hauled her friend to her feet. "No
time to sleep on the job!" Together, along with a few of the straggling
defenders, they reached Scaramanga and the remaining volunteers.
"Nice of you to
join us," Scaramanga smirked as the two women stumbled up to him.
"Your 'help' was
so appreciated," Sailor Moon shouted over the whine of laser fire.
Scaramanga ignored
the barb. "It seems the enemy chose to hit the right flank hard." He pointed
toward the center of the nearby city, where the effects of Mars' attacks could
still be seen. "Unfortunately, it seems your comrades are pushing the entire
army this way." Scaramanga shot at two enemy soldiers.
With no place to
hide, the right flank quickly became a meat-grinder as each side tried to wear
the other down.
"What can we do?"
Sailor Moon yelled. The soldier she was shooting at took a laser in the leg and
dropped, his face writhing in pain.
"Nothing much
unless you can use your powers," Scaramanga replied as he continued to pelt the
enemy with fire.
"Use them, damn
it!" Venus shouted desperately.
"No!" came the
reply. Sailor Moon took a step back, and it proved to be one step too far. The patch of ground gave way and she toppled
into the chasm with a shriek.
Scaramanga and
Sailor Venus quickly reached out, and Scaramanga managed to grab Sailor Moon by
the laft arm before she was lost.
Sailor Moon
screamed as the fear and terror of falling down the chasm was replaced by the
searing pain roaring through her shoulder. Her other hand clawed uselessly at
the rocky cliff, and through her haze she heard, "VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!"
"No…" Sailor Moon
managed to groan as she lost consciousness.
== * SM * ==
Shuttle 2
Rachel pulled the
control stick back just in time to avoid the rocky ground that rushed up toward
the shuttle. Soon the horizon fell away and Rachel was nearly pinned to her
seat as the ship vaulted into a loop.
"I thought the
autopilot was on!"
"Use of cockpit
flight controls deactivates autopilot systems," the computer replied.
"Activate the
autopilot!" Rachel yelled. The computer beeped in response and the shuttle
levelled itself out of its ascent. A computerized compass appeared on a nearby
computer screen.
"Choose course, speed
and attitude," the computer said. The compass flashed expectantly.
Rachel looked
through the windows of the shuttle at her surroundings. Ribbons of light
flickered far below. The massive hulk of Castle Beryl that towered over the
embattled troops looked like a large
sullen stone.
"Course
three-one-two…" Rachel said slowly. "Standard speed…define the term 'attitude'.
"Attitude is the
angle of descent or ascent," the computer replied.
Rachel finally
managed to get the ship pointed on a course that would take it over the remains
of the ruined city. While the shattered shells of the buildings fell away
behind the shuttle, Rachel donned a thurster pack, which looked like an
oversized backpack..As she checked the controls, Rachel scanned the area that
the shuttle flew over.
Finally, Rachel
toggled the switch opening the shuttle's side door.
"Computer," she
said. "Return home." Then Rachel activated the thrusters on the pack and jumped
out of the shuttle.
As she fell
through the air, she shouted "MERCURY POWER!" The thruster pack was lit but the
blue glow of the transformation sequence.
Sailor Mercury landed hard and was forced to one knee. Standing, she unbuckled the thruster pack and tossed it aside. The armies had fought over this patch of land during the initial stages of the battle and now there was nothing left here but the shells of buildings and the cold prone forms of the fallen.
"So much death…" Mercury mused quietly as she surveyed the carnage. "They won't mind if I add some more then." With that she clasped her hands to her chest, then threw them straight out from her body…
"MERCURY ICE SHROUD!"
A brilliant blue flash blossomed through the area. An icy chill surrounded Mercury as she was enveloped by the azure luminescence that comprised her most deadly power. The ground the blue semi-sphere touched turned pale as the life energy of even the microbes within the dirt was stripped away.
Slowly the sphere grew. It shredded the rocket pack, devouring the fuel with crackling flashes of lightning. As the sphere expanded, wisps of pale energy began to swirl around its perimeter. As they hit anything that contained energy, they demolished it. One such ribbon writhed from the air toward the corpse of a soldier. With a flash, the flesh was scoured away and the bones were pounded to dust. The tendril of death then rocketed away as the sphere itself moved over where the body had been.
"So much death…" Mercury mused. Then she noticed something missing. The hard stone-like core of evil that had accompanied the effect was gone. Mercury's heart leaped…SHE had channeled the sphere!
Which meant…and as she thought it, the sphere started to increase its rate of growth.
As the sphere continued to grow, buildings were reduced to rubble. Metal rusted, then fell apart, and the bodies of the dead returned to the dust from whence they came. Then one of the ravenous bands of energy that convulsed around the sphere slammed into a live soldier who was one of the rear-guard. The man barely had time to scream before his already decomposing body slumped to the ground.
"Yes," Mercury mused, her body and mind drinking in all of the energy from the deadly dome. "So much death… " The sphere sped up even more, and plowed into the ranks of the invading army like a pack of hungry wolves.
The invading army continued to press forward despite the doom that towered behind them. The sparkling blue of the sphere flashed now and then as energy that was absorbed cascaded along the deadly walls. A high-pitched roar boomed from the sphere as if there was a tornado nearby. "Perhaps there was a tornado," Venus thought as she watched the sphere getting larger, "…a tornado of a different kind."
The defenders stood stubbornly and poured laser fire onto the enemy. Sailor Moon now joined in and added her abilities to those of her fellow Sailors. Still, even as the tide of battle shifted finally in their favor, Sailor Moon could not help but look at the still-expanding sphere.
"Why are they still fighting?" Venus shouted as she felled a nearby soldier with her laser. The body fell in front of Scaramanga, who hauled it up by its hair and turned its head. Behind the left ear, a flat silver disk was embedded in the skin. Only the top of the device could be seen.
"They're being controlled!" Scaramanga yelled. "Unless they are given different orders or are killed, they won't stop!"
The laser fire was growing less intense however. Most of the attackers were dead either from a laser bolt or the icy cold of the death sphere. Sailor Venus and Sailor Moon were firing at the last few enemy soldiers nearby when they saw the other Sailors approaching.
"Well, we found Mercury," Sailor Uranus quipped.
"That's not funny," Sailor Moon hissed. "That sphere can kill us just as quick as a laser."
"What can we do about it?" Sailor Jupiter asked.
"I can only think of one thing that might do it," Sailor Moon replied slowly as the sphere continued to expand. "MOON STAFF!" Light flared and the Moon Staff, a longer version of the Moon Scepter appeared in Sailor Moon's hands.
As she pointed the staff at the sphere, Sailor Moon shouted, "MOON ZERO MAGIC!" A disk of destructive magic appeared at the tip of the staff, but this time, it became a stream of energy that poured out of the staff and surrounded the death sphere.
"What the…" Uranus mouthed quietly.
"She's drawing continuously off the staff," Venus replied.
"She can't," Neptune said, concern creeping into her voice. "If she draws too much off the Silver Imperium Crystal at once, she'll die."
Sailor Venus started toward her friend but then stopped as the statuesque form of Queen Beryl appeared next to Sailor Moon.
Beryl seemed to survey her surroundings coldly for a moment, then looked at Sailor Moon.
"What are you doing?" Beryl asked.
There was a pause long enough that Beryl thought she wasn't going to get an answer. Just as she was about to repeat her query, Sailor Moon replied, "I'm saving our hides. Someone has to stop Mercury."
"You can't," Beryl replied calmly. "You don't have the power."
"I wouldn't have to try if you had cured her in the first place," Sailor Moon growled.
Beryl slowly walked behind Sailor Moon to stand by her right shoulder. The light from the energy stream flowing from the staff gave Beryl a ghost-like appearance.
"I hate to break this to you," Beryl said, "but Sailor Mercury is cured."
"That can't be…" Sailor Moon gasped.
"Oh, but it is," Beryl said coldly. "She can now channel her powers and control them at will, and now they feed off of the hatred she has inside herself."
"Which is why I have to stop her," Sailor Moon said as sweat began to form on her face.
"Stop her?" Beryl said. "Not likely. With her power, she can blast all of us off this cliff with a single thought. You're barely holding her back with that rock of yours."
"How do you know all this?"
"I saw into her mind," Beryl replied simply. "I know that girl as if she were my daughter, and I know that the anger and hate that power her are nearly endless."
"Well that's certainly nice to know," Sailor Moon said angrily. "What do you propose we do about it?"
"You just keep doing what you're doing," Beryl said as she reached out and grabbed Sailor Moon's arm. "I'll do the rest." Beryl closed her eyes…
"So much death…"
Sailor Mercury felt like she was floating in a bright blue haze. Energy ribbons flowed inward and splashed against her body noiselessly. She felt naked. Glancing down, she thought she saw clothing…her Sailor uniform…but she could not be sure…. She could not see clearly. It was so quiet. Too quiet.
"So much death…"
Mercury could feel the outer edge of the death sphere and could sense something trying to push back against the outward force she was creating. A minor push against the opposing force told Mercury that whatever it was was no threat. Whatever it was would soon be cold and lifeless, along with the other living things she sensed along that part of the sphere.
"So much death…"
Rachel reveled in the power that flowed inward. So much energy! So much power! And she controlled it all…the power of life and most importantly, death. There was so much pain to share with the world…with everything that lived…
"So much…"
There was a new presence. New, yet familiar. It simply appeared within the center of the sphere, within the fortresses, within the walls…
"Rachel," the woman's voice said. Rachel barely recognized it. "You have done well. It's time to stop."
"No," Rachel thought. "So much death…"
"I know," Beryl said. "There is a lot of death out there. However, you will never learn how to refine your powers further if you do not stop the sphere."
The bluish haze that surrounded Sailor Mercury seemed to brighten in a momentary defiance, but then slowly, the haze started to grow dark.
The glow around Queen Beryl faded as the sphere began to recede. Sailor Moon lowered her staff and breathed a sigh of relief.
"This isn't done yet," Beryl stated simply.
"What do you mean?" Venus asked as she approached with the other Sailors.
"They haven't gone yet," Beryl said as she pointed to the clouds, where several shapes were descending from the gray ships that still hung in the sky.
Sailor Moon was the first to recognize the shapes as they floated down through the blackened clouds. "Oh shit," she whispered as she grabbed for her laser. "Cybers!" She fired a couple of blasts which bounced off one of the descending cyborgs. The other Sailors readied themselves for the attack.
"VENUS CRESCENT BEAM SMASH!" Sailor Venus shouted. The thin energy ribbon she released rocketed into the air and splashed against Cybermars, who did not react to the attack. The searing energy burned the cyborg's chute however, and sent it plummeting to the ground.
Other attacks that the Sailors heaved at the approaching cyborgs missed their targets, and a rain of laser fire from the few remaining volunteers did no damage to the cyborgs themselves, and not enough damage to their parachutes to mean much.
Cybermoon was the first to land, and it was pelted with lasers as it released itself from its chute. "You are identified as criminals who have committed acts of terrorism against the Luna Foundation. The sentence for these crimes is death."
"Preparing witness transcript for transmission preparatory to carrying out the death sentence," Cybermercury said as it landed.
"Fire," Cybermoon ordered.
What followed was the most grueling battle that the seven women had ever been in their young careers as crime fighters. Even with the help of Queen Beryl and her three generals, the Sailors could feel the energy they called forth for their attacks as it rippled over exhausted muscles. Minds were dulled by the hours spent trying to survive against an enemy that seemed unstoppable. Then, once that enemy seemed beaten, it arose again, like a monster to slay again.
Still, the Sailor soldiers fought on, but with each moment, Sailor Moon began to see the small mistakes she and her friends were making. Soon one of those mistakes was going to cost the group.
Then it happened. Sailor Venus launched an attack that sailed wide of Cyberneptume, who responded by launching her own attack. Instead of dropping back and slightly to her left, Venus dove to her left and lost her footing. She crashed to a heap practically right under the barrel of Cybermoon's arm-mounted blaster.
"The criminals will surrender," the cyborg said, "or this humanoid will perish."
Sailor Mercury staggered to her feet and stared out at the devastation that surrounded her. The scene would have been serene were it not for the fact that a small city had once been here. Now, there were no streets, no buildings…nothing to indicate that anything had ever lived on the plains south of Castle Beryl.
Off in the distance, Mercury could see flashes of angry light. A battle of sorts still raged. Activating her visor, Sailor Mercury scanned the area and swathe other Sailors in their desperate struggle against their cyborg foes. Suddenly, Sailor Venus launched an attack at one of the cyborgs and missed. When Venus tried to dodge the cyboprg's return strike, she stumbled and fell heavily to the dirt.
Mercury saw Cybermoon aim her weapon at Venus' head. A surge of rage whipped through her as she shouted "MERCURY ICE SHARD!" A sharp wicked-looking icy projectile coalesced in Mercury's hand. She paused staring at it for a second as if she didn't know what to do next. The shard pulsed with an inner energy that had not been there the last time she had used this power.
"No time to worry about that now," Mercury murmured to herself as she pulled back, then flung the shard toward Cybermoon.
Sailor Moon and the rest of the defenders stood transfixed as Cybermoon held the barrel of its gun pointed at Sailor Venus. "I am waiting," it said. "The criminals will surrender, or this humanoid will perish."
"Don't do it Sailor Moon," Jupiter hissed. "We can beat these creeps!" A similar sentiment floated around the Sailors, and Sailor Moon even heard Queen Beryl's voice.
"Don't surrender." She said. "They'll kill her anyway, and you along with her."
It was not enough. Even as Beryl muttered her advice, Venus could see the fight go out of Sailor Moon's eyes. It had been too exhausting a fight…too much death, too much fear…
The Moon Staff dropped lightly from Sailor Moon's hand and began to topple forward…
The Sailors watched stunned as the staff fell toward the ground…
The generals of the Negaverse and their queen snarled, ready to continue the attack without the Sailors.
Then, something caught Cybermoon in the back and ripped nearly completely through the cyborg's body. The projectile then shattered, spraying the damaged machine with a blue shower of energy that poured over it. Sailor Venus quickly scrambled out of the way as the destructive energy cascaded toward the ground. Cybermoon collapsed in front of Sailor Venus just as Cybermars exploded in a burst of blue fury.
Wasting no time, Cybervenus turned to the others. "Retreat immediately." Its thrusters roared to life and the cyborg leapt into the air toward the hovering ships. The other cyborgs soon followed under a hail of laser fire from the volunteer soldiers.
Sailor Mercury saw the cyborgs retreating and a growl rumbled deep within her throat. If they were allowed to escape, they'd be back again and again. They never stopped, and never would as long as they were alive.
With that thought, Mercury clasped her hands to her chest, then threw them straight out from her body…
"MERCURY ICE SHROUD!" A brilliant blue flash blossomed through the area. An icy chill surrounded Mercury as she was enveloped by the blue luminescence that comprised her most deadly power. Almost immediately the energy of the death sphere sang out to her, beckoning her to expand its dark influence.
"Not this time," Mercury thought as the cyborgs neared their ship, and escape. "You're not getting away this time." She concentrated on the ship, visualized its lines and curves, saw the engines, the hull, the control room, then collected the entire ship into her mind's eye as the last of the cyborgs fled into the supposed safety of their assault craft.
"Die!" Mercury shouted. The ship in her mind was crushed…
…the death sphere disappeared…
…and suddenly it surrounded the cyborg's ship. It hung limp in the sky for a moment, then shattered with a blinding flash. Mercury shielded her eyes from the brightness and watched as torn metal mixed with newly-freed gases. The energy being released by the blast quickly faded as it fed the blue sphere that surrounded it. The metal that failed to escape the explosion began to corrode.
Mercury let the energy from the death of the ship flow through her for a few seconds before she willed the sphere into non-existence. Then, she started a slow walk back toward Castle Beryl, which now stood alone to the north.
== * SM * ==
Aboard the Serena
The celebration in the galley was subdued as it went into its third hour. Only a few of the Sailors were still there, most of the rest having given into their exhaustion and slipped off to bed.
Brandy and Mariah sat at the bar and regaled each other with stories and cheers for the work they had done, while Melissa sat nearby with a glass of iced tea and simply listened.
Rachel sat across the room alone and gazed lazily out the window at the barren fields to the south…
The door opened and Sandra walked in. Although she too was tired, and her left arm was in a sling, she tried to put forth an authoritative face for the others.
"Alright," Sandra said. "Party over, everyone get to bed."
Mariah grumbled something about 'mom' under her breath and was hastily hushed by Brandy. Melissa simply got up and walked out, sipping her tea as she went.
"What's going on?" Brandy asked.
"We're out of here first thing tomorrow morning," Sandra replied.
"Oh great," Mariah groaned. "Another mission for the queen. Can't you tell her to fight her own battles?"
Sandra leaned on the bar and looked at the others intently.
"Nope," she said. "This is the mission we came here for. We're finally going to go after the Luna Foundation itself."
Brandy and Mariah looked at each other, then cheered. Brandy then broke the friendly hug from Mariah and turned to Sandra. "But, why tomorrow?" She asked.
"I understand that we could certainly use a few days to rest up," Sandra said knowingly. "But Queen Beryl was right. The Foundation put too much into the attack on Castle Beryl, and now their defenses are stretched very thin."
"That plus they lost more cyborgs," Mariah quipped.
"Not just 'more' cyborgs," Sandra corrected. "ALL of them."
"Oh my…" Brandy mouthed.
"We may not have this sort of a chance again," Sandra said. "We have to hit the Foundation now, before they can recover."
"Well," Brandy said as she arose from her chair. "In that case, it's off to bed for me."
"Yeah," Mariah said as she too got up from the table. Sandra casually surveyed the rest of the room as Brandy left.
"Sandra," came Mariah from near the door.
"Yes?"
"Why did you order us not to use our abilities in this battle?"
Sandra's head drooped. She knew this question was in the air, and knew that her friends and team mates had to know the truth.
"I am sorry," Sandra said. "It was my mistake. I thought we should hide our presence and try to surprise the Foundation."
There it was. The team leader had made a mistake, and she was now admitting it, and laying herself open for whatever judgment one of the more violent members of the group would give. Her eyes closed, Sandra steeled herself in the silence that followed. Then she heard movement and opened her eyes to see Mariah standing in front of her with a slight smile and a sparkle in her eyes. Wordlessly, the taller woman pulled Sandra toward her and wrapped her arms around her friend… her leader.
After Mariah had said goodnight to Sandra and slipped out the door, Sandra shut off the lights before noticing the one remaining form in the room. Rachel sat at one of the window tables slowly stirring a drink, immersed in the view outside.
Silently, Sandra slipped up to the other woman and sat down in the seat across from her. Rachel didn't seem to notice…her cobalt blue eyes seemed fixated on the window.
"You know," Sandra said quietly. "You could spend the next three months in the brig. Insubordination, theft of a shuttle, forgery…" The blue eyes flickered with a trace of anger.
"However," Sandra said slowly. "There are….mitigating circumstances…"
A long silence followed. Rachel continued to stare out into the window.
"You know," Sandra murmured. "We worry about you."
More silence.
"I worry about you."
There was a slight quiver in the blue eyes, but the gaze never left the window.
"I'm fine," Rachel said calmly.
Sandra paused a bit before continuing. "But, the things you did out there today…Queen Beryl…"
"I am fine," Rachel repeated, this time a little more firmly.
"Oh," Sandra said. Then, in a business-like tone. "But you will tell me if you are ever not fine." The blue eyes never wavered from their gaze. Sandra got up and started toward the door. As the door slid open for her, Sandra turned to look back at the lonely figure across the room.
"Don't be here too late," she said. She expected no response, and got what she expected.
Fanfic ã1999 – John Brengman and Artemis Publishing
Sailor X series inspired by Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon,
ã 1992 by Toei Animation Co Ltd. and based on Kodansha's
manga production of "Sailor Moon", written by Naoko Takeuchi
This fanfic is freely distributed.
Release date: November 13, 1999