Ami felt a jolt as Mercury's Gravity took hold of her ship and she was able
to prepare for landing. Below her she saw the outlines of various pieces
of land and as she got closer, she saw her palace. It was mostly marble
and white-washed stone, but it didn't seem to fit into its surroundings
anymore, all the buildings and gardens that used to border the actual
palace were blackened and emitting steam. "no…." She let a gasp from her
lips. She could see what should have been the royal city, and it was
nothing. The princess turned on her commicator to the palace. "This is the
Princess speaking, Is anyone there? Please respond if you hear me…" She
waited a moment when suddenly a scratchy sound sprang from the speaker and
then a voice.
"Ami? Ami is that you?"
"YES! Oh thank you, YES, Eliza is that you?" Eliza was her Warfare and Defence minister and it sounded somewhat like her.
"Yes Ami Its me, but you can't stay out there, you must land quickly and…."
"AHHH!" The princess cried out.
"AMI!?!? ARE YOU STILL THERE!???"
"Yes, but something hit me, it took out my shield generator."
"Check your radar, is there something tailing your attacker?"
"Yes, oh it's a Mercurian fighter pilot!" Then another transmission broke through.
"Your Highness, good to have you back, I'll take this one out, but land as quickly as you can, there are more behind me. Over."
"EXCELLENT!" Eliza shouted. "Alright Ami come on down, your landing is clear now."
"Right!" She shifted into landing gear and descended swiftly to a partially blown up launch pad. She braced herself for the thud that quickly followed, and jumped out of her ship. Eliza ran out to meet her along with two men carrying rocket launchers. "ELIZA!" Ami jumped to hug her, but they were quickly hustled indoors by the men with the guns.
Once in the throne room and settled into the conference room, the Princess looked upon her closest advisors and couldn't bear to tell them everything. "I don't know how much Mercury has been told, but the whole solar system is out of reach. All except Mercury, Venus, and Earth. Everyone else has been bombarded from the air, and then communications were knocked out." She paused to get a reaction.
"Your Highness," Savina, her foreign policy girl stood up. "We are aware of the death toll, but not about the communications being totally gone. The palace has been assaulted 4 times in the past 2 weeks, but that's not too much, the enemy has moved out to the villages. We've lost 120,000 men women and children in only 2 weeks." Ami lowered her head.
"Your Highness," Brian, her intelligence officer began, "I'm sorry. We tried everything, but there's just no stopping them." Brian was next to Savina, they both had dirty blond hair and were known to be a couple. Her hair was up in a bun, and she was tall and thin, in a gray dress. His hair was short and he was very tall and muscular, like Adrian….
"That's alright Brian, I know you're all trying just as hard as you can. And I know all the people are doing just the same. Now, When was the last attack on the palace? I started traveling two nights ago."
"Well," Eliza answered, "That was five days ago. In fact, today was quiet on the ground. There was no action, and the same yesterday. The air had a few battles yesterday, but only three today. Frankly we're all a little worried."
"I understand completely. I was hit on my way in, so I'm led to believe they're moving in again. My ship isn't identifiable as a royal vessel from the outside, so they were just striking incomers. Let's wait a few hours to see what happens. It is now 2:00,this conference is over until 5:30. We'll send a transmission to Earth then. That is all."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It was only 8:00 AM on the Earth, and Adrian was wandering through a garden outside. It had been three days since Ami had left, she was probably on Mercury now. He looked at the sky to see a beautiful morning sun, and grew worried. Mercury had a strong offensive system, but their defense was less than adequate. He kicked a stone. Maybe he would request a leave to Mercury, just to help settle Ami in. The morning conference was at 11:30, that's when they could expect a transmission from Mercury, as that would be evening for them. Until then he would continue to wait, like he had for three days.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Luna opened her eyes and felt Artemis's warm arms around her. Today she'd tell him. She glanced at a mirror and decided it was becoming noticeable. Slowly she slid out of bed and down a hall. Serenity would be awake, and she wanted to have breakfast in a garden with her and Mina. The Queen was found in Lenora's playroom, rolling a ball back and fourth with the child. It was obvious the little thing was "alien", she aged far too quickly to bbe human. Only a few months after her arrival as a new born, Lenora was walking and trying to talk. "Your Highness." Luna said softly when she entered.
"Oh! Good morning Luna." She was wearing a nice pink dress, it had loose long sleeves as it was now September, and the summer heat was gone. Luna wore one almost identical, except hers was blue. Nother voice greeted her.
"Good Morning Luna." She peaked around the entryway corner, and saw Mina sitting on the ground next to Lenora in an orange dress with a white sweater.
"Well, good morning. Are you all ready to go? I think the gazeabo overlooking the lake would be a nice place to go." They all complied and headed down. Lenora was toddling along holding Serenity's hand. This location was close to the palace, but still had a lovely view.
The morning droned on, leading Endymion outside to join Adrian, and Artemis to the library. However, there was bigger news at the gazeabo.
"Have any of you noticed," Luna asked "that I have put on some weight?" Mina coughed before answering.
"Well, Luna, I love you and all, but I have noticed. HOWEVER! I too have gained some pounds, but its totally because of the stress from our current situation. And there is NOTHING," She stood up, "AND I MEAN NOTHING WRONG WITH EATING A LITTLE PIECE OF CHOCOLATE CAKE AT 2 IN THE MORNING!!!!!" She sat down and looked at the two others who were staring at her. "Sorry." Lenora giggled happily at this display, and Mina picked her up and into her lap.
"Well, heh heh, thanks for the support Mina, but that's not quite what I meant." "WAIT A SEC!!!" Serenity shouted. Suddenly Artemis approached the table.
"Hello ladies," He bowed. "Luna, one of the guards told me to meet you here now, what's going on?"
"Well, Artemis, I wanted to tell you something." She walked over to him and held his hand, looking him straight in the eye. "Now I know you like to be called 'Artemis', but how about, 'Daddy'?"
"what? You mean?!?! YOU'RE!!?? YOU'RE?!?!?"
"I'M PREGNANT!"
"ALRIGHT!!!!!" He practically jumped on her, and embraced her. He let go, "WHOOOOOO HOOOOO!!!"
"What's going on?!!" Endymion and Adrian had come running. Artemis ran over to them, and grabbed Endymion at the shoulders. "Do you see my lovely wife over there?" He nodded. "SHE'S PREGNANT!!!!!!!"
"REALLY?!" He looked over at Luna who was blushing and smiling and nodding at the same time. "Congratulations!" And he hugged her. "That's wonderful Luna."
"Luna, how far along are you?" Serenity asked while hugging her. She then took Lenora from Mina.
"About two and a half months."
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Artemis suddenly sounded annoyed, and his smile vanished. Luna didn't answer at first.
"Maybe," Adrian stepped behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. He was actually wearing a nice faded navy blue color, not black. "She wanted to tell you at a calmer time then we've previously had, and she wanted everything to be perfect."
"Yes! Luna was that it?" Artemis asked.
"Yes Artemis, I wanted the atmosphere to be right. I wanted to be sure, and I wanted to make it a nice occasion."
"Oh! Heh heh heh. Well it couldn't have been better."
"Congratulations Luna." Adrian smiled and hugged her briefly.
"Thank you Adrian."
"Well, I'm going for a walk now." He declared suddenly. "I'll see you all later."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile, on Mercury, it was nearing 5:00, when Ami was in her room. There were several small explosions in the distance, and there were reports of large troops beginning to advance towards the palace. She had been told that the enemy was probably going to strike the palace again, and probably harder then before because she was there now. She was dressed in a blue tunic and grey pants, but she had a sneaking suspicion she would be forced to transform if the enemy came to the palace. She turned and headed for the conference room. But before she had gone down the hall, and explosion rocked the area she was in, throwing the princess to the ground, and flying down the hall. "What?!?" She looked back to see her room was now a hole. "NO!" She stood up quickly and practically flew the rest of the way to the conference room. All the while she felt the ground shake, and had to dodge falling pieces of the ceiling and pieces of furniture being knocked about. Then she saw Eliza standing under a metal doorway.
"AMI! QUICKLY!! We can send a transmission to Earth from here!" She reached the doorway and watched it close behind her.
"Thank god!" Eliza, Savina, and Brian were all there, along with about 20 soldiers. "Alright lets get a transmission out, we don't have time to screw around." The room they were in was about the size of a school gymnasium with a door on two of the four walls. "Come on Serenity, you better be there."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
By this time on Earth, everyone had moved inside to tell everyone about Luna, Artemis wished to do so, when suddenly the speakers in the palace hallways blared. "Queen Serenity, King Endymion, there is an emergency transmission from Mercury coming through, please get to the conference room now!"
"Serenity," Her husband grabbed her hand, "Let's go!" They bolted down the hallway, Serenity trying to cling to Lenora, Mina trailing, and slid into the conference room.
"Transmission Screen up!" Serenity shouted. She put Lenora on the floor.And a picture came up, with Ami in the foreground and some others in the back. "Ami! What's wrong?"
"Serenity, We're under attack. My radar is telling me there are about 250 ships in the air coming towards us. I..*zzzt* Serenity? I think they're trying to cut the power, *zzt* don't know how much longer…."
"AMI! No! How many casualties so far on your planet?? Maybe if you hold them off now, we can save you!!!"
"No! Serenity its not *zzzzzzzzt* AHH!" The door in the background was blasted open. "MERCURY STAR POWER!" She had quickly transformed.
"AMI!" The queen clutched the table edge tightly. "AMI!! NO!"
"My queen, the last numbers I heard were 120,00 men, women, and children. MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!" Several of the shadowy figures in the back dropped. "They have all different colors *zzzzt*skin and hair. Is Adrian*zzzzzttttt*
"No AMI! You MUST hold on!!!!"
"Last transmission *ZZZZTTTTT* Sorry.."
"DAMNIT WHERE'S ADRIAN! WE PAGED HIM ALREADY!" Endymion shouted. "AMI WE CAN'T FIND HIM!!"
"Tha..*ZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTT* ok. Tell hi…*ZTTT* LOVE HIM!!! I LOVE HIM!!!!" Her face was fizzleing out, the screen almost comepletely blurred, when a bright light was seen in the back, a beam of some sort.
"AMI!!! BEHIND YOU!" Serenity screamed. But it was too late.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Ami turned quickly and tried to counter it, when she felt a sharp pain in her chest, she couldn't breath. "Ser…ser…" the last thing she saw was the queen's face, tears and all. Then she thought she heard Adrian's voice briefly, but no….it was dark.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
But she had heard him. At the last moment Adrian had entered, only to see her fall to the floor, to her death. "AMI! NOOOOOOOOO!!! NO AMI! COME BACK!!!"
"AMMMIIIII!" Serenity cried out, collapsing into Endymion's arms. Luna was in tears and Lenora was screaming. "NOOOOOO! Not ANOTHER one!!!! She CAN'T be gone. SHE JUST CAN'T!!!" Adrian slammed his fists on the table, cracking it.
"DAMNIT! THOSE SONS OF A BITCHES WILL PAY FOR THIS!!!!! SERENITY! I WILL NOT LET THIS HAPPEN TO ANOTHER PLANET!!! I think it would be wise to deploy some troops to Mercury and attempt to help. And if not, at least let me go! I CANNOT stay here PLEASE! Let me go. Venus will be next,"
"Where's Mina?" Luna asked.
"Gone." A voice piped up.
"What?" Endymion turned to look at Lenora. SHE had spoken. "What did you say?" He lowered himself to her level. She was in a little white dress to compliment her dark hair and eyes.
"She's gone! She left! She's on her way to Venus!" Then she began to cry harder and jumped into Endymion's arms. He looked up at Serenity for an answer, but all eyes were filled with tears now, not answers.
* * * * * * * *
Oh yes a nice deep line to end the chapter. No not really but whatever. Sorry this took so friggin long. I AM SO BUSY!!!!! Peace
"Ami? Ami is that you?"
"YES! Oh thank you, YES, Eliza is that you?" Eliza was her Warfare and Defence minister and it sounded somewhat like her.
"Yes Ami Its me, but you can't stay out there, you must land quickly and…."
"AHHH!" The princess cried out.
"AMI!?!? ARE YOU STILL THERE!???"
"Yes, but something hit me, it took out my shield generator."
"Check your radar, is there something tailing your attacker?"
"Yes, oh it's a Mercurian fighter pilot!" Then another transmission broke through.
"Your Highness, good to have you back, I'll take this one out, but land as quickly as you can, there are more behind me. Over."
"EXCELLENT!" Eliza shouted. "Alright Ami come on down, your landing is clear now."
"Right!" She shifted into landing gear and descended swiftly to a partially blown up launch pad. She braced herself for the thud that quickly followed, and jumped out of her ship. Eliza ran out to meet her along with two men carrying rocket launchers. "ELIZA!" Ami jumped to hug her, but they were quickly hustled indoors by the men with the guns.
Once in the throne room and settled into the conference room, the Princess looked upon her closest advisors and couldn't bear to tell them everything. "I don't know how much Mercury has been told, but the whole solar system is out of reach. All except Mercury, Venus, and Earth. Everyone else has been bombarded from the air, and then communications were knocked out." She paused to get a reaction.
"Your Highness," Savina, her foreign policy girl stood up. "We are aware of the death toll, but not about the communications being totally gone. The palace has been assaulted 4 times in the past 2 weeks, but that's not too much, the enemy has moved out to the villages. We've lost 120,000 men women and children in only 2 weeks." Ami lowered her head.
"Your Highness," Brian, her intelligence officer began, "I'm sorry. We tried everything, but there's just no stopping them." Brian was next to Savina, they both had dirty blond hair and were known to be a couple. Her hair was up in a bun, and she was tall and thin, in a gray dress. His hair was short and he was very tall and muscular, like Adrian….
"That's alright Brian, I know you're all trying just as hard as you can. And I know all the people are doing just the same. Now, When was the last attack on the palace? I started traveling two nights ago."
"Well," Eliza answered, "That was five days ago. In fact, today was quiet on the ground. There was no action, and the same yesterday. The air had a few battles yesterday, but only three today. Frankly we're all a little worried."
"I understand completely. I was hit on my way in, so I'm led to believe they're moving in again. My ship isn't identifiable as a royal vessel from the outside, so they were just striking incomers. Let's wait a few hours to see what happens. It is now 2:00,this conference is over until 5:30. We'll send a transmission to Earth then. That is all."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It was only 8:00 AM on the Earth, and Adrian was wandering through a garden outside. It had been three days since Ami had left, she was probably on Mercury now. He looked at the sky to see a beautiful morning sun, and grew worried. Mercury had a strong offensive system, but their defense was less than adequate. He kicked a stone. Maybe he would request a leave to Mercury, just to help settle Ami in. The morning conference was at 11:30, that's when they could expect a transmission from Mercury, as that would be evening for them. Until then he would continue to wait, like he had for three days.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Luna opened her eyes and felt Artemis's warm arms around her. Today she'd tell him. She glanced at a mirror and decided it was becoming noticeable. Slowly she slid out of bed and down a hall. Serenity would be awake, and she wanted to have breakfast in a garden with her and Mina. The Queen was found in Lenora's playroom, rolling a ball back and fourth with the child. It was obvious the little thing was "alien", she aged far too quickly to bbe human. Only a few months after her arrival as a new born, Lenora was walking and trying to talk. "Your Highness." Luna said softly when she entered.
"Oh! Good morning Luna." She was wearing a nice pink dress, it had loose long sleeves as it was now September, and the summer heat was gone. Luna wore one almost identical, except hers was blue. Nother voice greeted her.
"Good Morning Luna." She peaked around the entryway corner, and saw Mina sitting on the ground next to Lenora in an orange dress with a white sweater.
"Well, good morning. Are you all ready to go? I think the gazeabo overlooking the lake would be a nice place to go." They all complied and headed down. Lenora was toddling along holding Serenity's hand. This location was close to the palace, but still had a lovely view.
The morning droned on, leading Endymion outside to join Adrian, and Artemis to the library. However, there was bigger news at the gazeabo.
"Have any of you noticed," Luna asked "that I have put on some weight?" Mina coughed before answering.
"Well, Luna, I love you and all, but I have noticed. HOWEVER! I too have gained some pounds, but its totally because of the stress from our current situation. And there is NOTHING," She stood up, "AND I MEAN NOTHING WRONG WITH EATING A LITTLE PIECE OF CHOCOLATE CAKE AT 2 IN THE MORNING!!!!!" She sat down and looked at the two others who were staring at her. "Sorry." Lenora giggled happily at this display, and Mina picked her up and into her lap.
"Well, heh heh, thanks for the support Mina, but that's not quite what I meant." "WAIT A SEC!!!" Serenity shouted. Suddenly Artemis approached the table.
"Hello ladies," He bowed. "Luna, one of the guards told me to meet you here now, what's going on?"
"Well, Artemis, I wanted to tell you something." She walked over to him and held his hand, looking him straight in the eye. "Now I know you like to be called 'Artemis', but how about, 'Daddy'?"
"what? You mean?!?! YOU'RE!!?? YOU'RE?!?!?"
"I'M PREGNANT!"
"ALRIGHT!!!!!" He practically jumped on her, and embraced her. He let go, "WHOOOOOO HOOOOO!!!"
"What's going on?!!" Endymion and Adrian had come running. Artemis ran over to them, and grabbed Endymion at the shoulders. "Do you see my lovely wife over there?" He nodded. "SHE'S PREGNANT!!!!!!!"
"REALLY?!" He looked over at Luna who was blushing and smiling and nodding at the same time. "Congratulations!" And he hugged her. "That's wonderful Luna."
"Luna, how far along are you?" Serenity asked while hugging her. She then took Lenora from Mina.
"About two and a half months."
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Artemis suddenly sounded annoyed, and his smile vanished. Luna didn't answer at first.
"Maybe," Adrian stepped behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. He was actually wearing a nice faded navy blue color, not black. "She wanted to tell you at a calmer time then we've previously had, and she wanted everything to be perfect."
"Yes! Luna was that it?" Artemis asked.
"Yes Artemis, I wanted the atmosphere to be right. I wanted to be sure, and I wanted to make it a nice occasion."
"Oh! Heh heh heh. Well it couldn't have been better."
"Congratulations Luna." Adrian smiled and hugged her briefly.
"Thank you Adrian."
"Well, I'm going for a walk now." He declared suddenly. "I'll see you all later."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Meanwhile, on Mercury, it was nearing 5:00, when Ami was in her room. There were several small explosions in the distance, and there were reports of large troops beginning to advance towards the palace. She had been told that the enemy was probably going to strike the palace again, and probably harder then before because she was there now. She was dressed in a blue tunic and grey pants, but she had a sneaking suspicion she would be forced to transform if the enemy came to the palace. She turned and headed for the conference room. But before she had gone down the hall, and explosion rocked the area she was in, throwing the princess to the ground, and flying down the hall. "What?!?" She looked back to see her room was now a hole. "NO!" She stood up quickly and practically flew the rest of the way to the conference room. All the while she felt the ground shake, and had to dodge falling pieces of the ceiling and pieces of furniture being knocked about. Then she saw Eliza standing under a metal doorway.
"AMI! QUICKLY!! We can send a transmission to Earth from here!" She reached the doorway and watched it close behind her.
"Thank god!" Eliza, Savina, and Brian were all there, along with about 20 soldiers. "Alright lets get a transmission out, we don't have time to screw around." The room they were in was about the size of a school gymnasium with a door on two of the four walls. "Come on Serenity, you better be there."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
By this time on Earth, everyone had moved inside to tell everyone about Luna, Artemis wished to do so, when suddenly the speakers in the palace hallways blared. "Queen Serenity, King Endymion, there is an emergency transmission from Mercury coming through, please get to the conference room now!"
"Serenity," Her husband grabbed her hand, "Let's go!" They bolted down the hallway, Serenity trying to cling to Lenora, Mina trailing, and slid into the conference room.
"Transmission Screen up!" Serenity shouted. She put Lenora on the floor.And a picture came up, with Ami in the foreground and some others in the back. "Ami! What's wrong?"
"Serenity, We're under attack. My radar is telling me there are about 250 ships in the air coming towards us. I..*zzzt* Serenity? I think they're trying to cut the power, *zzt* don't know how much longer…."
"AMI! No! How many casualties so far on your planet?? Maybe if you hold them off now, we can save you!!!"
"No! Serenity its not *zzzzzzzzt* AHH!" The door in the background was blasted open. "MERCURY STAR POWER!" She had quickly transformed.
"AMI!" The queen clutched the table edge tightly. "AMI!! NO!"
"My queen, the last numbers I heard were 120,00 men, women, and children. MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!" Several of the shadowy figures in the back dropped. "They have all different colors *zzzzt*skin and hair. Is Adrian*zzzzzttttt*
"No AMI! You MUST hold on!!!!"
"Last transmission *ZZZZTTTTT* Sorry.."
"DAMNIT WHERE'S ADRIAN! WE PAGED HIM ALREADY!" Endymion shouted. "AMI WE CAN'T FIND HIM!!"
"Tha..*ZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTT* ok. Tell hi…*ZTTT* LOVE HIM!!! I LOVE HIM!!!!" Her face was fizzleing out, the screen almost comepletely blurred, when a bright light was seen in the back, a beam of some sort.
"AMI!!! BEHIND YOU!" Serenity screamed. But it was too late.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Ami turned quickly and tried to counter it, when she felt a sharp pain in her chest, she couldn't breath. "Ser…ser…" the last thing she saw was the queen's face, tears and all. Then she thought she heard Adrian's voice briefly, but no….it was dark.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
But she had heard him. At the last moment Adrian had entered, only to see her fall to the floor, to her death. "AMI! NOOOOOOOOO!!! NO AMI! COME BACK!!!"
"AMMMIIIII!" Serenity cried out, collapsing into Endymion's arms. Luna was in tears and Lenora was screaming. "NOOOOOO! Not ANOTHER one!!!! She CAN'T be gone. SHE JUST CAN'T!!!" Adrian slammed his fists on the table, cracking it.
"DAMNIT! THOSE SONS OF A BITCHES WILL PAY FOR THIS!!!!! SERENITY! I WILL NOT LET THIS HAPPEN TO ANOTHER PLANET!!! I think it would be wise to deploy some troops to Mercury and attempt to help. And if not, at least let me go! I CANNOT stay here PLEASE! Let me go. Venus will be next,"
"Where's Mina?" Luna asked.
"Gone." A voice piped up.
"What?" Endymion turned to look at Lenora. SHE had spoken. "What did you say?" He lowered himself to her level. She was in a little white dress to compliment her dark hair and eyes.
"She's gone! She left! She's on her way to Venus!" Then she began to cry harder and jumped into Endymion's arms. He looked up at Serenity for an answer, but all eyes were filled with tears now, not answers.
* * * * * * * *
Oh yes a nice deep line to end the chapter. No not really but whatever. Sorry this took so friggin long. I AM SO BUSY!!!!! Peace