It was a mess... a absolute mess. Not as bad as what happened during the last time the Black Moon had attacked, but it would take time to repair the damage which had now been caused.

The Crystal Palace was no different, as the crystal structure had been severely damaged during the attack. Fortunately, it was not in any danger of collapsing, it was still bad enough for several areas to be evacuated and closed off.

On the surrounding palace grounds several large tents, all of whom had Red Crosses on them, had been set up to tend to the injured. While dozens upon dozens of black body bags were lined up on the soot stained grass, with their occupants waiting to be identified before sent to one of the many make shift morgues that were now being created.

Medical and security personnel swarmed about the area, as there was alot that needed to be done. Weather it be transporting the injured to waiting medical vehicles, or lending a shoulder to those who had been left behind, there was a job everyone who was there.

This included a certain group of former "Circus" performers and their pink haired princess. All of whom were still quite shell shocked over what had happened, but were kept busy with helping out in the relief efforts.

After making sure the Palace grounds were indeed safe, both Pluto and Saturn had headed off on their own accord. Most likely to either patrol the city and help out in recovery efforts. Or in Pluto's case, had returned to the Gates of Time to prevent any unwanted travelers.

But eventually... things began to slow down and both the Asteroid Senshi and Chibiusa/Sailor Moon were finally able to relax a bit.

"So when do you think Serenity and Endymion are coming back?" Sailor Vesta mused, as the group rested at one of the garden fountain. One of the few which had not been destroyed.

"I hope Uranus Sensei is alright!" Palla blurted out. "You think Space man can help her?"

"I'm sure he is going to try his best." Ceres replied, trying reassure her child like sister. Though inwardly, the leader of the Asteroid Senshi didn't know if what she had said was true.

"I'm sure mom and dad will try their best, too." Chibiusa replied, though inwardly she was more torn up than the Quartet.

The Black Moon back and once again, had managed to kidnap the Senshi. The Pink haired teen remembered all too well when Rubeus had kidnapped her mother's friends all those years ago and now it was happening again.

So lost Chibiusa was in her own thoughts, she did not notice when both Pluto and Saturn had returned.

"Chibiusa!" Saturn cried out, as she ran up and gave her friend a hug. "Have you heard anything?"

"No." the pink haired royal replied. "We haven't heard anything since mom left." It was clear to see that the Senshi of Silence was concerned about her "Papa" and was desperate to find out if her adoptive parent was alright. Saturn (As well as anyone else who knew her) knew that Haruka was tough in more ways than one. But the Senshi of Silence could not help but to worry about her Papa, especially now with most of the Sailor Senshi being captured.

"I'm sure that Mr. Sensei-Tenoh is alright, Hotaru-chan." Sailor Pallas said cheerfully, trying to reassure the young woman. "I'm sure Space Man will help her."

Saturn could not help but to smile at the child like Senshi's words. "Thanks, I'm certain he will try."

"I hate to be that girl, but there is still the issue of the others being taken by that Esmarude lady." Juno stated, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I think we should at least try to find them."

"Yea!" Vesta agreed. "We should be doing something to find them! We can't let her Majesty do it alone!"

"Oh trust me, she is not doing it alone." a eerie but familiar voice said, as Sailor Pluto seemingly appeared from behind the fountain. But she was not alone.

"DAD!" Chibiusa cried, as she ran up to the king and gave him a tight hug. "Where's mom? Is Haruka okay??"

"Uranus is going to be alright." Endymion replied, much to the relief of the girls. "She is currently resting on board the Siege Merciless."

"Siege... Merciless...?"

"Logan's ship."

"Hell of a name for a space ship!" Sailor Juno replied. "But what do you mean Serenity isn't doing it alone ...?"

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U.N.S.C. Siege Merciless

It was a surreal sight for her to see, as Serenity saw Haruka float motionlessly within the Bacta tank. The Senshi of Uranus was completely nude as she floated withing the greenish yellow liquid, with a oxygen mask attached to her face to help her breath. Along with several other cords which were attached to her body, which monitored her vitals.

She looked so frail, a far cry from the strong and able bodied Senshi Serenity had known for most of her life. Haruka ended up here, because she was trying to protect her Queen, protect her. But it was at this point that her mind soon wondered to the rest of her Senshi, who were now being held by Esmarude and were more than likely on Nemesis right now. Who know just what that mad woman was doing to them now, the Monarch didn't even want to think about just was happening to them.

Right now, her main focus was to rescue her friends. She could not afford to feel sorry for herself, she could not afford to. But if there was one bright spot, it was that her daughter and the Asteroid Senshi were safe, along with Pluto and Saturn back in Tokyo.

She had also been informed that her Senshi's family were now secure in a facility right outside New Seattle and that no one had tried to harm the. That fact also gave her some respite after all that had happened. But it also made her even more determined to get her friends back.

"Do you need any company?" a new voice suddenly chirped, breaking the Blue eyed Royal out of her self imposed stupor. Sure enough, Hannah had appeared on a near by console and was looking up at the monarch.

"Did I disturb you?"

"No no, it's alright." Serenity replied, as she walked up to the diminutive holographic figure. "I guess I could use the company."

Hannah nodded, "and it would be nice to have someone else to talk to. If you have not noticed, Gunny is not the talkative type."

Serenity could not help but to chuckle at that comment, "Yea, I figured as much. But I am surprised he agreed to help me."

"Surprised me too." The A.I. confessed. "Then again, I have only known him for a few days and we all know he doesn't talk much."

"Only a few days?"

Hannah nodded. "I am only a Emergency Program, I was only activated by Logan a few days ago. Ever since then, I have been trying to get this Cruiser back to full operational status, as my Programing states."

"I... understand." the Monarch replied, although truthfully she really didn't. Her gaze soon went back to Haruka and her mind, back to her friends. She truly was thankful for the assistance both Logan and "Hannah" were now providing, but there was still one question she wanted to know the answer to...

Just what do they plan to do ...?

Meanwhile, the Spartan in question was in the process of moving several crates of weapons from the armory, to the Hanger Bay. There, several drop pods had been assembled and modified by James and Henry. The seats and control systems had been removed, so as to allow more space for it's new cargo.

With their modifications completed, the two Engineers had now moved on to repairing so e of the vehicles which were on board the cruiser. The third member of the trio, Gordon, had been given a special assignment by Logan himself. There were three certain vehicles which had been on board the Cruiser on her final mission, but had not yet been deployed when the Remnant attacked. As they were being serviced at the time. Now they would be used against a new threat and the Spartan thought it would be best to have them ready for combat.

Despite having a conversation with Serenity, Hannah had been quite busy as well. As the Artificial Intelligence processed all the data she was receiving from the long range sensors. Siege Merciless had been able to track the retreating ships, all the way back to a spacial anomaly on the very edge of the Solar System.

Serenity, for her part, just did her best to stay out of the way and mostly stayed in the Medical Bay with Uranus. All the while wondering if she had not placed another person in danger by asking for help. There was no telling just how powerful Esmarude had become since her apparent "Death" all those years ago.

At least her daughter and the Asteroid Senshi were safe, Though knowing Small Lady, she would not be happy at all with her decision to leave her behind. Serenity was not about to endanger her daughter's life, but here she was willing to have someone else do that instead.

"Your Majesty, we're ready." Hannah's voice announced, breaking the Royal out of her guilt induced stupor. With a heavy sigh, Serenity left Haruka and eventually made her way to the Command and Control room.

"We've been able to track Esmarude's fleet back to this area of space, just outside the system." Hannah explained, as the holographic projector showed the route taken to said area. "It leads to this strange anomaly the sensors have been detecting since before the attack."

"Nemesis." Serenity said quietly, as her deep blue eyes looked on at the red icon which represented the planetoid. "How are you even able to locate it?"

"I'm a warship." The A.I. said flatly. "I may only be a Emergency Program, but I have full access to the ship's systems. Including the sensor array, which at the risk of sounding totally arrogant, is much more advanced than anything I have seen on Earth."

"It should take us at least a couple hours to arrive at that location. So if there is anything we should know about Nemesis, now would be a good time to let us know." Logan stated, as he looked at the Royal.

"I wish there was something useful I could tell you." Serenity replied, "Other than it was the home world of the Black Moon Clan after they were exiled from Earth, along with their followers."

"So we will be going in blind?"

"It's not like I haven't done it before." the Spartan replied, he he could remember more than a few times where he and his team mates had been deployed into situations where they had little to no Intel on their targets. But this time, he would be going it alone.

"But I must warn you, there is no telling just how powerful Esmarude has become. She's more powerful than the last time my Senshi and I faced her."

"Duly noted. We'll be entering Slip Space in a few minutes, I advise you get some rest before we arrive."

"What about you?" the Royal asked the Super Soldier, curious as to what he would do."

"l will be busy." Logan replied, his emotionless voice showing no signs that he was in need of any rest.

"If you want, I can show to a room you can stay in." Hannah chirped, "I strongly suggest that you do get some kind of rest ."

"Okay." Serenity said with a nod, though be it with a defeated tone. With Hannah guiding her, Serenity was lead to what had once been the personal quarters of the Siege Merciless' commanding officer. Leaving the Spartan alone to make me final checks.

Eventually, the Heavy Cruiser's engines roared to life once again. As the massive warship left orbit and away from the planet. Using all the information she had gathered, Hannah began to input the coordinates into the navigational computer, plotting a course towards Nemesis. Billions upon Billions of computations were being made every second, as the NavCom compensated for every factor which my affect the voyage. But eventually, the computer had done it's job and with one final command, Hannah activated Slip Space.

An actual tear in the fabric of space suddenly appeared, just big enough for the Valiant-class cruiser to enter. But no sooner had the ship entered, the tear seemingly closed in on itself, leaving no evidence that it had ever been there in the first place.

[ [ [ [ [ $ ] ] ] ] ]

It took some doing, but somehow both Pluto and Saturn were able to talk Chibiusa down. To say that the Pink Haired princess was a bit upset about being left behind, would have been correct. As she too wanted to help rescue the other Senshi from Nemesis, but her mother left her behind.

Apparently, Serenity need both her and the Asteroid Senshi to stay behind and "protect" Crystal Tokyo. There were alot of people who were now scared and her mother needed her to stay behind and reassure the population that everything was going to be alright. Or at least that was what Pluto had to her.

But of course, the Senshi of Time knew the real reasons The Queen had left her daughter behind. She didn't want Small Lady to be in Danger, especially now that Esmarude had taken the other Senshi as captives. Yet, Pluto was able to convince her young ward that it was for the best and Small Lady returned to the palace to help with the recovery efforts... or so it seemed.

While Pluto was convinced that she had gotten through to the Princess, Sailor Saturn knew better. the Senshi of Death, Destruction and Rebirth knew her friend well enough to know that the Pink Haired Princess would not listen to her mother. In fact, Chibiusa was alot like her mother in many ways. Even if she would venomously deny it.

Which was why Saturn was now looking for her friend/princess. No one had seen the Royal Princess or the Asteroid Senshi in the couple of hours and Saturn wanted to make sure that Chibiusa was indeed alright. Though a part of her had a feeling that the princess would do something rash.

Unfortunately for the purple eyed Senshi, her feeling were soon found to be accurate.

For as she approached the Throne Room, the could feel the breeze nipping at her exposed skin as it slowly began to howl. She soon noticed a ominous multicolor glow pulsating a few meters away, behind some bushes. But she didn't need to see what was happening to know what was going on.

She really was her Mother's daughter...

"Sailor TELEPORT!!!"

A collection of voices suddenly suddenly cried out, just as Saturn made it to the clearing. Just in time to see the princess disappear with the Asteroid Senshi in tow.

Saturn groaned before she took out her communicator and contacted Pluto ...

"We have a problem..."

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A/N: Yes, I know.

Anyway, don't really have much to say. But like always, please leave a review and tell me what you think. It really helps both motivate and inspire my writing.

Until next time, NIGHTSTALKER OUT!