Cyber Moon: Genesis.

Episode 5: Freedom, Hope and Destruction.

By Razor Knight

Last update: October 18, 2005

"This is your last chance. Surrender now, and your lives will be spared."

The Khrall's words echoed in Serenity's mind. Was he so sure of his power over them, that he was trying to turn them back into mindless drones digging their own doom?

Power. What power did these Kh'Sun, the Masters have over humans? Fear? Fear of what? Of their advanced technology and plasma weapons? The group of human soldiers that were now aiming their own plasma guns at the crowd of Kh'Sun... There was fear there, but the fear of what the Masters would do to their planets was greater.

And that same fear gave them the determination to fight on. "Giving up? Haven't you realized what kind of power you're fighting against?"

The Khrall snorted at that. "I know about your power, I've been watching you using it since you set a foot inside this ship. You're but a stone in the way of our race, a stone I intend to crush here and now." Behind him, the reactor glew brighter for a second, making the form of the Khrall look a lot more intimidating.

Serenity frowned. She could feel the crystal she'd used to blast through the wall. One of the things the Senshi gained after their powers awakened, was something not even Cognisance could explain. It was some sort of pocket dimension where they could store any item or weapon they needed for their battles.

With a mental command, the crystal was back. The five robots formed a barrier in front of their leader, but that was just going to help the Senshi of the Moon. "Moon Redemption Wave!"

It all took a split second. The energy wave blasted through the robots and the Khrall, leaving nothing but a pile of wrecked metal and ashes behind. But while that had been in Serenity's plans, the other thing the energy wave had hit had not. She stared for a second at the reactor, normally a glowing green tube of some strange alien mineral. Right now, it had a hole in it's center, and it's light was pulsating.

"That thing's going to blow!" Lumina shouted.

And they didn't have time to run, Serenity realized. She looked at her crystal again and sighed. "Senshi, we're getting out of here, but I need your help. Focus in my crystal, lend me your power!"

The others closed their eyes as the reactor's glow dimmed. A few seconds later, the Senshi and humans in the room vanished, leaving a shocked Khtei to stare at the collapsing reactor.

He didn't have enough time to blink before it exploded.

Soldiers and Senshi appeared several miles away from the ship, just as the reactor exploded. The shockwave was strong enough to knock them to the ground, and as they stood up, they could see there was not much left of the alien ship.

"We did it," Claude said. Her ability to state the obvious was only shadowed by her combat skills, albeit barely.

"We had a lot of casualties back there, though," Lumina commented.

Aejin nodded, then, for once in a lifetime, smiled. "Look at it this way: We lost a couple dozen soldiers, but they've lost their ownly way out of our system, their leaders, and any hopes of defeating us. "

Serenity didn't find her statement funny, but it was true nonetheless. The structure of these Kh'Sun was much like that of an insect colony. Once you killed the Queen, the rest of them would eventually die. But in this case, they would need to speed up the process.

The girl sighed. The novel sure was good, and from what her mother had told her, it was historically accurate, as the writer had interviewed the Senshi themselves before writing it.

But what was strange, was the way the First Senshi acted, so different from the ideals of her epoque's Senshi. Maybe it was because no generation after that first one had to fight for their freedom.

"Lady Hope, your mother is looking for you," a red-haired woman said as she entered the library. She was wearing a light blue robe, the usual attire of a Librarian.

"Tell her I'll be right there. Oh, and I'm going to keep this book until I finish it."

The woman nodded. "As usual, your literary tastes are excellent."

Hope sighed again as the woman walked out of the room, then stood up and grabbed the book. "I wonder what happened to Lilith," she pondered to herself as she walked out of the room. And so, she resumed her reading while she walked to the throne room.

The road to freedom wasn't one without obstacles. Two years passed before humans could finally rest assured the very last of the Kh'Sun were gone.

Or so they thought.

There had been an opposition against the new government imposed by the Senshi. The idea of being ruled was, in the mind of the humans, still too close to slavery. One of the meetings between the Senshi and those opposing their government had been the key to ending that dispute. One of the men from the 'Freedom Fighters' had proclaimed that the Senshi had only freed them from the Kh'Sun so they could rule in their place.

Serenity had stared at the man for a few seconds, and in an ennervingly calm tone, she'd stated "You say that, but I did not see you fighting along with us to free this system. Next time an alien race comes to enslave us, you can fight and then rule us. Until that day, shut the fuck up."

It was one of the few times anyone had heard the Queen curse out loud. But it was effective, as the man fell silent and soon enough the 'Freedom Fighters' were disbanded and forgotten.

Years passed without any major events, and the Senshi had married and were used to their new lives as rulers of the solar system. With the exception of the Senshi of Pluto. Her elements were time and space, and she had left for what she called the "Time Gate," a place only a few other Senshi had seen. She came back only when a spark of evil appeared, to either warn the others about it, or help them fight.

It was in one of her 'visits' that the Kh'Sun made a comeback, one that was both unexpected and deadly.

"Lady Chrone..." Pyrie said with a frown.

Chrone of Pluto didn't meet her gaze, instead staring out through one of the many, large windows of the Crystal Palace's throne room. "You're looking at me like I'm a messenger of doom."

"You were never one for socializing, Chrone," Pyrie stated.

Chrone turned to her, her face unreadable. "True. Is Queen Serenity here?"

"Serenity called us all to a meeting, she said she had something to show us," Claude explained as she walked into the room. "Right now, she's talking to Cognisance. But if you're here..."

"This one situation may end up turning into a crisis. It could affect the whole solar system," Chrone said as the rest of the Senshi entere the throne room. There was one Senshi missing, and the others all looked at Chrone, who didn't say a word about it.

Cognisance and Serenity were the last two to walk in. Both had ominous looks in their faces. Cognisance was the first to speak. "There's a... Situation at Lilith. Actually, it's something very strange."

Serenity nodded. "Five hours ago, I received a call from Queen Mana. She said there was something strange going on in her planet, and that she was going to investigate. She also said if she didn't contact me in two hours, I should be ready to send a team to investigate."

Cognisance sighed. "It's a good thing you told me about this before doing that..."

"What's going on in that planet?" Queen Lumina from Venus asked. "Where's Mana?"

"We don't know where she is, but what we do know is... We can't risk going to that planet," Serenity said.

"But..."

"Lumina, listen," Cognisance said. "There's a virus spreading through Lilith, and it's spreading faster than anything I've ever seen. I'm quite sure it was created using magic."

"The virus, from what we could scan from here, mutates any living organism, taking over it and controlling it," Serenity added.

"Then what about..."

"Mana could be infected by now, for all we know," Cognisance said.

Aejin grimaced. "I can... I can feel it. Lilith is covered with death from pole to pole."

"We should go and try to rescue the survivors," Claude said.

"And get infected as well?" Pyrie asked. "No thanks."

"We need time to find a cure for that virus," Cognisance added.

"It's no use," Chrone said. "I was too late to warn you. That virus... It could spread out to Jupiter and Mars, for starters."

"Are you sure of that?" Serenity asked.

"I saw that as one of the possible futures. In one week, it could take over all our system."

"We can't let that happen. One dead planet is more than enough," Shade said.

"But what can we do?" Lumina asked. The room fell silent for several minutes.

Aejin was the first one to speak. "I think I could solve this."

"How?" Claude asked.

"My own healing powers will make me immune to the virus, at least for a while. I'll try and find Mana, but if I can't..."

"Are you aware," Serenity warned, "that you may not get out of there alive?"

"I know that. But I have something to request from you."

"And that is?"

"Serenity, in case I fail, I may still have a chance to stop the virus before it spreads out. I ask your permission to use my full power as a last resort."

Serenity looked at her for a second, then walked to the window, staring out at the forest surrounding the palace, then at the Earth, high in the sky. After a minute of silence, she turned to look at Aejin and nodded. "You have my permission."

"But that would mean..." Lumina started.

"I know, Lumina," Serenity said. "But given the circumstances, there's no other way to solve this. However..." The Queen turned back to the Senshi of Saturn. "Aejin, tell me the truth. You weren't planning on coming back, were you?"

Aejin fell silent for a few seconds, then turned around and said. "Tell Erias to take care of our girl, or I'll come back to haunt him. "

Erias was Aejin's husband, Saturn's King. So now Serneity knew it, Aejin knew the chances of coming back were next to none. She paled as she saw Aejin walk out of the room. She was quite sure that'd be the last time she'd see her.

A/N: I think you can guess where the planet Lilith was. If you can't, just wait for the next episode. Which will most likely be the last episode with the First Senshi as main characters.
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is a creation of Naoko Takeuchi, and I thank her for creating such wonderful universe.