AN: Well, here it is, the last Planet Crystal. This is, by far, the longest chapter yet, but I didn't want to end it until the vision was over.

Chapter 28: Sailor War

March 1, 8983

Miranda was a desert, one of the most vibrant and colorful ones in the system. Crystal sands blanketed the planet, glowing in every shade of the rainbow under the artificial sun high in the dome. Haruka stood at the edge of the Golden Expanse, adjusting the controls on the side of her goggles to cut the glare of the sun reflecting from the sand, her fellow princesses arrayed behind her. She had procured Uranian desert armor for them, dressing them in suits designed to keep them cool and to prevent the loss of moisture in the dry, tortured air. Her own golden armor shone in the brilliant sun, white cloth wrapped around her head and flowing from her shoulders and waist, gloves covering her slender fingers and heavy boots crunching in the sand. "It's a long walk to the Chime Cliffs."

"Why can't we just teleport there?"

Michiru glanced over her shoulder at Makoto, the taller warrior dressed in the dark green and rust brown colors she loved so much. "For three thousand years, the energy of this moon has been in flux, just as it is on Metis. The only place safe enough to teleport in or out is Haruka's retreat; if you try to go anywhere else there is the possibility that the wild energy could tear you apart. From what we saw on Mars and Jupiter, I imagine that the deaths of two senshi caused this imbalance."

"Come." Haruka took off across the desert, leaving her small sanctuary far behind while Serenity and the senshi trailed behind her. She felt the wind screaming in her mind as it pushed for freedom, determined to stir the sands and attack the intruders heading into the desert, but she wrapped her fingers around her Space Sword and pushed back. She would control the wind for as long as she could, but the Uranian princess knew that the closer they got to the center of the disturbance, the harder it would be to control the weather.

And what will you do then?

Haruka glanced at her wife, the slender Neptunian walking silently by her side. The light blue cloth covering Michiru's head and the bottom of her face obscured any outward sign of emotion, but their bond was strong enough that they no longer needed words and facial expressions. I will have to create a competing storm to push back the elements that Nao stirred up with her death. It will be a strain.

We will help you.

The group walked for hours, following the slightly brightening glow in the heart of Haruka's keystone, passing tiny patches of scraggly plants drinking from springs too far underground to reach the surface, the princesses sipping just enough water from their canteens to stay hydrated and continue their search. Michiru kept an eye on her wife, sensing that the blonde was beginning to struggle to control the incessant wind, feeling the sting of tiny crystals on her exposed cheeks. She pulled her scarf higher on her face, knowing that Haruka noticed the action and blamed herself for not having enough control of her element to keep it from causing her wife and friends pain.

The keystone suddenly began to pulse with the same erratic light that the other keystones had emitted just before their senshi reached the other planet crystals. Haruka sighed as she stared across the sands, finally spotting a dark smudge against the horizon. "We are nearing the Chime Cliffs, and I fear that we will have to climb them."

"You don't like mountain climbing?"

Haruka glanced at Makoto out of the corner of her eye, refusing to answer until the group reached the base of the Chime Cliffs almost an hour later. The wind tore at them more viciously than before, only barely restrained by Haruka's sword as the senshi stared at the wall of dark red and purple stone towering overhead. "There is nothing easy about climbing the Chime Cliffs. Very few ever attempt it, and certainly very few outsiders have ever succeeded. It's so difficult to do that the War Queen Council will award a title to those few brave enough to reach the top."

"How do they know who truly climbs the cliffs?"

Haruka chuckled as she glanced at her keystone, tucking it into her armor as she raised her sword. "You'll see, Pyro." She reached into one of the multitude of pouches on her belt and pulled out a climbing stake, reaching up to jab it into the rock. The red and purple stone flashed an angry shade of orange and the stake fell to the ground, the end melted. "No normal metal can stick in the side of the cliff, so all climbers must rely on their own hands and strength to reach the top, with no help from safety ropes and stakes."

Rei glanced up the cliff-face, narrowing her amethyst eyes at the lip she could barely see overhead. "I've done some free climbing on Phobos in my time. I think I could do this. Haruka, I'm sure you have mountain climbing experience, as well."

"Not as much as I would like, to be honest. I don't have any titles in climbing yet. I was too busy practicing my swordplay."

"Could have used a bit more practice," Makoto quipped, grinning when the Uranian turned to glare at her. "I can climb that. It reminds me of the dormant volcanoes of Io where my brothers and I traveled years ago."

"Those won't remain dormant for long," Ami murmured, staring at her computer screen. "The cliff face isn't that sheer, but I don't see too many handholds. I doubt that I could climb to the top without assistance."

Michiru hummed to herself as she summoned her mirror, whispering at her talisman as an image appeared in the depths. "I believe that Minako's talisman has special properties that might help us."

The Venusian tilted her head as she summoned her golden chain, staring at the heart-shaped links. "How will this help us?"

"My mirror tells me that your chain can extend indefinitely when in your hands. We can chain ourselves together in case anyone slips. A talisman will be much safer and stronger than ropes."

Haruka turned to Michiru, passing her gaze across Minako, Ami, and Serenity before closing her eyes and sighing. "You plan to climb with us? All of you? Michi, my love, countless scores of Uranians have tried this climb and failed, often dying in the attempt, and we rarely have off-worlders even consider it."

"A Neptunian has never reached the top."

Michiru shrugged at Ami's warning, hooking her mirror back on her belt. "I plan to mirror the others, but the chain will keep us all safe." She raised an eyebrow as her wife checked the other senshi's climbing gloves, paying extra attention to Serenity. "If you knew your planet crystal was at the Chime Cliffs, why didn't you expect this climb?"

"I did expect it a little, but I truly hoped we would find my crystal in a cave at the base of the cliffs. I did not want to force you to attempt this climb."

"You aren't forcing us to do anything," Rei replied, flexing her fingers and touching the smooth red and purple stone in front of her. "I've been thinking about this climb for a couple of years."

"Eiki and Saiki have been practicing their cliff climbing skills for the last three years," Makoto murmured thoughtfully, checking Ami's armor and gloves. "It'll kill them if I get the title first."

Haruka took Michiru's hand and squeezed it, resting her forehead on her wife's. "How much climbing experience do you have, my love?"

"I've studied it," Michiru deflected, aqua eyes free of any worry. "I can do this, Ruka. I'll just mirror one of you like I did while we were fighting."

Haruka shrugged and turned to the rest of the group, pointing at a small panel on the front of her armor. "Uranian armor is made for climbing as well as surviving the desert. There are built in straps attached to a hook here in the front. Just release this catch, pull out the hook and fasten it in place. Light, run your chain through each hook with me on one end and you on the other. Ice will climb between me and Thunder, Princess you're in the middle, then Pyro, Michi, and Light. Are you all ready?"

Minako nodded as she passed her chain to Haruka, securing the end of it to the taller blonde's climbing hook before moving down the line of women, wrapping the loose end through her climbing hook and around her waist before turning to Michiru. "Haruka, why would you want Michiru climbing beside me instead of you?"

"Michi prefers it. She can read me worlds away but she says my aura is very subtle. You, however, are vibrant and very loud. If she could learn the Martian Blood Rage from an impression on your soul, I imagine she can copy mountain climbing from Rei's reflection on you very easily. Just stay open to Rei and she will learn from you."

"That I can do." Haruka reached for the nearest rock jutting out of the cliff, taking a deep breath as she began to climb. Silently, the others followed her, knowing that the Uranian was moving very slowly and carefully for their benefit. Rei, Makoto, and Haruka kept their attention split between the rock wall and their companions, helping them find appropriate hand-holds and correcting their grip. Slowly, the wind slamming against their backs, the group scuttled up the sheer rock face, Minako's glowing chain connecting them and providing some security.

"Can't you do anything about the wind?"

"I am, Thunder," Haruka replied, nodding toward the talisman glowing on her hip. "I can't stop it, but I managed to redirect it. Instead of trying to push us off the mountain, it's helping us stay attached. Trust me, the other way is worse."

"Haruka, I don't think I can hold on much longer," Serenity groaned, struggling to reach for the next crevice. "I don't have the benefit of your senshi strength."

Rei reached over and rested her hand on Serenity's arm, ribbons of red power linking the fire senshi to her princess. On the other side, Makoto echoed Rei's action, a green glow enveloping her hand and Serenity's arm, the moon princess smiling as she drew strength from her protectors. "If you can catalyze our abilities, it only makes sense that we can share our power with you. The ginzuishou and the Moon Queen receive their power from the other planets, after all."

Haruka pulled herself higher, feeling the slightest strain in even her trained warrior muscles, knowing that her fellow senshi must be suffering, as well. She reached down and touched her sword, calling the wind to her and forcing it to push them higher, helping them finish the last few feet of the arduous climb. With a sigh of relief, Haruka reached the top of the cliff and pulled herself over the edge of the mountain, turning back to help Ami up. She stood and released the chain from her armor while the rest of the women joined her on the top of the mountain, grateful to feel the ground beneath her feet once more. Michiru returned to her usual place by Haruka's side, turning to face the desert they had crossed, smiling at the simple beauty of the arid moon.

"What is that sound?"

Haruka turned to Rei, grinning as she pointed at a row of cacti blocking the path before them. "These are called the Chime Cliffs because of the sounds created by the wind passing across the spines of the Jakti Lumas cacti that only grow here. They were planted by the goddess Uranus to provide music in her solitude many thousands of years ago. Very few women ever hear this melody."

"It sounds like the first strains of Last Betrayal," Ami remarked, already using her small computer to record the sound. Makoto moved closer to the plants, noting that most of them were seven or eight feet tall, thin arms branching toward the sky. "This is where Nao died, isn't it?"

Haruka freed her keystone from her armor, staring at the intense light emanating from the tiny gem. "Yes. We are very close." She joined Makoto beside the cacti and removed her glove, holding her palm inches from the heavily grooved skin of the largest one. "This is one of the most extraordinary plants in the system, Thunder. Its flowers cannot bloom without a great deal of iron, something that is quite scarce in this desert." She placed her hand against the dark green skin of the plant, never flinching as dozens of tiny needles shot into her skin, sucking a small amount of blood from her hand before she pulled away. The other women watched in wonder as the blood-gorged needles retracted back into the plant, a red blush staining the area Haruka had touched. Dozens of tiny flowers colored in intermingled golden yellow and navy blue sprouted from the tips of the slender branches, a gentle perfume filling the air as the wind passed over them. Haruka reached up and carefully plucked one of the feathery blooms, tucking it into one of the tiny pouches in her armor.

"Is that how the Council knows who managed to complete this climb?"

"Yes, Thunder, it is. To come to Uranus's hiding place and not offer blood to her cacti is considered sacrilege on my world, so everyone who reaches the top of the Chime Cliffs always touches a Jakti. Every plant is different, and apparently they each have different colored flowers." Michiru joined her wife near the tallest cluster of cacti, removing her glove and reaching for a different cactus than Haruka had chosen, watching as vibrant teal flowers with sapphire blue accents bloomed from her plant. She summoned her mirror as she plucked one of the flowers and stored it in a pouch on her armor.

"These plants are partially empathic," she murmured, staring into the swirling depths of her talisman while the other women offered blood to other cacti standing guard at the top of the Chime Cliffs. "Uranus created them to keep him company and to sing when he was lonely. The cacti in this first row are thousands of years old and they have learned to craft flowers based on the emotions and innate power of the person who offers blood. They especially like to take the blood of senshi, since our power can sustain them for centuries. In return for such an offering, they bloom flowers based on the colors of our senshi powers."

Rei cupped her fiery red and purple flower as Michiru finished her explanation, gently hiding the bloom in her armor. "It's quite a magnificent plant."

"They are more magnificent than that," Haruka replied, raising her talisman to the sky. At her silent command, the wind stopped, temporarily confused as she released it from her power. Moments later, it began to gust again, flowing toward them from the other side of the Jakti Lumas and a new melody filled the sky. The new song was bright and vibrant, full of joy and hope in a stark contrast to the mourning melody of The Last Betrayal. The women smiled as they listened, unable to resist the feeling of contentment engendered by the sweet sound. "The cacti sing in thanks of our offering. They welcome us to this place."

"What place?"

Haruka grinned as she slipped between the two largest plants, leading the women through clusters of progressively smaller and younger Jakti Lumas until they reached an empty expanse of golden sand mixed with dark navy blue, light teal, and vibrant sapphire grains just outside the entrance to a dark cave system that stretched for miles in every direction. Haruka slipped her keystone free, staring into the brilliant and now steady light before placing it on the ground on top of the multi-colored sand. "Where I died."

"But there's nothing here, Haruka. There's no monument or building or even a large rock formation. There's just . . . nothingness."

"I know, Pyro," the Uranian whispered. "That's what worries me." She sat in the sand, noting the utter lack of wind between the cacti field and the cave, waiting for Michiru to join her on the ground. "Serenity, Michiru might need your power to help her pull the vision forward. Our souls will fight this memory." Serenity nodded and completed the small circle, the Inner Senshi forming a second circle around them. This was their last planet, their last crystal, and their last memory. They knew it would be the hardest and the darkest, so they offered Haruka as much support as they could.

I don't want to do this.

I know. Michiru looked up and met Haruka's eyes, pulling her talisman out of her armor and placing it on the sand on top of her wife's keystone. She rested her fingers on the handle, pouring her power into the mirror as Haruka's long fingers reached for the dark swirling surface. Serenity's small fingers just barely touched the edge of the talisman and the powers of the other senshi surrounded them, plunging the world into darkness.

(Three Thousand Years Ago)

"What was that last night?"

"What was what?"

"Do not play games with me, Setsuna! I know your true self. We have been partners too long for you to prevaricate now." The tall Uranian stormed across the room, a heavy braid of long golden hair whipping around her frame as she came to a stop next to the green-haired Plutonian queen. "Reiko and Minami did something last night."

Setsuna sighed and pulled away, reaching for her Time Key as she walked to the balcony of her throne room and stared across her world. In the sky, Pluto's ever-present moon filled the sky, Charon big enough to create a considerable gravitational force on the tiny world. Behind the pair, dozens of technicians and privileged nobles stared at computer screens that reported on the activity of the Time Gate and monitored thousands of time streams every second for even the slightest abnormality. "Your worry is unfounded, my old friend. Reiko and Minami almost did something last night," Setsuna corrected. "They are not powerful enough to complete the exchange that their planet crystals demanded of them and they are simply too old to begin the process."

"The process of what?"

Setsuna shrugged, running her fingers across the runes embedded in the Time Key. "In order to create Star Senshi, two powerful Planet Senshi must combine their powers, but they have to be in synch at a young age, certainly before the end of their third decade. Reiko and Minami are both well into their sixth decade and much too old for their souls to start the bonding process. The fact that they are powerful enough to try indicates that within three or four generations we could have Star Senshi once more."

Nao tilted her head to one side, feathery bangs framing her face as she regarded the older woman. The pale scar that ran across her face from just over her left eye and across her nose to her right cheek made her look older and more severe than her fifty-six years would suggest, though otherwise she was just as strong and fit as she was the day she had inherited her planet crystal. "Star Senshi? I thought those were a myth."

"I can assure you that they are not. When the Silver Millennium was new, there were hundreds of Star Senshi spread throughout the galaxy. Sailor Sol, Sailor Moonlight, Sailor Alcor, Sailor Pollux . . . but over time the power of the senshi lineages waned. The gods had to breed into the royal lineages to empower their avatars once more, but such an infusion of divine energy takes time to blossom. Some of the other planetary systems still have Star Senshi, but only now are the Planet Senshi here becoming strong enough to create them once more."

"So we will have them again in a few generations? Sailor Sol and the others from our ancient legends?"

Setsuna shook her head. "Not Sailor Sol, but the others will come. Tell Reiko and Minami not to worry about that surge of power but not to try and repeat the process. If they continue to attempt something they do not have the power or harmony for, they could become injured or damage their crystals."

Nao nodded, fingering the sword on her belt. "My daughter's granddaughter could see the revival of the Star Senshi. She could be witness to the Golden Age foretold in all the prophecies. She could be the Ultimate Senshi."

"She could," Setsuna agreed, a twinge of uneasiness in her voice. Thousands of years earlier she had seen visions and written prophecies the indicated a darker, more violent future. Pushing her concern away, she smiled at her taller friend. "And I will be honored to serve with her."

"Star Senshi? Does she really think they could return?"

Nao shrugged, stretched across one of the largest couches in the senshi gathering room, fingering the hair on the end of her braid. "Setsuna thinks so. She was very excited about the prospect."

"The Dark Queen? Excited?"

"It does seem unlikely," Chieko agreed, reading through a number of inconsequential reports on her computer as she answered her wife's incredulous question. "Did she say anything else, Nao?"

"Hopefully she told you to stop lounging so carelessly," Yuuka admonished as she entered the room, tapping one of Nao's boots in a demand that the Uranian move her feet. The blonde chuckled as she obeyed, giving her wife space to sit. "I have the new reports from Antares."

Nao took one of the small pads in Yuuka's hand, scanning through the reports as Mariya and Reiko each took one. Chieko, too absorbed in the internal politics scrolling across her screen, ignored her fellow senshi, and Minami continued to polish her sword, trusting that her wife would fill her in later. "The rebel forces are getting stronger. Why can't the planetary senshi put down the uprising?"

"Queen Rishiya won't allow the use of senshi powers against the civilians. She thinks that there is some outside force, something stronger motivating the mundanes. She wants to draw it out and let her senshi fight that, instead. It seems that she has called in at least two dozen Star Senshi to help protect important public areas."

"Two dozen?" Minami released a low whistle as she considered the numbers. "There aren't more than three dozen in that part of space. Has Kinmoku replied to the threat?"

Mariya nodded, greenish hazel eyes scanning through the report. "It seems that the queen has offered her senshi and the few Star Senshi under her command but refuses to deploy them until an actual target is found. She doesn't want to risk the same uprising on her world in case this is more sinister than we currently think."

"Do you think anything like that could happen here?"

"No, of course not. Serenity keeps peace here but the Antares system doesn't have a unifying power like the ginzuishou to protect them from such violence."

Yuuka hummed to herself as she brushed her shoulder-length sapphire hair, eyeing her wife as the blonde polished her talisman. "Must you do that in bed?"

"Why not?" Nao looked up from her work, emerald eyes confused. "When Kiruko and Tsukihiko clean their weapons in bed you think it's adorable."

"They're barely teenagers," Yuuka replied, narrowing her pale blue eyes. "They don't have wives who prefer clean sheets at night. And in any case, your talisman is always clean and doesn't require such mundane polishing techniques."

Nao shrugged in defeat, placing her sword on the bedside table beside Yuuka's mirror. "Kazuhiko called today to announce his engagement."

"To Rika, I hope?"

"Yes. He was worried that his position as your Consort might cause some problems, but I assured him that since the position is purely ceremonial he can be married like any normal Uranian. I also promised him that we would not request his services again, in accordance with Rika's wishes."

Yuuka nodded, placing her brush carefully on the vanity. Like most Neptunians, she was very neat and kept her vanity as organized and clutter-free as possible. "I'm nearly too old to worry about children anymore, to be honest. Your brother gave me three children and I am content enough with them. You told my cousin Hideaki that you were finished after only the twins, even though he and his wife have often said that they are willing to help us have many more."

"One pregnancy was one too many," Nao groaned, rubbing her hand over her toned stomach in memory of the children she had carried. "And, of course, I ended up with twins. You at least had easy pregnancies. Ruria, Mai, and Yuuji never caused you a minute of problems."

Yuuka smiled as she joined Nao on their bed, reaching out to grab the tall warrior's heavy braid. "You give me plenty enough for all three of them. If you insist on wearing your hair long, you could at least take better care of it. Look at all of these split ends!"

"I trim it," Nao replied defensively, pulling her hair free of Yuuka's grasp. She didn't have many split ends at all, not since she began living on Neptune with her wife's cadre of trained beauticians badgering her daily to let them take care of her and her floor-length hair. On the rare occasion that her golden locks were free of any military-style braid, her golden locks were the envy of the Neptunian and Uranian courts. "I like the way it swings when I turn or run, moving after I've stopped. It makes me feel majestic."

"Nao the Majestic?"

"I will be remembered for something, but hopefully that is not the title they pick." She reached up and ran a long finger down her wife's cheek, smiling gently at the smaller woman. Nao was a great queen, a powerful senshi, and a fine leader in both war and peace times. She had conquered at least six incursions into the system in her fifty-plus years as Sailor Uranus, and she never flinched in pain or fear. The scar on her face, a remnant of the Mars Riots, served as a reminder to her subjects that she was tough and strong, a force to be feared, but Yuuka only saw the gentle woman hidden underneath that armor of bravado. In their room, where no one else could see, Nao surrendered control to her beloved wife. "They call you Yuuka the Magnificent already, you know."

"I've heard," the Neptunian replied dryly, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "I brought them music and art, but they do not see that the talent has always been there, inside them, and my efforts just awakened them to their full potential. They should praise themselves, not me, for the transformation of our society."

"They will praise you and whisper your name with reverence until the end of time," Nao promised, leaning her head forward and letting it rest on Yuuka's chest. "I only hope that my name is a war cry of courage and strength and not just another name in a long list of ancestors for the duchesses."

"War Queens will boast that they are your descendants, my love," Yuuka promised, carefully freeing Nao's long hair from its tight braid. Golden waves of crimped hair spread across the dark blue sheets, covering the pair of queens like a blanket of star-spun golden silk. "You will be remembered."

Nao smiled as she looked up into Yuuka's pale blue eyes, leaning forward to kiss her wife. "Good." She ran her long fingers across Yuuka's soft cheeks, emerald eyes bright. "Uranus has been hanging out with Aphrodite again even though I told her how much it upsets me. Would you like to help me show her my displeasure again?"

"Always."

"The reports from Antares are getting worse, Setsuna. I must send my senshi to help them put down the uprising."

Sailor Pluto stared into her Garnet Orb, red eyes displaying almost no emotion. "I have to concur, Majesty. Rishiya has been forced to deploy her senshi to stop the rebels on her outer worlds, only to discover that the leaders are rogue Star Senshi."

"Star Senshi?! Setsuna, how can that be?"

"Senshi can be corrupted and controlled, but it takes a powerful force to twist a senshi of such strength. When we lost contact with Mirin, three of the Orion systems, and the Centauri system, I believe that these rogue senshi were to blame."

"Can you fight them?"

Pluto turned her gaze toward her queen, sighing at the worry in those pale lavender eyes. "We will fight them. Send word to Kinmoku that we are headed out and that we require the services of her senshi, as well. We will end this Sailor War before it reaches the Silver Millennium; I can assure you of that."

Nao stood proudly on the lowest balcony of her palace, watching as thousands upon thousands of troops filled shuttles and headed for the warships orbiting overhead. Her two children and Yuuka's three stood behind her, monitoring the preparations for war as her assistants. Yuuka's two daughters and son were all almost a decade older than hers, having been born long before Nao was willing to endure a pregnancy, but Kiruko and Tsukihiko were already nearly twenty years old and fine warriors in their own right. Very soon Ruria and Kiruko would be strong enough to inherit their mothers' Planet Crystals, hopefully after the mess in Antares had been sorted out.

"We only have one more ship to load, Mother," Mai reported, tapping commands into her holo-pad. Though the five children were not all siblings, they referred to both Nao and Yuuka as "mother", disregarding any physical relationship they shared with the Consorts who fathered them. It was an imperfect familial situation, but since two women were incapable of having children together, it was the best solution devised by the Royal Courts to the odd reality of senshi soul mates.

"Good. What are the reports from the other fleets?"

"Queen Chieko announces that her science and medical ships are fully loaded and stocked with supplies. Queen Minami reports that her Elite Swords are aboard her flagship along with translators that speak Prime Antarean and psychiatrists as requested. Queen Reiko and Queen Mariya report that Martian and Jovian fleets are fully deployed and waiting above Pluto for the jump. Queen Junko says that she and her daughters will bring two fleets from Saturn to the rendezvous point and Mother says that her fleet will be ready, as well." Mai grinned as she read the end of the report from Neptune. "She says she knows that you don't think Neptunian warriors will be much good, but she has picked the best for you."

Nao grinned and summoned her Space Sword. "Tell Yuuka that I never doubted her. Are the Plutonian fleets and Lunarian medical support vessels still waiting for us at the rendezvous point?"

"Affirmative."

"Then we will leave."

"The latest reports from Antares indicate that most of the fighting has been moved to the ninth planet, a huge rocky world used mostly for agriculture to support the rest of the system. Over the last two decades of fighting, it is mostly barren now."

"The rogue Star Senshi have hundreds of thousands of troops stationed there and have been using their powers to move supplies in past the blockade erected by Queen Rishiya," Ruria continued as her brother silenced, fingers flying across the controls. "The Antarean senshi report that we will be needed to help fight through the enemy troops and reach some sort of large complex that used to house the leaders of the world. Now the senshi live there, using their powers to prevent incursions."

"Fine. Have the leader of the Star Senshi here transmit a suitable landing location where we can discharge our troops. This conflict should be over in a matter of days."

"Your senshi healing should have taken care of that by now." Setsuna waved her hand at Nao's broken left arm, still immobilized by a slim cast and held in a sling against her chest. The break had occurred during a recent skirmish with the rogue forces, caused by the heavy mace Sailor Sharp Falcon carried. The blow had shattered Nao's bone into so many splinter-like pieces that Chieko and the Lunarian surgeons had only been able to fasten the pieces back together and hope that Nao's healing could finish the process.

"I know," the blonde replied, running her hand over her face. She was tired, weary of the constant fighting, and even her Uranian determination had begun to waver. "Yuuka keeps reminding me that I have to eat more, take care of myself, but we never get a moment of rest on the front line."

"You should remove yourself to the center battalions and allow yourself time to heal. The other senshi can continue the fight in your stead." The third senshi present at the strategy meeting kept her voice soft and gentle, hoping to convince the taller woman to take a rest. Her long hair was colored in an odd mix of red and gold that let her stand out even among the vibrantly-colored Star Senshi she commanded. Hanami was the Star Senshi of Alderamin, but she had adopted a new name for herself hundreds of years earlier as she took on the role of leading the Star Senshi after the collapse of the last Council. Sailor Galaxia had gathered the last few dozen Star Senshi in Antares to fight the rogues, but she was well aware that their chances of winning were growing slim.

"Hanami, we have been here fighting for almost three years. This war should have been over in the first week with all the troops we brought! I don't know how, but those senshi are forcing us to fight for every bloody inch and we are beginning to lose more battles than we win. Seventeen Star Senshi have fallen and Rishiya has lost three of her planet senshi, none of whom had children old enough to transform and take their places on the front line. Yuuka and Chieko have shown me the numbers, and even a Uranian knows when she is outnumbered. There must be a way to end this." She turned her emerald eyes toward Hanami, shaking her head before the older woman could speak. "There must be a way other than by glassing this planet."

Hanami turned to Setsuna, a dark knowing in her bright red eyes. "Tell her why the rogue senshi are so powerful, Se. If she knows the real reason, she may understand that my solution is the only one."

Setsuna leaned back against her chair, looking oddly worn in the dim light. "Hanami, your mother told you the truth of the gods and our power long ago, and you cursed her for the knowledge. Why would I now tell my friend the same thing, knowing that she does not want such a burden?"

"Have you spoken with Queen Junko recently?"

"What do you mean?"

Hanami sighed and fingered the hilt of her heavy sword. "She and her daughters have been fighting these past few weeks, pushing back against the Liyar River incursion, and I heard that her youngest child, Sarumi, asked why she was not allowed to fight with her sisters. Her scythe is ready, she says."

"Scythe?!"

"Sailor Saturn," Nao whispered, leaning forward. "Is our danger really so bad that she would rise?"

"The situation is grim," Hanami agreed; "if these senshi manage to destroy this system, if they kill all of our Star Senshi, there will only be a handful of solar systems with Planet Senshi strong enough to create more. Your system and Kinmoku are the primary ones, and they would fall quickly without senshi to protect them. We must stop them here."

"Chaos is determined to wipe out all of the senshi," Setsuna murmured, closing her eyes momentarily. "I suppose I should tell you the truth, Nao, if Sailor Saturn is threatening to rise. I don't think you are going to like it."

"Tell me anyway."

"Long ago, on the other side of this galaxy, a huge blue-white supergiant star gave birth to seven rocky worlds and seventeen gas giants. In this huge solar system, life grew on three of the rocky worlds and evolved beyond basic mortality, creating a single unified society. These beings, evolving early in the life of this galaxy, were immortal long before any other worlds developed sentience. Alone and unsure of themselves, these people began to use their powers to alter their world and explore the natural forces around them. They awakened a force that would become known as Chaos and its sister force of Order, but they quickly lost control of both. The unleashed force of Chaos gained dominance over Order and forced the star to supernova, destroying the entire system and disrupting the galactic orbits of several nearby solar systems. The people who survived founded colonies thousands of light-years away from their original home that presumably persist to this day, most hoping to forget their mistake, but a few of them chose to take responsibility for what they had released onto the galaxy. Several small groups of warriors spread throughout the Milky Way Galaxy to hunt Chaos down, and a few groups made it to the stars on our side of the center.

"One of these groups consisted of the brightest minds and most powerful warriors from the lost world. The leader of the expedition was War General Chronos, his wife Captain Ananke, her second-in-command Commander Uranus, Science Officer Gaia, Security Chief Tartarus, and Medics Ophion and Eurynome. Do you recognize these names?"

"Yes," Nao replied, shocked. "The Primordial Gods."

Setsuna chuckled, nodding. "We weren't called gods back then. There were no humans to invent the word. They were hunting Chaos, and they found it on Earth, trying to hide from Order. They also found that it had learned to procreate, giving birth to Nyx and Erebus, who in turn had many very powerful children of their own. Erebus wanted Chronos and his crew to leave Chaos alone, let him be on that primitive world, but Nyx could see the danger in letting her father have free reign on the galaxy. She sided with Order, helping the gods trap Chaos deep inside the Earth where it could not endanger or destroy anything else. Gaia, scanning the planet, realized that Chaos would continue to influence the vessel holding it, so she told her fellows that they had to stay on Earth and keep the prison closed. They created a balance between the weakened Order and trapped Chaos, taking up residence on that primordial world.

"Those people who would one day be called Gods realized that the Earth had less power than their original home world, and that Sol would never support the kind of experiments that had created Chaos in the first place. They each chose a specialty and began to develop their powers once more, albeit much more carefully. Chronos, Ananke, and Tartarus went into seclusion, eventually becoming lost in their own meditations, though their presence in the Earth was enough to maintain the prison. Ophion and Eurynome moved to the Moon, craving silence and the unchanging beauty offered by the small satellite, leaving Gaia and Uranus the Earth.

"Gaia turned her attention to the world, seeing herself as its mother, and she loved all of her children. As life evolved and changed on the world, she watched it and guarded it, becoming enamored of the beings slowly becoming sentient on her world. Uranus, however, became worried that Chaos was beginning to negatively influence the beings that would one day be called humans, corrupting them even as they learned to speak. He warned Gaia that they would not be strong enough to contain Chaos with the others in meditation, so she agreed to give him children to help them guard the prison. She gave him twelve beautiful Titan children, but none of them were willing to take up the mantle of guarding the prison. They all wanted to learn their powers, now greatly diminished compared to their parents' due to the world of their birth, and Uranus grew angry at them. Having chosen the sky as his domain, he spent years watching from afar as the humans grew violent and his children grew complacent. He wanted stronger children, ones whose vanity could not keep them from the duties he demanded of them, and Gaia gave him six more children, known to you as the Cyclopes and the Hekatonkheires. They were willing to guard, but Uranus did not approve of them, demanding even stronger offspring from his partner.

"Gaia became furious at him, both for not trusting that she could watch over the humans on her own and for hating his offspring. So she created a sickle of flint and asked her Titan children to destroy their father's power. Only Cronos was willing, and he chased Uranus out of the sky and castrated him, tossing his genitals into the sea, creating foam from whence Aphrodite was born. From Uranus's blood flowing across the earth, the Giants were born, and these beings at last were strong enough and powerful enough to guard the gates of Chaos's eternal prison. The Erinyes, women you call the Furies, were also born from this blood, and they decided to watch the humans, punish them for any actions that could be evil enough to have been influenced by Chaos. Finally, the Meliae were born, nymphs of the ash tree, and they took the injured Uranus far away, to a silent moon orbiting the seventh world of this system where he could rest. Shocked by his son's actions but finally glad to have strong guardians of Chaos, Uranus remained in seclusion with only the occasional company of his nymph daughters until the day I and my friends found him and Zeus granted him a new, female form.

"Chaos was more dangerous than the young Titans could guess and they soon learned that Uranus had been right all along. Not long after Cronos took his father's place, he became convinced that his own son would overthrow him, and he decided to eat his own children. Rhea bore him five children in succession, each of whom he swallowed whole, but she hid the sixth child far away, letting her husband swallow a rock, instead. Her son, Zeus, grew strong and returned to the Titans' home, killing his father as Chaos predicted and freeing his siblings. Then Order whispered in his ear, urging him to stop living on the Earth where the corruptive influence of Chaos was so strong, so he and the other gods created an alternate plane linked to that world but separate from it. They called it Mount Olympus, and as long as they lived there nothing Chaos said or did would hurt them."

"How did Chaos escape? If it's influencing the Star Senshi here, certainly the gods failed in their containment."

Hanami waved her hand at Setsuna, offering to explain. "The ancients did not realize that they needed to find a permanent solution to keep Chaos and Order in check, but Zeus and the younger gods searched for a way to balance and control both without either one threatening Sol or its planets. Se stumbled upon the solution almost by accident. She, Serenity, and Tranquility fathered children among the humans of Earth and the other eight worlds in their system, finding that these demigods had potential beyond anything the gods could accomplish. Unlike their immortal parents, these children could call forth the spirit of a planet and channel that power through their form to become super warriors. However, such a power is part of the domain of Order, so for it to exist, Chaos must balance the act of creating such a powerful being. The woman Tranquility impregnated on Earth offered herself to keep the Order and Chaos level, and she became Balance, with the power to control both and possessing an innate neutrality that the gods lacked. Once she was empowered, Chaos could be safely released into the galaxy once more.

"There is a price, then for every senshi born. Every child of order creates an equal child of darkness, which has kept our galaxy safe for thousands of years. Chaos, however, has found a way around that rule, corrupting many of the servants of Order to its will. These dark Star Senshi cannot be allowed to survive or Balance will falter and we will all be destroyed even as the first home of our gods was obliterated."

Nao glanced down at her lap, eyes unreadable. "When I first heard about the Antares Uprising, I just thought it was some local malcontents agitating for independence. It's happened before in other systems and the local senshi can usually negotiate some sort of compromise between the ruling Queen and her subjects. When we learned that Rishiya had deployed her Planet Senshi to fight what we assumed were malcontent farmers and local nobility, I admit that I was shocked, but it's not like we didn't have the Wars of Unification on Jupiter where senshi were required to end the violence. This is beyond anything I could have imagined, Hanami, and I don't know how to fight Star Senshi. We have managed to capture two of them in three years of intense fighting, and only one was killed in the ten years it took to force all of them here to be confined on this planet. How, then, can we stop the rest of them?"

"I have some ideas for a covert strike on their base, but our group must be small. I will take seven of my remaining Star Senshi, Rishiya's single Star Senshi and four of her Planet Senshi, the three Kinmokusei Senshi, the three of us, and three others from your system to infiltrate the main complex as soon as your arm is sufficiently healed. Our troops will create a huge diversion in the south, near the old research installation, creating a gap in the north we can slip through. If we can capture their leader, we should be able to find a way to drive Chaos off this world without having to destroy it."

"And if we fail, Hanami?"

The Star Senshi shrugged, acting unconcerned despite the turbulence in her bright red eyes. "Then your Sailor Saturn, empowered by the gods to be the final stand against Chaos when all else fails, will rise and destroy this world. Either way, whatever happens in the next few days, the Sailor Wars end here."

Sailor Uranus crouched low north of the huge complex, twenty senshi arrayed behind her as she waited for the guards to respond to the fighting on the south side of the complex. She could hear reports in her earpiece, Yuuka announcing the success of their sudden attack in the dead of night while Chieko counted casualties. She listened as Sailor Sharp Falcon was captured and her battalion eliminated, pleased that her army's casualties were quite low. The guards on the north side of the building were called away as the fighting in the south intensified, an explosion of senshi energy shaking the ground. As soon as the coast was clear, she slowly moved forward, Galaxia and Mars on one side and Venus with Jupiter on the other. The three Kinmoku senshi followed, then Pluto, Arrakis, Polaris, Sirius, Antares, Alcor, Rigel, Arcturus, and Betelgeuse. The four Antarean Planet Senshi formed a rear guard, keeping the other senshi safe.

Uranus reached the door to the complex, using her sword to break the lock and slip inside. She moved deeper into the maze-like building, surprised at the lack of resistance as the group infiltrated the command center and searched for the large rooms deeper inside that they had seen on their maps. She had studied charts of the complex for years, planning just such an attack, but this was the first time that the enemy's forces had been depleted enough to allow such an incursion. She glanced at Galaxia, noting her worry reflected in the older senshi's hardened gaze, signaling to the senshi following her that they should be on high alert.

Uranus reached a large set of intricately engraved doors, recognizing them from her studies of the complex. Raising her sword, she pushed the door open, leading her group into the darkness of the silent room, every sense on high alert. She heard the other senshi enter behind her as the doors swung closed, Galaxia reaching out to touch her arm. "It is most certainly a trap."

"Of course it is," a voice mocked from the shadows, a voice Uranus and Galaxia instantly recognized. A tall, slender woman with dark green hair stepped out of the shadows, her silver and black senshi uniform covered in strange decorations and weapons not often seen among the Antarean and Solarian Senshi. She drew a short-handled weapon with a blade on one end and a club on the other, grinning as she twirled it in her hand. "You must be Sailor Alderamin."

"Sailor Galaxia," the golden-uniformed senshi replied, drawing her red-handled sword. "I have not seen you in almost a hundred years, Sailor Deneb."

"Sailor Silver Chimera," the slender woman corrected, grinning maliciously as a dozen of her companions stepped into the light. The senshi under Galaxia's command moved closer together for protection, all of them realizing that they might outnumber the enemy senshi, but they were not nearly as powerful. "We have been waiting for months for you to attack us, Galaxia. When you captured Sharp Falcon, I realized that you were coming at last. I will be glad to introduce you to your death."

Galaxia and Uranus raised their swords, Venus uncoiling her chain while Mars fitted an arrow to her bow. Without another word, the senshi attacked. Silver Chimera ducked Galaxia's attack, jumping back to avoid Uranus's attack and Mars's arrow. The rest of the senshi splintered into small groups to fight the other eleven twisted servants of Chaos, many of them with very little hope of success. Sailor Pluto dodged Sailor Copper Wolf's staff, glaring contemptuously at the smaller senshi as she readied her own attack. A cloud of dark black and crimson energy surrounded Copper Wolf, her Dead Scream attack altering the flow of time around her target. The enemy senshi screamed as she aged in seconds, her body fading to dust as her Star Crystal turned dark. Staggering, Sailor Pluto fell to the ground, too exhausted by her attack to continue the fight, Mars and Jupiter moving to protect their weakened companion.

Uranus lost track of time as the bloody fight continued, grunting in pain as one of Chimera's blows nearly shattered her femur, grinning maniacally as Sailor Rigel managed to break Chimera's left arm before falling to the ground with an enemy sword in her chest. Mars, Venus, and Jupiter managed to kill another senshi, but they were too late to save Sailor Alcor. Galaxia screamed in rage as she rushed toward the back of the room, taking on two opponents and giving the three Kinmoku senshi time to regroup. Uranus faced Chimera alone, losing strength even as she became more determined to win. They both knew that the Sailor Wars were finally coming to an end, the outcome resting on their shoulders. Uranus struggled to put weight on her injured leg as Chimera moved to attack again, ignoring her useless arm in her determination to win. Steadying herself, Uranus raised her sword and felt golden power fill her strong form, calling on her planet to assist her in defeating the dark senshi.

In the instant before she struck, the doors to the chamber slammed open, hundreds of warriors pouring into the light. The children of the various warrior senshi led the charge, having overcome the mundane armies of the dark senshi at last. Nao's son, Tsukihiko, and his twin sister, Kiruko, led the charge, both highly decorated war heroes in the Antares Uprising and generals in the Uranian Army. Kiruko buried her sword in Sailor Onyx Hawk's gut, laughing as her momentum carried her forward into the tangle of warring senshi. Tsukihiko paused beside Rigel's prone form, determining that she was dead before moving on to Sailor Polaris and summoning medics to heal her wound. Pluto waved him away as Uranus's sharp cry of pain filled the room. In the chaos caused by the mundane army, Chimera had struck, slicing a huge gash across the blonde woman's ribs and forcing her to her knees.

Kiruko and Tsukihiko moved at the same instant, fury filling them at the sight of their mother injured and at the mercy of the dark senshi, Kiruko throwing two knives at her enemy. Tsukihiko moved closer, drawing his own dagger and burying it in Chimera's chest, shock filling his dark eyes as her sword sliced into him. His body fell to the ground, the gathered senshi staring in disbelief at the dark blood dripping from Chimera's sword.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Uranus leapt to her feet, ignoring her injuries and pain as she swung her sword at Chimera's neck, slicing the woman's head off. She stared in silence as the body of the enemy senshi crumpled to the ground at her feet, blood covering the floor. Nao dropped her transformation and fell to her knees, pulling her son's body into her arms, tears streaking her cheeks. Behind her, the enemy senshi were captured at last, ending the battle and the war that had been raging in the Antarean system for over a decade.

"Thisssss issss the pricccce of yourrrrr warrrrr," a dark voice whispered in the suddenly silent room. "I have won; you arrrrrre broken. I have won."

Nao felt her transformation cloak her form once more, blood still staining her white uniform as she stood, Tsukihiko's body in her arms. Galaxia met her eyes across the room and bowed her head, silently admitting that the voice, certainly the voice of Chaos, was right. The dark senshi might all be dead or captured, but there were precious few Star Senshi left and hundreds of thousands of mundanes had lost their lives, as well. Kiruko joined her mother, taking her murdered brother's hand in hers as she wept.

Pluto pushed herself to her feet, staring into her Time Key. "We must evacuate this world. Chaos has integrated itself into the very rocks we stand on, corrupting this planet and twisting the minds of all who live here. It has abandoned its senshi but it can wait here for thousands of years until it is strong enough to strike again."

"Sound the evacuation," Galaxia whispered.

"What are we to do now? We defeated the senshi but we cannot contain Chaos again. If left free, it will corrupt more women into its service and start the Sailor Wars all over again. That cannot be allowed to happen."

Sailor Pluto turned her gaze toward the planet rotating beneath them, conscious of her best friend sitting silently in the corner with Yuuka and their dead son, wishing she could have spared Nao that pain. Setsuna had birthed hundreds of children in her lifetimes and she had watched all of them die, but she had never been human enough to understand that broken, destroyed look in the limping blonde's eyes. Sailor Antares, who had spoken, waited patiently for the senshi of Pluto to offer some suggestion, Galaxia leaning on the computer terminal beside them. "Setsuna, I think I know a way to contain Chaos, but we must free it from that planet first. It needs to be weakened."

"We must destroy the planet."

The senshi on the bridge turned toward the small voice, shock in their eyes at the young girl who had spoken. Sarumi was Queen Junko's youngest child, cursed by the power that had been given to her line through the bones of Cronos, and she, like every female child of her lineage, had the potential to be called as Sailor Saturn. The ten-year-old girl held a tall, purple and black scythe in her right hand, her tiny form covered by a white uniform with black and purple bows and skirt. On her forehead, hidden under her light purple hair, a golden tiara with a white stone marked her as the first Sailor Saturn in hundreds of years.

"No," Pluto whispered, crimson eyes wide in shock. "The danger is over; why did you awaken now? I did not even feel you rise . . ."

"I was not needed during the fight, only for this one moment. I must destroy this world to free Chaos so that Sailor Galaxia can complete her plan to seal it inside herself." Sarumi smiled gently at Pluto, tightening her tiny fingers on the handle of her scythe. "Please do not feel sorry for me. This is my duty, and I must fulfill it."

"You're barely ten years old," Pluto whispered, crouching down and running her fingers through the child's purple hair. "Why have you been chosen to die?"

"An odd question for someone as old as you to ask," Sarumi pointed out. "Everyone dies, Setsuna, especially warriors like us."

"You aren't old enough to choose a warrior's life."

"I am a child of the Line of Cronos," Sarumi replied, her young voice that of an adult trying to explain a complicated concept in simple words to a child. "I am born to be a warrior, even though only one in a thousand daughters has to walk this path. I will be a warrior. I am the Sailor Saturn who will destroy the ninth planet of the Antares System, I am the Sailor Saturn who will provide an end to the Sailor Wars, and I am proud that I will be remembered for that. Let me fight in my way, let me win in my way."

Sailor Pluto nodded slowly and stood, closing her eyes and turning her head toward the viewscreen, seeing the truth in Sarumi's words. "Go, child, and be the weapon we need today. Go end this madness."

"Setsuna, give me your report."

The dark queen shook her head as she stared out across the Lunarian landscape, glad to see familiar cities and her own yellow sun once more. She had forgotten the simple beauty of a world bathed in soft yellow instead of harsh red. "We lost Sailors Alcor, Rigel, and Sirius in the final battle, as well as one of the three Kinmoku senshi and five of Rishiya's Planet Senshi. Seventeen Star Senshi had been lost before that, leaving us only a half dozen on this side of the galaxy. The senshi of the world destroyed by Sailor Saturn died with the mundane troops, thankfully, otherwise she would have suffered the loss of her Planet Crystal when the world was reduced to fragments. We located the largest remaining chunk of the planet and created a temporary atmosphere around it to allow Galaxia time to absorb the remainder of Chaos into herself."

"She took Chaos? How is that possible, Setsuna?"

"I do not know, but considering her ancestry and power, I believe that it will work for a while. She cannot contain it forever, but I hope that her strength of will is great enough to avoid being corrupted by it. This is a temporary solution, at best. She and the last five Star Senshi left for the Orion Systems as we returned home."

"How are my senshi?"

Setsuna sighed as she finally collapsed into a chair. "Not good, Serenity. We lost so many hundreds of thousands of men and women on that planet that it could be centuries before our fleets reach that level of war-readiness again. Junko's daughter Sarumi is dead, of course, and Nao's son, as well. She's not taking it well."

"Go to her, Setsuna. Console her."

"Nao?"

"Come in, Setsuna." Her voice was dark, soft, and full of intense pain. She was a fine warrior but this depression was something Nao did not know how to fight.

"Your people see you as a hero, Nao. They see your courage and power in that final battle, and they have given you a name that will resound through the ages."

"Nao the Conqueror," the blonde replied bitterly, sinking deeper into the shadows. "I lost my son, Setsuna; nothing else matters."

"You ended the dark maneuverings of Chaos, finished the Sailor Wars, and freed the Antares system from the worst uprising in its history. You are a hero."

"I am weak," Nao hissed, leaning forward angrily. Her emerald eyes were bloodshot, tears still lingering on her cheeks. "I could not defeat even one senshi on my own, and I had no strength or will to fight until Tsukihiko bravely attacked a woman he could never kill. My own mundane son did what a senshi was too weak to accomplish. You said that we were almost strong enough to create Star Senshi, but I don't feel that strong."

"I said that it would take a couple of generations—"

"Generations that we don't have!" Nao shot to her feet, heavy braid swinging behind her as she stormed across the room. "We are weak, nearly powerless against the Star Senshi. If we just sit here, trying to make Star Senshi for the next three generations, we will become a target to the allies of Chaos. They attacked Antares because that system had two dozen Planet Senshi and its own Star Senshi in residence. If we had Star Senshi here or Planet Senshi strong enough to create them, we could become a target."

Setsuna felt her veins fill with ice, her thoughts suddenly whirling in shock as her skin paled. "You can't be serious. Nao, what are you suggesting?"

"Galaxia cannot control Chaos for long. A hundred years at most, then it will begin to corrupt her. You said that there must always be a balance between Order and Chaos, and that for every Planet and Star Senshi born, a servant of Chaos will gain power. At the moment, Galaxia contains every ounce of Chaos, and it will just grow stronger within her as we grow stronger here. The Star Senshi have been growing fewer in number over the past thousand years, which hopefully has weakened Chaos to the point where we can control it. We cannot risk more being born."

Setsuna backed away from the taller woman, finally realizing that Nao's condition had very little to do with her lost son and almost everything to do with the choice she was asking Setsuna to help her make. "Nao, what you're suggesting . . ."

"I'm right, aren't I? The longer we prevent more Star Senshi from being born, the longer we keep our Planet Senshi weak, the longer Galaxia can keep Chaos contained. We must prevent our system from becoming a target of the next Sailor War. We are senshi and our primary duty is to protect the Silver Millennium. I am the leader of the Outer Senshi and it is my duty to make these types of decisions."

"Nao, there has to be another way to protect these worlds. For your plan to work, the Planet Crystals must be sealed away and senshi can never again be allowed to love and marry their soul mates. Your own daughters Kiruko and Ruria will be weaker than you and Yuuka and they will be separated from the women they love. Could you stand to be separated from Yuuka for the rest of your life?"

"They will not know what they are missing," Nao whispered, fresh tears on her cheeks. "I spoke to Uranus when we returned and she said that this choice is mine to make. We can keep our power and hope to become stronger than Galaxia before she loses control of Chaos, or we can become weak and hide in the darkness of this arm of the galaxy, safe from the forces that caused the destruction of the ninth world of Antares. She said this was my choice."

"Nao, please don't do this."

"Nao the Conqueror," the blonde whispered, leaning her arm against the wall. "I will not be remembered like that. I will be Nao the Breaker, Nao the Fearful, Nao the Coward. My name will be cursed through the centuries because I am afraid of Chaos. I, the Queen of Uranus, terrified. What will my people, my sister senshi, my children think of me?"

Setsuna stood, silent in the dim room, as she considered Nao's words. Logically, the blonde had made the correct choice, the one that would certainly keep their people safe for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, but it was not an easy decision. "The Moon will Rise over a great kingdom, shining in the sky for thousands of years, until the day that the Sun turns in its sleep. It will Call but no one will be able to answer. On that day, the Sun will cry as dark blood soaks the ground and loneliness grips the Dark One. The galaxy will be consumed by the Scream of Time and the Silver Moon will fall to the Earth in a harvest of desperate ruin when the lights of two star seeds combine. The capricious Tear will shatter its last and only the Golden Light of dreams can preserve the hopes of the future." Nao looked up as Setsuna finished reciting the ancient prophecy, something she had seen thousands of years ago but never understood before. "You're right, Nao; the power of two planets can never be allowed to combine. The Silver Millennium will fall if that is allowed to happen. I Saw that a long time ago, but I never gave it much thought before. I didn't understand it until today. Nao, I will live and die every few hundred years and barely be remembered except as the lonely queen that guards the Time Gate. I will take the blame for this choice, for ordering you to seal away your powers and forsake your soul mates for the safety of the solar system."

"Setsuna, this is my choice. You cannot take responsibility for it."

"You are a great War Queen, a hero to your people, and you must be remembered for that. A Uranian Queen cannot ever risk having her name associated with fear and she certainly cannot let her subjects assume cowardice. You have a right to be afraid after what we saw and what we did in Antares, but your choice is the only one that can protect the Silver Millennium. I will carry this burden for you." She tilted her head, wishing that Nao had been able to make the other choice. "My friend, I do not know how to seal the Planet Crystals, even though I had a part in creating them."

"I know how to do it," Nao whispered.

Nao stood on the white crystalline sand at the top of the Chime Cliffs between the field of cacti and the extensive cave system that had once housed her god. Yuuka stood silently beside her in the windless day, both of them silently listening to the bond between the senshi. Nao jerked in pain as she felt Reiko die, Ares's torment vibrating through the system. Minami followed moments later, those two having volunteered to die first as warriors, before the gods figured out what they were doing. A few moments later, Chieko and Mariya also died and their gods cried out in pain, the vibrations of four grieving gods threatening to shake the solar system apart.

Nao nodded in acceptance as Yuuka reached out to take her hand. "I cannot live without you, Yuuka. When Setsuna asked me if I could stand to be separated from you, the answer was obvious to me. She's too much of a god to understand true love and the bond of soul mates, but our sisters understand the sacrifice that we must make. The only way for us to seal the Planet Crystals is to die and let our gods' sorrow create keystones to keep our descendants weak. It is the only way."

"Yes, it is," Yuuka replied, twining her fingers with Nao's. "I am not afraid to die with you, my love."

"Is this the only way to seal your power?" Uranus appeared on the silent cliff beside her senshi, Artemis by her side. She had begun to date the huntress when she became tired of Nao's disapproval of her fling with Aphrodite, and now Artemis had come to Miranda to offer Uranus whatever emotional support she could.

"It is," Nao replied softly, turning slightly as Poseidon and Amphitrite appeared beside their sister gods. "I'm glad we'll have the chance to say goodbye to you before the end."

"Nao!" Setsuna appeared in a whirlwind of black smoke and white sand, two women by her side. "You didn't tell me that you had to die."

"How else could we reach our gods' darkest emotions? Setsuna, this is the only way."

Ruria and Kiruko rushed forward, embracing their mothers frantically. "Please don't go, Mother," Kiruko whispered. "How can we live without you?"

"I am old and tired, Kiru, and this war sapped all of my strength. I have been beaten and broken, and I can never be that great warrior queen of the Mars Riots or the woman who chased down the Kuiper Smugglers Association decades ago. I barely have the strength to be Sailor Uranus. It's your time now, yours and Ruria's. You will have to be strong because I can't anymore."

"You were the greatest queen we will ever have," Ruria whispered, staring into her mother's pale blue eyes. "And both of you were better mothers than I can hope to be."

"You will be great in your own way," Yuuka whispered, kissing each of her daughters before pushing them away. "Just remember all of the lessons that we taught you and never give in to fear. We love you, but we must go."

Setsuna stepped forward as Ruria and Kiruko stepped back, crimson eyes dark. "I did not know that you were planning this."

"Does it change anything? The crystals must still be sealed to protect us, even if this is the only way to affect that change. We're old warriors, Setsuna, and we are tired of fighting. Our daughters must take up the mantle of senshi now."

"And what am I supposed to do with all of my friends dead?"

"Live. Raise your two daughters and return to Olympus when this life is over. I imagine that with the Antares Uprising over, you have little reason to remain among the mortals. Spend a few generations with your family before returning to watch over ours again. Yuuka and I will be reborn, and we will see you again."

The Queen of Pluto nodded as she backed away, wiping tears from her cheeks. "I will wait for your rebirth, no matter how long it takes. And then, when your souls are strong enough, I will show you how to create Star Senshi. We will fight Chaos together and this time we will win without any doubt or sorrow to darken our victory."

"I don't doubt it," Nao replied, grinning as the wind began to blow. She wrapped her arms around Yuuka and leaned down for a final kiss, closing her emerald eyes. Her long braid wrapped around them like a rope, tying the soul mates together as the wind began to blow even faster, stirring up the white sand. The screaming sound of the rushing air changed to a mournful melody, the Jakti Lumas cacti realizing that their goddess's senshi was planning to die. As the sand began to swirl faster and the music grew louder, Nao and Yuuka began to sing, sharing for one last moment the thing that had brought them together so many decades before.

"Is it the blowing lilac wind that beckons us?

Or is it the violin among the misty waters?

Dreams, in this troubled, frivolous world

Bloom with a single cut from a flower's sword"

Between one moment and the next, so fast that even the gods could not see it happen, the senshi vanished and the sand changed. Where once the sand at the top of the cliffs had been purest white, it was now colored in gold, navy blue, sapphire, and teal. The senshi were gone, though the strains of their mournful song still filled the air.

Uranus raised her head to the sky and screamed, as shattered by the loss of her beloved senshi, the woman who carried the incarnation of her daughter's soul, as she had been by the loss of her manhood countless thousands of years earlier. Artemis held her lover as a single golden tear fell to the ground and turned into a tiny stone, sealing the power of the Planet Crystal resting peacefully on the ground before them. Poseidon had not been able to say a word to his dying senshi, and his sobs were just as silent as a blue keystone joined the gold. His wife held him close, unable to console him.

Ruria and Kiruko, now queens of their respective worlds, clung to each other in desperate grief, unable to process the loss of their mothers so soon after the death of their brother. Setsuna, completely alone on that windy cliff, stepped forward and lifted the two Planet Crystals, holding the blue one out to Poseidon, the sea-god's wife taking it when her husband was unable to stop crying. Setsuna handed the gold one to Uranus, her dark hand shaking as tears began to run down her cheeks. She had not expected the loss of a mortal to hurt so badly. Now, at last, after so many incarnations, she was beginning to understand the pain of being human. How could she live without her friends and wait patiently for their rebirth? How could she have encouraged Nao to seal the power of the planets, signing the senshi's death warrants? Silently, she stared into the wind and cried.

(Present)

Haruka jumped up from the circle in the sand, disoriented, and ran toward the caves, collapsing just inside the cool darkness. She heard herself sobbing and she was unable to stop, tears dripping onto the black stone beneath her hands. She had never cried so hard before and she had no idea how to stop it, how to heal the stabbing pain in her heart. The other senshi recovered from the intense vision more slowly, all of them having lost motor function in the trance and unable to move and follow their friend, unable to console her.

"Do you understand her choice, my child?" A shimmer of golden power just inside the cave faded to reveal Uranus, wearing a dark navy gown that glittered gold in the brilliant light. She crouched before her senshi, emerald eyes sad. "That was her choice, her world, and her reason."

"She was afraid," Haruka whispered, unable to comprehend the despair she had shared with Nao in the vision, unable to understand the agony of losing a child to an opponent so much stronger than her. "The Star Senshi . . . the Wars . . . she sealed the stones in a desperate bargain to prevent the destruction of the Antares Uprising from being repeated here. She bet on our weakness to protect us."

"Her choice was right for her time," Uranus replied, looking up as Michiru joined them, the sea senshi wrapping her arms around her wife. Haruka leaned into the comfort of the embrace, finally able to calm the storm of emotions evoked by the vision, finally able to stop crying. "This is your time, your world, and your reason."

"Are you saying Galaxia would have lost control of Chaos if we stayed strong?"

"I am saying that. She absolutely would have. She has grown stronger over the last three thousand years, but the corruption inside her has also grown. Now you are strong enough to fight the Star Senshi and you might even be strong enough to learn how to create them. The darkness that Se saw is not her, it is not another Sailor War just yet, but it is a servant of Chaos, and it is very strong. This darkness was born of Earth when Chaos was trapped there and it was exiled to the Sun by a golden light nine hundred years ago, but it has found a new mortal servant and it is growing strong again. If you leave the crystals sealed, Galaxia will never come here once Chaos inevitably takes full control of her, but you will also not be strong enough to fight the ancient darkness coming from the Sun. These are your facts and this is your choice."

"I choose to be powerful," Haruka replied, pushing herself to her feet. The other senshi gathered behind her, Michiru on one side and Serenity on the other, supporting the leader of the Outer Senshi. "I will unlock the stones. In the vision, I saw how they were sealed and I know how to empower them once more. We are the strongest senshi you have ever had, and I will not let the Silver Millennium fall."

Uranus nodded as she rose, smiling at her senshi as she held out her hand. A golden stone with navy striations appeared in her palm, the final Planet Crystal at last. She handed it to Haruka and stepped back, bowing her head. "You are ready. Bring light back into this solar system and be the senshi that ten thousand years of women have lived and died to create. Our ultimate avatars." She waved her hand and the senshi vanished from the cave, sent back to the castle on Oberon by Uranus's power. "Good luck, my beloved daughter."

AN2: As you can see, there are some things that have been remembered or related to the senshi from the Antares Uprising that aren't specifically accurate. For example, it was said more than once that Setsuna made the choice to seal the planet crystals, then later that she told Nao it had to be done but Nao made the choice (the truth being that she tried desperately to stop her friends from dying). As you can see, neither one of those is true, but history has a way of distorting the facts after three thousand years. Setsuna took the blame for Nao's choice because of how it would look to the Uranians and the other warrior races. Nao had to be remembered as a great hero, as the Conqueror, despite the fact that she had this very difficult decision to make as the leader of the Outer Senshi.

Hanami is the same Sailor Galaxia that's in Stars, and you can see that she does have a home star like all Star Senshi, but she has grown powerful over the years (to the point where she truly was the most powerful Star Senshi at the time of the Antares Uprising) and so took another name. The dark senshi were the same, taking new names after their allegiance switched, which explains why the senshi in Stars have odd names like Tin Nyanko and Aluminum Siren. This is where and why she took Chaos into herself, leading to the events of Sailor Stars.

Setsuna of three thousand years ago did not have much invested in her mortal lives, as pointed out multiple times by Nao. She could not understand love and soul mates, but she did not yet fear the destruction of the solar system to the point where she wanted to keep them apart. This is during the time that she still actively mourns Serenity but after the brief period where she was obsessed with bringing her back, so she is beginning to befriend her fellow senshi during her mortal lives. Here she became such close friends with Nao that she is willing to protect Nao's reputation and she feels lost when her friends finally die.

Uranian politics: the Queen is an inherited position (of course) and she has ten women to advise her and run the planet called War Queens. The positions are mostly inherited, but a certain number of titles in both arts and war are required for the seat. Additionally, the applicant must be Kazemaru and prove loyalty to the queen above all else. Beneath the War Queen Council is a group of Lesser War Queens that carry out the War Queens' orders and each command at least one small fleet of their own into battle. Very few of these seats are inherited, instead being used as awards for great feats of strength or beauty, and there are two seats reserved for the leader of the Arts and the leader of War among the lesser queens. Taichen Laira holds the position of Arts Leader (having earned it through her acting skills) though she does have a certain required number of war titles, as well. Takako has now been placed in the War Seat, Laira's partner as leader of the Lesser Queens.

The Lower Chiefs are mostly just strong regional warriors that each command one or two ships and have enough fighting experience to warrant recognition but not enough to fight for a seat among the War Queens. The Duchess Council is comprised of the women who rule the various districts and regions of the Uranian Moons, and these seats are purely inherited. These are the nobles, born to lead, and Ono Hikari technically controls one of these seats. If she had not earned enough war titles to win her seat years earlier, she would just be a Duchess, with very little say in the Arts or War, and one of her children will eventually inherit a seat, as well. This would be like a lord who has a great deal of land being allowed a seat in parliament. They control matters of economics and internal policies but have nothing to do with inter-planetary politics. Most of the other worlds of the Silver Millennium follow more basic laws of nobility and inheritance, with Dukes and Lords and such controlling the people and filling the government. Jupiter is controlled by a council of tribal chiefs, most of which inherited their position and are somewhat loosely related to the reigning queen. Mercury is a constitutional parliamentary monarchy, so the upper house is filled with titled lords and the lower house with elected commoners. As for the names of the planetary lineages (of the Wilds of Ganymede, etc.) the Line of Saturn is very reclusive and tends not to breed much with other planets, so their royal line has a simple delineation to indicate this seclusion. Mercury is a planet of pacifists and scientists, so there is no proud warrior name for their lineage, just line of Hermes.