Cassie Starr was brooding. She lay sprawled on the grass in the park, staring down at the site of a bettle she still couldn't fully understand. Idly, she toyed with the sapphire pendant at her throat.

Three days had passed since her struggle with Marine. She had been trying to piece together the events leading up to the fight in her mind ever since her impromptu introduction as Sailor Andromeda.

*Sailor Andromeda... Well, I'm not a senshi of the Moon Kingdom, that's for sure,* Cassie thought, *otherwise, I'd have a planetary name, or at least something related to this solar system.* The senshi had explained things to the to the best of their combined abililites. The Silver Millenium, Queen Serenity, the Dark Kingdom, and the Dark Moon -- some of it seemed... right, somehow, as if she knew these things subconsciously. Sailor Mercury -- Amy, Cassie corrected herself mentally -- had leapt eagerly on that feeling of mild deja vú.

"Maybe we knew you during the Silver Millenium. We all had the same sense of familiarity when we first met you -- perhaps something happened to cloud our memories of each other!"

Cassie smiled at the memory of the suppressed excitement in Amy's voice -- excitement at the discovery of a new intellectual challenge. Lately Cassie had discovered that she instinctively knew about some of the senshi's idiosyncracies. Amy was very self-conscious around strangers, but the slightest hint of a problem to be researched set her voracious appetite for knowledge afire. Raye had a fiery temper -- not surprising in Sailor Mars -- but she never quite managed to mask her inner sensitivity and concern for her friends, especially Serena. Serena, Cassie recalled, absolutely detested carrots, despite her childhood nickname, Bunny. Mina seemed flaky and flighty, but she was the most independant of the scouts, and a born leader, as well as a natural actress. Lita had a wicked right hook, but if you stepped back at the last second and grabbed her arm just above the elbow, you could use her strength against her and overbalance the taller girl

Cassie shook her head sharply. *Why do I have all these disconnected memories? I've only known these girls for a week, and it's like we've been together for centuries...* Then again, the seemingly random memories about the senshi inevitably led to more disturbing images: an ominous dark figure towering over Cassie, who clutched something in her hands desperately; a man with red eyes and tangled black hair falling to his shoulders, sneering and taunting her; and, increasingly, a face she couldn't quite distinguish, supporting her with loving, sapphire-blue eyes...

With a soft despairing cry, Cassi tore herself out of her thoughts. Fighting back tears of confusion, she gathered her wits and set off for the Hikawa
Shrine, for her first meeting as a sailor senshi.

The Elemental of Earth was impatient. *Three days!* Terra thought to herself savagely. *I've been waiting for orders for three days! If the Star Princess has started to awaken, we should be planning her destruction, not sitting around waiting for her to discover her own power and come after us!*

*Patience, sister.* Marine's voice echoed in Terra's mind. *We are not yet at full strength, and neither is the Star Princess. We lack only the power of Air, while she is missing not only her memories, but also her strength of heart.* Marine laughed suddenly. *That is what we wait for -- HIS arrival. If we destroy the Star Princess' source of strength, we destroy her -- emotionally and physically.*

Slowly Terra began to smile. Of course... she had forgotten about the Princess' little guard dog. That little Earthborn worm would suffer greatly for betraying his home planet...

In the darkness of a forgotten empire, Terra began to laugh.

Darien was tired. As if keeping up with Serena wasn't enough of a challenge, now he had this student mentor job to worry about. He had been convinced to become a mentor for a younger student by his physics professor, who seemed to know exactly how to back Darien into volunteering. And so, Darien knocked half-heartedly on the door of his new charge's apartment.

The door opened and Darien blinked as he found himself facing a pair of piercing, slightly suspicious blue eyes. Refocusing quickly, Darien looked at the young man in surprise.

He was almost as tall as Darien, and his dark brown hair was touseled, hanging low on his forehead. He shoved a stray lock out of his eyes reflexively, in a gesture that seemed to tug at Darien's memory. The younger man looked about eighteen years old and was dressed casually, in slacks and a loose-fitting shirt. It was fairly obvious that he worked out -- *self-defense, most likely, by the way he stands,* thought Darien. The stray thought brought him back to reality and he introduced himself.

"Hi -- I'm Darien Chiba from Azuba University. Are you Peter Stone?"

The young man relaxed visibly and even managed a weak smile. "Yes, that's me. Student mentorship, right? Come on in." He stepped away from the door, allowing Darien into the apartment.

A few minutes later, the two guys were sitting in Peter's living room, talking about school and other equally harmless subjects.

"You're from America, right?" asked Darien.

Peter shook his head. "Not quite -- Canada. Bit north of the Yanks, eh?" He laughed. "I've lived all over, though: France, England, America, outer space..."

Darien looks up sharply, then laughed when he caught the twinkle in Peter's blue eyes.

"Haven't we all?" he quipped back. Peter grinned.

The conversation rapidly turned toward school, and eventually became a heated debate on polymer chemistry, but by the time Darien left Peter's apartment, the two young men had established a firm friendship.

*Strange,* Darien thought to himself. *Up until now my only close friends have been Andrew and the senshi. So why do I feel so unnaturally comfortable around this guy?*

His question unanswered, Darien let himself into his apartment and turned his thoughts to dinner.

The senshi meeting eventually deteriorated into a petty squabble between Serena and Raye, as usual, but this time Cassie stepped in to deftly smooth things over. Amy, Lita, Mina, and the cats watched Cassie avert World War III with a practiced ease that suggested she had handled this before. Cassie suggested a trip to the mall, hoping to appeal to the girls' unerring shopping sense, and the six girls set off soon after.

And hour or two later, the senshi speculated about Cassie's past over ice cream cones.

"Well, you're a princess, that much we know, thanks to that sleazy Marine and her youma," Serena muttered, intent on her ice cream.

"And probably not of the Moon Kingdom," added Amy. The other girls turned to look at her quizzically, so she continued.

"Well, first of all, the youma called her the 'Star Princess.' That sounds a little bit more significant that a planetary princess, like us." She gestured to herself and the others, then indicated Serena. "It's logical to assume that the Star Princess is the equivalent of the Moon Princess; perhaps
stronger."

Serena raised an eyebrow at this, but Amy continued. "Second, she's not a scout associated with the Moon Kingdom's solar system. My guess is that she is a princess from the Andromeda Galaxy--"

"--which would explain the name 'Sailor Andromeda!'" Mina finished excitedly. She paused and frowned suddenly. "Where's the Andromeda Galaxy?"

Raye answered, falling back on her knowledge of astrology and the stars. "It's the closest galaxy to our Milky Way. Named after a mythological Greek heroine, I believe."

"The grandmother of Hercules, to be more specific," Luna added. "According to the myth, Andromeda was to be sacrificed to a great sea monter to save her kingdom from her mother's vanity and pride. A prince named Perseus rescued her at the last moment, and together they became the rulers of a fairly large kingdom in Greece. Their grandson was Hercules, Greece's most famous hero."

Cassie soaked in this information, recording is among the facts that she was sure she had known at one time, but had lost. Suddenly Amy interrupted her thoughts with a cry.

"Hey -- didn't Marine use the name 'Cassiopeia'? In the myth, that was the name of Andromeda's mother -- maybe 'Cassie' is just a shortened form of 'Cassiopeia,' just like 'Serena' is short for 'Serenity.'"

The significance of Amy's comment dawned on the girls, and they grinned triumphantly.

"Well, I'm convinced," Lita announced. She held up her ice cream cone as if to make a toast. "Here's to Sailor Andromeda, the Star Princess -- Cassiopeia." The six girls touched their ice cream cones together and giggled as the ice cream stuck together with a squish.

At the other end of the mall, a youma materialized in the shadows. She was tall and had long dark purple hair. The air around her distorted, and she assumed a human disguise.

"Now, to find the Star Princess and her pretty little puppy..."

The senshi had just finished eating when the youma attacked. Once they discovered the cause of the screams coming from the other side of the food court, they quickly ducked into a deserted 'EMPLOYEES ONLY' corridor and tranformed.

"Mars Star Power -- Make Up!"

"Mercury Star Power -- Make Up!"

"Jupiter Star Power -- Make Up!"

"Venus Star Power -- Make Up!"

"Moon Crystal Power -- Make Up!"

Transformed, the senshi turned to Cassie expectantly. She smiled weakly and wrapped her hand around the sapphire pendant at her throat.

"Star Sapphire Power -- Make Up!"

In a swirl of silver and gold stars, Cassie transformed into Sailor Andromeda. She blinked, vaguely disoriented, and then strick a dramatic pose. The other senshi chuckled, and Sailor Andromeda smiled broadly.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go kick some youma butt!"

The youma Freeze was pinning innocent citizens to the walls with sharpened icicles when the senshi arrived; Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Venus flanked Sailor Moon and Sailor Andromeda, both of whom stepped forward to challenge the youma.

"Attacking innocent people in the middle of a commercial area is bad form. I am Sailor Andromeda, and I will not allow you to persecute these people!"

"Yeah! Um... what she said. I am Sailor Moon, champion of justice, and on behalf of them moon, I will punish you!"

Sailor Moon finished her speech just in time to dodge a flurry of icy daggers.

"Burning Mandala!" Mars' attack melted the ice crystals, but the youma jumped away.

"I'm not after you, sailor brats!" sneered Freeze. "You're nothing but thorns in our side!" Shifting direction in mid-air, Freeze flung another barrage of ice crystals directly at Sailor Andromeda. She dodged most of them, but one ice crystal caught and pinned her to the wall by the collar. Andromeda struggled vainly to free herself, but the crystal had embedded inself in the wall deeply.

The air shimmered, and Terra appeared next to the youma. "Well done, Freeze." She turned to Sailor Mars with a wicked smile. "Well, go on, Fire Mistress, you can melt that little ice crystal easily. Oops, I forgot -- I'm afraid you'd toast your precious Star Princess as well!"

"Who are you? Another Elemental?" Sailor Venus demanded.

"Oh, how thoughtless of me! I am Terra, the Elemental of Earth, and you wimpy Sailor Senshi don't stand a chance against the Four Elements!"

"Hel-LO, I hate to break it to ya, slimeball, but we've already fought people much scarier than you. And won, I might add." Sailor Moon cocked her head at Terra. "Don't you guys know when to give up?"

Terra seethed. "Enough of this chatter! Freeze! Finish them!"

The youma gathered energy for another attack, but she was interrupted by a pair of dagger-sharp red roses whistling through the air. The first struck Freeze in the hand, breaking her concentration; the second shattered the ice crystal that pinned Sailor Andromeda and embedded itself in the floor at her feet.

"Tuxedo Mask!" cried the senshi.

"Tuxedo Mask?" echoed Sailor Andromeda, bewildered. She glanced from the senshi to the figure perched on top of a nearby table. *From the lovesick look on Serena's face, he would be her boyfriend -- what was his name again? -- Darien,* she thought.

"Sailor Andromeda, you must trust in yourself and each of the senshi to defeat this new threat to our world. The Elementals cannot be defeated without the power of the Star Sapphire." With a swirl of his cape, Tuxedo Mask leapt from the table top to join the senshi.

*Bit dramatic, isn't he?* Sailor Andromeda thought, amused. Pulling herself back to reality, she gathered her strength.

"Andromeda Comet Clash!"

A series of brilliant silver orbs streamed from her hands and slammed into the youma. Freeze disintegrated with an agonized wail.

Terra glared at the senshi. "This isn't over by a long shot! Just wait until my Master hears about this outrage -- once our circle is complete, you will all pay with your meager lives!" Terra shimmered and vanished.

"How many times have we heard that particular threat now? A zillion?" quipped Sailor Jupiter, stifling a yawn.

A shadowed figure wathced the senshi detransform from a sheltered corner. His blue eyes flicked briefly to Darien -- Tuxedo Mask -- before settling once more on Cassie.

"Soon, my princess," a voice whispered softly. "Soon."