The Moon Dragon's Lair

LUNAR: The Lost Episodes

By Jeffrey C. Branch

Volume Eleven: Episode 2-11.20 "Investigating"

Rating: PG-13

Deep space, near the border of the Alpha Zone, 10 January 2738

The infinite darkness and quiet of space was suddenly broken by a dramatic blaze of silvery light beams and a white counter-spiral as a ship came out of faster than light speed.

As the vessel gracefully pivoted on its starboard gull-like wing on her way towards GM space, its features came into stark relief. The sparkling, crystalline-hulled vessel, though similar in design to the Pleiades-class scout ships was, at just under 38 meters long, one quarter the size of its parent. Despite its smallish size, the ship had a considerable sting, thanks to a blaster hardpoint on the front tip of each wing. On the forward part of the center fuselage was the ship's name:

SLS Draco II.

The SLS Draco II

On the bridge, five sailor-suited women were busy performing their assigned tasks while a sixth, sporting waist long, snow-white hair, sat in a raised chair in the center of the ship's command hub, her long legs crossed as she attentively eyed the activity of her teammates. For the past fifteen days, the six women, a special operations assault team under the aegis of Sailor Jupiter, Neo-Queen Serenity's Director of Homeland Security, had been on a mission to Rigel Four to investigate a sabotage plot at a terraforming facility by Dark Kingdom agents and rogue Infiltrators.

The team, dubbed 'Omega Force' by its leader, Sailor Magneta, acquitted itself excellently on the mission, rooting out the enemy and eliminating them with extreme prejudice. The newcomers, Sailors Britannica and Russia, blended in well with their teammates, bringing power, brute strength and attitude to the team, something Sailor Magneta liked greatly. Her ultimate goal was for the enemy to fear the Senshi of Omega, to make opponents think twice about causing mayhem anywhere in the GM for fear of swift and lethal reprisal from the team whose name literally meant: the end.

For the Dark Kingdom, Omega meant the end for them.

With their mission completed, Sailor Magneta had the crew put the ship, a prototype designed and built by Sailor Mercury and her staff at the super secret Skunk Works research and development facility, through an intense shakedown period to properly break in the vessel while on the way back home. After putting the Draco II through its paces, a tremendous amount of data had been amassed for Sailor Mercury and her people to disseminate upon their return. Overall, Sailor Magneta was pleased with how her ship, and the crew, performed. That pleasure showed from the smile on her dark red lips.

Ahh! I must say that it certainly feels so good to be back in space, the white haired Senshi thought happily. I truly missed being among the stars. Sailor Magneta then focused her mind back on business. "Sailor Sirius, helm status, please."

Forward of the captain's chair, Sailor Sirius, piloting the vessel since she had been the captain of the first starship Draco, checked her controls. "We're secured from FTL, captain. Now running at full sublight."

"Very good. Sailor Ivory, what's our course?"

"Our present heading is 247, mark 355, on course for Luna, ma'am," said Sailor Ivory, seated next to Sailor Sirius in the ops chair. "ETA to GM space, two hours and thirty seven minutes."

Sailor Magneta nodded. She then swiveled her chair to the left where Sailor Ebony sat at the engineering station. "Sailor Ebony, as our Engineer, what's your overall appraisal of Draco's performance? Your input will be important for the final report to Skunk Works."

"Overall? I'd say Draco performed well. RIFT drive, sublight drive, power plant, life support, computer core, backup and redundancy systems; everything ran smoothly during our break-in," Sailor Ivory's twin sister replied.

"Excellent." Just as Sailor Magneta swung to her right to the science station, which Sailor Britannica manned, the flame haired Briton spoke up.

"Captain! I'm picking up a distress call!"

"On speaker, Sailor Britannica." With the press of a panel, the Senshi heard a garbled, static filled message from a voice shaking from fear.

"This is Lieutenant Barkley on RSN Listening Post Seven! We're under attack from enemy forces!" came the voice. "I repeat! We're under attack! Sailor Europa is dead! Her powers useless! Most of the crew killed! Only two of us left! Somebody! Anybody! Help us! Please help..."

Abruptly, the message ended. All that came over the speaker was silence.

"Alison! What happened?" Sailor Magneta demanded.

"Transmission cut off at the source, captain," said Sailor Britannica, her white-gloved fingers flying over the science console. "All I'm picking up is dead air."

"Most disturbing. Sailor Russia, what's the current crew compliment of a listening post?"

"Three dozen officers and enlisted men," the muscular Russian Senshi grunted in reply. "Captain, Sailor Senshi are not assigned to such installations since they're needed more in the fleet in the aftermath of the war. I find that to be highly irregular."

Sailor Magneta frowned before making a decision. "I agree with your assessment, Natasha. Sailor Sirius, bring us around! Sailor Ebony, ready the RIFT! Sailor Ivory, plot a course to post seven! Shortest possible vector!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"RIFT online and ready!"

"Plotting course, captain!"

"Sailor Britannica, alert HQ! Security code four! Notify them that LP-7 has come under attack and we are going to investigate!" Sailor Magneta ordered. "Sailor Russia! Ready weapons! There's no telling what we might face!"

"Coding now, captain!"

"Blaster arrays on hot stand-by!"

The white haired Senshi nodded, pleased with her crew's efficiency. "Draco! Systems check for combat mode!"

"All is in readiness, captain, including our jamming equipment, should we need it," came back the voice of the ship's AI from the original Draco in a confident, no nonsense tone. "Draco II is ready for battle!"

Sailor Magneta nodded. "Let's hope it won't come to that. Engage RIFT!"

Draco II once again pivoted on one wing as she swung around. The rearward RIFT engine suddenly glowed a bright white as the energy billowed out, surrounding the small ship. Abruptly, the ship seemed to stretch to infinity, before vanishing into faster-than-light travel in a white spiral and flash.

RSN listening posts were small space stations situated throughout the border area separating the rest of GM space and the ominous- and, of late, extremely dangerous- Alpha Zone.

The posts consisted of a triangular shaped main hub at the top of the structure, which contained the massive scanning and communications equipment along with spaces for operations, offices and crew quarters. The stem of the station was for support with escape pods, docking ports for larger ships and a hangar bay for shuttles, while a sphere at the bottom housed engineering and the main reactor, which provided the station with its power. When seen from a distance, its shape was not unlike that of a flower in space.

Crammed with the most sophisticated scanning and sensor equipment available from Sailor Mercury and the brilliant minds at Skunk Works, the job of the personnel manning the fifteen posts were to be the eyes and ears of the Golden Millennium. They tirelessly watched for deep space threats from the likes of their perennial enemies in the DK, and now, the overly aggressive Holy Droylian Empire, as well as the newly discovered Zerm Alliance, both of which had ruthlessly attacked and destroyed ships of both the GM and Dark Kingdom.

Draco II, secured from faster-than-light speed, hovered over post number seven, her shields up and weapons primed for firing. On the bridge, the air was thick with tension, as the Senshi were at a high state of readiness to face whatever had attacked the outpost.

"Sailor Britannica, what do your sensors read?" Sailor Magneta asked.

"No sign of life. At least not any human life," the crimson haired Senshi replied. "The station's main systems are down and everything is operating on emergency power. All the escape pods are in place, so no one's left. The comm channels are inoperative. Not even the automatic distress beacon is on."

"Meaning someone, or some thing switched off the systems," Sailor Russia grunted.

"Infiltrators?" Sailor Sirius wondered aloud.

"Or worse," said a thoughtful Sailor Ebony. "The subspace communiqués from HQ regarding the incident aboard the Centaur would certainly indicate the possibility of an attack by the so-called 'Slashers'."

"I guess Charvat's Doppelganger wasn't bullshitting about a new and improved threat after all," said a grim faced Sailor Ivory.

"Wait a minute! Scanners picking up something else," interrupted Sailor Britannica. "There's a craft docked in one of the bays. I'm not finding any lifesigns there either."

"A craft?" Sailor Magneta asked. "Can you get a registry on her?"

"Scanning now," said the Briton. "She registers as the Skylark, a cargo shuttle. According to computer records, she was reported missing during a restocking run to post twelve three months ago. No one had heard from her since, and the ship was presumed lost."

Sailor Magneta, having heard that, stroked her chin, while contemplating her next move. "Alison, notify all the posts. Inform them that an enemy sneak attack might be possible. Use authorization code Jupiter 1-Alpha so they'll know this is no false alarm. Have posts six and eight go immediately to yellow alert and initiate full lockdown. Tell everyone to use a scrambled security channel to send their responses back to us."

Sailor Britannica nodded. "Right away, captain!"

The white haired Senshi took a long look at post seven as it filled the main viewscreen. "Tanya, take us in. Dock us close to the bay where the Skylark is. It's time we find out what went on down there."

"Yes, ma'am!"

At the Star Senshi's control, Draco II maneuvered slowly on thrusters towards one of the docking ports on the station's stem. Within a minute, Draco II was secured as an umbilical chamberway was extended from the ship's starboard hatchway to the station. Seconds later, a green light on Sailor Sirius' panel told her the docking was completed, and the chamberway pressurized. "We're docked, Sailor Magneta," she replied.

Sailor Magneta nodded. "Very good. Let's go. But be ready for anything. And I do mean anything."

Sailor Russia, a nasty smirk on her face, made all the more wicked from the jet-black lipstick she wore in her Senshi form, slowly cracked her fingerless gloved knuckles. The anticipation of engaging the enemy in combat excited her greatly, as she lived for battle. "Da. I am always ready."

Sailor Sirius and Sailor Ivory exchanged knowing looks. "Looks like 'The Tank' is ready to roll," Sailor Sirius whispered to her teammate.

Sailor Ivory nodded. "Yeah. I wouldn't want to be whatever's stupid enough to get in her way."

The Senshi, all carrying microcomps, left Draco II and found themselves in the station's hangar bay, the only lights on being the red emergency lighting near the ceiling. They automatically found that to be ominous. They went immediately to where the Skylark sat. The cargo shuttle, three times the size of Draco II, looked as if she had seen battle, something incongruous with her purpose; what with areas of the hull being scarred, scorched and pitted. The main hatch was open, but no lights were on inside.

"I'm picking up no life signs, Sailor Magneta," said Sailor Ebony, checking her microcomp. "All systems are fully functional, despite the damage."

"Do we go inside?" Sailor Britannica asked her leader.

"Later. I'm more concerned about the facility," Sailor Magneta asked. She then activated her communicator. "Draco? Can you interface with Skylark's AI and get a read on where she's been and how she ended up here?"

"I'll try, captain," came back Draco over the communicator.

"Good. Let's get inside the complex."

The Senshi wasted no time going to the double doors that led to the lifts. Upon reaching the doors, Sailor Magneta's communicator beeped.

"Go ahead, Draco. What did you find?" she asked.

"Not much, I'm afraid. As near as I can tell, Skylark's AI was purged from her computer core while the log entries for the last three months are missing, presumably erased," Draco replied. "Without either, there's no way of knowing what happened to that shuttle, or her crew. However, I did uncover something of considerable interest regarding Sailor Europa."

"That being?"

"She was declared dead little over a year ago."

The six Senshi looked at each other in shock and confusion. "What? Are you serious?" Sailor Magneta demanded.

"Very. According to the RSN personnel database, Sailor Europa was in command of the battleship SLS Constellation, reported lost with all hands during the final battle against the DK in the Atlantis system. Apparently, the ship was damaged when the Atlantis planet exploded. The engineering crew aboard the vessel had decided the damage wasn't that bad, and applied temporary fixes to the damaged systems. The damage was sufficient enough to cause an antiproton leak, and the detection systems for that very type of particle was one of the systems damaged. The core breached. I just read her obituary. For her to have wound up here after all this time represents quite a considerable... inconsistency."

"Inconsistency? You have a remarkable talent for understatement, Draco. This is flat out incredible! Keep me posted. Out!"

"Now, more than ever, we have to find out what went on here," said a frowning Sailor Ebony.

Sailor Magneta nodded in agreement. She pressed the control button to open the doors. It didn't work. The white haired Senshi was about to use her magnetic powers on them when Sailor Russia interceded.

"Allow me. As our commander, you shouldn't be put at risk if there is danger just on the other side of this door." Then, with a smirk, she added, "besides, I need the exercise."

Sailor Magneta returned the grin and stepped aside, as did the others. "Very well, Natasha. You may... indulge yourself."

Stepping up to the door, Sailor Russia rammed her fists through each door, then, with practically no effort, the muscular Senshi tore the doors off their tracks and casually tossed them aside. The others marveled at their teammate's incredible strength. With the entryway open, the Senshi peeked up and down the shaft but saw no car.

"Oh, great. Just what we don't need," a nervous Sailor Ivory grumbled. A lifelong sci-fi movie fan, her fertile imagination was already envisioning a plethora of nightmares, both real and otherwise.

"What's the call, boss?" Sailor Sirius asked Sailor Magneta.

"We split up," Sailor Magneta replied. "Liz, Cat, get down to engineering and restore the power. Tanya, Natasha, check the crew quarters. Alison and I will go to operations. Comms are restricted unless absolutely necessary. If you come across anything that doesn't look human and exhibits hostile intentions, blast first then ask questions later. Move out."

With schematics of the facility on the screens of their microcomps, the Senshi moved off, with the twins descending the shaft to engineering and the others climbing upwards to the station's main hub.

The inside of the facility was eerily, deathly quiet as the Senshi made their way to their destinations. The air was thick was the scorching stink of blaster fire and the coppery stench of blood, which was splashed on the walls and slick on the floor. The deeper the women explored the facility, the stronger the smells grew, along with their anxiety.

It took the twins five minutes to reach the engineering section. The double doors were open, while whitish smoke drifted out of the space, filling the halls with a cloudy haze. The sisters, suspecting a sneak attack, assumed combat stances, ready to use their powers if the enemy waited within. Sailor Ivory's eyes glazed slightly as she thought to her twin. Liz, go first; I'll be right behind.

Sailor Ebony nodded then crept inside the space, secure in the knowledge that her back was protected. After Sailor Ivory followed, the twins saw that the machinery that provided power to the facility had been badly damaged.

"Ugh! Not good," Sailor Ivory whispered.

"That goes without saying." Sailor Ebony keyed her communicator. "Sailor Ebony to Sailor Magneta, come in, please."

"Sailor Magneta here. Go ahead, Liz. What did you find?"

"An unholy mess. The machinery's been wrecked. The reactor's still in one piece, but we'd need the RSN Corps of Engineers to restore the power."

"What caused the damage? Blaster fire?"

The sisters walked up to the control panels and saw that nearly everything had been deeply scored that hadn't been pockmarked by blaster fire. "No. Claw marks, 10 to 15 centimeters deep in some places that I can see. Looks like the Slashers were here."

"Any survivors? Or bodies?"

"Nothing. Lots of blood spilled, but none of either. I don't mind telling you, Ronni, this whole thing gives me the creeps."

"You're not alone. Rendezvous up in operations. Right away."

"You don't have to tell us twice. We'll be right there. Out."

"Let's beat feet, sis," said Sailor Ivory.

As the twins turned to leave, they stopped short at seeing two monstrous forms, which filled the doorway.

The crew quarters and recreation area was a charnel house. All Sailor Sirius and Sailor Russia saw was blood and wreckage. Tables were overturned, beds unmade and cold as if the crew hadn't been asleep in days, while holes peppered the walls from blaster fire. And yet, there were no bodies.

"What in the name of Serenity went on in here?" wondered Sailor Sirius, her heart in her throat.

"A very good question, Comrade Sirius," the Senshi of Power grunted, her mannish face impassive. She activated her communicator. "Sailor Russia to Sailor Magneta. Sailor Sirius and I are in the crew quarters. There are no survivors, no remains."

"But signs of a struggle?" Sailor Magneta asked.

"Da. The crew didn't go down without a fight. And you?"

"The same thing in operations, and engineering: wrecked equipment, but no sign of life. This whole business is seriously starting to stink. Muster here with us. Immediately."

"Acknowledged, commander. We are on our way." Terminating the connection, Sailor Russia turned to her partner. "Come, Tanya. Let us depart."

Sailor Sirius nodded. "You don't have to tell me twice, Tasha. The sooner we hook up with the others, the better I'll feel."

The two Senshi, with Sailor Russia leading the way, left the quarters. As Sailor Russia rounded a corner, something huge slammed into her like a battering ram, and she bounced, hard, off the wall. Stunned, Sailor Sirius looked in the direction where the attack came from and gasped in wide-eyed horror at seeing two huge, slavering nightmares glaring hatefully at her from barely ten feet away.

In the operations center of the facility, Sailor Magneta and Sailor Britannica were surrounded by carnage and destruction. All of the control panels and systems for the scanning equipment had been badly damaged, their surfaces deeply scored by what looked like claw marks. While Sailor Magneta examined the scanners, Sailor Britannica checked the computers for the post commander's log.

"The scanners are deactivated. All the controls and backup systems wrecked. Comm systems are damaged too," said Sailor Magneta. "How about the computers, Alison?"

"No luck. The computers are marginally functional, but the log entry banks have been trashed," said the British Senshi, her face lined in a deep frown. Fanatical about order, she found this situation intolerable. She then turned to face Sailor Magneta. "Everything from the last two weeks is gone. Just like on the Skylark. Do you believe in coincidence, Veronika?"

"About as much as I believe in Santa Claus," Sailor Magneta replied grimly. "When I was twelve, my stepfather, Serenity rest his soul, told me his theory on coincidence: once is an accident, twice is a pattern. What we have here is most definitely a pattern."

"But where is everyone?" Sailor Britannica wanted to know. "It's a given that the crew has been killed after a fierce battle throughout the facility. The signs are everywhere. What the devil happened to the bodies?"

"The facility is large. There are plenty of places to hide bodies. Or assailants. I'm convinced we're not alone."

Suddenly, there came a loud thump from ten feet away that caught the Senshis’ attention. Scowling, Sailor Magneta and Sailor Britannica crept out into the hall where they heard the sound: a metal door marked 'Storage'. The German Senshi motioned to Sailor Britannica, who pointed her index fingers at the door and prepared to use her fire blast.

With a wave of her hand, Sailor Magneta used her magnetic powers to throw open the door, and a figure fell out and crumpled to the floor. The figure was female, with shoulder length black hair, and was dressed in a tattered, bloodstained, green and orange sailor suit. Her face had been battered, while she sported cuts, bruises and abrasions all over her body. Sailor Magneta knelt by the woman and checked for a pulse. Her eyes widened slightly at what she found.

"Sailor Europa, I presume?" Sailor Britannica asked.

Sailor Magneta nodded. "Yes. And, surprisingly... she's alive."

TO BE CONTINUED...