The Moon Dragon's Lair

LUNAR: The Lost Episodes

By Andy Beale

Volume Twenty-Four: Episode 2-14.18 "A Day In Court"

Rated PG-13

Skunk Works, In high Lunar orbit, Sol system, 19 February 2738

The FSS ShadowDancer

ShadowDancer ship's log - Commander Damlanmo recording; Ship time - 16/03/2524: 14.46; Local time - 19/02/2738: 16.46 (+2.10)

When we got the message from Sailor Neptune saying "access to declassified areas of the Skunk Works to allow repair and re-supply," we had no idea quite what that meant. Back home, the Skunk Works is either the old historic one back on Terra with the surrounding museum, or the rather messy looking sprawl of buildings and hangers in Tharsis region of Mars. In this dimension the Skunk Works is an orbital facility. It is part of a complex of interconnected structures and space stations that stretches between Terra and Luna. The Skunk Works is an island in the middle of this whole expanse. It is surrounded by open space, which looking at the passive scans we took is heavy defended. The Skunk Works itself is an array of interconnected spheres with an external lattice onto which there are a range of docking ports. To one side there is a small shipyard; we could see several large ships in construction in open docks as we flew by, but we were brought into a large sphere which turned out to be a pressurized repair bay, where the ShadowDancer now rests.

Shortly after our arrival Sailor Mercury came to see us, and introduced a 30 person team we had at our disposal to help with the repairs; we were also introduced to our 12 person "personal support and protection team"; read guards and spies. I guess at least 2 of them are LISA agents (LISA: local equivalent of the Federation Intelligence Service) the rest are a couple of administrators and a mixed bag of pure-English speaking Sorcerers. They seem to a mixed bunch pulled together at short notice, the bulk of which seem to be returned to duty after some time off after wounds or injury. Having people around us we can communicate with reasonably easily is good news, and saves the rest of us trying to cram yet another language into our heads. My sister, ever the linguist, is making rapid progress, commenting that someone had taken the time to extensively rationalize and blend in other languages to this version of the Japanese language, which they call Lunarian; something that is "long overdue" back home. Tomorrow, we start planning the overhaul, but tonight we have been invited to dinner with the shipyard commander, Johan Svenson.

Johan Svenson's personal quarters, Starbase One, In high Lunar orbit, Sol system, 19 February 2738

Dinner had been as advertised, excellent and plentiful. Home cooked food is something that the crew of the ShadowDancer had not sampled in a long time, and its heavy leaning towards the traditions of Johan's home county of Norway had made even the Alphans' slightly picky digestive systems happy. The food plates had been cleared away, and everyone was sitting around in numerous comfortable chairs scatted around the living room, drinking Susaumen and Anternain's contribution to the meal: an after dinner drink from their home world, brewed from the berries of the Ge'an tree, which produced a drink not unlike a refreshing strawberry and elderflower wine. In the Federation it was rapidly replacing the after dinner coffee. Susan was sitting in the floor, playing cat's cradle with the Svenson's eleven-year-old daughter, Ulrika; to which Johan's Scottish born second in command, Hugh MacDiarmid, looked on with some amusement. Astrid, Johan's wife, returned to the room, and set down a tray containing various fresh cheeses and cracker breads; she then took her seat by her husband, who fondly kissed her on her forehead.

"So, I take it you are not very impressed with Sailor Mercury's write up on your civilization, then?" asked Astrid, taking up the conversation that she had left to get the tray. The discussion over dinner had been wide ranging, from relative histories, to impressions of GM, and discussion of the repairs to be carried out; the discussion that caused the most controversy, however, had been about the a summery document produced by Sailor Mercury about the Federation and its peoples.

Jon sat back in his chair, gently swilling his wine around in his glass before replying.

"I think the phase 'genetically alters their citizens to deal with environments' is too broad and does not acknowledge the history behind such decisions. All homo sapiens are now homo sapiens enhanced. At the end of 2007 the whole human race looked like it was facing extinction; WW3 was over, but its legacy had left a world population less than half its pre-war size and largely aged between 15 and 55. Genetic engineering, or Genejacking as we call it, was the only way we could begin to replace ourselves with any certainty that the next generation would survive long enough to have children. Those were dark times, and the memory of them is taught to us some 500 years later, in the hope that we as a race can learn from our mistakes."

"I can see that, but to produce two human sub-species... isn't that potentially creating an underclass of sub humans?" asked Astrid.

"Potentially, yes. I myself have had problems with the Human Purity League, but I have good friends who are not adverse to cracking a few heads to protect me." He smiled at the group, and then his face turned serious. "But to be serious, why not? It allows humanity as a greater whole to spread out amongst the stars and to utilize planets that would be unavailable to 'normal' humans."

"But why not terraform those planets, make them like home? Surely that would be better for all. From what I have read, your terraforming technology is close to ours," said Hugh, leaning forward in his chair.

It was Jellic who answered that question. "Two reasons. Most planets have some sort of life already on them, and it considered morally wrong for many reasons to wipe that life out because it just doesn't fit into your plans. It is always better to try and fit in with an ecosystem than do a wholesale replacement of it. Secondly, in such planets there tends to be a permanent technological overhead required to maintain it. For example, Venus back home is only inhabitable due to technology developed to provide a shield to replace Terra's magnetic field while the planet is undergoing magnetic pole reversal. One thing that the Ancients taught us was this fact. 'All technology, no matter how advanced, will eventually fail.' So with the Federation at its present strength this is no problem, but what then if something happens that cuts you off from that supply of technology? The Ancients showed us what happens in a dozen different planets across known space. Lots of people die. The various races in our Universe have one thing in common; the wisdom to learn from other people's mistakes."

Hugh leaned forward in his chair, having finished his drink. "I guess we have a slight advantage there; the rocks we've terraformed have been largely lifeless; those with existing life on them terraformed in such a way that the existing life would not be harmed. We also do not require technological overhead after the terraforming is complete.” He paused. "Moving on from this, what do you think you're going to need to do these repairs?"

"I was thinking along the lines of overhaul," replied Jon with a grin on his face.

Skunk Works, In high Lunar orbit, Sol system, 23 February 2738

ShadowDancer ship's log: Chief Engineer Anderson recording; Ship time - 20/03/2524 : 17.10; Local time - 23/02/2738 : 19.20 (+2.10)

I think the folks around here are beginning to regret letting me do a full overhaul and repair. <Smiles sadistically> Today we did the heaviest job of the whole scheduled overhaul, replacement of the fusion buffer plates. It took a while to explain to my colleges here at the Skunk Works why I needed them and the costs and benefits of multimode fusion power plants, but good to their word this morning at 9AM local twenty 25 ton rare earth buffer plates stood stacked at the side of the repair yard; and I have to say for once they all fit perfectly first time. Completely unlike last time we did this. I am still convinced the last set we had from Wyzdom was made by bunch of monkeys. I had forgotten that one of the continuity connectors was made of three flat metal drink cans welded together; this caused some considerable consternation amongst the gathered GM engineers. It was a fast and dirty solution to the problem, as we only had limited shipyard time. This time we are going to do it right.

ShadowDancer - Technology Report: Fusion Power

Distribution list Alpha: Sailor Jupiter, King Endymion, Sailor Neptune

Summary

We have another example of how the Federation's more advanced Gravtechnics technology influences and improves on other fields. While their fusion plants produce the best reactant to power production ratio while using standard deuterium reactions, they can also use hydrogen and helium to produce lithium or helium to produce beryllium. This means that the waste products of a standard fusion reaction can be used to produce further energy, leveling a 5:2 energy over reactant used ratio above a normal reactor. This is greater than our current standard systems, although we have the ability in experimental power systems but the higher plasma temperature and the problems of dealing with stray neutrons, protons and various fermions and bosons are currently holding them up. The Federation technology bypasses a large number of these problems by heating the plasma; they also partly collapse it under gravitational forces, so that the reactor acts more like the center of a star. It also provides for lower power plant start up costs. The mass of these power plants are only a 16% more than normal, but unfortunately power production in this method generates a lot of exotic particles. Dealing with particles leads to the introduction of buffer plates to act as absorbers. Buffer plates are made from rare earth elements (scandium, yttrium, lutetium, and lawrencium, among others); over time they transmute to other elements (titanium, zirconium, hafnium, and rutherfordium) losing their effectiveness, and then requiring replacement. So, while their system is more efficient, it is also more polluting over our version of fusion.

End.

"What's got her all excited?" Susan asked Jon, as she watched Sailor Mercury's second Janeway rush away towards the entryway of the ShadowDancer. Jon looked up from the partly disassembled laserlance he was working on.

"Don't honestly know," he said as he cleaned his hands off on a rag, and took the offered mug of coffee, which he sipped; his eyebrows rose in appreciation. Susan smiled.

"Fresh beans. Emma was popping down to Earth for her father's birthday last night, and she came back with a few bags for me," Susan explained. Jon's left eyebrow popped up.

"That would be Apprentice Oakes, the rather attractive redhead from our PSP team," teased Jon.

Susan's face screwed up slightly. "Also boring straight and with a boyfriend, if you must know."

"What about the rather cute blonde one, then?" Jon smirked.

"Apprentice Steven Harker, native," she made exclamation marks with her left hand, "of Magellan City on Venus. He has LISA written all the way though him like a stick of Blackpool rock." She paused for a second, obviously thinking about what she had just said, and then shrugged her shoulders. "What were you talking to Janeway about?"

"Laserlances," he said, gesturing to bits of one on the bench. "She said she was wondering why these managed to affect DK shield technology, and the ones used by the Zerm Alliance don't."

Susan looked curiously at him. "And?" she asked.

"Well they still seem to be using optical frequency range lasers, unlike these babies that use anything from ultraviolet to gamma ray frequencies. She then started asking how you focused something like a gamma ray. Simple, I said, with a gravity lens." He pointed to an assembly at the end of the lance. "She started asking questions about that; she then got all excited when I told her about the fact we use the same systems, for any of our coherent energy weapons, right down to laser rifles; she then asked where Jellic was and rushed off."

Susan paused for a moment, thought about it, and then shrugged her shoulders and commented. "I think she needs a holiday."

Jon picked up a small screwdriver and looked again at the laserlance. "I think we all do."

"Jellessa?" asked Jellic as he knocked on the doorframe of the open door leading to Jellessa's room. Jellessa looked up from the book she was studying.

"Brother," she answered.

Jellic came forward and placed onto her desk a box containing 10 medium sized cylinders; written on the box was the words "WARNING! ANTIMATTER STORAGE DEVICES! HIGH RISK OF EXPLOSION!"

"Ten each of 200 gram charges of Anti-Deuterium in hyper-magnetic containment made to Father's specifications."

Jellessa's eyes widened, and then narrowed. "How?"

"I had Susan ask. She said something about the engine overdrive system. They get confused about the stuff we ask for, and I think at least three of the engineering team are in love with her," Jellic shrugged.

"Five of them, actually," Jellessa smiled.

"Should have known."

With a sweeping gesture, Jon turned off the gamma welder and pulled back his mask. "It's bloody well finished!" he declared to the people gathered down below; they responded with a cheer. Jon paused while his friends, the shipyard crew, let off steam. "Thank you one and all for your hard work, and according to our tradition," he continued when the noise died down, "it is customary for the chief engineer to buy drinks for all those involved, so, ladies and gentlemen, see you all in Greynn's in ten minutes." This was followed by another cheer as people started to walk away, heading for the main door. Jon climbed down the outside of the hull and dropped to the bay floor, to be met by Jellic, who tossed him a clean shirt and a tin of body clean.

"Jon, you smell like a Rathrua in a swamp," he commented with a slight smile, then ducked as he dodged Jon's dirty shirt being thrown at his face.

"Hardy, har, har!" said Jon, spraying the contents of the can over himself. "Didn't see you up there helping with the fixing of that jigsaw puzzle."

Jellic smiled. "Not qualified for a gamma welder, remember?"

"Shit, yeah, you were still re-growing your left hand at the time, weren't you?" He started flapping his arms to get the cleaning agent to dry quicker. "Don't know why you wanted the ablative armor repaired and refitted anyway; stuff cuts performance, increases fuel drain, and looks ugly."

Jellic looked up at the bulging lines of the ShadowDancer. "I have a feeling we might need it before this is all over."

"You been talking to Susan again, after she had some funny mushrooms?" asked Jon.

"No, just my natural paranoia."

The conversation was disrupted by the sound of a pair of high-heeled boots approaching; both of them turned to see the familiar white, blue and black of Sailor Macros approaching. "Well. Half dressed men. If this is how you greet people in your home universe, I want to visit," she commented with a slight smirk. Jellic bowed gracefully in greeting; Jon's was somewhat ruined by having his arms outstretched.

"Naru- sorry, Sailor Macros- it is good to see you again. Did everything go all right back on Archrid?" asked Jellic.

Sailor Macros' smile faltered slightly, and then returned to full strength. "Everything's done there; all up and running again!"

Jon stopped flapping like a demented bird and began to pull on his clean shirt. "When did you come back?" he asked.

"Late yesterday evening. I have been in with Sailors Neptune, Mercury, and Venus until an hour ago."

"Anything interesting?" asked Jellic.

"Lots," she said, rolling her eyes. "The important thing for me is the three weeks leave I am now on. That, and I have some interesting news to pass on to the six of you!"

"Oh?" Jon muttered.

"But before I tell you," she began, linking her arms though theirs, "this Senshi needs a drink; it's thirsty work talking to all these people."

Jon looked up at Sailor Macros as she led them towards the door, and commented to the world in general. "Great, another freeloader who does not know one end of a welder from the other!"

Starbase One, In high Lunar orbit, Sol system, 23 February 2738

Greynn's was packed; the combination of people coming off shift and the celebrating shipyard crew was forcing the people to overflow into the no-eating and drinking observation lounge next door (that rule was generally held as a bit of joke). The whole thing started somewhat later than advertised, due to the fact that Susan and Jellessa had to go and drag Susaumen out of the main computer room for the base. The GM's faster-than-light processing cores had been fascinating to Susaumen, and she had spent her free time hanging around and generally bothering the heck out of the people in the control room.

'Buying a round' was also something that was not done, mainly because the all food and drinks were free, so Jon spent the next two hours talking, joking, exchanging stories, and thanking everyone for their hard work. Even for Jon the social butterfly it was getting a bit much, so it was some relief that he slipped into a chair in the lounge with his Susan, Jellic, Jellessa, Anternian, Susaumen, Sailor Macros, and the ever-friendly Dutch leader of PSP team, Mage Joachim. He picked up and took a few healthy gulps of the pint of cold beer that was sitting waiting for him.

"Was that your 7th or 8th?" asked Susan.

"Try 10th," was Jon's answer.

"I don't know how you can drink that much so quick and still be standing," commented Mage Joachim.

"Byproduct of the hi-grav genejack," answered Jon, taking another swig.

Both Mage Joachim and Sailor Macros looked confused at that. Susan explained Jon's comment. "Part of the jack is to increase tolerance to denser atmospheres that are found on such worlds. One of the changes is to increase the level of CO2 tolerance in the blood, so changes were made to the section which controls the production of the enzyme that converts CO2 to carbonic acid, thus cutting down the levels of free carbon dioxide in the blood. A side effect is the increased effect of the enzyme that breaks down alcohol in the blood system, so leading to the rather large capacity for alcohol."

"So I can drink loads and not get twatted!" Jon said, taking a large swig, and proceeding to give off a loud belch. "Boy, this Yebisu is gassy stuff."

Susan rolled her eyes. "Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a gene for politeness in the human genome."

"Well, moving on from my friend and colleague's more primitive, err, emissions... What is this news you had for us?" asked Jellic, attempting to stop the beginning of another of Jon and Susan's arguments about manners.

"Yes," said Sailor Macros, flicking her wrist and accessing her subspace pocket; she pulled out six silver envelopes and handed one to each of them. "They are official invites to come to the palace at 4pm on the 6th of March to be inducted into the honorary Order of Silver Star for, and I quote, 'your actions and bravery in repelling an invasion by our enemies on Achird-2.' Furthermore- I love saying that- an invite to the formal dinner and ball held to celebrate Sailor Neptune's birthday. Congratulations to you all."

Everyone had pulled out the fine gilt-edged paper out of the envelope, and was reading the full text. Joachim called one of his people over, and got them to start spreading the news. Eventually they looked up at each other, and Jon groaned loudly and rested his head on the table.

"What's up?" asked Sailor Macros, looking confused at his reaction.

The voice from the table answered. "Does that mean we have to get back into our formal uniforms again?"

Jellic looked across at the suffering Terran. "Sorry, Jon, I think it would be only right. Protocol and all that stuff."

"They make me look like a big square," he looked up. "I think when I get back home I am going to track the man down who came up with them and..."

"Make him/her/it wear them for the rest of his/her/its life," finished Susan. "I mean the damn things make me look like a man." She looked across at Jellic. "And I have no choice, do I; and no amount of me complaining is going to change your mind."

Jellic nodded. "Sorry guys, but formal uniform is made to make us look roughly all the same, even though some of us have different configuration of walking equipment." He smiled for a moment. "Even an inconvenient number of limbs. But first contact rules are clear on the matter of them being worn, and this counts as one of those times."

"Excuse me, what's the problem?" asked Joachim, having lost track of the conversation, something he noticed everyone did a lot around these people.

"Our formal uniforms have been a source of contention since we were first given them three years ago. They are designed to smooth out all the anatomical differences between the humanoid members of the Federation, so that we are all the same. Good idea, but it means we have to wear these white and gray monstrosities at all formal occasions. These uniforms are considered by all races, with the exception of the Getrienx who are generally acknowledged even by themselves to have no taste, ugly and in dire need of replacing!" explained Jellic.

"Perhaps the royal tailor might be able to help?" suggested Sailor Macros.

"Perhaps, that's not a bad idea. They didn't say we could not tailor them a bit," allowed Jellic. "What's the dress protocol for the event afterwards?"

"Formal ball gowns, tuxedos, that sort of thing," answered Joachim.

Jellic closed his eyes and waited.

"I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO WEAR!" came Susan's plaintive cry. Jon slowly started banging his head on the table.

"I agree," said Susaumen.

"Not you too!" commented Anternain, a past victim of Susan's shopping excesses.

"Well, I don't know what happened to your last set of formal robes, but mine got used to carry wounded back on B48278," replied Susaumen.

Jellic held his hands up. "Okay, people, we need to go on a shopping trip."

Jon groaned and started banging his head on the table more rapidly.

"But this time we do have one advantage," said Jellic.

"What's that?" came a voice from the table, where the source head had temporarily ceased the pain infliction upon itself.

"This time, we have a nice PSP team to act as pack anima- sorry, assistants," grinned Jellic, looking like a hungry wolf.

Joachim broke into a sweat at this comment, even as Jon raised his head and smiled.

"10,000 credits! Is that fucking all? It's a fucking joke, right?" Susan shouted.

Jon stuck his little finger in his left ear and wiggled it around. "Well, do you want to try that again? I think there's a couple of people on PLUTO that didn't hear you."

Naru came walking up, dressed in a pair of black trousers and a cream roll necked jumper; over her arm she carried a scarf and coat. "Is there a problem?"

Jon managed to beat Susan to it. "It's just our billionaire's daughter here thinks that the sum of money we have for shopping is a little bit low."

Susan huffed loudly in the background.

Naru looked at the fuming Terran. "I am sorry, but that's the normal figure we give to visiting diplomats for petty cash purchases; normally they bring their own money and goods with them."

Susan looked thoughtful for a moment, and sniffed. "I suppose I will have to do something about it, then!" She turned away to consult with a nearby computer terminal.

Jellic came up to them and looked across at Susan.

"You told her?" he asked.

"Yes!" replied Jon.

"Well, you're still alive."

"Just about, but I think I need to get my hearing checked." With that, he moved off towards the waiting shuttle, eyeing the forcefield and the vista of space and the expanse of the Lunar Shipyard beyond.

"Naru, will you be accompanying us?" Jellic asked the informally dressed Senshi of electromagnetism.

"I promised that would show Susan the best places to shop," she shrugged. "My father was attached to the government offices in New York for a while when I was a teenager."

"Glad of that." As they started to walk towards the shuttle, Jellic spoke again. "My visits to Earth have mostly been around Europe, Africa, and Australia. I have been though New York once on my way to the UK, when the Mandela hook was down for maintenance, but then I only looked at it from the express tubeway window."

"It's a busy place; a true twenty-four hour city, much like CT Japan, London, and Berlin, among others."

"Sounds good," came Susan's voice behind them. "But we have to do a little diversion first."

"Oh? Where to?" asked Naru.

"Atlantic City!"

Atlantic City, Planet Earth, Sol system, 23 February 2738

From Atlantic City: Tourist Guide

When Neo-Queen Serenity I and her husband and consort King Endymion came to power, many things changed. One of those things was a general ban on most forms of gambling. However, King Endymion was a student of human nature, and proposed certain exceptions to this rule, knowing full well that what been banned would continue no matter what anyone said. These exceptions became known as free city acts. These cities all went down the lines of Las Vegas in being a home for all sorts of gambling and other forms of entertainment. King Endymion has been quoted as saying that the idea was to get all these things into a few places, so they can be better controlled; to eliminate the more dangerous rules and practices that various companies had practiced in the past, and to put a firm foot down on the neck of organized crime, which in the past had gathered around such places.

Atlantic City was the third free city to come into being after Las Vegas in North America and Blackpool in the British Isles. What is interesting is nearly all the gambling establishments are owned and run by the various tribes of Native Americans whose original establishments were closed down. How they knew to buy up land in Atlantic City is unknown, although it is generally believed (but never confirmed in public) that it was a tip off from a Planetary Senshi who had generally been sympathetic to the Indians' cause.

Hovertransport 182, Atlantic City, Planet Earth, Sol system, 23 February 2738

Atlantic City hovertransports normally hold 11; somehow the driver had managed to get 13 in this one.

"Next time we land the ShadowDancer and use the G-carrier," commented Jon. "Have you put on weight?" he glared at the Anternain.

"Look, you asked who was the lightest," Anternain said, he head resting on the window. "You should have known it would have been one of us; it always is!"

"Yeah, yeah, I just forgot the two of you are lanky streaks of piss, that's all."

"We're here!" said Jellessa with some relief in her voice, moving one of Anternain's knees out of her chest.

They all got out of the hovertransport they had ridden from the shuttleport, and the thirteen, after some stretching and groaning, stared up at the 'Seven Feathers Casino and Entertainment Complex'.

"Are you sure you want to try this?" asked Jellic, looking down at the formal suit he was wearing, pulling some of the newly formed creases out.

"Of course," said Susan, pulling out the creases in the black cocktail dress she had put on at the shuttleport.

Jellessa, looking slightly uncomfortable in her own formal suit, looked across at Susan and queried. "Are sure this is a good idea? The last time we had to fight our way out of the place."

"Of course. I am sure this place will be a little more civilized," she said, making her way towards the large doors. "Back in fifteen minutes; tell the transport to wait," she called back as Jellic and Jellessa moved to follow.

Behind them a rapid conversation was taking place.

"Sailor Macros, we are not allowed in there!" explained Mage Joachim. "Our standing orders forbid us entering any gambling establishment while on duty."

Naru looked at him. "I will go in with them." She tapped a badge on her jumper. "Comm band 14; any problems I will call you in. Keep an eye on the others, and for Serenity's sake contact the cab firm and see if they can find anything bigger." She then rushed off to follow. Everyone else moved to sit down on the benches that sat outside of the casino.

It was Apprentice Harker who finally asked the question to Jon. "Why have we come here? We all know that gambling is a mug's game and you're bound to lose; what does she hope to do?"

Jon turned and looked at the blonde haired man. "Don't worry, we have done this before. At this moment the luckiest woman in the whole federation has just walked into a place that makes its money by counting on the fact that luck, or to give it its more correct name, unconscious probability manipulation, does not exist. Today they're going to receive a lesson about what does not exist and what does. I just hope their bank balance is healthy."

In the center of the Seven Feathers was a free bar with eight roulette tables around it. So, while losing all your money at the tables, you could, at least, get a drink to help ease the pain now forming in your wallet. This is where Jellic, Jellessa, and Naru sat while they waited for Susan to get some chips. Walking past the bar to collect a sparkling water, she went to the first table and dropped the ten 1,000 credit chips onto black fourteen. It was not a surprise to anyone but Naru when it was announced.

"Black fourteen wins!"

Susan scooped up the twenty 1,000 credit chips and dropped ten of them in Jellic's hand, and then went to the next table and dropped the other ten onto 26 red.

"Red twenty-six wins!"

The next table it was red eight.

"Red eight wins!"

Next it was 17 black.

"Black seventeen wins!"

And so on until the last table when she dropped 640,000 in chips on black 20.

There was a large amount of sweat on the brow of the operator when she said "Black twenty wins!"

Susan called over the others, and placed the chips into several large cups provided by the floor manager. Susan then hooked her arms though Jellic and Jellessa's arms and lead them towards the cashing desk. It was at this point that one of the casino managers caught on to what had happened, and came rushing towards them, followed by four rather big security guards, to see if they could 'persuade' her to return to the tables. Naru wondered what would happen if they tried to stop them. This thought was unnecessary, because Jellic and Jellessa glared at the approaching people, with looks that promised more violence than they or a group four their size could possibly handle, which froze them to the spot.

Even after a 40% gambling tax, the group walked away from the Seven Feathers 769,000 credits richer. Jellic thought he could hear a faint scream as he left the building. The only comment made by the others as Naru explained to the PSP team what had happened was Jon.

"Are you happy now?"

At that, Susan nodded.

Starbase One, In high Lunar orbit, Sol system, 23 February 2738

"So, nothing else to report then?" asked the small brown haired woman sitting in front of him. Steven Harker took a sip from his drink, looking slightly nervously at the person in front of him.

"Isn't it enough they managed to clean out one of the biggest casinos on Earth?" he questioned.

The woman shrugged. "We checked, it's a day's takings from that place, less on a busy day. They are complaining, all right, but none of their security people or their hired telepaths or empaths detected anything, nor did Sailor Macros." The woman smiled viciously. "Frankly, I don't care," she added with a smile. "Anything else happen?"

"We trooped around the shopping section of New York city for eight hours. I went with the two Alphans to the designer section were they discussed designs and cloth for about three hours, and then caught up with the others. They did a few touristy things, like visit the World Trade Towers memorial. They found that very interesting since the events around didn't happen in their universe."

His companion's eyebrow quirked up in an unasked question.

"I asked Susan if she knew what was happening then. 2001 apparently was what they called the quiet year in WW3; that when a virus called Syktyvkar was rampant in the world, with the infectious qualities of the common cold and the lethality of ebola. It was this virus was the one largely responsible for decimation of about 2 billion people; it's mutated variants accounting for another billion. Jon said that a lot of Earth's old political and religious tensions had dissipated after the war because people seemed less inclined to hold grudges, nor frankly had the time to do so."

The woman's eyes glazed over, remembering back the centuries, to the look of anger, guilt, and hopelessness on the face of Diet member Tsukino during those days. With a shake of her head, she dispelled those thoughts. "These history lessons are interesting, but back to my main concern: are these people as harmless as they appear?"

Steven gulped. "Well, I don't think I can safely provide an answer to this question." He picked up a bag from the floor, and removed a box from it; he handed it to the woman. "I quote what Miss Hajkowski said to me when she left me: 'You're seeing Sailor Uranus, tonight, aren't you? Would you be a dear and give this to her. Oh, and tell her that brown hair does not suit her, and she should try a new set of disguises'."

The woman looked across at Steven with a slight look of shock in her eyes; she then opened the box. Inside the box was a handmade model of a yellow 1967 Toyota 2000 GT convertible.

"How in Serenity's name!"

Skunk Works, In high Lunar orbit, Sol system, 5 March 2738

ShadowDancer ship's log - Commander Damlanmo recording; Ship time - 30/03/2524: 08.05; Local time - 05/03/2738: 10.15 (+2.10)

Tonight we are making the transfer to the official guest rooms at the palace on Luna. <pause> Just read that sentence back to myself, and realized how quickly you get used to a situation. To me, the moon means a largely airless rock with scientific stations, and military bases, as well as the Luna shipyards. Terrans in our universe largely ignored the moon after the initial landings, and went to the more resource rich planet of Mars instead, returning only to Luna after the discovery of water deposits near the north and south poles. So, to see a thriving civilization there is a bit unusual to say the least.

We will be staying over for two nights, and then we are heading to Terra for at least a 14-day break. We have been offered use of one of the royal estates on Okinawa. What happens after that I don't know, but I guess we better start earning our keep; they have been very generous so far, and I have no desire for us to become an unwelcome guest.

The award presentation is very free form, and seems to be based around those who are being presented it. Tradition states that before receiving the award, a vow of obedience is required. Most GM citizens offer the first paragraph of the GM constitution or the appropriate passage from some holy book. This, of course, causes us some considerable problems, since the Federation opening paragraph is nearly two pages long (that's what happens when you have a constitution written by a committee), and none of us have a holy book we want to claim as ours, or we don't have one at all. In the end we modified a ceremony we went though on Chu-chuc when approaching the local governor for help during the war. The crew, with some excitement, approaches the whole event with enthusiasm; ceremony and tradition is somewhat limited back home, and the prospect of a good dinner helps too.

For me, the fun is the whole new alien races to meet. We already met various Vulcans in the Skunk Works, and feel sorry that they do not exist back home; their steadiness and calm is a nice antidote to the Terrans. Where the three rocky planets of Epsilon Eridani system are in this universe, there is a large asteroid field in ours; geo-archaeologists have speculated that they might have been formed due to the use of planet busting weapons during the Ancient's War. Another unique race, which we have met here, are the Miraxic, who are a semi-humanoid insectoid race. The few encounters I have had show that they are considerably quieter and less energetic than the Clackers, and thankfully, considerably shorter; dealing with Clackers always gives me a stiff neck. The unfortunate thing for the Miraxic is Susaumen and Anternain keep commenting they look a lot like a tasty insect they used to eat when they were young. I decided to keep them away from them, just in case my friends decide that a nice barbecue is in order, in an attempt to recapture childhood memories.

One surprise to me is the presence of the Kzin, or as they are called here the Isbanni. (This is an assumption on my part; they come from the same system and bio data I have downloaded meshes in very well with our medial data on Kzin; no doubt that the social and historical references will be different, but they do, all in all, seem to be the same.) Their presence adds weight to the theory that they are a naturally evolved race, and not as extensively influenced by the Ancients as many of our sentient races are. They have, however, managed to avoid a lot of the clan wars that affected our Kzin; especially the last nuclear confrontation. I still hold fond memories of the clan warriors we fought beside during the Jebirn wars; they were terrifying to the Jebirn.

"COME ON!" said Susan, pulling at Susaumen's arm.

"Just a few more minutes, we're not due to leave for another hour yet," came back Susaumen's sulking reply, tugging her arm back.

"Look," said Jellessa. "They have a bigger system on the moon, called... er?"

"Nirvana," came the comment from the tech present, looking at the scene.

"Nirvana," she tipped a wink to her, and then turned back to the debate.

Karen Lindberg was the systems administrator for the Skunk Works AI, Kelly, and had been run ragged by the hyperactive alien coming in nearly every day for the past three weeks, asking questions, taking notes, and generally getting in the way. Only when her friends came to drag her away did she get any peace. She looked over at the group again, as the two other women had got hold of Susaumen's arms. In the process, her eye caught a flash in the blue-haired alien's hand. She blinked, and it had gone.

Must have been a reflection, she thought as she watched the two of them drag her towards the door. Wonder if I should warn them on Luna what to expect? Nah, let it be a surprise to them, she thought with a slightly evil grin on her face, and returned to the boring report she was attempting to write.

Crystal Palace in Crystal Tokyo, Planet Luna, Sol system, 5 March 2738

Palace Guest Apartments, 11th floor

"These are the guest quarters?" asked Susan with a touch of awe in her voice.

"That's right," said a bemused Naru standing at her elbow. "This is the Kofi Annan suite." She pulled Susan towards the center of the room. Jellic stepped into the room, taking it in; the main room was nearly circular and was opulently decorated with rich wall paper, hangings, and with a range of both classical and modern styled paintings. The room was furnished with a range of chairs, couches, tables, and desks with what appeared to be an up to date entertainment and communications center. To the left, a large set of doors opened out onto a balcony, which overlooked the extensive gardens going up to the Palace itself, which appeared to shine brightly in the evening sun. Leading from the room were eight closed doors. To one side six mannequins stood, each bearing a familiar gray and white uniform.

"These have just arrived from the royal tailor, sir," came the slightly Italian-accented voice of Francesco De Sanctis, their personal butler for the stay at the palace. Jellic walked over and looked at the redone uniforms; he noted that each of the mannequins was shaped to be exact dimensions of the wearer, and he examined his carefully.

"Well that's an improvement," he commented, "it looks a lot less like a tent and more like a uniform."

"Well, sir, the tailor commented to me that she could have made another set of uniforms from the spare material she removed," said Francesco.

"Yet again, another fine example of something produced by committee," was Susan's comment as she looked over her new uniform. "Well, if you will excuse me, Naru-chan has promised me a tour of Crystal Tokyo."

"Naru-chan?" asked Jellessa.

"Hey, you're not the only one who can learn languages," said Susan, sticking her tongue out at her. She then turned and ran towards the bedrooms. "Bagsy me the biggest bed!"

Jellic and Jellessa looked at each other, and as one, spoke. "Terrans!!"

"I heard that!" came a muffled voice from inside one of the rooms.

Crystal Palace in Crystal Tokyo, Planet Luna, Sol system, 6 March 2738

Ellen Tsukino Memorial Ballroom

"Sailor Betelgeuse, how goes it?" asked Sailor Venus as she approached the woman, bent over a flower display. Sailor Betelgeuse turned to look at the approaching Planetary Senshi with a fraught look in her eye and a roll of flower binding wire in her mouth.

"Hold these, will you?" she said with her mouth full, and dumped a large bundle of flowers into a surprised Sailor Venus' hands, removing the wire from her mouth and proceeding to bind the flowers together whilst talking.

"Well, apart from the fact that most of the royal florists are down with this flu virus that is going around, we are behind on the flowers." She completed wiring the flowers and placed them in the large vase on the table. "Other than that, everything is going as well as can be expected. We had a slight problem with the Miraxic ambassador about seating positions, but we managed to smooth that one out; apparently he didn't want to be in direct sunlight, something about his new robes." She shrugged her shoulders. "Still wondering why we're having the presentation here, and not in the throne room, though."

Sailor Venus smiled. "The Queen was so pleased with the result of the renovation she decided to show it off as soon as possible; Planetary Senshi birthdays are always private affairs, so this seemed like a good opportunity. Also it sends out a message that we will not be intimidated." Sailor Venus looked around. "Hard to believe this place was trashed, what, two-three months ago?"

"That's true. Mr. Nguyen about drove me mad with his requirements, but boy did he do a good job; bet it's made his career. He will be snowed under with the offers of work. By the way, did you manage to find him? I thought Her Majesty wanted to thank him personally."

Sailor Venus went slightly misty eyed and then she leaned over to Sailor Betelgeuse. "He seems to have run off with a rather beautiful Polynesian girl somewhere."

"Oh, really!" said Sailor Betelgeuse.

"The father is furious, but they were last seen boarding a small shuttle about three weeks ago. He apparently took a large sum of currency and went off with her."

"A holiday romance, huh? Hope it works out for them," said Sailor Betelgeuse, before she returned to business. "Is the new media center ready?"

Sailor Venus smiled. "All modifications are complete. All outgoing media transmissions are now on a minute delay loop, and Nirvana has greater control over outgoing transmissions, so the feed will be automatically cut off if something were to occur. We will not get caught out like last time."

"Other modifications?" asked Sailor Betelgeuse.

"Sailor Mercury's people finished modifications to the bio-sensors and sound system three days ago. She had Sailor Jupiter's team in checking it over as well." Sailor Venus winked at Sailor Betelgeuse to indicate exactly which team was looking over at everything.

"Why, are they expecting trouble?" asked Sailor Betelgeuse, with a slightly worried tone to her voice.

"No, I think they're just being careful." The ex-head of LISA looked thoughtful for a moment. "The DK knows that the same tactics never work twice, so I cannot imagine they will try to pull the same stunt as last time." With that, she smiled a bright smile at Sailor Betelgeuse. "If you would excuse me, I think I just have time to head into the shopping district and see if I can find something for Michelle for her birthday. Later." With that, she turned and left; and Sailor Betelgeuse returned to dealing with the thousand little things that needed dealing with for events like this.

"This is highly irregular," came the voice of Kagemasa Kamitsukenu, head of protocol in the royal palace, master of Cha-no-yu and Shodo, acknowledged expert on Togei. In his 38 years of service he had introduced Kings, Queens, Ambassadors, Presidents, and Prime Ministers. But this group of extra-dimensional visitors was causing him problems. The first problem had been the order of entry and announcement, which took Jellic explaining to him the ranking back in the Federation; then came the problem of names and titles, for he wanted to announce Anternain and Susaumen's full names. It took Anternain pulling up his name on Jon's TES before he understood the problem. (Anternain and Susaumen are personal names; full names include the personal names of all their nest brothers and sisters, parent's personal names, the personal names of all foster parents, and the personal names of the people who supported the nest while they were growing up; this totals some 567 names.) Then came the problem of what they were carrying.

"The medical kit, yes, tool kit, fine, but swords!"

Sailor Betelgeuse restrained the urge to swear; battles between her and the head of protocol had become something of a legend in court. Jellessa stepped in and in perfect Lunarian debated with Kagemasa.

"Yes, they are swords, but they're in ritual carriers," she slipped hers off her shoulder and began to show Kagemasa. "They're ritually bound, and the fact they are carried on the shoulder means we cannot draw them without taking them off our shoulders or losing something important, like a head."

"That, and everyone from myself to Sailor Jupiter has approved it," said Sailor Betelgeuse in support.

"And with the number of Sorcerers and Senshi in there, I would imagine we would be cut down before we got them half way out," added Jellessa.

Kagemasa huffed to himself, and fixed one eye on Sailor Betelgeuse. "Be it on your own head," he said, and then he walked towards the large double doors and began to read the slip of paper in his hand, nodding every once in a while.

Sailor Betelgeuse turned to apologize, but Jellic waved her off. "Had to deal with dozens of these people in our time."

"Well, surprisingly, after all that fighting, we are only a minute late," said Sailor Betelgeuse.

"Well that's good," said Jon, breathing in deeply.

"Nervous?" Sailor Betelgeuse asked with a smile. "It's only 270 people, plus the cameras of the all-worlds holo-vision network, which ironically is called WorldNet."

Jellic looked at her. "I think I can speak for all of us at this moment when I say we would rather be facing down 20 Slashers only armed with a contents of a picnic basket."

"They're late," said Sailor Jupiter.

"They're very late," replied Sailor Mercury.

"Wonder what's the cause," said Sailor Jupiter.

"Probably Sailor Betelgeuse fighting with Kamitsukenu," shrugged Sailor Mercury.

"Hah!" said Sailor Jupiter.

There was a pause.

"They're late," said Sailor Jupiter again.

"They're very late," replied Sailor Mercury again.

"Have you two ever thought of going into stand up comedy?" asked Sailor Venus.

Neo-Queen Serenity the First smiled slightly at the antics of her oldest friends, who could always be counted to provide some light relief during the waiting phase of these ceremonies. Protocol always dictated that any cameras present would not focus on the royal party during the lead up to such events, and with her eyes she could see the cameras doing slow pans over the newly refurbished ball room. She was about to comment when the doors opened at the far end, and the conversations in the room died down to silence.

Kagemasa Kamitsukenu stood in the entranceway of the doors, and in a deep and carrying voice announced: "Your majesty Neo-Queen Serenity the First, His Royal Highness King Endymion of Terra, Ambassadors, Members of the Senshi and of the Royal Order of Sorcerers, my Lords and Ladies; may I present Jellic Damlanmo Kren, third of that name, commander of starship ShadowDancer. Jellessa Damloanmo Sakrn, first of that name, second in command of the starship ShadowDancer. Jonathan James Anderson, chief engineer of the starship ShadowDancer; Anternain, pilot of the starship ShadowDancer; Susaumen, electronic warfare officer of the starship ShadowDancer; and Susan Jane Hajkowski, medical and communications officer for the starship ShadowDancer."

"I think he said that all in one breath," commented Sailor Venus. Sailor Jupiter nudged her with her elbow to be quiet.

The six of them stepped out of the door, followed by their six person ceremonial guard. Their white and gray uniforms glistened; with the silver buttons gleaming in the sunlight sloping in from the windows above. As the last member of the guard stepped out, Anternain and Susaumen threw their heads back and produced a mutli-voiced exultation; and then all six began to sing, shocking the hall into silence and allowing the singing to be heard clearly though the room.

The song they sung sounded like a cross between Masai singing and Gregorian Chant. It was, in fact, a song of praise, which was sung while approaching a ruling female, the Alphan language having no word for queen. There was one slight contention with the song, as it praised the strength and beauty of her husbands. Anternain had been concerned not to cause offense, but the word for husband did not work very well. It was Jellessa who pointed out no one but them would have any idea what was being said anyway, so the point was mute.

The song finished just before the dais, and as one the six of them went down on one knee; the next bit was from a Hardar ceremony. Each swung the packs on their backs in front of them, and bowed their heads.

"I am second, leader, warrior; I offer my sword, my strength, and my life in your service," stated Jellic, placing his hand on the covered blade of the sword set.

"I am first, warrior; I offer my sword, my strength, and my life in your service," continued Jellessa, placing her hand on the covered blade of the sword set.

"I am third, engineer, miner; I offer my tools, my skills, and my life in your service," said Jonathan, placing his hand on the box on tools in front of him.

"I am pilot and bard; I offer my music to entertain, my skills in flight, and my life in your service," said Anternian, placing his hand on the case in front of him.

"I am data manger and programmer; I offer my skills in cyberspace, and my life in your service," said Susaumen, placing her hand on her scanner and data probe.

"I am first and only, healer, counselor, communicator; I offer my healing, my words, and my life in your service," said Susan, completing the ritual and placing her right hand on the medical kit in front of her. All then bowed their heads awaiting the queen's words.

Serenity rose and was immediately flanked by Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus. She came over to the bowed Jellic, and placed her hand on his head in benediction for a few moments.

"We hear your pledges and accept your oaths," said Serenity, removing her hand; she stood up straight and looked toward the audience. "Today, we are welcoming travelers to our court, who, through no fault of their own, found themselves involved in our conflict. Who, in a confused state after their difficult journey, came upon a plot of our enemy, and with great bravery stopped it, saving the lives of two our citizens, and countless others who may have been affected by the enemy action. It is with great pleasure that I induct them into the honorary Order of the Silver Star."

Serenity's words were interrupted by a commotion happening to the right of them. In the clear area behind the chairs in the right aisle, a group of twenty people had gathered in a rough circle around the Miraxic ambassador. Some of the people started to produce long strips of material out of their clothes and started holding them up in the direction of the cameras; a number of court ushers started moving towards them, as well as a few of the security people.

By the entrance, Sailor Betelgeuse read one the banners and slapped the heel of her hand against her forehead. "Not the damn Bentax Belt question again!" She started to make her way towards the commotion.

Jellic, from his kneeling position, sensed something was up, and looked tentatively up. Sailor Venus looked down at him and the question on his face. "Politics. We have been in dispute with Miraxic over a mineral rich asteroid belt in the Bentax system; never thought it would lead to a public protest, though."

A few minor scuffles had broken out, when the Miraxic ambassador did something unusual. He started to glow; then, writing started appearing on the ceiling above him. "Miraxic minerals for the Miraxic people," was one of the slogans.

Jellic looked across as his sister. "I sense a cock up," was his glib assessment, to which Jellessa nodded.

The Ambassador looked very pleased with himself. Suddenly, it appeared that his exoskeleton under his robes began to distort. The slogans disappeared from above him, and the glow suddenly intensified to blinding; a bolt of energy flew upwards to the windows above the glow.

"What the hell is happening, now?" asked Jon, looking away from the glow.

Someone screamed.

Out of the glare two insectoid arms grabbed one of protestors, and a large blade impaled the court usher grappling with him. Out of the glare appeared a group of Slashers, each holding a now passive protestor. One of the guards raised his rifle, and was nailed by a black ray from one of the group in the middle of Slashers. He instantly burst into flames and was ashes before he hit the floor.

The room was suddenly full of panicking, terrified guests, who charged towards the exits. Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Venus grabbed hold of Serenity, and escorted her towards the exit behind the dais. Two black rays sped towards her as her back was turned; Sailor Venus turned to get between Serenity and the rays, when they suddenly turned off and impacted on Susan, who was just standing up, knocking her over in the process.

Sailor Venus swung round, and pointed her fingers towards the source.

"Crescent Beam... SMASH!"

Pftt.

Around the room various other Senshi called out their attacks, and Sorcerers cast various spells, all with the same effect.

Pftt.

Susan began to roll around on the floor. Blood could be seen coming from her hands as her fingernails dug into the palms of her hands.

Sailor Venus looked at her own hands. "What the fuck!!"

However, to her left, five people knew exactly what was happening.

"Crap, it's happening again," said Jellic, looking down at the writhing Susan. Susaumen grabbed hold of her to stop her from hurting herself any further. Anterinain pulled a medi-scanner out of Susan's bag.

"Heart rate, blood pressure, and brain activity all up. Four minutes, tops, before she passes out from neural shock," said Anternain.

Jellic swore as he and Jellessa started extracting their swords from the cases, their ceremonial guard having departed to manage the flow of people out of the room. Jon upended a nearby table and helped pull Susan under its cover.

Jellic finally released his sword and looked around. "What's happening, Jon?" he asked.

Jon was now standing on a chair, looking towards the group of Slashers and Alkons. "A Mexican stand-off; both sides are confused that their big guns aren't working, and our side has those worse than useless blasters. If half a dozen of them fire at the same Slasher at the same time, it will overcome its armor, but probably kill the hostage in the process. But, when Sue finally passes out, the phrase 'blood bath' comes to mind."

Jellic looked across at the problem, and then down at Susan. "We have to get in close, then."

"Not without a diversion. Anyway, are you mad? They have meter long blades at the end of their two arms," said Jon.

Jellic pulled his parry sword free from its bindings. "So will I."

"So will we!" corrected Jellessa.

"We just need a diversion, to give us a chance," added Jellic.

Jon was looking around, and then looked up; and a smile came to his face. He hopped off the chair, pulled his TES off the side of his pack, and started punching some data into it.

"Jellic, those carriers have a couple of Thah's in them, don't they?"

"Yes," said Jellic, removing the two 12cm diameter throwing disks from their pouches.

"Jellessa?"

"Same here."

"Then listen, I have an idea," said Jon.

"Sailor Mercury, what the hell's happening?" asked Sailor Jupiter, crouching behind an overturned table. Various Senshi and Sorcerers were crouched around them in what cover they had. Many blasters covered the tight cluster of invaders, who moved around restlessly as if they were as confused as they were. Mercury Knight slid in behind the two of them, unholstering his twin blasters. He knew they would have full effect, if he got a clear shot; gestalt threading allowed him to supercharge the rays. But with hostages...

"The Queen and the King are safe. Reinforcements are on the way," he said.

"DAMN IT!" said Sailor Mercury, slamming her hands down on the keyboard of the Mercury Computer; she then bit her lip in frustration. "There's an incredibly strong counter-thaumaturgic field in here, but I cannot isolate its source. It's suppressing any change in thaumaturgic field strength, draining energy away from any attempted charge in less than a picosecond." She started typing away again.

"But it's affecting them as well," said Mercury Knight, looking over his wife's shoulder. "Otherwise they would be all over us."

Sailor Magneta rolled over to the table. "I have the fire teams instructed," she reported to Sailor Jupiter. "Teams of six will pick them off one at a time. Six blasters at full power should overload their armor. But the hostages..."

"Estimated casualty rate?" asked Sailor Jupiter, looking her second directly in the eye.

"95 to 100%!"

"Not good enough. The queen will have us for breakfast," said Sailor Jupiter.

"We don't have much in the way of options at the moment," said Sailor Magneta.

Mercury Knight looked over the top of the table. "There must be anoth-"

He was interrupted by the hideous sound of one of the three meter high crystal chandlers coming crashing down onto some of the chairs right next to the group of invaders. The impact threw up an impressive amount of bits of wood, crystal fragments, and dust; in doing so, it broke up the tight formation of enemy forces.

Sailors Jupiter, Mercury, and Magneta stuck their heads over the table.

"What the..." said Sailor Jupiter.

Jellic and Jellessa leapt out of the dust cloud, swords in their hands.

"They're..." Sailor Magneta's following words of 'fucking mad' died on her lips, as with two simultaneous sword swipes they beheaded the first two Slashers, who fell forward, covering their hostages with their bodies. The next things to die were two Alkons, who were stabbed though their large eyes by the short swords that both of them were carrying.

"Shit," said Sailor Magneta, looking at speed and ferocity of the attack, when her eyes widened. "They've given us a way in."

Mercury Knight was already sighting and pulling the triggers of his twin blasters; icy blue beams lanced out and shattered one of the Slashers into frozen chunks.

Confusion had hit the Alkons when their attack had been curtailed by the disappearance of their magic attacks, that, and they had lost contact with their leader. When two of them were killed suddenly, confusion reached new heights and turned into panic. Orders came out to the seventeen remaining Slashers to defend them from the new threat. The Slashers, already confused by events, started to do something that they shouldn't have done. They started to drop the hostages.

Jellic and Jellessa were at triple time; three seconds passed for them for every second in the real world, and they had slipped into that strange state that made them so deadly. As twins they shared that strange bond that comes from the same birthing pouch, and now that bond came to the fore in a deadly way. Each seemed to live in the other's mind, so instead of fighting as two individuals, they fought as if they were one. It became like a slow motion ballet for them; turn, twist, slash, parry, catch a blade, a twist and break the blade of a Slasher, a kick and a chop, severing a arm or leg. It was a dance, a dance Jellic and Jellessa knew well, a dance of death for their enemies.

One Slasher turned as if reacting to something else, and found itself impaled on the Silence Glaive; Sailor Saturn had joined the fight. A moment later and another Slasher fell, split head to crotch by Sailor Uranus' sword. Another was drilled between the eyes by pinpoint blue blaster fire. The second to last Alkon had the misfortune to run straight into Sailor Jupiter, who, lacking a weapon, had used her massive strength to pick up a marble statue, which she used like a massively heavy baseball bat, smashing the Alkon's chest cavity like it was an egg, and propelling it 15 meters into a wall of the ballroom. Other Senshi and Sorcerers, lacking hand-to-hand weapons, dived in behind them, grabbing hold of, and pulling out, the unresisting hostages. A Slasher dropped out of the fight, presenting a clear target to the surrounding fire teams; twelve blaster beams impacted on it. It withstood the onslaught for a moment before it dropped to the floor, smoking, cooked in its armor. Jellic and Jellessa brought down the last Slasher by plunging their swords though the armpits of the Slasher; with a twist of the blades they turned its insides into goo. With blackish spurts of blood, they pulled out their swords, and the body fell to the floor.

Jellic and Jellessa turned to face the final Alkon, but before they could do anything, several blurs darted in and struck, showing them that Senshi, too, could move very rapidly. The Alkon was beaten nearly to a pulp in a matter of seconds by the furious group of Planetary Senshi and Knights; a final swipe of Mercury Knight's twin blades sent the Alkon's head flying.

Everyone stood for a moment, as if stunned by the violence of his or her actions, shocked that it was all over. Then, people caught a faint noise; across the room, both Jon and Sailor Mercury looked at their sensors.

"Energy spike..." Jon muttered, his eyes widening; then he shouted. "THEY'RE WIRED!"

"BOMB!" shouted Sailor Mercury.

Everyone ran, some dragging the remaining hostages away. Jon threw himself towards the dais, noting that Anternain and Susaumen had covered the now still Susan with their bodies. A vain action, he thought; the energy build up was looking like it was going to be a destruct force 2 explosion at least, enough to turn this room into a ruin. The noise became a whine, which rapidly reached an audible crescendo, and everyone hit the floor.

The explosion when it came was a bit of an anti-climax; it sounded like some giant hand had muffled it. Jon looked up at the blast site, only to see a white globe containing the explosion. Jon looked across, at the doorway, and saw Sailor Venus, the Queen, and the King. The King had his sword out, and the Queen had a glowing crystal suspended between the palms of each hand. The explosion died down, and the encasing globe disappeared.

Jellessa flipped onto her back, and looked across at Sailor Macros. "If this is what normally happens at your award ceremonies, next time you can send mine in the mail."

Sailor Macros screwed her face up in confusion. "What's mail?"

Somewhere on Earth, Sol System, 6 March 2738

It raged. If it had had a voice it would have screamed with frustration. Months of planning, that started with the failed attempt with the sonic Infiltrators, had failed to produce the results. The accursed Queen Serenity and her bloated empire obviously had better defenses than the spy had reported. Losing contact with the strike team just after arrival should have been the first sign that everything had gone wrong, but hope was still there. That was until the news reports showed that the damned queen and her impotent husband were still alive, with only limited casualties.

It turned its attentions away from the cracked screen, to the three thralls sitting by its feet, in adoration, waiting their next order to serve. Weak willed, these humans; how do they defeat us time and again? it thought. It reached down, and with precise movements, broke all three men's necks.

Feeling somewhat better for these actions, it turned to the other living thing in the room. A Slasher stood, waiting its orders, which after a moment's communication, it began to carry out. The Alkon tapped a few keys on the display in front of it, and then left the room. Before it entered a waiting hovercar, it had begun working on its next plan, as it waited for the end of this one to play itself out.

To be continued...