"LUNAR:  Tales From Crystal Tokyo"

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LUNAR: The Lost Episodes

By Jeffery Branch

Volume Thirty-seven: Episode 3-4.84 "Fortitude"

Rated: R

Dreyious Prime, Pacifica City Marina, 8 June 2740

            At the city marina, the supervisor who waited on Sailor Britannica and her party was enjoying an early dinner when a call came in over his intercom.  Annoyed with the interruption, the man put down his fork and switched on the speaker.

            “Summiren here.  What is it?” he snapped.

            “This is Ensign Thanigar at the long range ocean monitoring station on Mauntouk Point,” came back a stressed sounding voice over the speaker.  “We’ve picked up an explosion at coordinates thirty-six degrees north by seventy-one degrees west, approximately ninety-seven klicks distant!  Looks like a watercraft might have had an accident!  Did you rent any sea skimmers this afternoon?”

            Hearing that question, the man’s face paled, remembering who he rented a watercraft to.  “Oh, no!  We did!  Scramble a rescue team to those coordinates!  Immediately!”

Dreyious Prime, Pacifica Ocean, ninety-seven point five kilometers from shore:

            Pieces of the demolished sea skimmer bobbed on the surface of the water while the largest section, including the engine compartment, burned, sending thick blackish smoke into the late afternoon sky.

            Fifteen meters away from the smoking ruin, Sailor Britannica, her clothes in tatters, clung to a piece of wreckage as she scowled fiercely from a combination of pain, frustration and outrage.

            “Bloody hell!  What an intolerable mess!  And this outfit cost me a fortune!” she ranted.  The British Senshi, hyped up from anger, ignoring the blood running down her face from an ugly head wound, and a badly throbbing right arm she suspected was broken, looked around for her teammates.  She spotted LISA agent Andre Broduer clinging to a piece of wreckage a few feet away and clumsily swam towards him.  “Broduer!  Speak up!  Are you all right?”

            “I’m alive.  To boast of more than that right now would be arrogant presumption,” the Frenchman replied.  Resorting to his LISA survival training, Broduer checked himself for injuries.  His right side ached mightily, a sure sign of cracked or broken ribs.  As Broduer waded, his left leg throbbed, he looked down and saw blood seeping into the water from a lacerated thigh.  “Not to sound ungrateful, mademoiselle, but why aren’t we dead?”

            “Dumb luck, my friend.  Incredibly dumb luck.  That torpedo struck the port side hydrofoil strut instead of the main hull, which surely would’ve blown us to bits.  However, the impact was strong enough to rupture the fuel cell,” said Sailor Britannica as she struggled to swim to where Broduer floated while her Senshi healing powers dealt with her injuries.  “As to why we’re still alive, I used my powers to blow us clear with a gale force blast of wind just before the boat exploded.  But it was a very close call.”

            “It would appear that fortune favored the foolish.  If it weren’t for Sailor Russia’s piloting, I shudder to imagine the outcome,” said Broduer.

            “Indeed.  Good driving, Sailor Russia.”  No response.  The Briton looked around her but saw no sign of her teammate.  “Sailor Russia?  Respond!”

            Again, nothing.  Sailor Britannica felt a lump in her throat as concern overrode her anger.  “Dammit, woman!  This is no time for games!  Answer me!  Where the devil are you?” she yelled.

            Still nothing.  “Could she be unconscious?” a concerned Broduer wondered aloud.

            “Possibly.  Even worse would be if she transformed before the blast to protect herself,” said the now openly worried Briton.  “In her ultra-dense armored form, Sailor Russia weighs half a ton.  She could easily sink to the bottom and drown.”

            “Mon dieu.  I really hate to further burden you, but the way we’re both bleeding, we might as well be ringing the dinner bell for every ocean going predator in the area,” a now shaking Broduer pointed out.

Sailor Britannica also shivered from how cold the water was.  Not even her enhanced constitution could properly compensate for the escalating loss of body heat while dealing with her injuries.  “You’re probably right, but that’s the least of our concerns right now.  Given how frigid these waters are, and with the sun setting, chances are we’ll die from hypothermia long before some nightmare from Peter Benchley’s imagination shows up.”

            At that moment, a huge black shape broke the water fifty meters away from where the Elemental Senshi and Broduer were and headed straight towards them.  “You were saying, cherie?” Broduer said nervously.

            “Shit!  This is really pissing me off!” Sailor Britannica growled.  Tired, cold and in pain, the fate of her teammate, her best friend unknown, the British Senshi was enraged and would take out her frustrations on whatever was coming at her.  The water around her began to boil and bubble as Sailor Britannica concentrated on her flame power.  “Get behind me!  Hurry!  I don’t know what that thing is, but it’s about to become fish food!”

            Before the angry Briton could attack, the black shape, moving with astonishing speed, reared up from the water and swallowed both her and Broduer.  A moment later, the shape, something bright glinting off the rear quarter, retreated beneath the waves, leaving behind only the wreckage.

Asteroid Field, near Dreyious Prime, 8 June 2740

            Seated in the lotus position behind a crate in the hold of the cargo shuttle as it deftly maneuvered the asteroid field, Moira “Scarlett” Cassidy, eyes closed, passed the time during the journey by silently going over plans to capture Armon Rydos for the bounty on his head.

Contrary to what I told Rhett earlier, this won’t exactly be a piece of cake, she thought, but without any concern.  Even though she had been bounty hunting for just five years, Scarlett was never intimidated by any case she was on, and had proven to be as tough and as ruthless as any of her male brethren.  No way of knowing how big that place is, what sort of security Rydos has, where to find him, or how I’ll get him off that rock.  And then there’s Rollins who might still rat on me, despite my threatening him.  But hey, if a job was easy, it wouldn’t be worth doing.

Scarlett checked the chronometer on her left wrist and calculated that the ship had been airborne for just over thirty minutes, and from the occasional rolling of the ship as the helmsman avoided space boulders, in the asteroid field for the last twenty.

Hmm.  Factoring in the speed, and the time we’ve traveled, we’re probably within a parsec or two of the Shroud, she thought.  At that distance, he’d be close enough to conduct plenty of business throughout the entire sector.  Rydos really is a clever bastard.  I almost admire the guy.

Just then, Scarlett felt the ship decelerate, and that made her smile as she figured the ship was approaching the base.  Excitement building within her, Scarlett made a quick but thorough check of her armaments:  a loaded .50 caliber Desert Eagle strapped to her right thigh with four spare eight round clips on her belt; a pair of RSN regulation blasters, fully charged in shoulder holsters; a serrated combat knife in a sheath on her right boot; plus her secret weapons.

Having decided on a stealth approach, Scarlett would keep to the shadows as best she could, learn the lay of the land, plot an escape route, and then, once her plans were firmed up, she’d go looking for Rydos.  Her heart pounding from anticipation of action, Scarlett scurried over to a floor level ventilation duct hatch, opened it, secreted herself inside the shaft and closed the hatch.  From her vantage point, the flame haired bounty hunter could see most of the compartment.  Once it was emptied, she’d move out into the station.

And then, the real fun starts, she thought, a wicked grin curling her crimson colored lips.

The first sensation Darby Rollins experienced, the same one he always experienced after waking up from a septonodrine-induced slumber, was nausea, as the tranquilizer he was injected with before leaving Prime gave him an upset stomach.

The squat, burly engineer blinked his eyes and looked around him at the two dozen other men in the passenger compartment of the shuttle he had rode to the station on.  Feeling like a stiff drink, since he didn’t much like space travel, Rollins remembered that the ship had a stowaway who was after his employer.  He wondered how Scarlett got onboard, how she would circumvent Rydos’ security to reach him, and if it was safe for him not to keep quiet about the woman.

If that bitch gets nabbed and squeals, Rydos will have me tossed out the nearest airlock, without a spacesuit, Rollins mused.  But if I roll over on her and she finds me, I’m cooked like last night’s steak.  She’s got psycho killer written all over her.  Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.

“How’re you felling, Rollins?” asked the ship’s medic who’s job was to administer the septonodrine to the workers before launch and then revive them upon arrival at the station.  The man eyed Rollins warily.  “You’re looking a little green around the gills.”

Rollins let out a short, nervous laugh; secretly hoping his expression didn’t give anything away.  “Hey, I always look that way, Lawson.  You know septo makes me queasy.  We should get a stiff belt of Amaran whiskey after we wake up.  That stuff really clears the cobwebs.”

The man named Lawson chuckled back.  “You say the same damn thing every time.  I keep telling you to take Dramamine before the trip.”

“I know.  But I prefer booze.  Much more satisfying.  Anything new happen since my last shift?”

Lawson shook his head.  “Nope.  Rydos and his DK buddies never tell us anything, except what to do and how fast to get it done.  But Maktbahr was looking a little stressed before we left for Prime.”  

“Maybe he’s not getting enough pussy in his diet,” Rollins joked, figuring that tidbit might be of some importance.  He, like most of the workers on the station, knew that Rydos’ right hand man was as unflappable as they came. 

“Any idea on our work schedule?”

“Nothing firm yet, but I think we’ll be exporting this time out.”

“How much?”

“Everything.  Don’t quote me on this, but it looks like Rydos wants this place emptied,” said a frowning Lawson.  “My guess is that RSN raid on the Shroud last week spooked him enough to get rid of the goods and haul ass before his luck runs out and somebody finally finds us.”

Rollins snorted.  “Luck is right.  Hell, it’s a wonder he’s managed to keep this dump under the radar for as long as he has.  A damn shame.  This was the best paying gig I’ve had in years.”

Lawson grinned and slapped Rollins on the shoulder.  “Don’t sweat it, pal.  I’m sure Rydos will bring the crew along to his next hideout.  He’s always been loyal to the grunts.  I’ve heard talk around the campfire that he’s already scoped out new digs in the Alpha Zone.”

“From an asteroid field to the most dangerous place in the galaxy.  Rydos sure loves being a risk taker,” said Rollins.  That made him think about the risk he himself was taking about Scarlett.  Staying quiet about the bounty hunter could get him killed, so could squealing about her.  Letting out a sigh, Rollins decided on the former, and hoped he’d live to pat himself on the back for his choice later.

Dreyious Prime, Capricorn City, Archangel Spaceport, 8 June 2740

            Sailors Ebony, Ivory and Cerebra, along with LISA agent Aggie Lindstrom stood at the entranceway to the docking bay thirty feet away from where Renegade sat.  It had taken the better part of two hours for the four women to search the bays until they found the vessel they sought.  Sailor Ivory, who loved sleek looking starships, let out a low whistle at the sight before her eyes.

            “Wow!  That is so fucking sweet!  Talk about a kick-ass hunk of metal,” she said, a wolfish, hungry smile on her lips.  “Whoever this Scarlett is, she’s certainly got good taste.  Just looking at that baby has me creaming my panties something awful!”

            “That’s more information than we needed to hear, Sailor Ivory,” Sailor Ebony said crossly.  Even after five centuries together, the Dark Senshi still found her sister’s penchant for vulgarity both annoying, and embarrassing.  “Kindly get what passes for your mind out of the gutter.”

            Sailor Ivory grinned lovingly at her sister, then gave her the finger.  “Lick me, bitch.”

            “Sorry, darling.  You’re not my type.  Still, that is a nice ship.  I’ll bet she’s a dream to fly.”  Sailor Ebony paused to scan the ship with her microcomp to see if anyone was inside the vessel.  She frowned at what she saw on the screen, or rather, what she didn’t see.  “Hmm.  There’s some sort of scrambler field in place.  A powerful one.  It’s effectively masking whoever might be inside.  Sailor Cerebra, see if you can detect anyone.”

            The Chinese Senshi closed her eyes and concentrated, using her telepathic powers to scan the ship for any sign of brainwave activity.  After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and shook her head.  “I cannot sense anything.  I do not believe there is anyone aboard.”

            “If that’s the case, let’s see about sneaking in,” Aggie suggested.

            “Great minds think alike, Aggie.  C’mon, guys,” said Sailor Ivory who strode purposely towards the ship.  As she did, Sailor Ebony, still scanning, made some adjustments on her microcomp and then saw something that alarmed her.

“Ivory!  Stop!  Don’t get any closer!” she screamed.

            But the warning came too late as, with a sudden flash of light, Sailor Ivory, having come to within six feet of Renegade, was suddenly sent flying away from the ship like a bullet from a gun, and she landed in a heap in front of the others, shocked at what they had seen.  

“Serenity’s Crown!  Are you all right?” cried a worried Sailor Ebony, kneeling at her sister’s side.

            “I’ll let you know after the world stops spinning,” said a dazed and bruised Sailor Ivory, her skin stinging all over.  “Oww!  That fucking hurt!  What the hell happened?”

            “That ship’s surrounded by a deflector shield which I didn’t detect until I changed the scanning algorithms on my microcomp,” Sailor Ebony explained.  “The scrambler field uses randomly modulating frequencies which change every ninety milliseconds, making that shield almost undetectable.”

            “Looks like that was done with a purpose,” said a frowning Aggie.

            The Senshi of Darkness nodded.  “You’re right, Aggie.  It was.  Protection.  The shield’s running at ten percent power, just potent enough to discourage, but not seriously injure trespassers.  Sort of like an ancient electric fence, only not as lethal.  Awfully clever.”

            Sailor Ivory was less than appreciative as she climbed shakily to her feet while her dangerously short temper skyrocketed.  “Who gives a rat’s ass if it’s clever?  I’m gonna blow that motherfucker sky high!”

            “No!  You can’t!  That’s the last thing we want!” argued Aggie, stepping in front of the maddened Senshi.  “We have to maintain our low profile!  There’s no telling what attention we’ll attract if you fire on that thing!”

            “Aggie’s right.  Besides, even with that shield at a low power level, I doubt your daggers or lightbeams could penetrate it,” said Sailor Ebony, looking down at the readings on her microcomp.  “It’s a level 3 shielding system, meaning it’s almost as strong as a single layer of Draco II’s.  Clearly, there’s more to that ship than meets the eye.”

            “What about your energy depletion power?” Sailor Cerebra suggested to the blond Senshi.  “Perhaps you can drain the shield’s power long enough for us to safely approach the vessel.”

            Sailor Ebony dwelled on her lover’s suggestion for several moments, then nodded to her.  “That’s a good idea.  Once the shield’s down, it’ll be up to you to get us inside by interfacing with the ship’s main computer and overriding its control systems.  Can you do it?”

            The Senshi of the Mind nodded.  Her lovely face mirrored boundless confidence in her abilities.  “I can.  Let’s give it a try.”

Dreyious Prime, Sagittarian District, Argus Caves, Argus City, 8 June 2740

            There were few things in the universe that unnerved a veteran warrior like Sailor Sirius, but she had no love for being in dark, enclosed spaces like the Argus Caves.  It dredged up unpleasant memories of one of her more harrowing adventures from back in her early days as a Senshi.

            “Suddenly, I’m really hating this,” she muttered.

            “Something wrong, Sailor Sirius?” Sailor Magneta asked as she led her Omega Force teammate and LISA agent Franklin Marley through the caverns in search of an underground base run by the men hoarding black market weaponry.  After paying admission to enter the caves, the trio snuck off from the assigned tour route and traveled deep into the caverns.

            “You could say that.  Back in the early days, Sailor Moon, Sailor Vulcan- whom I just met and befriended- and I fought heartsnatchers in the subway tunnels of old Tokyo on Earth,” the pretty black Senshi replied, a look of utter gloom on her face.  “The three of us damn near died down there.  It was a Grade- A, one hundred percent nightmare, one that still gives me chills to this day.  Ever since then, I’ve been antsy as hell about being underground.”

            “Ahh, yes.  I remember reading of your exploits with the original Senshi in Pre-Crystal Tokyo History class when I was in high school,” Sailor Magneta said with a nod.  “That particular adventure was mentioned.”

            Sailor Sirius rolled her eyes and groaned.  “By the Crystal!  History class?  Thanks a lot for reminding me of how bloody old I am!”

            “Not to worry, dear,” said the German Senshi with a sly grin as she squeezed her teammate’s shoulder.  “In my humble opinion, you don’t look a day over four hundred.”

            The Star Senshi sweetly returned her friend’s smile, but her large, dark eyes were shooting sparks.  “Two words, boss:  screw and you.”

            Marley, listening to the repartee, shook his head.  He always had a hard time accepting the fact that the Senshi, despite their appearance as attractive young women in their mid to late twenties were, in reality, hundreds of years old, or, in the case of the Planetaries, well over a thousand.  That never failed to amaze him.  Immortality definitely has its perks, he thought.  “Sailor Magneta, you said you had experience with cave exploring.  How deep would say a hidden installation might be, if one is here?”

            “That would depend on what sort activity is being conducted down here,” the Omega Force leader replied.  “For certain, a hidden installation would have to be considerably deep so that the public would not be aware of its existence.  Also, it would have to have a separate egress, far removed from the pedestrian traffic that goes through these tunnels.  On top of that, it would have to have its own power plant.  And that gives me an idea.”

            “What have you got in mind, Sailor M?” Sailor Sirius asked.

            “A moment.”  The white haired German closed her eyes, lowered her head and took a deep breath.  As Sailor Sirius and Marley looked on, a reddish glow enveloped Sailor Magneta’s body and she suddenly levitated a foot off the ground.  She then raised her head and opened her eyes, causing her partners to gasp as they saw her eyes were blazing red and softly crackling from the frightening energies she commanded.  After several moments, the glow faded and her eyes returned to their normal icy blue as she returned to the ground.  The German Senshi softly exhaled from the effort.

            “Uh, what did you just do?” a puzzled Marley asked.

            “I performed a unique sort of search,” Sailor Magneta replied.  “As my title implies, Agent Marley, I control the fundamental force of magnetism.  I used my powers to tap into the planet’s magnetic ley lines to search for any irregularities deep within the earth, such as metallic structures or power sources, either of which would interrupt the smooth, geostatic flow of the ley lines through natural rock.”

            “Could you have done that on a planetary scale?” Marley asked.

            “Yes, but it would have been extremely dangerous.  To interface with the ley lines on that large a scale would have been courting suicide.  The near limitless energies of the planet’s magnetic forces would have fried my brain.  Trust me on this; I briefly experienced that in the recent past, and it’s nothing I heartily recommend.”

            Sailor Sirius softly gulped, her mind whisked back to the nightmare of over three years ago when her leader, her friend nearly lost her life protecting the team from an exploding space station while in the Alpha Zone.  Even after all that time, the memory still brought a sharp pain to the heart of the black Senshi who dearly loved Sailor Magneta like a sister.  “Did you find something, boss?”

“Yes.  I believe I have.”

            “Where?  I’ll use my microcomp to get a fix,” said Sailor Sirius.

            The Senshi of Magnetism shook her head.  “No.  If this is a hidden installation, our opponents might have equipment in place to detect scanning beams, like those from a microcomp.  My own scan gave me a decent fix on the location.  I believe I can find what we’re looking for without electronic assistance.  Follow me.”

The Shroud, Dreyious Prime, 8 June 2740

            As Henry Bonds made his way to the facility’s main hangar, he had no idea that he was being followed by two of Brock’s agents.

            Ernesto Lopez, a wiry, lean muscled Latino and Sadira Hussein, an attractive Iraqi woman, tailed Bonds from twenty feet away.  While the posture of the duo, dressed in nondescript civilian garb, exhibited a casual air, the LISA agents were on full alert, ready for anything and everything that might come their way.

            “Hmm.  Interesting.  What do you think, Sadie?  Is our rat itching to leave the base?” Lopez asked his partner.

            Hussein shook her dark tressed head.  “Doubtful.  He has to know he’s under surveillance- from Q and her goons, not us- so he wouldn’t do anything that stupid.  Maybe he’s just looking for someplace to goof off.”  She paused to glare at Lopez.  “Dammit, Ernie, how many times have I told you not to call me Sadie when we’re on the clock?  No one’s supposed to know we’re lovers.  You know Brock doesn’t like interoffice affairs.”

            Lopez chuckled as the two agents entered the hangar area.  “You’re so paranoid... Sadira.  That what makes you fucking sexy to me.  Wait a minute.  He’s headed into the shuttlecraft bays.  He’s not authorized to be in there.  What the hell is he up to?”

            “Maybe he’s going to take his chances and leave after all,” said a frowning Hussein.  “Not good.  Not good at all.  Let’s find out for sure before we make our move.”

            Lopez, all business, nodded, then felt for the hand blaster in his pants pocket.  “Roger that.  Make sure your weapon’s ready.  There’s no telling what to expect.”

            The Iraqi woman, her lovely face steel hard did a similar check of her weapon.  “I’m ready, Ernie.  Something tells me this could get messy.”

            From the opposite entrance to the hangar, Zulu and two Wizards, identical twins named Romulus and Remus, following the signal from a homing device implanted inside Bonds’ communicator, were equally perplexed at where the man had wound up.

            “What in blazes is that rodent doing in the hangar bay?” the towering black man muttered.  He turned to the Wizards who were behind him.  “Romulus, Remus, ready yourselves.  Something’s wrong here.  I suspect treachery.  Or, at the very least, an escape attempt.”

            “We are ready, sir,” said the twins in unison, both nodding to the Sorcerer.

            “Let’s move.  If Bonds is somehow trying to escape, then we have to stop him!  Now!”

            In the hangar, Bonds moved behind a RSN shuttlecraft where four hard faced men, dressed in jumpsuits, impatiently awaited him.  “You’re late, Bonds.  What kept you?” asked one of the men, tall and balding with an artificial left hand.

            “Sorry.  My shift lasted a little longer than I thought,” Bonds nervously replied.  He saw no reason to tell them men he had been detained by the base commander and her lieutenants.

            “Enough talk.  Where’s our money?  You owe us plenty on those games you lost last week,” said the bald man.

            Before Bonds could respond, silently wondering how to explain that he didn’t have so much as a single credit on his person, Zulu and the twins suddenly appeared.  “All of you, freeze!  Don’t move!” the black Sorcerer shouted.

To be continued...

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